Mosh woke up and for a moment felt disoriented until he remembered his move into the new cave. He felt for Silky Two, and not finding him sat up and looked around, and was in time to see Silky pushing into some reeds next to the pool of word while scratching at the ground. Silky worked diligently until he disappeared from view into his newly dug hole, then turned around and stuck just his nose out sniffing the air. Mosh called, and Silky came running, hopping onto his shoulder, but when Mosh lay down, Silky returned to his newly dug hole, looking triumphantly out from his freshly dug fiefdom.

Mosh smiled, Silky did keep him entertained, though he wondered how he could advance his bond. He knew some people had pets with deep bonds that allowed the pets to function at an almost human level, but he did not know how. Was it purely up to the advancement of the monster? It could be, but in that case, the bond would hopefully advance soon as Silky seemed to be growing rapidly, its features already making it an exemplar of the species, and others showing how he had evolved beyond the baseline.

Mosh decided to review his sheet, examine his progress, and try to plan what he needed to do to feel safe enough to challenge the first ring.

Candidate Name: Mosh Barmenash, Human, Age 18

Evolution Tier: 0 Evolution Advancement Points: 46/50

Body index, Tier 3 87/1000.

Mind index, Tier 3 89/1000.

Mana index Tier 4 105/1500,

Soul Index Tier 5 0/1000, Soul Core: Foundation Achieved, Foundation Purity: Good 1/50

Evolution Potential Tier 10 350/6600, Shaping Potential Tier 8 0/4500

Core Class: Greater Energy Adept Level: 4

Class Evolutions: Not Achieved

Skill Point 3, Enhancement Points 3, Evolution Points 3

Enhancements:

BODY: Sensory Sensitivity Tier 3 Basic Level 9

MIND: Mind Detect Tier 3 Level 6

MANA: Imbue Mana Tier 4 Basic Level 8

Skills:

Energy Sight Tier 0 Level 9

Mana Flow Tier 0 Level 5

Soul Cultivation Tier 0 Level 2 Base Core 2

Mana paths: Right leg, left leg, lower body paths forged, Right Arm, Left arm, Chest, Abdomen Upper body paths forged

Soul Purification Tier 0 Level 5

Mana Stealth => Mana Camouflage Tier 2 Level 7

Spear Tier 0 Level 7

Evolutions:

Retractable claws Tier 0 Level 4. Side effect: Elongated first joint on fingers and toes.

Blood Bonding Tier 0 Level 6: Side effect: Veins and arteries more prominent, blood is darker.

Enhanced Speed Tier 0 Level 3: Side effect: Leg muscles enlarged and enhanced. Upper thighs appear distorted.

Pets

Silky Two: Species: Ikbar Haras (TigerMouse) first evolution, Bonded

Mosh was happy with his progress, though he had not advanced tiers he had advanced in levels, his killing of the beasts and monsters, combined with absorption, providing the fuel to push his indexes. According to Midkar, the next target was one hundred points in each index. It was not far, and reaching level 5 would enable the first-class evolution. Then he would look at the passage between the outer ring and the first ring. It should not take long, and if he should make it he would achieve the first reward in the Crucible, one week back on earth with his family!

He was not going to wait for his first step on the evolution tier which would come at 50 points, and to which he was so close! He hadn’t understood how that was calculated so Midkar had explained, the sum of the tier of each evolution plus the sum of their levels plus the same from his enhancements plus the same from his Soul Cultivation. It amounted to all the changes that had been made to his base self, be it in Mind, Body, Mana or Soul. He had also pressed for an explanation of Shaping, but just got back “Ignore it for now brat. You cannot use it yet and you need to focus on survival and what will help with that!” Midkar even went into a frenzy to distract him whenever he attempted to read the Codex. Mosh wondered why he was so desperate to stop him, but he had decided to wait on the showdown until he passed into the first ring. That was when Midkar said it would start to be relevant. If he still tried to block his learning, he would find out how to purge his Mentor while he was back on Earth and could consult with others.

The second class evolution came later, but the first was even achievable by hunters on Earth He looked forward to it and set himself a new target: create a worthwhile ranged attack and achieve the first class evolution. His targets for where he wanted to be to push through to the First ring were so close he could almost taste his mother’s cooking!

