Chapter 627: Michael, the Mad Scientist

His whole plan had been destroyed.

Everyone rejected his offer, leaving him with almost 15,000 SoulStar Fragments to use. Michael wanted to strengthen his friends and he had no clear way to use the remaining SoulStar Fragments right now.

It was possible to upgrade one of his Soultraits a little, but none of them could receive a complete upgrade. They wouldn't advance to the next star rating.

'What about fusing more Soultrait Symbols? Blood Manipulation should suit Superior Constitution quite well.'

Using Insert with a bunch of Soultraits to provide his other Soultraits with unique perks would strengthen them tremendously. Furthermore, given his experiments, inserting low-ranked Soultraits into Soultraits of a higher star rating would increase the upgrade cost only a little. The Essence of the Soultrait wouldn't be changed, after all.

"But wouldn't it be a waste to fuse Blood Manipulation as a sub-Soultrait?"

Michael felt that Blood Manipulation was a decently powerful Soultrait. Maybe, combining it with Superior Constitution once upgraded to 6-Star would create a Soultrait that combined the strongest perks of Superior Constitution and Blood Manipulation.

But then again, Michael couldn't be certain that fusing Blood Manipulation and Superior Constitution would result in a stronger Soultrait. It was merely his gut feeling that told him so.

Some Soultraits would lose certain powerful perks when their essence fused with other Soultraits, therefore, losing some of their unique power in the process.

The only major downside of fusing Soultraits - excluding the increased upgrade cost - was that Soultraits had only one main power. Spheres of Elements was a good example. The 4-Star Soultrait had various special perks and unique characteristics, but its main power was to create Elemental Spheres inside the Pillar of Light.

The result of that main power was that he gained control of all elements and the expansion of his energy storage, but it was a matter of fact that the power of his elemental affinities was not that great.

He was better than the Elemental Empress, excluding her mythical fire affinity, but overall, his affinity with the other elements was rather average.

Even Frederik's Aeroan, a Soultrait that focused solely on the control and shaping of the Winds, was much stronger and more potent than Michael's Sphere of Wind.

That was also why Michael ended up fusing the three Space-type Soultraits without any other Soultraits rather than fusing them into the Spheres of Elements. He wanted a Soultrait that focused solely on spatial control and teleportation.

'Combining Blood Manipulation and Superior Constitution sounds like fun, but I don't have enough resources to fuse them properly.' Michael complained inwardly.

He didn't have enough SoulStar Fragments to upgrade Blood Manipulation to 6-Star and he couldn't lower the star rating of Superior Constitution without breaking his body apart, either.

That was the downside of Soultraits that altered your Body, Soul, or Mind at a certain star rating.

Michael couldn't downgrade them or remove them from the Sphere of Light without tearing his body apart. He would end up getting crippled if he was lucky. Or was it a misfortune if he ended up crippled for life rather than dying quietly? Well...it didn't matter. Michael wouldn't put his life in danger merely to continue experimenting.

Michael was probably the only person who would complain about being unable to lower the star rating of his high-ranking Soultrait. Nobody would want to lower their Soultraits star rating. That was just nonsense - for people other than Michael.

'I can always lower the Soultrait Upgrade costs for the next few upgrades in the Jungle Shop. Let's give everyone some benefits.' Michael thought with a shrug.

If his friends didn't want to get anymore freebies, he might as well improve everyone's benefits a little bit.

Once he increased the discount for Soultrait Upgrades in the Jungle Shop, Michael was back to focus on experimenting.

This time, however, Michael wasn't going to experiment with Soultrait Symbols. He had a lot more resources to experiment with.

He retrieved a bunch of Ordinary Summoning Scrolls and Summoning Scroll Fragments from his War Rune and used Insert.

First, Michael inserted one Ordinary Summoning Scroll into another Ordinary Scroll. The result was minor changes to the appearance of the Ordinary Scroll. A letter formed on the Ordinary Scroll's seal. However, it was incomplete.

'It probably needs a few more Scrolls?' Michael wondered, tilting his head lightly as he used Insert to integrate more Ordinary Scrolls.

Upon integrating 10 Ordinary Summoning Scrolls, Michael received a pleasant surprise.

"A Named Summoning Scroll." He mumbled, staring at the Carpenter Summoning Scroll that had formed in front of him.

A Carpenter Scroll might not be too valuable for Michael, but it was a 1-Star Occupation. Being able to form Named Scrolls with Insert was amazing!

Michael's hair stood up to its end as various possibilities flashed through his head.

'Can I create higher-ranked Named Scrolls if I integrate Named Scrolls? What about integrating Mythic Scrolls? And what happens when I use Insert to integrate Scroll Fragments with Named Scrolls? Will their star rating increase naturally?

