The Glorious Evolution

Meanwhile, back in the World Tree...

Jasmine laid on the swinging hammock chair, wearing cute Hello-Kitty-like pajamas, but in black and white, making her resemble a Gothic Cutie.

She had a dimensional screen open, showing a countdown to a Death Game... The title of the game was written in the center.

The Joker.

’His death game is about to start.’ Jasmine smiled, her eyes reflected a tint of anticipation and concern.

Jasmine wasn’t too bothered with watching Nocturnal Ring’s Death Games... however, after Levi told them that he was going offline for some time to handle a classified mission under the High Chancellor, she swiftly connected the dots.

She had a feeling that Levi wouldn’t go on such a mission without telling them about its details... they were his teammates after all, no need to be so secretive.

Hence, she discerned that maybe he was taking part in the Nocturnal Ring... her assumption was more assured after realizing that Levi wielded three Origin Seeds, and he needed a crazy amount of resources to handle them.

She knew he could never have grown this fast without investing an insane amount of resources that he shouldn’t have been in possession of before the ancient site exploration.

After a quick search... she found the sole entity fitting the description.

A Rifter starting less than a year ago, had Radian or Oblivar bloodlines, and most importantly... he wielded literally the same weapons as Levi.

Who else, but the Celestial?

Though, she told the news to no one... not even Levi knew that she found out about his secret identity and was tuning in to cheer him on.

’You think he is going to win?’ N’ibby asked depressively.

’Of course.’ Jasmine nodded with a faint sweet smile, ’It’s Levi.’

’Have you seen his opponents?’ N’ibby rolled her eyes at her blinding confidence, ’He is going against powerful Rifters from great infamous empires and Lineages... they might not be the heirs or such, but just being part of those Lineages is serious business.’

’So?’ Jasmine shrugged, ’It’s still Levi...’

’...You’re helpless.’

’No, I am as realistic as I can be... tell me, have you ever seen or heard anyone at a Pathfinder rank or maybe even less, defeating a Tier 8 powerhouse?’ Jasmine said.

N’ibby remained silent for a few moments... she knew that Levi’s win came at great cost and wouldn’t have been possible without many situations aligning in his favor. But, she also knew that still meant nothing... Azhukar was a Tier 8 Trueborn Royalty. Even if all the odds were against him, Levi shouldn’t have won that unless he truly earned it.

And he earned it.

’Let’s hope for the best.’

N’ibby shrugged and then emerged as a brush, lying next to her... her depressed eyes appeared on the staff and watched as the countdown had no more than ten minutes left.

***

Meanwhile... in the Void of the Boundless Expanse.

A massive decagon-shaped building was floating in the middle of nowhere above an island that matched its size.

Although no one was nearby, the building’s name was displayed proudly above the closed front gate: Arena of Gambits.

The Arena of Gambits looked less like a battlefield and more like a giant mind puzzle made from steel and stone.

Within the central plaza building, ten unique Rifters were chilling away from each other... eyes darting everywhere, but no one talked.

Levi was leaning against a combat room’s door while checking the place and registering every little detail in his mind.

The central plaza was crafted out of black and white tiles, crossed akin to a chessboard... in the middle, there were ten platforms placed in a circle with inbuilt dimensional screens. They were currently on, showing a number from one to ten in different colors.

’Looks like the screens will choose the rooms for us and possibly, who will be the challenger or the challengee.’ Levi thought to himself.

He could see that each combat room’s door had a different color to it, matching the ones on the screens.

Those rooms were evenly spaced like the numbers on a clock... Each room had a tall rectangular entrance.

They couldn’t see what was inside or hear anything as those rooms possessed the highest forms of soundproof and anti-spy systems... not even Levi’s previous eavesdropping techniques could work here. Above each door, there was a big screen displaying the Joker card spinning around its axis.

The entire building was sealed shut with clear white LED lights illuminating the entire place, making it resemble a prison more than a gaming building.

’A Promotion Game is no joke...’ Levi thought inwardly as he moved his focus to his competition.

Although he had watched tens of their videos countless times, the feeling was nowhere the same as seeing them in front of him.

His gaze moved to Drayven, the third Rifter in the game who made it here with only two wins... This meant he earned either perfect or near-perfect scores in his previous Death Games, obtaining the achievement titles too.

Levi had seen his two games and wasn’t surprised that he got both titles.

’The first humanoid Dragon I have ever seen... although his Scarlet Dracara Lineage is in the middle of the Seven Noble Dragon bloodlines, his strength is beyond fearsome.’ Levi commentated inwardly.

It was like Drayven sensed Levi’s gaze somehow... he turned his head lazily and glanced in his direction.

”Whatcha looking at?”

Then, he cracked a cold sneer... his shining fangs protruding out of his scarlet-scaled mouth. He stood almost three meters tall with a muscular build: broad shoulders, long limbs, and clawed hands that looked almost like natural weapons.

His scarlet-red scales gleamed under the LED lights like gemstones... unlike Vyra, he didn’t have spikes on his back. Instead, he had deep cracks with actual lava flowing through them, resembling volcano fissures.

His head was long due to his dragonic features taking over... he might possess a humanoid build, but it was limited to the structure of limbs.

The rest was as dragonic as it could get... a set of leathery, ashen scarlet wings, backward-sweeping dark horns, and ember-like slits. From his face to his long tail... his entire body was covered in protective scarlet scales.

Levi didn’t respond... his vision was filled with Drayven’s overwhelming scarlet spiritual aura... He could tell Drayven hadn’t even let it run wildly yet.

”Drayven... are you sure about wanting to antagonize a Leviathan Slayer?” The Dealer smiled playfully, ”He might target you in the game...”

Hearing this, Levi switched his focus to the Dealer... his harmonic spine painting his appearance as detailed as it could get.

Unlike Drayven’s menacing appearance, the Dealer looked like a sleight-of-hand magician... he was wearing a burgundy-colored tuxedo decorated with some peculiar symbols. He had a black top hat, covering his flowing silver hair, which matched well with his luminous gray skin.

”Mind your damn business, party trickster.” Drayven responded coldly, ”I know your physical strength is trash... don’t make me break you in your first round.”

”Go for it... it might be fun.”

The Dealer chuckled while leaning against a wall... his hands shuffling a tarot deck of cards playfully, not too bothered.

Drayven scoffed and ignored him... although he talked big game, he had no intentions of challenging someone from the Fortunari Race on the first round... He knew that luck was almost always in their favor.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Rifters had no plans of getting involved in their discussion... they just waited patiently for the arrival of the Gamemaster.

Though, Levi did notice the Masked Butcher keeping a much closer eye on him compared to the rest.

He wasn’t too surprised... the Masked Butcher was the sole nightcrawler in this game. To his misfortune, he was a pure nightcrawler with ancestral genetics, not a Sleepwalker.

This meant... Levi posed the most threat to him due to his Radian Bloodline!

’Celestial... I can’t be at peace if you’re alive in my game.’ The Masked Butcher thought murderously, ’Dirty Half-Radian... your death is mine to claim.’