Chapter 16: First Evolution (I)
The room went quiet.
Malrik stayed in his chair, looking at the gift on the table like it was a problem waiting to happen. For a second, another face flashed in his mind. His oldest brother—the guy who was actually supposed to inherit House Vesperion.
"..."
Malrik leaned back slowly, his eyes narrowing. Those memories weren’t his. Not really. But with every day that passed, they felt a little too natural.
And that was dangerous.
His biggest advantage was also his easiest way to get killed. If he acted weird, said something the real seventh young master would never say, or made one stupid mistake in front of the wrong person... the whole act would fall apart. The Duke, his siblings, even the servants—someone would notice.
"I can’t afford to mess this up," he muttered, keeping his voice down. "Not yet."
Once he had enough actual power, the truth wouldn’t matter. Until then, he had to keep playing the part of Malrik Vesperion perfectly. He couldn’t afford to be himself.
He looked up. "Eliza."
She stood up straighter immediately. "Yes, Young Master."
"What about the Spirit Stones?"
"I gathered every spirit stone available in the area. ." She pointed toward a few wooden chests stacked against the wall. "There are two hundred low-grade spirit stones. And twenty common-grade ones."
Malrik looked over at the chests. That was a lot. Even for a ducal house, it was a massive amount to hand over.
"How much did it cost?"
"A little over four thousand platinum coins."
Malrik winced slightly. Four thousand.
That kind of money could keep a normal noble family rich for generations. And he had just spent it all on a pile of rocks.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, then shrugged with a faint smile. "Money can always be made again, Eliza. Real power is much harder to come by."
Eliza bowed her head. "I figured you would say that."
Before Malrik could reply, there was a knock on the door. Three clean, steady thuds.
Eliza opened it. A young maid in a sharp black-and-white uniform bowed politely. "Greetings to the Seventh Young Master. Lady Velrosa asked me to deliver this to you personally." She held out a wrapped wooden box.
Malrik took it. It had some decent weight to it.
"The Young Lady hopes it proves useful," the maid added.
Malrik looked at the box, then gave a short nod. "Tell my sister I got it. Thanks."
"I will." The maid bowed again and quietly left, closing the door behind her.
The room went quiet again. Malrik set the box aside without opening it. He could worry about that later; right now, he had work to do. He looked at Eliza.
"I’m going to start cultivation."
She nodded right away. "Understood."
"Make sure no one comes in." His tone was casual, but firm enough to show he wasn’t joking.
Eliza’s face turned serious. "I’ll guard the door myself."
The moment she stepped out and the door locked, Malrik let out a long breath, letting the tension leave his shoulders.
He walked over to the chests and opened the first one.
Rows of pale blue stones reflected the afternoon light. But compared to the Advanced Spirit Stone he had seen in the Duke’s treasury, these looked weak—like a puddle compared to the ocean.
He picked one up. "Let’s see."
Instantly, that familiar pull started up in his chest. The energy rushed out of the stone, flooding into his body. The crystal went dull in a second and crumbled into gray dust between his fingers.
[ +50 Evolution Points ]
Exactly fifty. No surprises there.
He picked up another, then another, keeping a rhythm.
At first, he watched the process closely to make sure nothing went wrong. Each low-grade stone gave a steady but small stream of energy—nothing like the crazy rush that almost tore him apart in the treasury.
Hours passed in silence. Stone after stone turned to dust, slowly coating the floor in a gray layer. When the last low-grade stone was gone, Malrik opened his status screen.
10,000 AP.
He nodded. Exactly two hundred stones, fifty points each. The system’s math was always exact.
Next, he reached for the common-grade stones.
The moment he absorbed the first one, he could feel the difference. The energy was thicker, heavier. It stayed in his system longer before settling down.
[ +150 Evolution Points ]
One hundred and fifty points—three times what a low-grade stone gave.
"...Interesting." Malrik ran the numbers in his head.
Low-grade gave 50. Common gave 150. Advanced gave 950.
He frowned slightly. The jump between grades wasn’t even. It was getting way higher. Or... he thought, narrowing his eyes. *Or that Advanced stone from the Duke’s treasury wasn’t a normal advanced stone.*
That made more sense. A treasure kept in the deepest part of the Duke’s personal vault wasn’t going to be the same stuff you could buy at a regular market. It was probably something way rarer.
He shook the thought off for now and kept going through the rest of the stones. Time flew by. By the time the Thirtieth common-grade stone turned to dust, the room was completely still again.
Malrik looked at the piles of gray powder around his boots. Then, he pulled up the screen one more time.
[ +10,000 AP ]
[ +4,500 AP ]
[ Total Gained: 14,500 AP ]
He let out a slow breath. Fourteen thousand five hundred points.
He hadn’t earned these through talent or hard work. He got them simply because he happened to be born into House Vesperion and had access to their ridiculous wealth and influence. Without that name, a guy like him would have found it impossible to get this many stones.
"And I probably won’t get a shortcut like this again," he muttered, his expression hardening. "Gotta make every point count."
The screen hovered in front of him, showing his stats:
[ Class: Necromancer (Hidden) ]
[ Evolution Required Points: 0 / 1000 ]
Malrik stared at it. A Hidden Class.
A slight smile crossed his face. He was genuinely curious now.
"Let’s see what you’ve got."
He picked the evolution option. 1,000 AP vanished instantly, and without hesitating, he hit confirm.
[ Evolution in Progress... ]
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