Many means of growing stronger quickly existed across the universe, but only a few were truly efficient for the individual. No matter how similar their anatomy may seem, everyone had different characteristics, physical properties, and attunements.
Michael, for example, had a powerful physique with naturally high energy absorption and annexation rate, further augmented by the Sacred Constitution and his perfect High Ascension. He also had fewer impurities than others. To be precise, he was on the brink of perfectly purifying his body.
Thanks to his high energy absorption rate, Michael's only requirement to advance as fast as others, despite having stronger and more Soultraits than others, was to supply his body with enough energy. Thus, Michael could either use Energy Stones, which he had to access individually to drain the energy within them or find an energy-dense area with enough pure energy to push his natural energy absorption and annexation rate to its limit.
The Untamed Jungle's energy density was high, but it wasn't enough to push Michael to his limit. Therefore, he'd been using the Extraction Aura to tap into the energy accumulated in Energy Stones naturally like he'd absorbed the energy in the vicinity.
And that everything of it was exactly what Michael wanted to focus on to accelerate his natural growth.
The fastest way to Develop stronger was probably to acquire new Soultraits and upgrade them several times or to find a powerful martial arts technique that pushed Michael's Soultraits to their limits. However, reaching a high mastery of martial arts techniques required time, and the progress would decrease drastically once Perfect Mastery had been acquired. That would require years of tireless effort, but the day until Michael reached Perfect Mastery with a highly ranked martial arts technique would probably arrive sooner than expected.
Therefore, Michael focused on Sacred Constitution and Extraction when he searched for a suitable Primordial grade technique. He wanted to Develop quickly and ensure his rapid growth would have both short-term and long-term benefits. Acquiring a powerful Martial Arts Technique, Soultraits, or Soullife Arts was something Michael could always do later.
[You don't have to look for a Soul Technique. We can help you if you want to focus on your Tier.] The World Serpent said.
Michael raised an eyebrow but didn't reject the World Serpent's offer immediately. He'd been looking through the Daemon Shop's Primordial grade techniques for a while and found many interesting techniques. Unfortunately, he could only afford one Primordial grade technique for now. Even then, Michael had been forced to sell a considerable number of 1 to 4-Star Soultraits. The pricing of Primordial-grade techniques was tremendous. They were more than a hundred times more expensive than Sacred/Infernal techniques and more than 2.500 times more expensive than Ancient techniques.
Michael didn't desire to blow his mind by checking how cheap a Superior Class Soul Technique was compared to the Primordial grade techniques. He knew the answer would make him feel insignificant. After all, Michael had considered Superior Class Soul Techniques 'powerful' for a while now. But Superior Class Soul Techniques were nothing. They were worthless in the eyes of the truly powerful.
"You're going to create a Soul Technique for me?" Michael asked the Beast Gods in uncertainty.
[Not for you. For us. Our bound Soultraits, to be precise. One technique for each of your Main Soultraits. Except Insert. That thing doesn't matter.]] "Okay Thanks, I guess?"
Sometimes the Beast God Curses were confusing. At this point, he learned their path was the same, but their final destination differed. That possessed been obvious, but hearing it from the World Serpent confirmed it. Still, Michael trusted the Beast Gods more the more he learned about them. Both were Beast Gods, yet they became Curses, whether voluntarily or by force. They were annoying, but Michael attributed that to their age. Selena was also annoying and old. 'If the World Serpent creates a Soul Technique to push Sacred Constitution's energy absorption rate to its limit, while Fenrir focuses on a technique to do the same with the Extraction Auraall I need is a technique increasing my Energy Pillar's annexation rate. The Energy Pillar has always been my weakest link.'
Michael configured something in the Daemon Shop's filter, gradually changing the displayed technique. Only three out of a dozen Primordial grade techniques remained.
It wasn't particularly challenging to pick the most suitable technique out of the three. After he concluded, Michael read through their descriptions and discarded two.
"Rune Vortex. I chose you!"
Rune Vortex didn't sound like an impressive technique. Even its description wasn't anything special. It was almost like the creator was trying to downplay the technique's benefits. While that was weird, Michael paid more attention to the hidden details in the technique's description and the full-fledged instructions once he'd purchased the Primordial grade technique with his entire fortune of Demonic Coins.
The technique was among the more expensive Primordial grade techniques, thus draining much more than Michael possessed planned to spend. But that was fine. Rune Vortex transformed his Energy Pillar into the central point of a massive vortex that sucked all energy within his body into the energy pillar. Once the technique was fully mastered and the practitioner a Divine Lifeform, it could transform his Energy Pillar into an Energy Vortex, which would passively absorb the surrounding energy and the energy coursing wildly through his body.
Michael was curious how swift a Divine Lifeform could advance with an Energy Vortex and infinite energy around it, but the answer was not that important. Crucial was merely that Rune Vortex required other techniques to unleash its full potential. One of the potential techniques was a Primordial grade energy absorption technique called Primal Energy Ocean. However, Michael didn't have enough Demonic Cins to purchase another Primordial grade technique, nor did he intend to purchase a technique like this in the first place. First of all, using two Primordial techniques simultaneously was difficult. A single mistake could cause irreversible damage to the Energy Pillar and its energy veins. Thus, one possessed to be extra careful, which would slow the mastery progression. It was only fortunate that Michael didn't need another Primordial grade technique to unleash Rune Vortex's full potential.
His condition was different from the norm. All Michael possessed to do was focus on Rune Vortex - study the technique and increase his mastery - while the Beast God Curses would use their Soul Techniques to control the Soultraits they've been bound to. Other Curse Users would consider this risky because Michael would have to give them enough authority over his body to unleash the Soultraits potential to the fullest, but Michael wasn't worried. Their paths aligned for the time being, after all.
The World Serpent would unleash the full potential of Sacred Constitution's energy absorption, circulation, and annexation, but also increase Michael's comprehension and progress of Rune Vortex while also allowing Fenrir to go crazy with True Extraction, Extraction Essence, and the like to absorb the surrounding energy.
As Soultraits bound to the Beast Gods, they knew everything about the 8-Star Soultraits, their limits, and how far Michael could go with them. Their understanding was perfect, which made it fairly easy for Beast Gods to create Primordial Soul Techniques and acquire Perfect Mastery. After all, the Soultraits were part of their existence.
All that was left was to find a powerful energy source and test his newest technique!