Since it was not yet possible to insert SoulStar Fragments into his Summons without killing them, Michael decided to try something else.
He had various Artifacts stored in his War Rune and the warehouse. They collected dust and were better off being used instead.
Michael began a few experiments using Insert on Artifacts to merge them with Monsters and Summons. The first Artifacts he retrieved for that job were Accessory Artifacts. He inserted Tierless Earring Artifacts into the earlobes of his Tier-1 Summons and some Tier-1 Bilrox to observe their bodies' reaction to the integration of Artifacts.
The external enhancement from the Tierless Earring Artifacts was low, but that was fine. The Earring Artifacts focused on amplifying the hearing sense instead.
Once the Earring Artifact had been integrated into the targets' earlobes, Michael made them undergo a few tests. They had been examined a few minutes ago and repeated the same process once again to test if the effects of the Earring Artifacts were still active, or if integrating them damaged the Artifacts.
Interestingly enough, the Artifacts worked like usual. They enhanced the Summons and Bilrox's hearing sense while also granting a minor external enhancement. Their senses improved as well.
That was a little unexpected. Only Awakened were supposed to be able to use Artifacts. It shouldn't be possible for the Summons and Bilrox to gain the external enhancement of an Artifact alongside their special perk.
'So Integrating Artifacts with Summons and Monsters does work, but they feel uncomfortable. They cannot convey what's wrong with them, but their bodies tell them that something is wrong. Does that mean anything or is it merely because a foreign object entered their bodies?'
If it was the latter, the problem could be solved rather easily. Desensitizing someone might not be easy, but it was possible. However, if the discomfort originated from the Summons and Bilrox's souls, it would be a little bit more complicated.
'I integrated 2-Star Tierless Artifacts into Tier-1 Summons and Bilrox. Is that still too much for them to bear?'
Michael fell into deep thought and called for some Tier-2 Summons and the Tier-1 Summons whose Souls were stronger than the rest. The trio with the highest progress in the Soul Refinement Technique was also present. Michael had extracted the SoulStar Fragment early enough to ensure that their bodies and souls didn't sustain any major injuries.
They were willing to continue experimenting.
He inserted more 2-Star Tierless Artifacts into the Tier-2 Summons and the Summons with strengthened soul. Their bodies' responses were similar to the others, but there was a major difference. The discomfort was present within everyone, but the Summons whose souls were strengthened said that it didn't affect them.
On the contrary, the Tier-2 Summons felt only a little bit less uncomfortable than the Tier-1 Summons.
Michael made notes about everything and continued the experiments. He changed some Artifacts, improved their star rating, and continued writing down notes. Michael observed everything in great detail and learned a lot.
'Ordinary Summons can endure the potency of Low-Tier Artifacts. However, the higher the Artifact's star rating the higher the pressure on the Summons' souls. Only Summons whose souls have been strengthened won't have any issues with Low-Tier Artifacts.'
The soul-strengthened Summons wouldn't be able to use Rare Tier-2 Artifacts while being at the 2nd Tier, but it should be feasible to use Tier-1 Artifacts on Tier-2 Summons as long as their progress with the Soul Refinement Technique didn't stagnate. As they deepen their refinement degree it might even be possible to use Artifacts with higher star-rating.
That was an amazing find, and it shocked Michael quite a bit. It was not every day that Michael learned about ways to turn a minority of his Summons into little powerhouses.
'Does that mean I can integrate both SoulStar Fragments and Artifacts into the soul-strengthened Summons as long as they practice their Soul Refinement Technique diligently? Or maybe, they'll have to choose between Artifacts and the SoulStar Fragment.'
Michael was quite satisfied with his findings. He used Extraction to remove the integrated Artifacts once again and rewarded everyone with a few Jungle Points for their great help in today's experiments. Michael felt like experimenting a little bit more, but he didn't want to go overboard. He didn't want to kill his Summons by accident.
"It won't be too difficult to find the Summons who can refine their souls. Testing everyone might take a while, but that's only a matter of time. But...how can I create more soul-strengthened Summons?"
Michael had been hopeful before. He was hoping that integrating SoulStar Fragments into the Summons would not only awaken their past life's Soultrait but he could strengthen their Souls as well. Unfortunately, that wasn't feasible.
He needed something else to strengthen his Summons' Souls to integrate Artifacts and SoulStar Fragments into them.
