Replacing the steady supply of criminals with 15,000,000 Ordinary Summoning Scrolls would be worth it. Michael would lose the supply of SoulStar Fragments and Soultrait Symbols, but he could do nothing about it. If the Valyr couldn’t maintain their supply, he would have to find a different source to procure SoulStar Fragments.
Asking for so many Ordinary Scrolls might sound stupid to others, but Insert changed everything. The Scrolls were definitely worth it. Even with Extraction, Michael could transform 15 million Scrolls into 15 to 23 Legendary Scrolls. Even if the Legendary Summons would be the exiled Silverfangs, Michael could live with that. It wasn’t like the Silverfangs were weak, after all.
‘Should I start trading 1-Star Soultraits or upgraded Soultrait Symbols with Ordinary Summoning Scrolls?’ Michael wondered.
He thought about discarding the idea moments after it flashed through his mind because it would attract suspicion when others found out he traded Soultrait Symbols with Ordinary Summoning Scrolls. But then again, Michael knew that everything he did was suspicious. Trying to stay lowkey wasn’t going to work well either way.
At the end of the day, Soultrait Symbols and Upgrades up to 4-Star weren’t expensive. To be precise, they were rather cheap. But that was only the case for him. Others would have to spend a fortune of Achievement Points to purchase a 1-Star Soultrait.
Procuring Achievement Points wasn’t easy, and earning the fortune required to purchase a perfectly compatible Soultrait wasn’t easy. An Awakened would have to ascend to a Higher Lifeform before attaining a wide variety of unique achievements to purchase perfectly compatible Soultrait Symbols.
[The Achievement Shop is weird. I can understand why everyone is running behind you like this. They’re just helpless, and you seem like a great opportunity to grow stronger.] Danny said with a shrug.
Michael was not sure why, but his brother felt bad for Zira. He said that it was sad seeing Zira being shoved in all directions and that she was exposed to the anger and frustration of others.
Michael agreed with his brother’s statement, but that didn’t mean he was going to change the way he treated Zira. She was a nice girl, that much was given. However, if the young Valyr didn’t want Michael’s presence around her, forcing her to the knees, Zira would have to use her brain more.
She was used by the Valyr because they hoped Michael would be nicer to her. That didn’t work out well. If anything, it worsened his relationship with the Valyr.
That was a shame.
‘Now that you mention the Achievement Shop…that thing is really weird, yeah.’ Michael said to his brother while calling upon the Achievement Scroll.
The Achievement Scroll, a simple parchment, appeared before Michael. Various letters were etched on the parchment as it unfolded, revealing some information about Michael Fang.
_______________________
[Michael Fang] – [Higher Lifeform – Tier 4]
[Achievement List] – [Awakening], [Curse Control], [Origin High Ascension], [Escapist], [Memory Stealer], [Mind Breaker], [Soul Reaper], [Squire], [Knight], [Baron], [Viscount], [Rift Ruler], [Slaughterer I – V], [Claimed Lands.] [Exorcist], [High Slayer], [Divine Slayer], [Unkillable], [Beast God Submission], …
[Achievement Points] – 5121
_______________________
Michael had already checked the Achievement List and was surprised to find that there was no description of the Achievements. It would have been interesting to see what exactly he did for some actions to be considered an achievement. That way, he could recreate them on a larger scale. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.
Michael couldn’t even find out how many Achievement Points the individual achievements rewarded. All he could do was to make guesses.
“Divine Slayer should be about the Undead Pharaoh. I killed a Divine Lifeform while being a Lesser Lifeform,” He thought aloud before shrugging lightly. It didn’t really matter. The Achievement Shop was not yet interesting to him.
Michael turned the parchment around, resulting in the letters disappearing. New letters formed on the blank back page.
_______________________
[Achievement Shop] – [5121 Points]
[Soultraits]
[Knowledge]
[Territory]
[Bloodlines]
[Techniques]
[Items]
[Others]
_______________________
The Achievement Scroll was quite interesting. It was possible to interact with it like one would use websites on Starnet. He could press on [Soultraits], and a list of Soultrait Symbols would appear before him.
