Evolver Stages

A sprawling field in this underground field was perfect for the type of training sessions beings of great power would hold. As he got ready, he focused his eyes on Sinthia's. The moment they turned to crystal tensed his superhuman muscles and attacked! Not giving Sinthia the chance to fully form the crystal rose.

'There's no way I'm letting you attack first!'

Bultear knew that the chance of losing would be very high if he just let her attack him freely. Even though this was supposed to be just a method for Bultear to uncover his abilities, he knew from his experiences of yesterday that the concept of sparring was a tad bit different to these people. The crouched position he was in lasted for a second as he shot out in great speed at her. He was much faster than yesterday, evident by the fact that he was much more adept at handling his body's physical changes. In this moment he was faster than a sprinter's peak, his nail extending into claws. The ability to do that was realized by Bultear while healing. He thought to himself.

'Before I shoot my nails they first have to form into claws, essentially what I'm doing is shooting a gun but in place of a gun barrel are fingers and in place of bullets are claw nails. So the idea I got was to just stop the process after turning the nails into claws.'

The claws were very long, the swing was quick and deadly; he was no longer a person wildly flailing aimlessly, powerlessly. If it landed one could imagine the hideous result imprinted on her pretty face, if it hit that is...

*ugh*

The splatter of blood was a message of a wound forming on Bultear. Small shards stabbed him in the chest, the pain forcing him back, completely halting his initiative. He was more shocked than hurt, the pain also wasn't that strong.

"I if I could do nothing but wait for my attack to form, I would be long dead already."

'I see, I'm not the only one able to stop the attack midway. She sacrifices accuracy and power in exchange for a faster formation of attack.'

"If this was your only countermeasure , you would be long dead already."

"True, this can hardly be considered an attack anyway."

As she said that she took out a vial of translucent liquid, quickly crushing it. The pieces of the vial fell to the ground while the liquid did not. Bultear quickly realized what was happening as he attacked again in an attempt to disrupt what was happening. His speed was even greater, thrusting his left hand's claw towards her chest. Sadly, the roses were already formed and embedded into his shoulders.

'Fuck! She can store her tears to use at a later time. So she lowered the power of her attack to not kill me. So nice of her.'

The pain this time was ridiculous, his blood flowed freely and heavily. The interesting thing was that his body was not shaking as much compared to when he was hit by Milek's attack.

' Has my pain tolerance improved or did the attack not hurt as much...'

His thoughts stopped when he heard her speak as her long brown hair lightly rested on her long black coat.

"You would have lost you life already had this been a real battle. Either from the initial attack that you were completely unable to react to or the follow up. Do you remember my second attack from yesterday?"

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as the pain made him forget this crucial detail.

"Do you think the speed at which you can remove the roses from your shoulders is faster than sound?"

She said after seeing Bultear gazing at his bloodied shoulder.

"Know this, if you do not know enough about the opponent that you are facing alone run away."

"If I can't run away?"

"Then hope that they are of a level similar to yours and kill them in the fastest way possible."

" I tried that."

"No you did not. Why did you only attack after I had crushed the vial in my hand? The correct thing would have been to follow up your very first attack with a second one instead of stopping to think like a dunce...

"..."

"... Also, I am a much higher level than you.

"Beside what stage I am, I know nothing about these stages."

"There are four stages recognized amongst the Evolvers."

"Recognized?"

"Yes, some say there is a fifth stage but a person of that power has not appeared yet. Stage four people are extremely rare. In this Sepurnum kingdom only the first king was stage four. Stage three Evolvers are usually rulers of kingdoms and leaders of cults. Safir is a newbie stage three for example."

'No wonder my nose couldn't up much. It must be because I'm too weak compared to him. This also means that the changes those two went through are somewhere around my level.'

As she was speaking Bultear took out the two roses stuck in his shoulder and listened intently.

'My pain tolerance and durability really have improved after just one day.'

"An Evolver stage is further divided into three sub stages: Adulescens, Medius and Adultus. Plus two transitional stages: Awakened, the stage you are at, the very beginning where the body is not yet fully used to the changes and the abilities are not fully known to the Evovler in question. Stagnatus is the other one, it appears at the very end and is a test whether an Evolver will evolve to the next stage or suffer an ill fate."

"Kind of like the natural course of life... What do you mean by ill fate?"

"Both the Awakening and Stagnatus can lead to Evolver frenzy or straight death if not completed successfully. This is why Evolvers need to think twice before initiating them."

"What stage are you at?"

"I'm at stage one; Adultus. Preparing myself for Stagnatus soon."