Flame

Clap

Clap

Clap

The sounds of clapping echoed throughout the cave when Alex answered the question.

"Wow, well done Alex. I almost didn't think you had the right answer in you for a second there. You proved you aren't as stupid as you make yourself out to be." Raymond continued his mocking while Alex was left there to think about what Raymond had just told him.

'The law of the jungle. I should have known from the start. In fact, I did know. I was just too ignorant and naive to realise it. There are signs of it everywhere. The most powerful Awakened stand at the top, like the city lord or Albert or the captain of the guards. This is a fact that even extends to the federation! Average unawakened people may have been able to make a place for themselves in the higher ranks of the federation a few hundred years ago, but after the Awakened returned there has been no such thing.'

The reality hit Alex like a truck.

No matter where he was, whether it be in the Primordial Expanse or in the federation, he would never truly be free. Any random awakened with authority could kill a regular person and only get away with a slap on the wrist. And any powerful awakened could do the same to weaker awakened.

Might makes right, the strongest fist wins etc.

Brute, Alex and the other 6 all followed Raymond in the beginning because he was the strongest, and offered very generous rewards.

But because Raymond was the strongest, he could also kill each one of them without them even being able to retaliate.

'However that's only in the wilderness though. There is still some semblance of order in the cities that prohibits any such acts of the strong killing the weak without good reason.'

At first, Alex felt depressed about the shitty reality he lived in, but the more he thought about it, the more it didn't seem as bad as Raymond made it out to be.

'The fact that there is still order in the cities proves that the law of the jungle doesn't apply everywhere, at least openly.'

'That's right! I can't just give up my life like this! I have to make it out of here alive somehow, but how do I do that when Raymond is a whole level above me.'

From Raymond's perspective, Alex simply sat there with his head lowered and his face occasionally changing to a new emotion, and he simply stood there with a smirk as he watched Alex question his entire life.

However what he didn't expect was that his speech had the opposite effect on Alex. Instead of filling him with dread and despair, it strengthened his resolve to become even stronger.

'Surely there is something I can do to survive this. I managed to be the only survivor of the Galephant's attack, so surely I can survive against someone of a much lower level.'

Alex raced through every possibility in his head, and just as he was about to feel like giving up again, he checked his inventory on the off chance that he might have something in there that could help him.

'Hmmm, what?'

Rather than seeing an empty inventory like he had expected, inside he found two objects.

'A soul orb and… what is that?'

Next to the soul orb sat a flame.

That's right, just a floating flame with no physical form or source of fuel to keep it going.

'Putting aside the fact this thing is going against the laws of physics, what am I supposed to do with it?'

Drawing from previous experiences with soul orbs and beast cores, Alex simply reached out for it with his hand and was greatly surprised.

The flame disappeared from his inventory and appeared in his hand as a tiny little flame hidden inside his balled up fist.

'Thankfully it seems Raymond hasn't noticed anything. But why isn't this thing giving off any heat?'

'Whatever, here goes nothing.'

Alex didn't bother questioning things he was too weak to understand and directly thought about absorbing the small flame.

Immediately, there was a reaction from the voice of the Primordial Expanse.

[Absorbed talent [Flame(D-)]

'???'

'Did I hear that correctly?? Did I just gain another talent just like that, and this one seems like an offensive one too.'

Alex failed to hide his rising heart rate and rapid breaths from Raymond, but Raymond just took it as something like a panic attack from realising he was about to die.

Alex knew this talent could have only come from one source, and his eyes immediately shifted back to his inventory with greed.

Repeating what he did with the flame, he took out the soul orb which looked much bigger than the ones he had used previously and absorbed it on the spot.

"What are you doing?" Raymond furrowed his brows as Alex failed to hide his actions from him this time around, but he still didn't attack.

In his mind he still held an absolute advantage over Alex and there was nothing Alex could do to hurt him.

Alex immediately felt himself increase in strength, much more than he had ever felt previously and the refreshing feeling washed all over his body until the euphoric feelings he felt passed.

Immediately, Alex opened up his details to check what had changed.

[Details]

Name: [Alex]

Age: [17]

Talents: [Soulforge]. [Flame(D-)]

Trait: [Adventurer]

Trait Description: [You have cast aside your status as a commoner, good for you.]

Rank: [Seeker]

Soul Core: [F+ 89%]

For the first time since Alex had been sentenced to death by Raymond, a smile appeared on his face once again.

'With this, maybe I stand a good chance at escaping!'