CHAPTER 1710: SECOND RACE EVOLUTION QUEST

Rex was expecting a boost in power, but not to this extent.

Assimilating the Blood Moon Echo into the Red Dawn of Kaiser, along with the Creator Blessing, pushed him to the next rank, which was within his expectations. He was now an Eternal Spirit, one rank higher than even the strongest knights of the empire.

It unlocked a Blood Moon Genesis, which should be a higher form of Spirit Genesis.

Not only that, he also completed an achievement that gave him a huge amount of gold and another skill.

Both were a pleasant surprise.

But what caught him by surprise the most was the last notification.

Race Evolution Quest has been completed!

"I forgot about the Race Evolution Quest," Rex looked at the notification and scratched the back of his head, cursing inside as things had been hectic ever since this quest appeared, and he forgot about it. "If I remember correctly, this should be the first race evolution quest out of three."

Rex looked up at the reddish moon and rubbed his chest.

He recalled the time limit was the Blood Moon.

Fortunately—he managed to complete it in time as the penalty for such an important quest might be too much for him to bear. Other than that, Rex forgot one crucial factor, "Hmm... I was too focused on the Gradual Penalty that I forgot it was tied to the Race Evolution Quest."

Notice: the Gradual Penalty has been reset!

Rex couldn’t help but smile and savor the moment.

Even until now, the pain he was feeling was amplified thanks to the Gradual Penalty.

It made his regeneration weaker than it was supposed to, and also took a mental toll on him harshly.

But now, the pain from the Gradual Penalty slowly grew weaker.

Rex looked down at his mangled body—and noted that his wounds were healing faster than before, still will take days to completely heal, but certainly faster. He was quite surprised to actually see how much the Gradual Penalty was taking a toll on his body.

His mind had grown numb to it, but it doesn’t mean his body wasn’t suffering.

In a minute, the pleasant feeling finally stopped.

Rex could still feel the Gradual Penalty inside, but its effect was a fraction of what it was minutes ago.

"Finally, I can breathe properly again."

Just then, Rex realized something.

It was a thought that he had only realized now.

"Since I completed the first race evolution quest, does that mean I’m at the tenth-rank realm?"

Rex was in the Spirit Realm, and his body was also a temporary husk for his soul to survive in this realm, so he thought the power he gained here wouldn’t affect his real body. Even if they are, he was expecting them to be converted back like how he got here.

And that’s one of the reasons he was saving his gold.

It would be extremely devastating if he didn’t have enough gold to transfer everything back.

Unfortunately, millions of his gold were used to survive the situation earlier.

Nevertheless, it seemed that was not the entire case.

Since the system acknowledged his strength reaching the tenth-rank realm, it should imply that all the power he obtained in the Spirit Realm was tied to his soul. So naturally, a breakthrough here would also mean a breakthrough to his real body.

Rex was pleased, but there was a thought came to mind.

I hope the castle is not destroyed. Reaching the ninth-rank realm was already destructive enough, and I can’t even begin to imagine what devastation a breakthrough to the tenth-rank realm. Not to mention, the Order Beasts might be drawn to the city, and that’s no good.

Calidora... She’s in the castle, too. System, can you scan the situation in the castle?

Just tell me the current situation.

Scanning...

All vital readings from the user’s vassals within the castle are normal.

Hmm, that’s good.

Rex exhaled in relief and decided to check out his stats.

But before he could, a panel opened in front of him—showing him the next objective.

...

Race Evolution Quest — 2 of 3

Description: Now that the user has achieved the minimum requirement of power to become an Origin, the user can proceed to the next step to evolve. In order to evolve into an Origin-rank bloodline—and near invincibility, the user must have sufficient and loyal pack members. An Origin is no Origin at all without a new race it originated from.

Complete the following to embark on the second step in becoming an Origin:

• Add more pack members to the pack to reach the minimum population requirement: 13 / 30

• Make sure all pack members acknowledge the user as the Alpha.

• Establish a distinct characteristic for all pack members.

...

Rex read through the race evolution quest and contemplated.

"I guess I should’ve anticipated this," He muttered as he read through the next requirements. "30 pack members? If I want to half-ass it, then I can turn weaklings to fill the quota, but that’d be unfair for the pack members who worked for it like Jarvald and Vivian."

Considering that Jarvald and Vivian had gone through hell to earn their place as pack members, turning others lightly to fill the quota is out of the question. Hiding new members would be impossible as well, since once someone was turned, every existing pack member would instantly sense the new connection.

Not taking this into consideration would cause discord among the pack members.

Jarvald and Vivian would certainly not accept it.

And though Rex doubted they would say anything, it’s going to hinder his progress on the quest.

On top of having 30 pack members, he also needed them to recognize him as the Alpha.

Rex didn’t know how exactly the system would measure that, but there’s a high chance that being really adequate as an Alpha in front of his pack members is the standard. Jarvald—and Vivian would not recognize him as the Alpha if he took this route.

