CHAPTER 143: THE HARMONIC SPINE.

"Congratulations on your evolution and new mutation," Ash’Kral smirked.

Levi glanced at Ash’Kral, sizing him up and down for a few moments.

Then, he asked speechlessly, "Is this your evolution?"

Ash’Kral’s appearance barely changed...His size was increased by a bit, but that was it.

"You need more than one evolution for my appearance to change," Ash’Kral claimed lazily, unbothered by his lackluster evolutionary results.

He didn’t seem to have gotten a single mutation.

"But, how can I get a mutation and you not?"

Levi touched his new cold silver spine, running his fingers across it, sending a gentle therapeutic vibration across his entire body.

"They are there; it just takes more effort for them to show," Ash’Kral floated around Levi and asked, "How do you feel with the Harmonic Spine installed?"

"Harmonic Spine...To be honest, I don’t know." Levi murmured, confusion clouding his face.

His world of darkness was suddenly turned into a beautiful, detailed, colorful fantasy.

No more wild waves, no more blind spots, and no more chaos.

Rigid surfaces appeared as rigid vibrating tiny strings so close to each other, it was nearly impossible to distinguish between them and the actual rigid material.

Even his body and clothes were visible in shades close to reality, allowing him to finally see a close representation of his appearance.

Only when he saw himself did he realize that the mutation had extended to his hair as well. For each strand of hair, a silver thread accompanied it, making his hair somewhat strange, like a mixture of hair and instrumental strings...

If one looked at it from afar, it appeared dark as usual, but once they got too close, the silver thread shimmered...This made his hair look quite fascinating.

Yet, Levi wasn’t too focused on his hair.

He was tripping immensely as he knew that frequencies corresponded to different light colors, but only within the visible spectrum of light.

Since Levi couldn’t see ’light’, it implied that the Harmonic Spine was linked to his mind, using the perfect frequencies around him to match his envisioned reality...Color-wise.

"What is this mutation? Is it like an additional organ?" Levi inquired with a tint of marvel.

"It’s not just any organ, it’s The Organ for the auditory sense."

"You mean?"

"Yes."

Levi’s lips parted in shock...He understood from the very beginning that Ash’Kral Nine Senses Seed wasn’t implying humans.

It was understandable when considering that many animals had better hearing than humans or could pick up sounds using different body parts.

Take crickets as an example; they had tiny tympanal membranes on their front legs that picked up vibrations like eardrums.

Frogs used their lungs and skin...Elephants relied on their feet to pick up on distant sounds long before humans could, literally through the ground.

This was just the Earth’s animal kingdom. Now, consider the entire universe. Humans’ ears would barely rank in the middle.

"The Harmonic Spine is connected to the Resonant Threads...those silver filaments on your back. In turn, they are connected with the rest of your body: nervous system, bloodstream, bones, tendons, muscles, it doesn’t matter."

Hearing this, Levi reached out with his new ’vision’ and mapped out his entire body in his mind, interior and exterior.

The Resonant Threads on his spine plucked softly and rapidly, akin to a genius musician playing a violin.

In an instant, Levi was capable of seeing his anatomy down to the bone marrow! He even noticed the Three Origin Seeds orbiting each other in his abdomen, seemingly calmed down after the evolution ended.

Levi’s brows twitched at those troublemakers and refocused on the Harmonic spine and its Resonant Threads.

"Woaah...They are everywhere."

Levi was astonished at the sight of Resonant Threads appearing like a new silver nervous system in his body, touching and connecting everything.

But suddenly, Levi noticed something unexpected.

"Wait, my voice doesn’t interfere with the frequency stability?"

His colorful world remained affixed in its place, no energy wasted, no sound broke it apart. It was like a perfect structure, unaffected, untouched by exterior influences.

"It’s normal...From now on, you walk in a world painted by vibration. Where humans see only 0.0035% of the light spectrum range, you see the full range of it, plus motion, pressure, tension... color made from sound, and more." Ash’Kral replied.

Hearing this, Levi’s smile couldn’t help but widen in exuberance...He understood that being given the ability to see the full range of the light spectrum through frequencies was massive.

While he wasn’t seeing the wavelengths with ’eyes’, he was listening to their corresponding frequencies, which were more or less the same.

"I can finally ’see’ without relying on wasting solar energy or Astra AI’s battery." Levi sighed in relief and then showed a soft smile, still incapable of accepting his new reality.

"Boy, you have just scratched the surface of it. You can consider yourself to own the greatest auditory system in all realms. For the Nine Senses seed to bestow such a mutation on you, it means it is starting to like you... Maybe, your efforts to befriend it weren’t a waste."

Levi chuckled in delight. His motive to befriend the Ancestral Tree was never this, but he sure welcomed it.

"See, be nice and the world will smile at you," Levi advised Ash’Kral, wanting to change to his assholish persona.

