[Now lets put all this behind us and focus on you. Last night you might have acquired an ability called Overheat. When you closed your eyes to sleep, a notification window about a requirement being met with Lupa, but it was written as unknown. Maybe your inspection isn't potent enough.]

"A requirement?" Vincent felt intrigued by this. As both had the same guess, they said in unison, "Is it because of the Soul Synch?"

[It could be the Soul Synch.]

[You might have made Lupa fall in love with you last night as you protected her from the thunder in your manly warm embrace. I would like one too, hehe.]

Vincent rushed at the cave entrance. He secretly took a peek at Lupa's stats while trying not to get found.

Lupa was taking care of Ester. Soon, she noticed a pair of eyes curiously gazing at her. She felt like Vincent couldn't stay alone without her, with a smile, Lupa didn't turn her head while feeling happy by this secret act.

[Name] Lupa

[Condition] Healthy

[Soul Synch] 50%

[Class] Beast Shapeshifter

Vincent silently walked away from the cave as their guess was correct. It might have been Soul Synch that gave him power.

However, the hard part arrived. Vincent never saw a vision like Ester and Lupa had seen. He must rely on inspection for information about the ability.

[Name] Vincent Agius

[Condition] Healthy

[Soul Power] 0sp

[Class] Soul Hero

[Class] Soul Mutation

Vincent used inspection and then focused on his two classes with the wish to see the skills. As he tried to do this, it worked. The spells and abilities appeared in a separate window below the stat window.

[Class Soul Hero]

*Soul Retainer Bond (Blessed)

*Inspection(Basic)

*Soul Spells - Minor Heal

*Retainer Bond (Blessed)

[Class Soul Mutation]

*O?e4/0ad

*Overheat (Stage Zero)

"Are you seeing this? I have abilities and spells! Can I finally become strong now? Is it my time to shine?" Vincent asked with enthusiasm. The idea of using a strong ability made him drool with excitement.

[You still haven't seen if you can activate this Overheat skill or the other one which seems corrupted. I guess its name is similar to the other one, so Overload maybe?]

"About that. Your class was also corrupted, but it was readable. You have the Knowledge Hero class, and I strangely feel like our Hero classes naming feel a bit childish." Vincent felt strange to have a simply named class. Even his mutated class had a better ring to it.

'Don't tell me Kevin was the Beast Hero?'

'The first, the Blood Hero?'

'The second, the Summoner Hero?'

'The third, the Merman Hero?'

'The fourth, the Strong Hero?'

Vincent thought while feeling like someone was playing with him. But if these thoughts proved correct, then he might feel more embarrassed that the Heroes had such simple named classes.

[Let's focus on the big cheese, ok? Try activating your ability.]

"Over load. Over, load. Over... Load!. Overload?" Pose after pose, Vincent would make any onlookers doubt his sanity. He switched between Victory poses, cool poses, and childish poses. Unfortunately, none worked.

Barely knowing the name of the corrupted ability and using it were two different things. Vincent kept trying until he got tired, while Kazumi couldn't hold on her worry anymore.

[Please... stop... I can't take it anymore, you crazy boy with a death wish! I was going to stop you immediately, but I wanted to see I you would figure out not to play with fire. However, it seems it's my job to tell you this... heh.]

Kazumi watched the whole scene unfolding in her third-person view; at that moment, she desperately wanted a physical body to slap him hard.

"Hmm... What's wrong? Shouldn't I try the best looking ability from the start? A corrupted ability should be stronger, right?" Vincent spoke with his eyes on the prize. He forgot to be wary if it might go wrong.

[What's wrong my wisp ass! You are trying to use OVERLOAD! The ability that might have taken control of your body when fighting the Great Gray Wolf. The same one where you went rabid on its ass and could have killed Ester since she wasn't your retainer.]

[Do you want to mistakenly activate and see for yourself if you would harm them or not?]

As Kazumi spat these hard facts with worry, the blood from Vincent's face drained in fright. With a deathly pale face, he stared at his hands while now noticing how bad of a choice this was.

[Now you understand your mistake. If you take a moment to think about it, Overload will push your body to the limits, although I don't know by how much. The other is probably about something hot. Maybe it gives you the ability to control fire with the heat?]

Kazumi went on a limb to explain her theory and suggest to use the uncorrupted ability instead. Vincent didn't have much luck in this world, and Kazumi considered its better to be safe than sorry.

"Thank you for trying to protect me after I made that embarrassing show. I hope next time you have a faster help response." Vincent felt thankful yet bummed at the same time. If the ability activated, then they might be in trouble, depending on what would happen.

