Everyone in the group was physically spent, their chests heaving with labored breaths. Trey deactivated his skill, extinguishing the flames wreathing his sword as he slid it back into its sheath. A rivulet of blood traced down his forehead from an injury he had sustained when the wolf sent him hurtling into a tree.

  Lars was even more winded, gasping for air. His shield bore a web of cracks and a deep dent, having barely withstood the onslaught of the two tailed beast.

  Rina checked on Olivia, who knelt on the ground, drained from the skills she had activated to support her companions. Rina looked tired herself, though Joe could see her trying to mask her exhaustion.

  The team had worked together seamlessly to secure their victory, and witnessing that coordination only deepened the helplessness gnawing at Joe. He was the only one who had not contributed, forced to rely on others for protection. Joe knew there was nothing an Unawakened could do, but that knowledge did nothing to ease his frustration.

  Without waiting for Trey to give the order, he walked over to the charred wolf to extract its core. Kneeling beside the blackened corpse, he drew his knife.

  The moment the blade touched its hide, a sudden surge of energy flooded his body.

  Joe’s eyes widened in shock.

  A heartbeat later, blue light flared before him as a translucent screen materialized in his vision.

  [A powerful soul has been discovered! Would you like to absorb the soul energy of the Grade 2 Twin Tailed Wolf?]

  “What the!” Joe stumbled backward, unable to hide his surprise.

  Everyone turned toward him.

  “What’s wrong?” Rina called out.

  Joe wondered.

  “It’s nothing,” he said quickly, forcing a strained grin.

  The others shrugged and returned their attention to resting and recovery.

  Joe snapped his gaze back to the screen, his thoughts racing. “Soul energy? What does it mean by that?” He had never heard of soul energy existing in this world. He had always assumed everything stemmed from mana, but now that assumption was beginning to crack.

  He nodded and mentally confirmed his choice. Any form of power could only benefit someone as weak as him. There was no reason to refuse.

  [Congratulations! You have absorbed the soul energy of the Grade 2 Twin Tailed Wolf.]

  A second wave of strength surged through his body and pooled in his chest. Joe could not suppress his grin as searing warmth spread through his limbs, reinvigorating his entire form. A wild expression crossed his face.

  ‘

  He did not understand what soul energy was, but he wanted more of it. He craved as much of this mysterious power as he could obtain.

  [Congratulations! You have absorbed the soul energy of an evolved creature. A new Achievement has been unlocked!]

  [Tittle: Starving Spirit (Great)]

  ?? Condition: Absorb the soul energy of a creature with a Grade above your Rank

  ?? Reward: Spirit energy from souls with a higher rank than yours grants a bonus boost to all attributes.

  The flood of information threatened to overwhelm him, but Joe forced himself to process it. By consuming the soul of the Twin Tailed Wolf, an evolved creature, he had earned an Tittle that granted him a skill.

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  Questions piled up with no answers in sight. It was too much all at once. He needed time to unravel it, piece by piece.

  “What’s taking you so long?”

  Rina’s voice came from directly behind him. Her head appeared over his shoulder, their faces only inches apart. Joe jerked back with a startled yelp.

  “Dammit, Rina, don’t sneak up on me like that!” he snapped, his pulse hammering.

  She tilted her head, studying him. “Why are you so jumpy?”

  “It’s nothing!” Joe blurted out, dismissing the screen with a thought.

  “Well… come on. We’re taking a lunch break.” She turned and walked back toward the group.

  Joe exhaled slowly. Gripping his knife, he set to work retrieving the core. As he carved into the beast’s chest, a single thought dominated his mind.

  A wide smile spread across his face.

  Joe grabbed the core and stood up. He faced the party and made his way toward them. Everyone was sitting on the ground, recovering after the grueling fight. Lars rested alone beneath a tree, running his hand across the cracked surface of his shield with a heartbroken expression. If Joe did not know the reason for his sorrow, he would have guessed the man had lost a child, judging by how close his tears were to spilling over and streaking down his cheeks. Lars might have been large and strong, but the big man clearly had a soft spot when it came to his equipment. Joe could not help but give him a sympathetic smile.

  As he continued walking, he noticed Olivia and Trey sitting together. The girl was eager to heal Trey even though her mana reserves had not fully recovered, despite Trey's best efforts to stop her. They wrestled lightly, laughing as they struggled, and it was one of the rare instances where Trey's face was not completely stoic. Instead, it showed genuine emotion. Watching them stirred a faint envy in Joe. He had never had something like that in either of his two lives.

  Rina sat by herself a fair distance away from the rest of the party. When she noticed Joe, she waved at him with a bright smile and patted the spot beside her, silently inviting him to sit. Joe had not expected that. His heart pounded faster as he walked over and sat beside the brown haired mage.

  “What took you so long? You have been extracting that core forever.”

  Joe let out a small chuckle. He had spent most of that time rereading the messages he had received, trying his best to make sense of them. He still could not believe he already had a skill, let alone that he had obtained a new one. The concept of soul energy also intrigued him, making him wonder how different it was from mana.

  “So,” Rina continued, “are you going to tell me what you saw back there? You were clearly looking at something. Was it an internal notification?”

  Joe’s eyes widened. thought.

  “Would that even be normal for an Unawakened?”

  Rina shifted her gaze toward the sky. “The only way an Unawakened would receive the Words of the Universe is if they had some kind of Specialty. But judging from the state you were in when I asked you to join us, I am guessing you do not have one.” She glanced back at him.

  Joe did not respond, only meeting her words with a blank expression.

  “It would not surprise me if you were the exception to the rule.”

  Joe’s heart quickened. “Why is that?”

  “Well, for starters, you carried our equipment all the way from Suveny to Evergreen without any assistance from an enhancement skill. That should have been impossible.”

  Joe listened without interrupting.

  “For Awakened people like us, who have mana constantly surging through our bodies and fortifying them, a bag of equipment is nothing. It is easy to forget that it is not the same for those who are Unawakened. The materials used to craft our weapons are heavy by design so they can withstand the strain of having mana channeled through them. Even my staff, which is one of the lightest weapons, could crush an Unawakened adult with ease. For someone like you to lift multiple items heavier than that should be impossible.”

  “Then why would you ask me to carry it without using a skill to strengthen me?” Joe asked.

  Rina fell silent for a long moment before turning to him with sympathetic eyes. “I forgot.”

  Joe stared at her in disbelief. “You forgot?” he blurted out, his voice echoing through the forest.

  The other party members glanced their way before returning to their own matters.

  “Are you insane, Rina? That could have killed me.”

  “I told you, it is easy for us to forget because we are Awakened. I am sorry.” She clasped her hands together as she bowed her head.

  Joe sighed. “You said ‘for starters’ earlier. What are the other reasons?” he asked, eager to move on from his near death experience.

  “Well, you dodged an attack from a Grade 1 creature while carrying that heavy bag, without anything assisting you. Not only that, but the evasion was swift and effortless. You moved the way an Awakened individual would.” Rina scratched her head before looking deeply into Joe’s eyes. “You are not normal, Joe. No matter how much I think about it, I cannot understand how you are able to do the things you do. It actually drives me crazy just thinking about it.”

  She leaned a little closer. “I want to know what is inside that head of yours.”

  Joe’s face flushed pink. He had never heard a girl speak about him with such open curiosity. He quickly averted his gaze, and only then did Rina seem to realize how her words sounded.

  “I do not mean it the way you think I do,” she said hastily. Her face flushed as well.

  “You are so mysterious, Joe,” Rina murmured as she looked back toward the sky.

  Joe glanced at her, and she met his gaze before quietly asking, “Tell me, who really are you?”