Martial Era: Starting With The Strongest Talent-Chapter 143: Judgement

Since his rebirth, Adam’s BODY slots had remained deliberately empty.

Equipping a conduit, armament or any item for the body in general through his special talent was no different from holding it physically, even the resistance from rank mismatch remained the same, as Equip did not negate the backlash.

It only forced the equipped item to ’stick’.

That was the nature of unranked talents.

Their base function was mundane, but their potential, after reawakening, was where value emerged.

Equip alone had been limited.

But with Fuse awakened Adam believed the BODY slot had purpose.

He had intended to test it safely in a controlled environment like the manor to measure the strain.

Now?

There was no better moment.

William closed the distance again, his Star power still steady at sixteen.

Adam looked down at the abandoned conduits.

Six BODY slots were available, so he moved instantly.

Five slots activated and the conduits on the ground lifted slightly as connection threads formed.

[Iron Mace — Pure Silver Equipped]

[Black Hammer — Pure Silver Equipped]

[Mighty Sword x2 — Pure Silver Equipped]

[Great Oak Bow — Pure Silver Equipped]

He formed a bone scythe in his hand.

And equipped it as well.

[Bone Construct Equipped]

He ignored the fact the panel classified his scythe as a mere bone construct, since mockery from the system was irrelevant, because more pressing issues like the backlash from the five conduits hit immediately.

Pain surged through his arms and spine, as his muscles trembled under the imposed output.

Essence channels screamed from overload, as the resistance increased tremendously and to make matters worse William was almost upon him, taking his time as if to mock Adam for his current weakened state.

Pure Silver conduits were beyond his current rank as a Profound Apprentice. Normally, he would be limited to Black Iron grade safely.

But Adam endured it all, after all pain was secondary and with one final look at the approaching William’s he activated Fuse.

The moment Adam activated Fuse, the change was immediate, integrated power surged through him and the backlash from the five Pure Silver conduits vanished completely, as if it had never existed. The resistance that had been tearing at his channels dissolved and in the next moment a shockwave burst outward from his position.

BOOM!

William, already mid-lunge, was thrown back several meters, crashing into a wall of rock.

But Adam wasn’t looking at William.

He was looking at his arm.

What he held could not be described as a normal scythe.

The shaft was taller than him and Adam was not short. It had a slight division at the center, like two weapons merged into one unstable spine.

The blade curved outward in a long, predatory arc and at the rear end, opposite the blade, was a massive mace-like head.

It was not just a hybrid but a contradiction of a weapon not built for elegance but built for verdict.

And more than that?

He felt connected to it.

Adam didn’t waste much time as he pulled up his panel.

╭───────────╮

〖Name: Adam〗

〖Rank: Profound Apprentice〗

〖Cultivation Talent: G〗

〖Special Talent: Equip ❖ Connect ❖

Analyze ❖ Fuse〗

〖Affinity: Wind ❖ Death〗

〖SLOT〗

↳ SOUL (5): Rapid Charge D ❖

Cryogen D ❖ Cultivation D ❖

Mind Control E ❖ Bone Generation D

↳ BODY (6): JUDGEMENT

╰───────────╯

[Star Power: 20]

[Existence: 3837]

[Martial Spirit: Profound — 3 Star]

Adam’s eyes narrowed.

JUDGEMENT.

It had no grade or rank designation, all it had was its name and the star power increase it gave to Adam which raised his already low star power to twenty.

A full ten-point increase.

The largest single increase he had experienced since his rebirth.

So this is the true capability of a reawakened talent.

It made sense now.

The BODY slot was the first slot granted by Equip at awakening. It was directly tied to the talent’s foundation.

The SOUL slot had come later, born from Equip’s synergy with Connect.

But the BODY slot?

That was Equip’s origin.

Reawakening Equip would logically prioritize the slot born from it.

Which meant this was not an accident.

It was a structural evolution.

Adam’s grip tightened slightly around the weapon. Its weight did not burden him, instead It felt... balanced.

Multiple possibilities flashed through his mind. But analysis would have to wait, as the rock shifted and William forced himself out of the rubble.

Even without a head, his posture conveyed a furious aggression.

Adam adjusted his stance.

William’s star power ticked upward again to seventeen.

Adam didn’t know the ceiling nor did he know the rate of escalation.

If it reaches twenty my advantage would disappear.

Before that happened Adam had to end this.

Cryogen activated instantly and a crystalline matter formed over William’s chest mid-charge, it thickened and in the next moment it shattered and the torso beneath was left warped inward, ribs bent unnaturally, muscle structure distorted.

But the corpse didn’t slow.

It kept charging.

Adam stepped in to meet it as judgement moved.

It was only one swing, yet the air tore audibly and the force displaced pressure in a visible arc as the blade struck William’s gut. The impact left a deep rupture across his abdomen and sent the body flying backward across the terrain.

Rapid Charge activated immediately.

Lightning wrapped around him and he closed the distance before William fully regained footing.

This time, it was one-sided and in favor of Adam.

Judgement rose and fell and each hit drove the corpse back.

Star power twenty versus seventeen created measurable dominance.

But William adapted.

When Adam severed a useless section of flesh, it didn’t regenerate.

When a limb was still relevant to combat, it grew back instantly.

The corpse was optimizing and sacrificing what wasn’t needed, as it preserved what was.

Adam’s eyes narrowed, as he unleashed a Wind Carnage Requiem that detonated point-blank.

The corpse staggered to a stop at a good distance as Adam closed in, but the corpse grew larger and its Star power climbed again to eighteen.

It was like fighting something that refused equilibrium.

But something else began rising inside Adam as well.

The warning of approaching death.

The same familiar pressure he had felt before.

It pressed against his spine and closed in around him.

He could have ignored it and forced composure.

However he leaned into the feeling.

What are you telling me?

The aura around William pulsed again and the pressure intensified, but Adam’s breathing slowed.

If death was approaching...

Then understanding it was the first step to reversing it.