'Why can I see you then?' Nyx thought, confused, but didn't say it out loud.
Instead, he followed the direction she pointed and saw only darkness.
However, Nyx had already expected that to be the case. He blinked.
"What is that supposed to mean? Is it… alive?"
The young lady shook her head.
"Of course not. Haven't I already said other than you there is only me in your Soul Sea? The floating transparent orb is a Life Bound Soul Core. If my guess is correct, you obtained the Beast Tamer Class after transmigrating into the Trial, right?"
Furrowing his brows, Nyx answered confusedly, "What does that mean? … I… guess?"
'...' The young lady was exasperated. She placed her hands on her hips and pouted.
"... What do you mean… by you guess? How do you not know? It's either you know, or you don't know!"
'Cute.' Nyx thought, but he was still conscious enough not to go into a state of stupidity like before. He was learning to endure.
Nyx sighed, hesitated, then biting the bullet, he slowly said, "I don't know how much you know about me, but an hour or so ago, I didn't even know about the Trial."
"Y-you… have you been living under a rock your entire life? Actually… Pfft… You're a tortoise… so, of course, you've been living under a rock."
Beautiful melodic laughter filled his Soul Sea, but Nyx was not in the mood to appreciate it.
His eyelids were twitching with annoyance, but before he could retort or correct her misunderstanding, he heard a final beautiful giggle before she began to speak again, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make fun of you. But you have to admit I wasn't wrong."
Nyx frowned.
"I'm glad to entertain you at my expense. Now, can we just move on? How do I find out what my Class is?"
"Fine. Fine. No need to be so prickly. This princess will be magnanimous and explain. Listen carefully, it's simple, think of the word 'Status'.'
Believing her words to be true, Nyx did just that. Indeed, as soon as he thought about the word, 'Status', words appeared in his mind. It was just like before when the information of the Evolution Path appeared in his mind.
***
Name: Nyx
Race: Semi-Aquatic Stoneback Tortoise
Mana: 0/5
Cultivation: —
Race Ability: [Water Manipulation]
Class: Essence Infuser
Class Abilities: [Body Refinement], [Life Bound Soul Cores]
Life Bound Soul Core(s): 1
Physical Body Essence: 0
Soul Essence: 0
Cultivation Technique: —
Soul Technique: —
***
Confused, Nyx blinked as he stared at the words in his mind. None of it made sense… well, other than his name and Race, the rest didn't make sense.
'Hopefully, the mysterious young lady can explain. She seems knowledgeable.' He thought as he turned his head in the direction where he last saw her, but only saw darkness.
'Where did she go?'
Suddenly, he felt a small breath brush against his cheek, and a shiver went down his spine. Nyx slowly turned his head and blushed. The beautiful pink-haired young lady had, at some point in time, made her way beside him, while he was distracted by his Status. Her charming pink eyes were staring unblinkingly in front of him as if there was something of extreme value there.
Curiously, he asked, "What are you staring at?"
The young lady smiled and disappeared, reappearing in the sky a small distance away.
"This princess was looking at your Status. Normally, only the owner of the Status can see their information, but I am different. As someone bound to your Soul Sea, I have special rights others don't. One of them being your Status."
Nyx furrowed his brows.
"But you were looking in front of me. The Status was in my mind."
"As I said, I have special rights." She replied smilingly, as she stared at the tortoise, who was apparently named 'Nyx', with a tone that said 'That is all the information you'll get out of me. Fight me if you don't like it.'
Speechless, Nyx shook his head.
"Alright, can you now explain my Status from top to bottom?"
The young lady nodded her head and slowly explained, "Hopefully, you don't need an explanation as to what Name and Race means. So, I'll start with Mana. Mana is the energy that flows through the world and all living beings. You currently have a pool of five Mana. You'll need to Cultivate, build, and expand that pool if you want to increase your Cultivation."
"Cultivate? Cultivation? What do they mean?"
"Cultivation is the process of drawing Mana from the world into your body — to grow stronger. Most beings Cultivate to achieve greater strength and to increase their life span."
