Evolution

They both spent the entire day in the training room, honing their skills. After a long and exhausting day, Will decided to rest in order to be ready for his mission tonight. He had checked the security, and he believed that with his [ Invisibility ] skill, he would be able to bypass and enter the training ground.

Night soon came, and Will, with his weapons secured in his storage ring, decided to head out. He carefully walked towards the door, hoping not to make a sound that would wake Issaiah up.

Finally, out of the room, he quickly activated the invisibility skill.

[ Invisibility lvl 1: When activated host would be undetectable by others. ]

[ 50 energy points per minute ]

He carefully navigated his way out of the dorm building and was out on the open air.

'OK, I need to be extremely careful from here onwards.' During the night, the guards assigned usually patrolled around, making sure no one was seen moving about during late hours.

Although the skill never stated if he could be detected by individuals at higher realms, he still decided to take care. Passing through the training building, he headed straight, and soon, no building was in sight.

When passing through the building, he noticed a guard had reacted to his presence, but with quick thinking, he was able to avoid being caught.

Although no building was in site, this area was strictly guarded with high realm individuals. Sometimes, seeing a large group of soldiers gathered, he would have to find another way through in order to avoid unnecessary situations.

Finally, he had reached the large facilty used in holding the beast.

'Let's see, one, two, three... ten. Ten guards in total, and one is at the peak advanced realm. I need to pass through them to access the building.'

"Activate [ dash ] skill," he mumbled, taking a deep breath.

[ Dash lvl 1: Increases host speed twice his stat for 30secs ]

[ 50 energy points to activate ]

"Distribute two stats point to agility."

[ Agility: 17 (19) ]

Stepping backwards, he prepared himself. "One, two... three." With the skill active, he dashed forward and leapt high jumping over the fence.

With a frown, the advanced realm soldier expressed, "I sensed some movement in the area."

"It's nothing," one of them said, dropping a pile of cards on the makeshift table they had constructed.

"C'mon, let's continue with our game," another said, holding onto a bottle that was already half drained.

[ 15 secs left for dash skill to deactivate ]

Seeing this, he decided to make use of the opportunity. The facility was a vast expanse with various trees around the area.

From what he had heard from Dren, the highest beast one could face was a low stage advanced tier beast.

With his sword firmly held, he dashed through the forest, and finally, he caught sight of a group of beasts.

Tsk. He halted in his step, his eyes scanning the beasts. They were eating a large beast which they had successfully hunted down.

What would happen if I were to level up amidst battle, he thought with a frown. He had to be careful since the area was roamed by beast. If he were to go through an evolution, he might as well be powerless to protect himself.

[ Dash skill is in cool down: 10 minutes ]

"Let's find a safe place to stay in case of an evolution." He ignored the beast as he sped through the area, his eyes looking for a safe place he could stay.

"This will do," he muttered, standing before a cave that was slightly deep. Entering inside, he scanned the area for any beast staying within. With his check over, he headed onto the next phase of his prepared plan.

Scanning the area, he picked out sources closest to the cave with basic tier beasts. With this, he picked out his first prey. Within seconds, he had defeated the beast, leaving it barely alive. Five minutes after, he was a few meters away from the cave, with four beasts dangling on his hand.

Drawing out his sword, he performed a slash, killing the group of beasts at once. Without wasting time, he kept the beasts body in his ring and then entered the cave.

[ You've defeated four basic tier beasts ]

[ 100 exp ]

Ding!

Level up!

[ Host have reached the requirement ]

[ Evolution would now begin ]

Soon after he read the system notifications, he felt a searing pain in his entire body. His bones were breaking and healing at an insane speed. He could feel the blood rushing towards his head.

"Argghh," he let out a scream. His fingers digging into the ground of the cave.

"C'mon... just... have to... bear... the pain," he barely muttered with his eyes turning bloodshot.

"Arrgggh!" He let out another blood, culling scream, his voice echoing across the forest. The energy coming from his body was so large, hitting the ceiling of the cave.

"Do you hear that?" Outside the building, the group of soldiers were busy playing cards unaware of what was going on in the facility.

With the energy coming off from the process, it soon spread across the forest. The weak beasts huddled in their holes as they felt the intense energy. Soon, a group of advanced tier beasts headed towards the source of energy.

If one was within the forest, they would be able to see the changes occurring in some of the beasts. Some of the beasts went through evolution. The energy was raw and untamed, far more powerful than the energy one would gain from beast crystals.

The group of advanced tier beast bold enough to move all rushed towards the cave the earth trembling under their steps.

Out of nowhere, a whip of crackling lightning struck most of the beast, delivering serious damage within their ranks.

"What the hell is going on?" A figure muttered, his cloak flapping under the intense breeze. He landed on the ground and dashed towards the beast.

'Since no one is around, I can fully go all out,' the figure said as a broad sword materialized. The hilt of the sword was made from the skull of a beast with the blade emitting a dark glow.

With each swing of his sword, many of the beast fell their lives, slipping away. Soon, he was the only one standing, with beast corpse littered across the ground.

'Someone might discover this when hunting,' he thought as he put his palms on the ground. A massive wave of lightning was sent forward, obliterating everything in its part. He was careful not to cause more damage to the surroundings.

Rising off the ground, he walked towards the beast crystals littered across. The beast's parts had all been destroyed, leaving no trace.

"Now, time to locate the root of the problem." He said, looking towards the distance where a dense cloud of energy gathered. Dashing forward, he leapt from tree to tree, heading to the source of energy.

"This energy... I can feel it reacting with my body," he thought.

~~~~

Will lay on the ground, his clothes torn by the maelstrom of energy. Finally, the evolution was over, but he had passed out during the process.

"Ughh," he groaned, his consciousness coming back. He struggled to push himself across the ground towards the edge of the cave.

"Careful," a voice said, stretching forth his hand. Without much thought, Will held onto the hand, and he was gently carried towards the cave edge.

Leaning across the cave, he was finally recovering fully from the evolution.

"Shit! That was one hell of a pain," he thought. He rested his head for some minutes, and finally, he could feel the changes in his body. His body was flowing with energy. He could feel the large tide of energy within and was awestruck.

"Just how long was I out?" He thought.

The dazzling glow of the system notifications flickered at the edge of his eyes.

Are you done staring?

"Huh!" He jumped up, looking at the cave. His eyes fell upon a figure leaning with his legs on the cave wall.

"Issaiah! What are you doing here?" Will asked, unable to hide his surprised tone. He quickly stood up, deciding to view the system message later.

"I don't know how long you want to stay here, but it will be dawn soon." He said, finally moving from his spot.

"Dawn soon?!" Will exclaimed rushing out of the cave. Truly, it would soon be dawn, and his chance of escape would be very low.

His head was in a jumbled mess, still perplexed about seeing Issaiah. Looking at Issaiah, he gave a nod toward Issaiah before jumping out of the cave.

After navigating through the forest, he finally saw the high fence. Activating the [ invisibility ] skill along with his [ dash ] and [ enhanced senses ], jumped over the fence, and then manipulated the wind, landing softly. He dashed forward without pausing, his eyes scanning the area.

It wasn't long before he appeared at the dorm building. Pheww! Opening the door, he jumped on his bed, exhausted from the whole event.

"He isn't back yet," he thought. "I'm pretty sure he would come straight here."

"Now, it's time to check the system messages."