The last time Michael and Lincoln fought with their Soultraits against each other, it was during the second Real Combat assessment.

At that time, Enhancement was still Lesser Enhancement. Both Lesser Enhancement and Spirit Whip had been 2-Star Soultraits, and couldn't be compared to their current power, at all.

But the upgrade from a 2-Star Soultrait to a 4-Star Soultrait was not everything that had changed. The population in Michael's territory had expanded rapidly, and the firmness of every subject's Link of Loyalty was much higher than before. Both of these factors provided a considerable increase in his Soultraits' Soul Power, further increasing their potency and might.

Lincoln expected Michael's mental attack to have grown stronger, but he couldn't fathom that Michael was capable of creating two mental attacks several times stronger than before.

He had grossly miscalculated Michael's increase of strength and was struggling to control the stone fists around him.

Lincoln failed to maintain using his Soultrait after the mental attacks struck him heavily.

Michael knew that his attack worked the moment the enhanced Spirit Whips struck Lincoln. Without wasting time, he accelerated and appeared in front of Lincoln.

After a moment of consideration, Michael manifested a third Spirit Whip. Then, he began to attack Lincoln with all three enhanced Spirit Whips, while simultaneously striking out with the Wyverntooth Spear.

Lincoln groaned in pain and discomfort when the Spirit Whips struck him. However, he still sensed the incoming danger of the Wyverntooth Spear. Lincoln moved to the side swiftly to evade the blade piercing deep inside his flesh.

But Michael's Eagle Eyes had already detected Lincoln's movement trajectory. His leg shot forward, tripping Lincoln as he moved aside.

The Wyverntooth Spear spun around Michael's body, gaining enough momentum to deliver a feisty blow to Lincoln as he crashed onto the ground.

Michael sensed victory approaching him, but he didn't lower his guard. He knew that he wouldn't actually win until the battle ended.

Furthermore, Lincoln was not an easy opponent to defeat. He was the descendant of High Nobles, in possession of a 6-Star Soultrait, more than a decade of training, an Inheritance technique with his mastery, and enough resources to grow into a powerhouse.

Seeing the battle spirit in Lincoln's eyes, Michael instinctively knew that the battle was not yet over even though Lincoln was on the ground and the Wyverntooth Spear was only a few centimeters away from cutting deep inside Lincoln's chest.

With a devious smile, Lincoln released a ginormous amount of energy all of a sudden, and his body expanded in all directions. His skin turned brownish-gray, and the blade that was supposed to pierce easily through his skin and cut deep into his flesh was forcefully halted.

The tip of the Wyverntooth Spear pierced Lincoln's skin, but the blade was stopped before it could penetrate deeper.

The ground beneath Michael's feet began to tremor, causing Michael to react instinctively. He retracted the Wyverntooth Spear into the War Rune and retreated several steps.

A quarter of a second after Michael retreated, earthen pillars shot out of the ground. They would have flung Michael through the air with tremendous force if he hadn't stepped back in time.

'Is he losing control like last time? No, it's different. He can still control himself.' Michael concluded while staring straight ahead.

Meanwhile, Lincoln had gotten up from the ground, which he stomped on heavily.

He didn't grow much in height, but he was much heavier than before, and his clothes were torn in dozens of spots after his body expanded in width and breadth.

'Did he turn his flesh and skin into stone?' Michael wondered.

Lincoln's movements were a bit slower than before, but his presence was much more intense. It was almost as if Lincoln became a different person.

'How to break through his defense? Extraction?'

While Michael was trying to grasp how much stronger Lincoln had grown, Lincoln retrieved a set of large gloves from his War Rune.

He calmly put on the gloves that adjusted in size to fit his hand before they began to glow a vivid shade of brown.

The next instant, several stone fists manifested around.

"Lincolnare you serious right now? Didn't you want to keep the Stone Giant Gloves a secret until the Battle Exchange?" Zeke mumbled, his face full of confusion.

Was Michael really strong enough to force Lincoln to retrieve the Stone Giant Gloves? That shouldn't be the case.

The Stone Giant Gloves were an Epic Tier-2 Artifact set that had been crafted by an Archmaster Enchanter and a Saint Blacksmith. The gloves had been customized to be on par with a Legendary tier-2 Artifact upon triggering the enchantments with the use of Lincoln's Stone Giant Soultrait.

Lincoln had been forced into unleashing the second level of Soul Giant's transformation. The first level was Stone Skin, which transformed Lincoln's skin into a highly endurable hardstone. Meanwhile, the second level was called Expansion, which expanded Lincoln's body in width and breadth by growing Lincoln's Stone-skin.

The grown skin would slowly turn into stone and fall of Lincoln's body. However, until that happened, Lincoln's entire body would be covered in a second layer of highly endurable skin.

Taking the Stone Giant gloves into account, it was quite obvious that Lincoln didn't think about holding back anymore.

