First Evolution

[Energy: 1000/1000]

Though it took quite a while, the red prism was finally fully charged up, no longer accepting any of the energy from the red water. It was now letting out a fairly strong glow, almost like it was a special light bulb.

Kairos retrieved it and shook off the few droplets of water still on it.

Nicole was still watching from the steps behind. She couldn't help but be interested in the glowing prism.

"It looks kinda like a glowstick."

Kairos shrugged his shoulders.

"A little bit."

Even after tucking it away, Nicole continued to stare at him from here.

Kairos couldn't help but cough.

"Are you going to go up?"

Nicole tilted her head to the side.

"I'm just waiting for you."

Kairos waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about me, I just want to be alone for a moment."

Nicole seemed rather hesitant.

"O-Ok..."

She began walking up the steps, but took several glances over her shoulder before she left. Once she did, Kairos let out a soft sigh.

[Status]

[ID: 345315364923]

[Rank: 51/150 Evolution Energy - 50 required for Rankup]

[Objective: Evolve]

[Proof Of Perfection Points: 27.8]

[Stats -

Strength - 4.9

Endurance - 4.9

Agility - 4.9

Willpower - 4.9

Mana Capacity - 0.0

Magic Affinity - 0.0]

[Special Abilities: N/A]

[Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F-)]

[Evolve]

[Hide]

Kairos noticed the new option, evolve, just casually sitting there.

And so, he decided to press it.

Several panels popped up.

[Use 5 points for stable evolution? Yes/No]

[Use 10 points for natural ability? Yes/No]

[Use 5 points for Frost Spell or Fire Spell? Frost/Fire | Yes/No]

[Confirm]

After a bit of deliberation, Kairos decided to put on his glasses, and saw something really different.

[Points will be used, if had, for evolution]

[Use 5 points for Frost Spell? Yes/No]

[Confirm]

The first two choosable options disappeared, while the option to take the fire spell had also left. Kairos couldn't help but furrow his brows.

It seemed that at least 5 points were needed for one to evolve stably, while 10 points would give some sort of ability. However, one wouldn't know that under normal circumstances given how vague it was. If one also wanted to acquire the spell, that would be another 5 points.

In total, that was 20 points for just the evolution. That kind of price was quite frightening given that his total stats did not even add up to twenty when they were maxed out.

...When the others tried to evolve, he would have to stop them before they hit twenty points.

It seemed that spells could only be acquired during the evolution process, or at least most easily during so. That meant that rising in evolution rank recklessly without enough points would be terrible for one's foundation. Their strength in the long run would probably decline significantly.

After letting out a soft sigh, Kairos put the glasses back on.

"...And here I thought I had plenty of points."

He selected yes for all the options and decided to take the fire spell. His reasoning was that it would let him start a fire, which they could then use to cook food. Though Kairos knew it was theoretically possible to start a fire out in the wilderness, he also had no idea how to do so.

Kairos double checked that everything was selected properly, and confirmed that the fire spell was what he wanted.

Then, he pressed confirm.

Almost immediately, Kairos felt his body seize up, but return control the next second. Warmth radiated from his body uncomfortably, while various strange squirming feelings filled up his entire body, almost like there were countless parasites within.

However, it also felt like the parasites were created from his own body itself.

Kairos noticed that his bones were growing larger, making him a couple of centimeters taller. He began to sweat from nearly every orifice as his body expanded ever so slightly.

The process itself was not painful, though it was uncomfortable. This was against Kairos' expectations, especially since all of the evolution he had seen was accompanied by painful screams and frightening mutations.

He eventually assumed that it was because of the five points he spent on a stable evolution. Perhaps if he didn't pick that... he would be turning into a monster right now.

After a while, Kairos felt that things settled down.

He was about to open his status panel, but before he could, something else assaulted his senses. However, it was quite pleasant.

Some refreshing cool energy began seeping into his body, circulating through his blood and giving him a strange sense of relief.

It was almost like he began breathing for the first time in his life.

After a bit of confusion, Kairos immediately thought of something.

Mana.

He opened up his status panel once more.

[Status]

[ID: 345315364923]

[Rank: 1/1500 Evolution Energy - 500 required for Rankup]

[Objective: Evolve]

[Proof Of Perfection Points: 7.8]

[Stats -

Strength - 4.9

Endurance - 4.9

Agility - 4.9

Willpower - 4.9

Mana Capacity - 0.1

Magic Affinity - 0.1]

[Special Abilities: Fire Spell (F), Pulse Spell (F)]

[Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F-)]

[Evolve]

[Hide]

Kairos was slightly startled by the giant increase in evolution points needed for a rank up. However, he quickly got over it. Instead, his eyes went towards his mana capacity and magic affinity stat.

They were both at 0.1, as opposed to zero. Not to mention, the option to add points to them was no longer greyed out.

As expected, Kairos was able to gain the fire spell. On top of that, he gained the pulse spell which was the natural ability he spent 10 points on.

