Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

The shock of the cold substance enveloped him completely, and Alex instinctively kicked downwards with substantial force to stay afloat. He wasn't at any risk of drowning since he was an Awakened, and a powerful one at that, but that didn't mean sinking slowly into a dark abyss of water wasn't an uncomfortable experience.

As he surfaced, his face twisted in disgust. His tongue had inadvertently caught a small amount of the liquid, and the taste of it was revolting to say the least.

"This… definitely isn't water." Alex muttered to himself, spitting repeatedly to rid his mouth of the taste.

There were upsides to having heightened senses, but it was also a double sided coin. Of course, heightened senses were a huge boon to an awakened like Alex, but it also made an experience like this one that much more disgusting.

The taste of the liquid he'd fallen into would make even a normal unawakened scrunch their face and want to throw up, so it was especially bad for someone like Alex with exponentially more powerful taste buds!

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There was something distinctly biological about it, like a rancid mixture of blood and decayed organic matter.

The viscous texture only added to his discomfort.

He extended a hand forwards, holding it above the water as he summoned a small flame to light his surroundings.

The faint light revealed the liquid's peculiar appearance. As expected, it wasn't clear like water. It was dark, almost oily, with some spots of luminescent blue here and there. The smell that wafted up was putrid, making Alex's stomach churn all the more.

"An underground ocean?" Alex thought aloud to himself, scanning his surroundings with his spatial perception.

This strange occurrence puzzled him even more than the first underground layer he had fallen into.

How could there be an ocean this deep underground, and not only this but the liquid was cold? Even a completely dead planet would have extremely high temperatures at its core, while this place just kept on revealing more and more about how this clearly wasn't the case with this one.

However, as Alex's senses sharpened and became accustomed to the new environment, he realised quickly this wasn't just any ordinary ocean.

The liquid seemed… alive, in a way he couldn't quite explain. Never mind the organic taste it had, it pulsated faintly, almost in a mirrored rhythm of his own chest heaving in and out slowly.

Wiping the liquid from his face, Alex activated Virtue's Edge. This place gave him a bad feeling, and the fact that those countless D rank insect like creatures all came from within this crevice only further affirmed his suspicions towards this place.

All the clues pointed to something being alive down here, but even that couldn't explain the abnormal environment.

But this left him with somewhat of a predicament.

He was stuck, floating on the surface of the ocean with nothing to cling onto.

And for as far as he could see, and detect, there was no sign of any land. Not even a wall he could cling onto. It was as if he had been dropped into the most remote location in the middle of the ocean on Earth, only in a much more despairing situation.

Expending so much energy to float on the surface of the water would get too taxing on Alex over time, especially if he had to stay prepared for any kind of situation, like an attack from some other living beings.

'I guess I put it off long enough. Time to accept the rewards from the System.' Alex thought to himself before pulling up the system messages he'd received right after killing the Lux.

[Requirements to reach B- rank: Kill 1 King class B- rank being (1/1) (complete); Break free of your mortal bindings (complete)]

[All requirements to reach B- rank have been achieved! Would you like to start the process of evolution?]

Alex looked at the prompt from the system and felt surprisingly calm seeing this.

Considering this was a huge turning point for him, one that many awakened all over the universe would never get the opportunity to grasp, his emotions were rather unperturbed.

[Yes.]

Alex selected his answer, not hesitating for even a second as his mind was made up before even checking the system messages.

[Beginning process of Evolution to a higher life form…]

At this moment, he felt himself being pulled inwards. His mind and spirit were being pulled forcibly into his soul space, leaving his physical body completely bare and open to an attack, but Alex could do nothing to stop it.

This was something he was anticipating, and he had considered it before accepting the prompt.

Eventually, Alex felt his mind succumbing to a deep slumber, completely defenseless in front of the mysterious force behind it. In a few seconds, he was in a deep sleep.

With no will to control himself and keep his body afloat, he lifelessly stopped floating and let gravity get to work, pulling him deep into the ocean of liquid.

Thankfully the process of evolution was one where he shed all his mortal bindings, so there was no need for him to breathe. If this were any other time or a normal rank up before this point then things would be drastically different.

As Alex's body faded into the deep, dark abyss, his mind was left adrift in the vastness of his soul space.

The ocean embraced him on the outside, but in there he was surrounding by nothing.

It was a familiar feeling, as he felt it every time he entered and exited the Primordial Expanse.

But out of the blue, a calm and seemingly lifeless message from the system popped up in front of his eyes.

[Commencing evolution to higher life form…]

[Upgrading soul core to B- rank…]

[Remaining time: 23:58:19]

Despite the overwhelming sensations he was feeling, Alex's mind remained steady. He had prepared himself for this moment, knowing that an evolution to B- rank would bring endless pain.