“With that in mind, how many Soultraits do you have, and what is the star rating of your strongest Soultrait?!”
Killian’s question was straightforward as well as one of the rudest questions one could ask an Awakened. An Awakened’s Soultrait was their strongest trump card. It was their lifeline that determined their future and how long they would live in the Origin Expanse. Asking someone questions about their Soultraits was equivalent to asking about one’s deepest secrets.
Of course, Killian didn’t care about that. He couldn’t pay less attention to such formalities. So what if he was rude? He was curious and he wanted to know more about Michael’s Soultraits, especially their star rating.
The others could have called Killian a rude idiot, but they didn’t do so. They were also curious about Michael’s Soultraits and their star rating.
Michael didn’t particularly mind answering Killian’s question. However, he was not going to tell everything, obviously.
“The Soultrait related to the transmutation of my eyes has the highest star rating, and I got a bunch of other Soultraits as well. Definitely more than you or anyone else here.”
Killian was an annoying dude. Thus, Michael made it a mission to anger him.
“You don’t say, dipshit!?” Killian cursed under his breath. He glared at Michael and was just about to get up when he realized that leaving now meant he wouldn’t obtain more information from and about Michael.
Gritting his teeth, Killian sat back down, his eyes releasing faint electricity currents. Michael, on the other hand, broke into a smile.
“Since the transmutation makes it quite obvious, I think that revealing more about the Soultrait is hardly an issue. It’s a 6-Star Soultrait, one of the stronger ones at that. As for my other Soultraits, there are not many I kept a secret. If you continue researching me, you should be able to find out about most of my Soultraits.”
Killian calmed down a little as he heard Michael’s explanation. He was still fuming in anger, but that was not an abnormal behavior displayed by him, in the first place.
Lincoln looked at Michael. He listened intently and asked about one of the things that interested him the most.
“Can you give other people Soultraits and can you strengthen other Awakened’s Soultraits permanently as well?”
Michael figured what Lincoln was getting at. He wanted to know more about his Soultrait’s restrictions and if Extraction could be used to strengthen everyone or if it was restricted to empower only Michael.
“I can use my Soultrait on other people as well. Since you learned about Lord Rifts and the rewards given by the Will of the Origin Expanse already, you should know about Soultrait Symbols. I have a bunch of them. In fact, I’ve been accumulating them for a while now, preparing to sell them, or trade them for favors.”
Since Michael was one of the major contributors to everyone’s survival in the Flag War, he would attract more attention than others. News about Extraction would thus reach everyone. With that in mind, Michael could get ready to start trading Soultrait Symbols with the Tritan Alliance, and the ‘utensils’ to strengthen one’s Soultraits. Of course, everything came at a cost – an exorbitant cost. 𝑖𝘦𝑎.𝗇t
Extraction had been exposed but Michael possessed the monopoly on SoulStar Fragments and Soultrait Symbols. He could ask for whatever price he deemed fit for the Soultraits. After all, he was the only one capable of rewarding others with the Soultraits they desired – not just some random Soultrait that might as well turn out to be something they never wanted.
If an Awakened with a Support Soultrait always desired an Elemental Soultrait, Michael could deliver that. If someone was a coward but possessed a powerful Offensive-type Soultrait, Michael could give him a Support Soultrait. Michael could create a business model that turned the downside of Extraction being exposed into a great opportunity.
That was a good way to ignore the downsides of Extraction being exposed. It helped Michael to keep his mind from overthinking about the downsides and worrying needlessly. He never wanted it to happen but sadly it had happened. Extraction had been exposed. So what?
Everyone stared at Michael. They listened intently, even Zeke, who had been lost in thoughts about Quinn Karta and what his friend – no, former friend – told him.
Everyone understood why Michael had been hiding his power. Michael was not affiliated with High Society since birth, and he didn’t know enough about the world of Awakened to reveal Extraction with reassurance. Kaleb, Lincoln, and Zeke would have acted like Michael in his place as well.
While Michael’s friends were happy that Michael finally revealed his secret to them, Killian was angry. He was angry at Michael’s luck with his Soultrait. How in the four hells did Michael deserve such a powerful Soultrait? It was unfair and made Killian feel like killing Michael once again.
On the other hand, Maria was surprised and intrigued.
‘Is that why Michael is so compatible with me? Because of this Soultrait? I was right when I sensed something ancient within Michael. It must have been the power he uses to obtain more Soultraits and strengthen them!’
Kaleb fell deep in thought looking at Michael. “Do you think you could tell my sister about your power as well? Personally, I mean.”
