Floating Island - Triple S Talent

[Detected that you wish to exit the test room. Do you want to exit?]

"Yes."

Lein eagerly agreed to leave the test room. In an instant, he felt his body being sucked by a powerful force. Shortly after, the view of the Teleportation Hub appeared before him.

"Is it already night?" Lein muttered to himself.

Around him, the surroundings were still bright with no sign of darkness. However, when he looked up at the distant sky, the night view filled with stars adorned the horizon.

Zap... zap...

"Damn it! These people still haven't finished," Lein grumbled, frowning at the continuous explosions hitting the entry portal.

Every now and then, the lightning towers would activate and strike the portal in the Teleportation Hub. Armies from alien races kept attacking, emerging from the portal, only to be instantly killed by lightning strikes from the towers.

Lein didn't bother too much. He shook his head and opened his status panel. The first thing he searched for was the button for promotion to the next level, Master rank.

[Promotion to Master Rank]

- Soul Essence: 10 (ready)

- Power Essence: 10,000 (ready)

- Energy Crystals: 100 million (ready)

- Soul Altar (Select soul)

- Soul Formation Completion (ready)

[To proceed with the promotion, please select a soul on your Soul Altar.]

"Finally, I can promote!" Lein exclaimed excitedly. He couldn't wait to break through to the next level and take revenge on the alien invaders who had killed so many humans.

However, before that, Lein noticed a system warning about selecting the required soul first. He quickly opened his Soul Altar panel.

(Soul Altar - Universe)

- EXP: +100%

- Attribute: +100%

- Skill cooldown reduction: +50%

- Soul: not active

[Activate]

"Activate? So it wasn't active before?" Lein asked in surprise. If he had already gained so many benefits, what would happen once it was activated? Feeling eager, Lein pressed the activation button.

Immediately, a bright light radiated from Lein's body. The light grew larger over time, releasing abundant waves of energy from within him, forming a small circle around him. Within the light, smaller lights floated randomly, moving without any pattern.

The area of light expanded rapidly. In just seconds, it had grown to the size of the Teleportation Hub. Like a miniature universe, Lein saw stars floating within the light, emitting faint energy.

"Wow... this is amazing!" Lein said in awe. The glowing area around him was just as mesmerizing as the night sky above.

"Is this the universe-level altar?" Lein could hardly believe what he was seeing. He admired the expanding light area, which not only grew larger but also enhanced his senses significantly. Within the altar's area, Lein's perception increased almost tenfold.

Meanwhile, two guards nearby shivered in fear. They felt as though they were standing in a pool of molten lava, burdened by the crushing weight of a mountain on their heads.

"Sir... please stop, or I'll die!" one of the guards said with difficulty, hoping Lein would halt whatever he was doing.

"We're sorry, sir. Forgive us," the other guard added, apologizing without even knowing what they had done wrong.

Noticing the guards' presence, Lein reacted with a start. "Ah?" he muttered, startled. He had been too focused on his power, ignoring his surroundings. With a thought, he controlled the energy around the two guards to reduce its intensity. Yes, he could manage the aura that filled the surrounding area.

Not wanting to cause further disturbance, Lein also lessened the pressure from his altar's aura. The light aura penetrated through buildings, cities, walls, and roads. All of this happened unnoticed by the city's residents as Lein successfully minimized the effects of his soul altar's activation.

The light aura continued to spread across Lein's entire island, showing no signs of stopping. The aura's boundary extended beyond the void separating the island, passing through floating objects like ships, small guarded islands, and even monster islands.

Still waiting in the Teleportation Hub, Lein sensed something was off. "Is it still not done? Why is activating the soul altar taking so long?" he muttered to himself.

He had a feeling that the better something was, the longer it took to complete. However, after more than five minutes with no response from the system, Lein began to feel bored. He opened his chat panel.

The human race's chat was much calmer now. The conversation wasn't as lively as it had been at the start of the war. The main topic of discussion now was the World Market Trade alliance, with Nita's name mentioned in almost every conversation.

[Human Race Chat]

- "I heard that Nita's daughter will be a guest star on the Lady Ruler show. She's becoming the top idol for women and is incredibly strong."

- "I'm watching! When does the show air?"

- "Stop dreaming, that show is pointless even if you watch it."

