The Ultimate Evolution

“Wait, doesn’t Planet Uplos have only eighteen hours a day? It’s four o’clock in the afternoon, so doesn’t that mean it’s going to get dark soon?” Sheyan came to a sudden realisation.

He immediately barked out his order at the huge grown creature in front of him.

“Your name is Ramtas now. Hmm, not bad, I like that name. Ramtas, take me to higher ground, preferably a hill or a mound! And make sure the place doesn’t have many creatures around it.”

Ramtas, who looked like a giant boar-man, immediately pointed its huge nose towards the sky. Its nose twitched a few times as it sniffed hard. Some sticky snot splattered out and landed on the ground. Something which looked like smoke or fog could be seen circling around his nostrils.

Sheyan’s elaborate preparation had borne fruit.

Ramtas was a powerful elite beast created from a combination of Orc genes, ‘Black Art Mix Technique’, and animal extracts. In addition, Sheyan had added his own blood during the mixing process, so Ramtas’ mental bond with Sheyan was so strong that Sheyan felt like he was controlling his own limbs. Ramtas was also noticeably stronger than other grown creatures. When it twitched its nose just now, it had instinctively utilised a little power of nature.

“Hill, safe, few, living creatures, come!”

Grunted Ramtas as it motioned for Sheyan to follow him. Its thick boar hoofs had large surface areas, so it easily walked on the soft soil.

Cyborg No. 1 suddenly said, “Pardon my interruption, master, but you seem to have forgotten something. The instruction given by headquarters stated that everyone should move towards the rendezvous point first thing after landing.”

“To hell with the instructions given by headquarters! As long as I manage to complete the mission, nothing else matters! Are you guys done hiding the spacecraft? Good. Now pick up those instruments and follow us. We have no time to waste!” yelled Sheyan.

The cyborgs obeyed his instructions dutifully. They only had the right to make suggestions, and not the right to make decisions.

Ramtas groaned softly as it walked in front of Sheyan. Its bristles would occasionally stand up to feel the flow of the wind. The grown creature’s signature move was to poke his crude “magic staff” at the ground ahead of it from time to time. When it did that, a faint green light would flash at the end of the staff. Some power of nature would pour into the ground, stunning or forcing out the insects and other organisms inside that could pose a threat to them.

These vicious bugs included, but were not limited to, large scorpions, fat worms that were seemingly harmless but were actually poisonous, and sharp-mouthed beetles. All the bugs that were forced out would flounder on their backs on the ground. Sheyan could tell just from their outer appearances that they were absolutely not harmless creatures, but the seemingly dumb Ramtas appeared unconcerned. From time to time, it would lean down and pick some of them up clumsily with its palm that had only three fat fingers, then throw them into his mouth like snacks. Sheyan could see the juices spurting out of those bugs when Ramtas gleefully chewed on them.

This was a formidable aspect of Sheyan’s grown creatures. Not only could he adjust their abilities according to the situation, they could also evolve to adapt to the local environment. Ramtas looked no different from a native creature of Uplos.

***

The sky turned dark really quickly, but the good thing was that it did not turn pitch-black. The pair of ring-shaped asteroid belts which stretched across the sky emitted a soft, yellowish light to provide some illumination. Looking from the ground, the glow they emitted seemed to contain the delicate texture of a jade that was reflecting light off a lamp, gleaming with an indescribable exotic flavour.

On a wide, open plain that only had a few trees on it, the sky and the universe seemed so extremely vast. Sheyan, though powerful, could not help but feel his own insignificance. Soon, the wind began blowing. As soon as the wind started, it instantly rose to an extreme ferocity, as if it was looking to tear down everything on the plain! The grasses on the plain undulated in the wind like waves on the ocean.

Ramtas suddenly stopped moving as he stuttered out, “Enemy,ahead.”

Sheyan eyes narrowed. The ‘Stairway of the Sun’ within his chest extended its branches and leaves fiercely, and a powerful energy instantly coursed through his body along his bloodstream. The terrifying Pestilence Domain was rapidly expanded to its maximum range. Sheyan immediately felt like he was in control of the world.

His vision, which had been enhanced by the ‘Carbon-Based Organism Detector, Type III’, was now showing five red dots that were slowly approaching in a fan-shaped formation about seven hundred meters ahead, like a pack of hunting wolves.

“Interesting. Let’s see what kind of appetiser Planet Uplos has sent our way.”

