[Hyx Atlas: has evolved into ]

Huh...?

Shortly after I lost my consciousness, in the time of nothing but dreams, the usual pattern of message pops into my head but the words are new.

I have evolved but I'm given no option as to choose. I just evolved.

And I'm still Unknown. Why?

I thought it was Kai playing a crude joke on me but it's not.

Kai Ming? You there?

Nada. No answer. He's not responding to my summons.

Strictly speaking, I'm not exactly unconscious. When one loose consciousness and regain it back later, the interval between feels like a blink of an eye. Clearly, this is not the case for me.

Even if this is a dream, one would wake up upon the realization of the world being mere dreams. Most often, this is just how a brain works.

Well, I am aware that everything I'm looking at now aren't real but I am not flushed out of my dream. The surreal darkness still surrounds me.

What exactly am I looking at and where am I?

There is nothing around me. Just pitch black.

I take a step forward but something feels off. I look down at my feet.

Huh. I can't see my feet.

I don't even have a body at the moment.

I'm just a consciousness with sentience, floating adrift in this dark hollow world.

I wonder if this is the Void or the Abyss. The two names basically sums up the description of the world I'm in right now.

As I wreck my brain for answers, purple veins dominated the hollow dark of this world. A sudden development but I am not astonished. At this point, it will take more than this to surprise me.

The purple veins aren't spreading arbitrary. They have a pattern, a formation. They are orderly forming into circuits and some runic languages, Helix, I recognized them as.

I stay put and quiet as I watch such development unfolds.

Although I have zero understanding of what's happening, my best guess stemming from my fantasy-exalted brain tells me that this must be some representation of my Mana Vessel or my power structure. It certainly have such vibes to it.

It's like codes are being written to create a program here.

When every spot and corner is written with those codes and the development stopped, I saw my body manifesting out of thin air in front of me.

It is not standing nor actually awake.

It's just there, hovering with its eyes open.

I feel like I'm looking at a character customization.

I hoped for such ludicrous wonder to happen but fortune's smile wasn't too wide or warm.

I tried to touch it but I don't have any hands currently.

I'm currently just an audience with no means of participation of the stage.

Still, I have almost forgotten how I look like. It has been quite... no... too long. It's been too long since I have take a good look at my own face. The mirror Tom gave me was blurry and I couldn't perfectly see every detail of my face but now I can.

The body before me is of the time after I have changed greatly but without the blood splatters and dirt. The color and complexion are presented to its barest form without any tarnishing of shades or filth.

Good god.... I am ugly.

How am I ugly?

I don't even know where to start....

My facial structure for a start. It's just.... ugly.... Maybe I wasn't so ugly but the stress had really got to me. A complexion voided of any vigor.

Perhaps my hair is also a factor?

My hair is gray, unkempt, and balding. Balding.

Balding....

BALDING!

For fuck's sake, I'm balding at such age.

My eyes were black but after all the ordeals, it turned gray. And now, it's going green.

Hmm.... Not bad. It goes well with my hair but.... I doubt my hair will be staying on my head for long.

My nose is alright. It doesn't look out of place. It's probably the only redeeming feature of my face.

My teeth, they no longer resembles a rabid canine's teeth. Other than that, they are just plain dirty. Maybe it's because I haven't brushed my teeth in a while. I wonder if they would start decaying soon but I don't think that's likely. I did recover from some serious injuries in a short amount of time after all. My teeth would just grow back after they decayed, probably.

My ear had deformed slightly but I never noticed it until now since my hair is in the way. But even my ears are reverting back to its normal form. Another upside to this development.

Speaking of upsides, I look taller. I have abs. Abs, I tell you. No more scrawny body. But of course, I'm not that muscular like a body builder nor those Instagramers. Just enough to not make me look frail.

My hands were rough but they are also turning back to normal, back to those smooth and delicate fingers and palm I had.

My tail has disappeared. I didn't know where it went to. It's just gone. I was just starting to like my tail.

I look so much like a human now but....

if anything, I feel less like a human.

As if the body of mine noticed my confusion and questions, it transformed.

First, it jitters like a bad animation with low frame rates, those kind of static movements.

Then, dark purplish veins spread from the heart and all over to my body. The veins expand into patches, becoming another layer of skin to my body.

My arms remained unchanged but my hands didn't. My fingers grew in length and the little fingers become opposables. To be clearer, I have two opposable fingers, my pinky and thumb.

My feet arched up at the heels, deforming and deviating from a human's shape. The toes grew like my fingers did.