The cheapest Soultraits were ‘cheap’ and priced at 100 Achievement Points. But they were rather useless, to put it in simple terms. The cheapest was called Clean. Michael was fairly certain that it couldn’t do much more than that. You could clean up your mess. Great. That was almost important in a life-and-death battle against Divine Lifeforms.
Of course, Michael could transform Clean into something useful by combining it with a bunch of other Soultraits or by upgrading it, but he doubted that it was worthwhile. He had more than enough Soultrait Symbols to play around with.
More ‘useful’ Soultraits for ordinary Awakened were more expensive. They cost 1,000 Achievement Points at 1-Star. Purchasing their upgraded version would increase the price by a few times.
Even Michael, with his wide variety of unique Achievements – achievement he’d procured by killing a Divine Lifeform as a Lesser Lifeform and doing a lot of other stupid shit – could only purchase a somewhat decent 3-Star Soultrait. That was still fine since it meant one could grow stronger as long as one gave their utmost.
However, there was a reason Michael managed to best such powerful enemies and acquire the Achievement Points. He had Extraction, his army of high-ranked Soultraits, and the World Serpent and the Wolf Curse. It would be difficult for others to achieve the same, especially if they didn’t possess powerful Soultraits or other advantages separating them from ordinary Awakened in the first place.
“Thinking about Soultrait Symbols made me hungry,” Michael grumbled.
The Achievement Scroll was currently of no interest to him. Maybe it will be useful in the future, especially the Knowledge and Techniques sections. He eyed two techniques, but they were too pricey. Furthermore, Michael hoped that the Nest would feel generous enough to throw a bunch of exotic techniques his way in the near future.
[It’s time to eliminate a bunch of criminals!] Danny declared, his voice regaining some vigor.
Michael nodded and teleported straight to the prison. The prison was rather small and nothing out of the ordinary for the Forest Elven Architects. The Forest Elven Architects proposed building a prison similar to the prisons they built at home. Their prisons were built in trees, Redgaernit trees, to be precise.
Redgaernit trees were also known as Leechies because their vines drained the origin energy of everything they touched. Their vines secreted a liquid called pyraz, putting the victims in a unique state. The victims would be awake but barely recognize anything that happens around them.
Pyraz was not as effective on Higher Lifeforms, but since the criminals were malnourished, drained of origin energy, and some even crippled, it was effective enough.
Redgaernit trees were large, but it required a complex constellation of wooden cages intertwined with their vines to create a perfect prison. Michael listened to the Forest Elven Architect when he explained everything about the Wood Prison, but he wasn’t interested enough to ask questions. All Michael had to know was that the Wood Prison was good enough to keep the Higher Lifeform criminals in check.
They couldn’t access their Soultrait Symbols, and were paralysed – basically.
Michael appeared before the Wood Prison and checked it out. The tree trunks were crimson, just like the tree’s vines. It had darkish brown leaves and lengthy, twisted branches. The branches were thick enough to carry heavy-looking wooden cages. The criminals sat inside the cages, crimson vines coiled around them.
The new batch of criminals hadn’t been hung into the Wood Prison’s cages yet. There was no space for them either way.
It was time to clean up.
He released a Qi blade to release one of the criminals from the chains that blocked his energy circulation. The chains were expensive since they blocked an Awakened’s energy circulation and sealed a portion of their physical strength.
Michael was very interested in the chains but had hardly time to research anything. He was too busy dealing with more important stuff.
“Foolish bastard!” The criminal bellowed, circulating energy through his body before conjuring an armor of energy around his body.
The criminal charged at Michael, a blade forming in his hand.
Michael raised one eyebrow, the corner of his lips curling upward, “That’s a very interesting Soultrait you have there.”
“I’ll add it to my collection,” His eyes turned ice-cold. A glimmer flashed through his eyes as Michael unleashed Spiritual Domination.
The criminal groaned in pain and collapsed to the ground. Michael strode toward the criminal, manifesting several Qi Swords, which plunged down, piercing through the energy armor’s seams. The criminal screamed at the top of his lungs when the Qi Swords pierced through his shoulders, ankles, and wrists. Michael added a few more Qi Swords to pierce the joints to make an example out of the criminal, pinning him to the ground.
