[Evolution Threshold Reached.]
[Evolution Quest Is Now Available.]
The dark golden panel was still floating in front of Lian’s eyes, he stared at the notification in front of him for several seconds.
Level 20.
He had finally reached the first real boundary of his Class, during all his previous Levels, he only needed to kill Monsters.
Bloodlust absorbed all the EXP.
Glutton sometimes gave him a new Skill or Talent.
The more he killed, the faster he grew, but now he had reached a boundary that he could not pass just by collecting EXP and he had to complete the Evolution Quest.
This Quest could be anything and it was different for everyone and it could be very easy or very difficult.
Maybe killing several Fallen Monsters, maybe collecting a certain number of Monster Cores, or reaching a certain Stat value.
Even if the System asked him to kill a Monster several Levels above him, it would not be strange.
But those things were for normal Classes, for him, whose Class was one of the unknown ones... how was this going to work?
Lian focused on the notification with a relatively calm mind, the panel became larger.
[First Evolution Quest]
[Current Evolution: Dormant Monster]
[Next Evolution: Fallen Monster]
His eyes stayed on the second line for a moment.
Fallen Monster.
That name alone was enough to get his attention and confirm one of his guesses, but before he had a chance to think, the Requirement section appeared.
[Requirement: Devour One of the Five Calamities.]
[Available Calamity Detected: The Black Silence]
[Objective: Devour The Black Silence.]
[Completion Reward: Class Evolution: Dormant Monster → Fallen Monster]
[Class Evolution Unlocked.]
For a moment, Lian thought he had read it wrong, he remained still for several seconds and showed no reaction.
He only looked at the panel, several seconds passed and then he read it again from the beginning to make sure he had not misunderstood it.
[Devour One of the Five Calamities.]
His eyes moved to the next line.
[Devour The Black Silence.]
For several moments, he could not even hear One’s movement, the wind between the branches or Aren’s chains hitting the huge ant’s armor.
Only one word repeated in his mind.
Devour.
’Devour?’ he said quietly in his mind.
He understood devouring a Monster, Glutton had absorbed the Skills and Talents of different creatures many times.
Even if the System asked him to Devour a Monster’s Soul or Bloodline, at least the meaning would be clear.
But The Black Silence? He did not even know what The Black Silence exactly was.
A disease? An infection? A Curse? Some kind of air? A living creature? Or something that none of these definitions could describe?
The System itself had called it a Calamity.
A disaster.
"Exactly how am I supposed to eat a disaster?" Lian narrowed his eyes slightly.
No answer came. The panel continued to show the same Objective, he moved his hand away from One’s armor and focused on the Quest again.
Maybe there was an option to change the Requirement or at least find more information about it.
A few moments later, the System reacted.
[Would You Like to Replace the Evolution Quest?]
Lian’s eyes became slightly brighter.
"Yes."
[Request Denied.]
The short smile that was about to appear on his face disappeared at that exact moment.
Lian looked at the answer for several seconds.
"Then why did you ask? Are you making fun of me?"
The System gave no answer, and he focused on the Quest again.
"Give me another Quest."
[Request Denied.]
"Give me something more logical." This time his eyebrows came together.
[The Evolution Requirement Cannot Be Changed.]
’This System is crazy.’ Lian stayed silent for a moment and then said it in his mind.
The panel immediately responded.
[Evolution Quest Remains Active.]
He stared for several seconds, he was not even sure if the System had intentionally answered his words or had only displayed the normal notification.
However, the result was clear, there was no replacement Quest, and there was no way to escape it either.
If he wanted to complete his first Evolution, he really had to Devour one of the Five Calamities.
And among those five, the only available Calamity was The Black Silence.
But how? How exactly was he supposed to devour a damn disaster? He doubted that something like this had ever happened in human history!
He had only just learned that something called Calamities and the Five Calamities existed and he still did not exactly know what the hell they were or how he was supposed to deal with them.
And now the System was telling him that he had to Devour one of them?
Lian read the panel again.
[Current Evolution: Dormant Monster]
[Next Evolution: Fallen Monster]
At least this part was interesting.
