When Vance woke up, he looked at this status menu and felt slightly confused when he saw his new Evolution status. He did not understand what a Common Mortal was. As a player, you start off as a mortal for your evolution status. So far, since he had woken up as an NPC, his status had not changed until waking up. But to see Common in front of Mortal, which was something he had never seen before, now made him very much confused. He also noticed his evolution tree had also become active.
"This is…. Only one tree?" Vance frowned. Evolution trees for players had three kinds of evolution paths. One was the human path, the second was the beastkin path, and lastly, the third was the demi-human path. The human path really did not add many benefits. It was kind of a middle ground between the beastkin and demi-human paths. The beastkin path based on the race you decide to go with would enhance one of the following attributes: strength, agility, or vitality. The demi-human path would enhance, mind, intelligence, or strength. Like the beastkin path, you could select from a few races of demi-humans, dwarfs, elves, fairies, or even vampires.
But while these were the only physical changes one would gain when choosing their path. The evolution rankings stayed the same. Mortal, Superior Being, Ascended Being, Astral Being, Deity, Demi-God, God. Each rank needed specific items to allow you to evolve. Of all of the items, the main requirement was known as an Evolution Gem. The number of evolution gems would differ per rank and per race.
For Vance, he stayed human before being turned into an NPC. He needed the middle ground because he was a sword mage, so he got a small boost to all stats. But now, looking at his current evolution tree, it was different from the players by a lot. It branched out in many different races and then branched out more from there into different skill sets. Evolution skill sets differed from your main class skill sets. Evolution skill sets all have different benefits for each evolution and can only be unlocked with evolution gems. This made an already rare item to acquire even harder to get if you wished to gain some of these racial skills. While they were not a requirement to get, there were still quite a few handy ones based on the race you have chosen.
"Let's see…." Vance scratched his chin as he looked at the first evolution requirement. "Thirty Evolution Gems and I need to be level fifty and…. Thirty…. Gems…."
Vance's expression sank. This was what it cost to become an Astral Being! On top of that, the items he needed were doubled as well. Just to become a superior being, he had to do so much more work. For players to go from Mortal to Superior Being, it would cost ten evolution gems, and the item stated to become whichever race you chose.
"Wait… what is this?" Vance frowned. He realized that he had additional steps to even gain the ability to become a superior being. "Are these monster ranks? Common Mortal is what I am now, but this says I need to become a Named Mortal in order to be able to use the evolution gems and items to become a superior being…."
"Is this because I am an NPC?" Vance really did not understand even how he would become a named mortal. He only just became a common mortal! And he had no idea how that happened either!
"Do I need to do this every time?" Vance felt heartache. He did not wish to have to work extra hard to reach the top again, but from the looks of it, he had no choice. He first had to figure out how to rank up to become a Named Mortal. Only then would he know just how hard things would be.
Off to the side, pretending to be asleep, Alice had a very confused expression on her face. She did not understand what Vance was talking about. She did not know what this NPC thing was or what Common Mortal and the other things he was talking about were either. But now that she thought about it. She felt it was strange.
This young man always pulled things out of nowhere, but yet she found it a natural thing? But as far as she knew, no one was able to do such things unless they were someone who was a space mage. But from the looks of it and from what she saw earlier, Vance did not seem like a space mage or carrying any items that would allow him to store anything of the sort. The more she thought about it, the more confusing things became until, finally, her head began to hurt really badly, causing her to clutch her head. Once her head started hurting, she stopped thinking about things, and only then did the throbbing pain in her head subside.
But what was strange was once the pain was gone, and she began questioning things again, the pain suddenly came back, and only when she stopped thinking again did the pain subside. It was as if something was stopping her from having such thoughts! With no choice at this time, she decided to forget about it for the time being since she did not wish to suffer in pain.
"You okay?" Vance's voice entered Alice's ears, causing her to blush.
"I-I am fine…." Vance was wondering where the gutsy girl who knocked the hut's door down went. She seemed so meek and listened to everything he said without question. While this made things easier on him, he felt she was a bit too obedient. She even slept in the same room with him and left herself unguarded. If he really wanted to, he could have done this and that to her, and she would not have been able to do a thing!
Vance sighed as he scratched his head. "You know you really should be on guard more."
As soon as he spoke these words, Alice sat right up and covered herself, and pointed her hand at Vance. "What do you plan to do!?"
"Calm down. I am not planning anything. I just think you are a bit too obedient. You are listening to everything I ask and even sleeping soundly, leaving yourself unguarded in front of a man you just met. Don't you think that is kind of dangerous?"
--AN) double chapter today, enjoy! If you want two chapters a day, check out the author's note for the new daily chapter goals.--