Martial Era: Starting With The Strongest Talent-Chapter 91: Begging To Be Equipped

The last hit didn’t weaken Adam.

It reinvigorated him.

The impact, the pain, the reminder of what stood in front of him, it all snapped something into place. Adam felt it clearly, that familiar surge rising from deep inside his chest.

Hatred.

Pure, undiluted hatred for monsters.

Images flashed through his mind: every siren, every golem, and every twisted creature that had tried to tear his life apart. He remembered how he had made them suffer before ending them, and now, he pictured all the ways he could make this thing suffer, too.

The thought alone drew a smile to his lips.

And that smile became fuel.

Adam charged forward again.

The Mind Geist reacted instantly, tendrils exploding outward in a frenzy. This time there was intent behind them, some lashed to strike, others curved and coiled, clearly trying to capture him instead of killing him outright.

It didn’t matter.

Adam tore through them all the same.

Rapid E turned him into a blur, his body moving faster than conscious thought.

He dodged what he could, sliced through what he couldn’t avoid, and tanked the rest, flesh slamming into him, scraping, tearing, bruising, but never stopping his advance.

Blood ran down his arms.

His clothes were shredded.

Pain screamed from a dozen places at once.

He didn’t slow.

Each step forward was bought with effort, each meter contested, each mistake threatening instant death, but Adam refused to give ground. Even when tendrils wrapped around his limbs, he tore free. Even when a psychic spike hammered into his skull, he pushed through it, teeth clenched, vision blurring.

The Mind Geist’s mental assault intensified the closer he got.

Whispers clawed at his thoughts.

Pressure crushed down on his consciousness.

His mind felt like it was being peeled open.

And still...

Adam moved forward.

Then he reached it.

The mass of flesh, pulsing violently, its surface writhing like a living organ. The psychic pressure peaked, slamming into him with everything the Geist had left.

At the same time, every tendril in the cavern surged toward him.

From above.

From below.

From behind.

A final, desperate attempt to ensnare him.

Adam looked at the storm of flesh closing in...

...and smiled coldly.

"Too slow."

He activated Freeze F and the world stopped.

The pulsing flesh locked mid-throb.

The tendrils froze inches from his body and the psychic pressure vanished as if cut off at the source.

It was as if ice had spread outward in a violent bloom, crawling across flesh, tendrils and walls. Locking the entire cavern in a moment of absolute stillness.

Adam stood at the center of it all, breath steady, scythe raised.

And for the first time since the fight began.

The Mind Geist was completely helpless.

This had always been Adam’s plan.

The Mind Geist wasn’t stronger than him, it was equal. That meant one simple truth: just as its Mind Control E failed to dominate him after initial exposure, his Freeze F wouldn’t hold it forever either.

If he gave it time, it would adapt.

So he didn’t.

That was why he endured the tendrils. Why he pushed forward under relentless psychic assault.

It was only to get close and catch it off guard.

Adam had never intended Freeze F to be a finishing move. It was a window, a single, stolen instant.

Now, frozen in place, it paid the price.

Adam swung the scythe.

There was no resistance, just a clean, merciless arc. The black iron blade carved through the mass of flesh, tearing into it again and again. Each swing was precise, efficient, and utterly devoid of hesitation.

Frozen tendrils torn to shreads. Pulsing tissue split apart. The cavern echoed with wet, tearing sounds as Adam reduced the monstrosity piece by piece.

He didn’t stop until there was nothing left to cut.

When the scythe finally came to rest, only a small lump of flesh remained on the cavern floor, detached, inert and pitiful. The walls had stopped pulsing. The oppressive presence was gone.

Adam could see it clearly.

The Mind Geist’s soul flame flickered; most of its power had been spent, and it was now on the verge of death.

But before Adam could finish it, something else happened, as desperate memories flooded his mind. Adam saw a lab drenched in sterile white light, a room filled with chains, needles, and restraints

He felt pain not his own, from endless probing, tearing and rebuilding.

He felt fear. Confusion. Rage. The Geist showed him its creation, its torment, its refusal to submit, the cruelty inflicted on it again and again until it became what it was.

"Cry me a river."

Adam’s voice cut through the memory like a blade.

"I don’t give a fuck about what you went through."

The illusion shattered instantly.

Adam stepped forward, emerald eye glowing with cold intensity.

"For all I care, you could go to hell and back and I still wouldn’t care, because you’re a monster. A stain on this world."

He raised the scythe.

"Everywhere you go, you bring death. Your very existence steals the lives of people who matter. And in the end, it’s all for things like you."

Adam exhaled slowly, the anger settling into something far colder.

"Don’t expect sympathy from me."

His grip tightened.

"My sympathy for your kind died the day my mother did."

The scythe fell.

The last remnant of the Mind Geist was cleaved apart, its soul flame snuffed out completely, as silence filled the cavern.

Then...

Ding

[+2 Existence]

Adam stood alone, scythe dripping, breath steady.

The monster was gone.

Adam pulled up his panel the moment the cavern fell silent.

The familiar translucent interface unfolded before his eyes.

╭───────────╮

〖Name: Adam〗

〖Rank: Profound Apprentice〗

〖Cultivation Talent: G〗

〖Special Talent: Equip ❖ Connect〗

〖Affinity: Wind ❖ Death〗

〖SLOT〗

↳ SOUL (5): Rapid E ❖ Poison F ❖

Cultivation D ❖ Freeze F

↳ BODY (6): Empty

╰───────────╯

Star Power: 16

Existence: 2

Adam stared at the last line for a moment.

Existence: 2.

"Tch... still a long way to go."

Two points of existence was nothing in the grand scheme of things and it was nowhere near enough to manifest his martial spirit.

"I’ll have to go on a run before I can gather enough to manifest it."

The death of the Mind Geist was already behind him. But its corpse, what little remained of it, was still useful.

Adam’s gaze flicked back to his panel.

One free soul slot.

And he could already feel it.

An E-rank talent, begging to be equipped.

****

A/N: Hey guy, just wanted to let you know if we reach top 60 of the golden ticket ranking or get up to 800 power stones there will be a mass release.

Thank you for the support so far it is really encouraging.