The Glorious Evolution

Levi resumed his meal while the two negotiated ownership of something that had never belonged to Arthur in the first place.

Eventually, Shia asked what he intended to do after getting some sleep.

”Get my business started... I finally have enough money to do something with that estate.”

”Your estate?” Nurah asked. ”What are you building there?”

”An amusement park.”

Arthur immediately abandoned his argument with Jojo.

Before he could start making suggestions, Levi opened a dimensional screen above the table, displaying the former Targon territory and its properties.

”I’m thinking of using about half of this for the park. There are already warehouses I can convert for the company, though I’ll have to check how much space they actually give me.”

Nurah went quiet.

She had assumed he meant the small territory he used for training... yet the estate before them was on the mainland, with enough properties attached to it that she had to check the boundaries twice.

Jasmine’s message appeared beside the display.

’You own this?’

”Yep.”

”...”

For a moment, even Arthur had nothing to say.

Levi could hardly blame them... the last time they had discussed his finances, he had still been looking for ways to fund his next evolution. Now, he was showing them an estate that had supported an entire noble family.

Thus, he told them about House Zen, Brahmin, House Targon, the forty-year conflict between them, and his recruitment to help them for a price.

The Zen Relic Store and the properties the court eventually seized from House Targon and awarded to House Zen.

By the time Levi explained that Brahmin had already transferred those assets to him, Shia had leaned closer to examine the estate’s boundaries.

”You helped bring down a noble house... and got their estate out of it?”

”That was the agreement.”

He said it without much ceremony, but the girls weren’t quite ready to move past it.

They had known Levi was busy. Between his evolution, his preparations for the Ring, and whatever trouble he refused to explain until afterward, there was always something occupying his time.

Apparently, somewhere between all of that, he had also found the opportunity to involve himself in a feud between noble houses... and emerge from it owning one family’s estate and the other’s store.

Arthur turned back to the display.

”Big bro... how much other stuff have you been doing?”

”Well, there’s the company.”

”There’s more?”

”The estate alone isn’t going to supply me with Leviathans.”

Jojo slowly turned toward him.

Until that moment, she had been trying to imagine what sort of amusement park Levi would build. The addition of Leviathans did little to help.

Levi continued, explaining how his search for suitable carcasses had led him to the Beast Hunters.

After spending a Boundless month struggling to buy what he needed, he had grown tired of dealing with a market where everyone between the hunter and the customer expected their share. Since he already held the licenses to handle the processing and sales, there was little reason to keep paying other people to do it.

He would establish his own company and work with the hunters directly.

”I’ve reached a preliminary agreement with a Beast Hunter Squad. He still has obligations to settle before we finalize anything, but we’ve discussed how it would work.”

”These hunters...” Shia turned from the display. ”How strong are they?”

”I assume their leader is Tier Eight.”

This time, the silence lasted long enough for Levi to finish another mouthful of his food.

A Tier Eight powerhouse... and he was discussing a partnership with him over Leviathan carcasses... at eighteen years old nevertheless.

Nurah let out a quiet, disbelieving laugh.

”I asked what you were building. I thought you might show us a shop.”

Levi smiled a little at that.

A shop would have been much easier... unfortunately, it wouldn’t solve his problems.

He needed a dependable supply of materials, an income that could support his increasingly expensive evolutions, and contacts beyond the people willing to sell him whatever happened to reach the public market.

The company could help him with all three.

As for the park, Brahmin had already agreed that his people would help staff and oversee it in exchange for a share. Ordinary visitors would come to see actual Leviathan remains, while prospective buyers could inspect the beasts whose valuable parts the company sold.

Later, he could use it to host auctions and noble gatherings.

Shia listened without interrupting this time, her attention moving between Levi and the estate on the display.

He had already secured the land, obtained the licenses, and approached the people he needed... the money from his game would allow him to begin putting those arrangements into practice.

And none of them had known a thing about it.

Levi let them absorb that before explaining how the park and company would support each other. There was still plenty to work out, and he wanted them involved... with this much money and work ahead of him, having people he trusted at his side would make a considerable difference.

The hunters would bring in the beasts, the company would process and sell their valuable parts, and the emptied Leviathan carcasses would become exhibits.