Talons replaced the nails on my limbs.

And my tail, it came back. It's longer and the bladed end is thicker and also longer. The blade at the tip is a violent pulsating purple. My tail has a feel of being the highlight of my appearance.

To put it simply, my form is of half-human and half-monster. I'm currently feasting my eyes on a seven feet tall heteromorphic.

My black skin is leaking out aura like gas and the sight of my body looks unreal. As in literally looking unreal. The jittering didn't stop. My every movement looks like a low budget animation. I guess I can say my body is moving like stop motion?

And that body of mine is moving towards me, on all fours. Despite the bad frame rates of its movement, it looks natural for the movement of such a creature.

When it stop a few feet before me, it draws its body back.

I have seen and fought too much monster. I know what it is about to do next.

It lunges at me.

But I am without a solid form.

As far as I know, I'm just a floating conscious.

How did it managed to pounce on me?

Those question are never answered.

I have never experience an acid trip before but I think this must be the closest thing I would ever experience.

I understand I should have given more emotions and reactions to this but after everything I had seen, not just my pain receptors, if a receptors for surprises exist, I think it is also numbed.

What happened after I was pounced?

Can't remember. Did I lost conscious in a dream? What exactly happened?

No idea or clue.

The whole experience has been a shit storm of abstracts.

And emptiness and nothing ensues my world again.

Drifting in a void once again without form.

As I drift, two figure came into my sight.

One is a figure of a boy. Me. Or rather, Hyx Atlas, younger than the current me. He's sitting in the darkness while hugging his legs.

The other figure is of a monster. An interesting but the most ghastly appearance I have ever witness. In terms of presence, Aedrox's is the most effective crippler but if it's appearance, this monster tops Aedrox.

A biomechanical body. The monster bears the similar purple veins on its body but it is intricate. Its head is of a devil-cursed goat's with a pair of twisted horns. Without lips, its row of sharp fangs are plain to see. It hunches back and it stood with an arch forward. Arch-heel and knee. It walks like in an eerie manner.

That monster turns its hollow eyes to me. No, they aren't hollow. Not exactly. Something burns brightly within those hollow sockets. Something akin to a dark purplish sun. To increase its creepy factor, it has its foot long tongue out and swaying.

I realized how similar it looks to my monster form. No... that is me.

To proof my claim, its tail.... the tip, it's also glowing a pulsating violent purple.

Is that my true form?

Please don't be....

After the monster, the boy with my figure also looks to me. Now, both of them have their line of sights at me.

They said something to me but I didn't hear anything.

Their mouths are moving but no voice came out.

Before I offer a response to the whole metaphysical experience, I'm basked in a light.

Okay... what's happening now?

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[Title: - Acquired]

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[Awakening (Legacy): Lv. 3 - Acquired]

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"There! And There! And There!" A little girl's voice resounded into my ears as I slowly open my eyes. My cheeks felt a sting after each "there!".

"Eh? Masters awake?" I recognize Cormac's voice.

"See. What did I tell ya two? Hmph. Told ya two it would work."

The girl who said such thing is wearing some fancy but simple dress. She has cyan hair tied into twin ponytails. Her eyes are also cyan in color. Her whole body is dazzling to my sight in a literal sense. She is shining brightly like a cyan star.

And she's is....

....

Um....

she is .... um....

I don't know how to put this but.....

....

I guess I just have to be straight.

She is....

straddling me. Yes, she is straddling me like a horse.

Yes, you heard that right.

She's on top of me, straddling on me.

Apparently she has been slapping me while straddling on top of me.

"Not fully awake yet, I see. Well, you deserve another slap."

As another slap comes for me, my hand lunged at hers like a cobra, grabbing her arm before her palm struck my cheek.

She has a dumb look that went "Heh?"

With my hand still wrapped around her arms, I swing and hurl her away from me.

One glance and I can tell who and what she is. Her name and other info appeared beside her.

Name: Nilin

Gender: Unknown (Female)

Age: 2463

Race: Wisp (Spirit of Nature)

Status: Aggravated

Aggravated? Coming from someone who is using a person as a slapping meat bag?

So I simply toss her aside like some simple trash because I know such action won't hurt her too much or at least it ain't fatal to her.

I sit up from the hard but smooth floor I have been lying on.

It might be because I have been looking at an acid trip tourist attraction, I'm awed to found myself looking at a plain looking room.

It is rundown and in a crumbled state but compared to my acid trip, this is much too plain.

