I Own the Evolution Domain

"There’s still a lot of them..." as he sent in a punch towards his front, Novus mutters to himself, looking at the broken slime falling in front of him as he wonders how far their reach extends, with him already reaching the outskirts of the Verdant Forest and their presences still aren’t diminishing in the slightest.

[Defeated: E-Tier Shadow Slime (3). Rewards: E-Tier Evolution Crystal (15), Slime Substrate (15), Liquid Shadow (2)]

[Defeated: E-Tier Amber Slime (3). Rewards: E-Tier Evolution Crystal (4), Slime Substrate (12), Malleable Amber (3)]

As he checks out the harvest from the most recent encounter, Novus smiles in satisfaction before getting a feel of the environment surrounding him, he was hit by a breeze that came from behind him, from the plains that he just left from, this breeze flowing unhindered despite the trees of the forest and traveling past him, deeper into the forest itself.

Cool wind blows as leaves rustles, the oddly humid, yet nevertheless, comforting air around the outskirts of the Verdant Forest kept Novus from feeling too hot from the humidity, an oddity that he couldn’t help but feel grateful to.

Had it not been for his Sensory Expansion allowing him to sense things far clearly than just relying on his eyes alone, just the extremities of this forest are already hard to navigate through

Branches of tall trees interweaving, preventing most of the Evolution Domain’s seemingly perpetual sunlight from peering through the forest’s floor, the temperature being the only comfort of this place as numerous bugs and critters roams around its vicinity.

In particular, the mosquitoes around this place appears to be far bigger than the usual size, reaching over half a finger long in length, allowing anyone encountering them a more ’insightful’ look on their features, features that will turn sensitive individuals’ stomachs upside down.

’As expected, the difficulty really went up...’ Novus thought to himself as he wills mana to wrap around his body in a protective outer layer, preventing any proboscis from poking through his skin.

In fact, Novus can just let the mosquitoes feast upon his blood as he estimated that his talent will be more than enough for him to sustain them, however, the sole discomfort alone of being pierced and extracted blood from, all of that for naught is something that he just can’t accept.

’Not to mention there might be a lot of toxins and poisons in these insects...’ he thought to himself, pausing as he mentions the last part of his words as a faint smile appears on his face, his will making it so that a small opening appears on the mana barrier around his arms as he baits some of the buzzing insects in.

Eventually, some of them finds their way towards the opening on the barrier surrounding him, their proboscis opening as an appendage pierce through his skin, a straw-like part being pushed in as blood began being drained out of his being.

And as soon as said draining began, his talent, True Immortal Blood’s effects also start kicking in, increasing his body’s regeneration ability so that it can create more blood than what is being taken away from his body, his control over his talent allowing him to reach equilibrium between the blood being created and the one being taken out.

"Haha... really..." laughter escapes from his lips as he was met with a singular notification that confirms his speculation, the faint smile on his face changing into a wider one as he just found another method on improving one of his abilities.

[A new type of E Tier toxin enters the body, now absorbing the toxin into the bloodstream...]

[Absorption Complete.]

[Consume 4 more unique E Tier poison or toxin or 80 times the volume of the E Tier poisons or toxins already absorbed before to increase the Poison-Devouring Blood’s progress.]

Seeing the progress, Novus immediately closes the opening of the mana barrier around him, cutting the proboscis of the insects still feasting on his blood, deeming that absorbing any more is just unnecessary if he can just take more unique poisons and or toxins to improve the effect of this newly acquired ability instead.

From walking down the ground, he began picking his pace up, using the large tree roots surfacing every now and then to keep himself away from the slightly moist ground, taking a few more minutes before he eventually finds himself leaping from branch to branch, all while maintaining multiple things all at once.

Simultaneously, he is utilizing his mind to analyzes the route, the leaps he is going to take in the future, along with controlling the vast information brought about by his senses boosted by Sensory Expansion

Not to mention the fact that while all of this happens, he is still keeping a portion of his attention to make sure that the mana barrier around him is continuously maintained to protect himself from dangerous critters common around the forest area.

In a way, it becomes much harder for him to operate here compared to the serious situation he previously faced during the incident in the academy’s secret exams, after all, it is not necessary for him to maintain all sorts of techniques while traversing such complex environment.

However, he knew full well that he needs to do so in order for him to survive, no, thrive inside the Evolution Domain, after all, this place is somewhere that doesn’t reward hard work as much as it rewards survival at all cost.

Hence why he pushes his abilities to the limits, knowing that despite such method being tiring, it also rewards him by allowing him to utilize it more and more effectively as time goes by.

And the proof to it seems all too apparent to him as each passing hour that he keeps using Sensory Expansion, the range of his senses seems to increase ever-so-slightly, covering more and more of the area round him as he continues to roam around, stopping, changing his direction every time he picks up slimes for him to hunt.

Hours passed as pile after pile of slimes began to fall under his prowess, surprisingly, despite how deep he is going towards the forest, there has yet to be any D Tier slime for him to encounter, allowing him to hunt groups of E Tier slimes in peace.

A familiar notification hits him as he finished fighting yet another slime, harvests and rewards from the hunt arriving, causing him to smile a bit as he felt quite satisfied with how his hunt is going on right now.

[A new type of E Tier toxin enters the body, now absorbing the toxin into the bloodstream...]

[Absorption Complete.]

[Consume 3 more unique E Tier poison or toxin or 60 times the volume of the E Tier poisons or toxins already absorbed before to increase the Poison-Devouring Blood’s progress.]

[Defeated: E-Tier Toxic Slime (1). Rewards: E-Tier Evolution Crystal (6), Slime Substrate (6)]

"This place sure is huge..." as he pulled his fist away from the corrosive remains of the Toxic Slime he just encountered, Novus remarked, looking at how dim the light had gotten ever since his entry, at the point onwards, his vision is gradually reducing in range unless he relies on Sensory Expansion to compensate for it.

Slowing his pace down, he finally picked up changes within him, a faint, weak, but nevertheless shiver-inducing chill running down his body as he finally felt a certain sense of threat coming from all around him.

First, his ears picked up howls by the distance, something that seems familiar, yet ever-so-subtly different compared to the beast he knows outside.

Then there was none, not a follow up roar or anything else, no rustling of leaves, only silence as whatever it is that the howl came from seems to achieve its own goal without any problem.

Perhaps because of his nerves from entering a new place inside the extremely dangerous Evolution Domain causing him to focus more on the moving things than the ones that does not, it is only now that Novus noticed something.

All around him, trees are marked with scratched, like clawed beasts marking what is it that is rightfully theirs.