M'dkar

The boy was planning again, most likely to do something foolish and inefficient! M’dkar was not happy. His first time as a mentor and he had been landed with a fool, a child who had an education that was even worse than what could be expected of an inferior species, it was that of an infant! He lacked the most basic knowledge; he avoided evolutions for the most pathetic reasons! At least if the brat had good reasons to avoid evolutions, such as maintaining purity of self and image, he could understand and support it. But he had no philosophical basis to reject evolutions, just vanity! He eyed evolutions to evaluate how he would look after they affected him! He did not mind that he would change, just that he wanted to avoid side effects that would make him ugly!

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

M’dkar fumed at the stupidity! If you object to evolving since you saw it as against nature and how nature allowed species to develop only to have the foreign energy of mana corrupt it, at least you had a point, could point to a scientific basis and were deserving of respect! But this? Vanity? Mere stupidity! The boy needed power to survive and turned it down because he wouldn’t look good! Stupid brat!

He eyed his growing evolution energy, the amount building up with every kill, his energy parallel to the boys. When he was eventually freed from his servitude and returned to his body, he would be truly monstrous as the built-up evolutionary energy changed him. Unlike the boy, his evolution potential was low and would not grow while he was a mentor. How much elemental energy would he build up over five hundred years? He shuddered, he was doomed to be an exemplar of what Pure Scion fought against. He knew his own beliefs and philosophy would be sorely tested. Could he maintain his beliefs when he embodied their opposite or would he fight against those whom he knew were right merely because he had become what was wrong?

Time to rattle the boy. Push him, stop his hypocrisy! Get him to evolve as he needed to. The boy had no high ideals to maintain, just what he saw in the mirror.

‘KID!’ his mind shout was loud, jarring the boy as he contemplated his Akashic Record, which he still referred to by its primitive name of Mana Record. ‘You need to move up a ring, and more than just see your family. But you need more weapons in your arsenal, Time to stop worrying about not looking good, get what you need!’ He paused, ‘We came across those large, mutated hedgehogs. You refused the mutation to evolve spines. And what is wrong with spines? You’ll have spines on your back, ugly but think of the advantages! No worrying about being backstabbed and they can be launched as an attack, not to mention you can sell the ones fired, or ones you remove, to scribes for quills, or to nefarious elements to deliver poisons.’

‘Why are you pushing me to evolve?’ Mosh’s mind voice was filled with suspicion. ‘Aren’t you a fanatic for purity? Weren’t you a terrorist for an organization opposing those who evolved?’

‘If you had any principles, I would support you one hundred percent. But you don’t avoid evolution because of principle, but because you are a vain, narcissistic brat. You don’t want to evolve because you don’t want to lose your good looks. That’s a load of centaur manure. If you can tell me, you oppose evolution because you philosophically oppose it and can tell me that philosophy, I’ll never suggest another mutation and when we reach the fourth ring I’ll help you find a merchant can bring nanites that will increase your capabilities as evolution would, but without the side effects. But don’t forget, that is going to backfire on you. You can only get out of here when someone from your world hits the seventh evolutionary tier. So far, none of you Earthlings have gone past tier 3!’

M'dkar saw how Mosh listened to him and grunted to himself. It looked like the brat would listen. Good, he may as well push the boy as far as he could, maybe even all the way to liberating his world. He could only imagine what that would do to reduce his sentence!

Arbiter Zak

Zak relaxed in the large mud bath. The warm, scented, mud slid along his scales as he leaned against the side, his wife lounging in one arm in her humanoid form, the other holding a large flagon ale, the one brewed in that wonderful world where brewing beer was almost a religion and they were fanatical about experimentation and development. This latest one he had procured was truly wonderful. Full-bodied, nutritious, subtle flavours winding through his mouth, and enough mana embedded within that he could taste the alcohol, though sadly not enough to affect him. Few drinks were potent enough for arbiters, they were just too evolved. Though Arbiter Mil had a promising brew he was experimenting. Still a bit rough, but it was coming along nicely. He sighed and leaned back, ignoring work, ignoring tall thoughts of anything but his wife snuggled into him and the egg that lay cosily in its heated mud bath.

When a ringing came from his communication orb, he ignored it. It was persistent, and he cursed, his wife glaring at him, whether it was from his language or the interruption he was not sure.

