Chapter 20: Taking Chances
The situation was so sudden that none of the people present were able to react.
Marcel, who was on her right side, had his eyes wide open in disbelief as he saw the sudden scene unfold before his eyes.
"Carlota! You dare?" His thundering voice resounded in the room as a massive tortoise materialized in front of him.
The black-and-red tortoise let out a howl as a red ball of magma formed at the tip of its snout. It did not take long before the tortoise released the magma toward the creature that Carlota had summoned to attack Miguel.
Boom!
Unable to defend itself, the creature that looked like a huge wolf was sent flying, its fur charred as it landed a few meters away from the hall, whimpering in pain.
As the massive explosion ensued, all the people in the room finally reacted, and each summoned their own grimoire one by one and put up their absolute shield. All of them possessed a bronze-grade grimoire, with the exception of Marcel, who already has a Silver Grade Grimoire.
"Hmmp!" A harrumph escaped Carlota's mouth. Her wolf was severely injured from the tortoise's simple attack alone. It was apparent that the tortoise's level was a lot higher compared to the wolf she summoned.
With that kind of injury, though, it would take at least a week for it to completely heal inside the grimoire. This was another function of the grimoire. It can help the Beast's energy and injuries recover faster when they stay inside of it.
Carlota looked at Marcel with visible hatred on her face.
Of course, she already knew that her husband had already prepared something for Gasper. However, what he prepared was just graded armor, not a graded weapon. Hence, she took her chance to see if she could get a weapon for Gasper.
However, from Marcel's actions, she realized that he was hellbent on supporting the kid.
She wondered if this foolish kid was actually Marcel's illegitimate child.
As for her actions in suddenly attacking Miguel, she doesn't need to explain anything at all.
After all, why would an elder explain something to their servants?
At this moment, Miguel finally stood up from the floor.
It took him a while to recover, as the attack of the wolf was very sudden and powerful.
Fortunately, his body had already been strengthened yesterday from the cleansing of the Origin Energy. Its durability has increased by a large margin; otherwise, he was afraid that he might have been torn apart by that wolf by now.
It was at least a level 3 beast.
As he stood up, a chilling glint formed at the corner of his eyes as he looked at Carlota 'calmly'.
Rage boiled inside of him, but his rationality kept him from summoning Aaliyah to counterattack.
He knew that there was a time and place for every act of revenge.
Marcel looked at Miguel deeply and knew that the situation had become more complicated.
The reason for today's meeting with the others was due to the disappearance of Jonas. The two guardians investigated his outpost and saw traces of battle, yet Jonas was nowhere to be found.
However, the two other guardians believed that he was already dead; otherwise, he would have reported back by now.
The others did not know, but Marcel already had an inkling as to who the culprit was. It also made him realize that Miguel was truly not as simple as he seemed to be. He also realized how petty and ruthless he was; he even killed his 'own' father right after he awakened.
What was more fearsome about this was the fact that apparently Miguel had only awakened for two days and the fact that he even requested 'permission' from Marcel before hand before he killed him.
'This kid is definitely a fearsome genius! ' Was what all Marcel could think about earlier until Miguel arrived in the room to claim his weapon.
'Bitch! ' He cursed in annoyance inside him as he looked at the fat pig on his left. He truly despised his brother's life choices.
"Miguel, settle down. I'll handle this. As compensation, I'll also give this longsword to you as well," Marcel stated, trying to calm Miguel.
Miguel looked at him and merely smiled. But it was this mere smile that made Marcel's hair stand on end.
"Don't worry, I am calm," he said as he began walking towards Marcel. He took the longsword together with the dagger and bowed towards him and then to the 'elders' before saying calmly, "Thank you for your generosity. I'll be on my way now."
After saying that, Miguel did not wait for their response, as he immediately walked towards the door.
As his figure disappeared from the room, a mixture of reactions was let out by the crowd.
Marcel released a long sigh as he leaned back on his chair, seemingly exhausted.
Carlota has her lips curled upwards; she believed that Miguel left hurriedly because he was scared sh*tless because of what he just experienced. It also made her happy that Miguel was holding two valuable weapons, as they would be easy for her to take if she wanted to.
A plan was formulated inside her mind, unaware of the danger that it would bring her and Gasper.
The other summoners looked at Miguel's departing figure in disbelief.
The other woman looked at the door and muttered, 'What a strong body!'
Marcel looked at Carlota and shook his head. "Alright, let's continue with the previous issue. Since the two of you confirmed that Jonas is truly dead, we can only request for another mercenary to become the third guardian of Peach Village. As for compensation regarding Jonas' death, they will be handed to his known family, which is Miguel and Sara."
...
Meanwhile, back at the servant quarters, Miguel sat at the top of his bed in a lotus position as he calmed his raging mind.
He looked over at what happened and finally realized that he was very careless and arrogant, as he only thought of this village as a backward one after gaining information from Marcel.
However, even if it was a backward village, he should still not underestimate it, as he was still very weak right now.
It was only his third day in this world, and he must not act rashly. He also seemed to have become overly confident and reliant on having Aaliyah as his summon.
However, as the cultivators would always say, having your own strength was still countless times better than having a borrowed one.
He must hurry on cultivating the Origin Energy to increase his own strength.
The power system of this world and its compatibility with the Sign-In System were powerful, but compared to the Origin Energy that he discovered during his peak, he felt that they were nothing.
As his emotions calmed down, he finally entered the cultivation trance.
The Grimoire Summoning Energy in the air was slowly stored in the Grimoire inside his inner world. Like the previous instance, it took him almost three hours to completely fill the grimoire of the bluish energy.
Knowing that the Grimoire was already at its limit, Miguel did not waste any more time as he finally began to refine the Grimoire Summoning Energy into a drop of Origin Energy.
The bluish energy leaked out of the grimoire as it swirled mysteriously inside Miguel's inner world. Almost four hours later, Miguel finally drained all the energy in the grimoire as a drop of rainbow-colored Origin Energy floated right at the top of the grimoire.
Miguel did not waste a single moment, as he immediately began absorbing the drop of Origin Energy into his body.
His brows contorted in pain as he endured for a full hour before the pain dissipated.
A drop of Origin Energy was absorbed, and his body was strengthened once again.