Testing the power of a Soultrait was possible thanks to the technique mankind developed over the course of hundreds of years.
It was rarely tested because the results had never been accurate in the past. That only changed with the technological advancement of the past decade.
A testing device to perceive the Soul Power exuded by Soultraits had been created.
However, the testing device was not perfect. It couldnât determine the Soultraitâs star rating, or how many Links of Loyalty enhanced the Lordâs Soul Power.
Several machines were attached to Michael in order to test the Soul Power he could unleash upon releasing the strongest form of his Soultrait.
But Michael didnât move an inch. He was as stiff as a board.
Michael didnât want his four Soultraits to be discovered. In fact, he would rather reveal only one Soultrait while keeping the others a secret. That was why the appearance of the Soul Power testing device scared him.
âSir, you have to use your Soultrait, otherwise, we cannot test your Soul Power,â One of the female staff members said. She looked at him in annoyance.
Michaelâs heart skipped a beat when he heard what she said. âThey cannot test my Soul Power if I donât activate my Soultrait? Oh my goshâŠthatâs great!â
Color returned to his pale cheeks, and he smiled brightly at the annoyed female staff.
âI have two Soultraits. A 3-Star Soultrait and a 2-Star Soultrait. Please take that into consideration when you test my Soul Power,â Michael said energetically before he unleashed his Eagle Eyes and Lesser Enhancement Soultraits to the extreme.
The testing devices attached to his body began to gleam faintly and the monitor attached to the testing devices displayed a few numbers.
âTwo Sources of Soul Power have been detected. The weaker source has 69 Units of Soul Power and the stronger has 169 Units of Soul Power.â The staff member working on the monitor revealed with slight astonishment.
He looked over to Michael and squinted his eyes. Afterward, he opened the assessment form with Michaelâs name on it and noted down the data.
âThat⊠Is the device broken?â The annoyed woman asked. She lifted her right eyebrow and took a second glance at Michael.
âDouble Trait, a 3-Star Soultrait with 169 Soul Power Units, and a 2-Star Soultrait with 69 Soul Power Units, and he is an 18-year-old Tier-1 LordâŠthatâs amazing!!â The staff member working on the monitor exclaimed.
Amazed by this revelation, the young man quickly opened Michaelâs assessment form and didnât think twice before he scanned Michaelâs data thoroughly.
âDo you know what that means?!â The young man asked loudly, turning over to Michael, who could only stare back at him with a blank expression.
He didnât know much about Soul Power. The only thing Michael had learned about Soul Power was that Soul Power is the Unit used to determine the strength of a Soultrait.
Soultraits were not only ranked according to their star rating but their Soul Power as well. Soultraits could be nourished by the refinement degree of the War Rune theyâre bound to. The higher the Tier and refinement degree of the War Rune, the stronger the Soultrait. Simultaneously, the number of Links of Loyalty, and their firmness played a similarly crucial role.
Both the Links of Loyalty and the War Rune could nourish the Soul Power of Soultraits, enhancing their power gradually.
That was also why the Soultraits of Lords grew stronger than the Soultraits of Adventurers. Lords had countless Links of Loyalty to nourish their Soultraitâs Soul Power, while Adventurers could only strengthen their Soul Power by enhancing their War Rune.
But that was already the extent of knowledge Michael had about Soul Power. It was not a topic that was taught in high school. Soul Power was only relevant to Lords and Adventurers, and not everyone in high school would manifest a War Rune. Even then, Soul Power was a more advanced subject that couldnât be studied in depth without learning the basics.
âAfter testing hundreds of thousands of Soultraits it was found that the strongest 2-Star Soultrait cannot have more than 50 Soul Power Units. Even if your 2-Star Soultrait is one of the strongest 2-Star Soultraits weâve tested, it must have been nourished quite a lot by your Links of Loyalty and War Rune.â The male staff member exclaimed.
âCan you tell me how you were able to consistently nourish your Soultrait? It must have been really difficult to nourish your 2-Star Soultrait!â He added with great curiosity.
The young man was overly excited, which Michael couldnât really understand.
Everything he did was expose Eagle Eyes and Lesser Enhancement. Was there an issue?
Michael didnât think so, but he was a little bit nervous seeing how excited the staff member was.
The young man talked only about his 2-Star Soultrait, but what about his 3-Star Soultrait? Was it because 2-Star Soultraits were said to be harder to improve?
The other staff members didnât seem to understand the young manâs excitement either, which further added to Michaelâs confusion.
If the young man found out that something was wrong with his Soultraits, he would immediately report it to his superiors. If that happened, his plan of hiding his other Soultraits, especially Extraction, would fail miserably.
Thus, he approached the young man once the testing device had been detached from his body.
âCan you tell me more about Soul Power?â Michael asked.
The young man nodded his head vigorously and looked excitedly toward Michael. After so long, someone was interested in the same hobby he had; research of Soultraits and Soul Power!
However, before he could say anything, more students appeared to get tested.
âO-okayâŠâ Harry responded the smile wiped away from his face.
âWe can exchange contact details. That way, we can speak a little bit more about Soultraits and Soul Power when you have some more time to spare,â Michael offered.
Harryâs smile returned when Michael came up with this grandiose idea.
They exchanged their contact details and went their separate ways afterward.
âAt least he didnât tell his superiors that something is oddâŠâ Michael thought as he went ahead to the next assessment stations.
He was pretty sure that the SoulStar Fragments were the reason Lesser Enhancementâs Soul Power was so high. Lesser Enhancement was not a normal 2-Star Soultrait, after all. The three SoulStar Fragments it absorbed had excessive energy after completing the second star.
The excessive energy formed the foundation of a 3rd star, indicating that it was stronger than normal 2-Star Soultraits.
Unfortunately, he had to reveal both Eagle Eyes and Lesser Enhancement to the outside world. Why was that the case?
It was pretty simple.
Alice had already seen Eagle Eyes. Thus, he had to show it, otherwise, Alice would start doubting him. A 3-Star Soultrait was rare enough to meet the Saphirelake Military Academyâs standards. However, Michael knew himself better than others.
He knew that he would use Lesser Enhancement more often in the future. It was highly likely that someone would find out about Lesser Enhancement once he started to use it more.
In the age of Starnet and technology, everyone could procure any kind of information that had been posted or stored somewhere.
That simply meant, the safest security system could get hacked and his information stolen.
Thus, Michael made his life easier by revealing that he had only two Soultraits. Nobody would expect that he was hiding more Soultraits because only those two exposed Soultriats had external physical features such as his glowing eyes and the white aura of Lesser Enhancement.
Spirit Whip was a non-physical attack that couldnât be seen, so Michael was not too worried about it being exposed. He could always say that one of his Artifacts had a mental-attack enchantment.
As for the reason he didnât expose Extraction. The 4-Star Soultrait was simply too powerful.
He didnât want to expose Extraction even though he could lie about its special perks. His lies could be proven wrong, and the truth exposed the moment someone with enough connections sensed that something was foul.
Connecting Extraction with his past transactions in the House of Witchery would be evidence enough to conclude that Extraction was an exceptional Soultrait.
If others were in his position, they might not think too much about the same things that bothered Michael. But Michael felt that his worries were justified and that he had to be well-prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Even if it was not necessary to do all of this, in the end, it was a safety measure and a means to decrease his worries.
He didnât want to wait until something bad happened before taking action and simply wanted to be well-prepared for everything.
That way, he could ensure his safety and the safety of those important to him!
Michael would be able to prevent unfortunate incidents like the invasion of the Lionhearts in his territory that wayâŠ