“I don’t mind if you want to tell her. Alice probably knows that I have some sort of power that allows me to grow stronger much faster than others. There is no need for you to hide it from her,” Michael responded with a shrug, but Kaleb shook his head.
“I think you should tell her about it yourself. I believe she would want to hear everything from you personally. Alice will understand that you had to hide your strength as long as possible, but I am certain that she would be joyful if you tell her before she finds out from everyone else,” Kaleb clarified what he meant.
“That’s fine with me,” Michael agreed.
It was not like telling Alice would change a lot. In fact, Alice Zenovia was a great teacher and she had always been there to help him. She was the person who introduced him to the vast world of the Awakened. It would also not be wrong to say that Alice was the reason he got to know his friends and how he’d grown so much stronger in such a short amount of time.
Of course, he survived because he worked so hard, but without Alice, he wouldn’t have made it to the Sapphirelake Military Academy, and he would have never even thought about participating in the Battle Exchange and the Flag War. Either Michael would be dead now, or he would be much weaker without the opportunities he’d received through his initial meeting with Alice.
It was certainly true that she deserved to get to know about his power personally rather than hearing from others spreading rumors.
‘The rumors won’t be detailed, either way. Everyone will make their own theories, but only some know about the entire truth. Maybe, I can ask Alice to help me auction a Soultrait Symbol…that is something I can figure out later, I guess.’
Killian continued to grumble while Michael was deep in thought.
“You didn’t even do a good job hiding your power, in the first place. Everyone with a single brain cell can find out about your secret. All they have to do is pay some attention to your progress and how your strength increases drastically whenever you overcome some ordeals.”
“That merely means you paid lots of attention to Michael, didn’t you, Killian?” Maria asked, smiling brightly.
Her bright smile and Maria’s innocent expression caught Killian off-guard. He wanted to retort something and curse at Maria but realized soon enough that this wouldn’t be a good idea. Her broad smile melted Killian’s anger near-instantaneously.
Kaleb and Lincoln stared at Killian in disbelief. It felt like Maria trained her pursuers well. Killian acted like a well-trained dog, who acted only nice to his owner.
Despite the confusing attitude Killian showed them, Michael agreed to their comments.
“Other than my Soultrait, I have something interesting to share. I’ve procured the Tekur’s memories, including their experiences with Soul Techniques. My understanding of Soul Techniques is pretty high. This is mostly about Common-Class Soul Techniques, but there were also some Elite-Class Soul Techniques,” He said before retrieving a Memory Crystal from his War Rune.
He inserted his memories of Soul Glacicle Bullet inside the Memory Crystal and handed it over to Kaleb.
“I am not sure if you can use it, but I would like to experiment with your Frozen Nova and Soul Glacicle Bullet a little bit. It is a Common-Class Soul Technique I procured from a Tekur Soldier before altering it to fit Glacicle. Glacicle is the name of my Ice Soultrait, by the way.” Michael explained, before he added, “I want to see if I actually have to customize all Soul Techniques to perfectly fit each Soultrait, or if merely some similarities are enough. That would help me understand more about the creation of new Soul Techniques for myself and others, as well.”
Michael could talk a lot more about Extraction, but he didn’t want to bother everyone too much. The others’ heads were already brimming with information and confusing thoughts churning after his revelation.
“So you want to earn a fortune by becoming mankind’s Soul Technique Creator? You want to create another monopoly?…” Killian asked, feeling more and more irate about the fact that he couldn’t kill Michael. The more Killian learned about Michael the more reasons not to kill Michael appeared in front of him.
Michael’s Soultrait, the strength of Primal Amplifier, the ability to create Soul Techniques. ALL of it was crucial for mankind.
‘FUCK THIS SHIT!!!’ He thundered inwardly, electricity currents passing through his body as his blood began to boil.
“If possible, I want to earn a fortune. After all, I’m not someone who’s getting spoon-fed like others. I was lucky with my Soultrait, but it begun out as a Low-ranked Soultrait. I worked my ass off to get this far,” Michael said, his eyes ice-cold as he stared at Killian. The killing intent of the Zeus family’s heir was clearly evident.
“All help I received from my family was getting abandoned and the bits of training with my brother, and the Artifact he gave me as a present when I manifested my War Rune.”
Spirit Eyes’ stigma around his eyes began to glow and the atmosphere around Michael changed at once. He had had enough of Killian’s tantrum.
“Stop looking down on me, and get your anger under control.”
**
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