Chapter 331: A Useful S-Rank Talent
Caelus stood in the center of Genesis City with the Faith Power interface floating before his eyes.
The number still hadn’t changed.
[Faith Power: 5,247,891]
He scrolled through the contributor list, searching for anything that could explain the impossible number.
Then he found it.
One name stood out from all the others.
[Contributor: Vincent Hale]
[Faith Power Generated: 4,127,344]
Caelus stared at the screen for a long moment.
"Four million from one person?"
Sylvia leaned over to look at the interface, her crimson eyes widening slightly.
"That’s more than half your total Faith Power from a single contributor."
Caelus scrolled further down the list.
The second highest contributor had generated around 89,000 Faith Power.
The third had contributed 67,000.
Even the lowest among the unusual contributors was still generating around 2 Faith Power continuously.
"This doesn’t make sense," Caelus muttered. "The population of Genesis City is barely over 800,000, how is one person generating millions?"
"Does more potential mean more Faith?"
He had to test that theory out.
He pulled up more information about Vincent Hale.
[Location: Residential District]
[Status: Online]
[Rank: Elite]
"He’s still here," Caelus said with a grin forming on his face.
They moved through the city streets together, following the location marker toward the northern residential district.
The area was filled with modest homes and small shops, nothing particularly impressive compared to the central plaza.
After a few minutes of searching, they found their target.
Vincent Hale sat on a wooden bench near a fountain, talking with another man who was eating a meat skewer from one of the Taverns.
Vincent was a tall man with sharp features and calculating eyes, the kind of person who looked like he was always thinking three steps ahead. His companion was plain-looking with messy brown hair and tired eyes, the kind of person you would forget about five seconds after meeting them.
At this point, there was no one on Earth that didn’t know Caelus Kross.
The moment Vincent spotted Caelus approaching, his expression shifted to one of cautious respect. His friend’s meat skewer froze halfway to his mouth.
"Holy shit," the plain-looking man said.
The skewer slipped from his fingers and landed on the ground.
"Y-You’re Caelus Kross."
Caelus stopped directly in front of them with a friendly smile.
"Vincent Hale?"
Vincent stood up calmly and nodded.
"That’s me. Can I help you with something?"
"I’m curious about your Talent," Caelus said directly. "Mind telling me what it does?"
Vincent’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Why do you want to know?"
His heart skipped a beat, did he know about his talent? Vincent knew not to mess with someone like Caelus Kross
He has seen how he handled things.
Caelus shrugged.
"I’m a rather direct person."
Vincent studied him for a moment, then let out a small sigh.
"It’s called Cognition Overdrive. My brain processes information at an accelerated rate, I can analyze patterns, predict movements, and retain everything I see or hear perfectly."
"An Upper A-Rank cognitive enhancement Talent," Caelus said with a nod.
But that still didn’t explain why the Faith Power was so high.
Was there something that he was missing?
Then, his eyes fell onto his plain-looking friend.
Seeing this, his friend scrambled to his feet with panic written all over his face.
"I didn’t do anything wrong, I swear I paid my taxes, I haven’t stolen anything, please don’t turn me into a cube!"
Sylvia tilted her head in confusion.
"A cube?"
"I saw the livestream!" His voice cracked. "The Olympian faction guy! He turned him into a cube with gravity!"
"Relax, I’m not here to hurt either of you," Caelus said.
Vincent placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
"Calm down, Derek. He’s not going to cube anyone."
Derek didn’t look convinced at all.
"Then why is he asking about Talents?"
Caelus glanced at Derek with sudden interest.
"Speaking of Talents, what’s yours?"
Derek’s entire body stiffened like a board.
"My Talent? What Talent? I don’t have a Talent, I’m just a normal guy who eats meat skewers!"
"You’re lying."
"I’m not lying!"
Vincent sighed.
"Derek, just tell him. There’s no point in hiding it."
"But Vincent, he’s going to cube me!"
"He’s not going to cube you."
"You know, I have this really interesting ability called Gravity Domain," Caelus said matter-of-factly.
Derek’s face went even paler.
"And I’ve been practicing making smaller cubes recently."
"Like really small cubes."
"Pocket-sized cubes."
"They are very convenient for storage."
"Okay okay okay! I’ll tell you everything! Please don’t cube me!"
"Good. I like people who use Common Sense," Caelus nodded.
Sylvia covered her mouth to hide her smile.
"Where are you from?" Caelus asked.
"Canada!"
"And your Talent?"
Derek hesitated for just a moment.
Caelus raised his hand slightly as Gravity began distorting around Derek.
Derek almost choked on his breath. Fuck, this guy is a terrorist!
He couldn’t win.
"Cellular Adaptation!!" Derek blurted out immediately. "It’s called Cellular Adaptation!"
Caelus lowered his hand with a satisfied nod.
"See? That wasn’t so hard."
Derek clutched his chest like he was having a heart attack.
"You almost killed me."
"I didn’t even do anything yet."
"The threat was enough!"
Caelus ignored his dramatics and focused on the information that Derek displayed to him via system window.
Cellular Adaptation.
The talent allowed its user to adapt to environmental conditions at an absurd speed with their cells evolving.
If Derek trained under extreme gravity, his body could theoretically develop defensive capabilities comparable to an Elite or even Master Rank despite only having a Rookie Rank combat score.
Of course, there were limits.
His cells could only adapt as far as his current body’s potential allowed.
Without increasing his Combat Score and letting his body undergo another ascension, it would be nearly impossible to push beyond that ceiling.
Even so, it was incredible.
Derek was basically the ultimate meat shield.
For Caelus however, the talent was even more valuable.
