Chapter 549 Evolution Paths and Branch Selections

Xia Nan's plan was very simple.

Since he clearly understood his current extreme combat trait of "high attack, low defense," he would play to his strengths, maximizing his advantage against wild animals.

Seize the initiative and kill in a single strike.

Facts proved this approach completely feasible.

The Wolf Cub's small body had a natural cloaking effect when moving through the night, and its light weight meant even the tips of branches could support it easily.

The wild boar's charge seemed fierce and unstoppable, but the transitions between its movements were actually sluggish and clumsy.

Finding his opening, he took advantage of the boar's stiff deceleration after a sudden brake, unleashed [Fang Hunt], and plunged rapidly.

The boar did not even have time to register where the disturbance came from, let alone dodge.

Amid a faint wolf howl from above and a rushing gust of wind, a heavy, furry weight suddenly pressed against the back of its neck.

The next second, [Gravity Etching] erupted.

Ochre-red force-field energy blasted outward.

Before the pain could translate into a physical struggle or a scream, death had already descended.

Meanwhile, Xia Nan—who had attached [Gravity Etching] beneath his wolf claws and remained at the center of the explosion...

...had his small body tumble right into the wound along with the blasted flesh, his fur completely matted with blood and meat scraps.

It sounded messy, but for some reason—perhaps due to his current coyote body—Xia Nan felt no revulsion. Instead, the splattering blood and flesh triggered a bizarre sense of hunger.

He knew this was not the time to eat.

Even a brief use of the weakened [Fang Hunt] had drained a massive amount of his stamina, making his vision momentarily go black.

He finally managed to crawl out of the fallen boar's wound, panting, only to see a wild boar piglet standing in the nearby bushes, staring blankly at him.

Beside it, the other piglets were already fleeing with terrified squeals.

At first, Xia Nan did not think much of it.

After all, the [Night Mother's Gaze] feat accompanying [Fang Hunt] had a fear effect on enemies, but it was not guaranteed to work every time.

Even during his daily use, targets often managed to resist it by passing the check.

But soon, he realized something was wrong.

The gleam in its eyes held the rational light of an intelligent creature, not the clear ignorance of a wild animal acting purely on instinct.

A boar piglet's body—a bizarrely intelligent gaze—

Xia Nan immediately realized that the little boar in front of him was likely the avatar of some adventurer.

But just as that thought rose in his mind, the adult coyote nearby also spotted the piglet hiding in the bushes.

There was no time to stop it.

By the time Xia Nan scrambled closer with his round, furry body, letting out a cub's whine...

...the little boar's neck had already been torn open by the coyote pinning it down.

Honestly, Xia Nan felt a bit worried.

He had not yet figured out whether dying in this secret realm would affect the adventurers' bodies in reality.

If this ritual possessed a "soul death" mechanic, he would have to be incredibly careful when fighting beasts suspected to be possessed by adventurers.

This was not just for his own safety, but also to confirm whether the other party was an ally.

After all, from what he could observe, the Halfling Alton and the Raging Tide Warband's captain Tieg—who had previously shown clear goodwill—were both wrapped in blue light and floating in midair just like him. They had highly likely been pulled into the ritual as well.

And if only elite Class Holders were qualified to enter the secret realm, then teammates from the Blade of Vengeance ship had surely been pulled in too.

Xia Nan did not want to accidentally cause an ally's death due to his own negligence.

However, this piglet suspected of being an adventurer was already dead, and he had no way left to confirm its identity—

Wait, no!

A strange look flashed across Xia Nan's eyes.

At the exact same time the little boar ahead breathed its last...

...in the real world, through his suspended human perspective, he could see it clearly.

Among the two teams of adventurers facing off by the coast, a dwarf from the Raging Tide Warband, who was also wrapped in light and floating off the ground...

...suddenly had the glowing blue light on his body dim and then rapidly dissipate.

His previously floating body drifted down slowly, eventually landing on the ground.

He did not regain the ability to move freely. He remained frozen in place, just like his companions who had not entered the secret realm.

But he did not die on the spot either. His aura simply withered abruptly, leaving his face bloodless as if recovering from a severe illness, entering some sort of weakened state.