“Answer the damn thing! It’s the only way we will get any peace!” Zak grimaced, and that answered what was irritating her, at least it wasn’t him.

He climbed out, dripping mud onto the floor as stood there, and more mud fell from him as he walked to his communicator. He picked up the communication orb, activated it for sound only and growled. “Whoever this is, it had better be good!”

A chuckle came from the orb, and the last voice he wanted to hear emanated from it. “Ah, Zak’Kinli’Liker’Morten, do I disturb? My apologies, but some may think the revocation of the lottery and the reversion of a sentence of planetary sterilisation would be a good enough reason to disturb you!”

“Inner Elder Mok’Olib’Fre’Paed’Portiend, of course, that is reason enough, I apologise for my impertinence in the way I answered.” He paused, thinking of his recent trip, hoping that the friction it had caused with his wife had not been in vain. “Is this about judgement GH90876907-FDE8978, the planet known to the locals as Earth? Have they progressed into full rebellion so quickly?”

There was a pause on the other end, and he thought he could hear the tapping of keys. “No. This is about judgement KP31298045-LGM3453. They have sterilised one of their continents due to its ‘deviancy’, that deviancy merely being that evolved and unevolved mingled and interbred. They are recidivists. The action does not involve Earth at this time, though it may affect them depending on the decision taken. A decision is to be made if we broadcast the action to them, and let them see what lies down the path of rebellion or recidivism. You are to come in, within the next hour, to discuss with the inner council and give us the benefit of your knowledge from monitoring and visiting them.” The elder of the Inner Council paused, “There is a feeling in council that there have been too many failed lotteries of late. Too high a level of recidivism and rebellion. We suspect a hidden hand and a decision has been made to include some Arbiters in the search, you amongst them. Come in, let's discuss how to handle judgement GH90876907-FDE8978 and what we require from you.

Zak had worn his most formal uniform. The medals and awards on it reflected not just his time serving the Greater Mileu as an Arbiter, but the decorations from his battles to secure the borders and outer realms as part of the Greater Mileu army. He did not wear it often enough, and though the magic preserved it and kept it pristine, it itched!

***

The meeting had gone on too long, with way too many recriminations, and too much blame being laid and as with bureaucrats everywhere and at every level, no one was prepared to accept responsibility. The discussion went in circles as everyone sought the most useful scapegoat, and tried to avoid being the last one carrying the parcel! Eventually, the Elders wound down, hours of discussion wearying even their exalted selves. The sterilisation was agreed to, and that left just the decision of whether Earth would be forced to watch, to try and drive home the consequences of rebellion. All eyes turned to him, weighing him. He had not reached their lofty heights, but he was not that far off, far more evolved than many of his fellow arbiters. He cleared his throat and started to speak. “Exalted elders, you ask my opinion on whether we should saturate the Earth with the broadcast of the sterilisation action. I would argue against it. They already see us tyrants, as enslavers, as monsters torturing their children! Broadcast this, and you will cement that point of view. It will just drive their rebellion underground. We need to find a way to lessen that impression, not build on it!”

A snarl came from down the table, Elder Trili, head of monitoring and security for the inner council. “Their silly and petty officials with their joke of a rebellion that populate the Earth Mileu are not the problem. They rebel and pat themselves on their backs for their cleverness, but they offer nothing new or threatening. What I worry about, are the dead zones! Some patches are blocked from our monitoring devices. Blocks that are too sophisticated for those only recently reintroduced to the Greater Mileu. I remind you, we never caught those that created the mana block that caused the genocide.”

Zak froze, looking at the elder. “They died. Humans rarely lived beyond a hundred of their years before the return of mana and the genocide was a thousand of their years in the past. They must have died.”

“Must they have? Those responsible for the block performed a feat that would have required the most sophisticated means of mana, manatech engineering, and possibly even the intervention of a high-level Shaper. Blocking mana at a planetary scale can be done, but instantaneously?” A tentacle reached over, grabbing his glass and bringing it to his mouth as he drank. “I believe they would not have destroyed themselves. We need to speak to those hidden, those that create the dead zones we cannot penetrate. This is a way to let them know we know of their existence, and we can act if we have to.”

The matter seemed closed after that, Zak’s remaining input was to try and advise how they could implement it with the least impact on breeding more rebellion. He did not see it working, but the Council had spoken.