Chapter 22: Desperate Situation (2)
Rohan’s fingers made contact with an Origin Crystal, and he could feel that similar cool, refreshing feeling pass through.
’This must be the residual Origin Energy I can feel.’
Origin Crystals were the purest form of Origin Energy you could get, which made sensing it much easier than trying to do so with Origin Energy from the atmosphere.
According to all of the articles he’d read on the forums, sensing the Origin Energy was the most time consuming part, only with an Origin Crystal would you be able to do it on the first few tries.
’Draining an Origin Crystal takes up to 30 minutes depending on the Awakened, and they need to take hours to let the energy settle before going for another, and I don’t have that long... is this even worth bothering to try?’
Doubts sprung up, but he gave it a go anyway.
He used his will to convey his intention to absorb it like the training manual described, only instead of wanting to nourish his genome, he willed it to his Evolution Gene instead.
’Woah!’
Almost immediately, he felt a rush of energy dashing through his hands and into the rest of his body, to a point where his internal temperature began to rise rapidly, causing him to panic slightly.
However, that feeling subsided just as quickly as it came, and Rohan was left speechless.
’Was that i— where’s the Origin Crystal gone!?’
All that remained in his hand was a pile of colourless dust; no sign of the vibrant red hue of the Origin Crystal anymore.
In an excited rush, he checked his status.
[Name: Rohan Roy]
[Rank: F]
[Talent: Evolution Gene (F rank - 13%)]
[Genes: — ]
[Genetic Armaments: F rank Horned Rabbit Spear]
’Holy shit! It worked!’
Completely against his expectations, the Evolution gene was like a black hole, gulping down the entire Origin Crystal in a second! If others learned of this, they’d go crazy with jealousy.
The percentage had gone up from 0% to 13% as well, and the rank of the Origin Energy received seemed to have registered automatically.
Seeing the Soldier Ant start to turn back towards him after getting bored of Elane’s arrows, Rohan knew it was now or never.
His hand dove towards the other eight Origin Crystals sitting at the bottom of his satchel, grabbing them all together in a bunch.
The same process started and continued until the absorption slowed to a halt when there were three remaining. Rohan could tell immediately that the Origin Energy had stopped being absorbed by the Evolution Gene and switched to his own genome instead; hence, it suddenly felt so slow.
He checked his status once more.
[Talent: Evolution Gene (F rank - 100%)]
His mouth curved upwards, barely able to stifle his abundant joy.
’Even if I die right now, I can return to Earth a happy guy!’
Immediately, he activated his Evolution Gene for the first time since awakening it. The dormant energy inside his body stirred, and a feeling he instinctively understood appeared in Rohan’s mind.
’It wants me to choose a target.’
Well, he was a poor man, so there was only one target to choose from.
He selected his Horned Rabbit Spear, and in that instant, the Origin Energy inside his body rushed towards his spear chaotically and forcefully unsummoned his spear.
’What—’
Rohan hadn’t anticipated this, and he stammered backwards in a panic.
"What are you doing!?" Elane noticed what was going on from her side and looked just as bewildered at his bizarre choice of actions.
Unsummoning his only weapon right as an Elite beast was charging at him, had he finally chosen to give up?
[F rank Horned Rabbit Spear has evolved to F rank Horned Rabbit Spear (Elite)]
Rohan’s eyes widened with shock. For the briefest instant, all the fear, chaos and pressure of battle disappeared completely from his mind, drowned out by pure disbelief.
’It really evolved!?’
The message hanging before his eyes was so absurdly straightforward that it almost felt insulting.
His Evolution Gene really worked as he suspected it to!
’But Elite tier, not directly becoming an E rank?’
That was something to think about later, as the Soldier Ant unfortunately had no intention of waiting for him to appreciate the miracle that had just occurred.
The Elite beast shrieked and barrelled toward him, clearly sensing that its prey had become more vulnerable now that its pointy stick had disappeared!
Rohan’s face changed.
’Right, now’s not the time for this!’
With a frantic thought, he summoned his spear back.
For a heart stopping fraction of a second, nothing happened.
...Then a sharp pulse of Origin Energy surged out from his body, forming the spear within his hand.
And the difference was immediate.
The shaft felt denser and heavier.
The horned tip had changed subtly too, becoming slightly darker in tone. Faint reddish brown lines now spread from the base of the spearhead into the upper shaft like natural veins.
