Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

Uhtred gladly took up Dennis’s offer, and the scholar immediately began explaining everything he knew.

The System had explained a lot of things to the people who had landed in Zone 0 right from the start. Some of them were minor details, but others actually made perfect sense when Uhtred thought about them.

One clear example was how the System handled minors and underage children. The System had not integrated anyone under the age of seventeen. They were still in their base human forms, completely without any sort of evolution or enhancement.

In fact, the System had created separate rules to protect these children. They could not be touched or harmed within the Zone 0, as keeping them safe was a major priority.

Even when Scorpion was running rampant just before Uhtred arrived, the thug knew better than to touch any of the children.

Dennis and a few other smart people had already started sharing theories about why the System did not integrate children.

Beyond the obvious fact that they were young, lacked the focus to use such power safely, and should not be involved in raw violence, Dennis believed it also had something to do with the integration process itself.

Based on his many talks with refugees throughout the day, Dennis had already formed a solid idea. He had asked around about how various people’s initial class choice and core-attunement process went.

And from the responses from the individuals willing to share their details — even for the rare few who were placed in this sector despite being related by blood — their classes were all very wildly different.

There was very little correlation when it came to a person’s bloodline, build, or even age.

Instead, the real connection lay in a person’s life experience. The specific knowledge a person had been exposed to, along with their depth of understanding, were the main factors Dennis believed decided what kind of class options were laid available to you during the selection process in the first place.

Knowledge and Experience.

Those had been Dennis’ initial hypotheses. But the fact that the System did not allow children to be integrated pointed him toward another guess.

He believed the System evaluated something far more intrinsic than just knowledge and life experience.

This other factor had to be something deep within the fundamental makeup of an individual. Dennis thought this because he wondered why the System arbitrarily selected the age of seventeen as the threshold for integration.

If the System went by human biology, the human body and brain do not fully finish growing until around age twenty-five. If it went by the legal adult limit humans set at age eighteen, that was also wrong because it chose seventeen instead.

Therefore, the System had its own threshold to decide whether a person was qualified and met the requirements for integration.

A few intellectuals among the camp members Dennis had talked to during the day suggested it measured something like a soul. But Dennis was too practical to boldly claim it was a soul.

However, he did not completely disagree with them either. There was no real proof of a physical soul, but seeing how much the world had changed, it was not a far-fetched idea at all.

For the unintegrated, the System had also explained that on the last day of every year, there would be a planet-wide integration event. All humans who turned seventeen years of age would go through their integration into the multiverse, gaining their cosmic essence cores and classes to begin their climb up the path of ascension.

Aside from the matter of the children, Uhtred also learned a few interesting facts about Zone 0.

Apparently, no one could own a territory inside this zone. That piece of information immediately made the Embassy Flag the System had given him make more sense. He understood exactly why it was called an ”Embassy” and not a ”Territory” flag.

Following that logic, Uhtred could see what kind of place the System was building Zone 0 to be later down the line.

The reason Zone 0 was still a peaceful sanctuary right now was simply because everyone had just been integrated. The world was still in its early phase. In a few years, once the general population had reached gained levels high enough to venture out into the dangerous wilderness zones, Zone 0 would shift.

It would become a dedicated haven for unintegrated minors, paired with forward diplomatic points linking back to the true territories people established in the deeper zones.

Of course, as Scorpion had shown, the System’s refusal to allow territories in Zone 0 did not stop groups from hoarding resources and spaces that should belong to everyone.

And the reason for this was likely that there was a difference between a system-enforced territory and one that wasn’t... at least that was what Uhtred suspected, though he could not be totally sure.

He did not have a territory yet, and according to the global leaderboard, neither did the second-placed Pioneer, King Alexei.

I guess I will find out soon enough, anyway, Uhtred thought.

More importantly, though, Uhtred focused his attention back to the present. He stared at Dennis, who was currently talking to one of the refugees not far away.

Both he and Dennis had found their way into one of the pavilions. Uhtred was sitting at the far back, resting his back against one of the pillars of the large structure with his star-metal battle-axe propped up right beside his shoulders.

As he watched Dennis speak with the refugee, Uhtred began to ponder whether to actually take the man along with him. Dennis had offered his services, and from everything he had displayed so far, the man was highly exceptional.

He was pragmatic, understood the reality of their situation, and was able to adapt quickly.

If his class was not geared entirely toward mental abilities rather than fighting skills, Dennis probably would have been a powerful pioneer himself. It made Uhtred wonder how many talented individuals around the world missed out on powerful fighting classes simply because of their pre-integration lives.

As Uhtred evaluated the pros and cons of having someone like Dennis around, he noticed something and his eyes narrowed very slightly, though he kept his expression completely neutral so nothing showed on his face.

There it is again, he thought.

That feeling...

There’s no mistake... Someone’s observing me.