Digesting the knowledge contained within the Inheritance Techniques took quite a while. Fortunately, he didn’t sustain any backlashes from digesting everything at once. All Michael felt was a light headache as he tried to dissect the Inheritance Techniques before mixing them together.
His knowledge about Inheritance Techniques was not yet enough to blindly separate them and put them together in a different order.
”If I digest a dozen or two dozen Inheritance Techniques it should work…right?” He mumbled to himself, nearly blurting his thoughts aloud.
Michael was fine with the others listening to him torturing the three Lords, but he didn’t want to give away anymore secrets about Extraction. Not to the High Society, at least.
Thinking about the three Lords, Michael’s focus returned to them at last. Now that he had a minor understanding of their Inheritance Techniques, Michael was curious about their memories as well. They were old Lords, whose age had long surpassed 100 years. As Tier-5 Lords, the vitality infused into their bodies prolonged their lifespan to several hundreds of years. Unfortunately, their age wouldn’t be of any help right now. If anything, their vast experiences accumulated over the decades would turn into a burden for them and a treasure trove for him.
Michael was going to extract as much as possible, after all!
He extracted the three Lords’ Memory Orbs, as many as possible, and consumed them once he could instinctively feel that no more Memory Orbs could be extracted. The Lords’ screams died down once Michael stopped utilizing Extraction to extract their memories. However, the desperation and fear in their screams had been imprinted into the hearts of those who’d continued listening to the happenings in the isolated room for hours, trying to pick up on anything that Michael would accidentally give away.
A few human powerhouses, the Chieftain, the War Priestess and some Elders were still listening, but their faces had paled. No one dared to say a word in the listening room, but the atmosphere grew more intense the more time Michael spent in the isolated room to punish the Lords who wanted to kidnap him.
“This is even worse than a public execution…” One of the human powerhouses mumbled half an hour after the screams filled with desperation died down.
“Is Michael really only 18 years old? How can someone be this…cruel? I understand why he is doing this…but I never expected him to be able to do something like that,” One of the Professors of the Saphirelake Military Academy mumbled. He was not as popular as Oliver Zeus, or as talented as Alice Zenovia, but he was still a renowned Professor. He met Michael a few times and always saw him smiling.
Michael might be a little bit different once he entered combat, but that was when the young Lord entered a fully-focused combat state. It was not uncommon for Lords to have such a state. But…this was different.
“He is not a weak sheep that needs to be herded toward its flock. He is a wolf hiding among sheeps.”
Michael couldn’t hide his smile when he heard the idiots talk about him. By now, he’d realized that the Chieftain had been keeping tabs on the microphone, ensuring that it was switched on all the time. That was fun.
He ignored most comments and continued to digest the memories that flooded his mind. Fortunately, there was no need for him to rush. Michael spent the next 24 hours eating some of the dishes he’d stored in his War Rune all while digesting every little memory of the three Lords.
Once the memories were sorted and the useless ones put into the trash, Michael smiled in satisfaction. The memories contained generations of combat experience against Higher Lifeforms, years of their practice with the Inheritance Techniques, and various other memories that may or may not be useful. He would have to test out a lot in the future.
After several days of ‘torturing’ the three Lords, Michael finally moved onto the main dish. He began to derive the Lords SoulStar Fragments and Soultraits all while they were alive.
Once again, screams filled the isolated room. However, Michael was already accustomed to their screams. He didn’t enjoy them, but he didn’t sense any pity toward the Lords either. They tried to kidnap him and turn a young Lord into a mindless puppet to acquire power and assert dominance all over the Tritan Alliance. If not for the trap Kraft Viton had installed, the three Lords would have killed Alice and thousands of innocent citizens.
There was no need to show any mercy to such people.
The 10 day period Michael had been given to carry out his punishment ended right after he finished his job.
He’d extracted 5624 SoulStar Fragments from the living Tier-5 Lords right before getting hold of their Soultraits. Since Michael had been fully focused on their SoulStar Fragments, their Soultraits turned out to be Starless. Using a few SoulStar Fragments was enough to increase their star rating, but Michael was not willing to make that investment. He preferred keeping the SoulStar Fragments for himself, for the time being.