Observing carefully, Xia Nan breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he could not be entirely certain, it was highly likely that the piglet just killed by the coyote was the avatar of this dwarf from the Raging Tide Warband.

Given his relationship with their captain Tieg, this was somewhat an accidental injury to an ally, but since they were not that close, it was still within an acceptable range.

And more crucially, the dwarf's condition proved something—

Dying in the Ritual Secret Realm would not cause the adventurer to die in reality as well. It would only leave them in a weakened, heavily injured state.

This greatly reduced Xia Nan's psychological pressure.

Thinking of this, his taut nerves finally relaxed a bit.

Speaking of which, the guy had terrible luck.

Compared to his own start as a coyote, this dwarf descending into this world as a wild boar piglet had to be above average in terms of luck.

As long as he avoided suicidal risks and stuck to a routine of eating and sleeping, he could have grown into an adult at an extremely fast pace.

By then, with a massive forest to roam, his mind as a veteran adventurer, and the robust body of a wild boar—far superior to ordinary small-to-medium beasts—he would have had plenty of room to operate.

Unfortunately, he ran into Xia Nan, someone who possessed an Attribute Panel and could still use his combat techniques and feats after reincarnating.

He had just been thinking about having wild boar meat for an extra meal tonight.

Suddenly, a faint blue light drifted up from the piglet's corpse, hovering in the air.

The light reflected in his wolf eyes.

Xia Nan felt puzzled, but an indescribable craving welled up within him almost instinctively.

It made him subconsciously move his paws, approaching the piglet's corpse.

Before he even got close, the blue cluster of light floating above the body seemed to feel some invisible pull. It scattered into tiny specks like fireflies and rushed straight toward him.

The motes of light quietly melted into his skin, sending currents of warmth rippling through his body.

At the same time, rows of translucent text suddenly flashed in the empty space before him:

[Proficiency +1]

[[Gravity Control] lv1 (49/100) → [Gravity Control] lv1 (50/100)]

[Proficiency +1]

[[Ember Echoes] lv2 (31/100) → [Ember Echoes] lv2 (32/100)]

[Proficiency +4]

[[Heavy Tide] lv3 (9/100) → [Heavy Tide] lv3 (13/100)]

'Huh!?'

'Why?'

As he absorbed the blue specks of light, the proficiency increase messages flashing rapidly before his eyes caught Xia Nan by surprise.

But just a second later, the silver ring on his right ring finger in the real world—transformed from the [Dream Weaving Corridor] and currently vibrating with a slight, scorching heat—gave him a theory.

Even before being pulled into the Ritual Secret Realm, the massive beam of light shooting into the sky from the center of the island and the [Dream Weaving Corridor] ring's subsequent reaction had made Xia Nan realize that the encryption keys for the [Dream Weaving Corridor] were likely in the possession of "Algae Scale" Dodd.

Furthermore, the keys themselves had to play some important role in this ritual to trigger a reaction from the main terminal of the [Dream Weaving Corridor] across such a distance.

Earlier, when he was just pulled into the secret realm and regained consciousness in the body of a Wolf Cub, Xia Nan had felt a strong sense of déjà vu, as if he had entered the dream simulation of the [Dream Weaving Corridor] once again.

Combined with the information flashing across his Attribute Panel in his vision, he already had some guesses.

It was a known fact that the [Dream Weaving Corridor]'s function was to drastically increase the user's combat technique proficiency through dream simulations.

"Algae Scale" Dodd possessed the encryption keys for the [Dream Weaving Corridor] but had failed to collect the main terminal.

It was like having the key but not being able to find the lock.

Under normal circumstances, he naturally had no way to start a dream simulation.

But now, through some method unknown to Xia Nan, Dodd had used the [Dream Weaving Corridor] keys to turn the entirety of Stodd Island into a massive ritual site.

It was equivalent to constructing a weakened, watered-down version of the [Dream Weaving Corridor] dreamscape using the island itself and the hundred veteran adventurers on it.

Under this premise, Xia Nan, who held the main terminal of the [Dream Weaving Corridor], was swept into the Ritual Secret Realm.

To some extent, it was equivalent to activating the [Dream Weaving Corridor] through the hands of "Algae Scale"—and without consuming any precious energy!!!

