21 Chapter 21: Garden of Eden (Evolution)

Just as Mordred's words ended, 5 treantlings appeared out of the forest. They each looked similar to the one that Persephone had killed earlier.

Without exchanging any more words, the group began their long-range attacks. Nyx was in the trees at the edge of the forest. She launched 2-3 wooden spears at each of the treantlings.

The treantlings were unprepared and were all hit. While only two of them were killed, the other 3 were slowed down due to the position of the spears in their bodies.

With all of her targets even slower than they were when running at her, Persephone had an even easier time killing them off. Each treantling was on the receiving end of a single fire bolt before being burned to death while screaming in pain.

No one let down their guards because they heard the shouts of even more treantlings coming. The next group was a group of 6 that was quickly followed up by another group of 7.

With 13 arriving all at once, Mordred knew he had to act.

"Nyx and Persephone, attack from my left to right. I will start with those on the right to take them down."

"Got it!" 'Yes!'

Mordred charged forward with his blade in hand and cut down on the leftmost treantling but was surprised that his blade could not cut all the way through it with a single move.

'Damn. Guess a 10 level difference against a creature that specializes in the constitution stat was foolish on my part. Guess I will have to use those.

[Oni's Body], [Tranquil Fury]!'

[ Tier 6 Skill: Oni's Body (LV 1): Skill of all Oni. The user is able to triple their strength and constitution for 10X seconds. X equals the skill level. Cooldown: 20 minutes

Tier 5 Skill: Tranquil Fury (LV 1): Skill of Blue Oni. The user is able to enter a state where their fury is directed at their enemies without losing their reasoning. Will and Mobility triple for 10X seconds. X equals skill level. Cooldown: 20 minutes]

Feeling the surge of strength, Mordred tried to continue his slash and he tore through the treantling. The treantling was torn in half while even the one beside it was not spared from Mordred's strike while it also died.

'Gotta move fast!'

Mordred did not focus on the enemies he killed before attacking the next target. His blade felt like it was cutting through paper with his enhanced strength. By the time the 10 seconds were over, Mordred had killed 9 of the treantlings.

Nyx and Persephone were able to easily kill the other 4 treantlings whose bodies were lying on the floor. Two were burnt while the other two had sticks coming out of the back of their heads.

Looking at the situation and where the treants had died, Mordred realized that he may not have had to interfere.

The treantlings did not stop coming, though. For an hour, Mordred, Persephone, and Nyx battled countless treantlings until there were finally no more.

By the time it was finally over, Mordred had to dismiss Nyx due to his lack of mana while Persephone was down to less than 10% of her total amount even after leveling up several times. The pairs plan was truly reckless when someone either recalled it later but it worked out in the end.

Persephone and Mordred had leveled up several times and reached level 22 and 21 respectively. Their stats had increased by a large amount and each had even managed to level up a skill.

Mordred had managed to get his [Basic Weapon Proficiency] to level 2 while Persephone got her [Firebolt] to level 2 as well. They had also managed to grab 3 ability books, 2 [Thorn Armor] and [Crush].

Seeing how tired Persephone was, Mordred picked up the skill books before carrying his tired teammate into the forest. Inside, they had cleared out all the local treantlings and would not have to worry about aerial foes.

"Thanks, Mori."

Mordred set down the little witch next to a tree as he viewed his stats. They had improved by a large margin due to his sudden increase of 10 levels.

He paused a moment after remembering about Nyx. He immediately opened up her status and was greeted by a pleasant surprise.

[

Name: Nyx

Level: 21/15 (Evolutions Available)

Rank: D-Rank

Potential: Low

Type: Dark Spirit

Current Abilities:

-Tier 3 Skill: Telepathy (Lv 1), Tier 3 Skill: Telekinesis (Lv 3), Tier 2 Spell: Stealth (Lv 2), Tier 1 Skill: Unnerving Moan (Lv 2)

]

Seeing that Nyx was ready to evolve and did not lose the chance to gain her levels, Mordred was happy. He focused on the [Evolution Available] before being presented a list.

[

3 Evolution Available

D Rank: Ghost, Special Abilities: Tier 1 Spell: Minor Hex, Potential: Low

C Rank: Zombie, Special Abilities: Tier 1 skill: Unnerving Moan (Already Detected), Potential: Low

C Rank: Banshee, Special Abilities: Tier 3 Sonicbolt (Will Replace Unnerving Moan): Potential: Mid

]

Seeing the evolution he was hoping for by getting the skill [Unnerving Moan], Mordred was very pleased. Her potential would even change.

'It seems like that book it right. The only issue is what most modern researchers have said. The first evolution can be manipulated easily but the ones after are much more difficult. This is true. I don't even know what comes after a banshee.

That just makes this even more interesting though. It means I can either do a ton of research about ancient creatures and rare beasts or I can experiment on my own. Even better, I can both.'

Thinking these happy thoughts, Mordred did not hesitate to choose the banshee evolution. Even if he could not evolve Nyx into a superior/rare species again, a banshee was still much better than a ghost or zombie.

[Evolution beginning. Time until completion: 00:00:29:56] (days, hours, minutes, seconds)

With his familiar evolution secure, Mordred did not hesitate to spend his new 2 ability points on [Basic Incription] and [Storage] bringing their levels up to 4 and 2 respectively, even without him writing a single inscription yet or using the storage much.

'I'll start practicing once we leave here. Without a safe zone, this place is too dangerous.'

He looked over to see that Persephone was also messing around with her attributes so he did not disturb her.

Mordred made use of their short break to spend his newly gained system points. He bought the proficiency skills for SMGs, PDWs, Sniper Rifles, Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, and Advanced Firearms.

He had also purchased several pieces of equipment as well using his new knowledge. He bought an AK, an MSR, and a P90 as well as various attachments for each one.

The AK was apparently a standard assault rifle that was easy to manufacture and maintained even in the harshest of conditions. Mordred attached 40 round magazines to it, a suppressor, a red dot sight, a grenade launcher, and also customized the barrel, grip, and stock. Mordred designed the gun to excel at mid-range.

The P90 was a PDW that specialized in taking out targets at close range while reducing the chance of over-penetration and ricochet. It fired off bullets even faster than the AK did at close range.

To compliment the gun, Mordred gave it a silencer as well before shortening the barrel even further before giving the gun better under barrel and rear grips. Since the gun already came with a sight, Mordred did not change it.

As for the MSR, it was a bolt-action sniper rifle that had great accuracy up to 1,500 meters. Mordred got it to make up for his lack of artillery-long-range abilities as well as to scout with. The bullets the gun came with were much more destructive than the previous two so it could not be used in close range or near allies without having to worry about friendly fire.

Mordred attached a suppressor to the gun as well as added a bipod to enhance his stability when sniping and changing the stock and the barrel to ensure steadier aim. He also switched out the magazine type from the standard 5 to the 10 bullet magazines.

Mordred also bought 500 ammo for his AK, 300 for the P90, and 50 for the MSR as well as holsters for each. In total, he spent 60,000 system points of his passive skills as well as another 60,000 thousand on equipment.

'And I will have to replace it or upgrade it all by the time school starts next year. This system truly is the embodiment of gluttony, taking away all my points like this.'

Mordred put all of his newly gained equipment away except for the holsters, which he put on his body. After taking a moment to think about it, Mordred also summoned his P90 and kept it in his hands as he watched over Persephone.

The pair spent the next hour recovering their stamina and mana.