His world was blue.

Around him a vortex of terrifying proportions spun relentlessly, feeding into itself to grow stronger with every revolution. As it grew, so did the pressure bearing down on him intensify, weighing down on him more and more, flattening his organs and stretching his skin taut over his bones.

Just as the point came where he thought the tension would rip his limps from his body, it all let up, from one moment to the next. The Profound Toxin dispersed as if it had been blown away by a shock wave.

Eik hung freely in a white space of pure nothingness. No, actually, if he strained his eyes, there was a tiny sphere of blue floating in front of his face.

“Uhh, hello?” he called into the blank void. He tried to look around, but without a point of reference, he wasn’t sure if he was actually looking around or just standing still. “Is anybody here? Am I supposed to d—”

Instantly, the sphere grew to the size of a watermelon, it’s viscous surface undulating unnaturally. Stretching out from the main globule, it began to arrange itself into a flat square, like a tablet, letter appearing on the surface. It looked similar to one of the wooden plaques with ability information.

[Reached threshold: Evolution to E-rank possible]

[Evolve?]

[Alternative evolutionary path possible. Path derived from intimate relationship with — (Unique) Profound Toxin]

[Alternative evolutionary path: Acolyte of Toxin]

[Evolve?]

Alternative evolutionary path? Eik had never heard of such a thing. It was always just F-rank to E-rank to D-rank and so forth. But judging by how rare Atla had made Unique abilities appear to be throughout the Unified Mass, going so far as to call them Worldbreakers and warn him of the tendency for individuals possessing such skills to be sought out and assassinated, an alternative evolutionary path must be just as extraordinary.

But did that mean that it was more powerful than a typical E-rank evolution? Usually scarcity and potency went hand in hand, but this was not some video game. That reality followed such rules was certainly not a given.

As he contemplated his options, the Profound Toxin seemed to grow gradually more impatient, the blue frame spelling out his available evolutionary paths trembling. Eik could almost feel the indignation oozing out of the blue substance when he didn’t instantly pick the evolutionary path of the Acolyte of Toxin.

“What should I pick?” he tried to ask, not actually expecting an answer. “Is Acolyte of Toxin better than just the normal E-rank?”

No response.

“Excuse me?”

Still nothing.

“Maybe I’ll go with an E-rank evolution instead, then.”

At this, the entirety of the text describing the Acolyte of Toxin evolution seemed to grow larger and bolder while the E-rank evolution letters shrunk to near half their original size.

“Point taken…” he muttered. “So Acolyte of Toxin really is better?”

The text sizes changed even more.

"Are you just saying that because you like Acolyte of Toxin better?" he asked and the letters grew responded by wiggling in what could be described as a shrug. The corners of Eik's lips twitched upward.

If Unique skills really were that powerful, then it would make sense that an affiliated evolutionary path was also remarkable. Nodding to himself, he triggered an evolution for the second time that day, this time with a bit more trepidation.

Immediately, the blob reformed, taking the shape of an absurdly long spear. It hung unmoving in the void for a second and then rammed itself through his chest, driving all the air from his lungs. It didn’t come out on the other side, but simply disappeared into his body.

The ocean of Profound Toxin came crushing down around him again like a tsunami as if it had never gone. It swallowed him into the absolute blackness of its depths, taking from him body and mind as the sound of his own scream rang distantly in his ears.

***

Eik opened his eyes, still sitting on the same side of the couch that he had fallen asleep on. He was getting a little tired of losing consciousness.

“How long was I out?” he asked groggily as he sat up properly, rubbing his eyes.

“Not that long,” Michael said as he checked his pulse. “How was it?”

Eik recalled Atla’s warning to not reveal the fact that he possessed a Unique skill, and if it was that dangerous, then it would be cruel to pull his friends into what might well turn into a mess of cosmic scale down the road. “Pretty much the same as Heath, I guess. I feel like I just woke up from a dreamless nap,” he lied.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

He looked at the wooden plaque, careful to keep it turned away from them as nonchalantly as he could.

[Successfully pioneered an alternative evolutionary path — (Unique) Acolyte of Toxin]

He checked how his power rank was written by etching a circle into the wood with two dots inside.

[Acolyte of Toxin — I]

His power rank was actually listed as [Acolyte of Toxin] now instead of E-rank. He could never show his power rank carelessly to another again—not that such a thing had ever been a good idea.

“I was pretty hungry after evolving,” Heath said, handing him a banana palm up. “Have a nice banana.”

“Thanks,” Eik said, immediately crushing the fruit in his hand, the mushy flesh exploding out between his now enhanced fingers. Heath fell back laughing and Sonja and Michael both cracked smiles as smooshed banana ran down Eik’s forearm.

He tried to hold back his own grin as he hurled the fruit straight into Heath’s wide open maw, the round-cheeked man choking on the sticky projectile. “You little shit!” Eik laughed and jumped onto Heath’s massive back, sticking to him like a spider monkey.

They spent the rest of the night playing games in the living room, Eik’s stomach feeling like a butterfly sanctuary with how excited he was for the new and unique path he was pioneering.

