Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

A few days later, Alex walked through the wilderness with an unamused look on his face.

Brontes stood to his left, housing a similar look.

'I'm soooo bored!'

Because they were both utterly bored out of their minds.

Not much tied Alex down to the city anymore since he already had the information he was looking for, and there wasn't any reason for him to stay there after that.

He had already found himself embroiled in some inner conflict between the top powers there, unwillingly of course, and so he didn't wish to stay any longer.

In fact, he'd already made some enemies in there despite his short stay.

Even now, after leaving the place over 4 days ago, he was still being followed from a distance.

But the enemy clearly didn't understand his power clearly since they were well within range of his spatial sense.

In fact, Alex even knew who the suspicious follower was!

Slowing down, Alex heaved a sigh of pity and resignation as he palmed his face.

Brontes looked up at him with an inquisitive look on his face, but he soon found out why Alex was acting in such a way.

"How about we take a short break and relieve some of our boredom, huh lil' buddy, what do you think?"

Brontes' ears naturally perked up after hearing Alex's suggestion, and he made a dash toward Alex's face in an attempt to give him a few licks of agreement.

Alex dodged it expertly, which he had learned to do after dealing with the energetic and eccentric little beast after spending so much time with it.

He appreciated the little beast's attempts at showing affection to him… he just wished that he didn't have to feel his slimy tongue on his face whenever he expressed it.

With Brontes' agreement, Alex activated his teleportation and disappeared from his spot an instant later.

Brontes soon followed.

***

'It's been four days since he left the city. Where does he plan on going? And what a strange beast he has… I bet that'll fetch a fine price after I've dealt my revenge.'

Alex's follower thought to themself, and even started to drool at the mouth at the thought of the amount of money they could earn once they had dealt with Alex.

'But then again, it's quite dangerous for someone so weak to explore the wilderness alone like that. What the hell is he thinking? Does he have a deathwish or something? Well, not that I care. It suits me better. His death wouldn't even be investigated since someone like him disappearing into the wilderness would automatically be presumed dead to a stronger beast or the like.'

'Let's see where he is now.'

They pulled an item out of one of their pockets and began to inspect it with glee.

This was a tracking device, but a much more primitive version.

It didn't make use of any technology from the outside world, so it wasn't limited by the Primordial Expanse in any way at all.

In fact, it looked to be a forged item of sorts, perhaps hinting at its origins…

The item itself was circular in shape, and had two dots, one red, and one green, occupying it. The green dot sat in the centre, being a clear indicator for the device itself, while the red dot would clearly be connected to another secondary item somewhere else.

Currently the red dot sat far apart from the green dot, signifying a great distance between the two of them.

…Or so it used to.

'Huh? What? Where did he go?'

The owner of the item looked at it with confusion riddled all over their face. They knew the item itself couldn't be faulty, as they had forged it themself!

'Perhaps he's just gotten so far ahead that he's out of range? Wait, no. Someone as weak as him couldn't possibly move at the speed required to make such a thing happen. Just what is going on—'

Their eyes widened as they noticed something, something that almost caused them a heart attack upon further inspection.

Taking a closer look at the green dot in the centre, there seemed to be a very vague, extremely faint red outline surrounding it.

It was very easy to miss, and they only spotted it because of their keen eyes from the years they'd spent forging.

In a panic, they lifted their gaze, only to reel back in horror.

"How nice to see you again, Darya."

Alex spoke, as he lowered his gaze to meet that of the young woman stumbling over herself.

"It seems my appearance might have given you quite a shock! I apologise for that, you see, I couldn't help but notice your presence quietly shadowing me ever since I left the city, and after four days of this, you're still here. Tell me, why might that be?"

A kind, friendly smile found its way onto Alex's face, but it had the opposite effect for Darya, as it only made him appear even more fearsome.

'D-Demon. He's a demon!'

"Not going to answer? Well, that's a shame."

Alex summoned Virtue's Edge and watched as the unassuming sword appeared in his hands, keeping his gaze locked on Darya the whole time.

"H-how… How are you so strong…?"

Something inside Darya must have stirred when she saw the sword appear in Alex's hands, as she managed to summon the courage to speak.

Alex found her question amusing, however.

"Did I ever say I was weak?"

This question shut down any thoughts of escape that clouded Darya's mind.

That's right… the notion of Alex being weak was an idea that she herself had come up with…

Not once during her short interactions with him did he give away any aura of being strong, or anything that could point at his strength at all.

It was her own arrogance, her own stupidity and narrow-mindedness that planted the idea of Alex being weak in her mind.

She just couldn't handle the idea that someone as unassuming and a nobody like Alex could be stronger than her.

"I- I just wanted to talk—"

"Lies."

She tried to provide an explanation, but Alex cut her off before she could get anywhere.

*Thud*

Something else appeared out of thin air in his other hand, and he threw it down to the ground.

Darya's eyes narrowed into slits when she saw what it was.

It was her tracker.

Shing!

*Thud*

Something else hit the ground this time, only Darya couldn't see what it was this time.

Her view had suddenly flipped, and she witnessed her own, headless body falling to the ground immediately after.

Alex shook the blood off his sword and disappeared from the spot, his face expressionless, not uttering any words.