As the five red dots got closer, a foul smell which reminded Sheyan of the odour after a duck’s intestines had rotted, except that it was ten times stronger, began wafting through the air.

Under the faint glow of the asteroid belts in the sky, which were also known as the “Uplos Belts”, Sheyan could see the tall grass waving in the wind in the distance, and also felt a strong sense of crisis hidden within the darkness.

Despite that, Sheyan kept walking forward steadily with not a trace of fear. This stemmed from his confidence as a top-class MT. If he were someone who would fall so easily in such a place, how could he still suppress the others and accomplish his mission?

Furthermore, his experience told him that the more ferocious a creature was, the more arrogant it would be. It was absolutely impossible for a strong creature to share its territory and food with others. It would rule like a king, and there could only be one king in a region!

Five unknown creatures appearing together may seem threatening, but they had also inadvertently exposed a lot of problems.

Suddenly, a huge dark silhouette jumped out from within the sea of grass about five meters to the right of Sheyan and pounced towards him while clucking like a chicken.

The creature was a strange-looking beast. On the whole, it should be a type of giant bird. The beast had the head and neck of a rooster, the bald, fleshy wings of a bat and the long tail of a lizard. Its feathers were fluffy and spread out, making it appear bigger.

The beast’s wattles, comb, and eyes were bright red. Its beak was yellow, and the sparse long feathers on its tail were slightly greenish with a tint of grey, probably for the sake of better survivability in tall grasses.

The weapon that the beast used to attack Sheyan were its pair of claws. The claws were common chicken claws, but they were huge, and the tips of the claws were not as harmless as the usual chicken claws. The sharp, curved claws were at least 20 centimeters long, and even in the darkness, they gleamed with a cold glint.

Everyone had seen a chicken before in real life. When a big rooster of more than ten kilograms struggled frantically with its two strong legs, even an adult human would not be able to hold the rooster back if they were careless for just a moment, to say nothing of this monster in front of Sheyan, whose size and strength a normal rooster could never compare to.

With its forceful momentum, strong legs, and unbelievably sharp claws, even an adult bear would be torn apart if it was hit!

However, because Sheyan had remained on high alert and had detected the movement of the monster beforehand with the ‘Carbon-Based Organism Detector, Type III’, he was prepared for it. He immediately pulled out ‘+7 West’ and lashed out at the monster!

The monster’s claws rubbed against the metallic blade of ‘+7 West’, creating a harsh grinding noise as well as trails of sparks that were especially vivid in the dark environment. Before its claws could touch Sheyan, Sheyan had already slashed at its fragile neck. The monster screamed in pain as it was sent flying. A few of its feathers fell to the ground.

Sheyan tried using the ‘Pulse Detector’ ability on his helmet. After his helmet had combined with the ‘Carbon-Based Organism Detector, Type III’ obtained in the last world, its detection capability had unexpectedly improved by leaps and bounds. A series of information soon appeared on Sheyan’s retina.

[ Cockatrice ]

[ HP: Average ]

[ Defence: Weak ]

[ Speed: 6 m/s ]

[ Flying Speed: 10 m/s. Can only perform short-distance flight ]

[ Attack Power: Medium (attack carries biological power) ]

[ Biological Characteristic(s): Immune to petrification ]

[ Attributes: Strength 45, Agility 55, Physique 30, Intelligence 30, Spirit 15, Charm 60, Perceptive Sense 50 ]

[ Natural Habitat: May be found in all mild and warm plains or forests. ]

[ Community: Small groups (4-10 per group) ]

[ Value: Bird’s beak. ]

[ Biological Power(s): Information yet to be collected.]

[ Possible Loot: Because they like shiny things, you can find a lot of glass fragments and stones in their nests. Sometimes, there will also be ores and gems. ]

[ Description: The Cockatrices, which carry the genes of lizards, roosters and bats, are creepy, repulsive creatures that are notorious for their special ability. Like chickens, they have poor flying capability, but because their flying speed is three times faster than their running speed, they will often fly to attack the enemies in battle. However, after 1-3 rounds of flying, they have to rest for one round. ]

[ Would you like to pay 5,000 utility points to connect to the database to get information on their biological power? (Yes/No) ]

***

Sheyan examined the series of information gleefully, but he refused to pay for more intel. He was as cheap as those people who went to supermarkets to try the free samples without buying anything….