Evolution

by A R Chen

  After lunch, Steve wanted a tour of the area around the village. Ash drove a wagon filled with smaller Crystals for Steve to absorb and practice his magic while they went. It was peaceful. They didn’t see many creatures, and the animals that they saw weren’t aggressive at all. Or maybe they were intimidated into pacifism by a ball of light firing lightning all over the place. A lot of animals and even people would be terrified by that.

  Hmm…Maybe I’m the reason we aren’t seeing much, Steve thought to himself, then cast another Shock spell at a nearby rock. The rock exploded. It seems like my spells are getting even stronger. I have so much better control as well!

  For most of the time, Ash just stared at the things Steve destroyed. For one, the casual destruction of nature was terrible. More importantly though, the god casually destroying things and absorbing Crystals was just an unbelievable sight. Ash finally couldn’t hold back anymore, after hours of traveling. “Please! Teach me your magic!”

  “No can do!” Steve replied cheerily, just like Bonnie. She was really starting to rub off on him.

  “I’ll do anything to be your disciple!” came the instant, desperate reply. "Please."

  Steve reconsidered. If Ash would do anything for a chance to learn magic from him, then it might be worth accepting the offer. “I’ll give it some thought, kid,” Steve replied seriously. If he ever learned how to easily teach his way of magic to someone, he would be able to amass a sizeable force in a short time.

  The two talked until it was late afternoon. Steve found that Ash was relatively smart for a human kid. He understood the connections between historical events and could think for himself. Even though his innate magical talent was high, he still worked hard. That was what separated him from the rest of the kids his age.

  Steve had seen at the academy just how mediocrity was bred. If a cadet started out as a genius but then just lazed around and did nothing, sooner or later he’d just be average. If it went on like that, he’d eventually fall below the average.

  He felt that Ash, with his talent paired to a good work ethic, had potential. Steve didn’t know what he wanted to do after evolving but having Ash as one of his companions didn’t seem too bad. After Ash’s naming ceremony, he’d see how powerful the kid could become. If it wasn’t too much trouble, Steve would try to take him along for the journey.

  While they rolled along, Steve perused his current top seven evolution options. He figured there was no point in looking at anything below that. With that in mind, he had a list that looked like this:

  1) ??? - ???

  2) ??? - ???

  3) Vampire – Cost: 12,500 Energy. End evolutions are the Legendary Vampire or Undetermined. Evolution starts out extremely low-powered. Will receive help from the current Vampire clan.

  4) Dragon – Cost: 55,000 Energy. End evolution is the Dragon God. Evolution starts out medium-powered but gaining energy and consolidating it is difficult. Will receive help from the current Dragon race.

  5) ??? - ???

  6) Undead – Cost: 47,500 Energy. End evolution is the Undead Emperor. Evolution starts out low-powered, however amassing undead is easy. Gaining power is easy, however keeping it might prove difficult. Almost all other races will join forces against you, if your nature is discovered.

  7) Elf – Cost: 15,000 Energy. End evolution is the Greater Elven Magister. Evolution starts out low-powered. Gaining energy is medium difficulty while keeping energy is easy. Races will tend to trust you, making interacting with most of them easy.

  Absorbing those prisoners and that piece of Bark really messed up his Energy costs. He found that values for Vampire and Elf went down, but the rest of the values went up. There were no changes to the descriptions.

  Steve was confused. Based on what Ash had told him about Vampires, shouldn’t there be something in the description that said all races would hunt him down? If the last Vampire truly committed suicide back then in their capital, why did it say that he could receive help from the current Vampire clan?

  There must be a Vampire clan left in this world, Steve thought. That’s the only explanation. Steve was curious about the clan. Maybe when he grew more powerful, he would pay them a visit to learn more.

  He then guessed at the first, second, and fifth spots. A Demon evolution could be a potential for the number 5 spot. Ash had said a Dragon was more powerful than a Satan, though only marginally. A Godling or God being could be number one or two. That still left one more option unknown. Steve hoped he could solve this mystery.

  Steve heard a rustle from a nearby bush and saw a tan-colored creature, standing on four legs. “What’s that one? It’s not afraid of us.” Steve was a bit confused. He had been shooting lightning and absorbing Crystals this entire time.

  “Oh! It’s a stag. Those creatures somehow aren’t afraid of anything,” Ash explained. “Legends say that they’re the animals that the gods themselves have blessed. I don’t believe it, though. They seem pretty dumb to not run from you.”

  “Hmm.” Steve went back to browsing his evolution potentials. He needed to properly analyze these options with Ash before learning more spells. If he learned the wrong one, the consequences might be disastrous. If Rock Being suddenly became his top evolution, he might as well just give up all his hopes. Though, Rock Being did sound interesting.

  “Have you ever heard of a Rock Being or a Rock Forefather?” Steve asked Ash. The kid had heard a lot of tales, so who knew, maybe he would know about this.

  “Sorry, I haven’t.” Ash was straightforward in the things that he didn’t know. One of his most promising traits. "What's a Rock Being?"

  “Ah, it’s fine,” Steve replied. He then explained a little more. “Just another one of those random bits of memory.”

