Chapter 23: An encouter ?
"Did I fall asleep?"
Evolution is dangerous. Thank goodness it’s over.
Wow, I’m hungry.
I’m so hungry. I need to eat something, anything.
A lizard was moving beside Mamadou, who was lying inside the crevice. He grabbed the lizard and ate it. Of course, it wasn’t enough to satisfy him or calm his hunger, but it was enough to help him gather his thoughts.
Mamadou felt different. He stood up.
His body felt lighter than before. As he moved around, he realized that the very structure of his body had changed.
"I feel like I have more joints and articulations. And my body is more flexible."
"I don’t know what I look like overall, but I don’t feel like my appearance has changed that much."
As he tried to climb out of the crevice, his own tail caused him to fall.
Curious, he looked at it. It wasn’t very different in appearance from before. However, it felt more alive. It gave him the impression of a snake.
He moved it left and right and felt that he had much better control over it.
"This evolution isn’t something to take lightly. I wonder how many people would kill to obtain something like this."
"I don’t know what kind of power makes this possible and stable, but everything that happened feels very close to genetic editing. Would my Evolution ability be the power to rewrite my genes using the genes of other creatures, allowing me to evolve into a more adapted version of myself?"
"At least that’s how I understand it. A pseudo-scientific explanation for all this. If I keep devouring powerful creatures and collecting rarer and rarer attributes, wouldn’t I eventually stand at the top of the world?"
"If I devoured the attributes of a dragon, would my body evolve and gain the same power as a dragon?"
Lying face down on the ground, Mamadou had completely disconnected from his surroundings as he sank into thought.
"Since this is fantasy, where is the limit of Evolution? Only physical beings? Do other forms of existence live in this world? If so, are there spirits? Would it be possible to acquire their attributes? Could Evolution also allow me to adapt to concepts themselves?"
The infinite possibilities of this Evolution ability made Mamadou dizzy, but they also stimulated his imagination. Like a child who had just received a new toy, he couldn’t hide his excitement.
"If everything I’m imagining is correct, then finding a way home isn’t just a fantasy."
As long as I keep evolving endlessly, I’ll be able to do anything.
Become the creature closest to perfection.
"I could even become G—"
Mamadou immediately shut his mouth and stopped thinking.
He realized he was about to say something ridiculous, so he stopped there. His hunger was making his thoughts chaotic.
"Right. There are more important things right now."
He started by checking his status window.
[Name: Ma]
[Level: 1]
[Mana: /]
[Race: Ark Nocyris Monkey]
[Class: Human, Snake]
[HP: 100/100]
[SP: 30/500]
[Defense: 14]
[Speed: 20]
[Resistance: 15]
[Agility: 22]
[Points: 0]
[Ability: Evolution]
"I used up all my points on this evolution? Damn it, every single time I feel like I’m getting scammed."
Mamadou cursed, but he was satisfied with the result. As long as he didn’t become something too strange, he was happy.
"Hmmm. Some stats increased significantly, but others didn’t change much."
It’s time for the truth.
Mamadou used Evaluation on himself.
[Ark Nocyris Monkey Level 1 – Ma]
[Skills: ...]
This time, what interested him wasn’t his skills.
He wanted to know what his new species actually was.
[Ark Nocyris Monkey: A variant of the Ark Monkey monkey-monster species. It generally resembles a monkey, but its body possesses more joints and articulations, granting it great agility and decent strength. Ark Nocyris possesses an exotic appearance.]
"Oh? The level of glazing is incredible."
"I really need to check my appearance later."
"Evaluation is starting to look more and more like an Evolution skill, lol. I’ll keep using it. As long as it levels up, everything will be fine."
"Speaking of levels, evolving reset me back to Level 1. And my stats get modified according to the evolution?"
"Well, if everything were easy, it wouldn’t be fun."
"But I’ll check the rest later. First, I need to find something to eat."
"Are you done?"
"Not yet—???"
"???"
Mamadou’s brain stopped for an instant.
He had become so accustomed to talking to himself that he answered automatically. But when he thought about it, the voice that had asked the question wasn’t his own.
Cold sweat instantly covered his body, and he jumped backward on instinct.
"AH!"
Mamadou screamed.
"W-Who are you?!"
The voice laughed at him.
"No need to be so dramatic. Are you really going to ask that question without even looking at me?"
Now that he thought about it, he had been so startled that he had backed away without checking who was speaking.
"Oh, my..."
Mamadou couldn’t hide his shock.
What stood before him was a monkey.
But this monkey was extremely close to a human in appearance.
A thought that had lingered in Mamadou’s mind for a long time resurfaced.
Would he eventually become human?
Now he was seeing something similar.
The monkey wore clothes made from animal hides, and they looked surprisingly elaborate.
Mamadou immediately analyzed him.
As if he had sensed Mamadou’s gaze, the monkey spoke.
"That’s quite a useful trick you’ve got there."
[Greater Monkey Kin Level ???: Analysis Failed]
WTF.
It was the first time Evaluation had ever displayed Failure.
"Who are you? I asked you! Since when have you been here? How long have you been watching me?"
Mamadou had countless questions, but his fear had overtaken his curiosity.
It was the first time he had been able to converse with another lifeform, yet what truly frightened him was that the instincts that had saved him countless times had completely failed to warn him of this monster’s presence.
"Relax. If I wanted to hurt you, I would’ve done it already."
"How long, you ask? Since forever."
"If we’re talking about something recent, I genuinely thought you were going to die at the hands of that goblin."
"Or, when you almost died while descending Mount Meru."
The monkey then tossed what looked like an enormous bear in front of Mamadou.
"After going through so many changes, I assume you’re hungry. Eat."
"Don’t worry, it’s still alive."
Only then did Mamadou realize that the monkey had been carrying something that massive all along.
"Eat, then explore the surroundings. You’ll find me at the summit of the mountain."
The monkey walked past Mamadou.
Mamadou couldn’t even turn around.
He was still far too shocked.
