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 someone interested in him put two and two together, they would obtain the answer they sought. That was fine with Michael. The hiding game 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 dome of Glacicle around him without telling Maria and Killian what he was going to do.
The dome 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 dome, 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 Memory Orbs, SoulStar Fragments, Soultrait Symbols, Artifacts, and small portions of their War Runes' spatial space.
He obtained several Soul Technique tomes on which he used Extraction to extract Wisps of Knowledge. Michael then consumed the Memory 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 refinement 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 times 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 Fragments he'd procured. The 22 Tekur bodies provided him with 11,423 SoulStar Fragments, therefore totalling to an amount of 30,923 SoulStar Fragments 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 moment, only to shake his head.
Michael had a bad feeling about the last few days of the Interdimensional Flag War. Saving up would mean that he didn't use all of his means to increase his strength, which was something he couldn't afford right now. The Flag War was merciless 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 Fragments were Enhancement, 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 Enhancement and Superior Constitution.
'Am I going to focus on providing more Support for my existing Soultraits and inserting Enhancement 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 me 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 Enhancement was an amazing Soultrait, Michael's body was already at its limit when he tried applying seven layers of Enhancement onto it. Even if the potency of Enhancement increased significantly, it was not as if Michael could apply more Enhancement layers onto his body. For that, he would have to strengthen his physical body with Superior Constitution, or more intense body refinement 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 something 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 Fragments 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 Fragments. They coiled around the Fragments and dragged them inside the Soultrait Symbol where they were devoured and digested in one go. Following the digestion process, the SoulStar Fragments 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 Fragments. Michael didn't sense any major changes within his body. However, he could subtly sense the minuscule movements within his body.
Thus, he decided to add a batch of 10 SoulStar Fragments every minute, hoping that injecting 30,000ish SoulStar Fragments 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 time, and Michael would have to be ready to fight at once.
He destroyed the dome of Glacicle around him and got up from the ground.
"According to the memories of these Tekur, no Alliance member or group of Tekur was nearby for the last two days. I cannot promise anything, but I believe we should be somewhat 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 Fragments inside him, but that didn't seem feasible.
"Ah, right. You can read the memories 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 me. You might not feel like killing me anymore because I helped you in your tent, or maybe because you think my abilities are useful enough to let me live, but I can say, for sure, that you hate me."
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 something to harm you, how about talking it out now that we have some spare time?" Maria proposed.
Killian's lips parted as if he wanted to say something, 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 seemed more open. Not a major difference yet, but small differences that would sooner or later develop into something 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 something more than a friend. Their families were quite close because their parents had been in the same 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 time was not right and…that he was already too late. Maria didn't have a trace of romantic feelings toward him. They were merely 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 time," Killian pointed out and the others agreed at once.
Less than five days were left before they would be expelled from the isolated dimension.
All they had to do was to survive that long. It couldn't be that difficult, right?
