’From the forums... if I were to hold it to account, the average Explorer usually takes a year to reach the Observer Rank.’

This was because the difficulty increased from the 3rd Stage.

At that point, you would need five times the amount you would usually obtain from a Mild, thrice the amount from a Moderate, and a single Severe, which would amount to a simple 5%.

For most Explorers, this was the limit of their strength and even groups of Explorers failed at defeating large and adapted Severe Null Buds.

’Null Spawns serve nothing to your growth as an Egoist, but they’re worth a lot as a Trancer... even for a short time.

Then Null Borns.’

Null Borns were bestial in power.

Most Explorers never lived to tell the stories of even the weakest of the bunch. And Luca did not wish to face one... yet.

With his thoughts aligned, he picked up another core, broke and absorbed.

The energy ruffled through his system– but mostly filled the brain where it mattered the most.

After all, that was where the Ego Core existed.

He had started with the thirteen Mild Null Cores which he had obtained mainly from the Ardenthal Vassals.

After a few minutes, he finally took a lotus position and transitioned into settling his mind.

’If I were to absorb too much for a short duration, my mind might go a-wire from the constant stimulation.’

It was like dopamine. Over secretion and you get a spiked increase in muscle coordination and body control.

He breathed in, then out. A rhythmic beat that didn’t just calm the Null energy, but settled his conversion receptors within his cores which absorbed that energy as Ego energy.

It wasn’t a time-consuming process, and in about five minutes, he was subtly free of the effects and mostly in control of his mind.

In another ten minutes, he was completely free of it.

Luca exhaled and glanced at his Interface.

Ego Core; Particle White (40% => 48.6%)

He nodded in satisfaction and took out the next core– the Moderate Core of the Vallion Tiger.

At the time, he had felt weird about the beast and wanted to take care of it first. Now, he could finally see the reason.

You see, Null Cores with their own colour hue were a symbol– a sign that a creature was about to advance.

It represented a breaking point in their Core... which would have served the birth of a Severe-ranked Vallion Tiger.

If he had let such a thing occur, that Bud would have spiked in size and its beam attack would have been catastrophic in nature.

It would have been the same rank as the Bulk Rhino, but Luca knew there were levels even to that.

Some were adapted for different features.

Like what he had witnessed in his Trance.

One was extremely large and the other made up for it in their numbers.

’I should just be glad I was able to take it down instead of thinking about all this.’

He broke the core and inhaled the dust that followed.

The dust was a mix of black and yellow.

A misty hue that easily passed through his nose and barriers before reaching his scalp.

The feeling was twice as hard as the Milds, but even that comparison didn’t seem to hold up.

Luca’s head tilted to the ceiling, his muscles clamped and his pupils dilated.

The rush spread like wildfire and a searing heat burned in his head.

’Wa– wait?! What’s going on?’

Even with the sudden burning sensation, the boy had not stopped inhaling the dust.

If he wanted the maximum changes then everything must go in!

He sat in place while he held his form from tipping over. His teeth gnashed as his jaws locked.

A pained stifle escaped his lips.

’Why does it burn?!’

The heat spread throughout his scalp.

A feeling that felt like thousands of tiny soldier ants biting on the fleshy parts of his brain.

The pain would have been unbearable if he weren’t an Egoist– and though, uncomfortable, it was still a sensation he didn’t like.

Time stretched on as if it were walking at a snail’s pace. Sweat dripped down his forehead and onto the ground and Luca began to breathe harder than ever.

It continued for what felt like eternity, until suddenly, it ceased.

Luca collapsed on his bed, his head throbbing from the sensation with the familiar pain of a headache.

He gripped his head firmly as he exhaled painfully.

"What was that?"

As if in response, the Interface snapped in blood red on his irises.

[CONGRATULATIONS, EGOIST]

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED A NEW TALENT]

[BEAM TALENT]

Beam Talent [Dormant- Mastery (0%)]

Talent Effect; Release a beam of pure Ego with the choice of reinforcing its effect with any form.

Luca narrowed his gaze.

’A talent?’ He sat up immediately. ’But how?’

The image of the Vallion Tiger shooting out continuous fiery beams played in his head.

’Wa– was that a talent core?’

Talent cores were usually Null Cores which had been confirmed to have a talent ingrained in them.

This was the same for traits and very often, titles.

The reason for their distinctive names is that these Cores could either be sourced from Null Cores or Ego Cores.

’Wow... would you look at that. And it has its own descriptions.’

He turned to his interface.

’Do they all have one?’

He tapped them, one after the other, and realised for the first time that every Talent had a description of its effects.

