Though the thought of Shojo's treasure cave sat at the back of his mind with quiet persistence, Michael set it aside temporarily.
The more imdiately useful matter was the demonic supernatural's mories.
A full digestion of everything transferred was not sothing he could accomplish in a short period.
This would take ti, possibly weeks of gradual integration before the more obscure details beca reliably accessible.
But skimming through the surface layer was manageable.
Tomorrow, or the day after at the latest, he needed to be back at the academy. Going back empty-handed when he was sitting on a catalog of demonic faction intelligence felt like a waste.
Michael began organizing what he could reasonably present.
It was only after sorting the information he intended to bring to the academy, Michael turned his attention to Shojo's mories.
To be honest, in terms of overall value Michael placed the demonic supernatural's mories higher, despite Shojo being considerably stronger.
A good part of that assessnt ca down to the fundantal difference in what they were.
One had been a human. The other had been a monster.
All roads led to the heavens, as the saying went, however the saying that what was ant for one was not necessarily ant for another also held true.
A monster would probably benefit more from Shojo's mories than a human cultivator of the sa level would, and vice versa. In fact, as long as the level was high enough, benefits were always present, but
compatibility was very important.
This was why Michael valued the demonic supernatural's mories more highly. They carried cultivation insights, hard-won understanding of progress that Michael could potentially apply or at least reference in his own path forward.
That said, Shojo's mories were far from worthless. The possible treasure was the most obvious reason. A creature that had existed for a thousand years had to have left behind sothing worth finding.
After a while Michael had composed a list of suitable locations and information to present to the academy upon his return, along with a reasonable account of how he had co across it.
With that settled, Michael turned to what he had genuinely been looking forward to.
Just because he placed the value of the demonic supernatural mory higher did not an he looked down on shojo's mory.
A mont later a look of excitent appeared on Michael's face. "It seems I made a mistake! This.... this! I need to see it!"
Michael had gone in hoping for a treasure cave but preparing himself for the more likely alternative, that Shojo would simply have knowledge of locations holding resources rather than a directly accessible personal hoard.
The demonic supernatural's mories had followed that pattern, pointing toward places rather than things in hand.
Shojo was different. The cave was real, and the value of what was inside was imnse.
The other thing that stood out was the confirmation about the Everlong Forest's power structure.
There was no other Legendary Stage monster in the forest.
Michael was not particularly surprised. The Everlong Forest was vast, but a mountain could only contain one tiger.
Two powerful creatures with no relationship would only coexist in the sa territory under very specific conditions. Either the location was too valuable for either to abandon, or they both answered to sothing higher than themselves.
Shojo had answered to no one.
Since there was an ownerless treasure waiting to be claid, Michael did not hesitate.
His body in the Land of Origin was already moving before he had finished the thought.
Michael appeared in midair above the Everlong Forest, the familiar dark canopy spreading out below him in every direction. He picked a direction based on what Shojo's mories had given him and disappeared.
A short while later Michael stood in front of a small hill with a large opening carved into its face, wide and sowhat natural-looking. This was where Shojo had lived. Where its imdiate treasures lay.
What struck Michael first was the complete absence of any security asure. The previous overlord of the Everlong Forest had apparently operated entirely on the assumption that its own existence was
security enough.
However, Michael was cautious by nature. Though Shojo's mories stated it had left no security asures in place, Michael still
summoned the Rank 4 demonic supernatural regardless.
A tattoo appeared on Michael's body and from it ash ca forth to
form a humanoid figure before disappearing.
The two of them made their way into the cave together.
The passage led downhill, the angle gradual at first then steepening as
they went deeper.
After a while the passage opened.
Michael stopped at the threshold and looked out at what lay ahead. A
large clearing spread before him underground, illuminated by bioluminescent grass growing in patches along the walls.
The layout reminded him imdiately of the underground space
where they had found Rynne living tal.
Michael stepped inside and looked around slowly.
Surprisingly, this space bore more than a passing similarity to that
secret realm.
Around Michael were scattered bones of varying sizes. So belonged
to beasts. Others were harder to categorize. They looked human, but
it was hard to tell.
Other races existed in the Land of Origin after all. It would be difficult to tell what was what through bones alone without clear distinguishing features.
Having an understanding of Shojo's thods, the current sight was
not surprising to Michael.
As for his feelings regarding how an ordinary deer had reached its current level, Michael could only reflect that truly, no one who lived above a century was simple.
Or perhaps the more accurate saying was that no one who reached the Legendary Stage was simple, regardless of species or origin. Michael did not know exactly how long his own path to that level would take. But he believed it would not require a hundred years.
He was technically only one rank away, and even at his current stage he was far from simple. The sa could be said for Rynne, whom Michael felt should not stop at Rank 3 either.
Michael moved through the cave space and let his thoughts drift back
to the mory that had caught his attention most during his review
of Shojo's past.
The human Shojo had devoured a decade ago.
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