In an unknown void, two figures shrouded in darkness watched Adam's situation unfold on a flickering virtual screen.
"What a surprise!" exclaimed the woman. "I didn't expect a concept shard to appear in such a lowly place—and to be obtained by your little experiment, no less. What luck."
Her companion remained silent, but she wasn't fooled. The space cracks forming around them revealed his mood, which only amused her further.
The black heart he had planted in Adam was being consumed by the shard, destroying the plan he had worked on for years. It was a miracle he hadn't rampaged already.
"None of this would have happened if you had helped him save his mother in time."
"She was his anchor. Without her, he will walk exactly the path I designed," the shadow man finally responded, his gaze fixed on the flickering screen.
Now that the black heart's energy was being consumed, the surveillance device would soon fail, preventing him from monitoring one of his subjects.
"It was only a backup plan. It doesn't matter if it disappears—he'll make the same choices," the shadow reassured himself. "But I didn't expect him to be this lucky."
"Right!" The woman nodded with delight. "The Soul Pillar has been wounded and dormant since the creation of the universe. No one wishes for her to awaken again—her return would mean the end of all creatures with souls."
"You concepts are truly peculiar beings," the shadow muttered. "You created the universe out of boredom, and now you wish to destroy it out of boredom."
He shivered. Even he would never be so ruthless as to erase an entire universe for amusement.
"Aw, don't be so nervous," the woman said cheerfully. "Even if your universe were truly erased, I'd simply revive you by my side. I'm interested in seeing how your story ends."
"Thanks… but I'm not exactly thrilled to hear that from the embodiment of the death concept," the shadow replied uncomfortably.
Even though he knew she meant no ill will, he couldn't trust her. She was too erratic. She might even help his subjects oppose him if she found it entertaining enough. But what could he do? He was powerless to stop such an ancient being from meddling.
"Do you think it would be interesting to help him gather the other soul shards?"
Her words sent a chill down his spine. "You're joking, right? The others would never allow that."
That being was the source of all souls, and her awakening meant every living creature losing its free will. No one wanted to see such an outcome—not even him.
"Just kidding," the woman smiled. "He still hasn't proved himself worthy."
Even though she seemed to dismiss the idea, the shadow decided to keep a close eye on this immortal concept who delighted in watching the world burn.
"Grow quickly… and help me ascend," the shadow whispered, taking one last look at Adam before the screen flickered and vanished.
Now he was completely blind to Adam's development, left only with hope that his subject would reach the desired goal before harvest time.
***
"What the hell is going on?!"
Adam's knees buckled as he felt the energy drain from his body, and the weird heartbeat he heard wasn't helping calm him down.
Just as he was about to use [visionary], a system of beeps.
[You gained a new gift: Soul.]
Adam was surprised and confused. He was in grave danger a few seconds ago, so how could he gain new Gifts? Was that even possible in the first place?
But strangely, he didn't receive any guidance on how to use this new gift. If the notification hadn't informed him, he wouldn't even have noticed.
He called the status panel to check any new changes.
[Status Panel]
Name: Adam Winter
Rank: Adept (Exp: 30/100)
HP: 100%
- MP: 9000/9000
- Gift: Visionary, Soul
- Attributes:
- Strength: 21
- Agility: 24
- Constitution: 23
- Intelligence: 29
- Spirit: 90/90
- Unique Abilities:
[Danger senses], [Shadow Manifest]
- Skills:
[Mana Bolt], [Mana Missile], [Mana Coating], [Mana Detection], [Light], [Mana Shield], [Earth Wall], [Water Ball], [Fireball]
Adam stared blankly at his increased stats, and he didn't know what to say. The shard that almost killed him had just increased all of his attributes.
Even though he had a lot of doubts, he didn't bother to think about them now. He would have plenty of time to uncover the secret behind the shard.
What made him happy was the increase in his spirit points. Normally, it would have taken him more than a year to reach such a stat, but now he reached that level in a few minutes. He even fantasized about the idea of collecting more of these mysterious shards once he found their origin.
"I only need ten more points to advance to Magus." Adam clenched his fist in anticipation. The idea of evolving his life level and increasing his lifespan fascinating him.
But the memory of his dead mother sobered him up.
"Not enough. I need to get much stronger if I want to resurrect her."
He was determined to achieve his goal and wouldn't let anyone obstruct his path.
Crack!
He shifted his attention to the noise and noticed the dungeon gate getting smaller and dimmer until it completely disappeared.
"That's weird."
Dungeon wouldn't disappear usually. Even after clearing all the monsters inside, the dungeon could be used as a pocket space dimension by the academies, but this one completely disappeared.
"Well, it's not my problem to deal with." Adam shrugged.
Even if the dungeon didn't disappear, he wouldn't be stupid to enter it. He just found it a pity that he couldn't report its location to the academy and earn some easy merit points.
"Let's see if we can scavenge anything good."
Adam searched the twin bodies but couldn't find the artifact that points toward dungeons.
"Did they lose it inside?"
He searched all Magi but couldn't find a single useful item. Either these pirates were poor, or they used their life-saving items to successfully escape the dungeon.
But either way, it meant Adam wouldn't get anything out of their corpses.
"Well, it's not like it matters much."
He wasn't that desperate to get artifacts. With his Gift, he could create whatever he desired as long as he was willing to pay the price.
After making sure he didn't miss anything, he reluctantly cut the twins' heads and put them in inventory before heading to the coast.
He ignored the bloody carnage and boarded the small boat he saved. He pulled out the engine from the inventory and placed it on the back.
After making sure it worked fine, he pulled a compass he created before leaving the pirates' island.
With hardened resolve, he controlled the boat and headed to the destination.
"Now, let's go clean up those garbage, shall we?"