‘55,524 SoulStar Fragments and 76 Soultrait Symbols…that’s something I can make use of.’ Michael concluded after taking a short glance at the content of the emerald box and the SoulStar Fragments residing in his War Rune.
Spending 10 days with the Tier-5 Lords had been worth it. Michael was rich thanks to their treasury, he procured three Inheritance Techniques, and he got hold of a small fortune of SoulStar Fragments as well. That was perfect.
The only downside was that the three Tier-5 Lords turned into vegetables now that they’d undergone days of continuous torture. Their bodies might not have suffered a lot, but their minds and especially their souls suffered greatly. Despite their current state, which was certainly not great, Michael spent a few minutes extracting a portion of their reminiscences of the last few days.
Michael did not plan to remove their traumatic experiences, but he didn’t want anyone to be able to glance into their reminiscences to find out what he had been doing to them, or how Extraction worked. .
The three Lords’ complexion improved as they lost the memories of the last few days. Nonetheless, there were some lasting damages.
Michael considered that the rightful punishment. He didn’t feel an ounce of guilt. If anything, he felt that he could have done more to show everyone that he would never forgive those who harm him, his friends, or innocent people. The three Lords did all of that. They didn’t deserve to be alive, not even as vegetables.
Michael opened the door to the isolated room and stretched his body as he stepped outside, ignoring the pitiful groans of the chained Lords behind him.
He saw a few human powerhouses, the Chieftain, and the War Priestess as they left the listening room, but he ignored their pale faces and conflicted expressions. It was good if some of them feared him, a mere Lesser Lifeform. They should fear him, and spread news about his actions, lest anyone would be stupid enough to attack him once again.
Ignoring their gazes, Michael returned to his room. He entered the Origin Expanse and crashed into his bed right away. He spent the next 24 hours sleeping before he left the Origin Expanse once again to deal with the subordinate candidates.
He met up with the subordinate candidates and quickly noticed that five candidates were missing. They decided against joining him at the end of the day. Other Lords would have been dissatisfied about this, but Michael was glad. It was a good thing if those, who were not 100% certain whether they wanted to join him or not, wanted to leave. That made future ordeals much easier.
In the next hours, Michael signed 30 Soul Pacts, Links of Loyalty, NDA Pacts, and some smaller contracts with the remaining subordinate candidates. He enlisted a total of 2 human Descendants, 18 Warlock Centaurs, and 10 Berserkers.
“As I’ve told everyone beforehand, you guys don’t have to get hold of the Tokens of Transportation. I will get hold of them,” Michael explained once again before he switched to a different topic, “As many of you might be interested in Soultrait Symbols, or the means to improve your Soultraits’ star rating, let me tell you something good. Your first ‘purchase’ from me will be discounted heavily. That means if you want to purchase a Soultrait Symbol from me, I will sell it to y’all for a much cheaper price than everyone else. All you need is enough Jungle Points.”
Michael was met with confusion but he only smiled through it.
“You can purchase whatever you want from me using Jungle Points, also called JP. As written in your Soul Pacts, I can either pay you in your currency, or my territory’s currency – Jungle Points. Everything in my market is cheaper if you use Jungle Points. You may only purchase my service and Soultrait Symbols with Jungle Points. I do not need dollars, and I’m capable enough to get hold of Energy Stones as well.”
Michael’s smile widened when he saw a change in his new subordinates’ expressions, “Some of you might sense that I’m taking advantage of you, but think about it. Jungle Points allow you to purchase my service and Soultraits without any surcharge. Jungle Points may not be easy to procure but it’s not impossible to afford Soultraits as long as you operate hard.”
Michael added his very own merit system, Jungle Points, to ensure that his subordinates would operate hard. Purchasing Soultrait Symbols and his service to upgrade their Soultraits wouldn’t be cheap but that was only obvious. The supply of Soultraits and SoulStar Fragments was not infinite. Furthermore, Michael wanted to ensure that a veil of mystery shrouded his Soultrait Symbols and a healthy spirit of competition would take root in the hearts of his subordinates. They should never take anything lightly.
He wanted his Soultrait Symbols to be considered a rarity, and procuring one should be celebrated.
That way, Michael could ensure that his subordinates would always operate hard, and that they would never even think about betraying him.
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