I Am Genie

Chapter 97 97: All Three Reach Level Ten

Thinking about what Iris just said, Michael felt a bit of familiarity. It seemed he had seen some similar stories in human history on Earth.

There were some emperors who valued and employed corrupt officials, making many later generations think they were stupid.

But the truth was most of those corrupt officials actually had real talent. They were greedy but usually didn't do things to the point of making everyone furious.

Actually, their talent helped the kingdom gain much more benefit compared to the damage they caused.

There used to be a saying like this: "White cat or black cat doesn't matter, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat."

Corrupt officials and honest officials can be compared to white cats and black cats. The greedy ones always think of ways to develop the economy to get money, the honest ones don't need money but instead cultivate people's morality.

Both types of 'cats' can catch 'mice.' Moreover, each type of 'cat' specializes in catching a different kind of 'mouse.'

As a leader, the most important thing is to develop the country, not to satisfy personal feelings. Using both types of 'cats' is a good way to create a balanced society with both economic development and moral development.

Michael, after all, was still very immature. His experience was shallow, he acted on impulse. He judged right and wrong based on an individual's perspective, not the perspective of someone who has to shoulder the burden of millions, billions of people.

"Thanks. Didn't think that occasionally you could talk so wisely. But having lived such a long time and only reaching this level means you're not very smart either."

Prejudice in a person's heart is like a big mountain, no matter how hard you try, you can't push it away.

In Michael's impression, the image of Iris as someone who prefers using muscles over brains had long been deeply ingrained. Wanting him to immediately see her as a smart, polite person was impossible.

Michael's ability to get himself hit was truly excellent when used on Iris. As soon as he finished speaking, she wanted to beat him up again.

"Hmph, I live long so I have to know everything? I've f*cking just been in the forest looking for shiny and pretty things. There's no civilization in the Ancient Forest, so how am I supposed to compare to humanity on issues like this?"

He was fiercely scolded by her into silence. From her words, every single one was reasonable, leaving him no way to find fault.

Just like human civilization, actually only cultivated for a few thousand years. But its achievements compared to a species that has existed since the Triassic period like crocodiles, are infinitely greater.

Even if Iris was smart, she was still just alone. Living among a bunch of energy monsters who prefer using muscles over brains, it would really be strange if she could learn much.

"If that's the case, then you're... smarter than I thought."

Even though Michael didn't like Iris much, admitting that she had a brain wasn't so difficult that he couldn't do it. But speaking of her, he affirmed that violence was still one step above intelligence.

"Hmph, what do you mean? Smarter than you thought? Obviously I'm smarter than you, dumbass."

Iris snorted, then turned and walked away. Others might underestimate her intelligence, but Michael couldn't.

Over the years, she was always thinking about how to 'train' him so he would have all the qualities of strength, spirit, and intelligence.

Although the actions weren't much different from torture, the results were real. For her, it was because Michael was too 'stupid' to realize how much effort she had put into him.

If she told these things to Leo, he would agree, but even if Michael knew, he would still deny it all. There was only one reason: What normal person could survive this kind of 'training'?

"A smart person proves it with actions. An idiot just shouts that they're 'smart'."

Michael didn't let her leave that easily. As soon as she turned her head, he yelled loudly towards her.

The Seven-Hued Celestial Dragon Spear appeared in her hand. This time, not beating him wasn't an option.

But as she raised her spear, she suddenly froze. The feeling that there was an invisible barrier inside her body was broken right at this moment.

"Huh? Am I already twelve years old?"

After breaking through the shackles caused by the world's rules. She immediately increased to level eleven easily.

Michael and Leo also, in this moment, experienced a similar feeling. From now on, they officially stepped onto the path of a contractor without any other limits.

"Ha ha ha, leveled up, leveled up!"

Michael jumped around joyfully like a child even though his total age from both lives was already almost thirty.

But it wasn't strange that he was so excited. Level ten was the first important milestone on every contractor's path.

For someone coming from a world without strange abilities like him, this experience could be said to be extremely novel.

Just as he broke through to level ten, Leo, without prior arrangement, immediately ran to where the two of them were. Just like that, within a few seconds, the three of them had gathered together.

Iris was once a god, but she was born with that strength already. She had never experienced the feeling of breaking through important milestones, so this experience could be considered a small joy.

Already being happy and seeing Michael jumping up like a child, she also lost the urge to hit him.

"So now where do we go to hunt energy monsters…"

Michael urgently spoke up to ask but suddenly stopped. His eyes looked cautiously towards Iris.

She was Dragon God and at the same time could be considered the supreme existence of energy monsters. In front of her, talking about hunting energy monsters was a bit… not very polite.

"Pfft, ha ha ha. Seems like you guys don't really understand anything about energy monsters, huh?"

Iris burst out laughing when she saw them both staring at her as if they wanted to say something but didn't dare.