Shards of Elements was the Soultrait that Michael had created by combining more than ten 1-Star Soultraits. Upgrading Shards of Elements to 3-Star and integrating dozens of 1-Star Soultraits to further reinforce the Shards of Elements' perks had been enough to stimulate an evolution.
Shards of Elements evolved into Spheres of Elements upon reaching 4-Star.
Spheres of Elements possessed various great perks. One of them was that the Soultrait constructed tens of Elemental Spheres inside the Pillar of Light, therefore resulting in an expansion of his energy storage.
Expanding Michael's energy storage was only a byproduct of the creation of the Elemental Spheres. It was not one of the main effects, though it was a pretty amazing perk that had been granted from the 1-Star Energy Pocket Soultrait.
The Elemental Spheres' main task was to purify and alter origin energy. Circulating origin energy through the Sphere of Fire would create purified fire-attributed origin energy. Using the fire-attributed origin energy, Michael could replicate an innate fire affinity.
Of course, Michael was not yet certain how strong the replicated elemental affinities would be, but it was a fact that Michael gained the power to recreate all elements and use them.
It was similar to the Elemental Empress' power with one major difference being that Michael didn't have a particularly weak affinity like Zeroa.
The only downside was probably that he would have to study the elements he wanted to use to unleash their true potential. Fortunately, that was no problem given that he learned a lot about all elements from his fusions with the Elemental Empress.
Michael's Elemental Spheres weren't overwhelmingly strong. Spheres of Element was just a 4-Star Soultrait. It wasn't a 10-Star Soultrait or the like. However, the Soultrait's versatility made up for the lack of overwhelming power.
If Michael needed overwhelming power, he could always use a Soul Tear to amplify Spheres of Elements and apply a few layers of Enhancement on the Soultrait Symbol. That ought to be more than enough to produce some power.
If used properly and with some trickery, Michael was certain that 4-Star Spheres of Elements could become more valuable than various 6-Star Soultraits.
The Spheres of Elements were also very useful when he was fused with Zeroa. He could strengthen the Elemental Empress' Mythical Flames and her other affinities as well using his purified elemental energy.
That meant, Spheres of Elements expanded his energy storage, gave him access to all elements – with special properties such as the ice element's freezing perk –, and the Elementals Spheres could be used to strengthen Zeroa when they fused.
'Should I upgrade you to 5-Star right away?'
Michael shook his head. He was curious how much the Elemental Spheres would change upon upgrading Spheres of Elements to 5-Star, but he didn't have enough SoulStar Fragments to upgrade it.
That was not true. Michael had enough SoulStar Fragments to spend 45,000ish to upgrade Spheres of Light. However, Michael had to use his SoulStar Fragments for something else. He was not yet done improving his strength.
Michael still had a long way to go before he was truly powerful. Others might not agree with that sentiment, but Michael felt oddly weak. No matter how hard he worked and how much stronger he grew....he was always one step behind his enemies. Even his mother was countless times stronger than him.
Thinking about his mother, Michael cursed quietly. He didn't have the time – and intention – to talk to her, but it was quite obvious that his mother was not only powerful but also knowledgeable about the Cursed Seals, Cursed Children, and Curse Users.
There was also some sort of organization called 'Nest'. Michael was not sure what to think about the Nest, or that his mother seemed to have been restrained with a Geas...by a Divine Lifeform.
Michael was severely lacking information and that was getting on his nerves. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to procure detailed pieces of information because he was busy fighting in the Origin Expanse. He was not sure if he was going to like the intel once procured.
He cursed quietly in his room and diverted his attention back to the main task. Three particular Soultrait Symbols appeared in front of him and Michael stared at them for a while.
[Distorted Portal], [Warped Steps], [Flicker]. Those were the names of the Soultrait Symbols, the Soultraits had once belonged to the Teleporters.
At first, Michael felt like integrating the Teleporters' Soultraits into the Spheres of Elements to strengthen its spatial affinity. However, Michael quickly realized that fusing Soultraits was not a perfect solution for every problem.
If he wanted a Soultrait specialized for a particular issue, he would have to create a Soultrait with a single power. Spheres of Elements created Elemental Spheres, granting him access to all elements. That was great.
However, it also meant that all of his elements were similarly powerful. The grand power of the Spheres of Elements was distributed equally among all elements. None was given an advantage other than specific advantageous perks.
