"Are you alright?" Michael asked his crew. While he had faith in their abilities, for all he knew they could have faced Generals in his absence.

"More or less." Ava puffed her chest in pride.

"My mecha accumulated a lot of damage, but otherwise I am fine." Claire nodded.

There were injuries running across their bodies, but nothing life-threatening that would require immediate medical attention.

"Good, then follow me!" Michael commanded, leading the way.

The others arched an eyebrow but didn't argue. If their leader wanted to show them something, they would come along.

"...!"

Shock and excitement flashed across their faces as they watched the spiritual energy emitting from the body of the Overlord and Victoria, who was cultivating about a dozen meters away from the Lords.

"HAHAHA! I knew following you was the right decision!" Without any kind of hesitation, Richard settled on the ground and closed his eyes.

The others mirrored his action, sitting some distance away from one another so as not to disturb their cultivation, and began.

Naturally, Michael went to the opposite side of his crew. After all, with his cultivation speed, there was the risk of absorbing his crew's share.

Closing his eyes, he instantly entered the cultivation mindset.

[You are in an area with an astonishingly high concentration of spiritual energy. +5,000% cultivation speed applied.]

[Spirit Surge takes effect. +1,000% cultivation speed applied.]

[You have consumed spiritual energy: +240 Spirit]

[You have consumed spiritual energy: +240 Spirit]

[You have consumed spiritual energy: +240 Spirit]

Michael began to absorb the energy around him at record-breaking speeds. From afar, people would easily mistake him for a Grandmaster due to the sheer energy his body was absorbing like a sponge.

Of course, Cyberfang stuck close to its master. The tiger tilted its head to the side, feeling the way the surroundings began to shift towards Michael.

[Protecting, master…]

Unwilling to let any harm come his way, the giant beast circled him a few times before settling on the ground like a cat, using its body to shield him from any unseen threats.

'With the way things are going, I will make it to the Master realm pretty soon.' Michael mused.

It didn't take long for a notification to appear before his eyes.

[You have achieved a breakthrough!]

[Middle Expert → Late Expert]

In a flash he had reached the next stage of the Expert realm!

Fortunately, with the state the city was currently in, the soldiers were still far away from the center, busy with clearing out rubble and rescuing civilians. As such, there weren't any disturbances that could halt Michael or his crew's cultivation.

Soon after, another message appeared before his eyes.

[You have achieved a breakthrough!]

[Late Expert → Peak Expert]

Michael was essentially one step away from reaching the Master realm. The speed with which he was going from one stage to the next would leave even the most privileged legacies jealous. Because what he was doing wasn't possible to replicate by ordinary people for certain reasons.

Sure, a person could use all kinds of treasures and corpses of aliens to aid their cultivation. But achieving enlightenment was vastly different than a breakthrough.

Most people, regardless of being soldiers or not, would remain stuck at the Peak stage of their respective realms.

Fortunately, Michael had already traveled this path once, achieving enlightenments along the way. So in his case, achieving enlightenment and breakthrough was essentially the same.

It would simply take far longer for each realm that followed due to the higher amount of spiritual energy required.

'Since to reach enlightenment I need to double the amount of spiritual energy in my body, it will take me some time even with the energy emitting from the Overlord.'

According to his estimations, he would require a full day to become a Master. By then the army would have surely reached them.

When that happened, either the Lords would stop cultivating and herd away the daring soldiers or let them be, lowering the efficiency of the space. Nevertheless, becoming a Master would most likely not happen today.

"Michael!"

Suddenly Richard's voice sounded, causing Michael to stop his cultivation.

"What is it?" He asked, certain that something had gone amiss.

The man was still a Peak Master, so it wasn't possible he wanted to boast about becoming a Grandmaster.

"Tell me, didn't ten Lords arrive to fight with the Overlord? So why are they eleven now?"

"..."

Michael stared at the Master, wondering if he was insane. Then his eyes adjusted to the circle of Lords.

'Eleven!' The realization struck him a moment later. Another Lord had stealthily appeared and capitalized on the opportunity to cultivate next to the Ovelord's corpse.

The fact that the Lord wasn't within the circle but instead positioned a bit farther out made it clear that he hadn't been part of the initial agreement to absorb the Overlord's power.

That, combined with Michael's inability to sense the new arrival's presence despite keeping his eyes locked on him, told him everything he needed to know.

Filling his chest with air, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"TRAITOR!"

Since he had kept quiet until now, the sudden shout successfully interrupted the cultivating of the Lords.

"Who was that?"

"I knew we should have gotten rid of the small fry…"

Suspecting that the eleventh Lord had ill intentions made it clear the best course of action was to alert the other Lords. If Michael tried to slip away with his crew quietly, it could provoke the hidden Lord's wrath, which would doom him and his crew.

"!!!"

Thanks to their vast experience, the Lords instantly realized why the Expert from afar had dared to interrupt them.

A person with strength equal to theirs had sneaked up on them!

Sadly, even with their inhuman reflexes, they were still taken by surprise.

'I would have liked to abuse this moment for a bit longer… Whatever, at least I gained a little spiritual energy.' The eleventh Lord mused, moving faster than Michael could perceive.

Stab!

Faster than a heartbeat, the sword of the hidden Lord pierced the heart of another Lord too slow to react.

"That's one down." The man said coldly, his gaze shifting to the remaining Lords.

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