The structures within the Red Clan negotiator's soul began to break apart. They crumbled into loose energy, belonging to no one. Once it was no longer a part of the invader, Adam was able to control it with his new pseudo-skill [Soul Shaping].

He pulled on it and the energy flowed into his connection tendril. Indiscriminately, he used [Soul Shatter] to break up all the non-contaminated energy he could find while absorbing what he could. He moved through the soul, destroying and taking. All the while, Adam could hear the screaming of the negotiator.

"Bring me those two remaining blood vials," Adam called, splitting his focus between stripping the soul and needing to stop the bleeding on his arm.

One of the warrior Leputi hurried to Adam with them. He opened them and poured the blood into Adam's mouth, knowing about his regeneration abilities. Adam saw him look in horror at the Red Clan member writhing around in the cell.

The invader's black veins were expanding, and his translucent skin was turning milky. The red eyes were bulging out and his black tongue was distended and squirming as he screamed.

Adam didn't care. He could feel the energy pouring into him, all the more potent due to the strength it had gained from Adam's blood, recycling his own energy. There was no mercy or pity for invaders within him.

As Adam watched the Red Clan member become diseased and decayed, he also flew through his soul trying to grab as much energy as possible. He hoped the prisoner would live long enough to provide Adam with what he needed. Of the three Red Clan prisoners, the negotiator was by far the most powerful and suited to help Adam.

Still, the body in front of him didn't look like it would last much longer, and Adam was shattering the soul too slowly. He needed some other way to speed up this process.

Not sure what else to do, Adam opened the status of future Adam.

Core Skills: Soul Shatter Soul Combine Soul Shaping Memory Manipulation Soul Resonance Mental Fortitude █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ Soul Vision Emotional Manipulation Soul Lock █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █

"The Red Clan just keep giving," said Adam as he saw another unlocked skill from future Adam's status. "Shaping the tube out of energy gave me [Soul Shaping] and now absorbing his soul energy must have unlocked [Soul Combine]. Let's hope this works!"

With fingers crossed, Adam put his entire focus back into the negotiator's soul and he activated the pseudo-skill. Immediately he could tell that this version didn't work like the [System] skill should. He assumed [Soul Combine] would merge parts of souls.

Thinking of future Adam putting the Grand Blood Berserker class from Gregor into his own soul, Adam expected to be able to grab part of a soul and draw it in. Instead, he felt the pseudo-skill acting in a more manual way. Instead of point-and-click, Adam had to reach out and grab a part of the soul.

At first, he grabbed a clump of energy with it, not even bothering to shatter it. He pulled it straight through his tendril and into his own soul, where it slowly dissipated to fill Adam's energy reserves. The sensation felt gross and wrong until the energy broke apart.

"Even if I get enough energy, I still have those wounds that it'll just flow out of. Damn, let's try this," muttered Adam.

It felt like pulling a water balloon through a thin metal pipe. He used the [Soul Combine] pseudo-skill to grip the boundary of the invader's soul and pulled it through the tendril into his own soul. Of course, the whole thing wouldn't fit, but he only needed part of the boundary.

Once he had enough of the boundary pulled inside, he created a shape with the material and used [Soul Shatter] to cut out a piece. While holding onto that, Adam cast [Soul Shaping] to seal the gap he had created in the negotiator's boundary to prevent all the energy from falling out.

Then Adam brought the piece of soul he had grabbed to where his own soul was wounded. He used [Soul Shaping] to spread it out and then [Soul Combine] to seal the wounds, as if he were patching a wall with spackle.

"[Soul Band-aid]!" Adam called out in a bout of silliness. He was light-headed from blood loss, and he was more than a little elated by the power he was controlling. "Damn, future Adam's skills are seriously overpowered. Is that what can be expected from Tier 5?"

If not for how pleased Adam was feeling, he might have shuddered from thinking of others having this level of power. For now, it just breezed through his mind before he went back to grabbing and pulling energy into his soul to feed it.

The more energy that Adam drew in, the more strength he felt returning to his muscles. This way of getting energy seemed much more efficient than killing for it. A few sinister ideas entered Adam's mind on how to level up, but without a class it really didn't matter how much energy he pulled in. He wasn't Red Clan and couldn't just convert life into XP.

As moments passed, the density of energy that Adam got was lessening. He looked through his eyes and saw that the negotiator wasn't long for the world.

Stolen story; please report.

Realizing that he wouldn't be getting much more energy from the negotiator's soul, Adam opened the prison cell door. He now had the strength to move by himself without struggling. Patching his soul wounds and getting some energy had helped him return closer to where he was before being captured by Cruxannith.

Adam stepped into the cell. He removed his connection to the negotiator's soul.

"[Explosive Strike]," said Adam, not really feeling much emotion as he punched the throat of the gasping invader. Relief entered him as his soul corruption practically felt satisfied by the invader's death.

Red Clan "Influence Negotiator [33]" slain. 459 XP gained.

"Not much XP from him," said Adam indifferently. "Probably because of the spreading corruption and what I already took from him."

Adam summoned a chair and sat down. The three Leputi were looking at him in confusion, completely unaware of what he had just gone through.

"Any chance you can get me my cooler?" Adam asked them casually.

"Yes, your highness," said one and ran off.

He didn't take long to return, bringing with him a large camping cooler. Adam popped it open, took out a blood pack and ripped it. He squeezed the blood inside his mouth to repair any part of his body that might still need it. The pain from using his pseudo-skills had stopped as soon as he patched his soul wounds.