The floor planks are old but I can tell they were once very exquisite materials. They looked almost like maple wood flooring.

What's surprise me more is that I am no longer in the dungeon.

Did we made it out?

[Nope.]

Kai told me. He's back.

Where have you been?

[Um.... going through evolution? Kinda like you did?]

You went on an acid trip too?

Kai Ming proceed to tell me of his experience. Apparently, we have experienced the same thing and from the same perspective. Truth is, we were never separated. We were one at that time instead of two minds.

So what do you mean by "nope"?

[I did a quick analysis on our vicinity upon we regain our consciouness. I can guarantee that we are still in the dungeon but in a completely different part.]

So what happened?

[We evolved. Is that simple. I think that's a metaphysical representation of the evolution.]

I see..... Nope. I don't. I'm not good with abstract stuffs.

[And we have some new upgrades.]

What kind?

[Look closer.]

What? I don't see anything special. And where do you want me to look? There's my health bar, MP bar, and.... wait....

HP Bar?

MP Bar?

Oh.

My.

God.

[Yes. We did it. We have a heads-up display now.]

It is as what I said. I now have a HUD in view albeit nothing complex.

I can see my own HP and MP now without having to check the status card.

And every object in my sight are indicated with their name, like; chairs, tables, walls, and etc. Basically, automatic appraisal.

Now... I wonder if I can....

Name: Hyx Atlas

Gender: Male

Age: 15

Race: Unknown

Status: Refreshed

Standing: Commoner (Exiled)

Job: None

Class: Battle Mage

Tittle: Unparalleled Evolver / Monster Slayer / Pain Monger / Kin Eater / Ascended

Arcane Arts

Spirit Magic - Lv. 3

Spatial Magic - Lv. 5

Abyss Magic - Lv. 5

Awakening (Legacy) - Lv. 3

Lightning Serration (Legacy) - Lv. 2

Mana Overseer (Unique) - Lv. 6

Soul Harvest (Unique) - Lv. 2

Void Exalted (Unique) - Lv.-

HP : 1000/1000

MP: 1500/1500

Overall Power Ranking : C+

Effective Combat Power: 2500

- Attack: 500

- Defense: 200

- Magic: 700

- Resistance: 300

- Speed: 800

Holy Shit. When I wished for it, this wall of text appears before me. Awesome. I can see my stats now on a window. Just like in a game.

Hm... I'm a Battle Mage but my attribute with the highest values is speed. Hmm.... How does that work?

[Perhaps you are deemed a Battle Mage for your fickle combat pattern? You were using magic and hand-to-hand in combat interchangeably. And you move around a lot instead of relying on a defensive spell.]

Well, I didn't trust my defensive spells to hold out against those magnitude of attacks. Dodging has much better insurance.

[And there you have it. You fight with a mix of your magic and physical ability but at the reliance of your speed to refine it.]

Ah. Got it.

But anyways....

My race is still Unknown but I evolved.

[The most probable reason would be, we are a new race. A new species. Whoever created this system does not have our species in the data bank. Therefore, Unknown]

Am I a one of a kind - the first of my kind? Something like that?

[Very likely.]

Then.... can I give myself a name?

[I do not know. I'm a just a processor in the system. I don't make the rules and I still don't know the rules yet.]

Okay.... let's try it.

[You mean give our species a name?]

Yes. Cool, isn't it?

[*sighs* What name do you have in mind?]

I don't know.... um.....

Something simple? I have no doubt I will regret it if I give in to my chunni.

[Our tail with a purple tip does stands out quite a lot. Violet Tail? Simple and self-explanatory.]

Ha ha ha ha.

No.

I'm not calling my species "Violet Tail". My veins in that form are violet too. I might as well call myself Violet, then.

[It's just a suggestion after all. Maybe it'll help with the brainstorm.]

Ha... brainstorm. What the hell are we doing? We're wrecking "my" brain just to think up of a name.

.... This is stupid.

I'm then reminded of the countless hours I had spent purely on character creation menu on a RPG.

[Ah..... oh.... oops.]

What's that? Why did you just go "oops"? That is not something I want to hear from you or my surgeon.

[Nothing.]

What? Tell me.

[It's better that you just let it go.]

Tell me.

[Maybe it won't be so bad if you like the name "Violet Tail".]

Why?

Wait....

I bother not to get an answer from Kai. I have a terrible feeling that I will have it when I look at my stats.

