'50,308 SoulStar Fragments.'
Michael's eyes were shut and his attention was on the SoulStar Fragments residing in his consciousness. The Sphere of Light was right in front of him, and so was the Aethyr.
'How about Insert? It could invest some into Aethyr as well to strengthen our connection and enhance its power.'
There was a faint link between Insert and Extraction, but Michael didn't know enough about Insert yet. He didn't have any time to research the Soultrait in-depth. Therefore, he wouldn't be able to use the full power of Insert even if he was to upgrade it to 6-Star.
'Glacicle? No. If Glacicle doesn't evolve into something better, I will make a huge loss using Glacicle. Its utility is restricted to the freezing mist and creations related to icicles. My proficiency with Glacicle merely allows me to make bad replicas of arrows and Swords. Even if my proficiency were to increase, all I can do is create 'better' Swords and Arrows. Glacicle is not like Frozen Nova, or Frozen Kingdom…'
Michael liked ice elemental Soultraits but it was not like he could use it like an elemental manipulation ability. Something like Frederik Kolbenheim's Soultrait with the Ice element would be much better than Glacicle since Glacicle focuses on offense. It was rather fragile and thus not usable as a proper defense Soultrait.
Other than Insert and Glacicle, Michael discarded all thoughts of upgrading Taming, Mind Reader, and Soul Grimoire. Michael was not too sure why he was still in possession of Soul Grimoire, in the first place. Somehow, it bothered him that he didn't know how to use Soul Grimoire. But, he didn't remove it yet because his ego was in the way.
Reinforced Sword Qi was also not Michael's forte. Since he started to use Aethyr to wield all kinds of weapons, Reinforced Sword Qi was only occasionally extremely useful. Most of the time he used it to enhance the Glacicle Swords. If it evolved into Reinforced Qi and removed the Sword tag, that would be great. However, Michael didn't want to spend close to 30,000 SoulStar Fragments on a gamble.
That left three Soultraits, namely, Spirit Gaze, Eagle Eyes, and Enhancement. Enhancement was the most versatile Soultrait as it could be combined with all of his Soultraits. Michael could even enhance his body. Now that he possessed Insert, it was also possible to use Enhancement on his allies. It was an all-rounder.
Despite that, Michael wondered if it might not be better to upgrade Spirit Gaze and Eagle Eyes. They were tightly linked together and enhanced one another as their star rating increased. Once one of them was upgraded to 6-Star, the power of the other Soultrait would be amplified drastically as well. Their power would be like no other once both reached 6-Star. Spirit Disturbance was quite powerful, and so was being able to see the energies in his surroundings and within other people. Being able to see origin energy would help him a lot since it granted him the time needed to observe how his enemies circulated energy through their bodies to predict what they would do and where they would strike him.
Other than that, his eyesight would improve drastically. Upgrading Eagle Eyes and Spirit Gaze would strengthen Michael actively as well as passively.
'I have 50,000 SoulStar Fragments. I can upgrade Eagle Eyes immediately and create the outlines for Spirit Gaze. Killing 15-20 Tekur should be enough to upgrade Spirit Gaze to 6-Star afterward. That should work.'
With that in mind, Michael took a deep breath and began to channel SoulStar Fragments into the Symbol of Eagle Eyes. Thousands of SoulStar Fragments were consumed in the blink of an eye. The Symbol of Eagle Eyes began to hum. It vibrated and emanated dazzling radiance and as a result, Michael's entire consciousness was filled with radiance.
A piercing pain inflicted through searing blades assaulted his eyes. It took him by surprise and nearly pulled him out of his consciousness. But Michael was not yet done channeling more SoulStar Fragments into the Eagle Eyes Symbol. He couldn't stop now! Gritting his teeth, Michael endured the throbbing pain. His loud, pained groans attracted the attention of the teams around him.
Joseph called out for Michael, which attracted even more attention, however, Michael couldn't hear anything.
Kaleb, Lincoln, and Zeke appeared next to him. They checked on Michael, but all they could see was that their friend was bleeding from his eyes. He bled profusely, yet nobody had an idea why that was the case. The temperature around Michael increased all of a sudden. His body temperature rose enough to heat up his immediate surroundings.
Kaleb conjured ice walls around Michael to cool Michael and the vicinity. He wanted to do more but he had no idea what Michael was going through. Lincoln and Zeke were also clueless. All they could do was stare at Michael and check up on him.
Meanwhile, Michael continued to fight his little battle with…himself. He continued to channel into the Eagle Eyes Soultrait until 31,500 SoulStar Fragments had been consumed. The drawing on the Eagle Eyes Symbol began to change. The details on the drawing increased and the Eagle Eyes grew more intense. Information flooded Michael's mind, causing a headache alongside the searing pain that spread through his eyes.
