The Glorious Evolution

Ash’Kral appeared on top of Levi’s shoulder and remained gazing at the tree silently. His gaze, his behavior, and his atmosphere were different compared to being inside the Ancestral Crimson Tree’s plane.

It was like he hated both trees and was forced to work with their powers to simply fulfill his goal...

Levi always felt this way but said nothing, understanding that Ash’Kral would deny it and ignore him anyway.

Soon, Levi switched his focus to a giant golden leaf shaped as three pyramids stacked above each other...The bigger one was at the base, while the smallest was at the top.

It was floating tens of meters away from Levi...While the leaf was big, its content was nowhere close to the Nanogon leaf.

It possessed a hundred leaves, give or take.

Most of them were concentrated near the edges of the leaf.

”So few...” Levi was surprised.

From millions of mastered abilities to less than a hundred? The switch was too extreme, and it caught him off guard.

”It’s normal.” Ash’Kral replied casually, ”I have already told you I can’t control either the sun or the void seeds’ powers. In other words, those hundred mastered abilities were left to you by my past partners, not me.”

”Ah.” Levi made a thoughtful hum.

He understood that Ash’Kral had mastered millions of abilities since he had lived for a very long time. Meanwhile, his partners seldom made it past the Warden Rank.

A hundred abilities might not sound like a lot, but it was the cumulative hard work of tens of Daywalkers connected through a single link...The desire to conquer the Three-Body-Problem and escape from its curse.

Levi respected their efforts immensely, as without them, he wouldn’t even have a chance to unlock a single ability...Just like Ash’Kral’s first-ever partner, who had no idea what he was doing, and neither did Ash’Kral, setting him on a path of insured death or eternal torture.

”It’s not always great to be the first...” Levi murmured to himself as he floated towards the leaf.

Though this situation did drive him to ponder the true origins of the Void and Sun seeds. To have not a single inherited memory or ability before Ash’Kral obtained them could only imply that he got them fresh out of the oven.

Levi knew that was a ridiculous fact on its own. But he kept such thoughts to himself and reached out with his hand to the wall of abilities, pulling one of the dim mini-leaves.

Although there were only a hundred abilities, some of them were illuminating and nearing the center...Levi left them for later, understanding that they must be mastered at the later stages.

Soon, Levi turned the leaf with a hopeful look, having no idea what to expect from powers related to their deities...Anything was possible.

//Ignition Marks: The user marks targets with radiant sigils of condensed sunfire through touch or ranged projectiles. Once marked, these sigils remain dormant... invisible or glowing faintly... until the user chooses to ignite them, triggering an explosion of blazing solar energy. The marks can also be detonated remotely or chained together for multi-target destruction.//

As Levi read the ability’s name and its details, his mouth slightly widened bit by bit.

”Ignition Marks, a decent skill.” Ash’Kral nodded in approval, ”It was created and mastered by my fourth partner, Barox. His fighting style revolves mostly around it, bringing its damage to its true potential.”

”I can see the vision.”

Without needing to read all of its details, Levi could tell that such an ability had tens of amazing applications in battles. The notion that the mark could be fired through projectiles made it much deadlier.

However, after putting the leaf on his forehead and reading all of its details, it finally hit him that the abilities were truly created by humans.

It was flawed...

”I can only maintain a limited number of marks at once, even if my energy allows me to create more.” Levi muttered, ”Also, they fade if not ignited within a certain time or if disrupted by dark energy.”

While such limitations weren’t really that bad, Levi was used to the quality of Ash’Kral’s abilities to not notice them.

If it were an ability created by Ash’Kral, he would perfect it to the point where only fuel remained the problem.

Still, Levi wasn’t bashing at Barox.

To create an ability related to Radians and Upper realm deities all on his own, while being a human, was a different type of flex...Levi respected him a great deal for it.

”A time will come when I will also create my own legacy, but for now...” Levi smiled serenely as he watched the giant leaf of abilities fade into particles, ”Let me burrow yours for a while...”

