Michael couldn't hide that he felt a little bit weird at the thought of his most important secrets being exposed, but he figured that it would have happened sooner or later either way.
The transformation his eyes underwent due to Spirit Eyes' evolution was just the beginning, but it was certainly enough to take others by surprise. As long as soone interested in him put two and two together, they would obtain the answer they sought. That was fine with Michael. The hiding ga was over.
This made many things a lot easier than before. With that in mind, Michael collected the corpses of the Tekur and created a do of Glacicle around him without telling Maria and Killian what he was going to do.
The do surrounding him allowed Michael to be at ease. Nobody could stare over his back to watch what he was doing and it was a lot more quiet inside the do, giving him enough freedom to focus entirely on the task ahead.
Michael began to use Extraction on the 22 Tekur. He spent the next three hours procuring mory Orbs, SoulStar Fragnts, Soultrait Symbols, Artifacts, and small portions of their War Runes' spatial space.
He obtained several Soul Technique tos on which he used Extraction to extract Wisps of Knowledge. Michael then consud the mory Orbs and Wisps of Knowledge, further widening his understanding of the Tekur race, the creation of Soul Techniques, and the other techniques they used.
Even though Michael believed that he made the biggest gains from procuring so many Soul Techniques, it was evident that the Tekur race's other skills were not bad either. As long as they were suitable with human anatomy, Michael could start practicing them, replacing most of his techniques in one go.
'The knowledge and techniques they've accumulated over the last centuries or even thousands of years is crazy. It's no wonder that old races with great legacies are usually considered to be of a higher 'class'. Even Tekur Soldiers possess better body, and mind refinent techniques than I do. Only Leviathan Diffusion might be on par with their energy circulation technique.'
Michael was not really surprised. The Tekur race was several tis older than the humans of the solar system. The progress of the human race might be fast, but it was not yet on par with a race that had access to the Origin Expanse for an entire millennium.
That might change in the future given that he obtained so many Soul Techniques, but they would have to see how it would change the tides in the future. For now, Michael was more interested in the SoulStar Fragnts he'd procured. The 22 Tekur bodies provided him with 11,423 SoulStar Fragnts, therefore totalling to an amount of 30,923 SoulStar Fragnts in his possession. That was enough to manifest the 6th Star of another Soultrait – even if it was only one of the Soultraits from the Inner area of the Sphere of Light.
'Should I save them up until I get enough to upgrade Extraction?' He wondered for a mont, only to shake his head.
Michael had a bad feeling about the last few days of the Interdinsional Flag War. Saving up would an that he didn't use all of his ans to increase his strength, which was sothing he couldn't afford right now. The Flag War was rciless and if they were unlucky, the Alliance would have to face a pincer attack from the Tekur and the traitors in their own ranks.
The only Soultraits he could upgrade with close to 31,000 SoulStar Fragnts were Enhancent, Reinforced Sword Qi, and Superior Constitution. Out of them, Reinforced Sword Qi was put aside because Michael didn't use it that often. That left only Enhancent and Superior Constitution.
'Am I going to focus on providing more Support for my existing Soultraits and inserting Enhancent into my allies, or will I focus on Superior Constitution? I will be able to use Heavenly Beast Physique for a much longer period and the effect will be twice – if not thrice – as strong. My natural recovery will be much faster and I can absorb more energy naturally. It will mix well with Extraction and allow to fight longer and strain my body even more than before…'
The more Michael thought about it the easier it was to find the answer he sought. While Enhancent was an amazing Soultrait, Michael's body was already at its limit when he tried applying seven layers of Enhancent onto it. Even if the potency of Enhancent increased significantly, it was not as if Michael could apply more Enhancent layers onto his body. For that, he would have to strengthen his physical body with Superior Constitution, or more intense body refinent sessions.
That left Superior Constitution as the most suitable 5-Star Soultrait to be upgraded. The only downside was that upgrading Superior Constitution had been rather taxing. It was quite painful to improve his constitution. Fortunately, that was sothing Michael could solve rather easily.
