Chapter 940 - Trait evolution

As is often the case, the planning and preparations took longer than expected, taking almost a week, and now only 24 hours remain before I have to join the party.

Annoyingly so, I have been delivered clothes by someone who just knocked on my door and left afterwards like some annoying children from the neighbourhood playing dare. Just get off my lawn.

The clothes are the sort that isn't too dissimilar from what Vic and I were wearing during the Games. Though a part of me wants to fish out that gecko pajama shirt, the other is just too tired to bother. And hell, it might be a good omen if I decide not to be an ass, and my trait evolution might go better.

Quite a bit hangs on it, after all.

My plan is to evolve my eyes, which will then aid in the forced evolution of my vessel. Anyone thinking I would stop at just eyes is as delusional as Tess can be in the way that allows her to use [Declaration] in those weird ways.

Well, why eyes now and not vessel? Because I simply don't have anything powerful enough to force eye evolution naturally.

As for my ichor and vessel, they are both in a sort of balance, with my vessel having an upper hand for now. So the solution is simple, I will use that purer-than-mine blood from the Empyrean Heir, and I will further pressure it with a few pills from the Doc and the Wraith's blood, obviously.

It is like that genius scientific method of throwing poisonous animals into a vase or something to see which one comes out alive and more poisonous than before.

With all that messing around, aided by my constitution of 9 points, plus some help from Lily and the Doc, it will be either the Empyrean Ichor getting purer or something entirely new forming.

I hope.

And after that, I will go straight away to aiding my vessel with the help of my new eyes, as that blood will surely attack the vessel to fight for who is the top dog in me.

It is one of the advantages of having a low constitution–there is almost nothing to counterbalance fighting traits. I'm surprised more people don’t do that.

But that's probably a few months in the future, as both Lily and the Doc seem to be trying to prepare something truly deadly while fighting over who can do it better. Lily might have my survival in mind and is preparing some healing too, but the Doc is totally focused on his task of killing me in the most glorious way possible.

But today, eyes.

While making my way down to what at this point might as well be a bunker that the catboy resides in, I stretch my hands over my head and yawn. Since the morning, I have felt giddy and have that phantom feeling of eyes pulsing in my eye sockets, like they are also getting excited for the upgrade. That’s what they crave.

My good mood might also be because a few days ago I got more shards from Duncan for the fishing trip with The Boys, and a bit more for the corpo stuff that also got sold. There is the fact that I sold some of talnium, and the fact that I sold one of my keys to the 6th floor of Beyond.

All of that added a nice 40 million.

Yes. We are at the end stage of cheating and capitalism where the money is beginning to stop making sense.

Almost 30 million for the key is nice, and if I do it smartly, I can create a false sense of scarcity. I can start talking about how I'm scared to return to the 5th floor and that no more keys will hit the market anytime soon. I might be able to get even more shards for the second one I sell.

I think it has been a good while since someone was selling the key, and the rich people in Megacity were starved for it, poor guys. Thane should tax them to oblivion.

Once I reach the lab, I watch the thick metal doors, like the sort you have on a nuclear bunker, slowly close. I swear these things are heavier than a building or two, yet they seem to be so perfectly balanced that probably even pre-tutorial me could push them closed or open. But once all the locks slam into place, there is no opening them.

There is a welcoming lounge in this lab, complete with comfortable sofas, a coffee table, and an entire wall dedicated to tea, coffee, and exotic whatever, along with every kettle, press, and apparatus needed to prepare them. All of this is in a sort of style that would fit a cat lady with twenty or so cats.

Lily rests on one of the sofas, and mini Kindness is sitting next to her. She is as soulless as always, just a vessel grown out of Kindness's DNA. Well, from the Adjudicator, but that's mostly the same thing.

We spent some time trying to find out if it is possible that it would awaken some consciousness, but apparently, it is impossible, as confirmed by Ruby, the Doc, and some other people Lily met. Then some of us, Dennis I mean, got an idea of putting Aaron's mind into the body.

I mean, it is not the sort of body he would prefer, for sure, but it is incredibly strong, with regenerative prowess better than Lily's. Our bulldozer might match it if she uses her mana and active skills, but the body handles it through pure regeneration. Not just high constitution, but through whatever sort of changes to her very being that Kindness made, and that are now etched into her very DNA.

Of course, Aaron rejected the offer very politely. That day, even I learned some new curse words.

Though it was mostly a joke. As unfortunate as it is, Aaron cannot survive without a proper vessel, and in this state, that is his brother.

As for the rest of the people in the room, the Doc is sitting opposite Lily, one leg crossed over the other, and elegantly holds a cup of some warm drink that he continues to sip on.

"No," Lily says to him.

"Outrageous! How can there be such greed as yours! Why don't you become a new ruler of Greed, you evil person? Nathaniel, tell your friend to cooperate!"

"Sure," I say, and ask Lily, "What did he ask for?"

"He offered me 50 million shards to buy mini Kindness from me."

For some sudden reason, I begin to feel poorer right away, and have to open my status to look at my shards.