With Cellular Adaptation, his mastery over the Half Dragon Transformation would accelerate dramatically.
The rate of improvement could potentially increase by thousands of percent.
Then, Vincent abruptly said he had to leave.
Caelus didn’t mind that. He was not in a hurry to get his talent, but Derek though... that was a different case entirely.
Caelus noticed a faction emblem floating beside Derek’s name in the interface.
"I just noticed. You’re part of another faction."
Derek nodded nervously.
"Yeah, the Northern Light Covenant, we’re based in Vancouver."
Caelus tilted his head thoughtfully.
"Never heard of them."
"We’re pretty small..."
"So you are telling me you aren’t in my Faction?" Caelus looked hurt.
"What does that garbage faction have compared to mine!"
Derek’s lips twitched hearing this.
"Hey, don’t call them garbage. They’re not that bad..."
"Do they have proper management and benefits?"
"Well, not really..."
"Can they clear difficult missions?"
Derek’s hesitation said everything.
"We mostly do resource gathering..."
Caelus shook his head with disappointment.
"So you guys are playing Minecraft in an Action RPG?"
"I heard those types of factions collapse within a year."
Derek’s expression shifted to genuine worry hearing this.
"Really?"
"Happens all the time," Caelus said with a "serious" nod. "No combat capabilities means no growth, no growth means no resources, no resources means everyone leaves."
Sylvia nodded beside him.
"It’s actually quite common."
Derek looked between them with growing panic.
"But they promised we’d expand eventually..."
"That’s what they all say," Caelus replied. "Right before they disband."
"The smart players always jump ship early," Sylvia added with a nod.
Derek’s world was visibly crumbling around him.
"I... I never thought about it that way..."
Caelus placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Look, I’m not saying you made a bad decision by joining them."
Derek looked up hopefully.
"But you definitely made a bad decision by joining them."
The hope died instantly.
"My faction is different though," Caelus continued. "We don’t have faction skills yet, but that’s because we just started."
"Joining now is an investment for the future."
"Think about it, you’d be one of the founding members."
Derek considered his words carefully.
"Would I still get to eat meat skewers?"
Caelus blinked at the question.
"Yes?"
"Every day?"
"As many as you want, we have a Wonder of the World that provides unlimited food."
Derek’s eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning.
"I’m in."
Caelus sent the faction invitation immediately.
[Derek Morrison has joined the Chaos Faction]
[+1,403,344 Faith Power]
Caelus frowned seeing this. Even though this guy had an S-Rank Talent, he still gave less than Vincent.
Just how did this work?
He knew it was based on potential or something but how was it measured exactly?
But for now, he decided to wait till he was back in the old world to research more about it.
Perhaps, he could ask Elder Sterling about it.
"Welcome aboard," Caelus said while patting his shoulder.
"Of course, now that you are a member, you can’t jump the ship anymore and neither are you getting free entry into the Tavern of Endless Food and Drinks." Caelus said with a smile.
Derek was taken aback by this.
Why was he still being threatened. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this.
Then Caelus’s smile shifted slightly.
"Now let’s spar. I want to see how your combat powers are."
"Wait what?" Derek spoke as he took a step back, scared.
"I want to test your defensive capabilities."
"But it’s almost time for everyone to enter the Origin Expanse!"
Caelus ignored him completely.
"I already sent the duel invitation."
Derek’s interface flashed with the incoming request.
"Can’t I just decline?"
"Would you want to decline is the question." Caelus said with a grin.
The duel accepted itself automatically.
Before Derek could even raise his guard, Caelus moved.
One punch. That was all it took.
His fist connected with Derek’s chest at full force.
Derek flew backward and crashed through three wooden fences before finally stopping against a stone wall.
[Duel Complete]
[Winner: Caelus Kross]
Caelus stood over the groaning man with a satisfied expression.
"Not bad, you actually survived."
Derek wheezed painfully.
"I think you broke something..."
[Ding!]
[Extraction Successful]
[You have obtained: Cellular Adaptation (S-Rank Talent)]
[Ding! The Talent Cellular Adaptation has been converted into a passive]
Caelus smiled at the notification before helping Derek to his feet.
"You’ll be fine, walk it off."
Afterward, Caelus became thoughtful.
His Combat Score had already reached 124.42.
There were no worthwhile opportunities left inside the current Origin Expanse.
If he wanted to continue growing rapidly, he would need to ascend once again.
Normally, ascending required conquering ten empires.
But then another thought crossed his mind.
He could simply cheat.
Using one of his Ender abilities sounded like a much better option.
Besides, there were still plenty of Corruption Zones available on Earth. He only needed another twenty-five levels before reaching King Rank.
With that settled, Caelus shifted his focus to more immediate matters.
The Profession Cards from the Tower of Fire Tyrant sat unused in his inventory.
He gathered all of the miners from the Origin Ore Vein together and distributed the cards.
Each miner who received one experienced an immediate transformation.
[Profession Advanced: Rookie Miner → Elite Miner]
The mining efficiency across Genesis City increased dramatically overnight.
Caelus used one of the remaining cards on himself as well.
[Profession Advanced: Rookie Blacksmith → Elite Blacksmith]
He used one more and soon he reached Mater Rank of Blacksmith.
With this, he should be able to help Sylvia’s weapon reach Master Rank.
He immediately begin working in the Origin Ascension Domain itself to evolve her weapon. Now, it was at master rank, but its level was still at Rookie.
Hence, he sent Sylvia off to the Origin Expanse for her to level the weapon up.
His understanding of weapon and armor crafting deepened significantly.
Finally, it was time to check how the Faction worked.