Once Michael retrieved the corpses of the Awakened he and his people killed in the Elementals cave, Tiara and the Forest Elves realized what he was about to do.
They accessed their War Runes’ storage and pulled out the Awakened they’d killed in the main settlement.
“Tiara. What kind of Soultrait do you need? You wanted to focus on creating a great synergy with Soultraits, but you never said what Soultrait you’re looking for,” Michael asked as several golden threads of Extraction emerged from his palms. 𝗼𝘃𝗹.𝗼𝐫𝗴
He began extracting the corpses, focusing on the SoulStar Fragments, and Soultrait Symbols. Michael hoped to strengthen himself and the Awakened working for him to create a small group that was strong enough to throw out the Kitsun Lord’s territory from the Untamed Jungle and the Savannah. Of course, that was easier said than done, but Michael had to give it a try. The fighters left behind in his territory were not as strong as the rest of his army had been. They hadn’t been summoned that long ago, nor had been promoted to 1-Star Warriors less than two weeks ago.
Therefore, fighting in the enemy’s territory was a much better idea. It was especially useful considering that the Kitsun Lord’s territory was humongous, while his settlements were located far apart.
The Kitsun Lord’s army was spread out across his territory. Even if he wanted to attack Michael immediately, he wouldn’t be able to gather his entire force, not without giving his other enemies a great opportunity to attack by leaving some of his territories vulnerable.
Michael had only one enemy to focus on right now. He didn’t have to pay attention to his other borders that much at this moment. That factor was something Michael wanted to exploit as much as possible.
“I am very interested in Spirit Whip. My Soultraits should work well with a Soultrait like Spirit Whip,” Tiara said after some consideration.
She had been thinking about this question since Michael had asked her the same thing a while ago. Being able to change her attack pattern all of a sudden using Inner Force to create feints before lashing out with several Spirit Whips – or one strengthened Spirit Whip – before once again changing her attack pattern to inflict lethal damage would give her a good advantage over her enemies.
Adding her transformation Soultrait to the fray, Tiara would have no problem fighting enemies of a higher rank. Once she learned to implement an ability like Spirit Whip into her attacks and use them instinctively her combat prowess would skyrocket.
A Soultrait that attacked the mind out of nowhere might not be perfect for Tiara, but it was as close to perfection as it could be. Fighting enemies on the same level as herself wouldn’t even require her to use trickery to win a fight. She could use several Spirit Whips, or a strengthened Spirit Whip to lash out and charge at her enemies rapidly after using Silvarean Tiger to transform partially.
The more Michael thought about Tiara’s decision to pick a Soultrait like Spirit Whip the better he found the idea.
He looked deep into her eyes and thought about something. By the time he made up his mind, Michael realized that he had finished plundering the Awakened corpses as well.
There had been a total of 135 Awakened, with five of them at Tier-3, 121 at Tier-2, and only 9 Tier-1 Awakened.
The Tier-1 Awakened had been new recruits, whom the Kitsun Lord had gotten hold of less than a year ago. They were pretty talented compared to the rest, but they still succumbed to the offer made by the Kitsun Lord. Michael decided to consume the Memory Orbs he extracted from their corpses, only to find out that the Kitsun Lord used his wealth to convince the poor and slightly talented Kitsun to become his subordinates through a Link of Loyalty and a Soul Contract.
Michael didn’t feel pity for them even though he knew that they had been tricked into believing that they accepted a great offer. And as expected, all the young Kitsun Awakened obtained was endless work and little to no free time in exchange for a small fortune. The small fortune allowed their family to prosper, but was that really worth it? They ended up dying either way.
The Memory Orbs of the Kitsun disgusted Michael. Even though he learned a lot, he witnessed the memories of the Kitsun like he was the one doing all of the things they did. It made him feel nauseated. He offered the other Adventurers to consume the Memory Orbs if they wanted to because he wouldn’t use the Memory Orbs of the Kitsun for himself, but he wouldn’t strongly recommend them to do that either.
Tiara and the Forest Elves were curious how the Memory Orbs worked. Therefore, they consumed one Memory Orb respectively. Five minutes later, the Forest Elves shouted aloud, cursing themselves for not having killed more Kitsun when they had the opportunity.
Meanwhile, Tiara remained silent. She just clenched her fists and gritted her teeth in anger.
Michael could understand their reactions well. He felt similar.
He diverted his attention from his subordinates’ reactions and moved on to the piles of SoulStar Fragments and Soultraits.
A simple scan with enhanced Eagle Eyes allowed him to take a proper look at his loot.
“3605 SoulStar Fragments and 13 Soultrait Symbols. Adding the 254 SoulStar Fragments I already have, we can use a total of 3859 SoulStar Fragments,” Michael mumbled, not surprised about the gains they made.
Even a Tier-2 Awakened with a 1-Star Soultrait dropped between 15-20 SoulStar Fragments thanks to Extraction being a 6-Star Soultrait. The Tier-3 Awakened dropped roughly 100 each. That was actually less than what Michael expected. But that was probably because their Soultraits were miserable.
None of the Awakened Kitsun had a powerful Soultrait. The only Soultrait that intrigued Michael a little was the Soultrait of the Kitsun he fought in the Elementals Cave. The Kitsun’s eyes pierced deep into his Soul, distracting him – even if it was just for a second.
