Michael wouldn't have any problems attaining godhood as long as he worked with the God Curses. The three God Curses had verified that with him a few times already. It would take a while and some resources, and he would have to upgrade his Soultrait Symbols quite a bit if he wanted to attain godhood or become a Demi-God, but it was feasible.

Michael was happy about that because he needed as much power as possible, but it also showed him how much the God Curses were willing to invest in him. They were in dire need of himafter he attained godhood. There was something he would have to do, and Michael was fairly sure it would be dangerous.

He had to prepare for it.

The pressure on Michael increased steadily, but his time with Alice and Lucia was destressing. The same could be said about the events happening to the people in his territory. They were quite interesting and definitely unexpected.

Kaleb Zenovia had been single all his life, and not even Alice expected him to fall in love anytime soon, but the youngest of the Zenovia household fell in lovewith a Princess.

Kaleb was in love with Tiara from the Silverfang Tigerfolk, but she rejected him several times already. She didn't even pay much attention to him over the years, whereas Kaleb Zenovia fell hard. Her behavior and how she kept a distance from him must have pulled some strings, striking him square in the chest.

Michael was unsure what exactly had happened between them, but he knew Kaleb was madly in love. He was loyal and persistent. Tiara rejected him for now, yet Michael could tell that her adamant nature crumbled slowly. It might take a few more years, but if Kaleb managed to break through her barriers, they would become a happy couple.

Unfortunately, the Silverfang Tigerfolk were busy with their own things. Tiara and Caesus told Michael about their plans, forcing Michael to decide what they were going to do. Even though the Silverfang Tigerfolk were primarily bound to their Princess and Crown Prince, Michael was still in full control of them. The Links of Loyalty were still with him.

The Silverfang Tigerfolk were fit to live in the Untamed Jungle but hoped to establish their own settlements. This was the same as what the Forest Elves, Berserkers, and Warlock Centaurs had requested. Well, it was similar. The Forest Elves chose to construct small settlements across the Untamed Jungle to guard the Grand Region from all potential harm. They were the best fit to protect the Untamed Jungle from mutating monsters, other Awakened, or harmful plants.

On the other hand, the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs were in the Sacred Desert. They were the most comfortable in the Intermediate Region as nothing restrained their movements. They could fight their enemies openly and gallop across the wide-open lands of the Sacred Desert. The Silverfangs desired a small space reserved for themselves, and Michael granted it.

There was no reason to reject their demand. Michael would grant them that if they felt better building a settlement to live more reclusive. It strengthened their Link of Loyalty since he cooperated with them.

The only problem with the Silverfang Tigerfolk was the power distribution. In the first place, Tiara and Caesus didn't like each other. It was a fact everyone had heard about. The main issue was that the Silverfangs were divided on whom to follow. That was clearly shown in the connection through the Links of Loyalty. Caesus carried the biggest burden of Awakened from the Silverfangs in terms of numbers, but the Links of Loyalty connecting to Michael through Tiara were stronger. Nobody had a drastic advantage over the others, but both Tiara and Caesus wanted to be the commander of the Silverfang Settlement. Michael proposed establishing two Silverfang settlements, which was rejected by the siblings, who were of the same opinion for the first time in years. It was annoying, but that wasn't Michael's business. He gave them an option and chose to let them be. They could fight each other as long as nobody died.

He had other things to pay more attention to. His control of the lands in the Origin Expanse was expanding quickly, and the Lords in the adjacent regions and the regions adjacent to the adjacent regions weren't strong enough to deal with him. The Dragys Lordess and the Azure Quetzalcoatl had been the strongest entities within several thousand kilometers.

The problems in the Untamed Jungle had been taken care of for the time being. Even the regions within a radius of one thousand or maybe even thousands of kilometers didn't contain as many dangerous monsters as the beasts of the Untamed Jungle. Therefore, he could focus on the threats looming outside the Origin Expanse. Unfortunately, one massive threat kept pestering Michael and his beloved.

Michael emerged from the Runic Gate to check up on the Nest like usual, only to find the weak energy fluctuations of more than a dozen Curse Users. They were all on the verge of death. He teleported to them without a second thought and released a tidal wave of the advanced healing serum accumulated within him.

"What happened?" Michael asked into the infirmary, where he put the dying Curse Users into a coma to slow down their death. He used Unlimited Enhancement on the portion of advanced healing serum coating them and used Insert to infuse bits and pieces of his lifeforce into them.

Hundreds of Superior Energy Stones appeared all around him, but they crumbled to dust when True Extraction sucked their energy reserves dry. Michael had to apply Permute on the energy from the Superior Energy Stones to infuse into the injured Curse Users to salvage their lives. Hesta was in the infirmary when Michael appeared. She was not on the verge of death but lost an arm and looked like she had been through a rough time. Hesta was already at the 6th Tier and progressing much faster than Michael had anticipated her to advance with multiple Soultrait Symbols, but something messed her up big time.

"What happened to you and the others?" Michael asked while flooding her system with nature-attributed energy, lifeforce, and advanced healing serum.

Hesta groaned in pain, "These bastards have been focusing on us for the last few months. We managed to take down several forts and Selena alongside the Nest Elders conquered a few planets butthe situation isn't looking all that great."

Michael couldn't make use of Hesta's intel. He had already known about the Supreme Human Alliance's actions and that the Nest managed to reclaim some of the Altors Union's planets. The Supreme Human Alliance didn't defend them well enough and continued attacking. But something must have changed.

"Wait. You're saying the Supreme Human Alliance is focusing on the Nest? Why would they do that? The Altors Union has far more powerhouses. Curse Users are dangerous to the SHA and their Blood Incursion, but there are not many."

Hesta shrugged in pain.

"I think they changed their priorities after suffering too many casualties. Our sudden power-up must have shocked them. They took a while to adjust their tactics and devise a proper tactic to deal with usbut they did it."

Michael frowned deeply.

"How many did we lose?" At that moment, Selena entered the infirmary. She'd been informed about the sudden use of energy in the infirmary and recognized Michael's energy fluctuations.

"Half of the Nest's forces were wiped out," She announced solemnly, "And the rest you can see here