Chapter 86: Multiple Avenues

Notifications bloomed one after another before Adam’s eyes, each line pulsed faintly with authority as if the panel itself was acknowledging his breakthrough.

[You have stepped into the Apprentice Realm]

[Criteria have been met]

[Awakening Body’s Affinity]

[Awakening complete]

Adam suddenly felt a sharp sting ripple through his body. It wasn’t centered in his chest, so it wasn’t his soul. Instead, the sensation spread through his flesh, his bones, his blood, as if something fundamental had been etched directly into his biological makeup.

The pain wasn’t intense, but it was absolute, the kind that left no room for resistance.

Then, just as suddenly, it stopped.

Adam didn’t waste a second. His gaze went back to his panel and froze. Not because he didn’t expect to awaken an affinity. That much was guaranteed.

Any martial artist who wished to learn any martial technique needed an affinity; it was the deciding factor that determined what techniques they could even attempt to learn. Without one, progression beyond the basics was impossible.

Adam had known this long ago.

In fact, he already knew what his affinity should be.

Before stepping into the official ranks, affinities existed like recessive traits, subtle, but still detectable through testing.

Adam had gone through those tests. Without knowing his affinity, he wouldn’t have been able to purchase the yellow-grade martial technique he acquired, along with his dirty-bronze grade conduit and the standard essence absorption technique.

He knew his affinity.

Or at least… he thought he did.

Because what stared back at him now was something else entirely.

╭───────────╮

〖Name: Adam〗

〖Rank: Profound Apprentice〗

〖Cultivation Talent: G〗

〖Special Talent: Equip ❖ Connect〗

〖Affinity: Wind ❖ Death〗

〖SLOT〗

↳ SOUL (5): Rapid E ❖ Poison F ❖

Cultivation D ❖ Freeze F

↳ BODY (6): Empty

╰───────────╯

Star Power: 16

Existence: 0

Adam stared at the second affinity, as shock unmistakably flashed in his eyes.

he had expected the first affinity wind. There was never any doubt about it. That part of the panel was simply confirmation. But the second affinity, Death, was a pleasant surprise. After all, it wasn’t just any affinity, it was a primary one.

Adam’s breath slowed as the initial shock faded, before he let out a low chuckle, more disbelief than humor.

It must be the second soul.

The moment he had that thought, everything made sense.

Ever since his panel had notified him of the existence of a second soul within his body, his life had been nothing but cascading abnormalities.

That second soul had awakened his second special talent—[Connect]—a talent with perfect, almost unfair synergy with [Equip].

Together, they were the foundation of everything he had achieved so far. And now, it had gone one step further. A second soul didn’t just grant another talent. It granted another affinity.

And not a regular one, but a primary affinity at that.

Adam’s eyes darkened slightly as he absorbed the implication. Primary affinities were fundamentally different from regular affinities.

While regular affinities only truly manifested after awakening, a primary affinity could be felt even before that point, its influence subtle but persistent.

That explained it.

His abnormally dense killing intent.

The ease with which death seemed to cling to him.

The way monsters, and even humans, reacted to his presence. It wasn’t just experience. It was Death, passively leaking through his existence.

Primary affinities offered far more than mere compatibility with techniques; they provided raw power, dominance, and most importantly, Aura, an intangible pressure that, with enough strength, could bend the battlefield before a single move was even made.

That was the true difference.

And that was why Adam felt a chill despite the strength flooding his body.

For the second time since awakening, Adam felt genuine curiosity, not about power, but about origin.

Where did that second soul come from?

What was it before it became part of him?

The questions piled up instantly, branching into countless directions. And yet, just as quickly, Adam dismissed them.

He exhaled slowly.

“I don’t even know where to start if I want answers.”

Chasing the truth behind his second soul wasn’t something he could do right now, not with a sealed sector, a mutating rift, and an unknown enemy still pulling strings from the shadows.

The present mattered more.

And the present demanded power.

Adam’s gaze sharpened as it dropped to his special talents displayed on the panel.

[Equip].

He might not know the origin of his second soul, but he knew exactly how to exploit the advantages it gave him.

A faint smile tugged at his lips.

There’s more to [Equip] than just equipping talents.

So far, [Equip] had manifested in the most obvious way: by making contact with the soul, he could extract and equip the talents of the fallen.

That much was already proven. And [Connect] was the key that made it possible, linking him directly to the mind and soul of another being.

But Adam could see further than that now.

Much further.

Existence wasn’t stored in the body.

It wasn’t stored in the soul either.

It was stored in the mind.

That realization made his pulse quicken.

Normal martial artists could only gain existence by killing and they could only use the existence they personally harvested, and even then, only the portion granted at the moment of death.

But Adam was not normal.

If [Connect] allowed him to make contact with the mind, then that meant something terrifyingly simple.

He wouldn’t just be able to take the existence granted by a kill.

He would be able to equip the existence a person had already accumulated. Something no ordinary martial artist could ever do.

Adam exhaled slowly, his fingers curling slightly.

And that wasn’t even the end of it.

Talents were only one layer of power.

Affinities.

Bloodlines.

Rare traits.

Inherited characteristics.

All of them were real. All of them existed as tangible properties within a being.

And all of them could become fuel.

Adam’s gaze sharpened.

Affinities, while initiated by the soul, were ultimately tied to genetics. Bloodlines and rare traits were even more deeply embedded, etched directly into the genes themselves.

Which meant…

To equip those, he wouldn’t need contact with the soul. He would need contact with the genes.

Adam felt a slow, dangerous excitement build in his chest. If he could find a way to use [Connect] to reach deeper and bridge into genetic information itself, then his avenues for growth wouldn’t just double.

They would more than triple.

But that was the future.

Plans layered on plans.

Right now, his body was still filthy, his room still smelled of discarded body waste, and his head still felt heavy from everything that had happened in the last few hours.

Adam let out a rough breath and shook his head, grounding himself.

“One step at a time.”

For now, there was something much simpler he needed to do.

He stood up and headed toward the bathroom.

It was finally time to take a proper bath.

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