28 Growing Stronger

After the quick explanation and what things to keep a watch out for, Key left Steele to his own devices with the prototype bow they produced as he made his way to his residence. He would have liked to fix the water shortage, but he decided to wait until the people become Adapters.

Thankfully with the fire and animals, they no longer needed to eat just grass. It wasn't the ideal animals but in their situation, they couldn't continue to be picky. Having vegetables was another option but was still something they needed to found first.

If he was to give his own opinion, he couldn't tell why the tribes didn't use the Evolver World as a source to live inside or provide them with a better way of life. It was true that the place had dangers and one needed to be an Adapter to walk around inside, but that shouldn't stop the few that became Adapters in the past.

Instead, with the ability to adapt to changes, the Evolver World could be said to be ideal for Adapters. Especially if they wanted to improve and continue to rise to the top in the world.

He could only guess that there was something more terrifying in the Evolver World that he didn't know about, or the danger had ceased to exist after the long years had passed.

Either way, they needed the benefits that the place offered because of the threat from the Queen, so they couldn't give in to fear despite the risks that might be involved.

Seeing the house, Key entered inside to relax his mind a short while. Although he wasn't physically tired, the stress of what to do and how to do it still exhausted him mentally. The only bright side to it all was that he was starting to adapt to the pressure that came with the responsibility of a leader.

Even though it had only been a few weeks, if the people he knew saw him now, it was like looking at an entirely different person. His temperament had completely changed from the playful youth going to school, to the current him now who could shoulder the burden to keep an entire village up and running.

Feeling the exhaustion slowly fade, he turned his focus on the fruits resting on the desk. The leaders were still practicing with animals and the time was growing nearer. The actual reason he had announced to the crowd that it would be seven days was that he didn't know if the fruits could stay ripe.

Since they had nothing to seal and retain the freshness of the fruit, he didn't want to risk them all losing their value. They weren't just random fruits. They were his tickets to make the people stronger in a short time period.

Having a strong feeling that each day wasted the energy store inside, Key decided it was best for him to become a three-star Adapter as soon as possible before the fruits lost their benefits.

Grabbing a one, he rested it in the palm of his hand as he closed his eyes to get a better feel of it. Since he wasn't a four-star Adapter, the only way he could erase the will that was embedded in the ambition force was to eat the fruit.

But if one ate it, there were only two outcomes left for this action. The person would fail and then be either comatose or possessed. The other result was to succeed and become a three-star Adapter. There was no middle ground or retries.

Key already knew all of this. The reason he had yet to eat the fruit was that he didn't like surprises. He wanted to see if he could gain some understanding of what the will was like before taking a risk with his conscious.

Failing to find anything, he sighed before lifting the fruit toward his mouth. It had been worth a try after all. But it appeared that not everything could be inspected and analyzed before jumping right in.

Taking the first bite, he didn't feel anything. It was different compared to the animals that only needed a small piece to give a reaction. Seeing the problem, he ate the whole thing. Once the last bite was swallowed, he finally noticed a change.

Like an explosion, his mind gave a pulse sensation. Then there was like a hammer pounding down on his head trying to make him lose focus and thought process. In the midst of the pain came the sharp feeling like something was cutting its way to the center of his mind.

Surprise filled him. He had expected a battle of wills like who had the strongest desire to live or achieve their goal. He didn't expect the will would feel more tangible and would try to enter into the center of his mind.

Didn't this mean he would need to use his ambition force to kill it? No wonder why a two-star Adapter are necessary to have complete mastery over their ambition force inside their body. If one didn't complete that step, how could they then kill the will that enters the mind?

Grunting coldly, Key decisive summoned his control over his ambition force while having it move through his body and toward his mind. This battle was nothing more than a struggle between might and speed.

He would need to kill it before it got to the center and if he failed to stop it, it would have complete control over him. But didn't the body contain ambition force everywhere? Naturally, the energy might be weak since it was residue energy and not the core of the ambition force, but it was still useful.

To slow the charging pace the will was rushing at, Key started making barriers to block its path. Nonetheless, the will easily broke through every barrier formed. There didn't seem to be any speed wasted during its charge.

Don't joke! Was that still at the three-star level?

With each barrier broken, the speed of the will got faster. The insanity Key was feeling was not funny. Instead of slowing it down, his barrier was making it stronger. How could the world call these type of things just?

Forgoing the blocking process, Key poured everything into attacking. The little residue of energy in his mind soon turned into blades as he shot them toward the will like bullets. Finally, the will started to slow down as it tried to dodge the energy blades.

With complete control, Key made sure not to injure himself in the process. Soon enough, what felt like hours and days but was only milliseconds, his core ambition force caught up.

Following that, there was no suspends. The energy easily butchered the will with the power it contained being absorbed into his body fully. In moments, he could tell that his body had another collective and quality change.

He was now a three-star Adapter and closer to become a Title Adapter.