Ancestor

The Evolution Matrix was a simple function in the system.

Its job was to let Alpha shows what evolutionary branches one could choose.

However, as Sylva's evolutionary branch appeared, it didn't even have a name, nor did it have a requirement. Its name was nothing but static gibberish that meant nothing.

'Alpha, are you okay, buddy? Are you sure you're doing okay? Why don't you go back to the Divine Realm and send someone decent to replace you because goddammit, I don't think you know what you're doing.'

[Shut the hell up, would you? That little companion of yours is a new species meaning she has the hidden trait of being an [Ancestor], do you even know what that means?]

Lilith was very hesitant to answer because she knows Alpha would use that moment to talk shit about her, but in the end, she admitted to her ignorance, 'I don't.'

[Lilith, are you okay, my little fragile, weak, scummy, and ignorant friend? Earlier, you criticized me for my inability to comprehend my own job when you don't even know what is left to right in the evolutionary tree. Do you want me to delete the wine? DO YOU!? That [Golden Wanderer] follower of yours had given me a headache ever since she evolved! Do you know how much trouble it is to balance out a new evolutionary trait!?

[The Divine Realm is going haywire, it had been three million years since the last Ancestor Class of any being was born! Her skills and abilities all bypass the set laws, and do you even know how complicated that is? She's not some mere data that we could just patch; you know, we need a lot of time. So shut up and stop talking shit about me and my job and just accept that it's that way and it's going to stay that way because Sylva has no proper origin! You can't trace something that does not exist!]

This was the first time in a long time Lilith heard someone have a rant about their job. And she couldn't rebuke Alpha when she says about her inability to comprehend what was happening because she seriously does not know.

'Fine, I'm sorry about what I said about you not doing your job properly. This lowly host of the system bows down to the great Alpha; please enlighten this stupid one so that I may further respect the great one. And please don't delete my wine. That's the only thing the Goddess gave me that I really liked.'

[You're mocking me, aren't you?]

'Believe it or not, I'm really not.' Lilith answered with honesty, 'So can you just tell me what's happening?'

[Fine, I'm going to dumb it down to your human-daemon mind so that you can understand. Basically, according to the records of the High-Seraphs, the Ancestors are the beings with the densest bloodline. They are the Originators of lineages, per se.

[These Ancestors were higher than Mythical Daemons and are stronger than any being in the physical world. These daemons spread throughout the Universe, and they became the Mother and Fathers of their respective species.

[You remember Mawa? The name you use to make the Ogres subservient? She's an Ancestor-tier being and is sort of treated close to being a God. She's the peak of their evolutionary tree and is every Ogre, Goblin, Orc, and some other species of daemons wish to reach. This is so because the closer you are to the Ancestor, the stronger the daemon becomes, and the more power you can produce. To daemons, bloodline denseness is measured in levels. Why do you think they have level caps and have to evolve when they reached this ceiling? Only humans don't have Ancestors because you guys never evolved even once.]

'Wait, let me stop you there. I thought humans evolved from monkeys?'

[Bullshit, humans didn't evolve. You were created and spawned in this world and were given the mission to propagate. The so-called evolutionary cousins of humans, those monkeys and the like, were simply prototypes for another creation. In fact, those monkeys have their own Ancestors called Sun Wukong (Monkey King), you know, the one who was allegedly born from the Immortal Stone? Moving forward, you humans were created as is, and the things you excavated are some monkeys who failed to evolved and become Sun Wukong or even reach Epic-tier. This world was much more vulnerable to Spatial Cracks after a Genocidal-Class Catasthrophy happened, from what I can gather.

[We're getting sidetracked, but to make the details even simpler, Ancestors are the Parents of all daemons. Daemons strive to stand closer to the Ancestor as much as possible and make their bloodlines stronger. That's the Primal calling of most daemons.]