He considered Michael an opponent, whom he had to fight with all his might.

More than ten stone fists manifested and came flying at Michael at once. Michael's Eagle Eyes were fully unleashed, allowing him to predict their movement paths and evade five stone fists at once. The remaining five stone fists were dealt with by the Wyverntooth Spear. Michael moved rapidly, manifesting the Wyverntooth Spear and coating it with four layers of Enhancement at once.

Even though the energy consumption of a four-layer Enhancement was quite high, Michael could easily destroy the five stone fists before he terminated the use of the four-layer Enhancement. At the same time, he used three enhanced Spirit Whips to lash Lincoln, hoping to distract him.

However, the efficiency of the enhanced Spirit Whips decreased rapidly. Compared to before, the Spirit Whips didn't even inflict half the damage.

Michael tried to keep using Spirit Whips until the mental damage was severe enough to force Lincoln into changing his strategy. However, Lincoln simply manifested a few more stone fists.

The Stone Giant Gloves' glow intensified, and stone walls manifested all around Michael. The walls shot out of the ground, surrounding Michael from every direction except the frontside.

A deep frown appeared on Michael's face. He slashed at the stone walls, just to note that the stone walls were far stronger and more resilient than the earthen pillars Lincoln had manifested before.

'Did his Soultraits grow stronger?'

Michael pinched the bridge of his nose while coming up with his next move. He noticed that he couldn't escape the stone walls easily, and the approaching stone fists weren't easy to deal with either.

Lincoln smiled seeing Michael's expression. However, before he could get a taste of victory, Lincoln's expression changed in a split second.

As Lincoln watched with squinted eyes, Michael's Wyverntooth Spear was suddenly coated in a golden light. Michael shot forward, slashing at the stone fists that crumbled into countless pieces the moment the golden light came in touch with them.

Michael's speed accelerated and his hesitation disappeared. He struck one stone fist after another, destroying all of them without slowing down his burst speed.

He shot forward, and appeared in front of Lincoln while his entire body began to glow in a mixture of intense white and bright gold.

But just before Michael and Lincoln could collide again, a sharp voice rang through the training hall at this moment. It was not loud but everyone in the hall heard the voice ringing through their ears as if someone had been shouted right in their ears.

"How about we stop right here?"

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice instinctively. Michael and Lincoln froze in their tracks as heavy pressure weighed down on them. Their heads turned in the same direction, and their gazes fell upon Silverian Schild, who had just entered the training hall.

Lincoln and Michael terminated their Soultraits without a second thought. Even if they wanted to continue the battle, Silverian Schild's words were a command. He was their instructor, so they were honor bound to obey his orders.

Michael was baffled feeling the heavy pressure suppressing him. It was the first time that he felt such heavy pressure after his last encounter with the mythical serpent. The pressure was as intense as the Thunder Pteranodon King's pressure, which caught Michael off-guard.

'How strong is Silverian Schild?'

"If you guys don't want to stay in the medical hall for a few days you should stop now," Silverian said calmly.

A glint appeared in his eyes as he added, "Or I will make sure that you two will have to stay in the medical hall much longer than a few days. I will gladly help you out!"

Michael was a bit dissatisfied with the abrupt end of their spar. He felt that fighting Lincoln a little longer would have helped him grow stronger. Unfortunately, their battle ended before he could gain more insights about his combat prowess, and how to improve it even further.

"I should have used Enhancement with more precision. Spirit Whip turned useless after a while. It's strong enough to take Lincoln by surprise, but it would need some more strength to knock him out at once" Michael mumbled to himself, replaying the fight in his mind and trying to figure out what he could have done better.

He walked out of the arena, while still mulling over the same.

'I have good Artifacts, but I cannot unleash their full power properly yet. My Soultraits are powerful but they're not yet perfectly in sync. I cannot use them however I want. Lincoln can focus on one Soultrait and train it to the extreme. He even amplifies his Soultrait with Artifacts, and his Inheritance technique. Even though he has a 6-Star Soultrait, which is on the same level as Extraction, his Stone Giant Soultrait is far stronger.'

Meanwhile, Lincoln walked back to Zeke, who welcomed him with narrowed eyes.

"I know. Let's not talk about it for now. I'm also trying to figure out what happened," Lincoln told Zeke, who could only nod his head slowly.

"Alright"

Michael looked over to Zeke and Lincoln, his expression hard to read.

'High Nobles cannot be underestimated. Even if I have a 6-Star Soultrait, I am not yet on par with them. High Nobles have a strong foundation and centuries of experience and research to back them. I won't reach their level within a few months. That is too much to ask for.'

He realized that his foundation was not the same as Lincoln's. However, he also understood that he had the means to reach the same level as Lincoln and the others. All he needed was enough time, and opportunities to make full use of Extraction.

'One step at a time'