But Michael wanted a Soultrait that focused specifically on space travel and teleportation. He hoped to create a powerful Space-type Soultrait that would evolve and grow even stronger as its star rating increased. Using purified space-attributed origin energy from the Spheres of Elements would further enhance the Space-type Soultrait's power. Michael didn't have to think much about his next step of action. He knew enough about the Teleporters' Soultraits to use Insert on them and combine them. It was possible that he would create something worse than the individual Soultraits by fusing them, but he could always extract them and try again.
Failure would help him to learn more about his Soultraits, adapt, and improve his mistakes.
Fusing the three Space-type Soultraits required longer than Michael expected. Completing the fusion process required the energy stored within several hundred Common Energy Stones. That was slightly surprising. After all, Michael didn't have to use that much energy to fuse his other Soultraits before. Even Spheres of Elements didn't require too much energy.
Once the Teleporters' Soultraits had been fused, Michael noticed golden mots glimmering within the Soultrait Symbol. It looked like tiny stars twinkled inside the Soultrait. His attention was naturally drawn to the Space-type Soultrait Symbol and it was not long before several tendrils of energy burst out of his War Rune. His War Rune lusted for the Space-type Soultrait. That took him by surprise.
It had been eons since Michael had a hard time controlling his War Rune. His War Rune was in contact with hundreds of Soultraits, yet it rarely reacted to them, at this point. However, that wasn't the case with his new Soultrait Symbol.
'Is it because the Soultrait is powerful, or because I'm highly compatible with this one?'
Michael was not sure but he took it as a sign.
He shut his eyes and accessed the Sphere of Light. Initially, Michael planned to create a Soul Socket in the middle area of the Sphere of Light for his new Soultrait. However, sensing that his new Soultrait was special to the War Rune, Michael changed his decision.
He created a Soul Socket in the inner area of the Sphere of Light using SoulStar Fragments.
Unfortunately, that wasn't cheap. Since his Sphere of Light had already expanded to hold and stabilize 10 Soultraits, the 11th Soul Socket wouldn't be cheap.
'Good thing I didn't upgrade Spheres of Elements to 5-Star at once. Missing out on the opportunity to create a Soul Socket and fuse my new Soultrait would be quite annoying.'
Michael had to spend a fortune of 30,000 SoulStar Fragments to create the 11th Soul Socket in the Sphere of Light. The cost was quite high, but it was nothing in comparison to his future expenses. It was impossible to tell how many SoulStar Fragments he would have to consume to create the 12th Soul Socket, but Michael felt that it would be a six-digit number.
Fortunately, Michael didn't plan to create the 12th Soul Socket anytime soon. He allowed the energy tendrils to coil around his new Soultrait and pull it inside his War Rune. Michael closed his eyes right after and observed the process of his newly acquired Soultrait connecting with the empty Soul Socket in the Sphere of Light's inner area.
The Soultrait attached to the empty Soul Socket right away and fused with Michael. A flood of information entered Michael's head, teaching him the Soultrait's name and a variety of uses.
"Cosmic Stride. What a beautiful name."
The corner of Michael's lip curled upward, and he didn't even have to think about the next course of action. He upgraded Cosmic Stride to 5-Star in an instant.
The first upgrade cost 14 SoulStar Fragments, the second was a bit pricier at 80 SoulStar Fragments. The third upgrade required 750 SoulStar Fragments and the fourth upgrade required 8300 SoulStar Fragments.
Upgrading Cosmic Stride was three times more expensive than upgrading other Soultraits. However, Michael didn't even consider cursing his 'back luck'. He was not unlucky, at all.
Cosmic Stride was powerful, and it grew exponentially more powerful after it had been upgraded to 5-Star.
The upgrade of Cosmic Stride changed something within Michael. However, the changes were minuscule compared to the alteration of his entire being caused by upgrading Extraction to 7-Star, or Superior Constitution to 6-Star.
But that didn't mean the changes were less insignificant. Michael's perception of the surrounding space skyrocketed and he could sense things he hadn't felt before. At first, it felt weird. But as he spent some time focusing on the space around him, Michael noticed a few things.
He kicked the ground lightly and dashed in a direction. Michael leaped on a tree branch and continued to move around with nimble strides.
All of a sudden, Michael used Cosmic Stride. He leaped through space and appeared several hundred meters ahead. However, instead of being demanded to look around to know where he was and how to move next, Michael was fully aware of everything in his surroundings.
He knew where he was about to land even before he used Cosmic Stride.
Michael didn't even have to see where he was going to transport to. He could feel it.
