I Evolve 10,000 Times Faster

The Basilisk was exactly where Maeve said it would be.

A massive reptilian beast coiled around a rock formation at the upper canyon. Forty feet of armored scales shimmering with an earthy green light.

Holden was already moving.

The Void Mantle erased his presence completely. He moved through the canyon like a ghost, dropping from ledge to ledge, crossing open ground, circling toward the Basilisk’s position from above.

The beast was too big to ambush cleanly from the ground. One wrong step and the creature could feel the displaced air from his movement. He needed to be precise.

He found a position above and behind it, standing on a narrow ledge that ran along the Basilisk’s spine like a ridge road. The scales here were thickest at the base of the neck. The belly scales were thinner, leaving the soft underbelly more exposed. The core pulsed somewhere inside its chest.

Holden dropped onto the beast’s back.

The creature didn’t flinch. Its tail twitched, but it didn’t turn around because nothing was there to see. Holden’s 10,000x processor calculated the exact trajectory of the beast’s blind spot in real time.

He summoned the Solar-Forged Sword but didn’t ignite it. He needed the core completely undamaged for the Aether-Crucible.

He placed his palm against the thinnest part of the underbelly and pushed.

The scales were warm and hard. His Aether-Steel fingers pried them apart with precision, creating just enough space to reach inside.

The core was a glowing green sphere, placed in a nest of soft, fibrous tissue.

He plucked it out.

[Iron-Scale Basilisk (Rank 2, 9-Star) Defeated! Earth-Core Extracted! +4,000 KP!]

The beast’s body went slack beneath him, the last traces of life fading as Holden dropped to the canyon floor and stored the core.

One down.

The Tempest Hawk was higher up, circling a thermal vent near the canyon wall. Its feathers crackled with static electricity as it rode the updrafts, talons wrapped in lightning, leaving trails of sparks behind it.

This one was trickier.

Holden found a shadow behind a rock outcropping and waited. The hawk circled overhead, its eyes scanning the canyon below.

The hawk suddenly banked and dove toward the canyon floor.

Now.

Gale-Step flashed.

SHLICK.

The Hawk never saw him.

Its body continued forward for another few seconds before its head separated from its neck. The massive bird tumbled through the air and crashed into the canyon floor below.

[Tempest Hawk (Rank 2, 9-Star) Defeated! Storm-Core Extracted! +4,000 KP!]

Holden retrieved the core and kept moving.

The next hour blurred together.

The Shattered Valleys weren’t a challenge to him. They were a hunting ground. The Void Mantle kept him hidden, his Abyssal-Bone Wings let him cross terrain that would have slowed ordinary hunters, and his 10,000x processor made every movement precise.

He cleared the weaker candidates Maeve had marked along his route. More Basilisks, Abyssal Stalkers, Ice-Element variants. Each kill followed the same pattern. Each core went into system inventory. The system notifications stacked up in the corner of his vision, KP climbing steadily with every extraction.

By the time he stopped, he’d collected seven additional cores across three elemental types. Earth, Storm, and Ice. Most between seven and nine-Star.

The notifications finally stopped.

[KP EARNED: + 30,000 KP]

[Current Balance: 205,890 KP]

Holden stood on a narrow rock ledge deep inside the Valleys, rain falling around him, darkening the stone. The Void Mantle kept the remaining monsters from detecting him as he checked his haul.

"Extraction complete," he said into his earpiece. "Heading back."

"Welcome back." Maeve’s voice crackled slightly through the static. "How many useful cores?"

"Enough. I have the Earth and Storm cores we need."

"All within range?"

"Most of them."

A brief pause.

"How many does Emric need?"

"One good Earth core should do it."

"And Renna?"

"Same. One Storm core."

"Good. Bring them back."

By the time he reached the transport, Emric and Renna were waiting.

Renna’s eyes went straight to his hands. "You actually got them?"

Holden nodded and handed the cores over.

