Michael tried to make use of the altered Soul Technique in a real battle to see if his alteration and understanding made it possible to use his very first Soul Technique in a fight.
Interestingly enough, the start of the next battle was much better than expected. Since there was no storage for Soul Energy within the human body, Michael had to create some Soul Energy before they clashed with the next group of Tekur. He instantaneously circulated the energy intertwined with Soul Power through his body to create Soul Energy and channel it into Glacicle's Soultrait Symbol to overclock the Soultrait.
By activating Glacicle with Soul Energy, a large amount of the Soul Power stored within Glacicle was used-up to change into the overdrive state. Michael created several Glacicles. They were highly compressed into tiny needles and shimmered in an intense dark-blue hue. The Glacicle needles didn't look like the usual creations of his Soultrait. They radiated immense cold and tremendous power, which only intensified as several layers of Enhancement shrouded them.
Michael could create a total of six Glacicle needles with the little Soul Energy he'd created. He didn't strengthen one of the needles, applied only one layer to the second, two layers on the third, and so forth. Every Glacicle needles that followed had one more layer of Enhancement applied to it.
This was part of Michael's experiment. He wanted to see how much influence Enhancement had on the power output of overclocked Soultraits. Would it be 50% like usual, or would the effectiveness of every layer diminish?
Michael found out the answer soon. He unleashed the barrage of six Soul Glacicle needles to attack a Tekur. The needles burst through the sound barrier as they whizzed through the air and they easily pierced through the Tekur's carapace. One second the Tekur was ready to tear apart the Berserker in front of him and in the next moment his body was pierced and frozen from within.
'Enhancement' effectiveness deteriorates if used with Soul Techniques. Is it because Enhancement was not supplied with Soul Energy as well?' Michael wondered as he initiated the second experiment.
He disappeared from the Tekur's sight and let the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs fight with their lives on the line. Michael took a while to produce enough Soul Energy to use Glacicle once again. He took a deep breath and channeled the Soul Energy into Glacicle to create a single bullet made of ice. The Glacicle took the shape of a bullet. It was a little rough and wouldn't fit perfectly in a gun, but that was not of great importance. Important was just that Michael managed to use the entire Soul Energy to conjure a single Glacicle.
The Soul Energy that had been drained to create six Needles was not used within the Glacicle Bullet. Michael's breathing grew heavier. He clearly sensed that the Soul Power within Glacicle's Soultrait Symbol was being drained every moment the Soultrait was kept activated with Soul Energy.
The origin of Soul Energy was not of great importance. Michael could even use Soul Power of other Soultrait Symbols to create Soul Energy and use it to activate other Soultraits. However, upon activating a Soultrait with Soul Energy, their Soul Power would be drained rapidly until the Soul Energy was consumed in its entirety.
This factor was also why it was so important to create a specific amount of Soul Energy for every time one wanted to overclock their Soultrait. You had to be prepared beforehand with enough Soul Energy to be able to fuel your attacks, otherwise, your Soul Power would be drained rapidly.
Michael didn't have too many issues with that. Compact Light was a Soul Technique that compressed the user's Light Spheres. Each Light Sphere required a specific amount to be compressed. Therefore, one could create more Light Spheres if one produced an excess amount of Soul Energy.
Glacicle was similar to a Light Sphere. Michael could create more Glacicles with a simple command and didn't have to pay much attention to the amount of Soul Energy inside him. All he had to be mindful of was to use up the Soul Energy until the last trace.
The Glacicle Bullet pierced through the air and hit one of the Tekur in the back. The Tekur had ascended into the air to attack the Alliance members with a series of wind blades and wind spears. Michael had been sneaking behind the Berserkers and the Warlock Centaurs to attack their enemies. His presence was barely noticeable. It was not noteworthy for the Tekur – until two of them died that is.
The Glacicle Bullets shot through the air and froze everything in its path. Even The Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs standing in front of Michael were not spared from the tremendous potency of the Soul Glacicle Bullet. It froze their skin as the bullet brushed past them. The Bullet penetrated the chest of the Tekur and lodged itself deep inside the target before it exploded, releasing a tremendous amount of freezing mist. The freezing mist was also overclocked and therefore several times stronger than usual. The Tekur hit by the Soul Glacicle Bullet froze on the spot, unable to do anything against the tremendous power that suddenly turned him into a frozen statue.
