Soulless Soul

Chapter 66: A Sharing of Secrets

The place was profoundly quiet now, save for the soft, rhythmic churning of the red tide far below the limbs and the icy wind whistle through the dark purple canopy.

Sky shook his head slowly, Leaning forward, he rested his forearms on his knees as he looked across the dim space.

"Well, let’s continue," he said, his raspy voice setting the mood.

"Continue?" Chloe asked, tilting her head slightly as her cracked digital visor whirred softly in adjustment to the complete lack of ambient light.

Sky let out a quiet, tired sigh.

"Let me talk about my abilities," Sky clarified. "Oh, really? Are you absolutely sure about that, monkey?" Sky clenched his fists tightly until his knuckles popped against his tunic. Hold it in, Sky.

It was not like he wanted to openly discuss the intimate parameters of his profile interface to pass the time. He was a natural solo operator, cynical pragmatist who usually kept his cards pressed firmly against his chest. He was only doing this now because they were trapped in an unmapped, inverted sector and they were going to be aggressively relying on each other’s survival metrics to clear the upcoming boss threshold.

Besides, since the onset of the night cycle, his mind had been wandering to some pretty erratic, impure thoughts of their extreme isolation and who knows when his negative Curse or fatigue might randomly kick in to compromise his focus?

"Since we’re going to be heavily depending on each other to survive the night, shouldn’t we formally share exactly what abilities and Active Attributes we have at our disposal?" Sky suggested, his tone flat and professional.

It was a perfectly logical suggestion. If they were going to fight side by side against an inverted biome, knowing the precise structural strengths of their squad was more or less vital.

Still, even in the absolute pitch black of the canopy, Sky noticed Vesper glance sharply in his direction, her posture stiffening with a heavily guarded, suspicious expression.

Fortunately, the absolute darkness of the night cycle covered their faces perfectly.

If she actually could see the cynical, manipulative face I’m making right now, she’d probably lift that silver broadsword and kick my ass off this branch, Sky thought dryly.

Chloe on the other hand was quietly laughing to herself, a soft, musical giggle bubbling past her lips. And right now, within her vision, Sky’s unique soul structure was behaving... incredibly strangely.

[SQUAD STATUS SCANNER]

Chloe: 3/3 HP

Vesper: 6/6 HP

Sky: 5/5 HP

It seemed that their brief period of resting around the hot stones and sharing the roasted meat had successfully allowed all three of their depleted health pools to naturally recover to their maximum thresholds.

"I’ll start," he said, taking the initiative.

He did so both to show a display of sincerity and to reveal information about his combat capabilities in a highly controlled, weaponized manner. If he took the immediate initiative to speak first, he still had to tell the truth to avoid triggering any internal system lie-detection logs that Chloe’s visor might pick up-but exactly how much he openly revealed and how much critical information he kept intentionally hidden in the dark was up to his own discretion.

If they asked him direct, specific questions during his explanation, however... he would do what he could to answer them smoothly without exposing the terrifying reality of the title he had just inherited.

"My primary Blessing gives me a affinity with souls," Sky explained, choosing his words with extreme care. "Because of that resonance, I’m able to generate autonomous clones..." Sky paused for a fraction of a second, "...Huh. Soul Clones," he corrected himself, the word tasting strange on his tongue as he adapted to his new profile. "Anyway, that’s the core parameters of my Blessing." He shifted his weight against the purple bark and continue.

"As for my Passive Attribute, I have a attribute that actively warns me of immediate danger before an impact registers." Sky deliberately left the existence of his [Dragon Heart] attribute completely out of the conversation. There was absolutely no strategic reason to reveal the engine that stabilized his energy flow to a pair of wild cards. "As for my Active Attribute, I currently only have one functional option: [Dark Blade].

Lastly..."

"I am not a good guy at all.

Chloe listened carefully to his declaration, her cracked visor whirring as she processed the cadence of his voice. Then, she suddenly lowered her head, fidgeting with her pneumatic wrench as though she was profoundly embarrassed by his edge.

"Uh... he’s actually telling the absolute truth," Chloe murmured, her visor flickering. Not that we ever doubted your honesty for a single second, Sky!" Why the hell wouldn’t you doubt me? I spent my entire first month in the lower sectors earning a notorious reputation as a cold-blooded scammer and an independent parasite! Sky thought, almost laughing out loud at her innocence.

"Don’t worry about it. I trust you completely,"

Really? That’s... surprising to know." He tilted his head slightly to the side. "But... why are you so sure that I’m being perfectly honest with you right now?"

The blind tech girl shifted her position slightly on her seaweed mattress, her smile widening.

"Oh! That’s simply because your soul data doesn’t look like it’s actively lying to the grid," she explained cheerfully. She tapped the side of her visor. "And honestly, I just feel deep down like I should trust you. My intuition inside this place hasn’t failed me yet."

Sky swallowed hard, a cold drop of sweat rolling down his neck. Then, he forced his posture to relax completely. That was all too close, he thought frantically. If she could scan soul that deeply, she was dangerously close to discovering the fifty plus screaming entities caged within his vessel.

"So, my turn."

"As you already know, my primary Blessing is based entirely on [Eyes of the Abyss], which is my primary Passive Attribute," she paused, her voice dropping into a softer, more vulnerable register. "It’s the direct reason I’m completely blind back in the real world... well, technically speaking, the system permanently hijacked my physical optic nerves to handle the high-density server streams."

Sky listened with absolute, quiet focus, his cynicism fading as the true human cost of her power was laid bare.

"I also possess [Network Link] and [Forge] as my activeattribute," she continued, pointing her slender arm toward the empty, dark space on the branch where her shattered Iron Mecha had once been resting. "The infinite water bottle you’re holding is just a minor utility item I managed to synthesized using the baseline parameters of [Forge]."

Chloe continued explaining the mechanics of the array. "Active Attributes can take completely different structural forms depending on the user.

Sky opened his mouth, about to say something calculated about her Blessing being incredibly useful for mapping their northern vector through the inverted biome.

How the absolute hell am I supposed to call a system curse that turns a seventeen-year-old girl permanently blind ’useful’ without sounding like an unfeeling monster? Before the awkward silence could stretch and make the canopy uncomfortable again, Chloe fluidly turned her body toward the silent silhouette of the priestess.

"Vesp, it’s your turn now," she said, waving her hand playfully in Vesper’s direction through the pitch black.

Vesper remained perfectly silent for a long, heavy moment, her silver hair shimmering faintly in the starlight as she sat like a rigid monument of iron.

Then, she let out a slow, deep sigh that carried the weight of the entire Valerius inheritance.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!