Name: Hyx Atlas

Gender: Male

Age: 15

Race: Violet Tail (Magic Beast)

Status: Refreshed

Oh. Jolly. I'm a Violet Tail.

Ha.

.....

Ha.....

.....

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!

I'm a Violet Tail!?

What the fuck is a Violet Tail!?

How did it registered!?

Oi, Kai! Tell me!

[It seems that the first discoverers get the privilege of bestowing the unknown a name? Simply a theory of the system works, my master.]

Said Kai in a perfectly calm and sophisticated manner.

As for me? I'm taking deep breaths. Hyperventilating, I can call it.

I told myself that this is not something I should be bother with too much.

Yes. That's it. This is nothing. It's just a name

It's just a name.

It's just a name....

.....

A fucking stupid name.

[Well, I think you have a bigger problem to worry about.]

I raised an eyebrow on the word "problem".

Ah....

You're right. I do.

Race: Violet Tail (Magic Beast)

I am a Magic Beast.

Perhaps Vira is right after all. I am a monster, a heteromorphic monster.

For all I know, I could be a Mimic too. Though, I haven't done anything remotely to what a Mimic would do. Imitating a loot chest in a dungeon and devours any assuming individuals?

Was I always a monster? Was I just a Mimic who had taken the flesh and memories of Hyx Atlas?

Should I have just let her off with me back then?

[Maste, calm down. You're thinking too much. That's not the case here. I have gone through our previous genetic code. We were indeed once human prior to entering this dungeon, that's for sure but through some unknown circumstances we became what we are now.]

I see. Wait.. what? Genetic Code?

[Yes. I can read them now. I have received upgrades and a lot of it too, you know.]

So that's why.

Even Kai's manner of speaking has changed slightly.

I was wondering why was there a wall of text appearing beside the lecher girl that reveals her info. Now I know.

This is good. Things are really looking up. Thank the Nines or whichever Gods are helping me. Thank god, I wasn't a monster.

"Master?"

Hmm? It seems Bartholomew is looking concerned at me.

"Sorry for worrying you all."

"No no no. It's not that. It's...."

Before Cormac finish forming his sentence, Kai have already filled in the pieces.

[Lubac and Tom. They are underground, south from here. They are in danger.]

How do you know that?

[Sonar.]

Sonar?

[You could call it echolocation too but the range is too large to be called echolocation. This is one of the upgrades. And there is more to come.]

Why don't I feel it?

And I'm suddenly overwhelmed by a tremendous force.

Woah. What the fuck?

[That would be Sonar.]

I didn't received any notification about me acquiring the spell.

It's not a spell?

[It is and it is not. I'm just emitting your aura and reading the disturbance in it. Anyone can do it if they can grasp the fundamentals. Spell is like a preset but I'm not using a preset here. Every time I use Sonar, I would need to gather all the necessary numbers and Mana but if it becomes a spell, I can simply invoke it.]

Can you see steam rising from my head? I'm pretty sure is overheating.

[*sigh* Spell is like a program. It is already made and ready to be executed at moment's notice but I use spells in a different way. I wrote a whole new sets of codes every time I cast a spell.]

Okay.... but why don't you invoke it as a spell? Like just simply double clicking an executable file?

[That's the main personality's privilege. I am not authorized to do it. If I did, it won't be any different than a breakdown in a military chain of command. You are the main core of the individual named Hyx Atlas.]

So.... how do I make it into a spell?

[You just need to use it once. Whenever you use a technique or skill, it's like giving me permission to compile the codes into a program. For a very recent example, [Psychokinesis]. You didn't acquired it through level up. You acquired it because you attempt to use it once on a whim despite not listed as a spell of yours. The same concept goes into using [Plane Displacement] as a foothold. The first time took us quite a while but the second time was instantaneous, wasn't it? That's because it has been converted into a program after you use it once.]

Ah. I see. Something like the first time is always hard, right?

[In this context, yes but I will advise you to not said it in such way.]

Yeah. Phrasing, I know.

We might have been talking for more than a minute but in reality, our conversation have only taken up one second.

I'm aware this is one of the upgrades Kai is talking about. I have no doubts that if we communicated at such speed prior to my evolution, my brain would surely be fried.

"Tom and Lubac is danger?" I finish Cormac's sentence.

The two look bewildered at my quick grasp of the situation. They are simply in awe but they accepted it that anything is possible since it's me. I realize the two, I don't know about Tom, have started treating like some kind of pseudo god.

While I don't dislike it, I'm just afraid I can't meet up their expectations. I remember having disappointing a lot of people in my previous life.