Renna stared at the Storm core in her hands, her eyes widening as the energy inside crackled against her palm. "This is a Rank 2, 9-Star core."

"Yep."

"And you got it without me?"

"You were guarding the transport."

"That is stil. unfair."

Emric examined the Earth core carefully before looking up. "Clean extraction?"

"Completely."

Emric nodded. "Then we can start."

The team moved into a nearby cave, far enough from the main path that they wouldn’t be disturbed. Holden brought out the Aether-Crucible and placed the two raw cores inside.

The artifact began to hum.

A faint glow spread across its surface as the Crucible started breaking down the monster cores. The remaining traces of toxic monster blood burned away while the pure elemental energy condensed and refined.

Two glowing pills emerged.

One carried a faint earthy glow. The other crackled with tiny arcs of electricity.

Holden handed the Earth pill to Emric and the Storm pill to Renna.

"Take them."

Emric looked at the pill in his palm. "So this is it."

Renna swallowed hers immediately.

"Yep."

Emric looked at her. "You didn’t even hesitate."

"Why would I?"

She swallowed.

The moment the pill hit her stomach, her expression changed.

Her eyes widened.

"Whoa—"

A violent surge of energy exploded through her body.

Renna dropped to one knee, gripping her chest as the Storm energy spread through her meridians. Lightning-like energy crawled beneath her skin, and her entire body began trembling from the pressure.

Emric quickly swallowed his own pill.

His reaction was just as intense.

He dropped to the ground as a massive wave of Earth energy surged through him. His muscles tightened, his bones began to crack, and his skin slowly took on a harder, denser quality.

Holden watched silently.

The passive 10x Learning Buff was already working. Their brains processed the massive influx of energy at an incredible rate, allowing their bodies to understand and absorb the power instead of being overwhelmed by it.

Renna gritted her teeth. "It hurts."

"Keep going," Emric said through clenched teeth.

"You don’t get to tell me what to do!"

"You’re the one screaming."

"I’m not screaming—"

She screamed again.

Emric laughed despite the pain.

The energy kept surging. Their bones cracked and hardened. Their muscles strengthened. Their meridians expanded to accommodate the new level of power. The pressure built until the entire cave seemed to tremble.

Then it stopped.

Renna’s eyes snapped open.

A powerful burst of Storm energy erupted from her body. The pressure of Rank 2 filled the cave.

She stared at her hands.

"I..."

She clenched her fist.

Lightning crackled between her fingers.

"I broke through."

Emric slowly stood beside her. The surface of his skin had taken on a faint metallic quality. He looked at his hands, then punched the cave wall.

BOOM!

The impact shook the cave. Rock dust fell from the ceiling.

Emric stared at the wall. There wasn’t a scratch on his fist.

He blinked.

Then he started laughing. "I didn’t even feel that."

Renna looked at him before raising her own hand. "Move."

Emric stepped aside.

Renna drew back her fist and punched the wall.

BOOM!

A small crack spread across the stone.

She stared at it.

Then she looked at Holden. "Did I do that?"

Holden nodded.

Renna’s face lit up. "I’m Rank 2!"

She jumped to her feet, electricity dancing around her body. "I’M RANK 2!"

Emric laughed again. "We both made it."

Renna looked at him with a huge grin. "This feels amazing."

Maeve’s voice came through the earpiece. "Holden?"

He touched the communicator. "Yeah?"

"Did they break through?"

He looked at Emric and Renna. Renna was still sparking and Emric was running his fingers over the cracked wall like he couldn’t quite believe it was real.

"They did."

A brief silence.

"Good. Then we’re ready for the next part."

Renna looked toward Holden. "So what now?"

Holden looked toward the deeper parts of the Shattered Valleys.

"Now we keep going."

Emric and Renna exchanged a glance. Then Emric rolled his shoulders, and Renna flexed her fingers, lightning curling around her knuckles.

Neither of them asked if it would be dangerous.

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