The Glorious Evolution

One day before the Blood Hunters’ major expedition...

Levi was seen sitting on a golden yellow wheat field on the outskirts of the capital. It was sunny and quite hot, making Levi come out of the house with a white shirt and black shorts. His wyvern, Vyra, was sunbathing next to him, napping lazily.

He was incredibly focused, appearing like he was putting immense work into his cultivation. It wasn’t exactly accurate since Levi wasn’t here for the sunlight, but for the dark energy!

In the past days, after securing the materials and concocting the evolutionary formula for his evolution, Levi postponed almost everything and focused on advancing his Void seed.

He needed to hit the first stage before his evolution, and at the moment, he was at 4% after an immense amount of effort.

Absorbing dark energy turned out to be more troubling than the glutinous Crimson seed. Ash’Kral had told him that the spiritual bridge of darkness was filled with dark energy.

In a sense, he was correct since the dark energy’s origin was the Shadow dimension. However, Levi was still not at the appropriate level to sense it purely through a spiritual connection.

He could only sense the condensed patches of dark energy in random areas around him, forcing Levi to go on a wild hunt for dark energy around the outskirts of the city.

At the moment, he was sitting inside a decent cloud of dark energy after picking up on it using his sound-based method... Dark Energy Radar.

He was absorbing it for a bit, and once the coldness got too painful on his soul, he would pause for a few minutes, and then continue.

Besides his daily classes and working a bit on his Resonance System, Levi had been doing nothing but this for the past days... It finally paid off.

Crack.

Hearing the last crack needed to reach the first stage, Levi stopped the absorption process right away, uncaring that he was leaving some dark energy behind... His soul was already too cold to handle another minute of this slow and painful torture.

As his teeth clattered and a faint, chilly smoke rose from his skin, Levi swiftly jumped on his Nightmount’s back and took off to his apartment.

The moment he stepped inside, he sat on the floor and sent his consciousness inside his Leywell... Then, he moved inside the Void Seed’s Ancestral Rooted Plane.

Once his spiritual vision was refreshed, Levi found himself standing on top of murky black water, resembling ink.

He could barely move his feet an inch, feeling an insane amount of resistance like his spirit was being held by thousands of arms...

As for the skies and the Ancestral Void Tree? None of them could be seen. The entire plane was filled with gloomy fog, concealing vision up to a few meters... Levi could barely see himself.

Yet, nothing was worse than the chilling coldness corrupting Levi’s spirit each second he remained in place... It was coming from the fog, the water, everything.

”What an unwelcoming place... I feel like I will be frozen solid if I stay for another second.” Levi commented bitterly while forcing his spirit to take flight, escaping from the inky water’s grasp.

Alas, it was not enough to tame the coldness. In the end, Levi was kicked out against his will, incapable of taking it any further.

”Ash’Kral, mind explaining?” Levi frowned.

”It’s simple, you haven’t gotten accepted by the Void seed,” Ash’Kral replied calmly.

”Accepted? How can I be rejected when it is residing in my body and soul? When our growth is impacted together?”

Levi failed to accept it.

In his eyes, the moment the seeds were merged with him, there was no room for acceptance or rejection... They were one.

Too bad, he had no idea how delusional he sounded to Ash’Kral.

”Brat, you seem mistaken... The seeds haven’t chosen you, I did.” Ash’Kral said, ”If it was up to them, they wouldn’t have come within an inch of you or anyone else in that matter.”

”Then, why was I allowed in the other two seeds’ ancestral rooted plane?” Levi knitted a brow, ”Is it because of you and my bloodline?”

”Bingo.”

Ash’Kral went on and explained to him that the Crimson seed had accepted Levi due to being owned by Ash’Kral... Meanwhile, the Sun Origin seed seemed to accept him partially due to his radian bloodline.

As for the Void Seed? Levi didn’t have any sort of cosmic connection to it... His talent was also less than average in the seed’s eyes when compared to true dark elementalists.

But since they were already attached against their will, the Void seed could only accept its situation and fight for its spot against its peers.

”In other words, unless I won it over, I can only dream of entering its rooted plane?” Levi was left speechless.