Michael activated all 51 Cursed Seals and unleashed True Extraction. One massive Extraction tendril burst out of Michael’s hand with terrifying velocity. It crashed heavily into the pinned criminal and passed through the energy armor, which dissipated slowly and invaded the target.
The criminal screamed, but Michael didn’t care.
“I don’t think I have to locate out whether you’re falsely accused or not. Your actions and bloodlust are answer enough,” Michael said in a whisper, infusing more energy into True Extraction.
The man screamed, but his voice grew into a whisper quickly. He writhed in pain as the SoulStar Fragments and Soultrait Symbol were ripped out of his soul by force. Michael retrieved the capsule where all Soultrait Symbols were stored and stored the Energy Armor Symbol before continuing to drain the man’s War Rune storage and memories.
In a matter of seconds, the criminal died. He stopped moving and lay there quietly.
The SoulStar Fragments and the portion of the criminal’s War Rune storage were transferred straight into Michae’s War Rune, where he accessed everything.
‘1653 SoulStar Fragments. Not too bad.’
He nodded slowly and turned to the next criminal. A single Qi Blade was enough to cut the chains restraining the criminal. This time, the man knelt down and begged Michael to spare his life.
Michael felt guilty, but only for a moment. He used Mind Reader and grasped the man’s head to get as close to his head as possible.
Michael was struck by a wide variety of memories and thoughts. The memories were far from nice. In fact, Michael had only seen worse in the memories of the Kitsun Lord.
“Children…really?” Michael asked, his voice filled with disgust.
The criminal tried to move, but Michael’s Qi Swords were faster. They pierced through the man’s back and pushed him to the ground. His face crashed heavily into the ground, digging deep into the soil. The criminal’s screams were muffled, leaving Michael in silence as he unleashed True Extraction again.
The second criminal died as well.
Michael persisted using Mind Reader to check on the criminals and their crimes for the next hour. He released the men and women from the Wood Prison and killed them one by one.
Michael ended the lives of 41 criminals that day, 38 Higher Lifeforms and three Lesser Lifeforms at the Peak of Tier-3. He earned 59,539 SoulStar Fragments and 41 Soultrait Symbols.
The gains were nice, especially since Michael didn’t have to do much to earn the SoulStar Fragments and Soultrait Symbols.
However, he wasn’t too excited. The memories and thoughts of the criminals had been far from pleasant.
Michael decided to make use of the Needle of the Lost Memories. He pricked himself and concentrated on the memories he wanted to forget. A strange pulling force spread through his brain, followed by emptiness.
“What performed I just forget?” Michael asked, knowing that there was something he’d wanted to forget. But…he couldn’t recall what it was.
[It works? That’s surprising.] Danny commented. He wasn’t even trying to hide his surprise.
“Looks like it,” Michael shrugged, his attention pulling to the last two men, whom the Valyr had considered criminals.
He’d used Mind Reader on them but never considered killing them. They didn’t react when Michael cut them loose. In fact, neither of the duo moved. It was almost like they were waiting for their execution. As if they…looked forward to it.
“I looked through your minds, but I don’t see the reason your people considered you criminals. You didn’t do anything worthy of death,” Michael announced. The two Valyrs swallowed hard. One of them slumped to the ground while the other grit his teeth.
“I deserve to die,” The Valyr on the ground said. He sounded like he meant it.
“Your sibling betrayed you. Killing him to protect your life isn’t a crime,” Michael clarified, “You do not deserve to die.”
He turned to the other Valyr and sighed deeply.
“Your family was killed, and your assets were taken. Everything you and your Clan achieved was taken from you. You desired revenge, and you managed to attain your goal. The Clans abandoned you for eradicating them, but I have a good feeling about you. Your mind showed me your true self. You are not a bad guy.”
The Valyr persisted gritting his teeth, but Michael didn’t pay too much attention to that.
“How about you stay here,” Michael offered, his eyes traveling to the first Valyr, “Both of you.”
