Slouching in the chair, Adam stared through the bars in front of him. He was sitting in a wide hallway. There were secure doors on either end of the hallway. Adam had even tried boosting his strength to the max and hadn't been able to harm the doors or the bars to the numerous cells on either side of the walkway.

In the cell he was observing was Cruxannith. She sat on the floor with her back against the back wall. Her legs stretched out in front of her and her arms rested limply at her sides, hands resting on the floor. She stared into the air in front of her with a blankness to her look that showed no recognition, interest, or awareness in what surrounded her.

Instead of the clothes she had worn when Adam had fought her, she wore a linen shirt and pants, similar to what you might have seen on a patient in a hospital before the [System]. The Leputi "Midwife [12]" that Adam had brought to this base had been too scared to change her, so Adam had helped, demonstrating that the captive Red Clan speaker was catatonic.

Adam's plan for the foreseeable future was to leave this Rift unconnected to his network of Rifts. It meant that going back and forth to Jackson would be more time-consuming, but there were too many things here he didn't want to expose the other humans to. The magic apparatuses that had been set up in this Rift, mostly with the purpose of inspecting Adam's soul, didn't have a use for the humans. Plus, Adam wanted the solitude for experiments he might do and the prisons he might store invaders in should the need arise.

While the Red Clan researcher hadn't figured out anything of note about Adam, he hoped that he would be able to figure out more. It was also important to keep the prisoner away from where anyone else could get to her. Adam hadn't told anyone that she was alive, or the state she was in.

Right now, she was a big weakness for Adam due to their soul bond, but she was also an opportunity. She was a fully specced invader, with all the soul parts he needed to learn about.

Three Leputi had been brought to manage this base. Oddly, Adam trusted the former invaders a bit more than most of the humans. They were direct, honest, and scared of almost everything, which made them a safer choice around unknown devices.

Two fighters had been brought to secure this Rift, both the inside and outside areas. The two had reached the third Tier, unprecedented for Leputi. Instead of getting another scout class, quite a few of the evolving bunny people received options for warrior type combat classes. Their gratefulness at the humans' support in helping them level and advance created a lot of loyalty to the Sentinel Army, and Adam specifically. Many of them would have accepted Adam's request since he had created the conditions for them to grow stronger than any known Leputi before.

The midwife was a healer class that focused on pregnant mothers and newborns, but there were enough generalized medical skills that Adam brought one to care for his prisoner. He couldn't be here all the time, and although Cruxannith was unresponsive, she still had the daily needs that any living thing did, including eating.

Adam pulled out a stoppered vial the length of his forearm. The container was clear, but he knew it wasn't made of glass, being much more durable. He also wasn't sure what the stopper was made of, though it had a few runes on it that he assumed were responsible for the continual swirling of the reddish-orange blood within.

Slipping his hand that held the vial through the bars, he placed it on the floor and rolled it to the captive. She didn't respond to the sound of it rolling, but that changed when it hit her foot. Though she continued to stare at the nothingness in the air, her hand reached out and picked up the vial.

There was a brief sniff, then her hand lifted without the rest of her body moving. The stopper was placed between her layered teeth. When Cruxannith bit down, the stopper disintegrated, and the blood flowed into her mouth. Other than her swallowing, her mouth didn't move as she swallowed the liquid.

Once it was completely gone from the vial, her hand dropped and the container hit the floor, rolling away from her.

Adam watched the whole thing. She didn't have any response before or after she drank. Even recognition of her actions failed as she went back to lifelessly staring into the air.

Having watched her drink the blood, Adam dove into his soul. He moved through the large connection that merged with her soul. Before he had fed her, the energy emanating from her had been dull. Now that she had fed it was a bit more vibrant and shimmery. The energy moved around her soul easier. She must have been very hungry.

Adam spent a solid two hours watching how the energy moved and settled in her soul. He paid close attention to the section where her class and skills were, along with the way the energy gathered there, waiting to strengthen or form skills if selected.

Since the Red Clan race was unique in how it absorbed energy from blood and used the energy to strengthen their souls, this was a situation Adam couldn't have gotten from capturing other invaders. In the memories he had seen of the Red Clan tower, Adam had learned a lot of the basic things about the soul.

Unfortunately, there wasn't any hands-on experience for the initiates who didn't even have classes yet, which limited the depth of what he had learned. His observations were to help him apply the knowledge he had gained, while also trying to figure out the nuances that you could only get with experience.

Not being academically inclined, Adam was relieved when everything settled down, and the energy became inert. He wanted to learn as much as he could, hoping he could grasp something to help untangle or strengthen his own soul. There probably hadn't been a situation where someone had a soul class without the ability to feed on souls or blood. Yet here Adam was, forced to figure this out in a backwards method.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

With a yawn, Adam left his soul. For a bit he thought about everything he had seen and tried to figure out ways to apply it. But his brain felt a little overused. He pulled out a granola bar and idly chewed on it.

"This is all kinds of screwed up," muttered Adam to himself. "I'm pretty strong, but I think the fight with Sgolkr showed that I would be hard pressed to compete with Tier 4s. They are supposed to show up in a couple of months. My friends are making fast progress, based on what Lashtam says, but will they be ready in time?

