Complicated.
That was the word Vilastromoz would describe the situation.
He had an odd relationship with the unknown. On the one hand, the unknown was a nuisance. It represented an obstacle one potentially had to understand to continue moving forward. Yet, on the other hand, it represented a chance to learn something new. Something truly new.
After ninety-two full eras, there wasn’t much new to learn about the system besides whatever new things it decided to introduce at every initiation. However, the core mechanics never change. The rules of skill rarities, the level at which you evolved, the races and the stats they gave, the stat limits… all of these things were set. Unchangeable. Not even Transcendents or Bloodlines could touch these.
While it was never quite on the same level, the rules of evolution for the popular enlightened races were also set in stone. Not because some inherent concept meant these were theoretically unchangeable, but because they simply hadn’t ever changed. Ninety-two full Eras. Throughout the history of the multiverse, they had remained stagnant. Not due to a lack of trying either.
Sanguine and the creation of the vampires was an attempt to make a better version of humans, but it ended up just creating an entirely new race. The Holy Church had tried, Valhal had tried, and every single other major faction of the multiverse had tried to create a better version of the base races at one point or another. None had ever succeeded.
The existence of High Elves had long been a point of pride for the elven race, as they were capable of being born at C-grade, a grade above all the other regular enlightened races. However, this was not a given, as it was mostly up to chance if two B-grade High Elves or above would have a regular elven child born at D-grade or a C-grade High Elf. Humans did not have any ”high human” version and would always get a D-grade, no matter what.
This low base Origin of humans was also what allowed them to multiply so quickly. The higher the grade of your race – and thus the children you could produce – the harder it was to have a child. But this was all based on the grade that the child could potentially be. Two A-Grade True Dragons trying to have a child would be incredibly difficult, while two humans at S-grade could pump them out one after another as the kid would always be D-grade. It was a quantity-over-quality kind of thing. This did mean that elves had a lower rate of reproduction compared to humans, partly due to their ability to sometimes have High Elf variants and partly their longer lifespan.
Everyone knew these things. It was public knowledge, and even E-grade forces on desolate planets could manage to get this kind of information.
But…Then there was Jake.
High Elves were born with the name of Elf, but it could be determined if they were High Elves due to some special features the kid sometimes had and magical measurements. These measurements were developed by the Altmar empire by the Autarch and the council, and relying on magic was very much unique to the elves. The point was that only an elf would know if there was a High Elf, and that was only through these means.
On the other hand, Jake was a human. Vilastromoz did not have a shadow of doubt in his mind about this… at least he didn’t. Now he began to wonder. An unknown had been introduced, one of many related to his young Chosen.
This was nothing new when it came to him. From the very first moment that Vilastromoz saw Jake, he had felt the Bloodline. One thing he was confident of back then was that Jake’s race had not yet changed into what it was now. It had slowly morphed, and the Viper now believed it was at the D-grade evolution he set his Path as a human in stone.
Variant humans were seen at times, but one could not pass down this variance to children. There were already so many differences between two humans due to professions and classes, so it wasn’t necessary to change the race. As long as one wanted to remain human, that is.
Jake was different. He was just a higher variant of humans. Not a different human, just… more of a human. A straight-up more powerful version. A High Elf that reached maturity at a higher level than C-grade. An impossible outlier, now made possible.
Ultimately this left the question… what would this mean?
How would it affect him moving forward? Would it impact his ability to get classes and professions? Would all his human evolutions be identical to the expected? How would his ability to reproduce be affected? Humans were already the race in the multiverse the best at passing down Records due to their unique racial skills, so how would this affect the evolutions? On that note… with his Bloodline… if the major factions knew…
Vilastromoz shook his head and looked at his young Chosen currently running through a forest stalking some rodent, seemingly unbothered by what he had just revealed to the Primordial. Jake did not know what all this meant… and neither did the Viper.
They were in unexplored territory. The result could mean nothing, just that Jake would get a race with a slightly different name and ultimately be unable to reproduce other variants like himself. Or, it could be a multiverse-changing discovery that would affect every major force in existence and send waves throughout existence.
The Viper didn’t know, and if he had to be honest, that was kind of exciting.
--
Jake had no idea what this realization regarding his own race truly meant. Villy refusing to talk about it more and shutting down the topic did indicate that this was way out of the ordinary and something far more impactful and important than Jake perhaps realized. But Villy also did point out that none of this mattered right now. He was like the wyvern to a True Dragon – on the same Path, but still not quite there.