The moment it disappeared, Levi landed on the still waters and summoned his Judgement’s Chainstaff.

Then, he activated the Ignition Marks ability and watched both crowns of the staff adorned with two golden soft flames, resembling a candle’s flame.

”Fire...It’s real fire.”

Levi gazed at the flames in marvel, not expecting that a day would come when real fire would be included in his arsenal.

Since nightcrawlers were incapable of producing light radiation besides some exceptions, it was extremely rare to see fire-based powers.

Fire was extremely common in our world as an element. Yet, it was nearly untouched by most Daywalkers worldwide.

Even if they had some affinity to it, it wouldn’t matter when nightcrawlers could only produce dark flames.

”Fire? That ain’t no common fire.” Ash’Kral dropped calmly, ”You are holding the flames of a sun, the torches of life, and the singular deadliest weapon to a nightcrawler.”

”I thought it might be the case, but I dared not accept it...” Levi responded, his voice soft but shaky.

His first intuition told him that he was holding onto no ordinary flames, but Levi simply couldn’t accept the notion of him wielding sunflames.

He knew all along that it was an inevitable reality...The hints were all over the place: Sun Origin Seed, Radian Bloodline, divine light absorption, and more.

He just felt like it was still far away.

Yet, here he was...Holding onto a staff that could burn a low-ranked nightcrawler to death with a slight touch. It was like being the sole person to weaponize kryptonite in a world filled with Supermans.

Yet...

”If people were to find out, I would be crucified by both sides.”

Levi sighed while extinguishing the flames after fooling around with them for a bit. He knew that if he was ever found out to wield actual Sunflames, neither the nightcrawlers, the humans, or the radians would leave him be at peace.

The nightcrawlers would see him as a threat.

The humans would see him as a ’savior’ on the outside, but they would try everything to replicate his powers... Even if it caused his demise.

While he never interacted with a radian before, he knew they would never allow their sacred powers to fall into the hands of an outsider.

In simpler terms, Levi could never use the Sun Origin seed’s abilities with his real identity...It was nothing more than a death sentence.

”Damn...It sure feels bad to own the ultimate weapon and not be comfortable enough to use it freely.” Levi smiled wryly.

”You can always use it freely, you just ain’t strong enough to deal with the consequences,” Ash’Kral said calmly.

”Strength, huh...”

Levi took a deep gander at the Ancestral Golden Tree. A scene of the Harrowing Forest played in his mind.

He recalled what Nell’Vess said about strength being the Greatest Gift. At that moment, he wasn’t in the right place to ponder his outburst.

But now, he was beginning to slowly understand what drove Nell’Vess to feel that way.

Having ’f*ck you’ strength was the ultimate goal.

Though Levi understood that knowing it was one thing, reaching that level was a different situation.

”You don’t have to feel so bad about being limited in utilizing the Sun or Void seed powers.” Ash’Kral smirked, ”You can go wild in the Nocturnal Ring.”

”I can already imagine everyone’s surprise when I burn nightcrawlers to a crisp with a single mark,” Levi smirked for a moment, but then, he shook his head.

He wasn’t being baited to participate in another Death Game...He still had many preparations to conclude first, and the best place to test them wasn’t a Death Game, but the upcoming Major Expedition.

One of the preparations was the creation of a new Weapon.

This time, Levi already had plenty of time to think about what kind of weapon he should own at this stage of his life...The unlocked Ignition Marks had further assured him of his decision.

The moment he willed it, the Crafting Station emerged in front of him.

A rough wooden platform with golden roots weaving through the planks and simple carvings on every surface... at its center sat a glowing light pyramid, turning slowly.

”Are you ready?” Levi smirked as he gazed at Ash’Kral sitting inside the pyramid.

”I still think it will be difficult to pull it off, but go for it.”

Ash’Kral didn’t seem too optimistic about Levi’s new weapon idea...But he still supported him, seeing the potential hidden in it.

”We won’t find out until we try.”