The Ultimate Evolution

[ Notification: You have made a breakthrough in your innate ability in the real world! ]

[ Notification: Your innate ability has evolved. The original innate ability, ‘Stronghold’, has been officially upgraded. ]

[ Notification: Your innate ability has upgraded into ‘Death’s Lament’. ]

[ ‘Death’s Lament’ (passive) – The damage done to you by any attack will be forcibly reduced by 50 to 200 points. The damage reduction increases along with the severity of the damage done to you. The damage reduction upper limit (200 points) will be triggered when the actual damage you suffer is higher than/equal to 220 points. If the damage received is less than 50 points, 1 point of HP will be forcibly deducted. ]

[ The duration of any abnormal condition on you will be reduced by 50%. This effect can stack with the resistance obtained from the Physique attribute, but the duration can only be reduced by 70% at most. ]

[ You have gained the active ability ‘Absorb’ – Immediately transfer the abnormal condition of an ally within 50 meters to yourself. ]

[ When a strike from the enemy sends you into the state of near death, an effect of ‘Death’s Lament’ will be triggered while your HP is reduced to zero. The remaining damage will be converted into a healing effect. The healing effect will restore at least 20% but no more than 50% of your HP. ‘Death’s Lament’ has a cooldown time of 72 hours. ]

[ Examining the precedence of ‘Death’s Lament’….Data query in progress… ]

[ Query concluded. Detected a similar ability in external database. Evaluation in progress… ]

[ ‘Death’s Lament’ is rated as an S-rank innate ability. There is still room for growth. It’s precedence is….data disorder! Unable to evaluate the precedence of this innate ability! Others would not be able to detect your innate ability, but you are also unable to show others your innate ability in any way. ]

[ Contestant No. 1018 has another ability which will trigger upon entering the state of near death: ‘Life-Link’. Contestant No. 1018 is able to choose which one to trigger first. ]

***

“Well, the evolution result looks good. The notification said it obtained the information from a similar ability from external database? External database….doesn’t that mean the rest of the Realms? There’s actually a fella who has a similar direction of evolution as mine?”

“But the precedence of my innate ability is still showing “data disorder”. It still seems pretty special.”

“The Realm mentioned that my talent still has room for growth, but the breakthrough this time only happened after I accumulated strength for a very long time, and then overcoming the huge pressure of a life and death situation. Even if I experience another dangerous situation like this again, I’m afraid I won’t have such a strong feeling anymore.”

“That is to say, it’s almost impossible to surpass such a harsh breakthrough condition, so how do I find the room for further growth? I’ve almost reached the peak of my inner potential, so does that mean I’ll have to rely on an external medium to achieve the next breakthrough?”

When Sheyan thought of this, for some reason, his mind drifted to the vast ocean of stars, the Empire which was strong externally but fragile internally, and the Big Ben Research Institute which was so mysterious that it seemed to be enshrouded in a thick layer of bloody fog. He could not help chuckling bitterly. That place was still beyond his reach right now.

After soaking in the hot spring for nearly an hour, Sheyan felt that his wounds were almost fully healed. Although there was still pain at the parts where the bones were broken, his condition was already stable and there would be no major impact on his mobility.

But as soon as he ventured out of the hot spring, the cold wind sent him into a violent shiver. He instantly realised that if he were to leave the hot spring in his current wet clothes, he would be frozen into an ice statue in but a few minutes. His clothes would already clank like armour when he walked.

After giving it some thoughts, Sheyan swam towards a place where the water temperature was higher. He found a cave not that deep under the rock cliff with no ice nor snow around it. The mouth of the hot spring should be there.

As soon as Sheyan swam into the cave, he felt the water temperature heating up. He gritted his teeth and stripped himself naked. After wrenching his wet clothes as best as he could, he laid them down on a hot rock at the side. It probably would not take too long for them to dry. He then swiftly swam into the warm water area nearby.

Sheyan suddenly thought of something. The mysterious voice was clearly in another parallel universe, so how was he so sure that this place has a hot spring? The only explanation Sheyan could deduce was that the geology and geomorphology of parallel universes should be identical.