Well, maybe not my previous life. "Back when I was on earth" sounds so much more appropriate. Using the former is like saying I have truly died in my previous life.

"Kyu~?"

I heard such sound. My eyes darted around the room before Cormac presented his left arm to me with the infant Wyrm coiled around it.

"Citra." Cormac said.

Ha. They named it Citra. Um.... I'm not sure that's a very fitting name but not my problem. Still, I can't help but be bothered by the looks the infant Wyrm is giving me. It doesn't look wary but instead, it is sending curious glances at me. Why?

[An animal's sixth sense, perhaps?]

Sixth Sense? What does that have to do with that?

[You are an abberation even among the magic beasts. Prior to your evolution, you are neither a human nor a beast, an undefined existence. An aberration but now, an aberration you still are but you are defined. You are a Magic Beast. Perhaps this is why it's curious? You do have a complete different atmosphere than before.]

Ah. An aberration. I am, aren't I? A freak even among a circus of freaks.

This sucks. It sucks even more when you can't even deny it.

[Don't think too much for now. Answers will come. One step at a time. Focus on what's important for the current time being.]

You're right. There are currently more important things to do for now.

Focus, Hyx, focus. Focus on the current objective. Stop being absentminded.

I give myself a few slaps on my cheeks before turning to Cormac and Bartholomew.

"Stay here. I'm going to look for them."

The two gave me a look.

I know what they are thinking. They are thinking that how the hell do I know where to find them when they haven't even tell me the details.

Cheat, of course. I am now officially a cheat.

A cheat....

[Master, don't.]

I know. I know. They're already dead. I can't do anything about it. It's just.... frustrating to remember how useless and incompetent I was..... Would I be any different now?

[Well... I'm not expecting you to let them go any time soon. After all, regrets exist because people can't forget or let go of the negative moments for various reasons.]

..... You're weird..... But thanks. Thanks for understanding.

[Thanking yourself is a sure sign of insanity, you know?]

I laugh wryly at Kai's words.

"Mou~! Are you going to just ignore me? Do you even know who I am? After leading you all this far, not even thanks but such treatment? Mou~!"

I turn to the cyan hair girl, Nilin who is throwing a tantrum like a child. What is with this superiority complex template character? If she has a cute side, it won't be wrong to label her as a "Himedere".

"Oi, human! Me, a Spirit of Nature is talking to you."

Human? For someone who might be a mimic, this is a great compliment but I don't feel good labeling myself as a mimic.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked, crossing her arm to emphasize her authority which barely exist.

"Nilin, a wisp, a Spirit of Nature. Age, two thousand four hundred and sixty three."

She might be annoying but her stunned face is quite cute if I do say so myself. Her personality have ruin any interest I might have for her though.

"Greetings." I said with a light nod and headed out of the house.

But not before Nilin storm to my front, blocking the door.

"I don't know how you guess all that, including a pure maiden's age. But I will not let a human like you to treat me with such disrespect."

What the fuck is wrong with this girl? What happen to the simple wisp that I know?

"I'm being summoned by the Great Spirit to guide you all out of this dungeon and that is what I will do, simply because the Great Spirit asked this of me. I hate spending any second longer among this cursed place so I'm going to do my job, with or without you."

I blink at her words. Where's the logic in that? Are you high?

"Now...." She string out the word. "Can you please open the accursed planks of wood for me?" She timidly and quietly asked while twiddling her fingers. "Damn human inventions." I heard her uttering such thing in a very small voice.

Looks like I didn't loose my keen sense of hearing.

Really? Is that why you're "aggravated"?

"Pfft...." I tried to hold back my laughter but some of it escaped.

Red filled her whole face. "Wh... wh... what are you laughing about?"

Then I feel someone poking at my back, I turn to look back.

Cormac is looking at me with worried look. "Tom? The human?"

Oh...! Shit....

[*Sigh* Yes, you forgot about them while you're arguing with an immature child of a spirit.]

Shit!

I turn back and open the door but I'm stopped by Nilin.

Bitch! What do you want?

"Don't make me repeat myself h...human." Nilin said with shaking voice. "I intend to...."

My friends are in danger and a hime-complex loli is blocking my way. I summon my tail, an ominous black aura that forms into shape, and use it to toss her aside like nothing.

I then stormed out of the building without looking back.

Apparently I have forgot to control my strength and ended up throwing her across buildings. I didn't know about this until very much later in the future.