"F*ck you, and the world’s smile...How about that?"

"Prick." Levi’s brow twitched, realizing that he might be a lost cause.

Soon, Levi was reminded of his unlocked ultimate ability and the bestowed enhancements. He was too occupied with his new mutation, which was already a massive win in his eyes...Even if the enhancement or the ultimate ability were subpar, Levi would have no complaints.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Levi went inside his own Spiritual Leywell and dove into the depths of his memories, searching for any new added information. In an instant, details of his bestowed ultimate ability flooded his mind.

The moment he read them, he turned to Ash’Kral, staring at him speechlessly.

"Okay, this is legitimately starting to piss me off." Ash’Kral’s eyelid twitched. "What have you done in your past life to earn such great fortune?"

"Maybe, the Goddess of Fortune is taking pity on me after all the abuse you put me through in my childhood." Replied Levi, still grinning widely from the details of his ultimate ability.

"Then, I did well." Ash’Kral smiled, "I told you, you should thank me."

"Go find your shame somewhere else." Levi shooed him away in annoyance, not wanting his great mood disturbed.

Alas, when he wanted to test it out, he was met with Ash’Kral’s annoying grin.

"Damn it..."

Levi turned Ash’Kral into the Judgement’s staff with a deep, hopeless sigh.

***

The next Morning...At the Brink of Dawn.

Close to a hundred Daywalkers were gathered in a northeast outpost near Cindralis’ settlement. It bordered a massive stretch of active agricultural farms.

Although the farms were outside of the Holy Light’s protection, they were still untouched.

The High Council ensured its protection using many guards, taking shifts during the night. Since it was extremely close to the borders, any nightcrawler daring to get close would be dealt with properly...During the day, the farmers could do their job unafraid.

Right now, Levi, Arthur, Jojo, Nurah, and the rest of the classroom trainees were lined up at the back of the gathering...Instructor Seraphis wasn’t with them, but they were ordered to stay here until he joined them.

Meanwhile, Shia, Jamal, and Sergio were in the middle zone. They had met with Levi and Arthur at the start, but they couldn’t hang out for long, forced to separate.

Levi and the rest of the hired low-ranked helpers were all situated in the back. The helpers were either part of many private agencies outsourcing their services for a decent price or lone mercenaries, accepting the mission on their own.

Then, they were followed by the agency’s combatants. As the lines kept getting closer to the front, the strength and authority of the Daywalker increased exponentially.

"A hundred Daywalkers, half of them on Pathfinder rank." Jojo murmured questionably, "This expedition must be targeting an Abyssal Lost Nest."

"Wait, what?" Arthur’s pupil thinned, "I thought we were targeting a Shadow Castle Nest?"

"Not with this fire force...rank-wise, we are the weakest in the entire gathering." Levi agreed solemnly with Jojo.

He thought that Instructor Seraphis wouldn’t be crazy enough to have them participate in an expedition to conquer an Abyssal Lost Nest...But it seemed he underestimated Seraphis’ insane teaching methods.

Clap! Clap!...

Suddenly, two thunderous claps resounded in the entire Outpost and beyond it, making some Daywalkers flinch.

When everyone looked in the direction of the source, they found Lord Idriss stepping onto a wooden stage in front of them, his hands emitting a bit of smoke...

This sight alone silenced everyone.

Respect was etched on their faces as they watched Lord Idriss take on the stage with Madam Naima and Instructor Seraphis closely behind him...The rest of the main squad was standing at the front of the gathering.

"Greetings." Lord Idriss uttered indifferently...Then, he nodded his head at his wife and stood next to his old buddy.

Madam Naima took it from there.

Many weren’t surprised by this as it was a known fact that Lord Idriss wasn’t a man of too many words...He always left the planning and such to his wife, who was much better at it.

Madam Naima snapped her finger, and a hundred nocturnal contracts manifested before each Daywalker.

"Sign it so we can move on."

Hearing this, everyone read the contract details in silence. The Blood Hunters skimmed through it, already knowing that it was an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). It was valid until the end of the mission.

’Seems fair.’

Levi also signed it in no time...Though he had read it thoroughly and found that it ensured the details of the expedition remained in this tight circle...Otherwise, a fate worse than death awaited the spy.

Arthur, Nurah, Jojo, and the rest of the helpers signed it one by one, unbothered by the grave penalty.

’Imprisonment for life in Sanctuary’s dungeon? Don’t they torment the worst criminals there until they beg for death? Gulp...’

Demetris, on the other hand, hesitated for a split moment, a sweat drop trickling down his temple.

But before he drew any suspicion, Lord Darius’s cold, rough voice echoed in his mind.

’Sign it, now.’

Demetris’s hand signed the contract almost immediately...He feared upsetting his lord more than getting caught as a spy.

He could never forget what happened that night, the night when he and his big brother sold their humanity for a price...