He intuitively understood how to use both of them. Though, he didn't exactly understand the theory behind it. It was like how most people could walk, but far less would be able to explain the specific muscle contractions needed in order to keep balance and walk forward.

Eager to test it out, he reached out with his hand towards the wall and casted the pulse spell. In the process of casting, Kairos already felt quite exhausted, the cool feeling circulating within his blood quickly disappeared as it gathered towards his hand.

Then, with a faint swish, a sudden force shot out of his hand.

It slammed against the wall with a dull thud. When Kairos moved his hand out of the way, he saw a circular dent in the wall, with a diameter of almost half a meter.

The dent was only a centimeter or two thick, but this was quite satisfying to Kairos. After all, his magic stats were as low as they could get right now. If they were increased, the power should also be increased tremendously.

After a period of deliberation, he decided that mana capacity was going to be his biggest priority. He came to this conclusion because of Chase, who frequently ended up unable to shoot his deadly arrows because of the lack of mana.

And so, he increased it.

[Mana Capacity 0.1 -> 5.0 | Points 7.8 -> 2.9]

Kairos immediately felt like the blood circulating through his veins had become empty. However, he could feel the presence of mana in the air slowly filling up that emptiness.

He then thought about if he should save some points for increasing his physical stats. But considering they were already pretty high and his magic was lagging behind, he decided to dump it all into magic affinity.

[Magic Affinity 0.1 -> 3.0 | Points 2.9 -> 0]

Kairos felt like the mana suddenly became clearer, almost like it used to be a faint fog, but now had condensed into little droplets.

He reached out towards the wall with his hand again, before gathering mana towards his palm. Something that was immediately apparent was that he could choose how much mana he put into the spell.

After a bit of hesitation, he decided to put less than half of the maximum mana he could inject in.

Then, let the spell loose.

A faint whipping sound rang out, and immediately after, a deafening bang reverberated throughout the building.

Kairos blinked a few times.

"Huh."

He did not need to move his hand to see that he had blown away the wall next to him, creating a hole that was roughly five meters in diameter. It was almost like the wall had been shot by some massive bullet.

Past the wall was the outside, revealing the red rain that came pouring down.

Nicole immediately rushed down the steps.

"Kairos? What happened?!"

Kairos coughed awkwardly.

"Um... it seems I have increased my rank."

Nicole blinked a few times.

"Eh?"

Kairos walked up the steps, and was greeted by both curious and frightful expressions.

Chase raised his head up from his lying position.

"Did something happen?"

Kairos coughed.

"So... that giant monster I killed earlier gave me a lot of points. And with those points, I was given the option to evolve. After doing that, it used up my points and I was given some spells to use. The sound you just heard was the effect of that spell."

Chase's eyes widened.

"...Wow. I'm jealous. If I was just a little bit more accurate with that arrow, I would've been the one to get those points."

He laid his head back down and sighed.

"But alas, my aim was off."

Kairos shrugged his shoulders.

"You will be able to increase your rank soon too, I imagine. Plus, you are already able to use mana, aren't you? If you did rank up, it would probably make your arrows even stronger."

Chase coughed.

"The chances for that are low."

Tori frowned slightly.

"We should've gotten some points as well. We took part in killing the monster."

Kairos blinked a few times.

"I don't think that's possible. It just seems that the points are given to the killer regardless. Anyway, since my rank increased I won't be getting as many points from the kills, so I will let you all do so if there isn't any big threat."

Tori let out a soft sigh.

"I suppose that's just the way it is."

Sydney had paused slightly, but then continued eating some food.

Seeing this, Kairos finally felt the extreme hunger from his body. He couldn't tell earlier because of his excitement.

"Hey, where's the food on this floor?"

Sydney pointed towards a direction and kept one hand over her mouth as she chewed.

"Over there."

Kairos jogged over to that location and began eating everything like a wolf. Everyone else also began eating.

Once they finished up, they decided to take shifts. Kairos was still not comfortable letting either Chase or Tori take a shift, thus rotated with Nicole and her parents.

Chase let out a casual remark about it, but did not protest any more than that. As for Tori, she didn't have a single complaint, directly falling asleep right then and there.

Chase and Kairos were both quite surprised with how little Tori cared, but that was probably better anyway.

And so, the night passed by uneventfully.

By the time morning came around, Kairos got up and stretched. He couldn't help but think he slept really well, despite doing so on a few pairs of clothes he took from the store.

It was then he remembered there were no longer any more nightmares about that red sun.

On the other hand, the others seemed half dead when they woke up, not used to sleeping without their beds. The only exception to this was Tori.

She had actually slept on the cold hard ground, not even getting anything underneath herself. And she woke up with a neutral expression, almost like sleeping like that was normal to her.

Kairos let out a soft sigh.

"Hopefully the rain is gone by now. If it isn't, then we will have to stay here for a little longer."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Then we should be able to make it to the wilderness."