I watched North and Steve from a distance as they continued their advancement, both of them fully immersed now, their presence steady against the pressure of the dead star. The Essence around them moved with purpose, responding to their control rather than resisting it. There was no need for me to intervene. They had crossed the point where outside assistance would only get in the way.
I turned my attention inward instead.
The final Essence requirement for talent level up ticked over without fanfare. The moment it did, something shifted inside me.
A tremor ran through my body, deep, like something fundamental had been struck. The generator code embedded within my heart thumped once, heavily, and a ripple spread outward from my chest. It wasn’t Essence at first. It was structure. Pattern. Then the restraints that had been present within the generator code flashed apart, dissolving into streams of information and energy that surged through my channels.
The flow washed through muscle and bone, threaded through my organs, and pushed deeper still. When it reached my soul, it didn’t resist.
It answered.
A low hum reverberated through me, subtle but unmistakable, as if my soul itself had acknowledged the change and adjusted in response. That caught me off guard. This wasn’t just a normal upgrade. Something had aligned.
I steadied my breathing and let the process finish instead of forcing it.
Then the notifications arrived.
One after another, stacking without overlap. I didn’t read them immediately. I pulled up my status panel first.
[Talent Panel]
——————————————-
Talent Name: Generator Prime
Level: 4
Activation Command: Power Up!
Recharge Sources: Any form of energy
Upgrade Requirement : Level 5
Function 1 : Essence Generation
– Generates Essence from absorbed energy
– Essence : 1000 / 1200(+700) units
– Level-Up Requirement: 24000 Essence units generated
– Progress: 000/24000
Function 2 : Null Heart
– Generates Soul Threads from generated Essence
– Combines Soul Threads into a Soul Shackle
– Null Heart Charge: 0 / 700 Essence (1 Soul Shackle = 700 units of Essence)
– Soul Shackle : 6
– Anchored Soul : 6
– Soul Shackle Limit: 7
Function 3 : Awaken Dawn Core [Complete]
– Core quality : Medium
– Generates Energy from law conflicts
– Laws : 11
– Energy : Blue
Abilities:
– Essence Transfer : Can transfer stored Essence to an attribute. After use, 75% of the transferred Essence unit remains as a permanent boost
– Essence Infusion: Can transfer stored Essence to an attribute of another being. After use, 25% of the transferred Essence unit remains as a permanent boost
– Sovereign’s Imprint : Essence generated or altered by you no longer only bends to your will in the moment. It carries a lasting authority imprint that persists after separation.
– Soul Shackle: Anchors a corrupted Bonded Soul into the Null Heart, allowing control and shared evolution.
– Sovereign Absorption: Generates a violet vortex that devours energy and channels it directly into the generator core, bypassing the engraved channels. Scales with Talent Level and Psynapse strength.
– Verdant Extraction: Extract life force and distribute it throughout the body. Cannot be stored.
– [Star of Origin (Dormant)]: A lifeless celestial seed formed within the Dawn Core. Stores and condenses Origin Source gathered from external forces. Awakens gradually as more Origin Source is absorbed.
– [Abyssal Extraction Authority]: A stabilized black-hole construct within the Dawn Core. Devours law fragments, refines them, and converts them into new law volcanoes or strengthens existing ones.
– [Sovereign Link]: You gain a continuous, low-level awareness of your summons and can focus to experience their perception directly. A soul link exists between you and your summons, allowing you to transfer your awareness into them.
——————————————-
I noticed immediately that my Essence storage had increased. More than that, the count on my Soul Shackles had risen by one as well.
I began checking the notifications.
[New Ability unlocked]
[Sovereign Link]: You gain a continuous, low-level awareness of your summons and can focus to experience their perception directly. A soul link exists between you and your summons, allowing you to transfer your awareness into them.
I raised an eyebrow and instinctively turned inward, sinking into my soul space.
Six thin threads of soul energy extended outward from my core, delicate but unmistakable, spreading from the vast mass of my soul and anchoring themselves to six smaller cores rotating around the Null Core. Each thread pulsed faintly, alive, stable. The connection wasn’t invasive. It felt… acknowledged. Like something that had always been possible, now simply formalized.
There was a subtle sensation at the back of my mind, easy to miss if I hadn’t been paying attention.
I tested it.
I nudged my consciousness toward the thread connected to Knight.
The shift was instant.
Shadows closed in around me, familiar and comforting, and the world reassembled itself from a different angle. I was standing inside the ship, watching the dead star loom ahead, its gravity distorting the void. North and Steve floated in the distance near its edge. My own body hovered farther back, unmoving. I was seeing through Knight’s eyes.
I could hear voices too. Lyrate and Aurora were speaking quietly nearby, Ash standing with them, silent as ever.
With a thought, I pulled back.
My awareness snapped cleanly into place inside my own body.
A small smile crept onto my face. It was a good ability. A dangerous one, if misused, but invaluable if handled properly.
I moved on.
[Sovereign’s Mark → Sovereign Imprint]: Essence generated or altered by you no longer only bends to your will in the moment. It carries a lasting authority imprint that persists after separation.
That made me pause.
Sovereign’s Mark had always been the reason my Essence bore that unmistakable violet hue. But this was different. This wasn’t just recognition anymore. New possibilities surfaced immediately. Runes. Artifacts. Constructs. Anything shaped by my Essence would now carry an imprint of me, enduring beyond my presence.
It reminded me of what I had once seen on Armus. A single drop of blood, carrying the will of an ancient demon long after its owner was gone.
This upgrade wasn’t loud.
But it would matter in the long run.
Finally, the last notification resolved.
[Abyss Core → Abyssal Extraction Authority]: A stabilized black-hole construct within the Dawn Core. The Abyss Core can now devour law directly from a living being, not just external fragments or released residue, refining them and converting them into new law volcanoes or strengthening existing ones.
I let out a quiet chuckle.
So that was confirmed.
What I had done to Lana hadn’t gone unnoticed. With this, it wouldn’t require brute force or elaborate setups anymore. Just my intent.
Law foundations could be dismantled.
That was a dangerous ability.
I dismissed the panel as the duo began manifesting their domains.