”That ain’t all.” Ash’Kral added salt to the injury, ”You will struggle immensely trying to resonate with it. If you already think it’s hard to resonate with my seed, then you are in for a world of pain.”

To be honest, Levi already assumed it... Still, it didn’t feel good to hear its confirmation. That’s because it spilled into a far more terrifying crisis.

”May I ask how many abilities the past partners have mastered?” Levi asked, gulping faintly.

”Fifteen.”

”...”

Levi was deceased.

Fifteen.

Levi jumped from millions of abilities to a hundred, and now to fifteen.

The real definition of it could only get worse.

”You should feel grateful... You are lucky compared to many past partners.” Ash’Kral brought him back to reality, ”Fourteen of those abilities were mastered by Ellina. She had the highest potential for darkness mastery. She was my tenth partner, which meant...”

”The others before her had to suffer from the agony of owning and growing the Void seed, but getting no reward from it...” Levi completed, his tone sympathetic.

He realized that Ash’Kral chose candidates with connections to dark energy and light, but this didn’t mean they could wield them to their peak potential.

The first ones suffered from a certain dead end because of this, since they had nothing to work with.

Having immense talent for those two energies was different than having enough to enter the gate.

Levi was barely past the gate of the Void seed, incapable of even sensing dark energy naturally without using some cheats.

How could it accept him in its most sacred place?

”Then, how am I supposed to accept the unlocked ability or craft a weapon?” Levi was worried that his ban might affect his rewards, which were a massive hit.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

”You can unlock the ability without needing to enter the Rooted Plane. Will it, and the Void seed will unlock an ability for you randomly.” Ash’Kral said.

”That’s a relief.” Levi sighed.

As long as he was rewarded abilities for his efforts, he wasn’t too bothered by the Void seed’s current rejection.

Though...

”How about the signature weapon?”

Levi asked while feeling a chill course down his spine at the thought of needing to remain in the Ancestral Rooted Plane for a decent period to craft the perfect weapon.

It wasn’t a process that could be skimmed through carelessly.

”What can I say, either you resonate with the Void seed and win it over, or craft a weapon in less than a couple of seconds.” Ash’Kral shrugged.

”As expected.” Levi let out a long sigh, frustrated.

Though he didn’t let this affect his mental state for too long. He already had two weapons crafted, and to be honest, Levi wasn’t sure yet about his third weapon.

Since those three weapons would accompany him until he became a Solarbound Daywalker, one could say they would be his main weapons for a long time.

He had to be sure of his decision.

”Fifteen abilities aren’t so bad.” Levi murmured, ”Even if I haven’t managed to master a single technique, I will have enough for a decent period.”

Fifteen abilities implied five ranks of freebies, which left him more than content. In his eyes, it could always be worse.

Soon, Levi made a mental request to unlock one of the Void seed’s abilities. The Void seed delivered almost instantly, like interacting with him made it dirty.

Levi’s eyebrows twitched, focusing on the flood of details assaulting his mind... The moment it ended, Levi found his lips already parted in a daze.

”Umbra Crown? Sweet!” Ash’Kral exclaimed in delight, ”I was wishing you would get it as soon as possible.”

”Is it real? Will it really work...”

Although Ash’Kral’s reaction was more than a confirmation, Levi still couldn’t believe the effects of the Void ability... His reaction was understandable.

//Umbra Crown: An ethereal void crown that immunizes the user to the corrupting atmosphere of the Shadow dimension.//

Umbra Crown.

It wasn’t just a mere ability.

It was a key.

A key to the most mysterious and deadly known realm.

”This changes everything...” Levi murmured, his mind roaming with hundreds of new thoughts clashing and building up on each other.

”Starting with the upcoming expedition... That insane idea is now more than feasible.” Levi’s smile turned shrewd.

Levi was preparing for the expedition, not for experience like his peers. He had bigger plans, and he was pushing for new upgrades to add more tools to help him achieve them.

Now, he had it... Yet, his preparation wasn’t even close to being over.

”One day before the expedition, I actually made it through.”

Levi pulled out a small box from his backpack and opened it up. As he lifted the evolutionary formula in his hand, a deep grimace took form.

”Please be gentle to me.”