CH 5

Chapter 5 – Haruto’s Evolution

Seeing that the battle was over, Finne, Tendo and the others rushed over to me.

“Thanks again, Yuki. So…”

Tendo looked at Kalamiras.

“It’s all good. He’s now under my command.”

“…Are you sure?”

For some reason, he’s finding it difficult to believe it. Well, they were beaten to a pulp a while ago, so I guess that’s to be expected.

“You know the saying, yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend? Right, Kalamiras?”

“Yes. All I have, I now dedicate to Master Haruto. As you wish.”

“You hear that, Tendo.”

“…I understand. If it’s okay with you, Haruto, I won’t complain. How about you guys?”

I also tried checking with everyone, but…

“I think it’s fine.”

“That’s right.”

“Yuki is the one who saved us after all.”

“True~”

Ichinomiya, Asakura, Shinonome and Mogami, in that order, all said such.

“You heroes, please accept my apologies for earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Kalamiras approached Tendo and apologized, but Tendo and the others seemed unconcerned.

“Finne, what about you guys, you okay with it?”

I asked Finne, Iris, Asha, Ephyr, and Kusel, who were behind Tendo and the others.

“Yes, of course!”

Finne said, and they all nodded.

I confirmed this and turned to Kalamiras.

“Well, once again, looking forward to working together, Kalamiras.”

“Ha! …Umm, I do have one request if I may.”

“If it’s within my power, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you very much, sir. Now that I am under your command, may I have a new name?”

“…Are you sure?”

“Yes, sir. It would be my greatest pleasure to have you bestow me a new name.”

Is that how it works?

Well, I don’t have a problem with bestowing him a name, but…what do I call him? I’m not very good at coming up with names.

Using the skill Accelerated Thought, I pondered deeply.

I believe I saw something like “Primordial Dragon” on his status.

Primordial. Meaning… ‘Origin’uh?

Mm, nah, doesn’t feel quite…

Wait a minute!

“Is the Gran in your title a name?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Then it’s settled.”

I then bestowed Kalamiras a name.

“I hereby bestow unto the Smelting Dragon, Gran Kalamiras a new name. Your name as of this moment is — ’Zero’. From now on, you may call yourself Zero Kalamiras the Smelting Dragon.”

“I am humbled. I pledge my lifelong loyalty to you until the end of my days!”

Kalamiras, or rather, Zero, knelt before me and swore absolute loyalty.

“Good. I’ll be counting on you, Zero.”

“Yes sir.”

When I looked at Zero’s status to confirm his name, I saw that the titles “The Absolute being’s Blessing” and “Master-Servant Bond” had been added to the list of titles.

…Is that referring to me, the Absolute Being? While that was going through my mind, Zero asked.

“So, my lord. What are you going to do about the boss of this floor? I could also continue to fulfill the role if you wish.”

Oh right.

For now, let me confirm Zero’s intentions.

“What would you like to do Zero? Would you like to come with me?”

“Yes, sir. It’s been a while since I’ve been out in the world.”

“I understand. But what about your role as the final boss here?”

Pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to walk out of this dungeon as the dungeon boss.

There is a dungeon core in the hidden space up ahead, where you can register to set up a new boss monster. As for a replacement monster…you only need summon it.”

I didn’t know dungeons were so systematic!?

“Summoning huh…I don’t have any monster summoning skill though, what do I do now?”

As I was worried about this, I heard the voice of the world.

I hadn’t taken any skills recently, and it’s been a really long time.

《With the increase in level, Haruto Yuki’s evolution is now possible.》

…Huh? Evolution? What does that mean?

《Since your experience points have reached the upper limit of a human capability, you can choose to evolve. Would you like to proceed with the evolution? 》

Eh? Is this really okay?

…But since the opportunity is here, should I just go ahead? While pondering about this in my head, I decided to let everyone in on the matter.

“Umm guys. I just found out that I am now able to evolve.”

““““What? Evolve?!””””

Everyone’s eyes lit up. Yeah, it’s the exact same feeling I had.

I thought that Zero, Tendo and the others who had been educated as heroes, Ephyr the elf, and Iris who is a royal, might know something about human evolution…but with the vibe I’m getting from them, I’m not sure that’s the case.

Well since the opportunity popped up, might as well give this so-called evolution a try.

The moment I agreed to evolve, my body began to glow.

《Skills and status have been consolidated, modified, and adjusted. Evolution is now complete.》

A few minutes later, the light subsided with such an announcement.

Apparently, it was over. That was quicker than I expected.

I looked around my body, but didn’t find anything unusual.

“Gimme a sec, let me quickly go over my status.”

By the way, this is what my status looked like before I left the royal capital of Glicente.

.

<table>NAME: Haruto Yuki LEVEL: 355 AGE: 17 SPECIES: Human (Otherworlder) UNIQUE SKILLS: All Creation</tbody></table>

<table>God Eye</tbody></table>

<table>Max Skill Growth</tbody></table>

<table>Experience Boost SKILLS: Martial Unification</tbody></table>

<table>Magic Unification</tbody></table>

<table>Language Comprehension</tbody></table>

<table>Parallel Thought</tbody></table>

<table>Accelerated Thought</tbody></table>

<table>Copy</tbody></table>

<table>Fighting Demon</tbody></table>

<table>Limit Break</tbody></table>

<table>Social Arts TITLES: Otherworlder</tbody></table>

<table>Unique Skill User</tbody></table>

<table>Monarch of War</tbody></table>

<table>Monarch of Magic</tbody></table>

<table>Transcendent One</tbody></table>

<table>EX Rank Adventurer</tbody></table>

<table>Demon King</tbody></table>

<table>Annihilator</tbody></table>

.

