Growing

Sometime later, Merlin made his way out of his penthouse. The Beast Tide had more or less been taken care of, and the puppets, bot Logistics and warfare, were increasing in number at astonishing speeds. However, most of the citizens of Cayden were still on their ventures into the world trying to level up as much as possible. Naturally, there were some deaths during this, but that could not be helped.

The world had changed. It was no longer the 'Democracy' that humans were used to 2 years ago. This was the Apocalypse, where one rule prevails all others;

[Survival of the Fittest]

Just like the true wild, only those with the will and ability to live, will survive, and those lacking any of these would die.

And this was the world that Merlin had known for the past 7 years, and the world that he was trying to prevent when creating the Sanctum and Cayden.

However…

*Sigh*

'In the end, I couldn't do much.'

Merlin looked at the dark and gloomy sky which was, along with the people, and Earth itself, changed with every mana burst. Not only did the laws of the plane strengthen, even the very matter and anti-matter within each neutron, proton and electron at a sub-atomic level was strengthening.

Behind him, Bvida was silently following, her hands trembling from the force she had to use to cut Merlin's hair. This was only natural, and she wouldn't even be able to but a scratch on Merlin since she was just a Tier 1, and he was a peak Tier 3 being, who just needed a few more kills to reach the next Tier.

Suddenly, a gasp came from the street to the right of Merlin, causing him to snap out of his stupor and look over, finding Jack present there, slightly wounded in many places but quickly healing. He was most likely returning from a levelling expedition.

"You! Did you go to GTA barbers or something!" Jack was utterly dumbfounded.

Merlin's long black hair and beard, which truly reminded those who saw him of the mythical figure of the old days called Merlin. But now! He had completely changed. His long and unkempt hair had transformed into hair which one would find from wigs! And his long and tangled beard had become a perfectly cut beard with straight hair, similar to those you would expect to see in certain anime and manga.

"Kekeke, you jealous? You can beg me, maybe I might consider getting Bvida to give you a hair but as well"

"Tch. Never mind! I'm off. I need to rest for some time. I spent all my mana this time and barely escaped. Thankfully those puppets of yours were ready when I reached the walls."

Silence permeated the usually bustling street as Jack was walking away. Suddenly, Merlin spoke just loud enough for Jack to hear and no one else.

"Jack… You better not die before I do…" Merlin was about to continue but his mouth stopped working and he could only speak in his mind.

'This time.'

Jack stopped moving, but Merlin recovered and continued his leisurely walk as he threw a few more spells which killed a few more Tier 3s, allowing him to reach the limit of Tier 3, allowing him to evolve once more.

Without any hesitation, Merlin instructed Bvida to do whatever she wanted, and began to fly to one of the Cryo-chambers while informing All those he trusted and could contact directly about him going into the 'stasis state' in order to evolve once more.

All those of Phillip's race were not surprised at this, and Mecha was just happy. However, Foveros was completely shocked.

'Didn't he just evolve to Tier 3 a few hours back?'

Being a Blood-wolf of the highest bloodline, Foveros would slowly gain more and more knowledge as his Tier increased, and his bloodline grew stronger. By now, since he had just evolved to tier 3, he knew who his parents were and the reason for them dropping him on this barren plane. The reason was quite interesting to Foveros in fact.

'This plane is not a barren plane. In is an incredibly large plane for its Rank, being as large as Rank 5 planes while being Merely Rank 2.'

These Ranks were the classification those below the Blood Being used to separate the different planes with different levels of growth, shown by the number of mana bursts.