Alex had been in the hall-side room before, talking to his mother about the plan he had for Lucious and the girl she had saved, but just then he noticed it—the way her expression changed.
He knew whenever that happened—her brows twitching a bit, as if not sure if she should frown or not—it meant that she had some question for him, an important one at that.
He had seen that many times to not notice it by now, so the moment he saw it, he knew what she wanted to ask.
She wanted to know how he knew about the devilization stone. That stone was not something just anyone could find out about.
Alex knew that there was no way to avoid it. He could tell from the look in his mother's eyes that she wasn't just going to take the 'I just knew' type of answers, so he had given her a valid response.
"My death affinity, which is unusually high, was able to sense the ominous energy from the stone the Archbishop was holding."
This was his reply, and although Vannesa knew that it wasn't all and that Alex was hiding something, she let him go for the time being.
Alex didn't do something bad—not like she would care even if he did, but she would still try to tell him what was the right thing.
His mother surely knew that there was no way that someone who had just awakened elements—more than one at that—could be able to perceive such a thing, but one could never be sure of anything when it came to elements.
Maybe Alex's other elements helped him in making out which element he had to focus on, or something like that.
Elements are just that unpredictable.
So, for now, however, Alex had somehow avoided her questioning.
Right now, he was lying on his bed, staring at the illusionary blue screen in front of him.
'So this is my status screen, huh?'
He muttered inwardly.
[Yes. This is your status window.]
Sophie, who just wanted to speak, answered that question even though she knew that it was not actually a question that Alex wanted an answer to.
'Hm.'
Alex still nodded his head, shifting his focus to the status window in front of him, showing things that he already knew—most of it, at least.
[ {Infinite Dream System} (1/2)
Name: Alex Drakathor.
Race: Human (White)
Bloodline: Human (White)
Physique: Eternal Devourer (Black)
Talent: ✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴✴
Affinity: Fire (100%), Water (100%), Earth (100%), Wind (100%), Light (100%), Darkness (100%), Lightning (100%), Life (100%), Death (100%), Time (100%), Space (100%), Gravity (100%), Poison (100%).
Mana: 1 Star (Mid)
Physical Power: 1 Star (High)
System Points: 0
Inventory: Gift Box.
Skills:
→ Rising Star Sword Art (Heroic): A sword art created by a once-in-an-era genius, capable of reaching heights that many sword arts can't.
– Starway Slash: A pathway of twinkling stars forms in the user's vision, guiding them through the easiest path to kill their enemy.
– Star Defense: A sword that can work as a shield as well—this is the base concept of this style. This move lets the user defend themselves by parrying the attack by shifting the momentum of the attack.
– Star Shatterer: A single-strike attack embued with so much power that could cleave through the enemy's defenses.
→ Multipattern Mixed Martial Arts (Heroic): A martial art created by a once-in-an-era genius, capable of reaching heights that many martial arts can't.
– Martial Empowerment: By using up your stamina/mana, the user can increase their body's strength and defense.
– Blinding Footwork: Enable the user to move in such a way that most of the user's movements wouldn't even be noticed by the enemy.
– Unpredictable Striker: The attacks performed by using this art are various, making various possibilities open in front of the user the moment they try to attack. Those possibilities are what give users a way to even change their attack pattern midway.
Shop
]
'Fwooo...'
Alex already knew what his status screen would look like—almost everything was clear from just looking at the awakening artifact's results—but he still couldn't stop himself from whistling on the inside.
His race and bloodline weren't anything special. He was human through and through—a normal human.
But there were things that made him different from other humans, starting with the physique he had.
A black-grade physique.
It was the highest grade of physique known to living beings; even the indestructible body of the dragon emperor is only Indigo ranked.
What was this color rating though? How did it work?
Well, it starts with white being the lowest, followed by a rainbow color sequenced from red to violet, with violet being the strongest among them, only second to black, which stood at the top of the color ranking.
There were even people who had a black-grade physique but were unaware of it, like Alex's mother.
Yes, his mother also had a black-grade body, but she wasn't aware of it yet. Her physique was rated as an indigo-grade physique when she awakened it.
She will only ever be able to get it up to black grade when she unlocks its full power, something Alex was going to help her with later.
For now, he was more curious about his physique.
'Eternal Devourer, huh?'
He muttered as he clicked at it, causing a tab to open up below the physique's name.
[Eternal Devourer (Black): -
The strongest and most dangerous physique that ever came into existence. Its main function, as its name suggests, is devouring anything and everything.
Anything you devour will have all of its properties added to you—skills, mana, physical powers, physique, bloodline, race, or anything else—and if you want, you can remove what you think is a waste.
Right now, you have three devouring slots available, which would allow you to only carry three devoured things on you. These slots increase as your power increases.]
'Hmmm...'
The description was short, with many things unclear about it and limitations not mentioned, but since those things are not mentioned, it means that they are supposed to be revealed in time, or maybe he'll have to discover those on his own.
The physique, however, was worthy of being black grade.
If he were to kill and devour the dragon emperor, then he could directly take that guy's bloodline, which would automatically give him everything else.
But wait—
'Devour? How do I devour things? Do I have to just eat them?'
Alex questioned, as this thing felt a bit strange to him.
The description said that he could devour anything and everything, which included weapons if he were to have guessed correctly. One could eat flesh, no matter which flesh it was, but what about metal? How was one supposed to devour it?
[You don't have to worry about it. You will know what to do when the time arrives.]
Sophie, who had been waiting for Alex to have doubts, replied without a second's delay.
She wasn't supposed to tell Alex things that he could discover on his own. She was only supposed to tell him the things that he wouldn't be able to understand.
'I see... I guess, I'll wait.'
He shrugged, waving off the concern. If Sophie had said so, then she would've thought that it was the best for him, so he was just going to trust her like always.
They had always been like that. Sophie, the leader of the information branch, would give him intel, and Alex would take action based on those intels.
Up until now, other than the case with Kelvin—their last case—where things seemed weirdly manipulated, Sophie had never been wrong. It was as if she was made for this exact type of work.
Alex, however, wasn't done yet. There was this doubt that he had.
'What about the slots then? Why is there a limit?'
He inquired. His physique was graded as black; shouldn't it be heaven-defying?
[Y-You don't even know how broken this is, do you...?]
Sophie, who could understand perfectly well what Alex must be thinking, asked, her voice breaking a bit in disbelief.
She knew it was just who Alex was, but weren't his standards a bit too high?
'What?'
Alex, on the other hand, realizing that he might have been expecting a bit too much, tried to play dumb, but Sophie wasn't one to be fooled, so she just sighed before answering his question.
[The black-grade physiques are heaven-defying, and yours is as well; you just need to know how to make the best use of it.
And to answer your question, well, anything you devour is something that you are forcefully making yours, and there is a limit to how many things you can force into your body, especially when it's not strong enough to take the load of all that force.]
'I see, I see...'
Alex nodded his head repeatedly while stroking his chin in understanding, his eyes finally moving to the other things in his status window.
The next one is the most absurd thing in the history of the living.