’This could have been helpful... how did I not know–’

He didn’t bother finishing the sentence.

’I need to do my research on that forum once I get access to my phone.’

He shrugged his interface and grabbed the last core.

Even after the pain, Luca felt adamant about absorbing every core.

There were still the resources provided by the Institution he had yet to look through, and he did not doubt that there would be more cores there.

So he broke and absorbed it and to his surprise– despite being a Severe rank, it didn’t hurt as much as the Moderate.

’So it was because of the talent.’

He pulled out his ring and injected his Ego into it. At the same time, he observed the changes to his core score and rolled his shoulders accordingly.

Ego Core; Particle White (48.6%=> 52.2%)

’I can feel the subtle difference. I’m getting stronger.’

A pained smile spread across his face.

’I had gotten used to 38.3% during the training, but I’ll have to go back again to get used to this power.’

It was expected, so Luca didn’t ponder it much.

Instead, he filled the rest of his evening with observing the gifts of the Institution to the ranked Cadets.

At the end of the day, he was able to sum up his gains to ten Mild rank Null Cores, five Moderate rank Null Cores, two Severe rank Null Cores, one talent core, a standard knight longsword and a sum of a Hundred Staric Copper Coins.

He could tell the difference in the talent core mostly because it had been labelled.

’I guess only a certain few would be able to tell when a core contains a talent or trait.’

Luca immediately began to absorb the Cores.

He filled his lungs with the foreign entity which warmed up his body, and spread to his head where it enriched his core.

Just as he expected, his rate of absorption was off the charts.

’I knew that title would be handy in anything related to Ego.’

And that was thanks to the title effect.

After absorbing all Cores, he glanced at his Core score while his thoughts reeled in.

Ego Core; Particle White (52.2%=> 70.8%)

’I’m guessing almost everyone within the top five hundred would either be at the tip of the 2nd Stage, or the beginning of the 3rd Stage.’

He folded his arms as he took the talent core next.

’While the bottom ones continue to succumb to their weakness, depending on their gains in the Abyss to grow stronger.’

This was a great divide in an Institution where over a thousand came to train.

Those who lingered behind would be extremely weak, and those who managed to stand would continue to grow rapidly.

’The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.’

That idiom came in handy in times like this and Luca didn’t hate it.

It was simply a reminder that he needed to stay in the first portion of the idiom– the richer side.

’Alright, the Talent next.’

He broke it almost immediately. Not an ounce of hesitation in his limbs.

Every pain would push his strength further, so why complain?

Luckily for him, the effect that followed was more subtle.

It was a cool feeling, like his head had been cut open to reveal his brain while the cool, rainy breeze danced over it.

Once the effect was over, Luca felt like a data of information had been ingrained in his skull, a feeling he couldn’t compare to the Beam Talent because of the pain.

[CONGRATULATIONS, EGOIST]

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED A NEW TALENT]

[SHIELD TALENT]

Shield Talent[Dormant-Mastery(0%)].

Talent Effect; You are compatible with the use of the shield.

’Does it mean the rarer or stronger talents pain more when absorbed?’ He wondered.

When it came to talents, there were no ranks.

As long as you had a high mastery, you would be considered quite good at it, but there was in fact, a difference. One he would eventually learn.

Once he was done absorbing what he needed to and inspecting its effects, he decided to see his interface fully once more.

Name; Lucamir Elaric.

​

Archetype; Undefined.

​

Ego Rank; Explorer, 2nd Stage.

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Ego Core; Particle White [70.8%]

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Ego Synchronization; 5%

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Ego Manifestation; 25%

​

Null Resistance; 100%

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Titles; First True Egoist[Divine]. Seven Sins[Celestial]

​

Bloodline; None.

​

Traits; Mercuryborne[Transcendent], Doggedness[Dormant-Mastery(7%)].

​

Talents; Identification Talent[Dormant-Mastery (30%)], Sword Talent[Dormant-Mastery (9%)], Core Talent[Dormant-Mastery (5%)], Bond Talent[Dormant-Mastery (0%)], Fist Talent[Dormant-Mastery (8%)], Focus Talent[Dormant-Mastery (0%)], Harmonize Talent[Dormant-Mastery (1%)], Stealth Talent[Dormant-Mastery (7%)]Beam Talent[Dormant-Mastery(0%)], Shield Talent[Dormant-Mastery(0%)].

Ego weapons; Trial Longsword <Yet to be named> [Dormant-Mastery (0%)].

​ 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Ego Accessories; None.

​

Bonds; None.