  Steve checked the countdown again. They had been walking several hours now. It had been just over a day since he first came to in this world. The timer read:

  3 Days 23 Hours 5 Minutes 20 Seconds

  In just three hours, he would acquire yet another feeling from his last life.

  The two of them continued around the outskirts of the village. They encountered rocky terrain, but it was mostly forest land. Apparently, there was a small lake not too far from the village in the opposite direction. Steve wanted to go there tomorrow.

  Steve then checked his Current and Maximum Energy levels. He hadn’t consumed a Crystal large enough to make his attributes change, but the energy levels were growing. It now read:

  Current Energy – 449

  Max Energy – 770

  This didn’t mean that he could cast the Shock spell two hundred times in a row, however. After about ten times in a row, he would start feeling a little lightheaded. There seemed to be a cooldown period between when the spell was first cast and when he could cast it again without any negative effects.

  It was the same with Blink as well. Though the spells were entirely different, the cooldown period was there. If he ignored the cooldown period and continuously cast spells, aside from the hit his mental concentration would take, his energy would also be depleted more rapidly.

  Checks and balances, Steve repeated a saying from his old world in his mind, though he didn't know where it came from.

  ***

  Hours before…

  Lord Mottor glanced at his army trailing behind him. Well, it wasn’t really an army yet. Gathering his men would take some time, as they needed to be rounded up from both of the villages he controlled. Plus, he needed to figure out what that ball of light was. That was where his advance party came in. Not having directly attacked another village before, he thought it would be wise to test out their defenses. If it was a god-class existence, like in the legends, then at least he would only lose the twenty men that he was sacrificing rather than his entire force, or even his own life.

  The advance party consisted of two ten-man squads; each of them was led by an experienced rogue magician. They were to act as new banditry around the area and terrorize the village. The rogue magicians
had communication devices with them this time. How else was he going to find out what that ball of light was?

  The Capital wouldn’t stand for outright slaughter, but if he was able to overwhelm some of the men using the forces of both his villages, while silencing the rest by taking their families as hostages…who would ever know? Even if some of them made the long journey to the capital, it wouldn’t matter, so long as he hadn’t done anything bad enough to justify the effort it would take to come after him. But if his main assault with all his men failed, he might as well start digging his own grave as he would be at the Nitians’ mercy. That’s why the information was so critical.

  Lord Mottor let the R family men have a bit of fun in the village brothels that day. They were tired out, and they needed some rest. It didn’t sound right, village brothels, but the reason why they weren’t called a town yet was because of the Empire's specific regulations. You needed to have a Bronze Key to be known as a town, and such a key could only be purchased at an extremely high price from the Capital. Even though each of his villages were around the size of small towns, not having the title of town was unfortunately detrimental to their economy and power.

  His bandits, on the other hand, rode all day so they could arrive in Niti around evening time, Once there, they would coordinate a small assault on the village. Niti was their rival village, so it wasn’t hard to find men willing to attack it. A long time ago, someone pissed off someone else and boom, a rivalry. It didn’t make sense anymore, as nobody even remembered what had started it, but demonizing each other up to this day finally led to something.

  Lord Mottor refined his plans all day, waiting for the signal from his communication device. They were expensive things, made from Crystals that he imported from the Capital. Expensive, but useful. If he didn’t have them, taking over the two villages he currently owned would’ve been far more difficult.

  “Sir, we’ve arrived,” one of the squads reported in.

  “Good. After you harass Niti Village, immediately report in,” Lord Mottor commanded.

  The main force would be ready to start marching tomorrow morning, after all preparations were complete and he had the information he needed.

  Lord Mottor really coveted the town title. He could purchase it, and so much more, with the acquisition of those Crystals. He’d seen them with his own eyes; the recordings of the Looking Mirror couldn’t lie. Or at least to do so, was well beyond the capabilities of those magicians. They were only two-star, after all.

  ***

  Steve had wandered all over the place with Ash that afternoon. After that one animal they found, he had floated through a bunch of forest and a smaller rocky area. By dinner, the two found themselves back in Niti.

  Steve finally felt like he had enough information to work with. After a day of questioning Ash, he felt that he should improve his power a bit, or at least add something new to his arsenal. If it meant something going awry with the energy costs of his evolution options, then so be it. Having spent the whole day collecting and analyzing information, he was ready to go.

  Right now, Vampire doesn’t seem bad, even though they were hunted, but I should open up other options. Hmmm, Steve thought. Dragons were known for their fire magic mostly, so maybe I could try learning a fire-related spell to try and lower that evolution’s energy cost.

  He checked his countdown again. This time should be a random feeling. It read:

  3 Days 20 Hours 2 Minutes 2 Seconds

  Two minutes until countdown hit.

  Suddenly, he heard screams and shouts from the village outskirts. He immediately went towards the commotion to find out what was going on. If it was too dangerous, he could always Blink out.

  “Special Event. Successfully defending the village will unlock ??? evolution.” Bonnie was back to a robotic, monotonous voice. It was like an AI, rather than a sentient being, was speaking. This had only happened once before, when Steve had broken the killing rule.

  That was a reward too great to pass up, which made his course of action clear. He was going to defend his village!

