Michael took a long nap on his comfy bed with Gaya under the storm's lullaby. Even after the storm had disappeared, the sky was still dark and gloomy, leaving only clusters of drizzling gray clouds. The dark army and everyone in the castle didn't know the Dark Lord had returned from the demons grave. So it was just another day for them. When Michael finally opened his eyes, he saw Gaya curled up under the warm blanket attached to him like a koala bear. He slowly pulled away her hands and left the bed while trying his best not to wake her up. As usual, Michael entered the bathroom attached to his bedroom and took a long bath. Although he kept his body clean using arch energy, he was accustomed to taking baths. Then, he wore a new set of round neck full-sleeve shirt, long coat, trousers, and boots. Of course, everything was in black, as he liked. After a long time, Michael had two swords on his back, forming the shape 'X'. Standing before the six feet mirror, Michael combed his hair, rolled his sleeves to his elbows, and left the room.

"Good morning," Gaya purred as she slowly woke up from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms above her head. Michael stood there as Gaya came to him, pecked him on the cheek, and went inside the bathroom to take a bath. He waited for her outside. While waiting for her, Michael took out an empty parchment and a quill. His world table was located before the table because of Michael's habit of gazing at the horizon. He placed the parchment on the table and sat on the chair.

"What do I need?" Michael rubbed his head through the hair with the quill and listed everything he needed to brew his special brew in his mind. One by one, Michael wrote everything on the parchment. Except for the herbs that were only found in Itonys, Michael needed a cauldron big enough to hold a thousand liters of liquid. Fortunately, the dwarves had finished building a new alchemy hall for Michael to start his work. The next thing he required was the bottles to hold the brew. Certainly, he couldn't hold the brew in vials. Instead, he needed glass bottles. When it came to glass bottles, the only place to get them from was Dalgarum.

Once he got all the required items, he could finish the brew in a day or two. As he finished writing his list, Gaya exited the bathroom, smelling like a newly blossomed jasmine. Once again, she kissed him on the cheek and unsheathed his swords without noticing the parchment in his hand.

The sword almost slipped out of her hand, but she managed to grab it by the hilt with both her hands in time.

"Bloody hell. It's heavy," Gaya gasped. She had to use a bit of her strength to lift the sword back into the air and swing.

"Careful," Michael warned Gaya.

"Now that you can forge weapons, why don't we visit this magic forge of yours and forge something for me?" Asked Gaya while swinging around the dark sword.

"Do you have something in mind?" Michael asked Gaya. Yesterday when Gaya told him everything that happened, she seemed particularly intrigued by the death kiss crossbows which reminded Michael of handguns. With his Inventor and Blacksmith traits, he planned to fuse energy and his knowledge of modern weapons to create new kinds of weapons. Equipping Big Bertha with torpedoes was the first step in that plan.

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"Maybe," Gaya nodded. Michael finished his list and put it inside his coat pocket. Then, he stood up from the chair.

"Let me guess, you want something like the death kiss crossbows?"

Looking at the glowing smile on her face, Michael could tell he had guessed it right. She then came to him with the dark sword on her shoulder,

"Can you make me one?"

"I can make one better," Michael casually shrugged. Given the right materials, Michael would forge better weapons. Unfortunately, most of the weapons in his mind required special runes that could only be bought from the system. So he had to postpone forging new weapons until he could settle the debt. Besides, a portal was required to reach his forge, and he was nowhere close to building one. He wasn't an expert in portals, but he knew it would cost him millions which he didn't have. They were in dire need of gold coins. Hopefully, Michael could get his new revenue stream up and running. Otherwise, they would be in big trouble because although the dark army was loyal to him, loyalty wouldn't fill their bellies and keep their needs in check.

"But you have to wait for some time. First, we need to fix the financial side of things,"

Gaya rolled her eyes, giving him an 'it's about time' look.

