The soft fabric of the bed was replaced with the feeling of weightlessness as Jake was whisked away.
Oh, dear void, we meet again, Jake thought as he opened his eyes and found himself floating within the same space as all previous evolutions. The intense energy, unlike anything else, was all around him, ready to nourish him at any moment. It was truly energy unlike anything else, only found in this space and seemingly only operable by the system itself.
He moved his limbs a bit, just enjoying the sensation of floating there as he waited for the system to do its thing. It didn’t take long before something happened. The energy all around him began to move towards him as a message appeared in front of him.
Congratulations! You have successfully managed to evolve into C-grade as a variant evolution.
All future potential variant evolutions will be blocked due to Origin.
Congratulations! You have successfully evolved to C-grade!
This message made it clear that he, indeed, was now set on his Path when it came to his race. When he would reach his intended grade, no one knew, but Jake looked forward to that day. Jake did not have time to ponder more on his race as the evolution finally began for real.
His body became a vacuum of energy as it sucked in everything it could. His soul and body were both nourished and grew with every passing second as Jake felt himself change on a fundamental level. A portion of the energy also seemed to enter his Soulspace, and he felt Eternal Hunger be fed some of the energy. Even a mythical weapon could not forcefully claim any of this evolutionary energy, but it seemed like the system saw it fit to feed it nonetheless. The reason Eternal Hunger was fed was naturally due to the Eternal Shadow.
The mask did not absorb anything this time around, making Jake assume it was because he was now separate from the King. Even then, the amount of energy being funneled into Jake was intense.
As Jake felt all this, ripples went through him as he finally became able to see what he had evolved into. Human (C) – You have reached a step on the evolutionary ladder few can ever stand on, and for that accomplishment alone, you should be proud. The human race is known as the most balanced and numerous races in the multiverse, being able to walk many different roads on their Path to power. With this evolution, you shall pick a small part of that future Path as you specialize further. Stat bonuses: +18 to all stats, +45 Free points per level.
It was the expected outcome, and Jake truly had no complaints. As expected, then all the stats gained had tripled – the same as when he reached D-grade.
The evolution was far from over, though, as the process of energy absorption only picked up until suddenly… it stopped. For a fraction of a second, Jake was confused until he remembered. He had read about evolutions for humans before but had kind of forgotten this aspect.
As you walk on the road pathed by your predecessors, you learn from the experiences of old. You view the Paths of those before you, and in turn, they bless you with their power. In return, they can only hope you will continue the tradition of passing down knowledge.
Ten Paths appear before you, all paved and proven. Take inspiration, and choose one that fits you to embrace the Records within.
No two evolutions were entirely alike, and this was the special feature of the one that humans got. Other races had their own varying special things. The gap between C-grade was far larger than the one between E and D-grade, and this was one of the reasons.
Within the void, the energy was frozen as ten roads began to condense. Some had paved stone reminding him of an old city street, others dirt roads, some the undergrowth of a forest, and others lonely and desolate stone.
At the end of each Path stood a version of Jake himself, but all wearing different outfits and all doing something different. Jake stared down the first of the Paths and saw a version of himself in what looked like old fur armor, surrounded by monsters, yet none of them seemed to see him as he was picking up a glowing orb of some kind.
Path of the Gatherer – A Human who walks the Path of a gatherer, forever searching for all there is to find and claim. As a gatherer, you do not only seek to acquire material goods, but all that can help humanity grow. Having far evolved past the need for food and sustenance, you search for the one true thing that matters: Knowledge. Permanently increases Wisdom, Perception, and Agility by 10%. Grants the [Wisdom of the Gatherer (Unique)] skill. Upon selecting this Path, you will instantly gain a one-time bonus to the Wisdom, Perception, and Agility stat.
Jake looked at his version of himself but shook his head. Looking to another road. There, he saw a version of himself wielding two swords in the midst of a battle with a wyvern of all things. He was wearing tough-looking armor, and his weapons were gleaming with the blood of his foe. Jake barely skimmed the Path, only viewing the important part about what stats this one revolved around.
Path of the Warrior - Permanently increases Strength, Toughness, and Endurance by 10%.
The next depicted Jake doing alchemy in a lab, wearing a robe. Jake once more shook his head and decided to not dwell too much on possibilities he would never pick.
