Chapter 64: Ambition
Evolution. It was something that Rohan understood dearly, possibly more than any other Awakened in this chamber — Liam included. After all, his whole life as an Awakened started with his Evolution Gene.
But hearing that word come out of a mouth other than his own made his skin crawl.
So far, he’d only successfully completed an evolution twice, once with his Horned Rabbit Spear to Elite tier and then with his Firestone Gene, also to Elite tier.
However, what Liam was talking about doing completely overshadowed Rohan’s efforts so far. He was actually crazy enough to try and forcefully evolve the Elite tier boss of this gate into a Commander Tier beast!
It felt insane just thinking about it.
No—
It was insane!
Rohan had thought Rudith and her group were reckless. Thought they were the worst type of people the Origin Realm and this world had to offer.
But Liam...
He was something else entirely. He gave new meaning to the word evil. Though, Rohan wasn’t even sure if it could even be called evil. Liam was doing this due to pure ambition — a drive to increase his own power. How he planned to achieve that by turning an Elite Beast into a Commander Tier beast was for him to figure out, but Rohan was certain...
Liam was the worst person he’d ever encountered. Maybe ever will.
Rohan’s lips slowly peeled back, barely holding back the disgust and anger from showing on his face, though he doubted Liam would care. "You’re insane. That thing will rip you to shreds before you can even realise what happened."
Liam’s grin only widened.
"Insane? That’s quite a strong word, don’t you think? In fact, I’d say it’s quite the contrary. I’m more ambitious than anything. There’s no logic in insanity, whereas you can see my logic clear as day. Though let’s not debate on this any further; leave that to the philosophers to take care of."
He was proud. Proud like a craftsman on the precipice of creating a masterpiece. He moved on quickly.
"The word sounds beautiful, doesn’t it?" Liam asked softly. "Commander. Do you understand what that means? What kind of existence stands on that level?"
Rohan didn’t answer. This was something that he and most other Awakened were completely in the dark about. Rarely ever did news of a Commander tier Beast reach the lower dregs of society, and when it did, it was always about disaster.
A commander tier beast was no longer just a dangerous existence confined to a smaller area of activity like Elite beasts were. They were calamities. The kind of thing that entire cities in the Origin Realm had to band together in order to defeat.
And that was just talking about an F rank Commander.
The scale of destruction was unthinkable in the higher ranks.
And Liam wanted to make one.
Not in the Origin Realm either, but right here on Earth, next to the capital city.
"An F rank Commander beast can take down the average E rank Awakened with ease, and mow down whole hordes of F ranks! That’s the kind of power I want... No, I NEED!"
Liam looked consumed with an endless hunger for power.
"You two really have no idea what kind of opportunity this is — how much effort it took for me to set this up," Liam said. "A gate on the verge of collapse. A central beast primed for evolution. Hundreds of Awakened trapped in one place. A horde of beasts all neatly gathered and driven to this location."
His arms reached over and snatched another heart away.
"There might never be another opportunity like this ever again."
Rohan looked at him. ’Sure nice to know that something like this can’t occur often, but why did it have to involve us of all people?’
Elane’s face had gone pale as paper. Not even with her background had she ever encountered something like this. Her father had likely avoided letting her know of this dark side of Awakened society.
"Y-you’ll die too," she said, her voice trembling from pain due to the constricting vines tightly holding her body but steady enough to get her point across. "You may be able to control these other beasts, but a Commander Beast won’t listen to you! It’ll kill you just like everyone else."
Liam looked at her with something like pity but spoke condescendingly.
"That’s where your thinking is limited."
He stepped away from the body at his feet and slowly approached the centre of the chamber, admiring the beast like an artist admiring a sculpture.
"This Spike Beast Gate is already collapsing in all the right ways. The waystones are gone. The energy is all concentrated here. This beast is no longer a mere boss guarding its lair." He gestured with his bloodied hand at the increasingly bright light exuding from the beast’s body. "It has lost any semblance of self; all that’s left is a shell. One that I can control with zero resistance."
That... made a horrifying amount of sense.
Liam’s plan wasn’t to subdue the beast; it was a complete hostile takeover!
He could do whatever he wanted with the beast. Rohan could see it now. The end goal wasn’t having a Commander Tier beast under his control. It was to use its strength to fight against other Commander Tier beasts and kill them, aiming for their loot! That was his ultimate goal!
With the strength of a fully fledged Commander Tier beast backing him, he could fully equip himself with Commander tier Genes and Genetic Armament in time.
He’d be practically unstoppable at F rank by that point, even E rank.
’I can’t let this happen. We have to do something to stop this process before its too late! There’s no way I can face off against a Commander Tier beast with my current strength, I need to act before it reaches that point.’
Rohan knew how dire his and Elane’s situation was now. Liam wasn’t just going to keep them around once his plan had finalised itself.
’It’s time I put my foot down.’
Rohan used his spear tip to cut a thin line at the tip of his index finger, drawing blood. The move wasn’t caught by Liam, but Elane had noticed it.
’Sacrifices have to be made. Elane will have millions of questions and suspicions about me after this, but this is the only move forwards if we want to make it out of this alive.’
He pressed his bloody finger onto his forearm and started writing in his own blood. All this to avoid Liam learning of his plan.
’Give me your Spike Beast Bow.’ Is what he wrote.
Elane looked confused by the request; after all, what good would that do for their situation? But seeing the determination in Rohan’s gaze, she could tell that he wasn’t just doing this on a whim. He had a plan.
She waited for an opportunity when Liam had his back turned to them to sneakily unbind her Genetic Armament, letting it materialise in her hand then throwing it over to Rohan all in one fluid motion.
At this point she didn’t care if Rohan ever returned the Genetic Armament back to her, since giving something precious like that away was a big risk. All she wanted was to return back to Earth alive.
’It’s time.’ Rohan thought, pulling up his status.
[Name: Rohan Roy]
[Rank: F]
[Talent: Evolution Gene (Normal(F) - 100%, Elite(F) - 14%)]
[Genes: — ]
[Genetic Armaments: F rank Horned Rabbit Spear (Elite)]
’Still at 100%, nice.’
His earlier experiments to continue evolving his Spear to Commander Tier proved to be a failure, leaving him with a max charge of Normal Tier Origin Energy.
Perfect for upgrading Elane’s Spike Beast Bow to Elite tier.