All that mattered right now was to just keep going and actually evolve. Jake was confident... no, he hoped there would be no evolutions for this race this time around. Because if there wasn’t one, it meant Jake was still not yet at his ”intended” grade. In fact, he would prefer to just stay a ”normal” human until S-grade, if possible, as dodging those race evolution quests seemed like a nice thing.
Letting out a sigh, Jake stood up and stretched a bit. The period of weakness from Arcane Awakening had fully passed by now, and Jake was back in near-top condition. Still a bit low on stamina and mana, but nothing major. Nothing that would impact what he would do next.
He also wasn’t surprised this time by still needing another race level to evolve. A part of him had hoped the Ethgleam Mothertree and treants would have just given him two levels total so he could evolve right away, but on the other hand, this was fine too as it allowed Jake to attempt another of his vain goals of D-grade. One he assumed wouldn’t actually mean anything when it came to evolutions of his Path, but that he just wanted to do this for his own vanity.
It was naturally to one-shot a C-grade.
With all his skills, it should be enough if he found a weak one. Hence, he went looking. On the way to the center of the forest, Jake had run by many C-grades, a lot of them barely having reached their current level of power.
Jake took flight and scanned the forest with his senses, even using a bit of tracking to find prey worth taking down. He came across two pretty quickly, one of them a large beetle with a resilient exoskeleton, and the other a beast Jake did not quite recognize, but it had a shell of some kind covering its back. Both of them were big and lumbering monsters, meaning they had high vitality and toughness. Bad targets, so he moved on.
It was only when he found the fourth C-grade that his eyes lit up. It was a smallish rabbit-like creature with wings and small antlers that he saw jump through the forest down below. It was incredibly fast and seemed to be hunting peak D-grades for itself. It struck with insane speed and slammed its oversized feet into its prey, releasing a shockwave that sent them blasting back. Based on his estimates, there was some sound-based concept in there, turning the inside of its target into mush.
At least it would have if the rabbit was strong enough. The peak D-grade it had targeted was a large wolf that managed to get up and fight back for a good while before finally succumbing to repeated attacks from a far faster foe. It did manage to land one good swipe, drawing blood. Jake was certain after seeing this exchange that what he was looking at was a bottom-tier C-grade with shitty defenses.
[Sonic-Springfoot Wolpertinger - ???]
It also didn’t have good Perception as it failed to notice Jake setting up on it. He observed the rabbit for nearly an hour as he stalked it around, waiting for it to calm down and rest. It hunted a few peak D-grades, consuming their beast cores once it killed them. The one time it did encounter another C-grade, it ran away, easily escaping with its superior speed.
As he observed, Hunting Momentum slowly built up, and Jake learned more and more about the beast. He didn’t really have to learn much, as mammals like this were very familiar to him. An Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter condensed within his quiver as he continued his observation.
Even if the beast killed a few weaker beasts than itself, it even ended up running from a peak D-grade it didn’t feel confident against. Jake guessed the rabbit had either eaten something really good to reach its grade or that it had been good enough at hiding and surviving while running away until it managed to evolve while staying in the outskirts of the C-grade area.
His theory that it was good at hiding was proven half an hour later as the rabbit rapidly climbed up a tree, going far up, forcing Jake to also reposition to make sure he was not spotted while still having a line of sight. Even then, Mark was on it, so the little bastard couldn’t escape.
It ended up climbing more than halfway up the entire length of the tree, far enough up for several thick-leafed branches to appear. The rabbit made its way onto one of these branches and hunkered down. Jake did not feel any magic move, but he clearly saw something happen as the rabbit seemed to completely melt away, becoming one with the tree.
Camouflage.
Jake could still focus and spot it, but it took some effort. He was certain that the rabbit indeed had some kind of high-level camouflage skill, a bit reminiscent of Jake’s own Arcane Stealth. The rabbit’s version was way better, though, and without Jake’s high Perception, he would not have seen through it. With its high speed and ability to hide, Jake could understand how it managed to stay alive this far. It was a tricky bastard. Based on how it was sitting, Jake also got the feeling it was ready to strike at any point if anything got too close, and he could even imagine it jumping for something moving on the ground far below to descend like a meteor and smash them into pieces.
So, the C-grade did have some things going for it. However, it was still a weak C-grade that was a prime subject for Jake’s desire to prove he still had it - it being the ability to kill something an entire grade above himself in one shot.
His best fast-acting necrotic poison, an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter, Arcane Powershot, Hunting Momentum, Bonus from Big Game Hunter, and extra damage added by his archery skill. To truly make sure Jake would succeed, he even tried to optimize the extra damage from attacking at a long range.