Path of the Creator - Permanently increases Wisdom, Perception, and Willpower by 10%
The fourth showed Jake standing in the middle of what looked like the World Congress hall, surrounded by faceless humanoids.
Path of the Ruler - Permanently increases Wisdom, Willpower, and Intelligence by 10%.
Another one showing Jake silently sitting in a cave, meditating in complete calmness.
Path of the Hermit – Permanently enhances Willpower, Agility, and Vitality by 10%.
Jake standing in the middle of a burned-down city, corpses all around him, with a smile on his face.
Path of the Outcast - Permanently increases Vitality, Agility, and Intelligence by 10%.
A version that nearly made the real Jake puke as he saw himself wearing black robes on his knees in front of a statue depicting Villy while surrounded by fanatics.
Path of the Faithful – Permanently increases Wisdom, Vitality, and Intelligence by 10%.
The third to last displayed Jake surrounded by enemies on all sides, yet not a shred of fear was on his face as he remained stoic, his arcane magic revolving around him to form different magical constructs.
Path of the Indomitable – Permanently increases Vitality, Willpower, and Toughness by 10%.
In the second to last version, it was Jake standing bloody upon a massive corpse of a manticore, his bow in hand, and this version wearing nearly the same armor as Jake himself. This Path fit him really well, but it was not the one.
Path of the Slayer – Permanently increases Strength, Agility, & Intelligence by 10%.
Then there was the tenth Path. It was not actually the tenth going by order of appearance but had been the second Path of the ten displayed. Jake had saved it for last for a reason. Because he already knew this was the one from the beginning.
Gatherers were often paired with another way of life in humanity’s history. While the gatherers collected all they could, this other group was in charge of obtaining a far riskier source of food and willingly risked their lives to hopefully defeat something much stronger than themselves.
Down the final Path Jake evaluated, he saw a nearly spitting image of himself, wearing the same armor and holding a bow with his back turned to Jake, staring at a monster of ridiculous size in the distance.
It was naturally the Path of the Hunter.
Path of the Hunter – A human who walks the Path of a hunter, forever seeking his next prey. Any community needs those willing to face dangerous foes to sustain the group, be it through gaining food or scavaging valuable materials of the slain prey in a dangerous situation. You have walked a Path where you do neither. You hunt not for material gain but for the experience, the Records, and the thrill. Permanently increases Perception, Agility, and Endurance by 10%. Grants the [Wisdom of the Hunter (Unique)] skill. Upon selecting this Path, you will instantly gain a one-time bonus to the Perception, Agility, and Endurance stat.
Note that all Paths are Paths to the pinnacle. Choose that which suits you.
There was no real decision to be made here. Even if the system said that all these Paths were equal in principle, only one of them truly fit who Jake was. He was the Primal Hunter, for Villy’s sake.
As for the Paths themselves, Jake had read about them. It was a way to further specialize yourself, and getting a 10% increase to three stats was usually considered huge. It was still big for Jake, but this was an instance where diminishing returns on additive titles really came into play. The relative stat increase Jake would get compared to someone with barely any titles was more than noticeable. At least for the percentage part. Because with these Paths also came a one-time bonus. Quite a big one too.
Jake did not delay further as he selected the Path, and once more, time began to move, and the influx of energy resumed. All other paths ceased to be as the Path of the Hunter turned into pure energy. A rush of Records and energy went through his body repeatedly as his skin almost seemed to ripple. While experiencing this oddly wonderful feeling, he got some more prompts.
Per your choice to walk the Path of the Hunter, you will experience a one-time increase to all stats associated with the aforementioned Path. Perfect Evolution Stat increase applied. +550 Perception, +550 Agility, +550 Endurance.
Feeling the stat increase while also undergoing his evolution was nearly impossible. Feeling much of anything that was not his own body while within the void was hard, but Jake still went through all the other prompts.
*Race Skill Gained*: [Wisdom of the Hunter (Unique)] – You walk the Path of a hunter, a pillar of any community and one of the few who dare forage into hostile territory to hunt. Rather than stay and improve the safe settlements of humanity, you seek more power through the act of killing your foes and claiming all the bounty that comes with it. A potent yet risky Path. +10% Perception, +10% Agility, +10% Endurance. Increases all experience gained from slaying foes. Increases alignment to all classes or professions related to the Path of a Hunter. Allows you to more easily pass on Records related to your Path as a Hunter.
