Chapter 159

From the beginning, the Zaaktif Prime was incredible, but his majesty was firmly cemented and his legend truly established in the single day we now celebrate as the Ascension. That it took place during the change of seasons, during the lengthening of days, is no coincidence. He timed his life to the heavens themselves, so as to remind the world that he himself is the balance, that he is the darkness and the light, that the Zaaktif and the Empire are ordained by the heavens, and will bring light from the darkness.

-From a speech given to a congregation of seven assembled schools within the New Empire

[Quest completed. Skill evolution progress achieved. Growth achieved. Quest board updated. Status updated.]

I recognized the sounds of many feet following me as I strode into the jungle, shadows dancing through the branches from the guttering flames slowly burning themselves out behind me. As my path took me out of the light provided by the dying fires, I shifted my perception to my thermal vision, and the forest slowly blended from shadowy darkness to cool blues and greens. The lightly misting rains weren't even enough to render the ground muddy beneath the grasses and other shallow growth, but their presence thankfully washed away most of the grime of battle without my conscious effort. I hadn't realized that the seasons were shifting, summer on her way to burn away the heaviest rains for a time. With a thought, I refocused my exhausted mind on reading my [Status] before I rested in preparation of my duel.

Just before I opened my [Status] to look through all the changes that had come, though, I realized I had received a notification on something I'd never gotten before–[Skill] evolution progress. Though I'd figured I had made progress on evolution for at least one of my [Skills], it was interesting to me that I was getting notifications I never had before. Before I could think any deeper about it, the Administrator reached out to me.

[As you grow in power, the System will develop to become more and more tailored to yourself and your preferences. For example, I am able to reach out to you more personally than I could before, with the System interfering less with my communications and intentions. As such, little updates to the functionality and display of the System such as this will continue to occur so as to better suit you.]

Interesting enough, I supposed. With that, though, I finally immersed myself in my [Status].

[Status:

Name: Ashlani

Race: Sonic Khatif Alpha

Titles: Disciple of Nievtala

Current quests: 

-Hunt 3 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +2. Progress: Adult Human, Adult Quoll, Human Earthspeaker. Variable reward bonus provided: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic, QUEST COMPLETE. New Quest: Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +3. 

-Attain victory in combat against a foe numbering more than 50 adult combatants. Reward: Constitution, Strength +6 Agility +4 Intelligence, Magic +5. QUEST COMPLETE. New Quest: Attain victory in political maneuvering over a foe with nearly equal social standing to yourself. Reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, +3, Intelligence +8, Magic +5.

-Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8.

Stats:

-Constitution: 78+3+1+0+4+6=92

-Strength: 89+3+1+0+6+6=105

-Agility: 93+3+0+2+0+4=102

-Intelligence: 83+3+4+0+3+5=98

-Magic: 89+3+6+0+10+5=113

Skills:

Adversary: 6/10

Combatant's Bloodlust: 1/4 (Imperial Bearing)

Conqueror's Rebuke: 1/5

Evolutionary foresight (Cannot Evolve)

Evolutionary Guide (Cannot Evolve)

Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve)

Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve)

Improved Vision: 0/18

Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve)

Pack Tactics: 5/10

Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve)

Fathomless Sonilphon: Unqualified, 0/2

-Crippling Cry: 0/5

-Debilitating Diatribe: 0/1

-Innervating Address: 0/1

-Nurturing Enunciation: 0/50

-Quaking Claw (Requirements Hidden)

True Dominance: 0/5

Evolutionary Possibilities

-Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha: Become the undisputed leader of a swarm of at least 250 keelish. Progress: 586/250, disputed

-Sonic Keel: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1

Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.]

I looked through my updated [Status], immediately looking at how my Stats had grown and was pleasantly surprised to see how by just how much they had changed. Though, I was initially confused and needed to look more closely at the [Quest] list. After all, I only should have completed one [Quest], and while the bonuses from completing any [Quest] were appreciated, they were much more limited than this. Just an additional second of looking, though, raised more questions than it answered. First, and most importantly, why would an Earthspeaker be listed as a different species when other humans had been able to use Callings and had merely been humans? What was the difference?

[The way that the System interacts with intelligent species differs greatly from its treatment of the more monstrous creatures. In this world, all creatures are capable of evolution, to some degree. The more elevated the original species, the more difficult to achieve each subsequent evolution becomes. Thus, most humans do not evolve like keelish are capable of. There are other benefits–]

The words from the Administrator cut off suddenly, and after another half minute or so, she resumed her instruction, the tone of her messages mostly lost in the clinical nature of her written words. I could hear the exasperation in her message anyways.

[Humans don't really evolve, unless they progress about as much as you would need to to evolve to a Keel. Think of it this way–a keelish can't individually be compared to a human, but an average khatif is about on the level of an average human, though maybe a step and a half lower, considering their predisposition away from magic. An average Keel is within a half step of the average human True Speaker, though the power imbalance is probably in the Keel's favor. There is a qualitative change in the organism itself when it can command the power that a True Speaker or Keel does, and that is an evolution. Most humans never qualify for any such evolution, but it is an evolution in the genetic makeup of a being to be able to command the laws of the world itself like a True Speaker does.]

Though most of what she was saying touched on things that were inherently beyond my grasp of how the world functioned, I felt I could understand the general point she was trying to communicate. True Speakers were a different species than regular humans. For some reason, the thought was an uncomfortable one, but I forced myself to internalize the idea, and after a short moment, I could refocus myself on the rest of my [Status].

Looking at the new [Quest] for killing things, I could see the steep decline in returns on focusing on the extermination of new species. The baseline Stat bonuses weren't increasing at the same rate that their hunting requirements were, and I suspected that additional [Quests] in that same vein would follow suit. Beyond that, most prey I could find, much less the easy ones, wouldn't provide me any meaningful Stat bonuses, as evidenced by the quoll providing a total of 2 Stats. 

My other new [Quest] could be either frustrating or simple, and neither the [System] itself nor the Administrator seemed willing or able to explain what a "political maneuvering" victory would look like. I suspected it meant that I couldn't use violence to overcome another, but I couldn't be sure that avenue was wholly cut off from me. With a quiet sigh to myself, I refocused on my [Skill] evolutionary progress.

Adversary's count had increased by one, and I was both happy and worried when I looked at it. I was past the halfway point, but I couldn't guarantee when I would next find a creature that had higher Stats than me. Beyond that, my Stats were going to continue to grow as I did, so it would become more and more difficult to find anything that could provide me with the opportunity to progress towards this evolution. On the other hand, [Conqueror's Rebuke] didn't seem that it would be too difficult to continue towards evolution. [Pack Tactics]'s evolution, too, was just a question of time, and I was excited to evolve it and continue progressing towards [Combatant's Bloodlust]'s evolution.

There was one [Skill] which made me curse myself. I'd only rallied the troops on my arrival with [Conqueror's Rebuke]. Though our morale hadn't been broken by any stretch of the imagination, there was a chance that I could have qualified [Innervating Address] for evolution if I'd just used the damned [Skill]. I wasn't drowning in [Skills], so I should have been able to remember that, but it had simply slipped my mind. 

On the bright side, though, the evolution requirements for Swarm Alpha had changed–586/250. That was reassuring, that all the keelish that had stayed behind now considered me their true Alpha. All that remained was to take the "disputed" out of my [Status]. And, in the morning, I would do so.