By the time Michael returned to the tribe, the sun had almost fallen into the horizon. He leaped from the ground to comfortably land on the wooden platform above the ground.

"My lord," Kirat and the other wood elves bowed toward Michael. After nodding at them, Michael strolled to his throne and saw Vedora lying on it belly up. The throne was littered with bits and pieces of fruits and bare bones of fish. Ayag snored as a trail of drool trickled down her mouth. Michael lifted them up from the throne and raised his hand as a gust of wind blew past the throne. The wind blast cleaned his throne.

Michael plunged onto the throne and took out the coin he picked from the panther. He fiddled with the coin until Ayag, Sarba, and Cain slowly opened their eyes. Sarba rubbed the sleep off of his eyes. When their visions cleared, they saw the dark lines on Michael's forehead. It was obvious he had met some trouble while they were feasting and living like a god.

"What is that?" Ayag asked, looking at the coin in his hand. Sarba turned his gaze. He saw a strange glow coming from within the coin.

"Do you remember the beastman who tried to capture Gaya on Xanali's behalf?" Michael asked Vedora.

"What of him? Don't tell me he's alive somehow," Ayag frowned.

"Someone in his tribe followed me here. This coin belongs to him," said Michael. Sarba's jaw dropped slightly. They all pushed their questions and doubts to the corner of their minds and asked Michael what had happened. Michael told them everything starting from the invisible guard he saw near Tanulia to the powerful vortex that appeared to save the panther. The panther's disappearance left Michael with more questions than answers. He knew the Skyhall built a portal to reach Itonys somehow, but it was no portal that saved the panther. Someone created the vortex, and they didn't want Michael to have the coins.

"The Dark Lord said killing monsters in the demons grave would make some asshole stronger. I wonder if that asshole is the same one who created the vortex. It seems like he has control over the demons grave," said Cain. As usual, Cain and Michael shared the same thought. But what Michael didn't know was that the asshole was another god, God of Time and Space, Andohr. In his previous life, Andohr was his arch-nemesis. At that time, Michael was the only god who was able to stop Andohr, but the price Michael paid to defeat Andohr was a little too much.

Before resetting the universe, the Dark Lord ensured Andohr wouldn't hurt his new self since he would be at his weakest. He placed an array above the mortal realm preventing Andohr from returning home and bringing the other gods to the mortal world. If Andohr ever wanted to get back, he needed Michael.

"We need to get more answers before we leave this world," said Michael.

"Speaking of answers, we heard the wood elves climb the mother tree to get the Dark Lord's blessings. We also heard those who successfully climbed to the top heard the voice of the Dark Lord. What if he had left another recording for you at the top? It might help us shed some light on things," said Ayag. She sounded surprisingly intelligent. Michael almost wondered whether the fruits she devoured had some influence on her brain cells. Because normally, Ayag preferred to attack the problem than think about it.

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"They would be worried if we depart now. Let's head out there tomorrow. According to the elves, the mother tree is on the way to the ash field. We should climb up there, see what's there and then head to the ash field," said Sarba.

"Hmm," Michael rubbed his chin for a moment before agreeing to Sarba's suggestion.

"Besides, we need to find a way to dress up these elves. Some of the girls said the tribe loses at least ten elves yearly to the winter," Sarba said with concern for the elves.

Michael had been thinking about the clothing issue for some time. However, buying clothes for the elves from the system was out of the question because it not only cost quite a lot of badass points, but he had also taken a loan from the system. It left him with only one option. He had to buy clothes from his world and bring them here. But to do that, he needed a portal connecting Itonys and his castle, where he planned to build the portal.

"I am a blacksmith and an alchemist, not a tailor. I cannot solve their problem until we find a way to travel back and forth,"

As they were discussing the clothing issue, Kirat and a few girls came carrying a wooden platter filled with various fruits, boiled fish, and what seemed to be roots.

"My lord, please accept this," Kirat bowed.

"Thank you," Michael took the platter from Kirat and thanked them, which stunned the elves.

"Have everyone eaten yet?" Michael asked Kirat. The warmth the elves felt from his words could not be described with mere words. Their hearts were filled with such joy and delight.

