Chapter 9: Innate Evolution
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Just as its name implied, Innate Evolution could increase the caps of abilities of a follower. It would also increase its stats, unlock more skills and raise overall ratings.
The chances of an Innate Evolution triggering were very low in the game. Among the tens of thousands of players and their hundreds of thousands of followers, only one of those followers would trigger Innate Evolution on average.
It was just like the official lotteries. They would choose only three out of all the players that had retweeted their tweets and give them prizes. However, everyone else would get nothing, so the chances of one getting anything were extremely low. Plus, the followers that would trigger the Innate Evolution were very random as well. It might be a one-star worthless worker, or it might be a five-star epic Hero. The stat increases after their Evolution were also quite random. Some of them might only have a small increase, such as increasing their overall rating from two-star to three-star. Some of them might greatly increase, such as increasing from one-star to eight-star.
That's right!
It would be an overnight sensation! Especially when evolving into an Eight Star god-ranked hero!
That was not even the highest rating that one could get. As it was never officially announced what the highest rating was, and the highest rating that the players ever got was eight stars. That was why everyone thought that eight stars were the highest rating that one could get.
The person that managed to farm an eight-star was a wealthy man. He had saved a lot of diamonds, and only then began rolling for characters like mad.
He had almost used up all his resources and got his first five-star follower that triggered Innate Evolution, and evolved it from a five-star hero to an eight-star hero.
Being a god-rank hero, the number of Diamonds that needed to be expended daily was quite high. As he had wasted so many Diamonds earlier rolling for heroes, he naturally had no more Diamonds that he could use to summon it. In the end, he could only keep it in Storage as a storage keeper.
At the same time, as he needed to expend more resources just to keep it in Storage, he had to release all the five-star and four-star heroes that he had previously gotten helplessly to save that "voracious eater" into his collection.
It was only until the big events rolled over that the developer had given out a limited-time Diamond gift pack that he was able to unleash that god-rank hero to fight, but because he had lost a lot of progress previously…
Of course, there were other rich people that continuously rolled for characters that could trigger Innate Evolution other than him, but only a small number of them managed to get followers that had increased their ratings by one or two stars. Most of them had lost everything. They did not get any good followers and had lost their diamonds as well.
As the game mechanic needed so much work to take advantage of, no one in the game would purposely roll for followers that would trigger Innate Evolution in the middle and later stages of the game, especially when the events that unlocked the hero-specific weapons and the events that could increase rankings were introduced.
Then, it was slowly forgotten. Sometimes, there would be those that managed to get a follower that triggered Innate Evolution, but they would not show them off anyway. Since there was nothing envious about it.
As for Zhang Yun… He had never used a Hero ranked four-star and above. All the followers that he used were free cannon-fodder given by the system. Naturally, Innate Evolution would not happen to his followers.
"Hm?
"Innate Evolution?
"Did I really hit the grand prize?"
Zhang Yun gulped and opened the Murloc's profile nervously. He then carefully scanned from the beginning to the end.
'A Murloc Commander?!
'Alright!
'It really was Innate Evolution!
'Please, God. Please! Two-star is okay. Three-star is maxed. Please don't get any higher rating than that!!'
Name: Tidal Murloc Commander
Race: Murloc
Legacy: N/A
Title: Commander of the Tidal Kingdom (When deployed into combat, all followers from the Tidal Kingdom deal an increased 10% damage)
Level: 10
Experience Points (XP): 2010
Health Points (HP): 1040/1040
Stamina Points (SP): 300/300
Attributes: STR 16, AGI 10, CON 10, INT 3, WILL 1, CHA 0
Unassigned Attribute Points: 0
Skills: Symbiosis (Lv2: Upon death, symbiotic parasites take control of the body to continue fighting. All Attributes reduced by 47%; dying in this condition will be permanent; if not engaged in combat, the body can remain animated for up to five minutes, after which it falls.); Call Reinforcements (Lv 1: When fighting in rivers, lakes and other water-based locations, it can summon two Tidal Murlocs of the same level to fight for it. This skill can only be used in water-based locations once. Only two Tidal Murlocs can exist at any one time.); Bloodlust (Lv 1: Passive Skill. After every four attacks, the next attack would trigger the Vampiric effect, converting 10% of the damage done into HP.)
…
Class: Warrior
Class Level: Level 1
Class Attributes: STR 5, AGI 3, WILL 2
EX Skill: Slightly increase physical attack (Increase physical attack by 10%)
Class Skill: Continuous Strike (LV1, continuously attack the enemy three times at the same location.), Yell (LV 1, begin yelling to increase one's own courage, slightly increase physical attack.)
…
Equipment: Rusted Scimitar (ATK +5)
Summoner: Zhang Yun
Affiliation: Tidal Kingdom
Overall Rating: *** (out of three stars)
[Summary: An elite soldier of the Tidal Kingdom. It has powerful combat capabilities and has the ability to summon more companions. While its growth potential is low, it is very practical. When needed, Legacy can be added to increase its caps.]
…
"Hahaha! Three-star! And its rating limit is also three stars! My Diamonds are safe!" Zhang Yun laughed out loudly, he was over the moon, as if he had rolled for the season's premiere character.
Only afterward, he realized something and said, "Wow! This guy's skill is actually quite strong? It can summon two minions of the same level as him?
"Its stats had also increased.
"There doesn't seem to be any changes to its class levels and class stats. Looks like Innate Evolution would only improve the follower's own innate attributes and it had nothing to do with the Class system."
Just as Zhang Yun was excitedly checking on what changes Innate Evolution brought, the other scouting party was continuing its exploration. Unless Zhang Yun recalled them, they would obey him to the letter and continue their orders from last night.
The scouting party went through the jungle and managed to reach a rocky barren. The creatures here were slightly different than the ones in the jungle. However, the gap between their strength was still large, and the Murlocs would go over and kill them in an attack or two.
After Zhang Yun had finished his investigation, he shifted his attention to them and said, "Tch. Looks like I won't be able to find the monster that ambushed us. I guess it's better to just wait for it to reappear by itself."
He stroked his chin and gave it some thought, then wanted to call the scouting party back.
It was on this island, so no matter where it was hiding, they would meet each other again.
Rather than wasting time trying to find it, he should let the remaining five Murlocs level up first. Once they had reached level 10, when they would inevitably encounter it again, they had a greater chance of victory.
Zhang Yun looked at where the Scouting Party was. They were attacking a strange scorpion the size of a cat. As it had already lost its tail and several limbs, it would be killed by the Murlocs soon.
He did not think much of it. He raised his hand, prepared to recall the Murlocs as soon as they had finished combat.
It was at this moment that the ground on the barrens began to shake, and a giant maggot-looking worm broke through the ground.
Bang!
The worm opened its sticky jaws and swallowed the scorpion that almost died and the Tidal Murloc that was closest into its stomach.
"It's you?!
"The monster that ambushed us last night?!"
Zhang Yun looked at what was happening. The giant maggot was at least two-meters thick and five-meters long as only half of it was exposed on the ground. After eating the Murloc and scorpion, it immediately retracted into the ground, leaving behind a giant hole.
The remaining Murlocs began to yell madly and with their scimitars jumped down into the hole that the maggot burst out of, and noticed that the maggot was moving away extremely quickly. In just a short while, they could no longer see its figure.
Only when Zhang Yun followed the Murloc's vision and looked into the deep, dark underground tunnel as well as the earth and sand that were falling from the tunnel's ceiling, he realized something.
"No… That's not right… There weren't any tunnels when we investigated yesterday!
"That worm isn't the monster that ambushed us last night!
"It's a new enemy!"
-- Gift
received