Hearing Michael's question, Carol was decisive in her answer, as she did not hesitate to say, "Not at all. While it might be true that he might not be a playboy, we are just not suitable for each other. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Every time that I meet him, I'm kind of repulsed at him. It is not about his appearance, but just him, as a person. If we end up in a relationship, it will never work."

At those words, Michael raised his brows slightly, wondering, just what kind of person could later to Carol feeling repulsed just by looking at him.

Regardless, he did not care about who that person was, and what his reaction would be. In any case, that was his business, and Michael would not involve himself in his pursuit of Carol.

At the end of the day, even if there was a friendship between Michael and Carol, it was quite shallow. It was not to the extent that Michael would go to great lengths in order to help her.

"Okay, then. But if you don't want to continue being disturbed by him, why don't you just return this card to him? After all, if you continue staying with this card, the entanglement will definitely be there. So, he is bound to come looking for you in the future." Michael said as he placed the card on the table, before pushing it towards Carol.

When Carol heard those words, at first, she was disappointed. Clearly, Michael was interested in the auction that was held, at a location where this card could grant access.

But now, she was returning it to her? Did that imply that he was not willing to take it because he thought that she was lying to him?

So, she quickly tried to clear things up, "I hope that you don't misunderstand. I only took this card from him because I thought that you might be interested in it.

I don't have any feelings for him, and neither are we close."

Michael was left speechless at this point. Why did it seem like Carol was trying to clear her name? Could it be that she thought that he thought that she was in a relationship with that guy?

Hey, they were not in a relationship, and right now, he already had someone else in his heart. So, whoever Carol loved, and ended up in a relationship with, that had nothing to do with him.

So, he decided to make things clear, "It is not that I'm misunderstanding. It is just a piece of advice from me, because the moment that you use this card, you will definitely continue getting entangled with him.

Of course, if you don't mind him coming to continuously bother you, then you can use this card. Otherwise, you should definitely return it to him.

As for the event, I can definitely find a way to access it. So, you don't need to worry about that."

Looking at Carol, whose facial expression was continuously shifting, he added, "Since you have also never attended this event, I will give you another card. This should allow you to be able to enter, and bid on any item as long as you can afford it."

Carol was momentarily shocked, but in the next moment, she felt that it was reasonable. After all, Michael was definitely from a big background.

Since that was the case, it would not be much of a problem for him to be able to access the card. Maybe, previously, he did not know about the existence of that event, which was why he did not possess the access.

But now that he knew about, if he wanted the access, it might be just a matter of saying the word, and gaining what he wanted.

Even though she was slightly disappointed that Michael did not take the card that she brought to him, she still felt a little excited. After all, Michael had agreed to give her another card if she wanted to go there.

That would immediately solve her curiosity and deal with that guy who had given her the card, preventing him from pestering her in the future.

"Thank you, once again. You know, I feel kind of embarrassed, because, I came here to try and thank you for what you have done for me, only for you to end up doing a favor for me." Carol stated sincerely.

"No need to think much about it. If you had not informed me about this, I might not have known about the existence of that event." Michael shook his head as he responded.

While Onyx could gain access to quite a huge amount of information in this world, it was not as if Michael knew about it all.

Michael was only concerned about the information that was related to him, directly or indirectly. As for anything else, he did not bother with it.

For an event like this, before today, Michael would definitely not have been bothered with it. But now, he was quite curious, to see what kind of items could be found there.

Additionally, he wondered, would he be able to understand the secrets that have been hidden in this world? Could it be that there were higher level mutants in this world?

So, he thought, he would definitely attend that event. According to Carol, the auction would be held on 11th of this month, October of 2025, which gave him quite some time.

Michael hoped that by the time that it got to 11th, his body would have adapted, allowing him to be able to take another serum. While he was confident in his current strength, he would not mind getting stronger.

Carol on the other hand felt much more relieved when she heard that Michael appreciated what she had done. While eventually, he did not take the card, at least, he got the information.

So, this time, she thought, maybe, she should take it as though she just brought Michael the Intel on the existence of such an event.

At the same time, she decisively thought, he would have to make sure that the guy that had given her the card understood her stance. She did not want any misunderstandings in the future.

...

It was around midday of 6th of October, and Michael had just woken up, feeling quite refreshed.

As he was stretching, he suddenly received a prompt from the system, which made him feel excited.

[Host, your body has finally adopted to the serum, and is ready to take another dose.]

Finally! The long wait was over! Everyday, Michael had been wondering when he would be able to gain another ability, but now, here it was.

The time that he took the mutation serum was on 28th of the previous month. And today, it was exactly the 8th day since he took the serum.

'Does this imply that my body takes exactly 8 days in order to completely adapt to the serum?' Michael asked internally.

[This depends on the level of the serum that the host has taken. So, the time can vary, it could be more, or it could be less.]

While the answer from the system was not well defined, but still, Michael thought, he would have to experiment on his own.

This time, yet again, he was going to take a serum of grade SSS. It was of the same grade as the previous serum, the psychic clone ability serum. Michael would then make the judgment based on the time that his body would take to adapt after taking this serum.

Now, Michael began wondering, which ability should he take this time? At least, for now, he knew that it would not take too long for him to be able to gain another ability.

So, he could go with abilities that he could use immediately, instead of those that directly boosted his strength. For now, he had not encountered any opponents that he could not deal with.

There was a great probability of facing such opponents in the future, but it definitely wasn't going to happen now. At least, there was a low possibility of that happening.

But, it was always good to be prepared. Who could tell, maybe there might be an invasion right now? If that really happened, and those invaders were intent on slaughtering humans, and were stronger than him, what would he do?

And just as he was thinking about this, he suddenly felt one of his clones suddenly dissipating.

The clones that he had, they could be felt by Michael, and he could even control them. So, the moment that this clone disappeared, Michael immediately felt it.

While there were no repercussions, it made him frown. What could be going on here?

That clone, it was within the villa, and right now, there was no any other person within the villa apart from himself.

All the clones shared the room, where, it had been organized in such a way that it was almost like an office. This made it much more easy for the clones to be able to push the skills to the expert level.

It was through the other clones that Michael was sure that this clone that had disappeared had not been killed by someone else.

As he was still puzzled, he received a prompt from the system, making him understand what had happened.

[The clones can only exist for a certain duration. Currently, the clones can only exist for 7 days, and on the 8th day, they will immediately dissipate. With each clone dissipating, the host can summon another.]

At this, Michael felt speechless. What was the use of dissipating the clone, if he could just summon another one immediately after? Why not allow them to exist unless he wanted them to disappear, or they get killed by someone or something?

Still, Michael did not focus on that, as he immediately accessed the system store, browsing through the abilities available. Eventually, he made a decision.