'Spreading out the upgrade over a long period should do the deed.' He thought before starting to put 100 SoulStar Fragnts near Superior Constitution's Soultrait Symbol.
The Soultrait Symbol began to vibrate violently. Dozens of tiny milky-white tendrils shot out of the Soultrait Symbols and inched closer to the SoulStar Fragnts. They coiled around the Fragnts and dragged them inside the Soultrait Symbol where they were devoured and digested in one go. Following the digestion process, the SoulStar Fragnts took effect. Golden specks moved across the surface of the Soultrait Symbol for Superior Constitution and gathered next to the 5th Star.
The outlines of the 6th Star didn't form yet but the golden specks were gathering, eagerly awaiting to digest more SoulStar Fragnts. Michael didn't sense any major changes within his body. However, he could subtly sense the minuscule movents within his body.
Thus, he decided to add a batch of 10 SoulStar Fragnts every minute, hoping that injecting 30,000ish SoulStar Fragnts over the course of more than two days at regular intervals would help him avoid the discomfort and pain of upgrading Superior Constitution to a 6-Star Soultrait.
Spirit Eyes had been painful enough and Michael was not sure if he could afford to be incapable of fighting for the next few hours. Another group of Tekur could appear at any ti, and Michael would have to be ready to fight at once.
He destroyed the do of Glacicle around him and got up from the ground.
"According to the mories of these Tekur, no Alliance mber or group of Tekur was nearby for the last two days. I cannot promise anything, but I believe we should be sowhat safe until tomorrow," Michael said, pointing at the Tekur bodies next to him.
Neither Maria nor Killian uttered anything, but they looked at him intently. He wondered if they could sense the SoulStar Fragnts inside him, but that didn't seem feasible.
"Ah, right. You can read the mories and minds of others. I forgot," Maria mumbled, only for Killian to ask, "Do you have to touch them or can you read our minds from a distance as well?"
Killian glared at Michael, but that was nothing new.
"I need physical contact. The closer to the head, the better," Michael answered with a smile, "But I don't need to read your mind to tell you that you cannot stand the sight of . You might not feel like killing anymore because I helped you in your tent, or maybe because you think my abilities are useful enough to let live, but I can say, for sure, that you hate ."
Michael glanced over to Maria after an intense stare-down with Killian, only for Maria to tilt her head.
"Anymore? Why would you want to kill Michael, in the first place? If he did sothing to harm you, how about talking it out now that we have so spare ti?" Maria proposed.
Killian's lips parted as if he wanted to say sothing, but he recalled Maria's blush when Michael embraced her and that her behavior around Michael was different than her usual attitude around others. She was reserved and distant around others. But with Michael…she seed more open. Not a major difference yet, but small differences that would sooner or later develop into sothing else.
He shut his mouth and shook his head, "It's a guy thing. There is no need to talk about it. I fought with Michael before and can tell that he deserves to stay alive. That's the only thing you have to know."
Even if it hurt, Killian knew that Maria never considered him as sothing more than a friend. Their families were quite close because their parents had been in the sa class before. They traded a lot and never lost the connection they established decades before. Therefore, Killian knew Maria from when she was a little child. They were both children and played together a lot.
However, he was never more than a childhood friend – one of many at that. Maria treated him with great respect and was always polite to him, but she never treated him like he was special.
Even if he were to confess his feelings, Killian felt that the ti was not right and…that he was already too late. Maria didn't have a trace of romantic feelings toward him. They were rely comrades and childhood friends.
'I really hate this bastard!' Killian thought, glaring at Michael, who could easily imagine what Killian was thinking.
He didn't have to use Mind Reader to read an open book, after all.
"Either way. Let's stay vigilant until the others have recuperated. We shouldn't stay here for too long. Encountering more Tekur groups in this location is only a matter of ti," Killian pointed out and the others agreed at once.
Less than five days were left before they would be expelled from the isolated dinsion.
All they had to do was to survive that long. It couldn't be that difficult, right?
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