[Did you already think about the effects you want your Healing Soultrait to have?] Danny inquired.
Michael responded with a smile, “Of course. I know what I want.”
He retrieved the capsule filled with all Soultrait Symbols and retrieved a particular Symbol.
Blood Manipulation.
“Soultraits like Spirit Eyes are the best. They alter the body to augment it and give various benefits that can only be accessed by channeling energy into the Soultrait at the same time,” Michael explained, “That’s what my Healing Soultrait will do as well.”
A few more Soultrait Symbols landed before him on the bed.
Regeneration, Energy Seal, Mythical Force, and a dozen more Soultraits, many of which were 1-Star Healing Soultraits.
Michael put the Soultrait Symbols next to each other and stared at the Soultraits for a while. He tilted his head, trying to imagine what results he would receive by combining them. At last, Michael shrugged. It was too hard to analyze the Soultraits he would receive from combining certain Soultraits. Thus, he tested combining them. After all, he had Extraction to tear them apart if the result was unpleasant. That gave him far more leeway than others would have if they had only Insert as Soultrait.
Michael combined the Healing Soultraits, excluding Regeneration. The first combination didn’t end that well. It was called Titan Healing, which Michael fused into the Empty Soul Socket, only to discover that the healing was highly effective but severely restricted. Titan Healing used the User’s nutrients and lifeforce to heal the targets. That might be great if Michael was overflowing with lifeforce and if he didn’t plan to use the Soultrait on himself, but it was useless for him.
He extracted the Soultrait from the Soul Sphere and ripped it into its components. The next thing Michael did was to attempt using Insert a few more times. The perfect combination was waiting for him. Unfortunately, it was far from easy to create the ideal Healing Soultrait.
At some point, more than an hour after he combined his Soultraits the first time, Michael decided that it was time to use Extraction on Energy Seal. He liked the idea of Energy Seal, but not in the way it worked. Michael desired to use a portion of the Energy Seal Soultrait to insert into his little experimental Soultrait Symbol.
He fused the portion of Energy Seal with Mythical Force before adding it to the most compatible Soultrait Symbol he’d formed with half a dozen Healing Soultraits.
The result was pleasant. Healing Surge was created.
Michael pulled Healing Surge into his Soul Sphere and fused it with the Empty Soul Socket. A flux of information swept into Michael’s mind, informing him what Healing Surge was capable of and how it was used.
“Not too bad. Not bad at all,” Michael murmured, his eyes landing on Regeneration. The corner of his lips curled upward as he grabbed the Soultrait Symbol. He used Insert and integrated Regeneration into Healing Surge.
The Soultrait transformed once again. More information entered Michael’s head, and he could clearly tell something was happening. An invigorating surge passed through Michael as something gathered in his chest. A considerable amount of energy, nutrients, and lifeforce were devoured to supplement the creation of a silverish semi-translucent droplet.
The droplet formed in his chest. It expanded slowly, but not by consuming more energy, nutrients, and lifeforce. If anything, the droplet began producing lifeforce as it expanded. It was much smaller than the nail of Michael’s pinky, yet it attempted to expand at all times. The excessive silverish liquid produced by the droplet dissolved into lifeforce and bits of energy, which entered Michael’s body, invigorating him.
Michael finished the creation of his Healing Soultrait. Tear of Vitality was born!
His faint grin transformed into a vibrant smile. Tear of Vitality, a Healing Soultrait that produced healing serum as a passive effect. It could only carry a specific amount of healing serum at a time – not much given that Tear of Vitality was merely a 1-Star Soultrait. Fortunately, the weight carried by the Tear of Vitality would expand as the Soultrait Symbol’s Soul Power would increase. That would be the only way for other Awakened to increase the carriable weight. Michael was different.
He didn’t even have to try Tear of Vitality’s active effect to know that it was the perfect Soultrait Symbol for him. The information he’d been given was already more than enough.
Michael began supplying Tear of Vitality with SoulStar Fragments.
It reached 2-Star after 20 SoulStar Fragments had been infused into it.
The Tear of Vitality expanded dramatically but only transformed and changed into a different shape once it reached 3-Star. Close to 180 SoulStar Fragments were drained from Michael’s pile to upgrade Tear of Vitality to 3-Star, the threshold for its first evolution.
Tear of Vitality transformed into Pond of Vitality.
The Tear expanded until it was too large to maintain its form. It transformed into a small pond, which kept expanding as Michael continued infusing SoulStar Fragments into the Soultrait Symbol.
He invested 1700 SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Pond of Vitality to 4-Star and reached deep into his stockpile to upgrade Pond of Vitality to 5-Star. The upgrade cost 15,000 SoulStar Fragments, pushing the total investment to 17,000 SoulStar Fragments.
Upgrading Tear of Vitality to 5-Star expended 17,000 SoulStar Fragments. That was an exorbitant price, six times the usual amount required to upgrade a Soultrait. However, it was worth it. Pond of Vitality evolved once again at 5-Star. The pond of restoring serum overflowed. The healing serum streamed in all directions. It coiled around Michael’s veins, arteries, and energy paths, invigorating every corner of his body with energy and life.
Pond of Vitality advanced into Stream of Vitality.
Under normal circumstances, Michael would have stopped upgrading his Soultrait Symbol here. However, more information about the Soultrait entered his mind. The influx of information was interesting. It intrigued Michael enough to tap into the remaining pile of SoulStar Fragments, worth roughly 233,000ish SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Stream of Vitality to 6-Star.
Almost 205,000 SoulStar Fragments were sacrificed – invested into the Soultrait Symbol – to initiate Stream of Vitality’s advancement to 6-Star.
Michael was taken to procure when he sensed that the Stream of Vitality initiated another evolution. It had barely advanced at 5-Star, yet another evolution was initiated. That was odd, but it wasn’t something Michael would reject. He wasn’t foolish enough to reject more benefits.
His Soultrait evolved again. The streams of healing serum expanded rapidly. A complex network of healing serum pathways formed within Michael. It as almost like something new formed next to his veins, arteries, and power paths. Countless small yet expanding rivers overflowing with lifeforce formed inside him.
Stream of Vitality changed into River of Vigor at 6-Star.
His breathing grew heavier, and a bead of sweat trickled down his cheeks, but Michael kept smiling. He tested River of Vigor’s effect right away.
Michael perceived the changes in his lifeforce right away. It was several times stronger than before. He was more energetic and felt like training for days without break would be possible. His stamina was on an entirely new level. Michael was fairly sure he could fight for several days without a break.
And that was only the inactive gain.
River of Vigor’s active results were far more intense.
