This was an evolution Ashlock had been eagerly anticipating, and the fact that Kaida had consumed the flesh of a divine beast's unborn children made him excited to see how it would affect the evolution options.
"Yes, I want him to evolve," Ashlock said to the system prompt, and as usual, multiple options popped up. However, weirdly, the first option was glowing compared to the other two.
[Midnight Ink Lindwyrm (???+)]
As a lesser evolution of the Midnight Inkwing, Kaida would inherit the blood of a divine being from the upper layers of creation, granting him unlimited cultivation potential. Midnight Ink Lindwyrms have snake-like bodies made entirely from divine ink. Their bodies are also covered in black scales of hardened ink that they can use as a medium to affect the world, such as creating talismans or runic arrays out of their scales. They also can infuse their will through their divine ink to create contracts overseen by the heavens. Also, due to the connection with the divine, Midnight Ink Lindwyrms can gain heavenly insight from words written in ink.
"Well, that's certainly something," Ashlock was taken aback and read through the description again. The name and the question marks, alongside the divine nature of the evolution's explanation, clued Ashlock into why it was glowing. This was a divine option brought on by the unique circumstances surrounding Kaida's evolution. That being his consumption of the Midnight Inkwing's divine flesh.
"Unlimited cultivation potential alone would have sold me, but his body being turned into divine ink and being able to create heaven-binding contracts? Are those like oaths but in writing?" Ashlock could see a lot of use for that as the sect grew, as getting everyone to make a soul-binding oath with him seemed a little tedious. But if they could mass-produce contracts overseen by the heavens, that opened up a lot of options.
"Kaida, I am so sorry, but you might become the Ashfallen Sect's first civil servant." Ashlock laughed, "Something about a divine serpent handling paperwork is amusing."
That aside, Ashlock could finally see some fighting potential showing through with this evolution, and he hoped that evolving to the B grade would solve Kaida's most considerable issue, which was his lack of ink Qi to use due to how hard it was to cultivate.
"If Kaida reaches the equivalent of a Star Core cultivator, he should be able to start generating Qi passively." Ashlock pondered, "Larry was a little weaker than a Star Core cultivator when he was at B grade. So, I hope Kaida will be stronger than Larry, as Kaida will have a divine race. Whereas Larry only became overlord of the ashen spiders and showed the power of a peak Star Core cultivator when he reached A grade."
Besides having more Qi to work with, Ashlock also saw new fighting styles with this evolution.
"Back when Kaida pranked Stella, it took him five minutes to write the runic words for 'explosion' in ink from his tail. The writing alone took time and precious Qi from Kaida. Then he had to manually tap the runic words to activate the ink once Stella was close enough and leaning over for it to explode in her face," Ashlock mused as he recollected the last time they had tested the snake's powers. "The explosion wasn't even that strong and only enough to make Stella stumble back in confusion."
Ashlock had concluded back then that Kaida had a lot of future potential, but as he was right now, his affinity being so rare and powerful was a massive handicap. So Ashlock left the snake alone and did not ask Kaida to do anything except that one time Kaida gave Stella a tattoo to help with her Roselyn persona.
Looking back at the evolution description, the line that read 'scales of hardened ink that they can use as a medium to affect the world, such as creating talismans or runic arrays out of their scales' suggested to him that Kaida would be able to create arrays or write out runic words on his own scales and then hurl them at enemies or place them below their feet without having to spend five minutes setting something up beforehand and then also be present to actually activate them.
"So this evolution also gives Kaida a new way to fight on top of the heaven-bound contracts, turning his flesh and bones into divine ink, giving him unlimited cultivation potential and being a lesser version of a divine beast," Ashlock concluded. It was pretty obvious he would pick this glowing option at the top, but he still checked the others out to see what Kaida would have been presented if not for the mischievous noodle finding some unfried eggs to eat.
[Abyssal Inkshade Wyrm]
As an Abyssal Inkshade Wyrm, Kaida's ink and water manipulation abilities become even more profound. His scales take on an iridescent sheen that reflects his environment, making him nearly invisible when he wishes. His golden eyes now not only gleam with authority but can see through illusions and darkness.
"If not for the other evolution giving Kaida a way to imbue his scales with his ink, this stealth-based option has some merit as he could sneak around the battlefield setting up traps and such," Ashlock mused, "But stealth and seeing through illusions isn't very useful if the opponent is much stronger and can shrug off any traps Kaida lays."
[Omniblack Basilisk Emperor]
Taking on traits of the fearsome basilisk, Kaida's gaze can paralyze or control adversaries, and his ink will now possess corrosive or transformative qualities, turning whatever it touches into black stone or more ink to serve his will.
"Okay, if I needed to optimize Kaida for pure combat like Larry was, then this would be a great pick." Ashlock had plenty of people who were good at fighting around him now, so someone more specialized at arrays or these new contracts was more beneficial than another bodyguard.
