118 Evolution Path

Alex was not sure on what happened to him after he attempted the fusion, as his mind almost went blank once the black pillars made contact with his own white pillar.

The only thing that he could remember was him making some grunting noises as the seven smaller black pillars tried their best to fuse with his much larger white pillar.

It was not necessarily a good feeling, although Alex knew that he must endure it if he wanted to get stronger.

(Author's Note: ...)

[[[One hour later]]]

"Ha!" Before he knew it, Alex was able to regain his clarity of mind, with him stumbling around as he tried to stabilize himself.

"Holy s**t!" Alex exclaimed as he felt his body being filled with power. He looked down at his own arms, as he realized that something changed in his body.

"I succeeded!" Even if nobody announced it to him, Alex was already sure that he had succeeded on combining his Mental Power and his Abyss Energy.

Just the fact that he was alive right now and got stronger was a strong evidence for that!

"Are you ok, Alex?" Alex heard someone asking this question behind him, prompting him to look at the source.

There he saw Alina, who beside Queen Mother and Asteria, were looking at Alex with tense look at their faces.

Alex also saw his Seven Abyss Sprites all sprawled down on the floor, with their eyes closed. Judging from the way that these Sprites breathed, they all seem like they have been through something exhausting.

"I'm fine." Alex said as he observed the new changes in his body. In fact, he never felt this good before!

What Alex said was the truth, as he found out to his delight that the fusion had brought benefits to both his Esper Power and Abyss Magic!

Unlike what he expected before, Alex found out that even after the fusion, his Esper Power and Abyss Magic did not actually fuse together to form one new Power.

What only happened was that they formed a powerful connection with each other, which strengthened the both of them.

Well, even if they did not create one better Power, what Alex got right now was way better than that.

Alex first observed his Abyss Magic, with him looking at this body.

"…Now this is great." Alex muttered to himself as he looked at the 7 tattoos inscribed on his body.

Since Alex's Abyss Magic already had evolved, there is no way for it to have another evolution even after its fusion.

The benefit that Alex's Abyss Magic got after the fusion was consecutive and massive breakthroughs on all of his Abyss Magic abilities.

The 7 tattoos that Alex could see in his body right now were all Engraved Abyss Runes, which just show that Alex has reached Grade 4 in all of his 7 Abyss Magic!

In simpler terms, his Pride, Lust, Wrath, Greed, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth were all around Grade 4 now!

That kind of massive increase was just plain ridiculous, even for someone like Alex!

And yet, the fusion that he made allowed this to happen!

"So, the benefits that my Abyss Magic got after the fusion was that it gained monstrous amounts of Abyss Energy that allowed all of my Sprites to reach Grade 4." Alex muttered to himself as he touched his tattoos.

"Well, with this kind of power-up, breaking through will be much easier for me now."

Once he was done inspecting his Abyss Magic, Alex then turned his attention on his Esper Power.

"Godd**n!" That was all that Alex could say as he saw that his Esper Power gained much more compared to his Abyss Magic!

The first thing that Alex saw was the radical increase in his Mental Power.

Right now, his Mental Power was around Tier 800, which gives Alex a Range of around 800 meters!

That was a ridiculous increase compared to before!

If this was the only thing that Alex saw, then he would not be this ecstatic.

It was the second improvement that made Alex extremely happy.

And this improvement was regarding the upgrade on his Esper Ability.

No, not actually an upgrade, but a choice to upgrade.

Right now, Alex could feel his Esper Ability wanting to evolve.

However, unlike the normal way of evolving, Alex found out that his Esper has two paths of evolution.

Each of this path was tempting to Alex, but he can only choose one path where his Esper Ability can evolve on.

The first evolution path was for Alex's EM Wave Manipulation Ability to change into Subatomic Particle Manipulation.

Basically speaking, Subatomic Particle Manipulation will allow Alex to manipulate particles smaller than the atoms themselves.

This includes quarks, gluons, bosons, leptons, fermions , gravitons and many more.

Alex knew with a look that this evolution path was created because photons, one of the Subatomic Particles, was closely related to light, which Alex's current EM Wave Manipulation Ability has control on.

The fusion earlier must have pushed Alex's Esper Ability to connect more with the photons, giving Alex the evolution path towards Subatomic Particle Manipulation.

If this is the only evolution path for Alex's Esper Ability, then Alex will gladly take it now.

However, there is still one evolution path, and Alex was also tempted to get this path too.

The second evolution path will basically allow Alex's EM Wave Manipulation Ability to evolve into Electromagnetic Manipulation.

Anyone can clearly see why this evolution path was available, and anyone can also see how powerful this evolution path will be.

"…" Alex felt conflicted upon seeing this evolutionary path, as he knew how powerful this path could be.

With Electromagnetic Manipulation, Alex will easily gain the ability to control anything related to Electromagnetism, which includes electricity, magnetism, and metal manipulation.

However, there was another benefit from Electromagnetic Manipulation that had Alex drooling right now.

And that was the fact that Electromagnetic Manipulation has the chance to also evolve in the future!

If Alex was right, there could be a chance to evolve his Electromagnetic Manipulation to Fundamental Force Manipulation, since Electromagnetic Manipulation is just an aspect of Fundamental Force Manipulation!

Even right now, Alex was already excited as he thought of him gaining the same set of abilities as Alina's uncle.

"...."

