Thanks to Perfect Vision, he was able to somewhat see his surroundings. The thousands of alien corpses still littered the ground.
Just when Michael was about to sigh, a feminine voice called out behind him.
"Finally, are you done?"
A smile slowly formed on his face. Once he turned around, he saw the vehicle they had used not too long ago. Leo was sleeping in the driver's seat while Ava was sitting at the edge of the door.
"You waited for me? I'm flattered, but you didn't have to." Michael chuckled.
"Preposterous! How could we leave you alone in the middle of the night with an army of aliens still ravaging Triton?" She pouted.
"Besides, did you forget? I said that I am never leaving your side again!"
'If my sword was summoned at the moment, I can imagine what it was going to say.' Michael mused, patting Ava on the head.
"Thanks, I appreciate it." He flashed her a warm smile.
She puffed her chest in pride at the compliment, only for her breath to halt a second later.
"Wait, this spiritual energy… You reached the Middle Adept realm?!" She shouted in awe, waking up Leo from his slumber.
"Daredevil, why are you shouting?! Is Michael up?"
Unlike normal, Ava didn't begin arguing with Leo about being called Daredevil, as she was still looking at Michael in awe.
"We can talk along the way," Michael suggested before entering the vehicle.
During the ride, Ava asked him how he reached a higher realm basically by cultivating only a single time after his last breakthrough. Michael was able to get her to calm down after saying that he understood his soul and mind better after facing the 40 Elites.
Of course, this wasn't exactly a lie nor the truth, but Ava accepted the explanation with no questions. She regarded Michael as a genius, so it wasn't as baffling as before.
"What about Victoria and the base?"
Ava shrugged at the question. "Nothing really, we withdrew all of our forces to our base. Since I have yet to receive a call from Victoria, I can only assume that she has yet to issue official orders. If I have to bet, we would either be requested to help the other bases or go deal with the command alien ship."
Michael nodded solemnly. Thankfully he hadn't missed anything major by cultivating for so long. But the threat of the command ship still bugged him to no end.
'I am sure that Victoria and the ones above her suspect that there must be something beyond Elites leading the ship. Otherwise the quest would not be categorized as impossible. At least I can have faith that they are going to prepare accordingly.' He figured, taking a long sigh.
Exhaustion began to weigh down on his limbs, clouding his judgment. He had spent too much time being awake, and even cultivation didn't ease the burden on his mind enough.
"I can't wait to get some rest."
The rest of the ride passed in a comfortable silence.
A few hours later they reached the base that was awfully quiet. With the exception of the few soldiers that were busy guarding, most were deep in their sleep.
"Go ahead and take a rest. I have one last thing I want to do." Michael said to his two teammates.
Leo simply nodded while Ava remained stubbornly at his side.
"I said that I am never leaving your side." She protested.
He couldn't help but giggle. "So does that mean you are planning on sleeping in my bed?"
"Wh—" Ava's face blushed fully by the unexpected question.
"I—I mean if you don't mind—" Before she could finish, Michael pressed his finger on her thin lips.
"I can see the exhaustion on your face. Go rest. You need it more than me. Trust me, I am not going to do anything that could endanger my life."
Ava frowned. "Now if I don't listen to your advice, it would look like I have no trust in you."
Being cornered, Ava was left with no other choice but to retreat to her chambers.
"Now let's see if she is awake." Michael mumbled, going straight towards Victoria's office.
Just as expected, the second he entered her office, the only person that was still up was Victoria, who was looking at several hologram projects in front of her.
'These are simulated possible scenarios about how the war might turn out. Is she really planning to study them until exhaustion?'
"Victoria?" Michael asked quietly, breaking her out of her daze.
"Michael? Sorry, I didn't see you since I was too absorbed just now." Rotating her chair, she faced him.
"Thank you for coming straight to me. I wanted to ask you more details about the—" Victoria began before she was cut off.
"Victoria, I can literally see the dark circles under your eyes. Go and sleep." Unlike his usually calm demeanor, he spoke with authority, not that of a soldier speaking to his higher-up.
Her eyes narrowed slightly before speaking. "Even if you say so, I still have many more tasks ahead of me. My soldiers, my people need me."
'This is the mindset that tormented me so much in my past life… I am not going to let you make the same mistake.'
"You are the general of our base. If you aren't with your all when the time demands, it could spell doom for your people. If you really care for their lives, make your health a priority. Otherwise, it would all be for naught."
Not waiting for her response, he opened the door to exit.
"Even when you believe pushing yourself is the right choice, there will come a day when you have to go beyond your limits… Only to find yourself unable to do so. That will be the day you regret not taking care of yourself sooner. No officer would complain if you get a good night's rest. Heck, I will even share my quarters if this is what it takes for you to relax." With that, he shut the door, disappearing from her line of sight.
He wasn't joking. He could recover very quickly from virtually anything, no matter where he was, but most people were not like him. So in his eyes, giving his quarters to someone else was a worthy investment.
"Hopefully with this she realizes the most important thing for a leader is to be well-rested. Now off to sleep!" Michael said casually, craving the warmth of his bed.
Meanwhile, at the other side, Victoria's gaze was locked onto the door.
"Did I imagine it, or did he imply I can join him in his quarters?" She mumbled, completely baffled.