He remembered having extracted the Soultrait Symbol of the Kitsun with the Soultrait that changed his eye color to silver, and it was not difficult to find the Symbol in the pile of Soultrait Symbols either. The emblem on the Soultrait Symbol was a pair of silver eyes, a dead giveaway.
For a quarter of a second, Michael reconsidered using his SoulStar Fragments to create a new socket for the Sphere of Light. That would allow him to bind a new Soultrait to the Sphere and to fuse his War Rune with it.
However, he changed his decision now that Tiara wanted a Soultrait like Spirit Whip.
If she wanted something like Spirit Whip, why couldn’t he just give her Spirit Whip?
It had been a while since Michael began to doubt Spirit Whip’s utility. His current fighting style was also quite questionable since he didn’t use his Soultraits in an orthodox way. The utility of his Soultraits was rather abstract, which resulted in mixing Soultraits that ought to be used for close combat to become Soultraits with long-range attacks.
Unfortunately, Spirit Whip couldn’t be used in as versatile a way as his other Soultraits. Thus, Michael used it less as the number of his Soultraits increased. Maybe, he would stop using Spirit Whip in the future entirely.
Therefore, Michael used Extraction on himself. He entered the deepest parts of his consciousness and accessed his Sphere of Light. Extraction shrouded the Sphere of Light in a golden sheen that moved toward the Symbol for Spirit Whip. Once Extraction reached Spirit Whip, Michael began to extract the Soultrait Symbol.
A severe headache overcame Michael instantly. However, instead of giving up extracting Spirit Whip, Michael continued. The headache grew more severe over time, but the Soultrait Symbol was finally extracted. This left the Socket that had been occupied by Spirit Whip empty.
However, Michael was not worried about that. He pressed the Soultrait Symbol with the silver eyes emblem against the back of his right hand. A large white tentacle shot out of the back of his hand, coiling around the Soultrait Symbol before pulling it back.
The Soultrait Symbol found its designated place with the empty socket in the Sphere of Light. This lessened the headache quite a bit. It allowed Michael to turn to Tiara with a faint smile.
“Here, use Spirit Whip. It’s already a 4-Star Soultrait. It should be enough to increase your combat prowess considerably once your proficiency with Spirit Whip increases,” Michel said as he handed Tiara the Soultrait Symbol. He closed his eyes afterward in order to digest the information provided by his new Soultrait.
The Soultrait’s name sounded rather simple, and so was the effect. [Piercing Gaze] did exactly what the name suggested. It was a piercing gaze that stared deep into the Soul of the target. The information provided by fusing Piercing Gaze didn’t even suggest that it was a Soultrait with the ability to harm the mind or soul. However, Michael was of a different opinion.
He instinctively used Eagle Eyes and Piercing Gaze together, creating a silverish-golden sheen in his eyes. His eyesight was enhanced drastically, and he could tell that he could create something similar to a shockwave that would affect his target at will.
It was a weird feeling to use Eagle Eyes and Piercing Gaze together. However, it was not an uncomfortable feeling. Michael felt rather good using these two Soultraits together.
Instead of hesitating to upgrade Piercing Gaze as it might be useless in the given predicament, Michael spent 392 SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Piercing Gaze to a 4-Star Soultrait. The cost to upgrade Piercing Gaze was that high because it had occupied the empty socket located in the middle area of the Sphere of Light. Nonetheless, Michael was far from disappointed with the upgraded version of Piercing Gaze.
A flood of information swept through Michael’s mind, informing him that Piercing Gaze had been upgraded to [Spirit Gaze]. A simple look with Spirit Gaze would be enough to intimidate those around him. If utilized with the intention to harm his enemies, the designated targets would feel a sense of inferiority upon looking at Michael. They would feel exposed and highly vulnerable as if their entire being could be read by Michael. Last but not least, Spirit Gaze could create an effect called ‘Spirit Disturbance’. It could cause severe headaches to the target, and even knock them out if their defense was not strong enough.
It was very interesting and even stronger than Spirit Whip in Michael’s opinion. First of all, Spirit Gaze enhanced his eyesight. It allowed him to see the origin energy permeating the air with much more precision than before. Other than that, it could be used to investigate his enemies’ powers, and used as a means to strike them.
But there was even more that Michael discovered once all information about Spirit Gaze had been digested. The thin thread –? a link – had been established between two Soultrait Symbols. Eagle Eyes and Spirit Gaze had established a connection with each other. Something like this happened to Michael for the first time. It was a huge surprise – a welcome one.
‘So Soultraits cannot only develop and become stronger, granting them a ‘new’ name, but they can even create links? What does that mean? Will their powers be amplified if used together, or will they fuse in the future? What if they continue to develop? Eagle Eyes should regain its name as Divine Eyes once it becomes an 8-Star Soultrait…but will that still be the case now that it is connected with Spirit Gaze?’
Too many questions flashed through Michael’s mind, but none of them was bothersome. The questions in his mind filled him with curiosity, and a sense of desire to find the answers to those questions in the future. They gave his gloomy heart a little bit of hope.
But for now, Michael had to deal with the Kitsun Lord first. The questions could be answered in the future.
After all, his future was bound to continue. It wouldn’t end with an enemy such as the Kitsun Lord!