Chapter 87 Evolution!

"Damn, what is going on today!"

Cursing in shock, Elena prepared to act. Although there wasn’t much she could do on her own, she could at least begin transferring everyone to the underground bunker.

Taking out a walkie-talkie from her waist, she prepared to signal the guards to start the evacuation.

However, a familiar laugh resounded through the sky, making her pause mid-motion.

"Haha! You guys are too slow! In that case, I’ll see you all in the meeting room!"

Laughing without a care in the world, the meteor furthest in the lead descended, revealing Ethan in his signature white suit with a broad smile on his face.

Behind him, a few colored streaks of light were still making their way toward the base.

"Brother! What the hell is this, and how are you flying?!"

"Is this another spell of yours? Can you teach me?!"

Seeing the Air Walk spell for the first time, Elena’s eyes shone with fascination.

Just like the veterans when Ethan first displayed it to them, she too was eager to take to the skies.

Fortunately, despite his sister failing to check on his safety after coming back from a major battle, Ethan was more than willing to teach her.

In fact, if he could, he would teach anyone and everyone, as spreading the power system triggered a feedback boost for himself.

"Elena, it’s nice to see you too, and no, I’m not hurt at all; thanks for asking," he teased, causing her to look away slightly ashamed.

"As for the spell in question, it’s called Air Walk. Now that the monster king has been dealt with, I can focus on teaching the rest of you spells and helping you break through."

"Oh, and I also brought a gift."

Thinking of something, Ethan pulled out a glowing red beast core he had extracted earlier.

Boom!

Seeing it in his hand, Elena’s breathing turned heavy.

A strange sense of craving she had never experienced before began rising from deep within her.

Had she not been able to hold herself back, she might have lunged straight at Ethan to snatch the crystal from his palm.

Gulp!

"Brother... what is that thing? Why is my body telling me to swallow it?!" asked Elena, wiping a bit of drool from the side of her lips.

The scene made Ethan pause and reflect.

’What is this? Do Awakeners have an instinctual attraction to cores?’

’If that’s the case, then no wonder Awakeners in my past life figured out almost instantly that they could hunt beasts and swallow cores.’

’If that innate attraction always existed, it makes complete sense, including why people went crazy and started hunting other humans for their cores.’

Talking to himself, Ethan once again realized that the Awakener System might be a double-edged sword.

Although the progression speed was fast and smooth, Awakeners were few in number, and an uncontrollable urge to consume cores was a dangerous side effect.

’Then again, this just goes to prove why mages are superior. At least none of the veterans showed any abnormal desire while extracting them.’

’That proves mages don’t suffer from this raw compulsion.’

However, when he thought about himself, another question surfaced.

Why wasn’t he affected? Was it because his Spirit attribute was already absurdly high, or was it for the same reason he didn’t possess a standard Awakener core like the others?

Shaking his head, Ethan decided not to dwell on it for too long.

Right now, the only certainty was that he was not a typical Awakener.

"Um... Brother? That thing... what is it?"

Seeing her brother lost in thought, Elena genuinely wondered if she should just snatch the core from his hand.

After all, he had already said it was a gift, so even if it was a bit rude, he shouldn’t get too angry with her.

Just as she was about to move, Ethan spoke up.

"Oh, sorry sister. This is an Awakener core, or since it came from a monster, you can call it a monster core."

"Although it’s low rank, by devouring enough of them, those who have awakened their abilities can evolve and raise their rank."

Explaining this, he tossed the crystal directly to Elena.

"Although this single one won’t be enough to help you advance completely, you can still test it out."

"The others who went with me should be bringing back the rest. After our debriefing meeting, I plan to help all the Awakeners in the shelter advance."

Explaining his plans, Ethan used Air Walk once more and headed toward the bunker.

"Take this and meet me in the bunker after. I sent a message in the group chat; once everyone is back, we can start the meeting."

Leaving behind a stunned Elena, Ethan’s figure glided away.

Now, the only ones left in the courtyard were her and the monster core.

Taking one last look at the crystal, she didn’t hesitate and swallowed it whole.

"Ungh~! This is...!"

Stifling a moan, Elena felt her entire body tremble. It was as if every cell was being massaged by a million tiny hands.

Every inch of her frame was immersed in pure pleasure as the sensation of elevating her life tier flowed through her.

Sadly, just as Ethan had said, a single crystal wasn’t enough to push her to the next Awakener rank.

After about two seconds of overwhelming pleasure, the feeling faded, making her feel as though it had all been an illusion.

"No, it’s not an illusion. Although it’s subtle, I can feel it; my body is lighter."

Clenching her fists, Elena could feel that her strength had indeed grown.

Although the increase was so minor that it didn’t even register as a full attribute point on her panel, she was certain the gain was real.

"Amazing! I completely forgot Brother mentioned something like this, and here I was getting frustrated about not breaking through to the 2nd Circle."

"Now I just hope he brought back enough to let me push through to E-rank!"

Thinking of E-rank strength, Elena wondered if that would finally place her on equal footing with a 2nd-Circle mage