Chapter 162: Are You Human

Ross stared at the pack.

Then picked it up.

He slid one cigarette out and brought it to his nose and inhaled before giving a faint nod.

“Good quality.”

Relief flashed across Lyon’s face.

“I’m glad you—”

His head suddenly exploded with no warning.

One moment he was smiling…

The next, red mist painted the wall behind him.

Ross took one stick out before he calmly slipped the cigarette pack into his ring, as a Reliance-induced corpse entered silently.

It began cleaning the remains without hesitation.

Ross lit one of the cigarettes and the tip glowed softly, as he inhaled and exhaled.

Smoke curled through the dim room and the lights lowered automatically.

His purple sclera gleamed faintly in the dark.

“Incompetence,” he muttered to himself, “is expensive.”

He took another slow drag.

****

Adam leaned back on his bed, fresh from the spa with Felecia.

His muscles were loose. His essence pathways felt smooth, almost polished.

He closed his eyes and replayed the fight in his head.

If I face that bastard again…

A slow smile tugged at his lips.

I’ll wipe the floor with him.

This wasn’t arrogance.

It wasn’t even ego.

It was a fact.

The smile soon faded.

The grind still isn’t over.

If anything… It was just beginning.

The feeling of getting stronger was already turning addictive. Like a drug. Every breakthrough. Every star power increase. Every clean execution.

He wanted more.

No.

He needed more.

Adam sat up, elbows on his knees, mind shifting into cold analysis.

His current Rank was a profound Apprentice.

That was the biggest bottleneck.

Being an apprentice simply didn’t give explosive returns.

He still hadn’t found a cultivation talent strong enough to give him a massive boost and had just been managing on essence absorption and resources.

Which meant… aiming for a normal breakthrough.

He exhaled through his nose.

Then there was his Profound Spirit.

To rank it up, he needed existence.

And he didn’t have enough yet.

There was another path, for his spirit and that was raising its class from Profound to something higher.

But that required equipping a cultivation talent to refine it.

Which brought him back to the same problem.

His gaze sharpened.

That left three variables.

His newly equipped Affinity: Chaos.

His Adaptive Conduit: Judgment.

And his ability to equip and fuse special talents.

Adam exhaled slowly.

Then he pulled up his panel.

╭───────────╮

〖Name: Adam〗

〖Rank: Profound Apprentice〗

〖Cultivation Talent: G〗

〖Special Talent: Equip ❖ Connect ❖ Analyze ❖ Fuse〗

〖Affinity: Wind ❖ Death+〗

〖SLOT〗

↳ SOUL (5): Rapid Charge D ❖

Cryogen D ❖ Cultivation D ❖

Mind Control E ❖ Bone Generation D

↳ BODY (6): Judgment

↳ Gene (3): Chaos

╰───────────╯

[Star Power: 47±]

[Existence: 3858]

[Martial Spirit: Profound 3-Star]

He stared at the numbers.

Forty-seven Star Power.

Three thousand eight hundred fifty-eight existence.

His gaze then shifted to Judgment.

Ivy had called it an Adaptive Conduit.

Meaning it could grow.

The same way a martial artist grew.

Which meant it had potential.

Adam’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Body slots: six.

Judgment occupied one leaving six slots open.

If it’s adaptive… then feeding it should stimulate growth.

Fusing more conduits into it, strengthening its structure and evolving it.

But that meant one thing, he needed more conduits.

And quality ones at that.

A slight frown tugged at his lips, testing that theory would be expensive but there was nothing he could do about it.

His eyes then moved down to Chaos.

Chaos had already given him Disable.

But that wasn’t the only treasure.

The supreme affinity allowed adaptation and affinity assimilation.

He had felt it clearly because he had adapted Felecia’s Force affinity.

Which meant now he currently had

Death, Holy Light and Force.

Three primary affinities.

Even if only Death was currently awakened.

The others would follow.

With time.

And multiple affinities meant more martial techniques.

He could already imagine the look on someone’s face when he switched mid-fight.

But, he stopped himself.

He had gathered this existence painstakingly.

He wasn’t going to burn it without raising his Spirit’s tier first.

His attention shifted to his Soul slots.

All five slots were occupied.

But if something compatible appeared?

He wouldn’t hesitate to fuse and If it wasn’t compatible but better than his current equipped talents he wouldn’t hesitate to discard it.

Progress didn’t care about sentiment.

Adam dismissed the panel, as he moved into a lotus position on the bed.

“For now… this will do.”

Essence stirred in the air as It flowed toward him in faint streams, slipping into his pores, and sinking into his meridians.

His breathing slowed as a thought crossed his mind.

I still haven’t found a unique absorption method.

The list of things he had to do was growing.

Find a cultivation talent.

Acquire conduits.

Test Judgment.

Awaken Holy Light and Force.

Discover a unique absorption technique.

He almost laughed, but one by one.

He would handle them all.

Essence swirled tighter around him, forming a faint vortex.

And as the night deepened—

Adam cultivated.

****

A knock echoed through the room and Adam’s eyes snapped open, as morning light filtered through the curtains.

I fell asleep while cultivating again…

The faint vortex of essence around him had long since dispersed.

He then activated Connect and his perception stretched beyond the door to see Scott.

Adam stood and opened the door and Scott looked as composed as ever, but there was something restrained in his gaze.

“We’re having a team meeting,” Scott said. “About the drug launch.”

Adam nodded once. “I’ll be there.”

Scott turned to leave, then stopped.

“Can I ask you something?”

Adam paused.

“As long as I can answer it.”

Scott hesitated for half a second.

“Are you actually human?”

“….”

That one landed.

Adam didn’t react at first.

Then his eyebrow lifted slightly.

“And if I’m not,” he asked calmly, “what else would I be?”

Scott didn’t flinch.

“I don’t mean it as an insult,” he said. “It’s just… the things you do don’t feel normal.”

Adam held his gaze.

“You’re using normal human standards,” Adam said. “I stopped living by those two months ago.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie.

After his rebirth, clinging to old logic had been pointless.

This world didn’t reward normal.

It rewarded evolution.

Scott exhaled slowly.

“That’s… one way to answer.”

A faint smile touched Adam’s lips.

“You asked.”

Scott studied him for another moment, then gave a short nod.

As Scott walked away, Adam closed the door softly.

Am I human?

He flexed his fingers, feeling essence coil under his skin.

Human was starting to feel like a technicality.

He shook the thought away.

What mattered was growth.

Adam adjusted his clothes and stepped out toward the sitting room.

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