His one race skill gained in C-grade, it seemed. Perhaps a bit underwhelming, but such were the race skills of the human race in general. Not that the skill itself was underwhelming. Sure, Jake didn’t really need the part about teaching others his Path as a hunter or whatever, but everything else was great. More experience from kills and more “alignment” – whatever that meant – had to be good. Oh, and of course, the nice stat bonuses, but he already knew about those.
To scroll back a bit, the one-time increase to his Endurance, Agility, and Perception stat above had increased by 10%, too, due to Jake reaching level 199 in both class, race, and profession before evolving. That prompt above had mentioned it already, but Jake had naturally gained yet another Perfect Evolution title.
[Perfect Evolution (C)] – You have undergone a perfect evolution to become a C-grade human. +660 all stats.
All in all, it was a massive increase numerically in his stats. However, that was far from all. Evolutions did not only improve oneself with an increase in stat numbers but also stat effectiveness. Every stat point mattered more than before, every health point more valuable, every mana point containing more energy, and every point in Strength made him stronger.
Exactly how much this was, Jake didn’t know, but as with his D-grade evolutions, he felt as least twice as powerful as before. Without fighting, he would have no way of knowing, but he was confident that in his current form, he could handle ten of himself from before evolving without even using Arcane Awakening – with them naturally allowed to go all-out.
The next system message Jake had received was also a very expected one. He had gotten it at every evolution so far, after all.
*Bloodline Ability Evolved*
The evolution has stirred your Bloodline, allowing it to evolve along with you.
*Bloodline Ability Upgraded*: [Bloodline of the Primal Hunter (Bloodline Ability - Unique)] – Dormant power lies in the very essence of your being. A unique, innate ability awakened in the Bloodline of Jake Thayne. Grants the Sphere of Perception. Grants an improved sense of danger. Enhances all instincts and intuition. +25% to Perception.
The description was the same as ever, and it added another 5% to his increase in Perception. Coupled with the 10% increase from the Path of the Hunter, Jake saw that he had now reached one of those numerical milestones that, in reality, didn’t mean anything but still made him feel damn good.
He had reached a 100% stat increase in Perception. Was this overly massive compared to a 95% increase? No, no, it was not, but reaching 100% still felt significant somehow. Overall his stat amplifiers had gotten quite extreme by now, something he could only feel proud and happy about. There was just something satisfying about seeing numbers going up.
Within the void, Jake felt the intake of energy slow down significantly, and he knew the evolution was about to come to an end. The race evolution of humans was never the most exciting, though Jake had ended up making this one interesting through the revelations it brought. Nevertheless, it was the profession and class evolutions where the real meat was at.
He then frowned as he already felt it just floating there. The improvement to his Bloodline was significant.
Jake still vividly recalled his last evolution and the resulting barrage of information once he returned to the real world. This case would be far worse than the one last time if he didn’t do anything… but this time, he was far more prepared and knew it was coming.
As he knew he was soon returning to the real world, he focused his mind and tried to limit the Sphere of Perception. He reigned in all his senses and closed his eyes, trying to restrain himself as much as possible. His Bloodline naturally responded to his will, and while he had no way of knowing how far his Sphere extended within the void, he knew it had gotten far bigger and would have to be smaller for him to not risk passing out or causing severe damage.
Taking a deep breath, Jake was ready to return to his lodge in Haven. Prepared for all the bad things there were to come.
He wasn’t just talking about the backlash from his own senses improving but something all newly evolved C-grades had to face:
The horror of seeing many of your hard-earned skills reduce in rarity.
The Fallen King felt the change instantly. The little hunter had finally bothered to evolve, thus opening the Path for the King too. At least the King did not have to wait long, as the fight with the alien Unique Lifeform had left him weakened and unable to evolve for quite a while. Not that the Fallen King wouldn’t say it hadn’t turned out for the better, as he had managed to consume the core of the Ashen Phantom Devourer and assimilated his Records into himself.
Standing within his domicile in the mountain range in which he had fought this other Unique Lifeform, he saw no purpose in delaying his claim of earned power. The prompt appeared before him as he willed it to be; the thought of evolution quests naturally a laughable subject for one such as he.