Next Evolution

The first floor was filled with zombies for the most part, and some wolves. Ultimately, it was home to low-level undead zombies. This also meant that it took less than a minute before Victor came across another zombie, that is excluding the ones that were following him.

"Before anything, this entire floor is filled with only low-level zombies, so there really is no need to keep these guys with me. Losing them is detrimental in the least." Victor said, as he glanced over at the zombies under his control.

The next minute, and the zombies that were with him looked to be missing significantly noticeable body parts. In fact, despite being undead, none of them were alive, and that was also an experiment Victor had been wanting to do, that he finally remembered to this time.

Despite the fact that he had used them basically as an evolution farm or something similar, he also tested his theories to clearly specify his limits.

According to what he was able to deduce, being an undead was truly incredible. On top the effects of one of his titles, True Undead, as an undead, unless he suffers a critical injury to the head, he would not die. The only thing was that the zombies were unable to regenerate their injuries, not to talk of lost limbs.

'But it shouldn't be so.'

"System, what is the difference between these low-level zombies and myself?" He asked, as he wanted to clarify and cement his understanding.

[These zombies, despite the fact that they are low level, their evolutionary rank, or level is also low. Just like yourself some time ago, they are all low rank zombies]

[As it is for all creatures, no matter how high one's level is, if their rank in evolution is low, they can never go past a certain threshold. This is also why a human of level 100 will never be able to beat a dragon of 20 levels lower than them]

[This is also where skills come into play]

"This world.. So complex. System, you will need to explain and elaborate more so that I understand everything well." Victor said, as he took a seat on the hard ground beside one of the dead zombies.

The system elaborated on what it had said and explained the whole concept of strength more to Victor. He did have a lot of questions, but thankfully the system answered all.

From this new information, he was able to build on what he already knew, further cementing his knowledge about this new world he was in.

Basically, evolution was a very important aspect that Victor would have to focus on more than he initially intended, and the race and lineage of a creature mattered the most when it came to strength. Simply put, when measuring the strength of monsters and all other creatures, human or not, without including skills, their bloodlines played the most important role. A monster alligator with some trace of dragon bloodline in level 50, would be able to best one from the same species as himself that is at level 60, without the use of skills, and even if skills were involved, it would have a higher chance of winning. Even though this alligator had only a weak bloodline, if the amount was sufficient, it was enough.

Of course, this didn't mean that these bloodlines would be flying around in all creatures and monsters. The bloodline had to be an active one to begin with. Lizards are normally descendants of dragons and those higher ranked reptiles. That doesn't mean they would all be ranked high in the evolution tree.

"Geez, these things are all so unnecessarily complex. Doesn't that mean these undead would have the bloodline of some vampire or something?" Victor asked jokingly.

[No. Even if they did, the system can only absorb the bloodline that is most abundant and store as evolution material to be used for evolution]

"Figures."

Beep Beep

[System analysis complete. Zombie has been analyzed]

[There has been an update in the system. Please, check it out]

"Hmm.."

Victor mentally opened the status window as he willed it open.

<Status>

Level: 10 (3450/8000)

Name: Zombie#2314

Race: Undead(Zombie)

Evolution Material: 1000

Class:

Title: True Undead [...], One Who is Favoured by 'The Process' [...]

Hp: 245/245

Mp: 100/100

[Stat]

Strength: 20

Agility: 25

Sense: 24

Vitality: 20

Magic: 10

Intelligence: 2

remaining stat point: 30

[Skill tab]

Passive: All Title

Active: Corpse Manipulation lvl-2

..

Evolution Material:

-Fiery Tailed Wolf – 1000

-Zombie – 5000/7000 (can be further evolved)

..

-Zombie – 5000/7000 (can be further evolved)

Next evolution – High rank Zombie.

..

"Huh? Can be further evolved? And I was going to ask the system how much material I needed. Guess that has been taken care of now. High rank Zombie, huh? Not bad. It follows the natural process."

"System, the evolution process won't start automatically like last time, right?"

[Yes. After the first evolution, you now have semi-full control over the process] The system answered with its usual cool voice.

"Yeah, you've explained that already. Just making sure." Victor said, as he got back on his feet and walked away.

He ate more zombies, and when he checked next, he had accumulated 12,000 evolution material for the zombie. With that, he returned to the small opening he hid himself in the last time. He was eager to see what the evolution this time will would bring. "This is almost exciting." Victor said, as he accessed the system interface.

..

Evolution Material:

-Fiery Tailed Wolf – 1000

-Zombie – 12000/7000 (can be further evolved)

..

"System, begin the evolution." Victor said. After that, he heard the system prompt, and following it, he gradually lost consciousness.

Beep

[Starting evolution process]

[You will lose consciousness during the evolution process. Make sure you are in a favourable location]

[You will now lose consciousness as evolution begins]

...

After a while of what seemed like just a brief moment, Victor was greeted with the warm and calm system voice, as it read out the notifications that pooped out on the system interface before him.

[Evolution complete]

[You have evolved into a High Rank Zombie]

[Gained new skill Rot Bite]

[Received 7 stat points]

[Strength +3, Agility +2, Sense +2]

[It will take 24hours to completely adjust to new form. Till then, evolution is impossible, unless under favourable for dangerous conditions]

..

"Wow, the system's generous with its rewards. Wait, are these even system rewards? System..."

[New skills are gotten whenever there is a new evolution. This is the same with other rewards]

"Ah, I see. As for 24 hours, that's totally doable."

Victor came out of the crack where he hid himself during the evolution, and the first thing he did after that was check his body to see what was different. There was no stream in the cave nor a mirror where he could see his reflection, so all he could do was rely on his eyes.

Victor's Zombie body had undergone some minor changes. He now looked even more human than before, and had increased in height a bit. Apart from his human appearance and top physical appearance, he had become as pale as a ghost. The colour had been completely drained, that Victor wondered if he actually had a tint of blue in his skin. Apart from that, he felt significantly stronger.

"Is this the perk of evolving?"

..

Strength – 20 > 23

Agility -25 > 27

Sense – 24 > 26

..