The Glorious Evolution

”That’s what I am talking about, Jasmine!” Arthur cheered with his arms in the air.

The girls also cheered for her, but made sure to do it through dimensional messages. Hearing her friends’ support made Jasmine smile again as she showed a thumbs up from above, letting them know that she got this.

”Now... that’s some high-tier Aspects... I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this before, even in the dimensional network.”

Dominic whistled in astonishment, not expecting to have someone wield such mystical powers while flying under his radar... he turned to Feng Ling and saw a shallow smirk, making him realize at last why he had such great confidence in his team.

”Feng Ling... how come your region was hiding this girl? If you had made her apply to join the SAS Headquarters, we would have taken great care of her.” Dominic complained.

”If you cared enough about low-ranked regions, you might have found out for yourself.” Feng Ling said calmly.

Hearing this, Dominic was left silenced... he wanted to tell him that managing the SAS Headquarters that was responsible for hundreds of other Sanctuaries across the globe was no easy task... and that he couldn’t be observant about everything happening in each holy region, but he knew, all of this was nothing but an excuse.

If he cared, he would have found out... Jasmine might have been keeping herself low profile; not even the citizens of her region knew of her existence, but she did many international missions arranged by Heliodor’s Sanctuary and carried by her agency.

If his focus wasn’t only on the Saviors, the Radians, and Daywalkers from the top-ranked regions, he would have found it right away with a single order.

”So, what’s the deal with her Aspects?” Dominic asked, changing the subject.

”They are called Ink and Erasure Aspects... one erases matter, spirit, and even elemental attacks, consuming a percentage of her energy with each successful erasure... the more complicated the process, the more energy she spends.” Feng Ling shared with his friend what he found out from Jasmine and her father, ”Ink allows her to create what comes in her imagination in a scroll... again, the more complicated the imagination and the set of Laws it taps to, the more energy she spends.”

”Wow... are you telling me that with such aspects, she can shift reality as she wishes as long as she has enough solar energy?” Dominic raised an eyebrow in surprise.

”Theoretically, yes... but that’s probably in the later stages of her development if she can reach her peak potential... for now, her powers are still grounded to reality since each utilization devours an insane amount of her energy reservoir.” Feng Ling said, ”These three warriors have most likely already consumed 70% of her reservoir.”

”Figures... the more complex aspects are, the harsher their conditions.” Dominic nodded before adding with a head shake, ”Unfortunately, wielders of such mystical aspects are considered cursed more than blessed.”

Feng Ling nodded in agreement, knowing exactly what he meant... He recognized that becoming a Mystic Specialist might sound like a dream for many due to how peculiar and unexplainable their powers were, but in reality, they were eternal prisons for their owners.

That’s because the more complicated and mystical an Aspect, the less research was done on it... which meant, nightcrawlers or any other race utilizing those aspects were bound to remain at the lower ranks forever!

”Warden rank is most likely her limit... no wonder her father decided to let her out, he must be at his wits’ end in finding an evolutionary formula to help her continue her evolution,” Dominic added, ”It took us years to find materials and a decent evolutionary formula for our evolutions to Solarbound, and we wield electricity and wind primarily, two of the most common Aspects across the universe... I can’t imagine what this girl has to do to break through.”

”Ink and Erasure...” Feng Ling murmured, ”Hard... too hard.”

Whenever he thought about it, his analytical mind went blank... where could one find high-grade materials for such aspects, when possibly no one knew about the aspects’ existence in the first place?

He could understand her first three evolutions to Warden rank, as some materials with faint similarities to her powers could still be used in creating the formulas. However, there was a reason why concocting the Solarbound evolutionary formula was extremely challenging for every Daywalker, Nightcrawler, or other Seed Owners... The evolutionary formulas became almost exclusive to each person!

This meant, it became extremely rare to find evolutionary formulas that could work on multiple Seed Owners, even if they shared a similar main Aspect!

For example, Lord Idriss’s primary Aspect was Blood-Fusion... this meant, he needed to create an evolutionary formula not based on just Blood Aspect in general anymore, but Blood-Fusion itself.

This precision and narrowness of one’s path were the reason for the awakening of one’s personal Dominion only after becoming a Solarbound.

That’s also why Trueborn Lineages thrived... their Ancestor was capable of passing along all of the data in his evolutionary path into new Shadowlife Seeds, making anyone of their bloodline wield their powers with near perfect accuracy.