Michael swallowed hard, the corner of his lips curling upward. He could tell that he was onto something big.

He used Insert on more Ordinary Scrolls to see what was going to happen. In a matter of minutes, Michael ended up with more than a dozen Named Summoning Scrolls and a much better understanding of the rules that apply to integrating Summoning Scrolls.

The minimum number required to create a Named Scroll was 10 Ordinary Scrolls. However, it was possible to integrate more Ordinary Scrolls. Integrating more Ordinary Scrolls didn't improve the Named Scroll's star rating, but it allowed him to influence the Named Scroll in another way.

Michael could influence the type of Summon that would emerge from a Named Scroll if the initial result didn't suit his demands. The Named Scroll conjured from integrating 10 Ordinary Scrolls was random, but the subsequent integrated Ordinary Scrolls allowed Michael to make minor changes.

Following that, Michael tried focusing on the creation of Archer Scrolls. He decided to use and integrate 2500 Ordinary Scrolls to create 129 Archer Scrolls. The result wasn't extraordinary, but Michael's control of the influence he had on the creation of Named Scrolls improved rapidly.

He was certain that he could create Archer Scrolls more easily and with far fewer Ordinary Scrolls than before.

However, now that he had 129 Archer Scrolls, Michael used Insert to combine the 1-Star Named Scrolls. He was curious about something.

He combined exactly 100 Named Scrolls before the Archer Scroll changed once again. The parchment turned black with a silver seal keeping the Scroll locked. The Scroll looked similar to a Mythic Summoning Scroll, but it had words engraved on the seal.

"Sharpshooter."

The 1-Star Named Scroll had been upgraded to a 2-Star Named Scroll. Archer evolved into Sharpshooter!

Michael nibbled on his lower lip. He had a hard time suppressing a vibrant smile. Taking a deep breath, Michael repeated the same process once again. However, this time, Michael didn't use Named Scrolls of the same Occupation.

He used the remaining 29 Archer Scrolls and created 71 Named Scrolls randomly. Once he was done, Micheal integrated them, creating another 2-Star Named Scroll.

"Enchanter. That's interesting," Michael murmured, "I used only one Enchanter Novice Scroll, yet it gave me the 2-Star version. Is the creation of the 2-Star Named Scroll random, or is it based on probability?"

Michael had been sure that it was the latter, but that would mean the probability of receiving the upgraded version of Enchanter Novice had only been 1%. He should have received another Sharpshooter Scroll since he used 29 Archer Scrolls.

"It could have been luck."

Michael repeated the test once again but with a slight change. He utilized 71 Warrior Scrolls and another batch of 29 Archer Scrolls. If it was probability-based, Michael should obtain a Great Warrior or Sharpshooter Scroll.

The result was pretty straightforward. Michael combined the Named Scrolls and obtained a Great Warrior Scroll.

"Okay..." He made a record in the back of his head right before his attention flicked to the Summoning Scroll Fragments.

"It should have been a little bit wasteful to use Named Scrolls to enhance their star rating like this. Summoning Scroll Fragments should be more than enough to do the same...

right?"

Michael retrieved tens of thousands of Summoning Scroll Fragments, several Named Scrolls, and Ordinary Scrolls.

First, he began using Insert to integrate Scroll Fragments into an Ordinary Scroll. Unexpectedly enough, 9,975 Summoning Scroll Fragments were drained before the Ordinary Scroll transformed into a Mythic Scroll.

That was something Michael expected, but it was still necessary to test out. He didn't want to miss any anomalies that may or may not allow him to cheat the system.

He glanced at a Warrior Summoning Scroll and a bunch of Scroll Fragments.

"I utilized 71 Warrior Scrolls and 29 Archer Scrolls to combine them into Great Warrior. Combining these 100 Named Scrolls required 1421 Ordinary Scrolls which is equivalent to...

14,000ish Summoning Scroll Fragments." Michael mumbled, only to shake his head, "If I buy these Summoning Scrolls from the Bartholomew Corporation, I would only obtain 1800ish Summoning Scroll Fragments."

That factor made things a little bit more complicated. If he purchased Summoning Scrolls from somewhere it might be more valuable to use Insert and merge them to form Named Scrolls and enhance them further through a second integration. Meanwhile, the Summoning Scrolls procured through his effort, and the effort of his army, should be extracted and turned into Summoning Scroll Fragments to upgrade Named Scrolls...IF the upgrade was not more expensive than the creation of a Mythic Scroll.

But that was something Michael tested out...and the result was just like he had expected.

Upgrading the 1-Star Warrior Scroll to the 2-Star Great Warrior Scroll required exactly 10,000 Summoning Scroll Fragments.

"Interesting," Michael murmured, his golden eyes shining brightly.

"But...what happens if I integrate more Fragments into the Great Warrior Scroll?"