Ashlock knew how useful a gaze that stunned opponents was due to his own {Demonic Eye} that had caught many people off guard and allowed him to win fights far above his station in the past.
"The corrosive ink also sounds like the digestive fluids my black vines secrete, which would also be useful." Ashlock would have been rather fine with picking this option for Kaida if not for the superior divine option.
Without much more debating needed, Ashlock picked the glowing option that spoke of all the things he wished for Kaida.
"System, I choose Midnight Ink Lindwyrm."
[Evolution path {Midnight Ink Lindwyrm} chosen, evolution initiating....]
Kaida reeled back with a hiss as a stream of ink traveled through the air from the lake of ink on the Bastion nearby and began to form around the snake like a bubble. This ink bubble began to harden until it took on an egg shape, much like the eggs Ashlock had stolen from the Hatchery of the Midnight Inkwing.
"Are you okay, Kaida?" Ashlock asked but received no reply. The giant egg that was easily five meters tall stayed leaning against his trunk.
Since the egg had drawn in nearby ink during the evolution, Ashlock decided to float the giant egg back to the Bastion and place it carefully in the lake alongside the other eggs.
"I think I see why those eggs were placed on an island surrounded by an ocean of ink Qi," Ashlock mused as he saw Kaida's egg greedily begin to drain the ink.
Seeing the ink slowly vanishing gave Ashlock an idea. He didn't have access to any flowers that produced ink Qi, so he wouldn't be able to make a cultivation grove for Kaida unless he grew a tree within that ink, so it took on ink affinity. It was annoying he had to go about it in such a roundabout way that cost credits, but all his current offspring had formed their soul cores and chosen an affinity already.
"It's fine. I can use the {Skyborne Bastion} skill to force the tree up to the Star Core Realm within minutes." Ashlock removed one of the poisonous fruits containing a {Demonic Seed} from his branch and floated it with telekinesis. Then his vision shifted out into the wilderness, where there was a wall of demonic trees, and he saw a small gathering of Qi Realm demonic chickens being chased down by what could only be described as a purple-skinned boar covered in puss and warts. Its eyes were red with rage, and its mouth gaped open, showing off its rotten teeth.
"You will do nicely." Ashlock willed a portal into existence overhead and sent the apple-sized fruit containing his seed shooting through.
The boar was so focused on trying to eat the chickens with its mouth hanging wide open that it failed to notice the flying fruit, which whistled through the air and then shot down its throat, causing it to faceplant the ground and start retching.
Screeching happily at the boar's misfortune, the chickens ran off, and Ashlock couldn't be bothered to waste the Qi to hunt them down as they would be worth at most a credit each.
The boar seemed to be struggling, and after only a few minutes, its eyes rolled back, and it fell to its side while frothing at the mouth.
"Did it die from poison that quickly?" Ashlock didn't remember his poison being that effective, especially on such a large monster. Was the poison derived from his C-grade poison resistance stronger than he remembered?
Lifting the now dead boar up with telekinesis, Ashlock brought it back to Red Vine Peak through the portal and dumped it into the ink lake on the Bastion as far as he could from Kaida's egg.
"Okay, that seed should sprout into a tree soon."
While waiting, Ashlock summoned his sign-in system.
Idletree Daily Sign-In System
Day: 3553
Daily Credit: 1
Sacrifice Credit: 2303
[Sign in?]
"Considering I was only in the Mystic Realm for four days, I got quite the boon. Now, what should I spend these credits on?" Ashlock had already reserved at least a thousand for a second bastion, likely of the ink affinity to give Kaida a place to cultivate further and call home. "I suppose I should keep the rest lying around to power my skills, especially since credits will become harder to get now."
Having ascended to the 7th Stage of the Star Core Realm, there wasn't much around him to consume that was strong enough to reap many credits other than Nox, the Grand Elders of the Blood Lotus sect's noble families, and maybe whatever monster or thing was causing the disturbance out in the wilderness that Elder Brent encountered.
"It does raise some questions regarding my system's motivation, though," Ashlock mulled as he looked at his status screen with all his skills. "If the system wished for me to grow as quickly as possible, why wouldn't it give me the same number of credits no matter how strong I was? It's not like my new A-grade skills are any stronger than the ones I had got when I had been a Qi Realm tree."
So, if the system had its own agenda, what could it be? Did it even have a purpose? Was he simply just lucky for it to have picked him as its host? Did others have systems, or was it just him?
"If I am the only one in the whole universe with a system, then there has to be a reason behind it." Ashlock refused to believe in simple fate. He knew the world was vast. Senior Lee had opened his eyes to this fact long ago, but perhaps his worldview had been shaken even more after encountering the Azure Clan from an upper layer. It was a rather weird thought to know some people were so above you there was a literal void separating you.
