Andrew was standing in front of the gathered crowd, his hands tied behind his back. Alex was standing behind him, and Denise was sitting on a simple chair made out of wood next to them. The upper part of her face was still bandaged, and only a few strands of her formerly luxurious hair could be seen.

"We are all here to decide over the punishment of Andrew." He heard a booming voice coming from behind him.

Andrew let his head slump down in shame. He knew that he deserved this. He knew all along. It was even a relief that this moment was finally here.

"Andrew brought a dangerous individual to us. Not only was she responsible for multiple assaults on members of our tribe. She even critically wounded Denise! And if that isn’t enough, she kidnapped two of our most cherished people. We are greatly weakened through the loss of Melissa and Neil." He roared in an angry voice, and the crowd started to confirm his accusations with angry shouts and gestures towards Andrew.

"While it was a grave mistake from Andrew, he also did a lot of good for the community. Therefore, we will sentence him to step down from his position as leader. From now on, he will be responsible for caring for Derek and Till." Alex shouted with obvious disdain in his voice. It was clear that he thought that this sentence was too lax.

The crowd nodded, though they also didn’t seem all that happy with this decision.

"I will take over the position of leader until we find someone new and more fitting. You can leave now." Alex closed the meeting and violently ripped off the rope that bound Andrew's hand. He clenched his teeth from the sudden pain but didn’t dare say anything.

Something in the back of his head told him that this whole situation was off. But he quickly shoved this thought away. He had to accept his punishment. He was responsible for everything that had gone wrong.

"And now, apologize." Alex growled and shoved him towards the injured Denise.

Andrew stumbled over with guilt deep inside his chest. He kneeled down and let his head sink in shame. "I am very sorry for your injury. It is all my fault."

Yes, it is. But I am merciful. I allow you to keep living and wipe the asses of the idiots. Be grateful." She told him with mockery and poison in her voice, and Andrew nodded in affirmation. "I am grateful."

"Good. Then fuck off now and wipe some asses." She snapped at him, and Andrew scrambled to his feet and walked away hurriedly.

A strange relief flooded his mind when he thought about not having to worry about the well-being of their tribe anymore. He would only have to care for Derek and Till, who were in their condition because of him in the first place.

When he reached the cave where they were locked away, he scrunched up his nose because of the smell. Since Melissa had disappeared, nobody had cared enough to clean them.

Derek and Till were completely naked and sat on the ground with vacant looks in their eyes. Andrew noticed with surprise that they were very hairy by now. The only places where skin could still be seen were their palms and around their eyes.

"Strange." Andrew muttered but thought about Sarah. They were probably also able to mutate. Andrew wasn't quite sure if it was good or bad that they hadn't lost their connection to the system.

He stepped in front of the two and kneeled down to the ground. "Derek? Till?" He called out to them with a gentle voice, and they looked at him with suspicion. They both scrambled to all fours and came to the wooden bars.

Barely any intelligence could be seen in their eyes, and it broke Andrew's heart. Luckily, his skill kicked in and dimmed the pain somewhat.

"I am so sorry for not being there for you." He whispered to them, fully aware that they couldn’t understand him. After he first visited them, he was so shocked that he walked away immediately. He had done his best not to think about them too much and overused his abilities to numb his feelings because of it. But not anymore.

"Come with me. We’ll wash you now." He told them in the same soothing and gentle voice as before, but they didn’t seem to understand. So Andrew opened up the cage and held his hands out to them.

They still had suspicious looks in their eyes, but they still took his hands. He gently pulled them along, and they started walking towards the river.

It took a long time to reach it because they were so excited to be outside for a change. They played around with the fallen leaves and ran after flies and other insects. It was quite exhausting keeping them together, but Andrew didn’t mind.

It was a long time later when they finally arrived at the river. The former humans looked at the raging water with fear in their eyes and gripped Andrew's hands tighter.

"It’s fine. There's no need to be afraid." He told them and took out his personal brush. He first pulled Derek towards the edge of the water and started washing his body bit by bit.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Derek screamed with fright in the beginning because the water was so cold. But he seemed to enjoy getting cleaned by Andrew after a while and sat down with a content face.

Andrew felt strangely happy about Derek’s reaction and felt something deep inside of him heal.

Path of leadership:

- Indomitable: Focus on Soul Power and Specialization Domination. Unlocking of specialization: Manifestation (Soul).

- Incorruptible: Focus on Soul Power and Specialization Equilibrium. Unlocking of specialization: Manifestation (Soul).

Path of Altruism:

- Pillar: Focus on Soul Power and Specialization Equilibrium.

Path of Power:

- Puppet Master: Focus on Soul Power and Specializations, Domination, and Adaptation.