However, the differences were only obvious to him. To others, it would look like any other Horned Rabbit Spear unless observed up close.
’Nice! This will save me having an awkward conversation with Elane if we make it out of this alive!’
That was the one thing he was worried about throughout the whole process. She already lost a bit of his trust due to the way she reacted earlier, so he would be taking a big risk if all of a sudden his spear changed appearance mid fight.
Rohan barely had a moment to register anything before the Soldier Ant was on top of him.
He reacted on instinct and thrusted.
BANG!
This time, the clash went completely different.
No horrible numbing sensation accompanied the impact like he’d come to expect. The new Elite tier spear tore through the approaching mandible’s momentum and bit directly into the armour shell encasing it. The Soldier Ant actually recoiled instead of simply bowling through the attack.
Dark fluid splashed all over Rohan, while the beast let out a shrill hiss.
One that they were hearing for the first time.
One of pain.
Rohan himself almost stumbled from surprise.
’The difference is really this big!?’
The jump from Normal tier to Elite, even while staying within the same rank, was enormous.
Nearby, Elane’s jaw dropped at the sight before her.
"What did you just do..."
Words couldn’t describe her shock at the sudden turn of events.
Yet despite how flabbergasted she was, she didn’t let it overcome her. Whatever Rohan did had created a huge opening. Seeing Rohan was able to injure it this time, she assumed that something must have changed.
She put away her bow and reached for her dagger and began a mad dash towards the flank of the Soldier Ant while it was distracted.
"Don’t!" Rohan yelled, pulling her to a halt.
"If it lands one hit on you, you’re dead! Gain some distance and try to strike any holes I make with my spear; you can bypass its armour completely and hit the softer tissue inside that way!"
Elane hesitated and frowned but listened after seeing how serious he was.
"You owe me an explanation after this!"
She did as he asked, moving over two dozen metres to the rear of Rohan in just a couple seconds.
The darkness would make it harder for her to land her shots exactly where she aimed, but she could still try.
The Soldier Ant had recovered by this point and lunged again.
Rohan no longer chose to purely defend.
He stepped into the angle instead of retreating straight back, using his spear’s greater resilience to smack the incoming forelimb aside before driving the horned tip toward the exposed neck seam.
The blade entered a full three or four inches, making the beast utter yet another shriek of pain. It jerked away violently, its body twisting so fast that Rohan had to release his thrust and retreat to not be dragged along with it.
His eyes were burning with ferocity now.
Once might have been luck, but twice...
"For the eyes and neck!" he shouted.
Elane didn’t waste the chance he gave her.
Thrum!
Her arrow flew over from behind.
Rohan could see it was right on target, but the Elite jerked its head slightly to the side, causing the arrow to strike the previously injured mandible instead.
"KRRAAAHH!!"
The arrow severed the injured mandible, separating it from the rest of its body.
The Soldier Ant’s rage visibly spiked, turning toward Elane with a fury that neither of them could match.
But Rohan was a step ahead, acting before it could do anything.
"Take this, you freak!"
He drove his spear deep into the same neck hole he’d pierced earlier.
Crack!
He felt it pierce through the other side, driving a clean whole right the way through the Soldier Ant’s neck.
"Holy shit!" Elane exclaimed from afar.
This was an Elite tier beast! Watching Rohan drive a spear through its neck was a sight she never thought she’d be able to see...
Especially since he was basically fighting a 1v1, as she wasn’t able to provide much help since the beginning of the battle.
The Soldier Ant was one stubborn bastard; having a spear driving a clear hole through the neck, it only staggered and slowed down its crazy charge to a leisurely walk.
Oddly, it still maintained its pace towards Elane.
"Why does it hate me so much!? You’re the one hurting it the most!"
She drew back another arrow in response, letting it fly. The Elite was a much easier target now that it was moving drastically slower.
It landed with a dull thud, taking one of the Elite’s eyes out.
"My spear’s stuck!" Rohan yelped, desperately tugging on it, not able to budge it a little.
"Unsummon it then, idiot!"
Rohan had too much adrenaline pumping through him to be embarrassed and followed her advice wordlessly.
The moment his spear disappeared into thin air, it was like the floodgates opened.
The same dark fluid from earlier gushed out of its neck now that there was no spear lodged inside to block it.
Almost instantly, the Elite started rocking side to side, as if it were drunk.
It collapsed to the ground after a dozen more seconds passed.
[You have killed an F rank (Elite) Firestone Ant.]