  Chapter 11

  The two ten-man squads had split up, one on the right side and the other on the left. The rogue magicians were both hiding nearby. They had started it out with a massive wind spell to cause panic. Then they sent their men in with sacks on their backs. They were to quickly pillage anything of value they could from the village outskirts and then make a swift retreat, using the darkness for cover.

  The rogue magician leading squad one was known as Tenk. He had been forced to go rogue when he had gotten himself kicked out of his house. Usually, a magician is a blessing for the house, but in this case, Tenk had been a serial rapist when he was younger. Because he had abused his power, the village Elder banished him, years ago.

  His partner was a guy named Fom. He was a young-looking but reticent man. Fom was also a one-star rogue magician, like him. Tenk didn’t know much about Fom’s past, other than that he was abandoned as a child and found himself in odd jobs. He also didn’t care enough to learn more.

  The raid initially seemed to be going well, but they hadn’t expected the ball of light to act so fast. They had known that the magical being was somewhat nearby, but the thing was suddenly in midair above the men. It immediately unleashed five lightning shocks in a rapid volley, followed by a spell that sucked the energy out of the air. That was high-level magic, but Tenk could have replicated it…if he prepared for a couple days beforehand. Maybe.

  This was ridiculous! “Fom! We have to protect our men!” Tenk knew that without their men, they had no chance of making it back. It was only safe traveling through the wilds in the first place because they had numbers; without them, they would succumb to the wilderness even if they escaped successfully.

  Fom had nodded his confirmation and began to chant his biggest spell. It took a good fifteen seconds to complete, during which time, that light being took out another three of their men. This was a nightmare. How was it this strong? Why could it fire consecutive lightning spells like that!?

  They had lost almost half of their force in the span of ten seconds. The men who were still on their feet broke and fled in every direction. They were rightfully scared out of their minds.

  Tenk had only one thing on his mind; he needed to kill that thing. He had to curb their losses and find somewhere they could recuperate. It wasn’t supposed to go down like this, they had made sure that the Elder was on the other side of the village.

  He released his spell; it was a decent one he had nicknamed Flame Lance. The jet of flame was wide where it left his outstretched hands, but it became thinner and faster as the outer flames dissipated into the atmosphere.

  The light being had just shot lightning at another one of his fleeing men—good, it was distracted. Now he was sure that he would hit it. Once it was damaged, they could take it down for sure. It was two against one. In a magical fight, even a two-star magician couldn’t take them both on at once.

  Fom was still chanting his spell off to the right. The pressure was building in the air as he clasped his hands in a weird way in front of him. The guy was a decent mage; maybe he would rank up to two stars soon.

  The spear of fire streaked across the sky toward the ball of light. However, in that moment before impact, the ball of light vanished.

  Holy shit, so that’s how he got there in the first place! Tenk thought. Then he shouted, “Fom! He’s using Blink!”

  What the fuck was this? How was it casting without chanting? How could it possibly have so much mana? Tenk had so many questions as he turned to run away. He could care less about Fom right now; anything that could use Blink instantly was no joke. He must be facing a god! Come to think of it, Lord Mottor had said there was a slight risk in this mission.

  Fuck! He fucking tricked me. Tenk was furious. If he had known about the actual dangers of this mission, he never would have gone through with it. If he lived through today, he would go straight to the capital and tell them all about Lord
Mottor’s atrocities! The fair people of the Capital would be sickened, and Lord Mottor would get what was coming to him.

  Fom finished his spell and stone tore from the ground to create a prison where the light being had just disappeared from. It was a good spell under normal circumstances, though completely useless now.

  Both magicians were sweating bullets now. The fear combined with rapid depletion of their mana had caught up with them. Tenk had just rounded the corner of a building, when he saw the flash of a lightning spell coming right at him out of the corner of his eye. The light being was there!

  Tenk really had no chance. Mages could erect barriers, but unless one knew where the spell was coming from and what type of spell it was going to be…Well, in a situation like this, there was almost nothing a mage could do. He felt a searing heat in his right leg; it felt like the limb had been burned away. The pain was unbelievable, almost as bad as his Naming ceremony.

  “Fuck! Fom! Do something!” Tenk screamed. Fom began chanting again while holding up his trembling fingers toward the ball of light.

  Then there was some sort of blindingly bright light, as if it had cast Flash or something similar. Even though they hadn’t been looking at the ball of light, due to its uncomfortable brightness, the pulse of light completely robbed them of their vision.

  Fom’s chant immediately cut off and he dropped his head into his hands, obviously in a lot of mental pain. Of course, Tenk couldn’t see this, as he writhed around on the ground, blinded and screaming.

  Then, they felt it happen. There was heavy magic in the air, that same spell they’d seen used on their men earlier. It was sucking the energy out of them! Being magicians, they could tell what was going on. The remaining dregs of mana in their bodies were being forcibly drained out.

  Tenk’s mana pool ran dry first; when it was gone, he started feeling weaker. At this point, he was no longer worried about his wounded right leg. The feeling of weakness had spread through his body and began to subsume his mind. His vision was starting to return, but it didn’t matter.