novelraw Chapter 48: Evolution
Chapter 48: Evolution
"Ughh!"
Verso groaned as he sat up from his bed, rubbing his temples.
He had spent the last few hours in a cycle of death and frustration. He had literally tried everything to kill that Sea Serpent.
He had tried to detonating all of his Mutant Golems in its face, he had tried using all of his summons against it and he had even tried to personally fight it by using the best weapons in his arsenal.
But unfortunately, nothing worked. His stats were simply too low to bridge the gap against the Elite rank predator.
The difference between Mutant rank and Elite was super evident but how the Serpent was able to destroy his entire army in mere seconds.
’This is unfair man.’
He pulled his phone out of his pocket as he checked the time. There was barely an hour before he needed to reach the Exam Venue.
Letting out a deep sigh, Verso finally gave up on the serpent for now.
He stood up and walked into the bathroom, stripping off his clothes to wash away the phantom sensation of sea salt and serpent teeth on his skin.
Just as he stepped under the shower and the cold water hit his skin, something in him changed.
[Ding!]
The mechanical chime was louder than usual, the sound vibrating in his bones.
Suddenly, his muscles tightened with a violent intensity as he felt a surge of thick and pressurized mana erupting from his gut and flowing through his limbs like liquid fire.
In an instant, the sluggishness of his body vanished as it was replaced by raw explosive strength.
"What the hell just happened to me?"
[Host has Ascended to Apprentice!]
"Finally!" His eyes widened as he heard the system’s message.
He let out a ragged laugh, leaning his head against the shower wall as the water poured over him.
For some reason, the core condensation had taken a little longer than he had anticipated, but finally the result had came.
Moving his body in the show he felt lighter, sharper and even more responsive.
But even before he could even pull up his status window to check his new core he heard the system speak again.
[Additional Function: Evolution Menu Unlocked]
"..."
Verso stared into the steam around him as he stood there completely stunned.
It was almost as if the system was offering an apology for the absolute hell it had put him through over the last few days.
"Took you long enough." He sighed with a smirk.
Instead of checking his own stats, he immediately pulled up the new Evolution Menu he had just received.
A blue window appeared in front of him with a list on it which showed his current summons.
Most were greyed out, but a specific section was highlighted. It was all of his Primitive rank summons that were at the 100% bottleneck.
’So I can only evolve the Primitive summons for now?’
He took a moment to think about the logic behind the function.
’Is it because I just reached the Apprentice rank?’
It made sense because only after ascending to the next rank himself could he finally push his summons from Primitive to Mutants.
’Who do I evolve first...’ Verso smiled in excitement looking at the options.
He scrolled through the list, his eyes landing on one specific name as a wide smile spread across his face.
’Nameless Skeleton’
After getting his hands on Goliaths and Gargoyles, and now even facing Elite rank Serpents. Verso had almost completely discarded Lil Bone as it could not hold its own in a high tier combat.
Selecting the skeleton, a blue meter appeared in front of him.
’What is this...’
He read the window carefully.
---
[Requirement: 100 Mutant Beast Kills | Current: 130]
---
"So I have to use my kill count to evolve them?"
It was a fascinating mechanic.
There was a high probability that this was linked to the mana his body absorbed every time he landed a killing blow on a monster.
Which means that this was the same energy that was used to condense his core, now being diverted to evolve his summons.
"I can at least evolve this guy." Verso muttered.
He mentally confirmed the evolution.
Instantly, he felt a significant amount of mana drain from his chest as a hollow sensation came upon him which made him stumble slightly against the shower wall.
On the menu, the name Nameless Skeleton dissolved and then reappeared as grey.
"So then, lets see the difference."
Verso turned slightly in the cramped shower stall and summoned the creature.
"Hey Lil Guy, time to come out of retirement."
A swirl of dark, shadowy particles manifested in the air as they combined into a kneeling figure.
It no longer had the black shiny marble bones like before, instead now the bones were made from a matte black material that seemed to absorb the light around it.
Unlike before, it also wore a tattered black cloth wrapped around its waist and shoulders. When the skeleton looked up, two small red flames ignited in its eye sockets.
As it stood up, Verso realized the skeleton had grown at lot. It was now half a foot taller than him which made it look way more threatening then before.
The skeleton had went from looking like a dork that Verso used to bully all the time, to a lethal spectral executioner.
All the creature was missing was massive black scythe.
"So, how do you like the upgrade, lil guy?" Verso asked, admiring the intimidating new form.
The skeleton didn’t reply. Instead, it suddenly froze and started looking Verso up and down.
Then it abruptly turned around and squatted in the corner of the shower, covering its eye sockets with its skeletal hands.
"Wait, what happened?" Verso asked, confused by the sudden display of embarrassment.
The skeleton tilted its head slightly and pointed a bony finger toward Verso’s hips.
Verso looked down.
He was standing there, completely naked, with his dragon completely hanging out as water ran down his body.
His eyes twitched.
"Oh..."