Azure ball
The next morning, Evan woke up from dreaming about a hooded figure inserting something into his forehead as his mind felt sluggish and groggy.
'Why do I feel that it wasn't a dream but something which actually occurred?'
Frowning, he tried his hardest to understand this vague feeling blooming inside of him.
However, to his dismay, even after a couple of minutes of strenuous thinking, Evan still wasn't able to identify if it was just a figment of his imagination or reality.
It was as if someone distorted what he perceived to be reality severely disorientating him.
'Ugh! I'll think about this later. Now is not the time of day for such deep thinking.'
Having just woken up, he didn't want to end up with a headache. Which would just dampen the current anticipation he felt towards the prospect of battle.
'Seriously, what is up with me and my growing addiction to battle?'
Shaking his head to get rid of all the unnecessary thoughts flowing through his mind, Evan hopped off the bed and proceeded to go clean himself up, entering the bathroom.
Gazing at his reflection in the mirror, a hint of sorrow appeared in his eyes, prompting him to recall that fateful day.
The day his world turned upside down.
Gritting his teeth, he took a few deep breaths before an indifferent look manifested itself in his eyes.
As he made his way out of the room to rendezvous with the other members of the squad, a slight tingling sensation appeared in his brain, causing him to reflexively furrow his burrows as he questioned the source of that sensation.
Seeing that it didn't repeat itself once again, Evan shrugged it off and resumed his journey.
Unknown to him, deep in the recesses of his mind lay a spinning azure ball, which released minuscule streams of azure light every time it completed a single rotation.
Deep black chains wrapped themselves around the azure ball, causing it to remain immobile in the same position, sealed tight.
As the minuscule streams of light spread out, a tiny change would occur at the cellular level, causing a fundamental shift in the biological makeup of these cells.
Unbeknownst to anyone except a few, the esoteric river of fate experienced a massive upheaval, changing the destiny of a few shining stars which twinkled lightly in this esoteric river. With Evan being among them.
***
Gazing upwards as the twilight glow of dusk reflected in their eyes, the fanged wolves heaved a sigh of relief as they gazed at the wolf corpses that lay beneath their feet.
Evan, who was standing at the back of the party, had his body covered with dirt and grime as he chugged a potion to restore his stamina.
Although he could just let his stamina naturally recover, he decided to consume a potion to return to peak condition, due to the fact they would continue foraging into the Forbidden Wilds in search of boar-type monsters.
After successfully hunting two packs of wolf-type monsters, the squad is now setting their sights on some overgrown pigs!
Raising his hand, Evan began stroking his chin.
'Weird, why do I feel like all my cognitive abilities have enhanced, albeit slightly. I feel like I'm able to think faster. It's as if the chains holding a normal human back have crumbled and now my mind's been set free.'
After waking up this morning, Evan felt that his mind had become clearer and sharper, with the speed he could formulate a thought increasing.
How did he know this?
Well, he was still paranoid that someone would sneak up on him and subtly inflict on him some harm that wouldn't be detrimental in the short term but fatal in the long term. So he developed a habit of ensuring that nothing was wrong with his body.
That's how he found an abnormality with the random increase in cognitive ability.
'Sigh, after we get back to the outpost, I will do a closer inspection of my brain. For now, I have a more pressing issue to deal with.'
Walking forward, he absentmindedly began collecting the most precious parts from the wolf corpses as he contemplated the pressing issue which plagued his mind.
'I feel as if I'm infinitesimally close to breaking through to the high-tier of rank 1. However, if I break through in the midst of battle, then there will be a high chance that there will be a delay in my movements, as I would still not have adjusted to the new strength of my body, potentially causing me to suffer a fatal injury.'
The ranks were spilt into the low, mid and high tiers. In every sub-tier, the breakthrough would occur naturally.
However, breaking through into the next rank would require a stimulant to stimulate the body's latent potential.
Breakthrough potions were one such stimulant which helped loosen the bottleneck that many faced.
The same sub-tier system applied to mages and scholars. However, Evan didn't know the specifics, as he focused solely on the pathway of the warrior.
The first three warrior ranks focused on tempering the body externally, so by reaching the peak of the first rank, mana would have successfully tempered 33% of the body.
Currently, since he was about to break through to the high tier of the first rank, he guessed that his mana has altered around 20% of his body.
Finished with collecting the most valuable parts from the monsters, the fanged Wolves set off deeper along the grey road that stretched endlessly for miles.
What remained of a once bustling population of cities dwindled into a derelict road which displayed the scars of countless battles and the remains of the beings who fought valiantly for the safety of their race.
Brandishing his sword, Evan vigilantly scanned his surroundings as he reviewed all the information that was known about boar-type monsters.
'The tusks of the boar-type monster are the most dangerous, with their ability to pierce enhanced further after the boar enters a berserk state. The best way to deal with a boar is to be faster than it and have greater power behind each strike to puncture its thick hide. With the emergence and proliferation of mana, it magnified the already vigorous attacks a boar could produce with its berserk ability, doubling in might after activation.'