The Evolution Chronicles

A knock on the door of the room pulled Mian out of his train of turbulent thoughts. He jumped off the bed and rushed over to open the door, revealing the middle rank that had led him to the room. She held a tray of food in her hands.

"Ah, thank you." Mian gingerly collected the tray and waved her off before closing the door and returning to the bed. He then continued t ponder about the situation before turning his attention to the tray of food. An idea formed in his mind.

'Hana, is it possible for whoever is behind this ploy to have passed something through the food or water?'

[Let me run a scan...]

Mian dawdled and laid down as he waiting for Hana to run through the possibilities and tests taken from the food that he had been given. After ten minutes, Hana finally got some results.

I have confirmed that the water that you have been given contains some strange and foreign substances. To run a more in-depth test, I will need you to ingest this water.]

Hana's words left Mian speechless. He had to put himself in danger in order to find out how the members of this pack were put under control of a strange force.

After giving it some thought, he eventually sighed. 'Will I be able to avoid being put under control of the foreign substance?'

[I will need a few minutes, but yes, I can clear your system of any foreign substance.]

'Good.' Mian let out a relieved sigh after he confirmed that Hana could clear any negative status condition that he would gain if he consumed the water. After that, he only needed a couple of minutes to prep his mindset before immediately drinking half of the cup of water.

He remained in place after keeping the cup aside, trying to find out any strange thing that would happen to his body. He waited for a few minutes but was unable to take notice of anything.

[Purification process complete. I have analyzed the foreign substances contained within the water, and I am also working on an antidote. I will need five days to complete this antidote.]

'Purification? Did I even get affected by the drug? I didn't feel anything!' Mian complained.

[This drug was made to be immensely difficult to detect. A master alchemist must have been behind its creation. It is only normal that you would fail to notice its effects. Not even the Patriarch of this pack was able to notice it invading and subverting his mind and behavior.]

Hana replied him with a strange tone. It seemed that she was teasing Mian for thinking he was an all powerful existence now that he had defeated a Pillar. Her words quickly humbled his mind. In truth, he had never really seen himself as all powerful, even after defeating the former wielder of the Greater Strength Gift. He had just simply thought that he would be able to sense the drug invading his system because of his greatly enhanced senses. He had gone from being an omega with extremely weak senses and strength, to becoming a middle rank demi-human in the higher tier of that rank; all in the span of less than a month. The change was too jarring. He had simply overestimated his new senses.

'Alright, so what can we do about this drug?' Mian casually ignored his embarrassment as he focused on the more pressing matters.

[I suggest we find the source of water that this pack survives on and purify it. We might be able to make the effects of this drug wear off over time if we can handle that.]

Mian nodded. He agreed with Hana's suggestion, but it seemed he would need to stay there for a much longer period of time than he initially thought. Gaining access to their water source would most likely be difficult, as he was an outsider.

Night came soon after the duo had arranged some of their priorities. Mian would remain in the pack's territories for some time in order to gain their trust, and then when he was able to access their water source, Hana would carry out the purification process. They could only stop their planning at that point since they had no idea what would happen after the purification process.

When morning came, Mian was woken up y a series of knocks on the room door.

"Coming..." Mian yawned as he stood up from the bed. At first, he was confused by the knocks. He had yet to become accustomed to living outside the caves of the packs where anyone could just walk into another person's chambers and kick them in the stomach to wake them up. Mian had been through quite a few of those himself.

When he finally opened the door, he was met by a surprising sight. Han appeared outside the door, with a slightly shorter male behind him. Aside from the fact that the Patriarch himself had come to wake him up, the only other thing that caught Mian's attention was the young man behind Han.

"Mian! How as your night? I hope you rested well!" Han began with a cheery tone. Mian couldn't help the smile and small nod that followed the question, even though he knew that Han was not really acting himself.

"Um, my night was fine.. I guess?" He replied awkwardly.