Of course, because of the difference in human activities, the development of Earth may differ, but in such a desolate place far away from human civilization, there should be minimal human influence. That was why the mysterious voice was so sure that Sheyan would not die if he were to jump off the cliff. Otherwise, if it had become a tourist spot and there was a hot spring resort built here, Sheyan would probably hit the top of some building and become meat paste.

At the thought of this mysterious voice, Sheyan could not help but sigh at how good the guy was at manipulating and scheming. His control over others’ psychological reaction was really first-class. Sheyan’s psychology and response were all within his calculation.

However, there was a saying that man proposes, God disposes. A man could only predict so much, while heaven’s calculation was limitless. As clever as the owner of the mysterious voice was, he could never have predicted that some Nepalese porters would choose to push someone down the mountain in a robbery attempt, while Sheyan, a person powerful enough to kill a thousand of those porters effortlessly, would be foolish enough to fall into their trap….

Upon thinking of this, Sheyan immediately realised something else. If the mysterious voice really was as far-sighted as Sheyan deduced, there would surely be follow-up steps in his plan! There was no way things would just end like this. After some careful pondering, Sheyan took a deep breath and dived down.

It was completely dark underwater, but Sheyan managed to faintly capture a dim ray of light. He forced himself to endure the discomfort from the sulfur eroding his eyes and quickly approached the source of light, which turned out to be a stone. The stone was a night pearl, something of great value in ancient times. In fact, it was also a kind of mineral, a rare form of fluorite. It emitted light because it contained a certain level of radioactivity, so those people who acquired night pearls in ancient times often did not end up well….

Underneath the stone was another string of Dzi beads.

This string of Dzi beads was only long enough to be worn as a bracelet, and the beads carried on them a mysterious atmosphere. As soon as Sheyan wore it on his wrist, he could immediately feel that it was of much higher grade than the previous one. He could immediately enter the resonance state and connect with the mysterious voice from another plane.

“You did it, just as I expected. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to evoke the resonance of this ritual tool. Congratulations on overcoming the barrier between life and death. Next, you must trust me and worship me even more, the way you would trust the gifts and nurturing graces of the sky and the earth. This is the only path to success…”

And that was the soft murmuring, or more precisely, the brainwashing attempt Sheyan heard from the other side.

The owner of the mysterious voice must assume that Sheyan trusted him to the point where Sheyan could give up his life for him, because Sheyan would not have jumped down otherwise. Sheyan’s mind must also be in its most vulnerable state right now having had his power increased greatly after experiencing a near death experience. This was the perfect opportunity for a brainwashing session.

Unfortunately, the situation Sheyan encountered was something that was impossible to guess if he did not witness it himself! The man’s act was akin to throwing a wink at a blind man!

Sheyan did look the part though, with his terrible mess of an appearance right now. He immediately pretended to be extremely excited and replied in a trembling voice, “You…you are my belief, my master from now on, and your words shall be my code of conduct. May I have the honour of knowing your name?”

“My full name is Cho Oyu-Changkya-Reyno-Mtshan! You can just call me Master Reyno.”

The name Reyno had indeed left behind a glorious history in the Nightmare Realms. He did not lie to Sheyan in this regards. He was indeed a person who had entered the Realm and successfully left it, and also a powerful Physique specialist. He once occupied the seat of The Mountain, one of the Ten Strongest, for a long time.

In his parallel world, this guy had successfully founded a grand Lamaist sect with hundreds of thousands of followers. He had enough experience to teach Sheyan in any aspect. Of course, it was hard to tell what his motive was, but one thing was for sure: Reyno was not someone who took pleasure in helping others for no reason. He never was, nor will he ever be!

Destiny had linked these two to each other, for reasons unknown.

‘Master? This guy turned out to be a religious swindler,’ such a thought flashed across Sheyan’s mind. He may not be as calculative as Reyno, but he would not lose out in terms of meticulous and logical thinking. Since there was free stuff to be had, why not? He first sung Reyno’s praises without shame, then asked with clear panic in his voice, “Master, your humble disciple is feeling lost. The path ahead of me is still shrouded in fog.”