CHAPTER 45: EVOLUTION (2)

According to the History of the Leon Kingdom, all humans carried dormant ancestral genes from ancient super-races. They could evolve by awakening them. These dormant powers would come alive only when the body grew strong enough to support them, which typically only happened when a tamer reached the Gold Rank.

At that level, the tamer’s soul refined their body crazily, increasing every single aspect of their being, from strength, agility, stamina to endurance, resilience, and even perception.

There were ways to bypass it, but not everyone could afford them. Only those born into rich and influential noble families, nurtured by powerful beast tamers with love and endless resources, could afford it.

Ray, however, had managed the impossible depending on his on lonesome.

Because he was crazy enough, brazen enough, and lucky enough, he had achieved at peak Iron Rank what tamers typically only achieved at Gold Rank!

♦️ The ancestral genes dormant inside you are responding to your growth and awakening one by one.

Ray’s blood boiled.

His skin turned red, his face flushed a deep scarlet, and steam rose from his body in thick waves.

A sharp, piercing pain assaulted his senses.

He felt as if a thousand fire ants were crawling beneath his skin, biting into his veins and gnawing on his bones.

The pain was unbearable.

His grip on the tree slipped, and he crashed down to the ground, landing hard on his butt, but he barely even felt it. The agony of evolution was so immense it drowned out all other sensations.

"When the hell will it end?" Ray grunted, his voice raw, sounding more like an injured beast than a man.

He didn’t know how much time passed.

Perhaps it was minutes, perhaps it was hours, perhaps it was days.

But eventually, he let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief.

The unbearable torment brought forth by evolution had finally faded away, leaving him trembling and drenched in sweat.

♦️ You have evolved from a Human into a newborn Heavenly Being!

♦️ Racial Trait: Sixth Sense

Effect: Grants you an instinctive aversion to death itself, warning you of unseen dangers.

He opened his status screen to check his changes.

Ray

Race: Heavenly Being (Nascent)

Racial Trait: Sixth Sense

Level: 15

EXP required to level up: 17000/90000

Rank: Iron Rank 4

Beast Taming Seal: Eclipse Devouring Seal (1-star)

Strength: 10

Stamina: 0.2/11

Agility: 13

Soul Quality: 230

Magic Power: 0/2700

Magic Power Regeneration: 15 units per second

Stamina Regeneration:

Debuffs: None

Traits: Lightning Reflexes, Passive Stamina Recovery (1 unit of stamina/hour), Consecutive Lucky Shots.

Skills: Beast Taming (LV: 1), Fire Dragon Magic (LV: 2), Wind Manipulation (LV: 1), Weapon Refining (LV: 2), Destiny Swap (LV: 1)

SP: 4

Special notes were also given, detailing how he could upgrade his level 1 skills.

Beast Taming could be upgraded by reaching the Bronze Rank. Wind Manipulation could be upgraded by blocking twenty attacks using wind. And lastly, Destiny Swap could be upgraded by faking his death three times.

"I have already done it once???" Ray’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the information displayed on the semi-transparent screen.

♦️ Skill: Destiny Swap

[Level Up Requirement: Fake your death thrice (1/3)]

According to the system, he had already faked his death once!

When did that happen?

Ray fell into thought.

He quickly pieced together the puzzle and realized it.

"Whoever came to investigate the fire I started in the town’s outskirts must have believed I died in the fire."

"This is... good!"

"Let’s keep things this way."

"Now that I am believed to be dead, I don’t need to worry about being schemed against by Ashclaw."

Ray suddenly found himself in a favorable spot.

"I am in the dark while he is in the light. I can plot his death while he remains as clueless as an unsuspecting passerby."

"Ashclaw. Oh, Ashclaw, the day I return from the Slime Nest will be your last."

He climbed onto a tree and laid down on a thick, sturdy branch that could easily support his weight, with his back pressed against the bark.

Closing his eyes, he exhaled slowly.

His stamina was running dangerously low; the process of evolution had drained him completely.

He decided to rest and cultivate here for a couple of hours, recovering his lost stamina while steadily improving his soul quality.

********

Several hours later.

Heavy footsteps thundered from ahead. Ray’s sharpened senses, rivaling those of a Bronze Rank beast, picked up gasps and ragged breathing carried by the wind.

"Now what?"

He frowned, ceasing his cultivation and opening his eyes, looking forward, locking on the source of the disturbance.

Not far from where he was resting, a mixed group of tamers and demonic creatures were fleeing in a sorry and terrified state, heading straight towards him unintentionally. Behind them, a hulking figure the size of a bulldozer could be seen chasing after them.

In its wild chase, it tore through the forest with frightening momentum, shattering trees and boulders and destroying the undergrowth.

Ray’s eyes narrowed. He squinted, getting a better look at it.

Its massive body was covered in stone-like hide etched with faint glowing lines, and every one of its heavy stride shook the ground beneath it. Its arms were like twin tree trunks, its claws glinted with cold light, and its eyes burned with wild savagery.

"RuneBear!"

It was an initial stage bronze rank demonic beast.

The group it was chasing consisted of nothing more than weaklings.

The plates hanging from the necks of the tamers told their story, most of them were stuck at the advanced stage of Iron Rank, a few had reached the peak of Iron Rank, but none had stepped beyond. Their tamed creatures weren’t much stronger either, exposing the truth that they weren’t a particularly talented lot. Against a RuneBear, they were hopeless. A single RuneBear was more than enough to wipe them out.

Even though they ran as fast as their legs could carry them, the RuneBear continued to gain ground on them.

If no one intervened soon, the RuneBear would catch up and rip them all to shreds!