"Connect me with the twins. I want them to get me some things," said Michael. He then took the dark sword from her hand and unsheathed it. Following Michael, Gaya contacted Azazel and conveyed Michael's order. The corridors and the walls looked much better than when he left the castle a few weeks ago. He had yet to see the building process and hoped to get more coins before the dwarves stopped the construction works. Not because they needed gold coins as their wage but because they needed materials and materials that didn't come for free. Even the Dark Lord had to buy things using gold coins.

There were several rooms on the way to the meeting hall, which were blocked by crates and stones. The dwarves were yet to finish building those rooms, according to Gaya's exact prerequisites. She oversaw everything and gave the dwarves the challenge of their life. Although the dark army kidnaped these dwarves, these dwarves had grown to love the challenge of building the dark castle. It was nothing like they had ever built. Every single dwarf was handpicked by Gaya as she settled down for nothing but the best. On top of the talented dwarves, Elidyr worked with a group of runemasters to engrave defensive and offensive runes throughout the castle. The past Dark Lord's castle and the arrays alone killed thousands of guardians and enemies who dared to step onto the dark ocean. At its peak, the castle was nothing but a death trap feared by everyone in the world. If the past Dark Lord was alive, he would be proud of his current self because the castle Michael was building was shaping up to be more powerful than its earlier version.

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The meeting hall was dimly lit with torches instead of chandeliers. The flickering light illuminated by the torches added an eeriness to the hall. When Michael and Gaya reached the meeting hall, they saw Azazel was waiting for them.

"My Lord," Azazel bowed deeply. His gaze immediately fell on the dark swords as he could feel the threatening aura radiating from the swords. Azazel then proceeded to pull out Michael's and Gaya's thrones for them to sit on. After they settled into their respective thrones, Azazel waved his hand as the stone table slowly split opened in the middle. A mirror rose from the hole and flickered for a moment before showing the faces of Titus and Optimus.

The twins looked different with their cropped haircuts and brightened faces. Keeping them off the battleground was the best decision Gaya made for them. She had her doubts when she made them the procurer of rare goods and everything for the Dark Army for the best price possible. However, the twins surprised Gaya by making contact throughout Elon and Ozer and dealing with the merchants themselves. It wouldn't be an understatement to say the dark castle solely depended on the twins for the construction materials.

"My Lord,"

"My Lady,"

The twins bowed as their eyes glistened with gratefulness and respect.

"I'd love to have a chit-chat with you guys, but I am kinda in a rush. So let me cut to the chase, I need everything on this list as soon as possible," Michael took out a parchment and raised it so the twins could take a good look at the things he had written on the yellow parchment.

Titus quickly scribbled everything down on a piece of paper. Thanks to their experience, Titus and Optimus were able to give Michael a rough estimate of how much everything on the list would cost him.

"My Lord, if we are to get everything you want, its gonna cost at least fifty million,"

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Gaya's brows arched up as she snatched the parchment from Michael's hand and read everything from top to bottom.

'What in the hell would cost fifty million?" She muttered. But when she saw the 'Epic class cauldron, the largest size', Titus's words made sense to her.

"Why stop for Epic? Just write down you need legendary class," Gaya said sarcastically.

Titus and Optimus scratched their heads, looking at the Dark Queen bicker with the Dark Lord himself. She was the only person in the entire army who had the guts to yell at him. Believe it or not, this was one of the many reasons the subordinates trusted the Dark Lord more than the great eight clans because an evil person, as they claimed, would never sit there and listen to a woman yell at him. On the contrary, they knew only one with a kind heart and humanity intact would respect and listen to his female counterpart.

"Whatever. Just get him what he needs. I assume you two need some time to locate everything on the list," Gaya asked as the twins nodded.

"Give us five days, my lord," asked Optimus.

"We need time to get the coins for the items," Gaya leaned closer to Michael and whispered into his ears,

Michael nodded. Getting the coins they needed was Gaya's specialty, and she had done a better job than he ever could have. Hence, Michael trusted Gaya to deal with it as she always did. She already started to rub her chin, formulating a plan inside her head. If the twins were right, they needed fifty million in five days.

"Then I expect you to report to me in five days," said Michael.

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