'An ordinary Common Class Soul Technique drains roughly a quarter of Glacicle's Soul Power. Fortunately, Glacicle is already a 5-Star Soultrait. That means its raw power is already quite powerful. Contrary to the Tekur Soldiers with their low-rated Soultraits, I won't have that much of a disadvantage once Glacicle's Soul Power is used up entirely.' Michael realized this before he joined the battle against the Tekur actively.
He had a lot to test, but it was more important to make sure that the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs around him wouldn't die. His individual power was bound to increase soon, but he felt bad for leaving the others to fend for themselves.
The second battle continued for a while. Unfortunately, the result of the second battle with Zeron and his team was not as successful as the first. Michael killed three Tekur once again, but it became more apparent that the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs around him were at a huge disadvantage against the Tekur.
Two Warlock Centaurs and one Berserker died in the battle.
Tension hung heavily in the air after all Tekur in the vicinity had been killed, but nobody was overly depressed. It was an honor to die fighting against powerful enemies. Tekur were definitely powerful and the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs considered the Tekur as worthy opponents. Therefore, it was an honor to fight them head-on with all their might. Of course, it would be an even greater honor to win against their powerful enemies, but it was not a disgrace to die in battle. If anything, it was one of the few deaths all Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs accepted unanimously.
Michael felt a little bit weird about that, but who was he to judge their traditions and values? If anything, he should respect them and learn from them.
The Origin Expanse was a place full of war and deaths. If it was honorable to die in battle – especially if you died fighting for your race, or territory – it would be much easier for Michael to stand in front of his subjects and tell them to get ready to fight. But then again it was mostly Michael's lacking expertise in leadership that stirred trouble when it came to controlling his subjects.
Michael shook his head and collected the Tekur's bodies. He created a dome of Glacicle around him and began using Extraction on them.
His focus was on one Tekur at a time as Extraction produced the SoulStar Fragments and extracted the remaining loot. That was also how he noticed something very interesting.
The pile of SoulStar Fragments that landed in front of him was a little bit smaller than before. The first Tekur he'd extracted created fewer SoulStar Fragments than the rest. But that was not the only thing Michael noticed. Michael clearly perceived that Extraction drained remnants of Soul Power residing within the dead Tekur.
The Soul Power accumulated within Glacicle's Soultrait Symbol was being replenished…via Extraction.
'Wait, wait, wait. So you're telling me that I can refill my Soul Power by extracting dead bodies of Awakened and Lords?? That is…amazing!'
Michael knew that Extraction was astonishing but he didn't even have the time to think about using Extraction in such an overpowered manner. The quantity of SoulStar Fragments he obtained after Extraction replenished his used-up Soul Power was less, but only by a small margin.
Replenishing his used-up Soul Power consumed roughly 10-15 SoulStar Fragments. Michael hadn't been using his self-made Soul Technique often, or in an exaggerated manner, which meant that the loss of 10-15 SoulStar Fragments might be considered rather high. However, each of Michael's utility of his Soul Technique resulted in the demise of one enemy. He could gain much more by abusing Extraction's newfound power!
'Does that mean I can convert SoulStar Fragments into Soul Power as well, or do I have to retrieve them straight from a recently killed Awakened?'
Michael was not sure about that but he could procure an answer rather easily. He produced some Soul Energy and created a small Soul Glacicle Needle which he released high into the sky. Now that some Soul Power was drained once again, Michael consumed a handful of SoulStar Fragments with the intention of recovering the used-up Soul Power.
And it worked. It actually worked!!
Michael licked his dry lips and finished Extracting the gains from all Tekur bodies. He then absorbed their SoulStar Fragments and stored away the two Soultrait Symbols he'd extracted.
'I don't really have to hold back in combat as long as I have enough SoulStar Fragments to regain the used-up Soul Power instantaneously.'
After that, he glanced at the Memory Orbs with an peculiar smile.
'If I were the Tekur…I would run…'
Michael then consumed the Memory Orbs. There was still a lot he had to learn about Soul Techniques if he wanted to generate his own Soul Techniques for each of his Soultraits…and that was exactly what he was planning on doing!
