Karl stared at the system notification with an empty expression for several seconds before his eyebrow slowly twitched.
Then why the fuck did I extract it? I haven’t been collecting talents as showpieces, have I?
The system responded before his irritation could grow any further.
[I never said the extracted talent was useless, Host.]
[I only said that you cannot use it personally.]
Karl’s annoyance immediately paused.
Then what exactly am I supposed to use it for?
The response came almost instantly and somehow carried enough contempt that Karl could practically imagine the system rolling its eyes.
[Your undead, obviously.]
Karl froze as another notification followed before he could properly process the first one.
[With sufficient Death Energy and a suitable high-quality undead, extracted talents can be integrated into an undead existence.]
For several seconds, Karl completely forgot about everyone standing around him.
Victor still held the bottle used for disposing of corpses, Leon was somewhere behind him and Mira had been examining the remains of the battlefield, but none of that entered Karl’s attention anymore.
I can give talents to my undead?
The importance of those words was far greater than simply allowing Karl to collect hundreds of talents for himself.
Undead possessed many advantages, especially when their quality and original strength were high, but they also suffered from one weakness that became increasingly obvious at higher Levels.
Most undead did not possess talents.
Stats alone could carry a professional through the early stages, but the higher someone climbed, the more important talents became.
A powerful talent could completely change how someone fought, interacted with skills and even developed after future Transitions.
That was also one of the major reasons Beast Masters and many Summoners were often considered superior to ordinary Necromancers.
Their contracted creatures could possess bloodline abilities, innate talents and specialised growth paths, while most undead depended almost entirely upon their original attributes and whatever skills remained after conversion.
Karl slowly looked across the ruined battlefield.
So Harvest doesn’t just solve a few weakness.
It could erase the. entirely, a strange image immediately formed inside his mind.
An undead army numbering in the millions marched across an endless battlefield, but instead of being ordinary skeletons and corpses relying only upon overwhelming numbers, thousands among them possessed powerful talents harvested from enemies Karl had killed.
Warriors carrying offensive talents.
Undead mages possessing Mana-related talents.
Commanders with specialised support abilities.
And if Infinite Evolution could continue improving their quality on top of that—
Karl’s mouth slowly curled upward.
Leon walked over and immediately stopped after seeing his expression.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
Karl did not respond, Leon moved behind him and grabbed both shoulders before shaking him once.
"Oi. Did some vengeful spirit possess you while you were playing with the corpses?"
Karl finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked over his shoulder.
Leon immediately released him.
Karl stood upright before brushing his clothes.
"I’m not that unlucky."
Leon stared suspiciously at him.
"That expression wasn’t normal."
"Neither is your face, but everyone tolerates it."
Mira laughed from nearby while Leon immediately looked offended.
Karl ignored whatever response was coming and turned toward Victor.
"You can proceed now, Uncle Victor."
Victor had been watching the exchange without asking questions and simply nodded.
"Finally."
He walked toward the centre of the battlefield and made several short movements with his free hand.
Dark energy spread beneath the mutilated remains and dragged the scattered corpses together, forming a large pile several metres away from the jeep.
Victor removed the cap from the bottle and the clear liquid poured across the bodies.
The reaction began almost immediately.
Flesh, blood and even pieces of bone began breaking apart into grey particles before disappearing completely.
Within less than a minute, barely any trace of the dead attackers remained.
Victor scattered another handful of fine powder across the damaged ground before storing the empty bottle.
"That should be enough."
He looked toward the surrounding forest.
"We already cleaned most traces, but a battle at this level could still have attracted someone. We shouldn’t stay here longer than necessary."
Nobody argued as they collected the remaining storage equipment, weapons and whatever else had survived Victor’s domain before returning to the jeep.
Victor started the engine while Leon immediately began sorting through the spoils they had thrown into the back.
His earlier complaints disappeared within seconds.
"What a lucky day."
Mira looked toward him from the opposite seat.
"We almost got assassinated."
"Exactly."
Leon lifted a storage ring and shook it lightly.
"And now the assassins gave us compensation."
Karl glanced back from the front passenger seat before deciding there was no point involving himself.
Leon had already surrounded himself with weapons, damaged armour pieces and several storage items recovered from the mercenaries.
Most of the equipment had suffered badly during Victor’s attack.
Then Leon reached the three long cases recovered from different positions inside the forest.
His expression changed as hopened the first.
A dark rifle rested inside, its narrow barrel covered with silver markings while a small serpent emblem had been engraved near the trigger.
Leon practically lit up.
"No way."
He pulled it out carefully.
"Viper-X4G77."
Victor glanced into the rear-view mirror.
Leon had already opened the second case.
The weapon inside was heavier, with a reinforced barrel and a dark green body built around a much larger firing chamber.
"Cobra-ZK4M6."
The third case opened next. Leon went silent for half a second before lifting the final rifle with both hands.
Its body was noticeably slimmer than the Cobra, but several blue lines ran along its frame toward an advanced scope mounted above the barrel.
"Hawk-9SMN01."
Leon looked between all three weapons before grinning.
"Damn."
He inspected the markings again.
"No wonder we were nearly killed, each one of these beauties is worth more than a billion credit points."
The jeep suddenly jerked sideways. Victor corrected the steering immediately.
"What?"
Leon hugged the three rifles closer.
"A billion each, minimum."
Victor stared into the mirror for barely a second before one hand left the steering wheel.
Dark energy stretched backwards and all three rifles vanished from Leon’s arms.
Leon froze, then he looked down at his empty hands.
"No!"
Victor calmly stored the weapons inside his ring and returned both hands to the wheel.
"The Vales really went all out."
Leon leaned forward between the seats.
"Those were part of the spoils!"
"They still are."
"Then give them back!"
Victor smiled without looking at him.
"I just prevented them from being drenched in your saliva."
Leon stared at the back of his head, Victor continued driving.
"You can keep the other spoils, I’m keeping these."
Leon slowly sank back into his seat with the expression of someone who had just lost three close relatives.
"Not even an appraisal fee."
Victor’s eyes moved toward the mirror.
"Did you say something?"
Leon immediately raised his voice.
"Nothing."
He looked back toward the remaining equipment surrounding him.
Several cracked breastplates, broken weapons and damaged storage items were all that remained.
Leon picked up half of a sword before sighing.
"What did you even kill these people with?"
Victor did not answer.
Karl had already stopped paying attention to them.
A map was spread across his knees while Mira leaned slightly forward from the back seat, examining the route alongside him.
Their original plan had included another location before moving deeper into the wilderness, but the ambush changed things.
Staying near any route that could have been leaked through the city military was unnecessarily risky.
Karl moved one finger across the map.
"We skip this point."
Mira followed the route farther ahead.
"Then we’re moving directly here?"
Karl nodded.
It would cost them some time and remove one opportunity he had originally intended to check, but continuing along an obvious route immediately after an assassination attempt would be stupid.
He tapped another location farther across the wilderness.
"Uncle Victor, we should go here next."
Victor glanced briefly toward the map before nodding.
"Fine."
The engine growled louder as he pushed the jeep faster across the uneven road.
Karl folded the map and leaned back against the seat while the wilderness disappeared behind them.
The original route had changed but that was acceptable enough.