Michael grit his teeth and clenched his fists tightly. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but he suppressed it all. Upgrading Extraction to a 6-Star Soultrait hadn't been that painful. It might have enhanced his physique quite a bit, yet Extraction never caused that much pain before.
Eagle Eyes was different. It was a Soultrait that had affected Michael passively since he fused it to his War Rune, and now it changed his eyes forever.
As Michael opened his eyes again several hours had passed.
The first thing he saw was a rupture of energy – compressed purified energy that glimmered in a bright white light. The Dimensional Pillar collapsed at last. The 200 Alliance members had been tirelessly hacking and slashing at the Pillar. It released a shockwave of energy that swept through everyone. The energy accumulated within the Dimensional Pillar over the course of years was unleashed. It spread through the surroundings and merged with the ambient energy, amassing and purifying it.
Michael swallowed his saliva. He could sense the purified energy in his surroundings, of course. But…he could also see it now. The glimmering purified energy in the surroundings looked like tiny little stars that permeated the air all around him. Michael instinctively reached out to the stars, his energy absorption technique unleashed on pure instinct.
He absorbed the glimmering stars – the purest and most compressed energy he had ever sensed – and a bright smile blossomed on his face.
The sound of clattering chains rang through his body, followed by glass shattering. Michael broke through. He advanced to the Peak of the 2nd Tier!
"What is wrong with your eyes, Michael?" Kaleb asked, the ice walls around Michael shattering into tiny shards.
Michael glanced at Kaleb not understanding what his friend was talking about.
"You look like you have no clue what is going on with you. Your eyes are not black anymore," Zeke arrived next to Michael, his expression eerily serious. He stared deep into Michael's eyes – vigorous golden shimmering irises entering his sight.
Michael could see his eyes mirrored in Zeke's eyes, and it made him gasp in shock. His eyes were not dark, nearly black, anymore. They were radiant gold in color and overflowing with vigor.
"Can you explain to me why your eye color changed?" Zeke asked, sounding even more serious than before, "Do you even know why I have heterochromatic eyes?"
Michael had no answer to either of Zeke's questions.
"Because of my Soultrait, you idiot," Zeke declared, catching Michael by surprise.
"Idiot…" Lincoln mumbled, staring at Zeke, not sure what was going on with his childhood friend.
Of course, it was surprising to see that Michael's eyes turned golden, but it was not normal for Zeke to react like that.
"My Soultrait, Eye of Illusion, is not a Soultrait that focuses purely on Eyes since its priority is the creation of realistic Illusions. That is also why the eye color of one eye changed instead of both. After all, Soultraits related to the eyes can change the color of one's eyes…but only Soultraits with 6-Stars or above…"
'Ohhh fuck…' Michael cursed in his mind. He understood immediately what Zeke was trying to tell him.
Zeke explained that the change of his iris hue didn't make any sense – except if his Soultrait was suddenly upgraded to 6-Star. Adding the pool of his own blood around him and the dried blood on his face, Zeke could easily tell what must have happened – but it didn't make any sense.
Michael's Soultrait Hawk Vision advanced to a 6-Star Soultrait. If it had remained just Eagle Eyes, there might not have been a problem. Unfortunately, the link with Soul Stare stimulated a mutation. Eagle Eyes evolved to Roc Eyes as the upgrade to 6-Star was completed. Simultaneously, Spirit Gaze and Roc Eyes were pulled closer to each other inside the Sphere of Light. The connection between the two Soultraits intensified and they looked like they were about to touch each other.
Therefore, Michael tried to distract himself by using the remaining Star Shards to upgrade Spirit Gaze a little. Upgrading Spirit Gaze was not that painful. It hurt him, but Michael could keep his eyes open and maintain eye contact with Zeke at the same time.
He began to bleed from his sight again, a tinge of silver spreading through his pupil. Soul Stare began to fuse with Roc Eyes. However, the Spirit Gaze Symbol had yet to reach the requirement to complete the fusion. It was incomplete and ended with both Soultraits being attached to one another.
Michael could instinctively tell that he had to upgrade Soul Stare to 6-Star to complete the fusion, but he didn't have enough Star Shards to do so. The entire stockpile of 50,308 SoulStar Fragments had been used already.
Zeke was getting impatient, but Michael didn't feel pressured anymore. The pressure he'd usually feel from making eye contact with Zeke was no more. Resolution filled his heart and he smiled at his friend.
"I don't think I need to tell you what's going on."