This flawlessness created an evolutionary path that could be tread using the same evolutionary formulas that the Ancestor had consumed to reach the same level of his power, as long as they followed his exact footsteps.

In a sense, they inherited a perfect evolutionary path to the moment the ancestor’s evolution halted.

But in the case of Daywalkers and Nightcrawlers? Each was on their own, leaving them to share public evolutionary formulas or privately concocted ones until the day they grew their Seeds into Pre-Mature Trees.

That’s when reality hit them... they had arrived at the last step of their evolutionary path, and if they wanted to continue forward, they had to build the staircase too.

This created a massive chasm between those of Pre-Mature Trees and those who achieved Mature Trees.

So, while many would envy Jasmine’s powers like the children on the ground... the adults, who went through the struggle of achieving Solarbound, Blazewarden, and Ecliptic ranks, didn’t envy her one bit... they knew the horror that awaited her was something they wouldn’t wish on their worst enemies.

”Next fight, step up.”

Feng Ling called after noticing the three conference teams were left in shambles in front of Jasmine’s three gigantic inked warriors.

”Mira, you’re next,” Tyrese ordered with a solemn tone.

Mira had been talking boldly before in the tent to be put amongst the first fighters... but now? As she walked towards the three fearsome warriors, she couldn’t help but gulp a mouthful.

She had seen how Jasmine’s white shield managed to erase anything it touched... as a twin-pistol user, she was certain her bullets would meet the same fate. Unfortunately, once the split was decided, there was no redo.

’Mira, remember, just try to waste her energy... she must have already invested a lot in the warriors’ creation.’ Tyrese reminded telepathically.

’I get it, I get it.’ Mira replied irritably.

To have her used like this wasn’t to her liking in the slightest... her pride didn’t allow it.

”I am going to defeat you.”

She proclaimed coldly while pulling the twin pistols from their holsters, appearing quite badass... her stance screamed of confidence like she wasn’t going against three merciless colossi.

Just as a flicker of hope was about to be restored in the hearts of her peers, it was extinguished in less than thirty seconds...

-Next-

Jasmine gestured for the next one to step up quickly after Mira was saved by Dominic in the blink of an eye... Her confidence was shattered the moment the warrior with the shield stood up in front of Jasmine and used it to defend every single explosive bullet she fired at her.

Meanwhile, the other two were sent to torment her; every single swing was capable of turning her into minced meat... she was as flexible as a cat, her movements were mesmerizing, jumping around the swings while even attempting to reach Jasmine through running on the arm of one of the warriors.

As she got close, Jasmine merely snapped her finger, and Mira found herself falling into a pool of liquid ink in the ground... When she tried to recover herself by firing an explosive bullet on the ground to bounce off, the warrior’s foot swung in her direction, forcing Dominic to intervene and catch her before she got hit.

Mira could fight against many Daywalkers and absolutely thrash them, but this was way above her pay grade.

Unfortunately, for the three teams’ union, the upcoming challengers didn’t perform any better... Justice Sword’s team had sent a Daywalker who used a sword that could split into two, with powers related to ice and water.

A fearsome combination... yet, he settled for attempting to waste Jasmine’s energy tank, knowing that each time she ordered the ink to harden or liquify didn’t come free.

Jasmine recognized what he was attempting to do and shut it down almost immediately by overwhelming him with nonstop assault from the three inked warriors until he was forced out of the arena’s boundary.

If it had been only one inked warrior, destroying it would have been manageable. But with three attacking at once... and each able to liquefy at the slightest sign of danger... the battle became nearly impossible.

”Heliodor’s Raiders... Three wins.” Feng Ling announced, ”Next challenger.”

’Li Mei... It’s up to you to defeat her or at least destroy one of her warriors. If you lose, I don’t trust Tyrese’s teammate to carry it for the next round until Tyrese’s turn.’ Yanhuan said solemnly, ’We messed up by underestimating them, and all we can do now is minimize our losses.’

’I will try my best...’

Li Mei lifted her glasses above her small nose and nodded at him with a somber expression... but her short stature and bee-like outfit made her just appear cute, like a chihuahua baring their fangs.

Then, she walked into the arena and gazed in Jasmine’s direction, who was still standing on top of the warrior’s shoulder. The battles might be fast-paced, but Jasmine’s body was affixed to the inked warrior like she was superglued to it.

”Fight!”

”Wrathful Hive Arts: Dazzlebees Screen.”