Census and research studies have shown that roughly 50% of the continent’s population is awakened. 15% are evolved, 3% have reached the second stage of evolution, 0.02% have reached the third stage, and 0.00004% have reached the last stage of evolution. These statistics might seem small to the unlearned, but when you consider that the population of the Lutian continent is measured in billions, then you’ll realize that these numbers are large enough to shatter your illusions of safety.
Duke Arethia Corvius.
High member of the council of lords, Central Kingdom (Lutia).
Year 2267.
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Five minutes after the Slytherin’s appearance, its watery blue core was clasped in Aodhán’s palm, and without hesitation, he tried to absorb it into his class, but nothing happened.
With a thought, his status screen appeared before him, and he immediately focused on the class, expecting an explanation or new information to come up, but the screen remained unchanged.
He sighed in disappointment; he should have known things wouldn’t be so easy. He’d gotten excited; he’d hoped, but he’d forgotten that life was a cruel mistress.
He resolved himself to find more information about evolution whenever he left the forest, but for now, advancing through the tiers was his only path to power.
He absorbed the energy immediately, and as it flowed into him, Aodhán noticed a difference he hadn’t been paying attention to. Instead of rushing through his pathways like the previous cores, the energy flowed smoothly and even managed to slightly reduce his temperature.
The energy filled within his core a moment later and blasted out, surging through him like a tidal wave and filling him with a sense of boundless power.
As the energy retuned to his core, Aodhán felt even stronger and faster than before; even his reaction speed had increased. Perhaps he wasn't able to crack stone with his fist or smash mountains yet, but he could feel himself getting stronger and closer to being superhuman.
Aodhán couldn’t really explain how much strength he got from each advancement, but it was significant enough that he could immediately feel it.
He walked towards the river, and a moment later he decided to walk along the river bank rather than turn back. There was no way out of the forest behind him, but there was hope in front.
He walked for another half hour, and in that time, he managed to kill another Tier 3 monster identified as a Selky. The number of higher-tiered monsters had definitely increased, and he was sure that it wouldn’t be long before he came in contact with a Tier 4 monster.
As he turned around a bend, he suddenly saw a dense outcrop of black rocks in the middle of the river. It created an incomplete passage through the river, but it was large enough to cross with a jump or two.
Without hesitation, he jumped on it. Finding the mass of rock steady, he made his way to the other side and was about halfway across the river when the rock suddenly rumbled and lurched forward, causing him to lose his footing and stumble into the churning river.
Frigid water rushed into his mouth and nose, but Aodhán was an excellent swimmer, and he soon broke the water surface with a gasp.
His sight fell on the outcropping of rocks that had somehow rearranged themselves into a humanoid monster, made entirely of boulder-sized rocks. Burning yellow eyes stared out of its rocky sockets, and a brown shimmering haze covered its entire body.
Floating above its head was a text that caused Aodhán's cells to quiver with fear.
[Burmehein, Tier 7]
Instinctively, Aodhán knew he couldn’t fight this creature; aside from the fact that the Burmehein was four whole tiers above him, Aodhán’s only attack skill was the lightning bolt, and that was almost useless against its body. He couldn’t fight, but he could run, and with a flick of his hand, the largest bolt of lightning he’d ever summoned shot towards its eyes and exploded.
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The Burmehein barely stumbled, but it let out a shout of outrage as the explosion blinded it and hopefully bought him enough time to escape.
Aodhán swam as fast as he could, turning frequently to glance at the Burmehein as it blindly smashed its limbs into the river, causing a large wave that threw him entirely off course.
Aodhán took a panicked breath before diving back into the roiling waves, intent on avoiding the Burmehein’s gaze. The shimmering brown haze coalesced on one of Burmehein's fists, and this time when it smashed it into the river, a large wave rose, pushing Aodhán further towards land, but it also managed to reveal his position to the monster.
Agitated, the Burmehein’s fist smashed towards him with terrible accuracy, but its size more than made up for it, and only Aodhán's increased speed and reaction time saved him from being pulverized.
As he reached closer to land, the Burmehein’s yellow eyes glowed with anger, and it began to move towards him, but its speed was lacking.