[Fine. This twenty-four-seven unpaid soul worker will tend to your needs. Is that acceptable boss?]

Kazumi became bummed while sarcastically retorting. In a way, both felt almost the same, as if looking at a mirror. Memories make a person different, even though Kazumi saw all his memories, she thought differently and could point out his faults.

Vincent stopped for a moment to reflect on what occurred. The more he pondered, the more faults he found in his actions. He felt like this bickering started from blindly trying something dangerous.

"Sorry, I said it in the wrong way. I'm glad I have you by my side, or there would be no one to stop me if I ever made a mistake like this. Having someone that knows me isn't that bad, I think." Vincent bowed his head in apology for badmouthing Kazumi. Even if it took some time to stop him, in the end, she did with worry.

[Don't worry, I'm at fault as well. When it didn't activate, I was curious to see if it would activate, but then I got worried about it. Also, I think it has a requirement to activate. So it seems that at least now we know.]

"So after you made me feel bad about myself, you say that you were testing me? Heh... I wonder what kind of person you were." Vincent sighed as the soul inside his Soul Domain was tricky to deal with. He felt like an annoying, yet intelligent soul possessed him.

[Ahem... Let's try Overheat now. Overheat not Overload. Also, don't do anymore poses, please. Even I, as a soul think it's embarrassing.]

[I don't feel you have magic in your body, so try to remember what it felt like when you had Overload active in that decisive fight against the great gray wolf. The fight where you fought for your right to live another day.]

Vincent lowered his gaze down at both his hands. He opened and closed his fists while trying to imagine what it felt to control overwhelming power at his fingers' tips.

However, there was a problem. At that time, Vincent remembered that he couldn't feel his hands, yet they moved and responded at his will. At first, he thought it was because of the power, but now he could realize it wasn't the case.

The sense of pain was severed entirely, and nothing below his elbows could be felt from the intense heat or whatever happened underneath the hard green skin. The more he tried to guess, the more confident he was in activating the ability.

"Overheat!" Vincent shouted with confidence and determination to succeed. With his fists clenched thigh and a focused gaze, he wished to become strong and protect the only people who trusted him.

[Overheat activated.]

[Mutation starting to alter the host...]

Suddenly, his eyes shone green, brimming with life. Vincent felt something hot inside him, rising from his stomach to his throat. It felt like he had something boiling inside, but weirdly enough, he didn't feel any pain or even heat.

In mere split seconds, his body got used to the new temperature as his surroundings became warmer by his new body temperature. He soon noticed a light trail of green steam rising from the sides of his mouths up to one meter before fading into nothingness.

At the same time, from under his fingernails, mutated green blood oozed. As if it was alive, it climbed and covered his fingers, hands, and forearms up to his elbow. The more it covered, the more he felt like losing his arms.

It resembled what happened in the Great Gray Wolf fight, but no cracks or steam ascended from his hands. It appeared to be a thin layer of green skin as if wearing a fitted plastic glove.

The green layer around his hands removed his sense of touch. He felt like wearing gloves hard enough to break the Great Gray Wolf's teeth, yet flexible enough to follow his every movement.

[Mutation process finished.]

[Race altered to mutated human for its duration.]

[Hmm... It looks like the ability has stopped its mutation. I can't see any mana in your body but, *pfff... you look like a steam train, haha.]

Kazumi started laughing while Vincent flexed out his pair of new guns. His arms, hands, and fingers could move even if he didn't feel them. The sensation felt weird as if they were prosthetic arms and moved at his will.

Not feeling pain could be a beneficial asset, yet it would take time to get used. It also made Vincent remember about the Numb Mushrooms Lupa collected. The Great Yok Boar went easy on them by giving such an advantageous handicap if it felt the same as his arms.

"I did it! Haha." Vincent excitedly said with a hoarse voice.

*Clang

Vincent clapped his hands in excitement and became surprised by the sound it let out. Strangely, the clapping sounded as if two hard metal objects clashed with one another.

"Wait, what happened to my voice?" Vincent said once again with a hoarse voice.

It sounded the same as when he fought against the Great Gray Wolf. It sounded terrifying, but at least his veins didn't bulge, and his green eyes only shone instead of the white sclera in his eyes becoming black.

[Your voice has changed because Overheat might be making your blood boil. Most probably, your mutated blood is heating up to a certain degree. At the same time, your body is becoming resistant to heat. Try spiting on your hands to see if I'm correct.]

Vincent decided to try out this idea, spat on his hand, and felt a weird itch in his throat. On his hard green skin was green blood or saliva. Whatever substance laid on his hands, it was mutated and boiling as it bubbled in a high temperature, but didn't evaporate.