Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

When Alex arrived at the ship, everything seemed calm.

There were no indications of any activity inside the ship itself, and although the defensive shields had been overwhelmed, there were no alarms blaring at all.

It was like the whole thing was a ghost ship.

'Surely it wasn't just 1 pirate per ship, right…?'

Alex wasn't convinced.

These ships didn't look like the same type as Alex's, where he alone could operate it without the need for any crew members.

Especially for a ship over 500 metres long, this had to have at least some crew members to maintain the core areas.

But there was one easy method for him to find out.

'Spatial Perception.'

Alex activated his spatial perception, which enveloped the entire ship all at once.

'There you are!'

And just as he had expected, this ship wasn't empty.

He counted over 40 other figures, from all different kinds of races, hiding away in the most inconspicuous confines of the ship.

Just from the terrified expressions of the people hiding away, it was clear that they were either weaker than the four pirates who had gone out to meet Alex, or were non-combatant pirates entirely.

Some of them did seem to fit the boot of being maintenance crew members, as they wore uniforms that matched such professions, and they looked the most terrified out of the bunch.

There were around 10 of such figures, with the remaining 30 most likely being the original captain of this ship's underlings.

"I know you're all hiding here, all 40 of you. If you don't come out in the next 10 seconds to meet me on the flight deck, then you'll all meet the same fate as your leader."

Imbuing some energy into his voice, Alex made an announcement to the remaining members of this ship.

"10."

"9."

Though it was only when Alex started counting down that the figures all hiding on the ship took him seriously.

They all scarpered out from whatever corner they were hiding in and rushed towards the flight deck at the front of the ship.

Considering there were weak maintenance workers on board who would be the slowest to reach the flight deck, Alex decided to give them some leniency.

The 10 second countdown wouldn't actually count for them.

For all he knew, they might not have willingly joined this pirate crew to work as a maintenance member, so he wouldn't be so hard on them until he got the full picture.

As for the awakened members on board who were clearly the real pirates…

Alex wouldn't be so lenient with them.

He wasn't joking when he said they'd join their leader in death if they didn't arrive in 10 seconds.

"2."

"1."

"Time's up."

And when the 10 seconds finally passed, there were two awakened that had lagged behind, whether on purpose or due to their own weakness, Alex didn't care.

He had been watching all of them from the beginning.

While they had all been hiding at different parts of the ship, some even hiding right at the rear, which was unfortunate for them since they were the furthest from the flight deck.

But he had already calculated that they would all be able to reach the flight deck in less than the time he had allotted them with their strength.

As for the two that didn't make it on time, he already knew they had purposely delayed their arrival.

They seemed to be the next two in command after their captain was killed, and they were snickering and whispering to each other while they were making their way over, and while Alex couldn't understand them, he could understand visual cues.

They wanted to call his bluff.

Well, unfortunately for them, he wasn't bluffing.

"I know you all understand what I'm saying, so I want you to all watch something."

Alex spoke to the crowd of 40, with the final maintenance members arriving covered from head to toe in sweat, with terrified expressions on their faces because they hadn't made it before the deadline.

"There were some of you that took my words for granted and didn't make it here before the 10 second countdown ended."

He looked around the crowd, glancing at each and every crew member present.

The ones who were guilty all gulped and started shaking, while those who knew they made it on time sighed heavily in relief.

As for the two awakened who had purposely delayed their arrival, they stood at the back with arms crossed and smug smiles on their face while they waited for Alex to continue.

"For you 10," Alex said, as he pointed at the 10 maintenance crew who were obviously not awakened.

The tension in the atmosphere between the two parties was so intense that one of them even went into shock.

"You'll be let off, considering your circumstances."

But after Alex's next words left his mouth, there was a collective sigh from the 9 who were still conscious.

"Haha, I knew he was bluffing."

"Yeah, you called it."

Though there were some whispers from the two at the back.

"As for you two."

And this time, Alex pointed at them.

The entire crowd of 37, minus the 1 guy who had passed out in shock, all looked back at the two who were whispering to each other.

They recognised these two as the next strongest after their captain.

"You aren't so lucky."

Alex wasn't going to entertain them any longer, and directly shot over to them, Virtue's Edge in hand, and severed their heads from their bodies in an instant.

There was a look of shock on both of their faces, as they seemed to be strong enough to see Alex's movements, but they weren't fast enough to react to them in time.

Their heads were separated before they could even form a thought.

"Now that the trash has been dealt with, why don't you guys plead your own case to me. Explain why I shouldn't just kill you like I did with these two."

Moving on, Alex directed his query at the rest of the crowd of aliens.

This time, not even the maintenance members were spared from his pressure.