The human experiments had been quite interesting, but Michael was still not done experimenting. He had yet to use insert on multiple Artifacts to upgrade them, if that was possible, and he was planning to do the same with the Blueprints.
Michael possessed 35,208 Blueprints in his War Rune and more than 80% were duplicates of blueprints he possessed already. After putting aside more than 5,000 blueprints to store in the warehouse, Michael was left with roughly 30,000 blueprints to use in his experiments.
He began using Insert on blueprints of a similar type, but he mixed random blueprints as well. Michael possessed a strategy up to his sleeves, but it wasn't anything special. All he had to do was to check a few things. If they operated out as intended, it would be great. If not, it was also fine.
Micheal used Insert and fused a bunch of blueprints. However, oddly enough, Michael never managed to procure what he presumed to obtain.
1,000 ordinary blueprints fused into a single blueprint of higher quality whereas 10,000 blueprints transformed into an Exotic blueprint.
While that seemed nice at first, Michael couldn't find any logical reason why the integration of 10,000 blueprints led to the creation of that particular structure blueprint. It felt like the integration of blueprints resulted in random blueprints of a higher quality. While that was still fine, Michael could tell that he could gain more by selling ordinary Agriculture blueprints to the Bartholomew Corporation rather than scrapping them by integrating them into a random Exotic blueprint.
The Exotic blueprint might not even be useful to him, or anyone else.
"Maybe, I can control the creation of particular blueprints once Insert is at a higher star rating?" Michael wondered.
It should be possible, but he couldn't be certain.
He decided to stop using Insert on blueprints, for the time being. There was no way that he would continue to waste his precious resources now that he knew that it wouldn't bring any benefits.
Michael's attention drifted to the Artifacts spread around him. He had a little more than 2300 Artifacts from the battle against the Heart of the Blazing Lion army and he was more than willing to use them to keep experimenting.
Michael chose to use Insert to integrate a bunch of similar Artifacts and watched as they merged. It was weird to see the density of some Weapon Artifacts increase as they fused. It felt like he was able to create heavy alloys by merging the Artifacts, but it was a little bit more complex than that. Michael created upgraded versions of low-ranked Artifacts by merging them. The weight of the Artifacts assimilated, just like the Artifacts' special perks.
Merging Artifacts was almost as energy-draining as fusing Soultraits. He possessed to retrieve dozens of Energy Stones to replenish his used-up energy as he experimented with the wide variety of Artifacts in his possession.
"This is fun."
Michael licked his lower lip as he spent tens of hours integrating Artifacts. However, it didn't end with using Insert. Michael added Extraction into the equation by extracting certain properties of a few particular Artifacts before applying Insert to integrate the extracted properties into another Artifact.
Michael never learned how to create Artifacts. He was not a blacksmith or anything like that. But by combining Insert and Extraction, Michael could create his own Artifacts – specialized works with customized effects.
There were many things to pay attention to, including the Artifacts' material limit and the potency of external enhancements and special properties. However, by consulting the Blacksmith from the Underground Forging Hall and using the Relic of Draka to his advantage, Michael managed to upgrade Natural Artifacts and add special properties from customized Artifacts.
Michael turned into an Artificer…and more than that. He could not only turn ordinary weapons into extraordinary Artifacts, or alter natural Artifacts by engraving special enchantments on them.
No.
As long as Michael was given the necessary resources, he could upgrade ordinary Artifacts into extraordinary tools.
He could use Insert to merge Artifacts and upgrade their star rating and it was also possible to create customized Artifacts using Natural Artifacts as the foundation.
One of the best results after experimenting for tens of hours was an Epic Tierless Artifact. The Artifact might not be useful for Michael or the Untamed Awakened, but the Epic Tierless Artifact he possessed created was special. Not only performed it possess an extremely high external enhancement, but it had a protection enchantment that was strong enough to protect the Artifact wielder from the attacks of a Late Tier-1 Awakened.
Creating the Artifact hadn't been easy. It possessed been extremely pricey as well.
However, Michael was satisfied. He utilized Insert for the first time on Artifacts and created such an excellent piece of Artifact right away.
The next time, Michael would be able to create an even better Artifact without wasting any precious resources.
It was only a matter of time before he created Legendary Artifacts for Higher Lifeforms!
