Chapter Ninety: Evolution Elixir

Charles wisely asked no more. Clearly, the man’s past was filled with sorrows he did not wish to revisit.

Yet in this world, the pursuit of strength was never wrong. Every soul-bound practitioner longed for their totem to achieve ultimate evolution, even super-evolution.

Back then, when Bruce had seen the future super-evolved Nine-Tailed Sky Fox, his face had blazed with fanatic devotion, like that of the most fervent believer.

To a soul-bound practitioner, the totem was faith itself. Endless evolution was the ultimate force driving the world ever forward.

“Mr. Bean, I’m curious,” Charles finally asked what had been weighing on him, “do you really believe that, as a third-rank soul-bound practitioner, you can use martial arts to contend with other soul-bound practitioners?”

“If I’m being rude, you may take it as though I never asked.”

“There is nothing rude about it. Curiosity is human nature, and even more, a quality every student ought to possess.”

Bean pointed toward the people training in the courtyard. “No matter how powerful mortal warriors may be, they can never threaten a soul-bound practitioner. But this is Morent.”

“You mean evolution warriors?” Charles thought of something.

“Exactly. Evolution warriors.”

Bean nodded, seeming to have been stirred into enthusiasm, and launched into an unbroken explanation. “Evolution warriors are Morent’s greatest technology. Their emergence marks the beginning of humanity’s collective evolution.”

“Why is it that all other living beings can evolve and grow stronger, yet only humans cannot evolve through their own power and must rely on totems to improve their strength?”

“This question has troubled humanity for thousands of years, drawing countless soul-bound practitioners to devote themselves to it, yet all without exception failed. Only when Elvis appeared did a paper open the prelude to human super-evolution.”

“It was a brand-new era, a new era belonging to humanity.”

“Elvis, the Father of Human Evolution. He truly was remarkable.” Charles sighed sincerely.

This man was akin to Newton, Einstein, and the other great figures of his former world. Standing on the shoulders of those before him, he had proposed a work that changed the course of history, finally bringing a glimmer of dawn to the ancient and insurmountable problem of human evolution.

Under his tireless efforts, human super-evolution rapidly became Morent’s primary field of research, replacing the earlier plan to mass-produce totem beasts with exceptional talents.

By now, Leslie was the most prominent fruit of that plan: a third-rank evolution warrior whose strength came entirely from his own body, overwhelming ordinary ultimate-form totems.

Charles could imagine that if the academy’s upper ranks learned of this, they would without question raise the man’s treatment by a wide margin and become even more confident in promoting the technology on a grand scale.

By then, the great age he knew from the plot would descend in full force. Tens of thousands of evolution warriors would form the most terrifying legion, more than enough to smash head-on through the tide of radiation monsters.

In the end, Leslie would even complete super-evolution and single-handedly slay two calamity-level divine beasts.

“Charles, if you can obtain second-level clearance, you’ll be able to buy evolution potions in the academy store with contribution points,” Bean said, turning to him in a coaxing tone.

Charles was stunned. He had not expected evolution potions could be obtained this way.

That thing was one of Morent’s most important technological achievements, akin to the gene serums in science fiction films, capable of shattering the mysterious barrier to evolution and opening the path for humanity.

Unfortunately, in the early stages one had to fuse the genes of various totem creatures, which was its greatest flaw.

This fusion was entirely irreversible. If it failed, the whole person would turn into a monstrous thing, and could even lose all reason and become a ferocious beast.

This was also why the academy had kept researching and researching, and why even now only a tiny number of people had enjoyed the fruits of that achievement.

Leslie was the second batch of human test subjects; the first batch, numbering more than a hundred, had mostly perished and been killed on the spot.

Over the past two days, when Charles had been looking up plot threads related to Leslie, he had inadvertently come across some similar developments.

Even now, the academy was still secretly conducting experiments on all manner of people... The test subjects that had escaped were probably of that sort.

“If I can reach that level, I would truly want to use it. After all, I’m far too weak,” Charles said with a laugh, openly admitting his desire.

Evolution potions condensed decades of Morent’s research. If he were to study it on his own, then even if every discipline reached grandmaster level, it would still take an unimaginably long time.

In that case, if there were a chance to steal the fruits of their decades of victory, Charles would spare no cost.

After leaving the totem dojo, Charles finally learned the other man’s identity.

Bean Williams, a third-rank soul-bound practitioner. In the future war to defend Morent, he would shine brilliantly, possessing as many as four ultimate-form beasts and ranking among Morent’s most elite experts.

Without such strength, he would never have been able to open a dojo within the academy.

Unfortunately, when the world war ended, he had tried to shield Leslie from Rodi’s calamity-level divine beast, only to be killed with ease.

Clearly, no matter how powerful an ultimate-form beast might be, it could not contend with a calamity-level divine beast.

But the future had already been completely changed by his arrival. Rodi’s path of evolution was now under Charles’s sole control.

Trying to rule the world as in the original plot had long since become a fool’s dream.

The sun sank gradually lower, and orange-red light spilled across the academy, tinting the towering trees with a reddish glow.

A breeze passed through, carrying rustling sounds everywhere, while youthful faces moved along the broad roads.

This was the largest academy in the world, a place filled with boundless charm and youthful vigor.

Charles walked briskly along the stone-paved road, too hurried to admire the breathtaking scenery around him, and made his way to the place where his next class would be held.

He had already learned totem inheritance studies; next came the disciplines related to bloodlines.

These studies concerned whether a living creature could be altered, so that it would grow in the way he required and pass its bloodline on to the next generation.

He intended to cultivate the kind of terrifying life-form he remembered, so as to calmly face the dreadful upheavals soon to come.

There was no helping it. When it came to tide-like assaults, that was the insect race’s true specialty.

If he could breed a series of hive nests and mass-produce countless terrifying alien insects like ants, then what would a mere army of radiation monsters amount to?

Many students were also hurrying along, afraid that if they arrived too late there would be no seats left.

As Charles was walking, he suddenly saw a familiar figure approaching from the opposite direction. He immediately slowed and smiled in greeting. “Leslie, where are you off to...?”

Yet the other man seemed not to see him at all, passing by as though he had not heard the greeting.

In that brief moment as they crossed paths, Charles caught sight of the dead, indifferent emptiness in those eyes, like a machine.