In the past, the massive amount of proficiency he would gain all at once by experiencing a complete dream had now, due to the nature of this ritual dreamscape, been split into a hundred portions and distributed among the hundred adventurers who entered the ritual.

Even more crucially...

Xia Nan noticed that after absorbing the residual energy of the dwarven adventurer, his three combat techniques that were not yet max level had all gained a certain degree of proficiency.

[Gravity Control] and [Ember Echoes] only gained one point each, while [Heavy Tide] received four.

Unlike normal usage of the [Dream Weaving Corridor], which could only increase the proficiency of a single combat technique, it was now spreading the benefits evenly.

[Heavy Tide] already leveled up quickly, so that went without saying.

But the other two—especially the sheer difficulty of gaining proficiency in [Gravity Control]—he had long since experienced firsthand.

As its proficiency gradually climbed, there were times when many days of high-intensity training would yield only a single point.

But if, in this Ritual Secret Realm, the residual energy left behind after every adventurer's death could provide him with a point of proficiency in [Gravity Control]...

Even excluding the few allies from the Blade of Vengeance...

That would still be nearly—

Xia Nan's thoughts paused, his emotions swelling unconsciously.

If he had been a little confused about his situation when he first arrived during the day...

Right now, as the proficiency of [Gravity Control] jumped from "49" to "50"...

...the nature of the situation had completely changed.

He thought the changes brought by the dwarven adventurer's residual energy would stop there.

Xia Nan was just pondering his future plans.

Suddenly, as the glowing blue specks integrated into his body, the warm currents surging through him seemed to be influenced by some higher existence.

They abruptly stagnated, shifting from an uncontrollable state where they darted randomly to a complete halt.

Just as he was wondering why...

Along with the crisp chime of the Attribute Panel that he had not heard in a long time, the familiar translucent characters surfaced in the empty air before him once more.

[Ding!]

[Automatically searching for evolution paths—]

[Search complete!]

1. [Western Wasteland Wolf]

Compatibility: 65%

Description:

A variant of the gray wolf that primarily inhabits desert and wasteland regions. It possesses astonishing stamina and a keen sense of smell capable of accurately tracking prey from kilometers away. It tends to rely heavily on teamwork when hunting.

2. [Worg]

Compatibility: 46%

Description:

—

Vicious predators wandering the Wilderness. Their cognitive abilities rival those of intelligent beings, allowing them to even learn the languages of other races. Some individuals are tamed by the Goblin race to serve as mounts.

3. [Temple Nightwalker Wolf (Night Fog Forest Subspecies)]

Compatibility: 86%

Description:

A subspecies of the Temple Nightwalker Wolf that evolved to adapt to the unique environment of the Night Fog Forest. Their light and slender bodies allow them to climb leaning trees and moss-covered cliffs. Paws far more nimble than ordinary wolves even enable them to traverse intersecting vines and thin branches rapidly to hunt prey in the canopy.

Without a doubt.

As his most relied-upon "golden finger" since his transmigration, the Attribute Panel once again demonstrated its critical role.

By now, Xia Nan had more or less figured out the mechanics of "Algae Scale" Dodd's ritual.

By slaughtering other adventurers in the secret realm and claiming the energy from their corpses, one could achieve a biological evolution.

—

Right now, having absorbed the blue specks of light left behind by the dwarven adventurer, Xia Nan had clearly met the conditions for evolution.

Though he did not know what it was like for other adventurers when they evolved, they most likely had zero control over it. They could only wait as that warm current randomly washed through them, subsequently evolving into some higher-tier creature at random.

But Xia Nan was different.

Possessing the Attribute Panel golden finger, he was able to freely choose his evolution path—just like when he had previously gained his Class Level.

The Attribute Panel even considerately marked the corresponding compatibility and provided a brief species description for every evolution branch.

This allowed Xia Nan to roughly judge whether a path suited him and what advantages he would gain after evolving, even if he knew nothing about the species corresponding to these branches.

Knowing that this was yet another advantage provided by the Attribute Panel aside from combat techniques and feats...

Xia Nan cleared his mind of stray thoughts, focused his attention, and carefully read the information on the panel to pick his evolution direction.