Lily takes my expression a different way as she calls, "I know, right!? I'm not selling her."

"There is no way you have that many shards," I join her in staring down the catboy, who continues to loudly sip on whatever poison he is drinking.

"Stupid children. I own a fifth of Megacity," he says. He then throws the cup on the ground and stands up, showing his fangs as his ears and tails rise, and he hisses at Lily. "Your greed disgusts me! You refuse to sell me this cheap ass vessel I am willing to overpay for. You refuse to let me insert a probe into your brain, you refuse to create that virus for me, and you refuse to make a clone of Nathaniel for me!"

"What?" I mutter.

Lily shouts back, "Oh, come on, you big baby! I already helped you with things that I was not sure about only because you are helping Nathaniel, but there are some things I am not willing to do. And if you want mini Kindness that much, then get your ass out of the Beyond and steal your own Adjudicator!"

"I cannot," the Doc groans, dramatically puffing down as quickly as he had hissed. He slams back into the sofa and begins to sip a drink straight from the kettle. "If I leave the Beyond, some annoying people will hunt me down."

"I didn't know that," Lily says, and both she and the Doc fall into silence.

The catboy breaks that silence a second later. "55 million shards."

"No," Lily says, and the Doc throws the kettle on the ground too.

"Eyes?" I mention.

"I am mostly ready, so we can start!" Lily stands up with a smile, and after the catboy cools down, we do just that.

There is that heir's eye I thought could be useful, but there is not much to it, unfortunately, and most of the other materials will be more helpful with my ichor and vessel.

The notification pops up for the last time, and looking at it, I think I will actually miss it. It definitely made me into the fastest window-canceling person in the system.

Additional personalization parameters unlocked. Four options generated for selection.

You can select one of the following:

Passive skill combination token

Three active skills combination token

Active skill evolution

Trait evolution

Note: Any of these options will be influenced by your Mana Primarch (Unique Pristine) Primary class.

One last time, I check all the preparations.

I have been gathering a huge amount of mana during the week, and it will be compressed into black mana. Just to see if it will affect the selection. Personally, I think it will.

Then there are a few pills, ready to be gulped down, a special version the Doc improved.

Healing marks from Lily, along with some marks she prepared especially for me. They are for my low constitution, and she says they weaken my resistance or something along those lines, allowing for a deeper connection or something. I just hope she knows what she is doing, but apparently it's something she learned from mini Kindness and from observing Biscuit.

Then there are some inscriptions to aid me with thought acceleration so I can endure the possible backlash, though no shaved hair this time.

Add [Calibration], which I have been preparing for a week for this exact reason and which is now level 29. And the rest will be taken care of by the rarity of my trait, my primary class, all the achievements I have gathered, and my performance inside the tutorial and beyond, which the system likes to take into consideration so much.

Well, it's time to start. I compress all my mana into black and give the signal to Lily and the Doc, and just as I make my selection, everything turns into a hazy blur.

The trait evolutions are just like that, so what is there to be said? That it takes hours, and even after that, the trait isn't fully applied? That I think it will take a few weeks longer for it to be properly "implemented?"

There is a struggle, and it hurts, but both people here with me do their part really well. I can't say I wouldn't be able to do it on my own, I'm just cocky like that, but it certainly helps.

All of it is the boring part, just the usual trait evolution for us normal people. No, what is interesting is the reward. Everyone likes these. Nice, new, shiny rewards. That feeling of progression and bettering oneself.

Pump that feeling into my veins all day long.

And this reward is especially nice, and by the way, nice catch, Redacthaniel.

Your trait, Preeminence Eyes, has undergone successful evolution!

This evolution was influenced by a cumulative assessment of your performance up until now and by your Primary Class: Mana Primarch (Unique Pristine).

Additional influence was derived from your passive skill, Cognitive Vector Module (Unique Pristine), which has contributed to the adaptive refinement parameters, as well as Synergy Feed (Mid Pristine).

Your designation as an Absolute Candidate has been recognized as a qualifying factor in this process.

The evolution has been influenced by Preeminence Eyes and Mana Vessels being greatly integrated into your body, as well as Empyrean Ichor flowing through your veins.

The evolution has been greatly influenced by your Constitution stat.

Your total mana capacity, the conductivity of your body, and circulation efficiency were evaluated and influenced the evolution.

"Black Mana" has further influenced the evolution of your trait.

Congratulations! A trait not previously registered within the system has been created.

The maximum limit of strengthenings is set to 3, and that limit cannot be increased.

This trait is incompatible with standard trait strenghtening tokens and requires specialized variants earned through achievements or system quests.

Due to the quality, complexity, and grade of your evolved trait and other influencing factors, the number of strengthenings has been reduced to 0.

Noumenon Pupils - The trait has two modes of use, a passive one used for observation of mana with absolute clarity, and an active mode, in which the user's sight exerts a constant, physical pressure on mana. By simply observing during the active mode, their internal mana forces foreign currents to synchronize with their own signature. The body acts as the anchor, allowing the user to move and reach through external mana as if it were their own.