Aodhán cursed his luck as he finally made it to land, and with one final look at the Burmehein, he picked a direction and ran for his life.
As he left its line of sight, the Burmehein seemed to lose interest in him and, with a final roar, lowered itself into the water once more.
Sighing in relief, Aodhán rested, leaning against a tree trunk to catch his breath, and when he finally felt stable, he turned to take in his surroundings.
He hadn’t noticed much in his haste, but now he could clearly see that something was wrong with this part of the forest. Multiple trees had their branches bent or broken, and the smaller trees had been trampled as if a horde had passed through the area.
Several paw and hoof prints littered the soft earth, and patches of dried blood littered the area. Claw and talon marks appeared on almost every available surface, which cemented his suspicions of a horde of monsters.
If a horde had recently made its way into the forest, then it would explain the increasing number of Tier 3 monsters; it also meant he would be seeing more of them in the coming days.
Carefully, he followed the trail of destruction, and it didn’t take long before he found his first prey. Two and a half hours later, just as the sun set, a bolt of white-gold lightning shot into the frozen mouth of a Tier 3 Gulu, causing its tentacles to wither and die as the light finally vanished from its eyes.
With a grin, he picked up the mottled core and added it to his growing collection. Since he’s entered this part of the forest, he's been following the trail of destruction, and the Gulu’s core made it the fourth one he’d gathered in only a few hours.
Now, his pouch held a total of seven Tier 3 cores, but it still wasn’t enough to get him to the next advancement. Aodhán would have loved to spend an extra hour hunting, but this part of the forest was much more dangerous, and he would rather have a nice dinner than come into contact with a Tier 4 monster after an entire day of hunting.
What he needed was a suitable space to spend the night as it was already growing dark, so he gathered all the meat he’d managed to save and washed them to prevent their blood from leading monsters back to the small clearing he’d found a few minutes away.
He’d lost his wooden construct in the river, but with the wreckage around him, he made a fire as well as a new construct in only a few minutes. Half an hour later, his dinner was ready, and he immediately doused the fire, leaving the clearing dark and quiet.
The forest was anything but quiet, though, as the distant shriek and roar of monsters filled the air. Aodhán couldn’t afford to sleep with the situation, so he absorbed all the cores he’d gathered instead.
Tier: 3–96.7%
As he’d suspected, it wasn’t quite enough to push him to the 4th tier, but it had taken him even farther than he’d expected.
As the night darkened, he summoned a small bolt of lightning to float beside him. It emitted just enough light to help him see his surroundings, but nothing else.
Sitting with his back against a tree, he resolved to stay awake till sunrise, so he might as well get some practice in.
With a thought, he created an incomplete storm cloud just as wide as he was tall and proceeded to try manipulating it.
In the second vision, he’d seen Az create a spoon from the smoky clouds; perhaps, with enough practice, he could learn to do the same or even fashion a sort of weapon from it.
His experiments continued through the night, and surprisingly, he didn’t even feel sleepy. Many hours past midnight, he’d finally managed to separate a fist-sized ball of storm clouds from the larger body floating above him. It hadn’t consumed as much energy as he’d feared, but it required a large amount of concentration. A weapon would have to wait for now, as it required a degree of control he hadn’t achieved yet.
As his concentration eased, though, the sounds of crashing and crackling woods reached his ears, and soon, the smell of smoke filled the air.
A shrill cry for help followed, and he jumped to his feet immediately, trying to determine the direction it had come from.
His heart thumped loudly as the roar of fire filled his ears. Finally! He’d found another human being.
Aodhán took off immediately in the direction of the burning woods, dismissing the storm cloud as well as the lightning bolt, as the flames had already lit up the entire forest.
As he rushed forward, the silhouette of a man burst out from a burning bush, a heavy pack on his back and shoulders. He was limping slightly, and when he saw Aodhán, he shouted, “Run! It’s coming.”
Aodhán looked behind the man to see a large creature as it leaped through the burning flames. It had a wolf-like appearance, with bristling silver fur stripped with black lines. Long metallic spikes jutted out of it’s spine, and its open mouth was filled with long silver canines.
His eyes flashed to the text floating above its head, and he gulped as terror lanced through him.