The New Evolution?!
Chapter 5
"Really? It does make sense, as you could have easily conquered this disgusting world if you had your original power. Do not worry, my lord, I will always serve you until I die. Now, what is our next move?" Spike said, surprisingly understanding of the situation. I thought that my cover would have been blown should I reveal that I was not as powerful as he thought, but it seems loyalty is hard-earned, and hard to break as well.
"Well, I think we should take care of the traitors first, don't you?" I said, grinning wide. With a hint of malice shining in his eyes, Spike simply nodded and turned his heel, apparently knowing the way towards his former comrades. Going into a slight jog, we were booking it through the school at high speeds, thanks to my new system.
With constant glances from Spike, they were able to run to the first 'traitor' in no time. The monster in question was currently ripping out the spinal column of a younger scholar, looking around my age, as well as pretty hot. Although I am not a lecher, I did feel a bit bad that I wasn't able to use her.
Upon seeing his former comrade, I felt radiating anger rolling off of Spike, which, much like in my room, disappeared instantly and reappeared behind the first monster, which was decapitated, both bodies falling to the ground with a splat. One down, ten to go.
Speeding through the hallways, it did not take long to kill the rest of them, as well as to incapacitate the rest of the students on the side, out of the sight of Spike. Resting my hands on my knees, panting, we paused our killing spree outside, where we usually have our morning ceremonies. Anyways, with all that done, I sat down on the fleshy body of the tenth creature, preparing to check my status.
"Oh, Spike, I wanted you to do something else," I said, trying to think of an assignment for him to do.
"Your wish is my command, my lord," Spike said dutifully.
"I need you to scout, this time without killing, the rest of this place, which is called a university. If you find other humans, who are called students and the older ones are called professors, I want you to bring them, captured, to me. Although I might have lost almost all of my former power, I still have some tricks up my sleeves." I said, a crazy grin showing.
"Of course, master." He said, nothing else. Disappearing again, I was now alone, sitting on a corpse of an alien. I do not know how I am staying so calm, but I guess I have to go with it. Anyways, time to check my status.
Status 1.0
<Name: Colin Graves>
<LV: 10 {XP: 150/150}>
<Species: High Human (Evolution at LV 15)>
<Titles: None.>
_____________
<Strength: 29>
<Agility: 30>
<Vitality: 30>
<Mana: 20>
____________
Skills: 3
[Memory Manipulation|Mythical|Active], [Evolution|Mythical|Passive],
[Skill Steal|Mythical|Active]
___________
Manipulated Counter:
{ Species Manipulated:}
Humans-0
Draconic-1
"System, what is the Skill [Skill Steal]?" I asked out loud, wondering what this new skill I got is. Added to a whole new information dump, I got a new, mythical skill. Of course, this must be because of the evolution, which I will have to investigate later.
[Ding! The skill, [Skill Steal], is a skill attributed to the host, and the host only. The skill itself can be used after the person the host chooses is manipulated, stealing one of their skills, by the choice of the host. The drawback is that only skills at the level of the host can be extracted with this skill. As the host levels up, so will the skill and the ability to steal higher ranking skills.]
"Thanks, System," I said, half sarcastic and half meaningful. So, now I can get a more grand scope on what abilities people have, at least for the ones that have systems. I won't have to worry about needing to take skills from weaker beings, as I will most likely be strong enough to deter such a notion that I can be taken down by the minority, which I could only assume is regular humans without systems.
The second thing that I wanted to analyze is my evolution. I thought that I would have a grand evolution, but I guess that that might be too much to ask. Still, my basic stats went up a whole ten points per stat value, so that is a plus. Anyways, all that aside, nothing good came out of evolving into a High Human. Now, I did not have any clue that I would be able to get level ten so quickly.
Maybe some of the students I mentally disabled might have been worth more XP than others due to systems. Throwing a quick punch, it looked much faster than before. This must apply to all of my body parts, as well as my speed and power. Compared to before, I feel like I could lift a car with relative ease. And this is just at 29 strength. Imagine what I could do at 100!
Feeling cross my chest and body, I have also gone through some physical changes as well. I now went from looking like a scrawny shut-in to a professional-level bodybuilder. Happy with this outcome, the last info I got is that my Human counter went down to zero, but kept the label. This must mean that, although Gary was manipulated, after he died he lost value in the eyes of the system.
Not only this, but the counter kept the label of humans, which could mean that the labels were only indicators of what I had encountered, and did not only stay there to differentiate between the races. Not long after I finished my analysis, I heard a bunch of metal rattling somewhere in the distance. Of course, no one was out in the streets at this time, most likely because they were dead or in hiding, and the portals in the sky had now long since closed.
With the sky still gray, it looked like a post-apocalyptic world, which, in a way, it was. Now all that is left is to wait until Spike gets back with the 'Resources'. Speaking of which, the rattling I heard earlier was made by the shuffling of feet, 14 pairs to be exact. Looking up from my spot on the Draconic monster, I saw three professors and eleven students, most with a determined look on their faces.
That is not to say that there were any of them that had scared-shitless faces on. One of the teachers and, surprise surprise, almost all the girls in the group as well. Sending my Manipulation skills out before they were even gathered in front of me, I went out into the group to search for the ones with skills and without.
It turns out it is quite easy to differentiate a System-based human from one without a System. Someone who has integrated with a System, they have two glowing spots, one in the head and one near the heart, which store the Stats, Skills, and other attributes. Out of the fourteen people in the group, nine of them had systems.
Immediately knocking out all of the useless ones, I was left with nine pawns to play with. "Alright, Colins, what the hell is going on here?!" One of the professors asked, emanating a threatening aura. That is also something else that I noticed. I was slowly able to sense the auras of maliciousness, as well as calmness and nonhostility.
"Oh, you still can resist. That is good. I just have a couple of questions for you all. If you answer correctly, I will let you live. If you answer with something unsatisfactory to my expectations, then, you might have a hard time making it outside of this campus in one piece." I said, a crazy smile plastered on my face.
"Oh, come on! This is all some reality show, right? There is no way that my best friend got murdered by a fucking lizard, right?" One delusional student said, who, surprisingly, had one of the strongest auras in the group. Based on her glow I saw from the skill I used, she has a lot of attack power, which is represented by the color red.
"Oh, do you not believe that the world has ended a few hours prior? Then, let me give you an example." Slowly standing up and walking over towards one of the smaller students, I picked them up by their head, which fit snugly in my palm, wrapped my other hand around the base of their neck, and pulled.
With a couple of snaps and tears, both the head and part of the student's spinal cord were separated from the origin with a sickening pop, much like the suction of a hickey. Anyways, the girl in question dropped to the ground, shaking. It does not take much to kill someone's beliefs.