Chapter 229: 229
"I thought you would never come!" the boss lady came out when she saw Tenether’s wings through a window.
Michelle hopped off with a careless smile. "I didn’t know I would be held up for so long."
"What were you even doing?" the boss lady asked. She could feel that Michelle had become much more powerful than the first time she had seen her.
Michelle stretched herself a bit. After the long fight, her body was quite stiff. "Ever heard about the black god?"
The boss lady shook her head.
"Then what about what happened in the Blue Flame City around the time when I was there?" Michelle knew the boss lady would be aware of her presence there, because she had been in contact with the girls from the information guild.
The boss lady remembered what she heard about the Blue Flame City. "The city was suddenly evacuated. And when my girls returned there, it was completely barren, showing signs of long-time decay. It was like the city had been abandoned for years even though it had been just a few days."
Staring at Michelle with a questioning gaze, it was clear the boss lady wanted to know whether it was Michelle’s fault.
"I did have my fingers in it, but it wasn’t my fault!" Michelle theatrically threw her hands up in a defensive motion.
The boss lady narrowed her eyes. "What did you do? What happened there?"
So Michelle had to explain about how Tenether appeared within the Blue Flame City and exerted pressure all over. That was the factor that made it seem that the buildings had aged. The pressure damaged them.
Finally, Michelle explained that she contracted Tenether and summoned him in his falcon form to show him to the boss lady.
The boss lady was fairly surprised when she realized that the bird she had already seen a few times was capable of making a city age overnight. She couldn’t feel any real power from it, but she didn’t doubt its strength. If a creature could conceal its power so perfectly, it meant it had to be almighty.
After talking about Tenether for a while, it was time to discuss why Michelle came to the guild. "There are no girls who have broken into the Divine rank. They aren’t capable of going into the middle realm with you." The boss lady knew the capabilities of her subordinates, and for even the most talented of them to reach the Divine rank, it would take at least a decade more.
Michelle didn’t see it that way. "I know a place where all of you can come to cultivate! I guarantee you will be able to go to the middle realm after a year."
The boss lady was still skeptical, but Michelle continued before she could speak. "But before going there, I suggest everyone trains to fight without using their spirit energy. Though you will be able to cultivate there, you won’t be able to use your spirit energy there. And you will have to fight."
Michelle finally told the boss lady about her cultivation experience in the lower realm’s side of the guild.
When the boss lady heard about the black god’s sect, she was shocked. Her information guild had influence all over the lower realm, but she had never really known anything about such a powerful organization. Only here and there did she notice some powerful individuals. But it never occurred to her that they all belonged under the same sect.
"And will we be allowed to cultivate there?" she asked.
Michelle nodded. "Maybe not right away, but I can convince the sect master to let you all in."
Michelle’s careless statement made the boss lady feel like vomiting blood. The sect was clearly a powerful shadow eminence with its tentacles spread all across not only the lower realm but maybe even the whole world, but Michelle talked about the sect master like he was just another street vendor to bargain with.
"How can you be sure about that?" she asked with a frown.
Michelle didn’t think about it much. "I have an offer he won’t reject. I’ve been considering it for a while now."
"And what is that offer?" the boss lady got even more curious.
But Michelle smiled and put her index finger over the boss lady’s lips. "Don’t worry too much about it. It will be beneficial to both me and you. And to the sect master too."
"Does a deal like that exist?"
Michelle just hummed lazily.
The next few days, the girls from the information guild, along with the boss lady, prepared to forever leave the lower realm. The journey to the sect was long, so they gathered some carriages and mounts and prepared to set off.
The group was led by Michelle sitting atop Tenether. So he wouldn’t go pointlessly fast or fly too high, Michelle had him transform into a huge black wolf. That way, he moved around the same speed as the mounts pulling the carriages.
At the slow pace, the journey was quite long, but no one had a problem with it. The discipline in the information guild was great. Since the boss lady said to follow Michelle to the barrier of the Heavenly Law, the girls followed.
Of course, there were some who were dissatisfied with having to travel like that, but at least they didn’t show their dislike of Michelle openly.
Still, Michelle could feel it.
But she didn’t care in the least. She was expecting worse responses. The situation was pleasantly surprising.
"How did you train the girls for them to be so disciplined?" Michelle asked when the boss lady rode next to her on her own mount.
The boss lady glanced back at the carriages and mounts and smiled. "They have all suffered greatly before they entered the guild. After that, it wasn’t that hard to train them."
Michelle raised a brow at the words. She had a feeling that the boss lady used intense mental and physical conditioning on the girls. It made her curious about the process.
It was clear that all the girls were loyal to the boss lady. And not just superficially loyal. Their loyalty ran deep in their bones.
How was it possible to make such a big group of girls so loyal to one person?
"My charming lady, I’m starting to like you more and more the longer I know you," Michelle said with a slight grin.
A long time ago, when she was still in the assassination organization, she herself had undergone mental conditioning. The organization was trying to make her into their loyal puppet.
But they didn’t succeed. Though she obediently carried out all their tasks and assignments, she never cared about them. She was always able to betray the organization.
Because of that, they always kept her in check. Until the moment of her death.
And since they didn’t give her a reason to betray them, she died without the label of a traitor on her head.
But the girls working under the boss lady were completely different. It was clear in their eyes they would never betray, no matter the circumstances. Even if they were unhappy with the current situation, they followed orders.
They weren’t absolutely obedient like Michelle was to the assassination organization. They were absolutely loyal.
They didn’t need to be tasked with something to do it. If it was to benefit the guild, they would do it themselves.
That was most definitely one of the reasons why the guild held so much power in the lower realm. Because the girls kept on working on strengthening it.
Not by orders. Not because someone ordered them to.
Understanding how the guild worked, that the girls basically had a free hand over what they wanted to do with their future, Michelle was sure they would make it big even in the middle realm. And from there, they would spread even higher.
It wouldn’t be right away, but it would be fast enough for no one to notice them before the guild would become a huge system with its influence spread out like tentacles all over the world.
Deep in her thoughts, Michelle only snapped out of them when Tenether stopped moving. They were in front of the black god’s sect.
"We’re here!" Michelle didn’t have to announce it before the girls started preparing their tents to wait until they could enter the sect.
Seeing that, Michelle bade her farewell to them and entered the sect first. She had to go find Mavreth.
It felt a bit strange being in the sect again after she had left it just a while ago.
Michelle wasn’t the only one who thought that way. She wasn’t in the sect for even half an hour and a figure dressed in black appeared in front of her.
"Here again? And so soon?" As always, Mavreth had his hood on.
Michelle came closer to him. "I have a proposal for you."