Oh, and of course, Stealth Attack.
Jake flew far up into the air, as far as he could possibly go, while still allowing him a clear line of sight. Mark allowed him to know where the rabbit was even if the camouflage could fool his insane Perception from that far up in the air.
The creature was utterly still and did not look like it wanted to move anytime soon, as it was probably busy digesting all the cores it had gathered. Jake had flown nearly a hundred kilometers up in the air at his point, but he sadly couldn’t go any further. He would have to shoot at a small angle due to the tree the rabbit was on, meaning he couldn’t shoot straight down like with the Unique Lifeform he had slain with the Fallen King.
Once he found a good position, Jake began to prepare. He took out the massive Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter, coated it in his poison, and nocked it on the string. Slowly, he drew back the string as he slowly breathed, relying on old exercises that truly no longer mattered with the system now a thing. At least he didn’t think it mattered.
Arcane magic began to revolve around him as it entered the bow and arrow. His muscles were infused with energy, and Arcane Awakening activated at full power to empower him further. Slowly, he began to charge the shot. From practice, he learned that starting slowly allowed him to reach a higher peak as his body and weapon could slowly acclimate to the energy that way.
Seconds ticked by. Ten seconds, fifteen, twenty. Ever-so-slowly the amount of arcane energy grew as Jake kept steadily breathing in and out. The air around him began to shudder, faint cracking sounds were heard from who-knows-where, and the entire environment around him changed as it was bathed in the purple glow of his arcane energy.
The pain began to shoot through his shoulders as the pressure mounted. Then the weapon itself struggled, but luckily the legendary bow held up. It would be his body that broke down before it did.
It took nearly a minute until Jake knew it was time. With a final deep breath, he released the string, and the moment he did, several blood vessels burst on both his arms and most of his upper body, making blood soak his armor.
An explosion of power pushed away all energy around him, momentarily destroying every other affinity, resulting in even color and light blinking out of existence before it retook the vacuum left by pure destruction.
The arrow flew downward like a spear from the heavens, a purple vertical line descending towards the forest below. Jake slightly repositioned himself to make sure he could see where his target was hiding far below. Just in time, too, as the rodent noticed what was coming.
As he had predicted, it moved to dodge. A fraction of a second before it jumped, it was forced to dismiss its camouflage, and at that moment, Jake saw it once more. His Gaze landed on its form as his eyes glowed, the soul of his prey bare and vulnerable.
It froze. Unable to do anything but form a meager magical barrier to try and block the attack.
Then, a flash of light. A shockwave was released the moment the arrow hit the rabbit, blasting the rabbit down through the branch it had been sitting on towards the ground below, sending wooden splinters flying everywhere. A second shockwave was released as a purple wave of energy was released, momentarily bathing the forest in the color of Jake’s arcane mana.
When the light cleared, all Jake saw was a great pillar begin to topple, now blocking Jake’s view of his prey. The tree the rabbit had been sitting on began to fall over due to the crater that had ripped out many of its roots, making it unable to keep standing.
Jake simply stared as it slowly fell, a mighty crash echoing as the tree several kilometers tall was now lying prone across the vast forest. At its base was a massive crater pulsing with purple veins of energy, fissures of pure arcane mana still humming with power.
In the middle, only a few feathers and pieces of broken antlers.
*You have slain [Sonic-Springfoot Wolpertinger - 201] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*
He smiled as his body hurt all over. Arcane Awakening deactivated as a rush of pain went through him, and he knew he had overexerted himself. It felt as if he had just gone through a major battle, and he knew he was in no shape to fight… fortunately, he didn’t have to.
Because he had accomplished his goal.
*Race Evolution Requirements Met*
Your Path to the apex continues, one step at a time. You have overcome and consumed curses, experienced and adapted different realities, and remained steadfast in your convictions. The labels placed upon you matter little as you know who you are. Yet more choices remain. Legacies of humanity await you as you get inspired by those of the past and the Paths they have walked.
Begin Evolution now?
Y/N
WARNING: Postponing evolution may have adverse effects, and no further race experience can be earned before the evolution is completed
”Hell yeah,” Jake muttered to himself through the pain. He read the message over a few times, and he was now more sure than before that this evolution would still just have him become a C-grade human like everyone else. A bit comforting, actually.
With a smile, Jake quickly made his way back to Haven, got on his good old bed from the Challenge Dungeon, and accepted the prompt as he disappeared, finally starting his C-grade evolution.