All drafts were sent to Rebecca, who read through them with her friend. They weren't sure what to think about Michael's plan but understood it could work. It was likely to work pretty well. The only issue was that some powerhouses might think Michael's Soultraits should belong to them.
There were many selfish powerhouses in every race, and it was unlikely that Michael would not encounter them, especially now that he had planned to create a new system to distribute Soultrait Symbols.
Of course, Michael would implement the system only after the Soultrait Auction ended. He would wait another month or two before sharing the Soultrait Symbols with everyone in exchange for a 'fair' price.
Once the drafts were taken care of, Michael proceeded to upgrade his oldest Soultraits to 6-Star. He spent 32,000 SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Enhancement to 6-Star. Upgrading Enhancement to 6-Star slightly altered his body, mind, and soul. His physique grew stronger while his mind and soul refined rapidly.
The slight enhancement attained by upgrading Enhancement to 6-Star was a great bonus, but it was not the main course. The main attraction of 6-Star Enhancement was the Soultrait's new function. Every layer of Enhancement reinforced the target by 50%, just like before. However, the Enhancement Layer could be customized. He could apply Enhancement to upgrade specific properties of the target instead of enhancing everything equally. Therefore, Enhancement's full potential was concentrated in a particular point. Consequently, it would Enhance the specific property by more than 50%
"That is perfect for Extract and Insert. It can be useful for all Soultraits and whenever I want to upgrade specific body parts. Amazon!" Michael exclaimed once he finished experimenting with 6-Star Enhancement.
[Enhancement is very powerful. It's an overpowered Soultrait, but only if you have enough Soultraits or other means to apply Enhancement properly. Others wouldn't be able to unleash Enhancement's power like you can.]
Michael smiled, glad to have upgraded Enhancement. However, he was not yet done upgrading his Soultraits. Taming was next.
Since Taming was a Soultrait Symbol locked into the Middle Area of the Soul Sphere, Michael had to invest almost 80% more to upgrade it to 6-Star than he would have to invest to upgrade Insert. The price was steep, but Michael had enough SoulStar Fragments. He fetched 43,500 SoulStar Fragments from his stockpile to upgrade Taming to 6-Star.
Taming's Upgrade was surprising, yet not. Michael had expected a similar upgrade whenever he thought about the changes Taming would undergo as its star rating increased. The Soultrait's Taming Circle grew stronger. It was more potent now and, therefore, much easier to tame monsters. Taming's capacity expanded drastically as well. Michael could tell he could bind many more companions to him now that Taming reached 6-Star.
He even felt that Taming was potent enough to bind a Mythical Creature. He'd expected that to happen much later, but it was a good thing.
However, the most important change about Taming was that he could finally store his companions. Michael called the Elemental Empress to test out the storing function. It was much easier than he'd expected.
Michael had to access Taming's storage function with his will and touch the Elemental Empress. The Elemental Empress would be sucked inside his body, and an image of her would be etched on Michael's body. It was similar to the World Serpent's Seal, but it was smaller and much easier to access.
The Elemental Empress formed a huge image of her on his left arm. It was a sizeable azure-colored tattoo that formed on his arm. It fits perfectly with Michael's appearance. He had a few Seals and Stigma on his body. A few more wouldn't change a lot.
[You look like a gangster!] Danny exclaimed in his mind, only for the Elemental Empress to agree wholeheartedly.
As long as his companions were stored inside him, they could also access his senses. The Elemental Empress could converse in his mind…and talk to Danny.
"This is not weird at all. Danny, the World Serpent, Zeroa, and Sun Demos can chat in my head…That is not weird. Nope. Never."
[Don't be a crybaby. You can bring your companions out of the Origin Expanse now. If you use that well, you can turn entire planets into the home of Elementals or a breeding ground for your companions…though I'm not sure if I should recommend that.]
"If you don't recommend that to me, why do you even point that out?!" Michael cursed quietly as he imagined a whole planet for Zeroa.
[Yaaaa. I want!!] The Elemental Empress screamed in his mind in her broken universal tongue. Zeroa diligently studied the universal language, but it was much harder than expected. She couldn't pronounce most words even though she knew how they were written and what they were supposed to sound like.
"Maybe we can get you a planet outside the Origin Expanse in the future. For now, however, your underground empire is enough. Didn't you say you have more than enough space for several years?"
[Future! I want!]
Michael was unsure if Zeroa was throwing a tantrum, but he heard Danny laughing in the back of his mind. They were way too annoying. Unfortunately, he liked Zeroa and Danny too much to hold a grudge.
Evolving the Elemental Empress was possible, according to Tatjana's research. Tatjana noticed that Zeroa had some hidden evolution paths, but she has had difficulties discerning them yet. The young Forest Elf would have to grow stronger and get closer to the Elemental Empress to unravel the hidden Evolution Paths. She couldn't do that outside the Origin Expanse. Therefore, it was of utmost importance that Zeroa stayed with Tatjana for the time being.
Michael once again removed the Elemental Empress from Taming's storage. Zeroa complained, but Michael shooed her away. It was time to upgrade the Reinforced Sword Qi.
It was more expensive than Michael had expected. Even though Reinforced Sword Qi was locked in the Inner Area of the Soul Sphere, upgrading it to 6-Star cost around 50,000 SoulStar Fragments. That was even more expensive than a 6-Star upgrade in the Middle Area.
Fortunately, Michael's confusion and doubts were replaced quickly as he noticed that Reinforced Sword Qi evolved into Qi. Just Qi. That was all left from Reinforced Sword Qi after he upgraded it to 6-Star.
Both Michael and Danny were surprised. They didn't expect the Soultrait to change like this. But both were happy. Qi was much stronger than Reinforced Sword Qi and far more versatile.
[Fascinating! Can I use Qi to test a few things?] Danny requested, and Michael complied. He never had a deep connection to Reinforced Sword Qi, and even Qi didn't seem to suit him very well.
Michael was sure he could easily remove Qi from the Soul Sphere once Danny obtained a suitable vessel. That was how low his compatibility with Qi was.
Michael gave Danny complete control of Qi. His brother could experiment with QI as much as he wanted, as it was his Soultrait.
Instead of paying much attention to Qi, Michael immediately switched to upgrade Insert. He invested 27,000 SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Insert to 6-Star, yet he couldn't sense any significant changes after the upgrade was completed. Fortunately, experiments with Insert showed that the Soultrait was much better than expected.
Insert's potency and control improved by leaps and bounds. Michael obtained more power to decide what kind of combination of objects he could create. It was not perfect, but it was a lot better than the haphazard combinations Michael made by mixing Extraction and Insert.
It was a major change!
Michael felt like switching to experimenting with Insert again, but he wasn't done upgrading his Soultraits yet. He didn't even use half of the SoulStar Fragments in his stockpile.
He still had 210,000 SoulStar Fragments left to advance his other Soultraits.
But He was unsure what to upgrade first. He had many options, but he lacked the resources to upgrade everything simultaneously. That was a boon and a plague at the same time.
It was a bittersweet curse, just like the World Serpent and the Curse hibernating in the depths of his body.