***

Two days later, Eik was walking to Mission Central, chocolate-infused whipped cream-filled bun squeezed half-eaten in his hand. When he got closer to his destination, a lot of the morning traffic was going the same way that he was. It was the day of the Great Raid, as it had been dubbed, and it would involve most of the Awakened who were combat active.

Teams were waiting for each other outside of the main building and Eik found Michael and Sonja quickly. Heath was in a queue somewhere waiting for a chicken sandwich and was running late.

The day was lovely. For a day of bloodshed, warm, relaxing sun was a ton better than miserable rain. In the movies, the death scene was always portrayed in a stubborn downpour, soaking the actors through and through, just to make everything seem even worse, as if dying wasn’t annoying enough already. No, if one had to die, bathed in the loving rays of the sun was the way to do it.

When Heath finally jogged in, his greasy fingers covered in dressing the only proof that his sandwich had ever even existed, they made their way into the main building of Mission Central. With all the people coming in for the briefing for the Great Raid, they were almost immediately met by the crowd moving back outside because of a lack of space.

For a few minutes, teams milled about among each other, waiting for something to happen, until Travis Lockwood climbed onto the low roof of a supply shed where he reviewed some notes while the murmur settled. He tried to blink the sun out of his eyes as he adjusted the crooked collar on his shirt.

Strangely, a few of the teams seemed to be more interested in Eik and his team than in the legend of Forest, Travis Lockwood, standing right in front of them. Just like he had noticed on the way to Heath and Sonja two days earlier, as well as on his trip to the grocer since, they were whispering and staring.

“Uuuh, right. If I could have your attention, please,” Travis called, not quite loud enough for the back line. “So as you all probably know, we’re going to the new western forest where a large body of water was recently discovered. Something has been observed in the depths. We have scouts keeping an eye on the place as we speak.”

He turned over the page he was reading and cleared his throat. “Right, and so, because of the estimated fighting power of this entity living in the lake, we are going to need all the high rankers we can get, hence…” he said, gesturing to a smaller group standing right below him. “As for the rest of you, well, uuh, you’ll be forming the perimeter.”

“Perimeter?” someone from the crowd asked with a raised hand as Travis hopped down from the supply shed.

He stared for a couple of seconds before answering, not bothering to climb back up, which only made it even more difficult to make out what he said. “Right, what do I mean by perimeter… We have seen several cases where powerful monsters were accompanied by less powerful subordinates.

It could very well be that this will be the same. We’re not willing to take any chances. If we don’t meet them at the source, we could be looking at something as bad as a third monster wave.”

This elicited quiet whispers among the gathered Awakened. “I’d prefer to join the main battle, rather than play border police for something that may or may not even be there,” someone else complained.

Eik saw Travis’ finger come up above the crowd to point at the speaker. “Whoever said that, what’s your power rank, if I may ask?”

The speaker clearly hesitated, because it took him a few seconds to answer as people turned to look at him. “I’m, uuh… I’m E-rank, third grade.”

“That’s too weak, then,” Travis deadpanned. “You should definitely be perimeter.” Chuckles ran through the crowd and nobody dared to let themselves be singled out again after that.

“Alright, we’ll set off in thirty minutes, so please get geared up, link up with your teammates, and be prepared to march soon. If you’re getting cold feet, now is the time to go home, but I hope you’ll consider who were doing this for and fight for our right to live in this world, despite everything that’s been happening these past days,” he finished and left, handing his notes to an aide who followed him into Mission Central.

Eik pulled on his leathers and helped Heath with his shield strap. With the utmost care he fastened his new blade with its hide sheath to his belt. He hadn’t quite been able to figure out what was new after his rank up.

One thing he had noticed, however, was that his strength hadn’t grown nearly as drastically as Heath’s had after the evolution to E-rank. He couldn’t help but worry about the implications of the difference. His roadmap was now definitively altered from all other Awakened, and he couldn’t even tell anyone.

Even those focused on magic or craftsmanship gained about as much strength as physical fighters when they evolved, but here he was.

Profound Toxin emerged from his hand, gathering obediently on his palm as he watched. At a thought, the blue liquid began to move up his wrist, slithering around his forearm like a pet snake. It reminded him of the snake that had tried to kill him in the dream world.

That was still a memory he couldn’t let go of. It had been so… vivid, so real. And with how the Profound Toxin had seized control of his evolutionary process and pulled him onto a different path, it was difficult to deny a connection.

He was afraid that he had unwittingly boarded a ship going a lot further than he had expected.

The little blob of poison continued up through his sleeve, the condensed liquid slowly disappearing back into his skin. This increased control was another manifestation of his Acolyte of Toxin evolution. He hadn’t heard of a power rank upgrade impacting the behavior of a person’s skills, but in his particular case it made a lot of sense.

Only time would show if he had made the wrong decision by opting for the Unique evolution.

A hard impact from behind knocked Eik to the ground as he was checking his medicine belt. A lanky blonde man with a bowl cut grinned down at him, his teammates chuckling like bullies in a school yard. Heath was in the guy’s face in a second.

“What? You wanna go, big man?” blondie snarled, his fingers caressing the pommels of a pair of twin blades.

“Hey, mushroom head,” Eik called loudly, drawing the attention of everybody around them. “You got a problem with me?”