Chapter 31: Evolution (P31)

-Seven Years Post Saturation Completion.-

{1: Human C2 = 50 γ-Coins}

{2:High Human C3 = 1000 Γ-Coins }

{3:Slaughter Fiend C1 = 10000 Δ-Coins}

Reading through the options, I took a deep, shaky breath.

'A regular Second Class Human costing 50 low-Gamma Coins is manageable, but it seems I can jump straight past it and Evolve into a High Human…for the whopping price of a thousand High-Gamma Coins.' My mind digested the information about the two easily doable evolutions before my eyes drifted toward option three.

'10 thousand High-Delta coins…for whatever the hell a Slaughter Fiend is…that's a hard PASS for me, let alone owning a single High-Delta coin; my wallet doesn't even have 10k High-Gamma coins.'

'It doesn't take a rocket scientist to assume what that race is…considering how many people of different races I've killed, but to earn the ability to become a literal incarnate of Slaughter…that's a little too much for me.' Shaking my head in dismissal, I reached out and poked option two.

{You have chosen to evolve into a High Human; 1000 Γ-Coins will be deducted from your balance of 4,821 Γ-Coins, leaving you with 3,821 Γ-Coins.}

{Please prepare yourself; the process of rapid evolution is generally very uncomfortable for lower lifeforms. For the best results, staying conscious is paramount.}

"Ah…s*** this is going to suuuucckkk ARRRGG!" Before I could finish my statement, I saw white as the most intense pain I had ever experienced wracked my body from head to toe.

"STAY CONSCIOUS MY ASS ARKADIA!" I screamed as I felt liquid leaking from every orifice on my body, no doubt blood.

The process of evolving into a higher lifeform was, no doubt, a drastic and painful experience for anyone who went through it. Still, the act of jumping an entire Class was beyond idiotic…now that I know about it, I understand how insane I was.

An intelligent person would have gone for the C2 option, but no, I had to be an overachiever and jump Classes…my prize was 24 hours of constant agony.

Multiple times throughout my evolution, I thought the end was near as everything down to a subatomic level was broken down and rebuilt from the ground up.

When the pain finally subsided, I had changed entirely …but little did I know how much more DIFFICULT my life would become, the reason being the Racial Trait for High Humans would test my patience more than anything ever had.

{Current Race: High Human}

{Current Race Rank: Third Classification}

{Racial Trait: 1:100 Level Progress Gain, +1.5 Stat Point Upon Leveling Up.}

-Eight Years Post Saturation Completion.-

{Racial Trait: 1:100 Level Progress Gain, +1.5 Stat Point Upon Leveling Up.}

The first part of this singular line of text had become the bane of my existence. I won't bore you with the logistics behind how annoying the High Human Trait was, but what it boils down to is it now took me 100 times more XP to level up.

On the upside, things weren't ALL bad because now I gained one and a half additional stat points, making it 2.5 per level up. Upon realizing this, a world of understanding opened up to not only myself but also those few who also evolved into a higher race rank.

The Myriad Races naturally evolved and thus had higher stats, hence increasing their strength over Humanity, which had been stuck at Basic Human for an untold number of eons.

The days following my Evolution to a High Human were filled with me adapting to the changes I had undergone. There were multiple subtle yet noticeable differences in how my body felt, and it was reflected in my stats, which had increased by a solid 5% just from the Evolution.

Not only that, but the way I was able to filter and manipulate Particles had become more fluid and more natural. My reflexes, perception, and thought processing also underwent a drastic change. I felt supercharged, beyond what I had observed from increasing my Rank.

Sure, the ranking up process was exhilarating, but Evolution was fundamentally different. I still can't really put it into words that make sense, but if I had to compare it, ranking up feels like drinking a s*** ton of coffee or caffeine; you'll be hyped up and rearing to go for a while, but it eventually calms down, and your body adapts.

The changes brought about by Evolution were on an entirely different level. You feel superior, as if the you of the past was nothing but a shell when compared to the you of the present.

Frankly, it shed a lot of light on why the Myriad Races were so arrogant; they truly felt that way. Looking at the Basic Humans who had overrun the planet, in their eyes, we were nothing more than pests, cockroaches, who had infested their lands, and now…as weird as it seems, I, too, felt that.

Albeit, on a smaller scale since I was previously ONE of those Basic Humans, but still, I got how they thought now.

In the first month, I came to realize that I had indeed become something more and could no longer be viewed as a normal Earth Human, and this feeling drove me forward. I wanted more power; if I wished to burn down the entire infrastructure created by the USA-HA, I needed power, and with the clues to how to obtain it, I pushed on.

However, some boxes needed to be checked off first, and two people in particular needed to be gotten in contact with; thus, one cold day in March, I found myself standing outside of the mansion where I had once lived.

Knock, Knock…knock.

Three times, I rapped my knuckles on the hardwood door, and when the door opened, I finally came face to face with my brother Brenden for the first time in two years.

He had filled out, and to my trained eyes, I could see the intense Particle Energy radiating off his body.

"Taylor…" he said with a multitude of emotions swirling in his eyes; it was at that moment I knew that he was aware of my true identity.

In the last two years, we hadn't spoken a word to each other, yet, somehow, he knew who…no…what I had become.