"You know, it might just be a coincidence, but doesn't Kane Azurecrest have an awfully similar-sounding noble family name to the Azure Clan?" Ashlock pondered as he shifted his view to the White Stone Palace.
Basked in the morning light, Ashlock took a moment to admire Douglas's handiwork in making the White Stone Peak into what it was today. The White Stone Palace, which lorded over the entire peak, was abuzz with activity as Redclaws moved between the palace and the many pavilions built on the northern side.
He also saw a few Redclaws heading down the mountain ridge path toward the many groves of fire affinity demonic trees covered in Blaze Serpent Roses.
"Glad to see the Redclaws are doing fine without their Elders around." Ashlock stayed in the sky for a moment, watching everything from above. "Back on topic, the Azurecrest family specializes in wind affinity and making airships, whereas the Azure Clan seemed to focus on spatial? But what is the difference between a family and a clan? Do clans function more like a sect but are more tight-knit like some sort of ninja clan family thing?"
If that was the case, it was still possible the Azure Clan had some cultivators practicing other affinities, such as wind, which made the connection between the Azure Clan and the Azurecrest family more likely.
"When everyone returns from the Mystic Realm, I should send someone to ask Kane Azurecrest about it." Ashlock decided and then returned to his own mountain peak.
"Ah, we have signs of life!" Ashlock was relieved to see his seed still functioned like it did in the past as a small shoot with a single red leaf poked through the boar's disgusting puss-covered skin. He hadn't been spreading his seeds around with everything going on recently, but with a way to boost any tree he wanted to Star Core, the same realm as him, for only a thousand credits, the value of his offspring had increased tremendously.
"I guess I can spread my seed around while I wait for everyone to get back." Ashlock pondered but decided he needed to do something with the Bastion first.
"That tree is going to take a few days at least to consume that body and grow, and Kaida's evolution will also take a bit. The celestial fog in the Mystic Realm has time dilation, right?"
Although Willow should be able to pick a pocket realm and enter it, there was no way for Willow to know which one Stella was in without Ashlock's soul fragment being there and using {Dimensional Overlap}.
"Willow, float the Bastion into the Mystic Realm fog, and don't try to enter any of the pocket realms. Just float there in the outskirts of the fog for the four times time dilation and let me know when Kaida hatches."
After a wave of acceptance of his order, Willow became aflame with soul fire, and the Bastion slowly floated upward and then over toward the Mystic Realm. The Bastion was actually large enough to cast a large shadow over the fog, and it was strange to watch the ship disappear into the fog despite the fog only appearing a few meters high.
Ashlock was left alone on his mountain peak with the Bastion gone. Only the chirps of birds and the rustling of leaves accompanied his thoughts.
"It's kinda lonely," Ashlock murmured as he saw Larry sleeping in one of the demonic trees and Khaos standing perfectly still while charging up through a black root.
With nothing much to do as he was in defensive mode until everyone got back, he turned to the stack of books Stella had robbed from the Azure Clan library.
"The fact she stole a stack of books under the nose of a Monarch Realm Elder is still wild to me. What a crazy girl," Ashlock chuckled as he floated them up with telekinesis. "Mhm, I kinda want to study something other than Spatial Lock as it's hard to practice without anyone around, so I suppose I'll read up on one of these other techniques. But which one should I pick though?"
After some debate, he decided an offensive skill would be the best to learn, considering this system's aversion to giving him ways to fight, and seemed to prefer powering up his allies.
"So it's between Spatial Blades and Warp Strike..." Ashlock gave a skim read of the two books by flipping the pages with telekinesis.
"Alright, it seems Warp Strike is a technique that allows me to infuse spatial energy into weapons, allowing them to hit from unexpected angles or bypass defenses by momentarily warping space. Whereas Spatial Blades is a more independent technique that lets me weaponize my Qi by creating sharp rifts in space which can slice directly through people and even mountains."
Both seemed good and also easier to learn than Spatial Lock.
The thing that jumped out to him the most was the fact Warp Strike was able to bypass defenses by warping space. "If I can get it to a level that I can bypass Nox's shadow armor, then I would be able to skewer her with multiple swords while she is stunned by Sol or something."
Deciding out of the two that Warp Strike seemed the most interesting as it also furthered his training to become the greatest tree swordsman in all the nine realms, he put the other book to the side and started gingerly reading its contents.
Before he knew it, two days had passed where he did nothing but spread his seeds in the wilderness through portals, read the technique manual, sleep, and meditate on the deep insights gained from a Clan on a higher layer of creation.
However, Ashlock was eventually broken from his meandering thoughts when Willow reached out to him through their ethereal root connection. Kaida had finished his evolution, and the ink tree had grown.
"Oh? That's great news," Ashlock was super excited to see the changed appearance of his favorite ink snake and what his new powers looked like in reality.
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