Arkas left not long after, giving me one more day to stay in the elemental zone. I didn't argue. That was the best outcome I could hope for.
Once I was alone, I headed straight to the calm water pool.
The heat from earlier still clung to my skin, and diving into that cool, still water felt like slipping into a dream.
I stayed there for a while, letting the tension drain from my body.
After the bath, I changed into a fresh uniform and ate some food. It wasn't much, just enough to fill my stomach and help settle my nerves.
Then I sat down again, this time with a clear head.
I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, my fingers twitching in anticipation.
"Time to see what is changed."
With a thought, I opened the talent panel.
[Talent Panel]
-------------------------------------------
Talent Name: Generator Nexus
Level: 1
Activation Command: Power Up!
Recharge Sources: Any form of energy
Upgrade Requirement : Level 5
Function 1 : Essence Generation
– Generates Essence from absorbed energy
– Essence : 0 / 55 units
– Level-Up Requirement: 1100 Essence units generated
– Progress: 0 / 1100
Function 2 : Null Heart
– Generates Soul Threads from generated Essence
– Combines Soul Threads into a Soul Shackle
– Null Heart Charge: 0 / 1000 Essence (1 Soul Shackle = 1000 units of Essence)
– Soul Shackle : 0
– Anchored Soul : 0
– Soul Shackle Limit: 0 / 1 (equals to level of talent)
Abilities:
– Essence Transfer : Can transfer stored Essence to an attribute. After use, 50% of the transferred Essence unit remains as a permanent boost
– Essence Infusion : Can infuse stored Essence.
– Particle Absorption : Can directly absorb energy particles from the environment.
– Sovereign's Mark : Generated Essence bears your unique signature, bending only to your will.
– Soul Shackle: Anchors a corrupted Bonded Soul into the Null Heart, allowing control and shared evolution.
-------------------------------------------
My eyes widened the moment I saw the changes on the panel.
A rush of thoughts surged through my head as I tried to make sense of it all.
My blood pumped faster with each new detail I read, and a grin began to tug at the corner of my lips.
The upgrades weren't just good, they were insane.
First, I noticed that the talent level had reset back to 1.
The upgrade requirement had returned to Level 5, which made sense if this was a full evolution.
The total Essence capacity had increased to 55 units, and the level-up requirement still followed the same logic, twenty times the capacity, which now meant I needed 1100 units to level up.
Then came the surprise: Essence Transfer now left behind a 50% permanent boost instead of 40%. That alone made the ability ten times more valuable in the long run.
But none of that compared to the real upgrade.
Null Heart.
That name appeared right next to a strange new function and the moment I read it, my mind immediately jumped to the glowing white core that had formed inside my body earlier.
I focused on it just to be sure. There it was, still floating silently at the center of my chest, pulsing with faint light.
It didn't look like a heart. More like a marble or a seed. But the panel called it a heart, so maybe it was meant to grow into one….eventually.
The words "Null Heart" glowed softly on the panel, and when I focused harder, a new prompt burst onto the screen in glowing crimson letters:
[Beware: Forgotten and forgiven, the path forsaken by the living, walked only by the Chained Fallen.]
I blinked. My brows furrowed. The warning felt dark, almost cursed.
'Chained Fallen…? '
It sounded like the name of some ancient group, maybe souls bound to something…or someone.
I didn't know.
Maybe it referred to Abominations. They were made from the souls of the dead, forced into monstrous forms.
But why forgiven? Forgotten made sense, but forgiven by who? And why?
The more I thought about it, the less I understood.
Crimson text. A warning. It all pointed to danger.
I exhaled slowly and forced myself to move on.
The prompt faded as I turned my attention to the rest of the panel.
The function of the Null Heart seemed clear enough.
I would first generate Essence. Then, that Essence could be refined into Soul Threads. By combining those threads, I could form a Soul Shackle.
And with that, I could anchor a corrupted Bonded Soul into the Null Heart.
My hands tightened into fists as I read the last line again.
I closed my eyes for a moment. My heart thudded in my chest, from the thrill of discovery. Of power.
If I understood this right, I could take control of a corrupted soul. One that belonged to an Abomination.
That was what the corrupted Bonded Souls had to be, souls of the dead, twisted into beasts.
One Soul Shackle cost 1000 Essence units. My current limit was one, tied to my talent level. That made things easier to track.
One level, one Shackle. Fair.
Finally, my eyes moved toward the updated list of abilities.
There it was, Soul Shackle.
A new ability, allowing me to not just anchor a soul, but share growth with it. We'd level up together, evolve together.
"Damn," I muttered under my breath.
All the pain, all the screaming, the fire, the blood, I'd do it all again for this.
The Essence Engine alone was a massive power-up. But this? This was on a whole different scale. It was a revolution. Not just for me, but for the whole world.
'Sharing growth with a bound soul… If I could build an army like that…'
"I'll need to test this," I whispered, staring into the glowing core within my chest.
As I stared at the panel, more and more questions bubbled up in my mind.
How long would a Soul Shackle last? Could I remove it whenever I wanted or once created, was it permanent?
Could I choose who or what to bind? What level of control would I actually have over a soul once it was anchored? Would it obey me completely, or would there be resistance?
So many possibilities. So many unknowns.
But beyond all that, one thought kept pushing its way to the front of my mind.
The Eternals.
They had always been surrounded by mystery and power.
Everyone knew they were capable of harvesting the souls of the dead, turning them into weapons that fought for them.
Abominations and Phantoms.
But now… I couldn't help but wonder.
What if the Null Heart inside me was a smaller version of something the Eternals already had?
A piece of technology or power they'd refined over millennia?
Maybe their method was just the result of using a massive, perfected form of the same process I'd just unlocked.
Maybe… I was standing at the beginning of the same path they had once walked.
That idea made my heart pound faster.
If I could control one soul now…what would happen when I could control ten? A hundred?
I chuckled to myself.
"Calm down."
I let out a deep breath and stood up, rolling my shoulders to loosen the tension.
A small smile tugged at my lips as I thought about how far I had come. All the pain, the training, the risks, it was all building toward something.
I was only going to grow stronger from here.
It was time to put things to the test.
"First, I'll need some Essence," I muttered.
Then I said it aloud, the words now familiar.
"Power up."
My heart gave a sudden shudder, but this time it felt different.
A strange, electric sensation spread across my body like a wave. It didn't hurt, but I felt it in every corner of myself, as if my entire body had lit up from the inside.
That's when I realized what it was.
The Essence Channels I had carved through my body, they were active now.
I slowly raised my hands and closed my eyes, focusing.
My perception expanded, stretching beyond my skin into the world around me. I sensed Essence in the air, but I let it be. What I was really after was the wild energy flowing through this place.
This elemental convergence zone was unstable, overflowing with raw, untamed power. I could feel it pressing in from every direction.
I locked onto that energy and reached for it with my will.
In an instant, the space around me reacted. Like a black hole devouring light, I pulled the energy toward myself.
The wind stirred, dust lifted off the ground, and the air rippled faintly as invisible particles surged toward me.
They rushed through the network of Essence Channels I had built inside my body, flowing like rivers toward the center of my core.
There, at the very heart of it all, I felt a heat begin to build.
Then, without delay, the core responded, using the absorbed energy and instantly generating a small speck of violet Essence.
I raised my head and laughed. And laughed. And laughed.