Alex was about to choose Electromagnetic Manipulation for the evolution path, but he stopped as he looked at the Subatomic Particle Manipulation.

Now that Alex observed it, Subatomic Particle Manipulation also has many merits.

For instance, Alex can easily create powerful explosions by just colliding subatomic particles with each other! Not only that, he can also create new stuff that can let him create more lethal weapons!

"….."

With these thoughts appearing in his mind, Alex started to get distressed as he felt unsure on which evolution path he should choose.

"…Alina I think I might need your help here." Alex said to Alina, who was looking at Alex with an apt expression on her face. "You are the expert one regarding the Espers her anyway."

"Fire away then." Alina said as she approached Alex.

At the instant that Alina was almost touching Alex, Alex suddenly felt some kind of pressure emanating out of Alina's body, prompting him to look at her with shock.

"What the hell was that?" Alex inquired, as he momentarily forgot about his evolution problem. "How were you able to let out this kind of pressure?"

"Well, while you were busy fusing your pillars, I chose to buy some items that can improve my Mental Power and my Esper Ability." Alina said as she failed to hide a grin on her face. "Once I used these items, I got a power-up that will be beneficial for us."

After hearing what Alina said, Alex's eyes widened as he realized the implications of what Alina just said.

From what Alex knew, Alina was already a Tier 999 Esper, with her breakthrough to 1 Star Esper still some distance away.

If Alina's really took some Items that improved her Mental Power, then that just means…

"You… are a 1 Star Esper now?" Alex inquired as he gave an excited look at Alina. "Is that what you are saying?"

"Un." Alina replied as she nodded her head fervently. She wore a dazzling smile on her face as her lips slightly trembled. "I just broke through earlier, so I can still not control the pressure coming out of me."

"Well, I am sure you can control that in no time." Alex said as he felt genuinely happy for Alina.

Before becoming his Companion, Alex was sure that one of Alina's wish was to become a Star Esper. Well, any Esper like Alina all have this goal as their wish.

Alex knew that even with Alina visiting other Worlds, she was still striving to become a Star Esper, which was shown by her diligence to train everyday.

"I am really happy for you Alina." Alex said as he patted Alina's head.

"…" Alina only closed her eyes in delight as Alex ignored the pouting Asteria and the curious Queen Mother.

"Wait, how about your Esper Ability? Did it evolve too?" Alex inquired as he remembered Alina saying that she bought some items for her Esper Ability too.

If Alex was right, Alina's goal was surely to evolve her Weak Space Manipulation Ability to Strong Space Manipulation Ability, just like her sister's.

"Well, the items that I used was only able to allow my Esper Ability to be a half-evolved Esper Ability." Alina said as she let out sigh. "Right now, I can do more things with my half-evolved Esper Ability, although it's still quite lacking compared to what my sister can do…"

"Well, as long as we take more Missions, I am sure that you can fully evolve your Esper Ability too." Alex said as he continued patting Alina.

"Ok." Alina replied as she tilted her head. "So, what is it that you want my expertise in?"

"Well…" Alex suddenly felt awkward, as he realized that he was about to tell Alina that his own Esper Ability was about to evolve completely. Alex was not sure if Alina's pride will be hurt by that question, since she only managed to half evolve her own Esper Ability.

"F**k it, Alex. Just ask her and get done with it!" Alex thought to himself as he took a deep breath.

He then opened his mouth as he proceeded to tell Alina about the evolutionary path of his Esper Ability.

"…That is so cheating." That was what Alina said after she heard Alex's dilemma. "Not only your Esper Ability can fully evolve right now, it also had its own choice! Hmph, and you are complaining that you can't choose among the two of them?"

"Well, yeah…" Alex said as he saw that indeed, Alina was quite irritated with what Alex got. "Are you… angry?"

"Well, just a little." Alina admitted as she let out a sigh. "However, don't feel bad about it. Anyone of us can feel jealous too. So don't take it to your heart."

"…That's great. I thought you will just sulk in the corner once I tell you about my evolution path." Alex said as he let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness that did not happen."

"Huh? You expected me to sulk? Now I am mad!" Alina exclaimed as this time, she was looking really angry. "You thought I will sulk like a child ? That is just childish!"

"Well you are sulking right now…"

"Shut it." Alina said as she gave a frosty glare at Alex. "Say anything more, and I will cancel our date later."

"Okay…"

Once she had cowed Alex into submission Alina let out a huff as she looked at Alex. "Alex, if you want me to help out with making a choice, I have to apologize to you, since I will not do that."

"Huh?"

"You should follow what you truly desire instead of what I want you to get." Alina said as she lightly poked Alex's chest. Outside influence on your decision will just make your choice worse. Follow your heart, as that is one of the things that cannot lie to you. Trust me on this one, as I am an expert regarding truths and lies."

"…Got it." Alex solemnly replied as he understood Alina's point. "I will start… inquiring my heart then."

Alex then did not waste any time as he started to inquire himself on what does he really want.

Does he want to gain access to the subatomic world, or does he want the path to become a possible wielder of the forces that hold the universe together?

After a few minutes of introspection, Alex opened his eyes. Alina and the others nodded upon seeing Alex's eyes, seeing the resolve present in them.

"I have made my choice already." Alex said as he stood up. He then proceeded to place a blanket on his Abyss Sprites as he said,

"My evolution path shall be…"