[System Upgrade Process… In Progress…]

[Remaining Time Until Completion: 00 Hours 03 minutes 27 seconds…]

Taking a gander at the system, Aiden walked away from the window and sat down in his preferred spot… the center of the room.

Although the bed was empty now, he actually felt better on the harder, sturdier ground rather than atop the fluffy cushions.

As there were only a couple of minutes left before this last 50 hours of emptiness would finally come to an end, he slowly closed his eyes, and heaved a couple of longer sighs to clear his head.

Ever since arriving in this city, just a bit over 2 days ago, events seemed to speed up. As if something dark was looming over every citizen, people were growing more and more agitated, often reacting in strange, unexpected ways.

Just like with the case of the innkeeper and his previously gentle, smiling wife, their nature seemingly shifted, turning from the kind and hearty landlords into this backstabbing, heartless, cruel, and spineless cowards.

Selling information about an innocent young man, then calling local thugs on others? While the first could still be explained as being simply conscious and caring about themselves, the latter was simply inconceivable. Why would someone react in such an extreme, excessive manner?

Then, the case with Sir Michael… Although he was indeed a douche, a sleaze bag, his reaction was also overly exaggerated, almost comical. Even if he were jealous of his relationship with his step-sister, Lily, who would go so far as to try to humiliate the other by asking him to a duel?!

If it would have been anybody else, the end result would have been either being crippled, or worse. And for what? Because he was the brother, the RELATIVE of the girl you had your eyes on?!

'Something is not right..' Aiden sighed, shaking his head. Something strange was going on, something he could not understand or explain, at least not yet.

"Did the others also notice this, or am I the only one?" He wondered, not too sure about it. After all, no one in his group reacted weirdly to any of the last two days' events.

"Huah… This is too difficult…"

In the end, Aiden could only sigh, unsure, uncertain about what to do. Should he even bother with what happens to these humans?

Sure, he might have been a human in his previous life, but even that seemed to become only an illusion, a temporary stage, an escape his real mother somehow created for him just to survive a disaster… At least if what he learned from that underground shrine was the truth.

Luckily, his lamenting, despairing thoughts were put to an abrupt end when suddenly the long-awaited, bell-like notification sound suddenly rang inside Aiden's mind.

Along with the sound, and the appearance of a completely new image that appeared before his golden eyes, he also felt the warmth of newfound energy spread through his body, seemingly originating from his very own core.

Besides refreshing his tired body and easing up the strain on his muscles, the energy also seemed to have a calming effect on his mind. The troubles he was tormented with over a second ago, suddenly felt distant, pointless.

The haze of fog swiftly cleared, Aiden's attention was on the appearing new floating images in front of his eyes.

The previously bland, mostly colorless interface now had a light aqua blue background. Though the text, or more precisely the font didn't change much, it was now thicker, had a creamy white color with a thin black outline around it.

All in all, the previously rigid, cold screen was a bit more pleasing to the eye.

*Ding!*

[System Upgrade Process… Completed!]

Only a short notification popped up not giving anything away from the changes, yet, despite its shortness, it was welcomed with a warm smile by Aiden as he quickly dismissed the note only to be shocked by what greeted him.

The previous menu was replaced by a brand new, tabular design as if all currently available features were parts of the same 'folder' design.

Speaking of available features, there was quite a big change around them as well.

[ Status | Lab | Domain | Activities ]

The first was still mostly clear, Status was most likely his own details that was before. However, from then on, none of the features were familiar to him. Standing at the second spot, instead of Fusion, now something called 'Lab' could be read. Although it felt vaguely familiar, it also suggested a much broader scale, something much more than it was before…

Wandering to the third option, the word Domain glowed, ready to be explored. Like in the case of the Lab, this one suggested something of an expanded feature of the Minions tab from before… Although what it was currently, had to wait as there were yet another, new, the fourth tab as well.

'Activities? What is that?' Aiden muttered inwardly as he read out the title.

Although it wasn't aimed at her, Aiden didn't need to wait much before he felt the familiar presence of Enya emerging from his soul's depths and enlightening him.

'[Activities is mostly the collection of new-old background features brought forward for your convenience Aiden. Besides showing you a list of quests that you can now freely pick instead of forcing it on you, it is also the place where the previous messages and various activities you did will be stored as a sort of log… or Journal if you prefer.]'

She explained, giving him a momentary breather before continuing on.

'[Also, just so you won't be too surprised, there are additional sub-features, an option under these 4 main tabs. There are many changes that happened in the last 50 hours, some even I am not fully aware of as I have yet to process all the new knowledge.]'

'I see… Well, let's check it out then.' He responded to her, as he focused on the 'Status' tab. In the next moment, a green outline appeared over the text, and below in the previously empty, clear aqua background, a series of new options slowly appeared one after another.

[ *Status* | Lab | Domain | Activities ]

[—Status Screen — ]

[ *Main* | Skills | Analysis | Inventory ]

[Name: Aiden Voragon

Race: Primal (Evolver)

Current Form: Ancient Dragon (Human)

Level: 15

Condition: 100%

Resource: Soul Power (Level 2) : 1100 SP / 1100 SP

System Points: 13050 EXP

******

Attributes:

Might: 39

Agility: 38

Spirit: 43

******

Note: For quicker, faster navigation please use the keywords in the following order: "Status", "Main".]

Right from the start, even before going forward, there were quite a few obvious changes on the displayed screen. For starters, the progress towards level up was no longer displayed, not to mention the ranking of the currently active form. These were either removed or hidden from view…

After that, the wording around his Soul Power was updated, as if suggesting a very far-fetched possibility to Aiden.

Also, whilst it seemed mostly unchanged, instead of experiencing his points were now under the category: 'System Points' whatever that meant.

Understanding his confusion, Enya, his trusty guide, spoke up after giving him a couple of seconds to process the details on his own.

'[Your progress is not lost, you still need to work and spend points if you wish to increase your proficiency in any of what you can see, but the system is not displaying it by default anymore. Although if you focus on any of the skills, it will become available. Don't be afraid, try it out Aiden!]'

Under her urging, Aiden focused his attention on the 'Soul Power', hoping that his previous progress was not completely lost.

A moment later, just as Enya explained, the text he focused on changing, growing slightly larger and expanded revealing the previously hidden information.

[…

Resource: Soul Power (Level 2 - Progress: 95.03%) : 1100 SP / 1100 SP

…]

Interestingly, the display now only showed progress in an easily digestible format instead of giving a slew of pointless data.

To be honest, Aiden didn't mind it, the earlier display while providing all the specifics, was ultimately not that important. As it turns out, he did not lose any of his previous features, it was just displayed in an easier, clearer format.

Going back to the displayed text he was currently focusing on, his eyes wandered back to the new category name…

'Resource?' He asked mentally.

'[It is exactly what you were thinking Aiden. As you have seen before, Energy comes in many forms. Between its many stages, like those that you have already seen, Mana and Spirit Power, there are many more. Whilst the volatile Mana is one of the lowest-ranked ones, there are many alternative ones on the same level or between it and your Soul Power. Some are unique to some special life forms, some can be used if you interact with it, or assimilate it into your core.]'

Giving it only a momentary breather, she continued, her next words shocking Aiden.

'[Also, just so you are aware, your Soul Power is not the ultimate, highest of all. There are many above it for you to explore and learn.]'