Novel Full Chapter 542 - 542: Gamble
Kain stood in front of the Simulator, the crystal interface still glowing faintly beneath his palm. The warmth had faded, replaced by a cool steadiness—as if the machine itself were waiting for him to make a choice.
He didn’t make it yet.
Instead, he turned away and looked back at the neatly arranged materials on the dark-wood table. Twenty objects lay there. Sixteen recovered from Pangea. Four more from his own collection. Yet, even with VERA’s data and analysis, the options were overwhelming.
He only had enough points for eight simulations.
Thankfully, SP seemed to be far more potent than GP—just 1 SP could power a full evolutionary simulation, where 100 GP had once been required for a single run.
However, SP was also far, far harder to collect. Kain had killed dozens of abominations, and absorbed Source energy from several objects… but he still had only eight SP. Only eight!
Most of the Source Points were being siphoned away by the System to continue repairing itself. It was hard not to feel discouraged.
Given the small amount of SP, each combination of objects had to be meticulously analyzed before he committed.
Fortunately, he had access to a greater depth of information than VERA as the ‘master’ of Pangea.
One by one, he delved into the objects, and after going back and forth for what felt like hours, seven objects remained. Five of which he had in his possession:
The silver liquid resembling moonlight, occasionally showing unfamiliar images and memories.
A black orchid exuding soft mental static, soothing and dangerous in its potency.
A strange colorless moss, nearly transparent, that was able to absorb thoughts like water. When Kain wrung out the ‘wet’ moss like a rag, muffled voices he recognized as his own thoughts could even be heard!
A pink-orange coral retrieved from the ocean depths, humming with an energy that made it difficult to think.
A gnarled root that pulsed like a slow hypnotizing heartbeat, capable of taking control of ones body if they gazed too long at it.
Plus the two objects Kain hadn’t yet been able to bring back:
The amethyst crystal lodged untouched in the cliff Kain had been unable to excavate.
And finally… the rhinoceros horn, still very much attached to the head of its owner. At least for now, unless Kain decided he needed it.
———————–
Thousands of miles away…
“Huh?”
A deep grunt left the slumbering rhino as it shot awake, a chill racing down its thick spine. Its massive horn flickered faintly, glowing with a white pulse of warning.
The beast blinked its small eyes blearily, ears twitching as it scanned the surroundings. Nothing. No predators, no ominous weather. Just sun, wind, and grass.
But the feeling lingered.
Something… or someone… had stared at him. Hard. With the same sort of gaze herbivores feel right before a pack of wolves shows up. Except this felt even more dangerous.
The rhino snorted anxiously. Nope.
Not taking chances.
With a sudden urgency, he galloped across the plain and crashed his way toward the mountain where his “Boss” resided. That overgrown lizard scared the dung out of him most days—but his new Boss was the strongest creature he’d ever seen. And if someone was plotting against him, they’d have to go through his Boss first.
‘Maybe if I show up looking extra eager today, I’ll even get promoted!’ he thought, puffing his chest out proudly.
‘Boss Scary Scales respected ambition… probably’
————————-
Back in the Laboratory…
Unaware that his brief covetous thoughts had kickstarted the rhino’s career development arc, Kain focused on the four objects not from Pangea.
They couldn’t be analyzed through his bond with the planet, and even VERA’s scans had limited insights. However, the three items kept in the Storage Hall had been at least loosely appraised in the past.
He picked them up one by one.
The first was a chunk of Calcified Thoughtstone—said to amplify memory retention. He had bought it to help with studying the additional knowledge from the Pathfinders and his second-year college courses. Useful, but Bea didn’t really need it.
The second, a silver feather from a being that once preyed on dream-beasts. It was potent in theory, but also volatile. Kain saw little benefit in giving Bea something that might cause unpredictable and unstable hallucinations.
The third was a sphere of hardened starlight stone. It absorbed any mental or spiritual power that tried to examine it. It possessed both star and mental attributes, but it would probably aid in Bea’s concealment abilities rather than combat ones. He ruled it out too.
That left one. The object he’d obtained from this relic—the one object he knew absolutely nothing about.
A fist-sized stone. Smooth, matte black. Irregular edges, as though it had broken off from something greater. Just beneath its surface, faint silver threads shimmered and wove like spider silk trapped in amber.
Kain stared at it.
There was no feedback from it. No spikes in energy. No hum of resonance.
But as his hand hovered above it, a strange sensation coiled in his gut.
It was a pull. Gentle. Almost like someone nudging him from behind.
He brushed his fingertips over it.
The moment he touched it, he felt a flicker—not in himself, but through the thread of connection to Bea. The amoeba-like contract stirred, ever so slightly, as if aware. Interested.
“…You feel that too, huh?” Kain murmured.
VERA’s voice rang out beside him, crisp and clinical.
[Unknown relic remains unclassified. No known evolutionary branches or information about evolutionary effects can be determined.]
[Recommendation given the limited number of trials: Do not waste a simulation.]
He ignored it.
Kain placed the dark stone at the front of the chosen materials. It was rare, but spiritual creatures could sense evolutionary materials very beneficial to themselves. So although he didn’t know its purpose, he was willing to take the gamble.
Eight trials.
Eight known candidates—many of which he may want to try in combination with one another.
He moved back to the Simulator and laid a palm on the crystal.
“Alright… let’s start with the gamble.”
[Simulation Request Detected. 1 SP will be consumed.]
Kain exhaled slowly.
“Confirm.”
The Simulator lit up—soft at first, then blindingly.