- Soul Enslaver: Focus on Soul Power and Specialization Domination. Unlocking of Specialization: Parasitization (Soul).

Please choose carefully.>

Andrew felt like he had woken up from a long nightmare. It wasn’t a physical change, but he felt lighter than ever. But the question was, what he should be choosing now.

He dismissed the options for the path of power immediately. He really didn’t want to go down that path, as it seemed like he had to hurt a lot of people for that. The path of leadership also didn’t matter to him anymore, as his job was now to care for Derek and Till.

So the obvious choice was the path of altruism. He already wanted to confirm his choice for the system, when something held him back. He couldn’t quite explain it, but something inside him told him that this wasn’t the right choice.

He shook his head to banish these distracting thoughts and opened his mouth to confirm his choice of Pillar.

"I will choose the class incorruptible." He heard himself say and held his hand in front of his mouth. What had he said just now?

"No, wait!" He shouted, but it was too late.

Before Andrew could say anything more, the transformation began. Just like when he received his equilibrium specialization, his mind was sucked into a comfortable void. Except this time, he could retain a stronger sense of self. He concentrated for a moment, and his body materialized. He looked at his etherical hands and then around him.

He first thought that this space was empty. And physically speaking, it was. There was no sound, light, or anything else to perceive. But there was something else. This place was full of feelings. Full of personality. He soon realized that he was in his very own soul right now.

He looked around in amazement, not really knowing what to do with all the information he had suddenly gotten about himself. It was a jumbled mess of so many facets of his personality that he soon wondered if he had gone crazy.

He delved deeper into his soul, which was obviously undergoing some sort of transformation. It was a complete mystery to him what exactly was going on right now. The only thing he knew was that this was probably the transformation of his soul that the system had told him about.

After some time, he noticed a giant accumulation of all sorts of jumbled emotions. They were blocked by some kind of barrier that felt very familiar to him. With a sinking feeling, he realized that all these emotions were suppressed by his skills. And they didn’t just disappear. They accumulated over time until they broke out like they did when he injured his soul.

Looking over the giant mass of negativity, he realized that what had come out of him last time was only a small portion.

He had no idea what to do with this, but he wouldn’t just let it be. When he wanted to inspect it more closely, he noticed something else inside his soul. Something foreign. He concentrated on it and soon saw something... weird. It had grown tendrils that stretched throughout his whole soul. How could he have not noticed this sooner?

It felt weird, alien, and intrusive. And he instinctively knew that this didn’t belong inside him. His jumbled mess of suppressed emotions had to wait. This was way more urgent.

He analyzed it more closely and started to feel some kind of personality in it. He knew this personality. He thought hard for a moment, and then it struck him. Denise. This foreign thing belonged to Denise.

With anger billowing up inside him, he already wanted to rip it out of him. But then he noticed that a strand of some sort was connected to this foreign thing from the outside. Probably with its creator, Denise.

Andrew held himself back. He had to be smart about this. He had to do something about this without alerting Denise. This was just an assumption, but he couldn’t think of anything else this thing would connect to.

But before he could even start to think about doing something, a fundamental change occurred inside his soul. Waves of powerful energy billowed through it, this time even visible. The tendrils of the foreign thing burned away like dry leaves in a fire and were pushed out of his soul.

When the billowing energy reached the foreing thing, it didn’t burn it away. Instead, it encompassed it in some kind of cocoon. The thing tried to reach out with tendrils again, but they couldn’t get past the barrier. Every time they reached far enough, they were burned away.

After this spectacle, he felt clarity come back. He needed to get out of here. But it wasn’t that easy. There was a huge resistance holding him back, and it felt like he was getting sucked deeper and deeper.

He struggled and struggled, but was pulled deeper with every passing moment. Something inside of him just wanted to give in. To just live inside this calming void, with no need to get out into the cruel and difficult world ever again.

But he didn’t want to.

"NO!" he roared with his whole soul, and the void shuddered from the power of his will. He pulled himself out of the soul space and into reality again.

When his senses came back to him, he was so overwhelmed by them that he keeled over and fell headfirst into the mud.

Derek and Till were shocked at first, but then began to laugh happily. Andrew scrambled to his feet again and couldn’t help but smile a little when he saw the two former humans laughing happily like this.

Not much time seemed to have passed, as the light around him was more or less the same.

"Come here, Derek. Let’s finish cleaning you up." He said and Derek came over to him, noticing what he was intending to do. When he sat in front of him again and let himself be washed with a content face, Andrew's own face hardened.

Ice-cold rage bubbled up inside him. His skills were barely enough to suppress them far enough so he wouldn't scream out loud. It all came back to him now.

Denise had taken Melissa from him. She had taken his people from him. She had humiliated and insulted him. So she would pay. And she would not go easily.