"What do other uses do beast cores serve other than a currency? They should want them for something important" Lucas asked
"You're right!" Holding up the core to his eye, Tom returned his attention to Lucas. "As I said, a beast needs to be able to absorb the dimensional energy from the world around us to form a beast core. You got that, right?" Lucas nods in return.
"Well, there's more to it, Dimensional energy. It's amazing stuff, You see. The guild has started researching new technology with that energy as it's the source! People able to absorb dimensional energy become much stronger than normal humans. These evolved humans are the majority of Adventurers employed by the guild, Like yours truly!" Tom gives a subtle wink.
"Ignore him.." A gentle voice comes from behind Lucas as a hand is placed on his shoulder. Turning to look, Alice was behind him with an expressionless face like almost every time Lucas has seen her.
"A lot of the evolved humans believe they're superior to regular people," Alice informs Lucas
Feeling the red gem embedded in his chest under his shirt, Lucas inquires. "How do I go about becoming an evolved human? absorb dimensional energy?"
"You can't just absorb dimensional energy to become an evolved human. You need to be an evolved human to absorb dimensional energy in the first place. But there's no definite answer. I have heard of cases where regular people could absorb dimensional energy to become evolved, but it's just too rare." Tom continues the topic.
"People that have evolved can easily absorb dimensional energy without even noticing. All of them can, just with varying degrees of efficiency, or talent. If a regular human wants to try absorbing dimensional energy, they need to learn a cultivation technique."
"But that said... Even if they learn a cultivation technique. That doesn't mean they can absorb dimensional energy still. Some humans just can't. Not even the guild's researchers know the answer."
"Has your party evolved?" Lucas asked curiously.
"Yep! I am evolved! Worship me, normie!" Beckie comes rushing over and jumps onto Alice's back like a baby Kohala.
"Get off me!" Alice shakes her off in annoyance!
"Ok, Ok!" Hopping off Alice, Beckie circles around Lucas and hops on his back just the same. "But you don't mind; do you, Lucas???" She asks in a coquettish tone.
Feeling the two soft mounds on his back, Lucas fails to answer out of embarrassment with a face turning scarlet. Making Alice break out into a rare moment of laughter.
"So... What can a human do once evolved?" Lucas asks while trying to ignore the brat on his back.
"Haha, I knew you'd ask!" flicking his fingers, a ball of fire encases his hand, catching Lucas by surprise.
"Take a look; I'm one of the lucky ones that came across a Mortal Grade Fire Seed. It's powered by the dimensional energy I absorbed!" Picking up his spear off the ground, the fire spreads to encompass the entire spear, giving off a fierce image.
"Ignore that idiot.." Alice rolls her eyes at Tom's stupid antics. "Most people who aren't lucky enough to get such a thing use their dimensional energy to enhance attacks.. or other skills, Like this!" Alice abruptly transformed into a fast blurry image, ending up behind Tom before kicking him in the behind.
"Oomph!" Tom fell face-first into the group, extinguishing his flame and ego.
"haha!" The other three all laughed together
With an idea coming to mind, Lucas asks. "Does that make me an evolved human?" Lucas extends the scales out of his right arm for his new friends to see.
Everyone was silent, not sure of the answer "As far as I know, no evolved humans changes.... physically like this. This is something you're better off asking the Adventurer Guild's staff. They'd have a better answer than I would. but I don't sense any dimensional energy coming off you, Lucas."
"What about this?" Pulling the collar of his shirt down to expose, the three were shocked by the appearance of the red crystal. Alice couldn't help herself from approaching and touching it with her finger.
"What is this?!?! What an amazing concentration of energy!! I've never seen anything like it!" Pulling her hand back in shock. "Well, I'm not sure how you ended up like this. It seems very similar to a beast core... It should be absorbing energy for you... It's hard to tell there's any energy until I touched it. It's like it perfectly prevents any waste energy from leaking."
The atmosphere suddenly turns serious as Alice looks Lucas dead in the eye. "I wouldn't show that to anyone else if I were you."
"Why not?"
Pointing at the beast core in Tom's hand. "If my guess isn't wrong, that thing on your chest is almost exactly like a beast core. You're lucky it's our team here and not others... I know more than a few who would kill you for that thing. The amount of energy inside it is staggering!"
With a severe tone, Lucas agrees. "I'll make sure to remember!"
Alyssa could be seen walking over with Silvia in tow. "Hey, guys! Let's all go hunting; I need more beast cores!" She says excitedly.
"Sounds good. You'll come hunt with us, right, Lucas?" Alice asks with a rare smile.
"Sure, let's go!"
A couple of hours later, the six of them were surrounding a beast that looked like a horse, With Silvia and Lucas side by side. The other four surrounded the different directions of the creature, preventing its escape.
"Lucas! Watch closely! Focus on controlling your dimensional energy; I'll be focusing it in my legs for an added speed boost!" Alice yelled abruptly, showing off her skills.
Turning into a ghostly blur, she reappeared on the side of the horse-like beast, sinking a dagger into the top half of its hind leg.
Ducking to the side, she avoided a kick that was aimed at her head. Rolling on the ground, she got back up and vanished once again before appearing in her previous position.
The odd thing about this horse, Were the extra set of legs. A total of six legs.. and while you might mistake this for a gentle creature that loves running. The fangs in its mouth said otherwise.
"Ok, I'll give it a try!" Lucas jumped out of formation and ran towards the creature.
Not sure how to control this energy, Lucas didn't manage to succeed at first, But with his pure physical strength, he quickly stabbed into the creature, making it cry out in pain and fall to its knees.
"Try again. Focus on that crystal! Trying imagining a small stream of energy leaking from it and down into your legs!" Alice called out.
Looking at the crippled creature and realizing there wasn't much danger anymore, Lucas focused on his chest again. But instead of imagining a stream to his legs, he focused on his arm wielding his sword.
Feeling the warmth in his arm, he felt like he could succeed. Bringing his sword down in a chopping motion. The horse's head slit right off, followed by a road cracking in a straight line and a street land, falling over.
Silence ensued before everyone broke out into laughter!
Several hours later, everyone returned to the base carrying several beast carcasses. Silvia clung onto Lucas's arm like always.
Later that evening, Lucas was in his room and just happened to remember all those books he managed to grab before escaping the underground world. He would have completely forgotten if not for the conversation this morning about cultivation.
Opening the book, Lucas had no idea what the letters said. It wasn't anything he's ever seen before... What he did manage to understand were a few pictographs of beings with humanoid bodies.
It pictured all the pathways in the human body where energy could travel as Lucas was focused on the book. He suddenly remembered there was a sentence he could read. Turning to the front page, There was a single line of words that must have been added at a later time... Surprisingly in English.
"How to kill a God?" Lucas muttered to himself.
Flipping back to the pictures, Lucas tried to imagine the energy flowing from his crystal core in the same direction as in the book.
He was feeling an odd sensation in his legs. Lucas pulled up his pant legs and could see the locations where scales hadn't managed to reach yet were being covered at high speed.
Lucas quickly managed to conclude the Dimensional energy must be at work.