Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

10 minutes earlier

While Alex was busy thinking of his plans for the near future, he was forcibly pulled out of his concentration.

Out of nowhere, the entire space that surrounded him in his inventory started to spontaneously combust.

The place became alight with flames in mere moments, and before Alex knew it, even his spiritual body was too.

However instead of pain, all he felt was confusion at seeing this happen.

'What the fuck is going on?' He thought.

And soon enough, it seemed like the system was actually going to give him an answer for once.

[Technique: Heart of the Phoenix has resonated with technique: Phoenix fury… beginning assimilation process…]

He watched as this prompt appeared before his spiritual body, but it disappeared soon after, replaced by another prompt.

[Assimilation process halted… Talent: [Flame] has resonated with the two techniques… Adding it to the assimilation…]

For some reason, it seemed to Alex that even the system was struggling with this whole ordeal, it didn't usually communicate with him so rigidly.

All of the other times it would provide him with some quip and witty humour, usually targeted at Alex himself.

But now, there was nothing of the sort.

However Alex put this thought aside for the time being, as he had much more important things to focus on.

Such as not dying to this raging fire!

He may not be able to feel pain, as he was just a spiritual body, but he could still see that the flames were slowly burning away at the edges of this space itself, as well as his soul.

It had already burned his toes and fingers to ash, as they were the most vulnerable areas.

'Hurry up with the fucking assimilation, system! Or I won't even be alive to enjoy the effects of this when it's complete!'

He egged the system on, but there was no reaction from its side.

Instead all he could do was wait in silence for the process to be over.

But he waited and waited and there was no indication of any of the flames stopping their rampage.

Over 9 minutes had passed by now, and all that was left of the inventory space was the small area Alex was occupying, and all that was left of Alex's spiritual body was his head…

'Please… Fuck…'

Alex had practically given up all hope at this point.

He waited for the final 10 minutes, but his consciousness faded into nothingness as the final spark consumed the remaining piece of his spiritual body.

'Fuck… you… system…'

Those were his last words before he was gone.

***

[Assimilation complete.]

[Techniques: Phoenix Fury, Heart of the Phoenix have combined with Talent: Flame. For further details check your Talent tab. (P.s. You're one lucky son of a bitch, Alex.)]

Alex awoke back in the real world just a few moments later, which he completely didn't expect.

'What just happened… I thought I was going to die?'

He tried to make sense of the situation, but he just couldn't.

Instead, he focused on what he could make sense of.

Such as the two people standing in front of him.

'Mira and… the Principal? What the hell is he doing here?'

He had expected to see Mira, but he never expected for there to be a second person in his living room. Let alone someone with such a prestigious status as the Principal.

He wondered how the Principal even came to be here.

Did he sense the commotion in Alex's living room?

All Alex could do was guess before he actually asked him for the real answer.

'Though I doubt Mira was the one to call him over, haha! I know her well enough to know she doesn't have connections like that.'

While Alex was busy in his own thoughts, the other two were also standing there in the silence of the living room, taking in what they were seeing.

The Principal was the first to come back to his senses, and he spoke.

"How do you feel?" He asked, referring to Alex.

Alex, not expecting the Principal to be the one engaging in conversation with him, had to take a second before he answered.

'Wait, how do I feel?'

He had been so preoccupied with making sense of this new and odd situation, that he had forgotten to even inspect himself.

'Woah! What the f-'

But the instant he used his Spatial perception, he felt the difference instantly.

His previous range was anywhere between 30-50 metres.

But now, he could sense well over 200 metres away!

'What happened to my inventory?'

But there were changes all around, it seemed, as Alex was just as shocked when he checked his inventory.

Previously, the space looked like it could occupy the same amount of area as his living room, but now, he felt it might be as big as his whole neighbourhood!

'These changes are just too absurd…'

"I feel fucking great!" Alex blurted out, forgetting he was in the presence of the Principal.

Instant regret filled him when he cursed at the Principal, but as the man he was now, he didn't bother correcting himself. He just embraced the shame.

However it seemed the Principal wasn't bothered at all with Alex's 'unusual' answer, and instead decided to get a closer look at Alex's body.

He got up close, REAL close to Alex.

There were probably only a few centimetres between the two of them, making Alex a little bit nervous.

With his hand on his chin, clearly contemplating something, the Principal looked Alex's body all over, placing his hands on one of Alex's muscles from time to time, squeezing a little bit, then letting go.

"Hmmm, try punching me."

'Huh?'

Alex thought he heard wrong at first.

Did the Principal, a King class S tier awakened, just ask him to punch him?

"Uhh, are you sure sir?"

Alex was a little, no, very unsure about this.

He didn't want to offend one of the strongest people in the federation and get on his bad side…

"It's not like you'll even be able to hurt me. I just want to test out your strength. Go on, give it a try."

But the Principal just egged him on with a slight smirk on his face.