Of course, he also thought of immediately kicking the new pack members after the quest was complete.

He also couldn’t do that, as that would demean the bearing as a Silverstar Pack member.

"Reaching twenty isn’t going to be a problem, though."

Upon contemplating adding more members to the pack, a few faces came to mind.

Reaching twenty pack members shouldn’t be that hard—as long as the people he had in mind accepted the gift of being turned—but reaching thirty would be a lot harder. "Ryze, April, Ethan, Calidora, Iris, Daniel, Lauren, Liliya—those are some of the people I can turn, but it’s not nearly enough."

"I also need to tame Mira," Rex massaged his forehead.

Among all of his current pack members, Mira was one of the newest and the only one who didn’t even remotely recognize him as her Alpha due to her unique situation—Rex, or rather, the other side of him, force-feeding his blood into her mouth.

She had been turned against her will and frankly, annoyed at him.

Even now, when Rex told her to find a way to be near him regardless of Princess Davina and the Duke, there are still no signs from her. It was clear that she was being stubborn and was writhing from pure spite of not wanting to follow Rex’s words.

Her condition right now has to be brutal with the approaching Blood Moon.

Given that she was stronger than Rex, it was no surprise she refused to submit to him.

Rex has to tame her before he returns, or else he’ll have to go back to the Spirit Realm again.

And then there’s the third requirement.

Frankly, Rex didn’t know what the third requirement even wanted him to do.

"Establish a distinct characteristic for all pack members...? What does that even mean?" Rex shook his head, deciding to take it one step at a time as there’s no time limit, surprisingly enough. "But this doesn’t feel right. No time limit? Yeah, I’m not going to believe that."

So much to do with so little time.

But still, at this moment, he wanted to be glad that things ended up this way.

"System, how much time until this form expires?"

Form Expiry Time: 13 days.

"Sigh... Just what’s going on with this realm? Even the System isn’t reliable with time."

Rex has noticed that the form expiry time changes weirdly—almost like it wasn’t following how time actually flows. He noticed a few consistencies, and it made the System unreliable. But even so, it’s still the best thing he’s got right now.

"Okay then, what about how many days for me to recover?"

Scanning the user’s condition...

Calculating...

Notice: It will take the user approximately five days to recover fully.

"Hmm, five days?" Rex shrugged, expecting the answer to be longer, considering he was damaged badly by celestial energy—but this was good news. "If the System stays consistent now, that means I still have eight days before this form expires. And with the Phoenix Feather basically in my hand right now, the matter to heal Nivellen is settled."

Rex looked at his inventory, specifically at a necklace—the Necklace of Anger.

It was the necklace he snatched from Haxel through his gambit before he fell into the fissure earlier.

Proof that Haxel was the one behind everything, one that Empress Morgana requested.

Just the moment he looked at the item, his head dropped.

Rex stared at the ground and covered his mouth with his only hand.

Back then, when he made a promise to Nivellen, he didn’t know whether he could complete it or not.

As a matter of fact, that promise he gave to Nivellen was nothing more than an ultimatum for himself, as a promise must be kept, and failure is not an option. He wanted to make sure that he’d do everything in his power to save Nivellen.

And the hands of doubt were firm on his shoulders back then.

That promise wasn’t to assure Nivellen, but to assure himself.

So, the fact that he was almost getting his hand on the medicine—that would heal Nivellen from Chaos corruption was making him emotional. He didn’t want to be emotional, especially when Adhara wasn’t around—since he swore to be kinder to himself only when she was around, but he allowed himself to feel the emotions inside him right now.

"Two times..." He mused. "If I saved Nivellen, that’ll be the second time I performed when it mattered."

Counting how he saved April earlier, this will be his second time.

He took a good minute for himself and then rubbed his face as he inhaled deeply through his nose.

"I’m a bit late to give Empress Morgana what she wanted, but the day after tomorrow should be a good time to get the Phoenix Feather and heal Nivellen in the Banished Realm," Rex nodded—that’s going to be the plan. "Yes, that sounds good."

Empress Morgana didn’t seem like a bad person, so she should pardon his lateness.

After all, the mission was completely smooth, mainly because of his efforts.

Rex looked at the situation and realized that everything was falling into place, and he would soon get exactly what he wanted. Other than the others, he knew that many were doubting whether he would even accomplish one thing he came to the Spirit Realm for.

It was mild on Iris’ face back before he departed, but it was clear to see on Qonvale’s face.

And with this, he proved them wrong.

"But even so, what’s this feeling...? Why am I feeling uneasy?" Rex looked to the horizon, staring into the bottomless abyss as he clutched his chest. Everything was falling into place, but there was this odd, uncomfortable feeling at the pit of his stomach. "It’s the time that’s making me uneasy. The System is never wrong, so why is the time inconsistent?"

He recalled the inconsistent time that the System showed.

If he followed that logic that the System was never wrong, then there’s only one answer.

"Something is going on with this realm in the background..."