Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

47  Elis

Alex was standing in front of a seemingly endless green landscape, fresh with many exotic and stunning flora and fauna. This place looked even better than the area of the Primordial Expanse he had been dropped into.

Behind him a massive tower stood that stretched all the way into the sky, and beyond. This was the space elevator that brought him down to the surface. Avery suggested for Alex to get a shuttle down to the surface, but the moment he laid eyes on the imposing structure stretching all the way from the space station to the surface of the planet, he knew he had to experience it.

Even further behind the elevator lay Elis city, giving Alex a familiar yet unfamiliar feeling.

The contrast of wilderness against an urban city reminded him a lot of Valentis city. Except for the fact that Elis was vastly more futuristic and advanced than its counterpart.

Two suns hung in the sky, drowning the entire planet in sunlight and providing a year round climate of summer.

Vast amounts of highways and skyways could be seen with hovering vehicles moving at incredible speeds, weaving throughout the cityscape. There were many different buildings in the centre that stretched into the sky, much like the space elevator but not nearly as tall.

One thing was for sure. If the Galephant and the beast horde dared to attack this city, they'd have a much tougher time than their attack on Valentis. 'It's much more different than I imagined.'

Alex couldn't help but marvel at the sights.

He had read about such planetary cities and even seen a few images on the galactic net but seeing pictures and seeing the real thing was a whole different experience.

All over the city there were walls made of a hard alloy, with some high tech, large caliber cannons.

What they were supposed to defend against, Alex didn't even want to imagine.

Except for Alex there were a few other people who took the elevator down, one of them caught his eye. If he had to guess, another kid from a different colony who managed to survive her time in the Primordial Expanse too.

She was shorter than Alex, a petite girl around his age with deep blue eyes and a ferocious look on her face. Her hair is what caught Alex's attention, a messy assortment of black with some grey features crudely cut to shoulder length.

Just like him, she was dressed in labourer's clothes, she wasn't carrying anything with her except for the watch on her wrist.

And with that fierce look on her face, clearly she wasn't in the mood for any conversations.

Finally, after a few minutes of waiting a hover car arrived before the two of them. The sleek design attracted Alex's attention but he ignored his curiosity and stepped inside, along with the girl beside him.

The federation had been informed of their circumstances and had organised a taxi to take them to the awakened registration centre.

***

The distance between the awakened registration centre and the elevator was far, even for an E rank awakened. But at the speed the hover car was flying, the journey only took 10 minutes.

Alex didn't speak, the girl didn't speak. Instead they both just took in the sights of the wilderness and the city flying past their windows.

At some point, the car stopped and the driver looked back at the two and said:

"We're here, the staff has been informed of your arrival and are waiting for you inside."

Both nodded their heads, completely ignoring each other.

Alex stood before a tall skyscraper, being dropped off directly at the 100th floor, with a further 150 above him.

A man stood outside the doors with his hands behind his back, looking towards the two new arrivals with a neutral expression.

"Two kids from the mines, it's not everyday we see people like you."

Naturally he was referring to how people like them rarely survived to make it this far.

"Follow me, I will explain things as we walk."

Alex briefly glanced at the girl, before following the man in as instructed.

"Before you two are officially added to the Evolver category of the Awakened registry, there are a few things we have to test."

Alex turned his head towards the man, waiting for him to continue.

"First, we need to test your physical prowess. Your speed, strength and reaction time are important in determining your future path. Being an awakened isn't a linear concept, there are both strong and weak awakened at the same rank. This test is focused on finding out which end of the spectrum you are on."

Alex nodded, what he said made sense. He had deduced the same thing back in the Primordial Expanse.

"Second, we need to test for any affinities. These refer to any elements you are attuned to that you may have the potential to awaken in the future. Most awakened have no affinities. This is called the Aptitude Test."

Alex listened closely to this section. He was very interested in knowing if he had any affinities. "Lastly, there is the voluntary section. Here you can choose whether you wish to disclose any talent, trait or other aspect of your details with us. Naturally there are rewards and offers we can give you if you choose to do this."

Alex frowned when he heard that last part. Normally he would never even consider revealing anything regarding his status. But at the mention of rewards he at least wanted to know what the federation was offering in exchange.

"Sir, you mentioned rewards. What kind of rewards would we be given if we did choose to disclose anything?" Alex asked with interest.

The man stopped walking and turned around to face Alex. A smile on his face.

For the first time since he arrived, even the girl had turned to look at Alex.

Clearly he had asked a question that interested them both.

"It depends on what you disclose to us. If, say, you reveal a talent, then depending on the rank of that talent we can offer things like refined beast cores, equipment or even artifacts. But once again, it also depends on the rank of the talent."

"In reality, it's hard for me to tell you straight up what we can give without actually knowing what you have to offer."

Alex swallowed his saliva, he was running through his thoughts — considering his options.

'Maybe I can expose my Flame talent? It's only D rank and if it can gain me something useful then telling them about it would be worth it.'

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