Chapter 4 - The Nightcrawlers' Evolutionary Paths.
"Boy, you have three seconds to tell me your source of information before I slice your neck off." Blee'der's voice turned sinister.
Levi knew that his threat was for real since he was a contracted Nightcrawler, which meant his partner wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger if he/she found out that their private information was leaked.
Still, he was unfazed.
"Calm down, I have deducted your plight on my own." Levi clarified with a relaxed tone, "This outpost leads to the Harrowing Forest, the only place in the entire Northern Africa District with a compatible soil for the Blood Crystal Flowers to grow in."
"I know that your species requires either Blood Crystal Seeds for a Limited Evolution or the Blood Crystal Flower for a Remarkable Evolution." He paused, "While the seeds can easily be obtained, the Blood Crystal Flowers sprout only at the depths of the Harrowing Forest."
"It was off-grounds before due to being ruled by a Shadow Castle, but with the Sunstrike Agency clearing it, the forest finally became somewhat safe for rogue and low-ranked Daywalkers to explore it."
"I believe the three of you are part of the same Daywalkers' squad on a mission to locate the flower, as you don't seem interested in having a mere limited evolution."
"Do I need to say more?"
When he finished, the three nightcrawlers were left somewhat dazed, realizing that Levi had hit the nail on the head about almost everything.
Seeing their reaction, Levi went silent for a moment and leaned closer to Blee'der until his mouth was next to his ears...Then, he whispered, "What if I told you that I know a way with a high chance of helping you secure the unattainable Perfect Evolution?"
"Get the f*ck out of here." Blee'der immediately pulled away from Levi like he had just heard the worst joke to grace his ears.
"Perfect evolution? Boy, you don't have to bullshit us, we ain't going to help you get contracted."
"Hahaha, perfect evolution he said, Blee'der and Shia are struggling to even pull off remarkable evolution."
The other two nightcrawlers also snickered at Levi's remarks, not taking him seriously in the slightest...Their reaction was understandable.
Nightcrawlers were believed to be separated into nine tiers, starting from Tier 1 and reaching their final form at Tier 9.
Since nightcrawlers were considered a race with an unknown number of species and variants, some were born as low as Tier 1, and some were believed to be born straight as Tier 9.
Though no one could be certain about the latter.
The only certainty was that every single nightcrawler was capable of evolving to its final form, whether it ended at Tier 5, 6, 7, or even 9.
The little evolutions along the way controlled the final form's limitation.
Those mini evolutions occur between each Tier and could range from a Limited Evolution to a Remarkable Evolution and, finally, a Perfect Evolution.
In simpler terms, if a Tier 1 nightcrawler evolved to Tier 4, using nothing but limited evolution each time, his final form might have been completed at Tier 4 forever.
On the other hand, if a Tier 1 nightcrawler grew using nothing but perfect evolution between each Tier, there was a strong chance that its potential would be finalized at Tier 8 or 9.
The only problem with the second method was the difficulty. It was so high that only a select few dared to follow this treacherous and unknown path.
"You can laugh all you want, but you guys do realize that I have been associating myself with thousands, if not tens of thousands of nightcrawlers across a decade?" Levi replied with his known unprovocative smile, "Don't you think I might have heard something useful here and there?"
Blee'der and the other nightcrawlers shared knowing glances, realizing that Levi had a point. The main concern with perfect evolution was the lack of knowledge.
While limited and remarkable evolutions also required many trials and errors before a known evolutionary path was discovered, perfect evolutions were on a whole different level.
For instance, Blee'der's species were of the Blood Half-Mantras, and they were known for requiring Blood Crystal Seeds as the main material and a couple more secondary materials to succeed in limited evolution for the first three Tiers.
The Blood Crystal Flowers as the main material for the remarkable evolution.
Both evolutionary paths were discovered by the greatest evolutionist, Dr Isaac Mendel. He was also responsible for discovering many of the evolutionary paths for thousands of other nightcrawlers, helping the Daywalkers grow more powerful than ever.
However, even though he was one of the brightest minds in this era, he had found only one hundred perfect evolution paths in total...Those evolutionary paths usually last for three tiers or fewer.
This spoke volumes about how difficult a process it was.
"Why are you telling me this?" Blee'der narrowed his eyes, "Let's say you are being truthful, what do you gain from this? If you want my help to get you a contract, then forget it, I don't have that much sway."
"Don't be jumping to conclusions." Levi said calmly, "All I want is a written recommendation letter to participate in the Contract Ritual Assembly."
"Recommendation letter? You want our agency to sponsor you in the assembly?"
Blee'der and the other nightcrawlers raised their eyebrows in surprise.
"Yes."
Realizing that Levi was as serious as one could be, the three nightcrawlers couldn't muster a single bad remark.
There was a point when mockery lost its value...
"Soulless Gaze, I don't know if you are simply crazy or a fool, who has yet to be slapped in the face." Blee'der shrugged his wings, "To be honest, I don't give a shit. If your information is right, I will get you the recommendation."
"That's all I want." Levi smiled.
Blee'der gave a slight head nod to his buddies, and then they returned to their partners, relaying the news to them.
"Arthy, check for a three-member squad in the queue holding their weapons and tell me what they are doing."
Levi requested while leaning against the dirt bike, gazing at the three nightcrawlers, who had just disappeared out of his sight and turned into humanoid hazy auras.
He knew that contracted nightcrawlers could jump between the Shadow Dimension and the real world whenever they desired.
However, they could not coexist in both of them simultaneously...Their current spiritual aura forms implied that they had taken their physical weapon form to join the conversation.
It wasn't like they couldn't speak with their partner without being in the Shadow dimension, but they could only converse telepathically.
As expected, Arthur swiftly located two men and one woman huddled in a small area, conversing amongst each other while looking in their direction.
All three of them had their signature weapons out.
"They keep pointing at us while talking." Arthur described, "The two men don't seem too pleased while the woman looks like she is trying to convince them of something."
"I see."
"What did you do?" Arthur asked, curious.
Levi informed him about the details of the deal, leaving his brother with his eyebrows raised in surprise.
When he finished, Arthur asked him again, "Do you really know his tier 3 perfect evolutionary path?"
"Of course not, if I did, I would have sold it long ago." Levi replied, "Mom's textbooks never went into exact details on each nightcrawler's evolutionary path."
"..." Arthur stared at his brother's speechlessly.
Knowing that his little brother was questioning his decisions, Levi turned to face him and said calmly, "Sometimes, a risk has to be taken to move forward."