Hearing her words, Nyx's eyes shone with excitement.
…Greater strength. Wasn't that what he wanted? As for an increased life span, that would be an added bonus… as long as he was able to obtain freedom. Otherwise… it would be a curse.
Nyx swallowed.
'If I can grow stronger then I can finally obtain freedom and get revenge on everyone who participated in imprisoning me.'
Meanwhile, the young lady tilted her head.
'What is he thinking about?'
But after shrugging, she continued her explanation, "Your Race Ability, Water Manipulation, is something inherent to your Race, Semi-Aquatic Stoneback Tortoise. It's a foundational Ability that allows you to control water. However, to what extent you can manipulate water that will depend on the Rank of your Race Ability. No one is born equal."
Nyx smiled bitterly. He was fully aware that no one was born equal. He, for one, was born not with a silver spoon in hand, but with chains around his wrists, ankles, and neck. Later, he was even gifted with a transparent tube attached to his heart.
"Next is your Class, which is Essence Infuser."
Nyx listened to her explanation with a serious expression.
"Class is the desire, choices, and innate affinity of a person manifested. Some Classes can even influence the way you Cultivate. And your Essence Infuser Class is one of them. In other words, you can fuse Vital Essence and Soul Essence to become physically and spiritually stronger."
"But don't get ahead of yourself. Before you can even start, you still need to acquire Vital Essence and obtain a Class Ability that allows you to fuse Soul Essence,"
"Speaking of which, Class Ability is a magical ability belonging to your Class. It's self-explanatory, isn't it?" She smiled and winked at Nyx, making his heart skip a beat. "You currently have two, Body Refinement and Life Bound Soul Cores. Body Refinement will allow you to toughen and strengthen your physical form. This means you'll eventually possess a formidable strength and defense, especially with that shell of yours. Over time, with plenty of refinement, you could become nearly impervious."
"Nearly?" Nyx asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing in the world is invulnerable." She replied, then continued. "As for the Life Bound Soul Core… this is where it becomes a bit tricky."
Furrowing his brows, Nyx asked, "What is tricky?"
"From what I know of the Essence Infuser Class, it is an Immortal Ranked Class. Oh…" Suddenly, she giggled and cutely stuck out her tongue. "I almost forgot. The Ranks of Race, Race Ability, Class, Class Ability, Cultivation Technique, and Soul Technique are ranked, in order from weakest to strongest: Mortal, Immortal, Divine, Primordial, and Transcendent."
'Doesn't that mean I'm screwed? Forever weak, chained, and drained of my blood. Is that my fate?' Nyx frowned, annoyed.
"Anyway. Where was I again?" She shrugged and swiftly moved on, "The Essence Infuser Class is supposed to be solely focused on infusing Vital and Soul Essence, but Life Bound Soul Cores is a Class Ability that belongs to Beast Tamers. But it's not unheard of for people to have Class Abilities from other Classes."
'Does that mean I'm not screwed?' Nyx wondered as he stared at the beautiful, mysterious young lady who had stopped explaining. 'Can she finish in one breath?'
"Life Bound Soul Cores are even more complex… or simple, depending on how you view it. It is an ability that allows you to form bonds with Magical Beasts. Unfortunately, despite the name 'Life Bound Soul Cores' you only have one Life Bound Soul Core; therefore, you can only form a single bond."
'Seems useless unless I obtain an overpowered Magical… Beast…? Is that what animals with a Class are called? Those roars I heard in the distance… were they from Magical Beasts? If so, this ability is far more valuable than what I thought.'
"Vital Essence reinforces your body, as I said already. On the other hand, Soul Essence, which for some reason, you don't possess the Class Ability to use to strengthen… well, you guessed it, your Soul."
Nyx couldn't help but wonder how he would gather Vital Essence and Soul Essence. Before his Evolution, he had five Vital Essences, but now… he was left with zero. As for Soul Essence, he started with zero... and still had zero.