"If I want to help, then I need more strength. Pulling the stats from older Gregor's class burns me up. There has to be a way to use more of those stats. Or maybe to pull some from older Adam's class. With a better handle of the Soul Forger class, maybe I could find a way to build my own class to allow my body to level and enhance the stat effects."

Pondering that line of thought, Adam sighed. The [System] was able to help everyone build classes and skills. The Red Clan, at least in the memories he had seen, weren't interested in building their own. They were fully on board with letting the [System] do everything. How could that be wise, giving an unknown thing so much control over every aspect of you? In the same place, Adam knew humanity would have been trying to learn how to do it themselves, to reverse engineer what the [System] did. He might not be smart enough to do it himself, but the [System] was smart enough for everyone else.

"[System], just how strong are you?" asked said while slouching further and looking at the ceiling.

Query Accepted: [System] has no strength stat. Quantification impossible. Term "strength" too vague. Add details to query.

Adam froze, mid lounge. He looked at the message in front of him. Blinking a few times in disbelief, the display stayed even as his eyes were closed.

"Are you…are you answering me?" asked Adam, swallowing hard.

Affirmative, Adam Clemens.

Adam sat up in his chair. He turned his head back and forth, as if checking for someone playing a prank on him. He even leaned to both sides to check the prison cells for anyone who might be doing this. He half expected Tom to have put the entire engineering corps to work figuring out how to hack the Rift Menu just to play pranks like this on people.

Except, Adam was sure Tom wouldn't prank him. At least not like this. He wasn't in the usual Rift network, so Tom wouldn't be able to prank him even if he could control a Rift Menu in that way. Adam hadn't given permissions to this Rift except to the Leputi staying here.

"Why are you answering me now?" asked Adam, confused why the [System] would speak to him at this point.

This is the first time Adam Clemens has requested information from the [System].

Adam slapped his forehead.

"You are saying that you answered just now because I never asked you a question before?"

Correct.

"Do you respond to anyone who asks you something?"

Negative. The [System] only addresses a person when it is a matter relevant to the [System].

"Then your earlier answer was a lie. It wasn't because I asked."

Adam waited, but no denial, defense, or explanation came. Then he realized it was answering questions, and he hadn't asked a question.

"Fine. What matter related to me is relevant to the [System] that would cause you to respond?"

Adam Clemens has a higher standing than most creatures. Additional permissions are given as a result.

"I have a higher standing? Why do I have a higher standing?"

Incorrect. Current Adam Clemens does not have a higher standing. Predecessor Adam Clemens had a higher standing. As a result, additional observation is being paid to current Adam Clemens.

Adam scratched the back of his head. The [System] was speaking like there were two of him. Why would there be two…then it struck him.

"The status sheet memories! The older Adam! There was another me before me?"

Correct. The predecessor won the invasions and earned additional permissions as a result.

His jaw dropped dumbfoundedly. Another version of him had won this apocalypse.

"Wow! He won? How did he beat all the invaders?"

Incorrect. No natives have ever fended off the invading races. Predecessor Adam Clemens survived the death of all the other natives.

"Well, that's crap!" snapped Adam, getting angry. He felt his heat pulse and the river wake. CONQUER, the inner voice screamed.

No one had ever won. He had heard it from Lashtam before, but the bunny man didn't know everything. If the [System] said never and wasn't lying, then that means it was supposed to be impossible. Inside Adam had always felt it was a trick but had tried to hold out hope.

"Then if I watch all my friends, family, and other humans die, I'll get additional permissions?" he asked bitterly, envisioning his friends falling to the goblins and Emily being taken off by the Scyrric.

Negative. Limited space available for assignable benefit. Current Adam Clemens is too big to receive it.

"I'm too big?"

Confirmed. Current Adam Clemens' soul is expanded to a maximum and already full. Unable to accommodate assignable benefit.

The last answer didn't make sense to Adam. There was no context or description of it, so he thought for a minute before trying to focus on the more important part of it. He knew his soul was full, so that didn't need explaining, but he didn't know why that mattered to the "assignable benefit."

"What is the benefit?"

Benefit allowed to final native is the option to return memories to the past.

Now that was a little interesting to Adam. Another him survived until the end and then sent his memories back. Only, Adam didn't get memories. At least not as he thought of them. He received the corruption and memories of classes. And one of those classes wasn't even Adam's. This seemed different than what the [System] was saying.

"So, I…or I guess my predecessor, sent his memories back. Did something go wrong, and I didn't receive them?"

Predecessor Adam Clemens used the option. He successfully sent back his memories.

"But I only got memories of skills and status sheets."

Adam waited a moment. No response came and he was concerned he might have used up all the time the [System] had given him. His heat pulsed again before he remembered he needed to say it in the form of a question. The thought caused the music from "I'm a little teapot" to play in his mind.

"If he successfully sent back his memories, then why did my soul end up corrupted?"

Current Adam Clemens' soul was corrupted because predecessor Adam Clemens CHEATED.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.