- "Where is Lord Lein? Why hasn't he shown up?"

- "I heard he went beyond the realm to destroy the alien invaders."

- "I think so too."

Reading these fan messages, Lein felt both proud and annoyed. He disliked seeing people praise him just for fun. He wanted the rulers of Earth to grow stronger and become one of the most powerful races in the universe.

Lein then shifted his attention to the alliance chat, which was buzzing with activity. Many members were starting to realize the benefits of being part of the World Market Trade alliance. They had even begun collaborating with the leaders of small islands after joining the alliance.

[Alliance Chat]

- "I found a Komodo monster island here. Anyone want to hunt for Komodo tails?"

- "Komodo? I need some to make a whip for my weapon. Send me the coordinates."

- "Anyone want to help me reach Araahm Island? I heard there are no tier-3 creatures there."

- "Count me in. I need some combat experience."

Lein scrolled a few times, smiling slightly at the behavior of the alliance members. He rarely joined the alliance chat, and to this day, the number of times he participated could be counted.

Besides, what was the point of chatting? Nita had everything under control. He only needed to act according to his will without relying on weak individuals who could cause unnecessary mistakes.

While Lein was occupied, the system notification finally arrived.

[Activation complete. Please check your latest status.]

"Finally, after more than 15 minutes," Lein muttered casually. He immediately opened his status panel to review his soul altar's updated status.

(Soul Altar - Universe)

- EXP: +100%

- Attribute: +100%

- Skill cooldown reduction: +50%

- Soul: -

- Soul Tier Limit: SS

- Altar Range: 1 realm

- Soul Capacity Limit: 1000 souls

- Soul Attribute Bonus: 100%

[Add Soul]

"Wow…" Lein marveled at the numbers displayed. The soul altar's buffs had drastically changed, especially the ones related to souls.

"Insane, 1000 souls? Does that mean I can store 1000 souls?" he thought, trying to grasp the purpose of each feature.

His eyes then landed on the altar range. "1 realm?" Lein whispered. "What kind of measurement is that? How many meters? How many kilometers?" he wondered aloud. Logically, ranges should be measured by distance, but "realm" felt like a foreign concept to him.

Setting that thought aside for now, his focus shifted to the soul tier limit, which left him stunned. "The upper limit is SS-tier souls?" he asked in disbelief.

He had worked tirelessly to pursue S-tier souls, spending countless hours, creating hundreds of thousands of clones, and completing hundreds of thousands of portal gates—only to come up empty-handed. Not a single S-tier soul. In the end, Lein encountered Mharzan and his Voidwalker, who killed him just to obtain an S-tier soul. If that black system hadn't intervened, he would have died.

"Where on earth am I supposed to find an SS-tier soul?" Lein wondered in frustration.

Putting the SS-tier soul issue on hold, his attention drifted toward the [Add Soul] option.

From its name alone, Lein assumed it allowed him to insert newly acquired souls from the soul-crafting trial.

"Let's go!" he said eagerly, selecting the [Add Soul] feature.

The Seegra soul addition panel appeared before him, resembling a card deck that displayed all the souls he had obtained from previous soul-crafting attempts. The panel showed over 60,000 cards, each one selectable with a touch.

"So many, yet with so little variety," Lein muttered to himself with a wry smile. He had only used one fragment of an S-tier soul to craft a soul, so the result was limited to creatures with the abilities of a hollow-tailed monkey.

Nevertheless, Lein felt grateful and wasn't disheartened. No one truly knew how hard he had worked to reach his current position.

Without hesitation, Lein selected 10 S-tier souls from the hollow-tailed monkey results. He picked a few, including (Cosmic Howler - S) and (Blood Voidtail Primate - S).

[Would you like to select (Blood Voidtail Primate - S) and insert it into the soul altar?]

"Yes."

[Would you like to select (Cosmic Howler - S) and insert it into the soul altar?]

"Yes."

After choosing all 10 souls, the system displayed a notification to confirm his selection.

[10 souls detected. Do you agree to proceed?]

"Yes."

With that, the 10 soul cards vanished into thin air from the soul addition panel. "Where did they go? How do I activate them?" Lein asked himself.

He looked back at the panel, but there were no signs or instructions for retrieving or activating the souls within the altar.