"We will eat later on, my lord," said Kirat, controlling his tears from escaping his eyes.

"Silvia here told us, they haven't had meat in months," Ayag looked at the brown-haired elf and said. The elven girl trembled.

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"Lady Ayag," The girl scowled as Ayag let out a devilish grin.

"Is it true Kirat? Don't you guys go hunting?"

Kirat sighed before answering Michael.

"We used to, my lord. But we lost our entire hunter group to the demons. Without them, hunting for the meat has become too dangerous,"

After hearing Kirat, Michael placed the silver platter on the throne's hand and stood up.

"Tonight, we are having meat. I am going hunting, and there will be no negotiation,"

"Did I hear the word meat?"

"Yeeyyyyy, meat!"

The children immediately became delighted to hear Michael. Many gasped and bounced in joy, especially children who hadn't had meat for months. The one who grinned the widest was Ayag. Unlike the elves, Ayag didn't go without meat for months but just a week. However, in her mind, a week was just as long as a couple of years.

Michael gathered up the men in the time, including Tazkin. Soon, all the male elves in the tribe gathered around Michael.

"Kirat, where do you get your bows?" Michael asked the old elf.

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"We make our own, my lord," said Kirat.

"Before we go hunting, I want you to bring all the planks and wood logs you use to craft the bows,"

A couple of elves jumped down from their tribe and headed outside to bring everything Michael needed. The elves were curious to see why Michael suddenly asked for logs and planks. A few minutes later, the elves returned carrying wooden planks and logs that had a rosy tint to the wood. In addition, they also brought rolls of rope they used to make strings.

After they placed the planks and logs before Michael, he gestured at the elves to take a few steps back. Then, he unsheathed the dark swords and started to carve the wood. The gears in Michael's inventor side of the brain worked at full capacity. Every move Michael made had a certain grace to it. He often entered the system and brought a few additional parts for the thing he was building. Under the elves' curious gazes, Michael effortlessly built not one but five crossbows. It had been some time since he put his Inventor skill to good use. Now that he had a forge and the Blacksmith trait, he would be able to build more powerful weapons. Underwater torpedo for Big Bertha was just an example.

Michael was able to build these beautiful recurve crossbows with the common materials found in Itonys. He decorated the limbs with ebony details and ended in rounded curves ornamented with wrapped leather. The stock was wrapped in glistening blue leaves commonly found in the forest. Since Michael felt generous, he crafted a long quiver for every crossbow using deer hide. He decorated the outside with animal horns. In the hands of any archer, this bow was capable of firing arrows up to seventy meters while still retaining lethal power.

"What is this, my lord?" Tazkin asked Michael.

"Watch," Michael raised the crossbow, nocked an arrow into the barrel, and aimed at a tree almost twenty meters away from them.

"Move aside," Ayag flew through the crowd and pushed them aside from the bolt's trajectory. When the elves cleared out from his path, Michael pulled the trigger.

Woosh!

As soon as Michael pulled the trigger, the bolt shot out of the crossbow, creating an acute swish. The bolt soared through the air and hit the tree Michael aimed in a blink of an eye. It penetrated deep into the bark and jerked for a moment. Considering Tazkin and most of the wood elves were skilled archers, they were speechless to see the speed and the power of the crossbow.

"You can fire a bolt up to seventy meters. I built it in a way you do not have to worry about wind direction. Just aim and fire,"

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Michael demonstrated how to reload the crossbow and fired another bolt farther than the previous one. When he first arrived at his new world from the earth, he had a hard time hitting the targets using a bow and arrows. Of course, he could hit the targets in close range, but the cultivators used arch energy to hit targets beyond what a normal human being could hit. Thanks to Gaya and practice, he became a deadly marksman. He still had a long way to go to reach Gaya's level. She was a frickin beast when it came to long-ranged combat. One time, he saw Gaya hit a drone flying through dark clouds in a storm from five hundred meters away. He doubted he could reach her level without the system's help. She was a natural-born marksman.

Many elves gasped in shock, and then their eyes sparkled, hoping they would get one from Michael.

"I will make more soon. For now, I'll let Kirat decide who gets one," said Michael.