When I opened my eyes again, I was before a tall tree-like diagram hanging in an empty space. The moment I laid my eyes on it, this diagram felt like something obvious to me but it took me a while before I realized what it was. The strangeness I felt when I could somehow read whatever language was on the diagram didn't help.
Starting from me, a line went up to form the main trunk, and different branches were labelled with certain names that were also connected to smaller trunks. I was unfamiliar with a lot of them but I quickly noticed that all of these names referred to undead monsters/creatures.
"Is this like a chart to help me choose my evolution? Whoever designed this system sure knew what they were doing. Could use some extra details though."
Since all I had go off of were the names and my little knowledge of these terms, I looked at the names that I was familiar with until I made it to the last two branches. On the top left branch was 'Nightwalker' and above it was 'True Ancestor'. On the top right branch was 'No Life King' and above it was 'Immortal Emperor'.
For a brief moment I fantasized about reaching one of these two branches, but I wasn't very committed. After all, I had no plan of becoming the strongest or anything. I just needed enough strength to protect myself from normal trouble.
With my mind back on the right track, I looked at the different possibilities before me. From a Unique Zombie, there were four paths I could take. I could become a Cursed Warlock, Unique Ghoul, Undead Warrior or a Skeleton Knight. Unfortunately, my current self could only evolve into a Unique Ghoul or an Undead Warrior since I hadn't passed the conditions for the other races.
Humans didn't have any experience with evolving, but with extensive research and the aid of evolving races, there was much knowledge from Carly's memories that explained how evolution worked. Certain races could evolve into stronger related races that they were descended from as long as they met the right criteria.
While the higher level evolutions were mostly only theorized, there are texts published on the evolution criteria of many races. I couldn't become a Skeleton Knight because I didn't serve a master, and I couldn't become a Cursed Warlock because my Curse Magic wasn't at level 3. It was still possible for me to stop this attempt at evolution, but I wouldn't be allowed back into this space for about a week so I carefully chose from my two options.
'Let's see, let's see...Yep, this one.'
I said I would be careful but once I compared the two the winner was quickly decided. After all, why would I choose to evolve into something that's meant to fight at close range. Especially now that I had a good servant/meatshield I didn't plan on putting myself in danger very often.
Once I chose what race I wanted to evolve into, the tree diagram disappeared and I was once again dropped into empty darkness. As that darkness led me to peace, I made my way to a refreshing nap.
The next time I opened my eyes I found myself on the ground in the forest.
'Oh yeah, I went to evolve here.'
Even though it was just dirt-covered earth, I was still reluctant to part from it.
'Even in a different world it still sucks when I have to get out of bed.'
I was just an undead with no responsibilities so I really wanted to stay here for just five more minutes. Not that I understood the passage of time here. There were still twenty four hours in the day and whatever, but I couldn't feel that when it was always the same starry sky above my head. If it wasn't for the changes to the moon I wouldn't even be able to tell if a day had passed.
I didn't know how long I was asleep for but I felt completely clearheaded when I woke up. The first thing I noticed while standing up was my skin tone. Before my evolution I was pale to an inhuman degree, but now my skin was only a little paler than a normal person's. Furthermore, I also had all of my senses except for touch. Since I still didn't need to eat I didn't really care about this but I had no problem with it either.
Before I tried a practical test of my power, I checked my new status. And the moment I saw it I couldn't hold back the smile that sprouted on my face.
'This is what I'm talking about!'
[Unnamed
Race: Unique Ghoul
Strength: 140
Agility: 106
Dexterity: 90
Defence: 119
Skills: Assimilation (Unique) | Curse Magic (level 2) (Rare) | Swordsmanship (level 3) (Rare) | Imbue Holy (Common) | Magic Eyes of Perception (Rare) | Fire Magic (level 4) (Rare) | Devotion (Special) | Berserk (Rare) | Hypnosis (Rare)
Titles: Unique One | Heretic]
Every one of my stats was above 100 except for dexterity. In addition to the great numbers I was seeing, my happiness grew as my eyes landed Curse Magic. It seemed like something that happened due to my evolution since I didn't remember getting a notification for it. There were no more abilities for the skill but I was sure that it had gotten stronger. And even without that, there were still the skills I got from Carly and Ron as well as the new skill I got for becoming a ghoul. Especially my very first special skill.
Just with one look at my status I wondered if I needed to grow any stronger, but then I quickly shook my head.
"No, I can't be overconfident. Nightwalker would be too hard so I should at least aim for something just below that, like Elder Lich."
Everything I needed to know about my new skills was in my head so before I took my next step I decided to take a good look at these memories.
After spending an unknown amount of time going through my new memories, I began thinking of ways to get stronger as fast as possible. Skip a few moons ahead and I had figured the best method of boosting my stats.
"Oi, #1! Make sure to get there too!"
"Don't miss a single one of them okay!"
"And you two, why is this thing so shaky?! Can't you do better?"
"Tsk, tsk, worthless, the whole lot of you."
The sight of the gorging caterpillars would certainly be a strange one for humans, but for us monsters there wasn't nothing bewildering about it. Yep, there was nothing wrong with a young man with nothing but a belt and a sword killing caterpillars the size of toddlers. Nor was there anything off about the fact that I was sitting on a wooden palanquin that was lifted by a naked pair of man and woman.
I didn't really need to, but I removed the ancient pants that I was born in and wore what the swordsman originally had on. However, even if I did take his clothes the reason why all three of my servants were naked was because when I dissimilate, they come out naked and I couldn't bother to have them waste time getting dressed. After all, it wasn't as if I could get arrested for public indecency.
When I first summoned back magic girl, I wondered how I would feel before her naked body, but it just felt like I was looking at a realistic statue. As if puberty didn't exist for me I felt nothing at the sensual sight. Well, I didn't know if that part of me could still work anyways.
Now then, I'm sure that anyone watching me and took a break from it before I started hunting would wonder how the hell I became such a motivated slave master. And to that I must say I never knew the pleasures of laziness could be this fulfilling. I still believed sleep was the ultimate form of relaxation and happiness, but my current mood was also really good.
From the memories I got, I found out that this forest was inhabited by monsters that fed on undead. However with my stats their distinct advantages were useless, but that was the problem. Because all it took was one stomp to kill things of this level, it felt like a waste to fight by myself. And that's when I came up with the idea to let #1 farm their bodies while I collect the harvest with Assimilation. As for the palanquin, ... Yeah I just didn't want to walk.
Oh, and of course, I made my servants make it. I mean like I could have done it, but I wasn't into that working up a sweat thing, nor did I believe that hard work would solve everything.
'Am I getting too into this? Likely. But if I have to work, then I'm gonna do it with minimal efforts!'
There was a little concern that I was being influenced by the memories that I took in but I wasn't too worried. As long as my core desire remained the same it didn't matter what I became.