'Hoooh, so that's how it is. So, let me guess, the Evolution Matrix tracks down the closest bloodline to their Ancestor, giving my followers and me the strongest possible form out of the ocean of daemon evolutions. And because Sylva is the first of her kind, you can't trace her in the Evolutionary Matrix needing to create a new form for her. She's kind of like the glitch in the Matric.'

[Ding, ding, you got it right, have a cookie. For her to evolve, no requirements are needed because we don't know shit about her. But due to this, she needs a lot of LE because the system considers her as powerful. After all, that follower of yours is going to be an OP being once she reaches her full potential.]

Lilith took in a sharp, deep breath as she looked at Sylva, who was patiently watching her 'think'.

'Damn, Sylva is going to be really useful. Good thing I didn't give her to Pixie Lord at that time.'

Alpha just kept silent because she already knows that Lilith was aware of what she needed to do. Alpha had something much better and tedious to do than comment on this little runt's values and then contemplate why the hell the Goddess picked her.

She had to regulate the Ancestor Sylva when she evolves, and that takes a long, long time to do. She also had to contact the higher realm to receive the blueprints for the evolution and what kind of skills they would grant her.

"Sylva, you can just evolve here and now. There is no problem; that glitchy thing that appears before you are simply signs of power. It simply means you're going to be a strong daemon who will stand at the peak in the future."

"Really?"

"Yes, you'll be able to evolve without a problem."

Staring at Sylva, Lilith was excited to announce about the issue that there was no problem.

With Sylva being the child she was, she didn't hesitate to click on the Evolutionary Matrix. She believed Lilith to the point of blind faith, so why not trust her for this as well? With that said, an orange light exploded out of Sylva's body and wrapped her to make an egg-like cocoon. The orange color reverted to blue in the next moment.

[Timer: 29:24:59:59]

"A month?"

[Don't complain; I need to register her new evolution to the Divine Realm, we will also be needing to generate her a new body after designing one. 30 days is fast enough for a new being. Do you know how long the Ancestors took in order to be created? 50,000,000 years each. And that's still when the Universe had yet to be born, so don't complain. Just be thankful that the higher realm collected billions of data all these years to make this quick creation possible... though I do have a bad feeling about this.]

Lilith clicked her tongue as she actually really needed Sylva for her plan to work.

'Well, the Spatial Marking lasts for 30 – 35 days when placed in a live being, so I supposed this is acceptable.'

With that, the whole issue of evolution was settled. Dhampy would later evolve when midnight arrived.

[Timer: 19:24:59:59]

Dhampy was also going to take her sweet time evolving.

Lilith actually wanted to postpone Dhampy's evolution, but because they did not know how long it would take to prepare a slaughter, she didn't want to let the opportunity go. So, she killed some LVL 50 mindless daemons to recover the needed LE and then had Dhampy evolve.

Then, the time came. The exact day she told Mirsha to call the Hunter's Association came. Before the rescue arrived, Lillith proceeded to burn down the village after joining Chief and the rest in a hunt for a proxy to take the blame.

'This will make our Extermination Ranking disappear, and with that Hunter under my control through Sylva's marking, I'll have contact with the human society. While Sylva and Dhampy are asleep and in the process of evolving, I need to find a place to settle down with the daemons so I can go ahead and start taking over this Stronghold and begin world domination.

'But before that, I think I'll clear out this place of daemons and cores before we leave. Hehehe, this is going to be fun.'

Her troops had dwindled, and two of the most valuable daemons she had were asleep. At the moment of Lilith's awakening, she was given lots and lots of things to do. But she didn't care because, in return, she could see a brighter future.

She and Letza have also gained a lot of followers after the escapades in the Forest of Beast.

Their loyalty was secured, and on the brighter side of things because of the Island's destruction, Lilith no longer needed to think about how to reach a Stronghold.

Right now, Lilith had every means to start anew. But unlike when she first got reborn as a daemon, Lilith now had a starter pack of troops. And as she led them to another home, her devilish smile blossomed.

'This time for sure, I'll take over a Stronghold.'