Next, he brought out a container of lasagna, layers of cheese, meat, and vegetables loaded between the pasta. Every few bites he washed it down with a thermos of herbal tea.

When he was finished with his bizarre meal, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"None of that went how I planned, but I guess it ended better than it might have. Not quite the results I wanted, but still better than bad."

Fatigue filled Adam. Whether it had all been a short or long amount of time, Adam had fought hard to keep his soul intact. Thanks to future Adam's ridiculously powerful soul manipulation skills, and good timing on unlocking them, Adam had managed.

Now, he was ready for a nap. Adam closed his eyes, ready to drift off into a healing sleep. The chair he had summoned reshaped so he could recline.

As his breathing evened out, a display popped into his vision even though his eyes were closed.

"For goodness' sake, what now?" he whined.

Notification: Soul integrity restored. Error: Class not found. Soul space is full.

"I already knew that!" complained Adam.

Alert: Alternative class space found. Formatting required. Beginning process…

"Seriously?!" gasped Adam as he sat back up. "It worked?!"

Then more pain hit. Adam became feverish and chilled at the same time. He was burning, cold, itchy, and enflamed. His abdomen cramped up as his muscles clenched before going into spasm. Adam could barely control his bladder and bowels as they tried to empty against his will.

The unpleasant sensations from every illness Adam ever had in his lifetime hit him all at once. His body was ravaged, convulsed, heaved, and jerked around. While moaning and groaning, Adam couldn't do anything to keep himself together. A delirium filled him as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

***

When Adam came to, the midwife Leputi was mopping sweat off his forehead. He looked around the room and saw that he was in the main suite of the prison rift, on a rather comfortable bed. She was looking down at him kindly as she hummed to herself.

"How…" he started, but his throat felt extremely dry. She handed him a glass of water, and he drank. His stomach was also rumbling. "How long was I out for?"

"It has been five days since you collapsed, your highness," she answered. She continued to stroke his hair and cheeks. Her large, soft paw felt extremely good against his skin.

"Has there been any contact with the main base since then?"

"Chief Lashtam came himself for updates. He didn't say there was anything that you were needed for yet, but everyone is concerned for you. No one knew what you were doing. Even watching you, I have no idea."

"I guess I should get up."

Adam groaned as he tried to stand. He wasn't as weak as when he had been energy deficient. This time it felt more like muscle strains and cramps from dehydration. The midwife's paw flashed red, and a soothing heal flowed through him. With her help Adam was able to stand up.

Together they put on his pants and a shirt. Then he had her escort him to Cruxannith's cell. Up until now, the Leputi were too scared to get near her comatose body, but the midwife explained how after Adam collapsed, she had given Cruxannith more vials of blood. Then, with the help of the warriors, the three had cleaned and changed the mindless Red Clan girl.

Once Adam verified that Cruxannith was alright, he went to his office, where one of the Leputi warriors brought him a plate of ten sandwiches. As he looked at them, Adam's stomach growled. However, after starting on the second sandwich, he felt nauseous and uninterested in eating more. With how ravenous he had been since the [System] came, he frowned in concern.

"Guess I'm still on the mend," he said, brushing off the lack of appetite.

By the time he ate, he was moving easier and no longer needed the Leputi to help him. Five days away from the base had probably caused a lot of concern. Then Adam laughed, remembering that the last time he had disappeared it was to this same base as well. In only a few months, things changed so much. Now he practically considered this base as much a home as the Sentinel building in Jackson.

With the amusing thought still in his mind, Adam exited the base. He wasn't expecting to immediately run into four angry ladies.

"Adam! Are you ok?" demanded Brittney.

"Darling, we felt all the pain and difficulties you had, but couldn't get into the rift," said Andrea.

"It was a rough go," he answered, trying to downplay it, "but I should be fine now."

"Do you need any healing?" asked Abbey, her concern easy to read from both her face and connection.

"Or maybe a beating?" snarked Alissa. "Andrea and I had to rush here from the Drathan front when we felt all that pain and fear coming from you. What the hell did you do?" Her outward hostility didn't match the stress coming from her connection.

Adam felt guilty. When he had tried to jury-rig his own soul, he hadn't been able to do much other than respond to the situation. It wasn't that he had gone into it with confidence. As he had thought before, it was more a desperation born from a sliver of hope.

"It was rough. I'll tell you guys what I tried in a bit. I also need some rest," he said.

"You'd better tell us everything," menaced Andrea. "We'll be sticking with you until we make sure you're fine. Right now, you look like…"

Andrea stopped talking. As Adam had slowly walked towards them, all four women gasped. Andrea pointed at him with a shocked look on her face. Alissa's jaw was hanging open, and Brittney and Abbey were leaning on each other as they stared wide-eyed at Adam.

"I'm sure I look bad, but not enough for that reaction," he said to lighten the mood while looking over himself. He didn't see anything worth their reactions.

None of them spoke or changed expressions.

"Uh, girls?" he asked hesitantly. "What's going on?"

"You…" began Brittney, while staring.

"You have…" tried Andrea, not getting much further.

"I have what?" asked Adam as he looked around himself. He even turned and looked behind his back.

"Tag!" whispered Abbey.

"Tag?" he asked in confusion. "Like the game?"

"No!" shouted Alissa. "You have a tag above your head!"

"It says 'Protector [0]'," finished Brittney with shock.

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