Until today, he had seen his own Class as a Monster, but the System had now shown that this Class had not only Levels, but also a real Evolution path.
Dormant Monster.
Fallen Monster.
He put together the Monster classification path he had heard about in his mind.
Dormant/Normal.
Fallen.
Unholy.
Demon.
Supreme.
’If my Class’s Evolution path is the same...’ his eyes changed slightly.
It was an interesting thought, right now, even at the Dormant stage, his Stats and Skills were not something that could be compared with normal Awakeners.
If the first Evolution really changed his body, Class and Soul, Fallen Monster could be a very large jump in power.
Then Unholy.
Demon.
And finally Supreme.
If every stage created a difference similar to the distance between Monster Tiers, reaching Supreme would be much more than simply becoming stronger.
It might reach a point where he could no longer be measured by the standards of a human Awakener.
’This part isn’t bad.’ The corner of Lian’s mouth rose for a moment.
But his eyes moved down again.
[Objective: Devour The Black Silence.]
’I just need to find out how to eat a damn Calamity first.’ The smile disappeared.
He did not know why, but for some reason he felt like the System was putting him on the path to becoming the final boss.
"What happened?" Seris’s voice came from behind him.
Lian closed the panel.
Seris had been looking at him for several minutes.
Lian usually did not change his expression much when the System gave him an important notification.
But this time he had frowned several times, smiled once and then made an expression like someone who had just realized that a much bigger problem than expected was in front of him.
"Why have you been staring at the air for several minutes?" Seris asked.
"I got an Evolution Quest." Lian answered calmly.
"Oh? Congratulations." Real interest appeared on Seris’s face.
"I don’t think it’s possible to complete it." Lian gave a bitter smile.
"Why?"
He thought for a moment, if he said that the Quest wanted him to eat The Black Silence, Seris’s next question was almost obvious and he had no answer, so he only said.
"Nothing."
"Are you sure?" Seris stared at his back for several seconds.
"It’s not a problem for now."
"Whatever you say." The young Pendragon shrugged.
Aren, who was sitting farther back on One, did not understand their language and only understood a few scattered words through Lian’s translation.
He leaned forward.
"Did something happen?"
"No. We’re continuing."
One kept his speed without needing another command.
The farther they moved from Vhalaris, the fewer signs of Cindari civilization they saw.
At first, the path still looked like a road, small roots had been cut away from its sides.
Several Ember Crystals had been placed on the trunks of the trees and gave the path a weak red light.
But after several hours, even these signs disappeared.
The road became narrow, then completely disappeared.
One had to move between roots that were sometimes taller than a human.
The Emberroot trees were much larger in this area.
Trunks with diameters of dozens of meters rose into the darkness and their branches met at such a great height that almost no natural light could pass through from above.
Fortunately, they still did not reach the huge size of the Giant Forest and did not cause extra confusion or trouble.
Wild Ember Crystals had grown inside the cracks of the trunks.
But unlike the cultivated Crystals of Vhalaris, their light was unstable.
Sometimes they became bright for several seconds and then turned off again, the air had become more humid, the smell of soil, tree bark and something like rusty iron filled the forest.
In some places, low fog moved between the roots.
Aren held tightly to the raised parts of One’s armor with both hands.
With the speed One was running between the trees, his body moved up and down with every jump.
After getting too close to the edge of the ant’s back, he quickly held himself tighter.
"You’ll get used to it after a few hours." Lian said without turning around.
"I hope I stay alive long enough to have the chance to get used to it." Aren controlled his breathing and looked around.
"This path wasn’t this dense before."
"What do you mean?" Lian asked.
"When I passed through this area before I was captured, there were many trees, but the ground wasn’t covered with this many roots." He pointed at one of the huge roots beside the path.
"These have grown a lot." Then he looked at the weak light of the Ember Crystals.
"And the lights have also become fewer."
Lian said nothing.
If Maelor was right, the Forgotten Tree had been drying up for years.
But it was strange that some parts of Emberroot had grown more wildly instead of drying up.
This growth was not natural...