Arthur, who had finally returned to his meal, stopped chewing.

”We can go inside them?”

”Once they’re properly prepared.”

”Through the mouth?”

”We haven’t designed the entrances yet.”

”Make it the mouth.”

”They’d have to widen it for your fat ass,” Jojo muttered.

”It’s a Leviathan! And my ass isn’t fat! Take it back!” Arthur glared.

Levi switched his focus to Jasmine while these two started a new argument about Arthur’s fat percentage of his ass.

’If the existing warehouses proved insufficient, I might need temporary storage on an unused part of your territory.’ Levi requested, ’If that’s alright with you.’

’I don’t mind.’ She shrugged slightly.

”I finally get somewhere peaceful to meditate, and you want to fill it with dead beasts.” Jojo addressed him with a wounded expression, of course, joking. ”Captain... what did I do to deserve this?”

”Actually, you might be staying somewhere else for a while,” Levi said before she could reply. ”Brahmin has agreed to receive you as a guest of House Zen.”

”The Runehoof Kin?”

Jojo glanced at the estate’s display. She had listened to Levi describe his business partners without realizing what meeting them could mean for her.

”Yes. Brahmin is expecting you.”

Before she could ask anything else, Zar’Vhulek spoke in her mind.

’Ask him whether Brahmin knows about me.’

His tone remained composed, but Jojo’s excitement gave way to concern.

’Those people are Trueborns,’ he continued. ’Shared blood doesn’t mean they will consider me kin.’

The Trueborn Runehoof had passed their Shadowlife Seeds and accumulated techniques through generations of their own race.

Zar’Vhulek’s ancestors, however, had obtained Runehoof traits through possession even though he wasn’t one of the main culprits in the fall of their civilization.

Trueborns already had Shadowlife Seeds and Lineages... hence, convincing them to sign a Sleepwalker contract was borderline impossible when the nightcrawler had nothing of value to offer these kinds of people besides ruining their already established Lineage.

In fact, it was so difficult that not even nightcrawlers bothered to go for it since a Trueborn Seed and a Nightcrawler Seed were by nature opposite to each other... one was orderly, predetermined, and had an established evolutionary path; the other was playing Russian roulette with the mixture of genetic pools, prioritizing the highest.

In turn, this left them to experience an internal agonizing battle between the two seeds for the right to exist within the host, as each one would try to devour the other’s pool of knowledge.

In some extreme cases, nightcrawlers genuinely died through the process.

It was that serious, and the majority of nightcrawlers would rather not attempt it, even though successful possession opened a better evolutionary path than before.

Zar’Vhulek’s ancestors either came from this exact line of nightcrawlers, who had succeeded in possessing a genuine Trueborn Runehoof long time ago, before their civilization collapsed, or... an offspring who had been consipated under a Trueborn and a Hallowborn... but, unlucky enough, didn’t inherit a Shadowlife seed, leaving him as a Hallowborn with useless Trueborn Runehoof Kin dormant genetics.

Whatever his ancestral tree went through to get their hands on the Runehoof Kin, the potential to awaken the Zenith Constellation Aspect had survived.

Jojo’s three Perfect Evolutions had helped her unlock the Aspect... without giving either of them the techniques House Zen had preserved.

Jojo relayed his concern to Levi.

”I’ve already discussed it with Brahmin. He knows about Zar’Vhulek and agreed to receive you as a guest... whatever guidance he offers is still his decision.”

”I’m not going there to demand their techniques,” Jojo sighed. ”I’d be grateful if someone could just tell me what I am doing wrong.”

She had developed Karmic Retribution herself, but each difficulty left her wondering whether she needed more practice or a different approach. Even a few answers might save them weeks of repeating the same mistakes.

’Then we will respect his terms,’ Zar’Vhulek replied.

Jojo was about to ask when she could leave, but Levi hadn’t finished.

”I want your help getting all this started,” he told them. ”But there’s something you need to know before any of you get involved. The Targons’ patron is a Rook of the Duskbound Order... and there’s a bounty on my other identity, ’Mr. Problem,’ because of what I did to them.”

The excitement over the company faded at once.

”A bounty?” Jojo’s eyes widened. ”Levi...”