The Glorious Evolution

´Brat, don’t waste my time.” Mantis said coldly, ”We know it was you who stole our artifact. You should feel grateful that our merciful vice leader has decided to buy it from you instead of retaliating against you for what you did.”

”I think you have got the wrong person.” Levi still denied.

He knew that the moment he spoke about this subject and gave himself up, it might give legal grounds for the Sunstrike Agency to come after him for the artifact.

Getting recognized for his nightmount, clothes, and weapon was one thing, but giving out a confirmation was another.

After all, nothing was conclusive in this new era, with the powers to shapeshift being rampant.

However, if Astra AI was involved, she could snitch on Levi even if he wasn’t recording anything.

Fortunately, involving Astra AI required a warrant, and Levi knew neither the vice leader nor Mantis had grounds to secure it as long as he kept denying his involvement.

”You are starting to piss me off, no one will ever deny this wasn’t you... Look!” Mantis said coldly as he brought out a hologram with Selma’s recording, showing Levi red-handed.

”My apologies, but I am blind.” Levi smiled warmly.

”You ain’t deaf, that’s your voice in the recording.” Mantis narrowed his eyes.

”Is it?” Levi tilted his head in confusion and said, ”Are you sure?”

”You...”

Mantis was left stunned after noticing that Levi’s voice gradually changed with each spoken word until it no longer resembled the one in the recording!

He was using his real voice now.

When he heard the new one, it finally dawned on him that the source of the weird feeling he was having was related to Levi’s voice!

When he heard it in the recording, it threw him off, but he didn’t think much of it. When he spoke to Levi now, he noticed that it matched the recording, which killed off his suspicions.

Before he could react, a clear and steady voice resounded from a loudspeaker above them.

–Now boarding at Gate 3: Express bus to the northern exit. Passengers, please have your tickets ready and prepare for departure.–

”This is my stop.”

Levi stood up and walked to the parked bus’s door, lining up with a few other people. Mantis still hadn’t given up on retrieving the artifact. He walked up to Levi and upped his purchase offer.

”Ten thousand coins, final price.” Mantis narrowed his eyes icily, ”You won’t find any better price elsewhere. Do the smart thing and agree, you don’t want to disappoint Sir Alaric.”

The passengers’ eyes widened in disbelief after hearing such an otherworldly price, feeling like they were being punked. After all, why would someone take the bus if he was dealing with these kinds of unimaginable numbers?

”If only I knew what you were talking about.”

Levi shook his head in frustration and entered the bus. Without turning his head, he added calmly.

”If this artifact is such a big deal to your vice leader, should I do him a favor and request from Lord Idriss to look into the matter? He is currently training my little brother. I believe he won’t mind giving it a look.”

Hearing Lord Idriss’ name being brought up, a chill was sent down Mantis’ spine. But before he could think too much about it, the bus had already taken off.

As he kept staring at Levi, who was leaning against the window with a warm smile, he couldn’t help but rethink some of his options.

’I don’t know if he is that close with Lord Idriss or not, but I heard that he has been training that behemoth... He is also friends with that arrogant b*tch Shia.’

Mantis gulped a mouthful, realizing that Levi was no longer a nobody without any background.

Both the Blood Hunters and the Morningstars were standing behind him. In other words, if he were to make his move against him, he needed more than just the intentions.

It had to be perfect... Fortunately, Levi had just antagonized a big dog.

’Sir Alaric will give me all the necessary resources after he hears this.’ Mantis gave a chilling glare in the direction of the bus, ’You will hand that pearl either willingly or forcefully.’

After Levi arrived at the Grand Training Center, he went to his room and found that his brother wasn’t there.

He wasn’t surprised as he had told him that he would be out feeding his seed with Rayan, Jojo, and Malissa... He had invited him, but Levi preferred going out with his nightmount.

He was glad he did.

Levi pulled out the Sensebound Pearl necklace and placed it on his palm. It featured a single, smooth pearl suspended on a thin silver chain.

The pearl shimmered faintly with shifting hues, as if holding a hidden soul within. Subtle IIthorien etchings around its setting hinted at its ancient existence.

”Why this much focus on such a low-grade artifact? Is it simply because of its spiritual refinement qualities?” Levi wondered as he played with the pearl, feeling like he was holding an ice cube... It was freezing cold.

Levi believed that while it was a decent treasure for low rankers, it shouldn’t warrant that much attention from Sir Alaric.

He had been a Warden Daywalker at the evolution stage for over five years now. While he wasn’t as powerful as Lord Daruis, it was only due to his unfortunate evolutionary path being extremely rare.

This placed a heavy toll on him to find his evolutionary formula. While most struggle with finding the natural treasures themselves, he was still stuck at the formula stage.

The worst part? Evolving to Solarbound rank couldn’t be achieved with Limited Evolution... Either Remarkable evolution or Perfect evolution.

If the Daywalker couldn’t find the evolutionary formula or collect the natural treasures needed, he would be stuck at that rank for eternity.

This was the reason Solarbound Daywalkers and above were separated from the masses. It took a great deal of luck, skill, resources, and effort to become one.

”Hmm? Let me take a look... Something feels weird about this artifact.”

Ash’Kral summoned himself as a staff, and Levi brought the pearl near his singular eye. Ash’Kral analyzed the pearl for a few moments, his eye narrowed in concentration.

As his eye remained affixed on the pearl, a sudden white fog materialized inside for less than a split second, then disappeared!

”Heh, trying to hide?” Ash’Kral chuckled.

”Who are you talking to?” Levi was confused.

”I know now why that boy wants this artifact so bad.” Ash’Kral shared, ”He wants to use it as a material for his evolutionary formula.”

”Wait, what? Artifacts can also be used to concoct an evolutionary formula?!” Levi exclaimed in shock.

”Not all of them,” Ash’Kral said with a wide grin, his gaze fixed on the gleaming pearl. ”Only those that still carry a fragment of consciousness from the entity they once were, twisted into an artifact by the Shadow Dimension’s corrupting atmosphere.”

He leaned in slightly, voice dropping with amusement. ”And I believe there’s a little wisp hiding inside this one.”

”You being for real?”

Levi brought the pearl near his ear and filtered out all the noise, hoping to detect any presence of life in it.

”It’s easier if you use your spiritual vision.” Ash’Kral said, ”But first, try to connect with it.”