Chapter 429: Chapter 353: Rune
He walked forward, picked up a basin of cold water, and poured it over Iron Bear from head to toe without a second thought.
The cold water shocked him awake.
Instantly,
Iron Bear let out a muffled groan and slowly opened his confused eyes.
However, the moment he felt the searing pain wracking his body and saw the placid expression on Hu Qi’s face, everything that had happened came rushing back to him.
’I was beaten senseless, like a dog in the street, while my men and my women all betrayed me.’
A glint of hatred flashed in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it when he remembered his miserable plight.
He reined in his hatred.
"Who... are you? I... I don’t believe we’ve met... sir!"
Iron Bear forced the question out through the searing pain, his words broken and halting.
Hu Qi, however, ignored him and cut straight to the point.
"Now tell me, how did you become an Evolver?"
Iron Bear froze, taken aback by the question.
He had never expected Hu Qi to ask such a thing.
"You... don’t know?"
’Hu Qi is an Evolver himself,’ he thought. ’How could he not know?’
’Is he toying with me?’
Hu Qi didn’t answer. He simply reached out and pressed a finger into one of Iron Bear’s pressure points.
Instantly, an unbearable, itching numbness flooded Iron Bear’s entire body.
His face twisted in agony from the extreme itching sensation.
It felt as if millions of ants were devouring him from the inside out—gnawing on every inch of his skin, every fiber of his flesh, every fragment of his bone.
The sensation was enough to drive a man insane.
It was far more unbearable than simple pain.
Worse still, his injuries had left him so weak that he lacked the strength to even scratch the itch, a torment that was driving him to the brink of madness.
"Agh... Itchy... So itchy... Stop! I’ll talk... I’ll talk..."
Iron Bear couldn’t take it anymore and began to beg for mercy.
’If this keeps up, just killing me would be a mercy.’
Seeing this, Hu Qi reached out and touched him again.
The itching sensation stopped.
Time passed quickly.
After a "friendly" exchange between the two,
Hu Qi gained a general understanding of the path of an Evolver in this world.
An Evolver, as the name implies, typically refers to an individual or group that, over the long course of biological evolution, has undergone heritable changes due to factors like genetic mutation and natural selection, thereby becoming better adapted to their environment.
In the history of human evolution, for example, Homo erectus would be a classic Evolver.
But here in the Desolate Star World, Evolvers were a group of people who had adapted to the harsh, post-cataclysm environment, their bodies strengthened as a result.
Their Life Level was far higher than that of a normal person.
However, according to Iron Bear, Evolvers were divided into two types: those who underwent Postnatal Awakening and those with Innate Awakening.
Evolvers who undergo a Postnatal Awakening require special methods to stimulate their bodies and trigger the change.
As for those with Innate Awakening, they were the true chosen ones, far rarer than ordinary Evolvers.
The biggest difference was that they were born as Evolvers and required no awakening ritual.
This type of Evolver far surpassed Postnatal Evolvers in both strength and potential.
In this world, the differences in their evolutionary paths also led to variations in strength among Evolvers.
Take Iron Bear, for instance. His evolution had focused on the defensive properties of his hide.
While the rest of his body had also been strengthened, it was nothing compared to the enhancement of his hide.
However, regarding the strength of Evolvers,
this world also had a complete ranking system. From lowest to highest, the tiers were:
Tier One Erosion Seal, Tier Two Metamorphosis, Tier Three Core Casting, Tier Four Celestial King, and the most powerful of all, the Tier Five Human War God...
And Iron Bear,
was a Postnatal Evolver who had reached the Early Stage of Tier Two Metamorphosis.
In terms of defense, however, he was comparable to even Mid- or Late-Stage Tier Two Evolvers.
He knew all this because he originally came from a large settlement.
Later, however, he had the misfortune of offending the wrong people. To save his own skin, he had no choice but to flee, eventually ending up here.
’A Human War God? That must correspond to the Apostle Level...’
Hu Qi mused to himself, processing the information he had just acquired.
’The body I’ve possessed is clearly not one with Innate Awakening.’
’So I’ll have to rely on a specific ritual to achieve a Postnatal Awakening.’
"Tell me about the awakening ritual for Postnatal Evolvers,"
Hu Qi said.
At these words, Iron Bear’s mind raced.
’This man knows nothing about the awakening ritual for Postnatal Evolvers, but his strength is far beyond that of a normal person.’
’Then there’s only one possibility... he’s an Evolver with Innate Awakening. No wonder I lost to him.’
Still, the awakening ritual wasn’t exactly a top secret in the larger settlements.
Anyone could get the information if they were willing to pay the price.
"I can tell you the method, but you have to promise to let me go..." Iron Bear replied weakly.
Hearing this,
Hu Qi didn’t answer. He just stared at him calmly.
Truth be told, there was no real conflict between him and Iron Bear.
However, in this world, conflict wasn’t a prerequisite for a fight to the death.
The weak are meat for the strong—that was the cruel law of survival.
