Assimilation.

<Skill: Full integration Lvl. max is activated>

Both of the host's eyes turned pale green, but due to the low lighting in the Midden, no one seemed to notice the change—Except for Finn.

He excitedly glanced at Mikael in Deon's body.

'How fun. I wonder what surprise Sir Deon will show me…'

"How about the prince? Do you have any ideas that you might want to share?" Finn struck while the iron is hot.

After all, he was the impatient type.

Mikael subtly smirked, 'As I thought, Sir Finn is truly sharp.'

Then he stood from his seat, snatched an ant's broken antennae, and approached the map.

"From what I gathered based on Dame Nora's report, there are three problems that we need to address.

One, the water level rising.

Two, the limited usability of the established tactic, and…

Three, the ineffective use of manpower." Mikael confidently said while looking at the members straight in their eyes.

The members were taken aback by the prince's unexpected shift in attitude. He now exuded more charisma, and even his way of speech drastically changed—as if he had matured several years in the span of a few minutes.

'Ohoh? Interesting…' Finn's ears perked and reddened at this familiar change in attitude.

It was only once, but he clearly remembered this tone that sent a pleasurable shiver down his spine. This tone was the reason why the prince piqued his interest in the first place.

Sure, he liked the adorable prince who blushed at the smallest compliment, but he liked this current version of the prince more.

'It's like he's possessed.'

Nevertheless, Finn shook his head to prevent his thoughts from straying.

He focused his attention on Mikael's words.

"All of those problems can be solved if we change chambers." Mikael pointed with his ant antenna to one chamber that initially failed their evaluation.

Like the other caverns that they used, this new one was also close to the queen's chamber. In fact, it was situated in between the two currently used trap chambers.

This chamber passed all criteria except for one—it had two tunnels connected to it.

Due to the possibility of a monster ambush, Finn ruled it out of the cave choices.

However, Mikael thought it was the perfect choice.

"If we collate those three problems that I stated earlier, we come up with one major issue," he held out his forefinger, "Water."

The members quietly chuckled,

'Ah… I thought he was going to say something smart. Maybe we shouldn't give him the leadership position after all.' Was what they all thought.

But Mikael's explanation was far from over.

While it seemed obvious enough to warrant chuckles from the masses, Mikael and Deon had long learned that most of the time, the answer to complicated problems can be quite frustratingly simple.

This was a lesson learned from a week with Finn.

"Imagine the chamber to be a lake. When it rains too heavily, the lake will overflow, but when it rains lightly, doesn't the water level stay the same?" He posed the question to the crowd, urging them to think.

As he only got a few nods in response, Mikael continued the explanation.

"Think about it. Where does the rainwater go?"

Only then did people understand his meaning.

Of course, if there's an input, there also has to be output to achieve equilibrium!

In other words, when the Almagi supply water to the pool and when the water level rises due to the monster corpse, a drain will flush out the excess water!

At this, the members eagerly listened to Mikael.

"The other tunnel will serve as the drain while the other one will serve as the faucet. That way, the Water specialists may continue conjuring their spells without worrying about flooding."

Finn looked at Mikael with proud eyes,

'Whoa… this prince sure is a fast learner.'

Finn recalled Deon's tremendous battle potential due to leveling up as a result of his persistent hunting. Deon, he believed, was more of a brawny type — which Finn disliked since he thinks intelligence trumps physical strength.

'To think that he would apply what he saw from me… He has the makings of a great strategist. But still, he can't beat me. I'm the smartest after all.' He smugly thought.

After successfully capturing their attention, Mikael discussed a more elaborate strategy. One which solved all their problems.

The members looked at him in awe with jaws hanging open.

'Wow… how did he come up with that?'

'Is the cowardly prince actually a genius like Sir Finn?'

'Why did he hide such amazing talent?'

'And here I thought he was just a useless brat like all other aristocratic sons that know.'

Mikael did not need to hear it to know that he had managed to improve Deon's sh*tty reputation—by leaps and bounds**, no less.

From a useless coward to a genius.

<Skill: Full integration Lvl. max is canceled.>

After doing his job, Mikael quickly gave Deon back his body.

His pale green eyes darkened into hazel brown.

'With this, I should have repaid some of my mistakes to you. Ah! Now that I think about it, I never said sorry about all the injuries that he got from my test of courage.' Mikael just remembered that he should apologize for bullying the prince in their first meeting.

'Oh well, treat this as my apology.'

"Enjoy the fruits of my labor, kid. Next time, you'll have to do me a favor." He told Deon through direct messaging.

Deon quietly smiled before replying, "Sure, Sir Mikael. you can count on me."

Slowly, the two souls who shared one body reached a better understanding of each other.

Equivalent exchange.

From now on, these two partners will give as much as they receive and take as much as taken from them.

Like true partners.

Ping!

<System Notification: Emotional Assimilation is increasing…>

--Chapter end—

** Strike when the iron is hot means to take advantage of an opportunity as soon as it exists, in case the opportunity goes away and does not return:

**By leaps and bounds means by very large degrees; rapidly or in quick progress forward.