Well, I wonder what’s new this time…

I quickly checked my new status.

.

<table>NAME: Haruto Yuki LEVEL: 410 AGE: 17 SPECIES:</tbody></table>

<table>High Human (Otherworlder) UNIQUE SKILLS: Azathoth</tbody></table>

<table>Martial God</tbody></table>

<table>All of Creation SKILLS: Social Arts</tbody></table>

<table>Language Comprehension TITLES: Otherworlder</tbody></table>

<table>Monarch of War</tbody></table>

<table>Monarch of Magic</tbody></table>

<table>Transcendent One</tbody></table>

<table>EX Rank Adventurer</tbody></table>

<table>Demon King</tbody></table>

<table>Annihilator</tbody></table>

<table>The World’s Strongest</tbody></table>

.

No, wait a minute! Too many things have changed!

It’s pretty neat, but a lot of things are gone and a lot has also been added.

Impatiently, I opted to first check out the extra skills that have been added in place of the unique skills.

.

〈Azathoth〉

The superior version of the Magic Unification skill.

It allows the user to invoke magic spells and skills that have not been acquired voluntarily.

Magic power consumption is reduced by one-fifth.

.

〈Martial God〉

The superior version of the Martial Unification skill.

.

〈All of Creation〉

Enables Parallel Thought, Accelerated Thought, Calculation, Analysis, and Appraisal.

The effects of God Eye are inherited.

Has a self-sustaining auxiliary function.

.

I see…with these, be it All Creation or Max Skill Growth becomes irrelevant uh…still, this is way over the top isn’t it!?

It would just be like grinding in super easy mode!!

But it used to be pretty handy to be able to acquire skills automatically, copy unique skills, and so forth…now, does this mean that I can’t use skills anymore unless I have existing knowledge of them myself?

Seems a bit inconvenient to me though…on the plus side, there is All of Creation, so I guess it should work out fine…one way or the other?

While I was lost in thought, Finne asked me fearfully.

“Umm, Haruto. H-How did it go?”

I looked around and saw that the others were also curious.

Of course they are, I mean, I suddenly announced to them that I have evolved out of nowhere.

“Hmmm, my status has become more organized, I think that’s about it?”

“Hey Haruto, can we see it?”

Mogami asked.

Sheesh, couldn’t help yourself uh? Well, it’s no skin off my back, so I don’t really mind.

“Yeah, sure.”

After disclosing my status to everyone present…the whole place fell silent.

““““… …””””

In this situation, Suzuno slowly opened her mouth.

“V-Very im, impressive Haruto. Hahahaa…”

For all her talk about being impressed, the expression on her face was kinda stiff, no matter how I looked at it…

Finne and the others seemed to want to say something as well, but they had a gratified expression on their faces as if saying “As expected of Haruto”.

That reaction is a little hurtful in its own way.

Then, Shinonome tilted her head and asked.

“Hey Yuki. What’s with the High Human that’s written in the species column?”

Honestly, I have no idea.

As I was wondering how to go about explaining it…

《I’ll explain.》

Whoa, what was that? I heard a voice directly inside my head. It seems to be different from the voice of the world…

《I am the auxiliary function of the Extra-Skill All of Creation.》

Oh, right. Thank you very much for your timely intervention.

Wait a minute, you can talk?

《Yes. In order to be able to use the skill smoothly, my persona* has been formed as a support role.》 (TLN: Lit. personality, but could also go with ego)

I see. In a way, it’s like another personality within me.

Well then, can you explain my species to me?

《Yes. In this world, race evolution rarely occurs. For example, a higher species of elf is the High Elf, and elves can evolve or be born through reincarnation*. In the case of the human species, the High Human is the higher species, but master Yuki did not meet the requirements, even though you had reached the threshold for evolution. This time, you satisfied the evolutionary condition by dominating the oldest primordial dragon, the Smelting Dragon Gran Kalamiras.》 (TLN: Lit. Atavism, but reincarnation seemed more appropriate)

I see. So, what are the characteristics of a high human?

All of Creation did a lot of explaining, but here’s the gist of it all.

The “High Human” species simply has a higher ability limit than the “Human” species and is more likely to acquire skills and magic. They may possess extra skills that are unique to them, separate from unique skills…that pretty much summarizes it.

It is said that there used to be a good number of them, but they became extinct throughout history. Since the extinction, no one has realized their own power even if they were born as ancestral reincarnation, because they are no different from ordinary humans except for their superior ability. Also, no one has ever reached this point through evolution.

When I told this to everyone, they had indescribable expressions on their faces.

“Umm…so you’re saying that nothing in particular, has changed?”

Finne asked a little hesitantly, but…she’s exactly right.

I don’t feel like I’ve changed that much because of my original abilities, so I must admit it’s a bit of a letdown.

Well, it’s not like anything bad happened, so it’s cool I guess.

“…So, we kind of drifted a little off topic, but I believe we got stuck at summoning a suitable monster to replace Zero. I think I can now manage that with my skills.”

All of Creation. Is it possible to summon a monster?

《Yes it is. You can create “Monster Summoning”, “Devil Summoning”, and “Spirit Summoning” skills.》

Whoa, that’s awesome…

No, I’ll just go with the regular monster summoning this time.

Oh, and All of Creation. You don’t have to call me “Master Haruto” each time. Let’s see, umm…you can just call me “Master” from now on, sounds good?

《 Understood. My Master》

Wow, you adapt quickly, that would be very helpful.

Also, it would be easier to call you if you had a name… How about ‘Ellis’?

《Thank you, Master. For a mere skill such as myself, I’m honored to have a name granted to me.》

It’s hard to tell since it’s just her voice, but she seems to be pleased.

…Now then, shall I get on with it?