One of the worst things about being a background character wasn't the lack of screentime.
It was the lower talent compared to the main characters.
While the protagonists and their flashy side characters walked around with SS and SSS Grade Soul Talents like they were collecting pebbles, he was stuck with a single, lonely S.
S Grade.
Not bad by normal standards but normal standards didn't matter when the people around you could bend reality while you were still figuring out which end of a sword to hold.
Thankfully, his Soul Talent seemed to be one of the easiest to evolve.
What Even Is a Soul Talent?
Nobody actually knew… at least nobody fully understood it.
Soul Ability… Soul Talent, whatever name you preferred, the phenomenon remained unexplained, no one knew where it came from, how it was calculated, or even how it awakened in the first place.
There seemed to be no rhyme, formula or pattern.
While some people awakened one, most didn't.
Genetics played a role… but not a major one.
Children of S and SS rank ability users often had a decent chance of inheriting their stronger parent's talent, but it was never guaranteed.
You could have two SS rank sovereigns as parents and end up with nothing but a fancy bloodline and a lot of disappointed relatives.
The whole system was a cosmic lottery, and the house always won.
His Soul Ability was simple.
Adapt.
It sounded broken and overpowered… until you find out more about it.
First, Adapt wasn't instant. Depending on what he was adapting to, the process could take anywhere from days to weeks.
Second, and this was the real killer, he couldn't cheat or take shortcuts.
Sure, he could successfully take minor pain relief pills and healing potions, but they reduce the effectiveness of the adaptation.
Or, in worse cases, cancel the benefits entirely... making all the hard work worthless.
This was why his body currently felt like absolute shit.
The previous owner of this body… his body now, had apparently been grinding himself into dust preparing for the Ace Academy's entrance exams.
Pushing every muscle, every tendon, every bone to the brink, all for a shot at acceptance.
And to be fair? It worked.
The original Nicholas had broken into the top hundred in the original timeline. Not protagonist material, sure but respectable.
But now… That wasn't going to be enough for him if he wanted to have a shot at escaping this disaster of a world.
The Ace Academy wasn't just some prestigious school. It was one of the most important locations in the entire storyline.
The events of the first few arcs happened there or was at least linked to it.
The kind of opportunities that could change the life of an ordinary person was hidden in every corner of that academy and he wanted them.
But he didn't just need to get into the academy, he also needed to worm his way into the Main Character Crew.
If he was right—and he usually was—that Adapt would be his ticket out of this world… a lot of what he needed was inevitably going to appear in the path of the main characters.
So, sticking close to them, and the resources would come to him.
The plan was simple: drafting all type of unique organs from other creatures.
If he was right and his ability allowed his body to adapt to anything… adapting to abilities from unique organs would most likely grant him the abilities or trait in some form.
His background in genetic splicing and his philosophy played a major role in this decision.
His philosophy had always been simple… Nature already had everything, you just had to know what to take and how to use it.
This was the reason why while most of his colleagues had chased enhancement serums and artificial modifications, he'd gone with genetic splicing.
Airplanes? Copied from birds. Same as countless other inventions stolen straight from evolution's playbook.
Granted, humanity often hit roadblocks eventually but so far? The philosophy had worked.
His success in his original world proved it.
Sure, he was far smarter than the other scientists working on enhancement serum, but their sheer number and available resources should have bridged the gap.
But it didn't.
He succeeded several years before they even made enough progress to call an Expo which he upstaged.
This world would most definitely prove him right too.
But… There was one massive issue with his plan.
His background.
Unlike most of the main characters—who seemed to collect noble titles like participation trophies—he was a commoner.
His father had been a Rank C who served under the Southern Sovereign.
His mother was someone he had never met. She was a surrogate hired by his father purely to propagate his bloodline.
His father was already dead from old age, leaving behind a modest inheritance for him.
Modest was doing some heavy lifting there.
A small mansion which was barely worthy of the name, really… It was more of a large house with delusions of grandeur.
Also, there was the savings of one and a half million credits. While that sounded like a lot… It wasn't.
One million credits could barely buy a D Grade item. Even some of the more expensive E Grade ones would clean him out completely.
Also, there was a bunch of Skill Stones ranging from F grade all the way to D Grade that his father left for him.
His reasoning… if the kid awakens his soul talent, he can use them… if he doesn't, oh well, sell them for extra spending money.
That was literally what he wrote in his will.
'Fantastic.'
Thankfully, there was a monthly stipend of 30,000 credits from the Southern Sovereign's mansion.
His father's pension, or something. The exact reason wasn't clear to him, and frankly, neither him nor his predecessor cared enough to ask.
'Now that I think about it, this mansion was also gifted to the old man by the Sovereign.'
Reasons also unknown but he wasn't complaining about that either.
Back to his plan… If he wanted to escape this world—truly escape—there were three items he absolutely had to acquire.
First, and most importantly: a Rift Core from a Rift Daemon, it had to be fresh and there were no substitutes that he knew of.
Second: the Core of an Enssentral… also fresh. Even if he could buy one—which he couldn't, because nobody sold them—the price would be astronomical.
Enssentral Cores could expand essence storage, which meant anyone who found one either used it immediately or died trying to protect it.
Third, the blood of a Hydra… That one he would have to steal.
'Acquire,' he corrected himself. 'Acquire through creative, non-confrontational means.'
The Academy was the key to all three. He needed their resources, their information, and—most importantly—their access to restricted locations in the shattered realms.
But first, he had to pass the entrance exams.
The path the original Nicholas had been walking was fine, but it wasn't good enough.
So now he had to choose the first creature to graft. Preferably something strong enough to put him on the same level as the main characters.
*Sigh*
'This world is truly going to be a big pain, but it could also be fun.'
In truth, he still wasn't sure if any of this was real… but did it matter?
Nope.
Even if it was simply an hallucination might as well enjoy it until he woke up and if it was real… well… fine.
Since he was going to do it anyway might as well do it right to the best of his abilities.
Still, he had a theory about what happened to him.
The original owner of this body never died. Yes, he had pushed himself to the breaking point, but he never actually crossed the line.
So where was he? Where had the original Nicholas gone?
So far, he had been waiting for someone else to butt in into his thoughts but nothing still.
'Maybe he was sleeping.' Nicholas thought before shutting it down. 'Sleeping through all this… not a chance.'
The only explanation that made sense was that there was no original Nicholas.
It had always been him… just without his memory from his first life. Until now.
If he was to guess the extreme pain had most likely been the trigger that awakened them.
There was a lot of holes in that theory but for now, it was the best he had.
Just as he reached his conclusion…
*Ding*
A line of text appeared in front of him, the language was strange with characters he had never seen before, arranged in patterns that made his eyes water if he stared too long.
And yet.
He could understand every single word.
[You have awoken your Soul Ability]
[Name: Pride]
[Grade: S]
[Description: Become an embodiment of your pride.]
[Note: Your false arrogance and Narcissism has allowed you to touch upon a path rarely threaded by other.]
Suddenly Nicholas had a bad feeling... This basically destroyed his entire theory that he had reincarnated into this world and had simply just awaken his memories.
This suggested something else entirely.