Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

'It's… huff… finally done!'

After nearly a full 20 hours passed, Alex absorbed the last remaining bit of energy from the soul orb and watched as the faint red ball of light dissipated as there was no energy left to sustain its light.

He was expecting the process of absorbing a Variant class soul orb to be a little different than that of Mutant or Ordinary classes, but he didn't expect it to be this different.

At most, it would only take him a few hours to absorb a D+ rank Mutant soul orb.

But this D- rank Variant class soul orb took a whole 20 hours!

And that was with the sudden buff Alex had received near the start — if he didn't get that then it would have taken even longer, probably closer to 30 hours.

'That was so much hard work… I'm almost dreading having to do that for every soul orb I obtain from this point onwards…'

By choosing to absorb this Variant class soul orb, Alex was resigning himself to a much tougher future.

As he had already determined, absorbing lower class soul orbs or beast cores would lower his progress through the class upgrade, and now that he had gained some progress towards Variant class, there was no option for him to use Mutant class soul orbs anymore, unless he was willing to undo all of that effort he just went through.

Of course, this would only erase his Variant class progress, and leave his Mutant class energy untouched, unless he went even further down the dark path and absorbed Ordinary class soul orbs, which would just be a death wish.

'I just significantly slowed my progression through the ranks in the future, but it will be worth it.'

It didn't really bother Alex much, as even if he didn't do this, he still had the requirements to go up each rank, and tier, to worry about.

He was still a D- rank awakened, and that wouldn't change until he found out what the requirement was to rank up, even if his progress reached 100%, that wouldn't change.

'Time to check what I gained!'

Excited, Alex pulled up his details.

[Details]

Name: [Alex]

Age: [18]

Talents: [Soulforge(Soul+)], [Flame(C+)], [Inferior teleportation(E)]

Trait: [Seasoned Warrior]

Trait description: [As someone who managed to take down a Variant class beast alone, the system commends you. You have proven yourself worthy of being an awakened.]

Trait effect: [Healing speed increased by 5% and enhanced senses.]

Soul core: [D- 30%]

Soul Classification: [Mutant - 22%]

There were a few things that were different from the last time Alex checked his details, but one thing stuck out in particular.

'I'm 18 now… I don't even remember when my birthday is…'

Alex had finally officially become an adult, which left him with feelings of emptiness, as he realised that he hadn't even celebrated his birthday since he was just a small child.

Ever since his mother died and his father abandoned them, Alex had stopped keeping track of his birthdays, and it had been so long that he had even forgotten the actual date it was.

He was an adult now, but he didn't feel any different.

However, Alex quickly turned his attention to the things he had actually opened his details to check.

'My soul core's progress has gone up by 28%, and my Soul classification's progress has gone up by 22%... not bad for just one soul orb!'

The progress was good, but he was honestly expecting a little more progress in his soul core considering it was a Variant class soul orb.

That thing packed a lot of energy for something so small!

'Anyway, onto the real interesting stuff…'

He was glad with his progress from just one soul orb, but he turned his attention elsewhere.

Something far more intriguing and interesting…

[Soulforge(Soul+): First layer - Condenses the energy of any slain beast into a more refined energy source called soul orbs — the most valuable energy resource in the universe, many would sacrifice millions just for the chance to get one.

Absorbing these soul orbs dramatically enhances your physical abilities beyond what others can do alone with Beast cores, while simultaneously condensing your own energy, enabling any attacks you deliver to be stronger than your peers.]

'The description of the first layer looks the same… now let's check the second layer…'

[Second layer - Soul orbs don't just contain energy, but they can also contain the remnant soul of the defeated foe inside. This is dependent on the strength of the beast's soul, so higher classed and higher ranked beasts will have a higher chance of harbouring these remnant souls.

Through absorbing soul orbs you will gain some remnant memories of the slain beast, chosen at random from the beast's entire lifetime — Find out the rest for yourself.]

'Find out the rest for yourself… Again!?? This joke is getting old, system!' Just like last time, Alex felt his blood pressure increase just from the anger he was feeling.

But since he had already been through this once before, the feeling subsided quickly.

Besides, he had more important things to focus on.

'Like how the fuck is this going to be helpful for me!?? Remnant memories, that sounds cool in concept but in reality, what the hell am I supposed to gain from some random beast's memories?'

Alex couldn't help but feel like the reveal of his second layer was quite anti-climactic, as he was expecting something incredible, along the same lines as his first layer.

But no, he was left with this.

'Maybe the real benefit of this is hiding in the rest of the description the system refuses to reveal to me… Fuck you, system!'

'Oh, and if this is the case, then why the heck did I not gain any memories from the Variant beast then huh??? Isn't it supposed to be dependent on the strength of the beast's soul?? I don't know man, that Variant beast seemed pretty strong to me!'

Alex continued venting his anger to the system.

But he didn't expect it to actually reply.

[That was a Summoned beast, unlike regular beasts which go through the same stages of life as every other naturally born life form, these Summoned beasts are created at the moment of the summoning. Hence, it was essentially a newborn baby with no memories when you fought it. Everything that it experienced, you had also already experienced.

Even if there were any remnant memories, you would gain nothing from them.]

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