Chapter 49

Because of my memory when I was living as a normal wolf, I knew for a fact that there was something special about the Third Evolutionary State. And while it was true that reaching that state would give an explosive growth in terms of raw power, I actually had a hunch that it wasn’t simply about that. Though at that time, I couldn’t properly point out what was that exactly. Well, that was until I reached that point myself.

[Individual (Unnamed) had reached the maximum level of its current Species’ Class.]

[Individual (Unnamed) is now able to ascend from Common Class to Ruling Class.]

[Four paths of the Inferior Wolf Species are now available:

Tempest Wolf

Frost Wolf

Flame Wolf

Lightning Wolf…]

While staring at the notifications displayed in front of me, I couldn’t help but tilt my head. So, I am able to choose huh…? But well… More than that, there is just so much information to unpack in these notifications…

Obviously, the fact that I was able to choose which path I want to take was without a doubt important, but to some degree, I somewhat already expected something like this to happen so it didn’t come as much of a shock. Instead, what caught my attention the most among these notifications were the terms Common Class, Ruling Class, and Inferior Wolf Species.

Common Class and Ruling Class huh…? I see… So, this is why the Third Evolutionary State is special…

Truth to be told, sometime later after I recovered my memories as a normal wolf, I had actually been kind of curious as to why the four-alpha wolf in that forest seemed to be so antagonistic towards each other to the point that they would gladly kill a rival any given chance. At first, I thought that it was only normal, especially because of the survival of the fittest way of living of the monsters. But after I saw the hierarchy of those ape type monsters, I came to a realization that it was actually possible for the powerful and seemingly prideful monsters to work together as an equal. The biggest example of this was the relationship between the Tronobo and Pronobo, both of which were probably an alpha class monster that has the same level of raw power.

Of course, there was also no denying the fact that it was only possible due to the existence of the overwhelming existence of the Gigarillon. But thinking about it more carefully, those two were still an alpha class monster. Given that fact, it should only be normal if the two of them suddenly attacked the Gigarillon in the moments of its weakness in order to gain its power and position. But from what I could tell, neither one of those two were doing that. In fact, it was actually as if the two were faithfully serving the Gigarillon without any hidden intentions. Which in short was totally in contrast with the action of the alpha wolves on my home forest.

So, it really has something to do with their ranks, huh…? Or maybe it will be more accurate to call it Class Division…

In all likelihood, there were probably some subdivisions even between the Common Class and Ruling Class itself. And most likely among the subdivisions of the Ruling Class monsters, there might be something that prevents them from working together. Because of that, even though there were variations between the overall powers of the Ruling Class monsters, it would be virtually impossible for a Ruling Class monster to subjugate one of its kind that was in the same Ruling Class subdivision as him.

Well, I guess that makes sense… Though, what is this Inferior Wolf Species thing? If my memory is right, this is my first time knowing about it… With that, I searched my memories for any possible clues that could aid me in formulating a theory about the new term. But then, my train of thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a new notification that had popped up in front of my eyes.

[Effect of the skill Potential Boost was invoked.]

[Processing…]

[Alteration was a success.]

[A special evolution path has been unlocked.]

[Five paths of the Inferior Wolf Species are now available:

Tempest Wolf

Frost Wolf

Flame Wolf

Lightning Wolf

Darkness Wolf]

Surprised, all thoughts about the new term flew out of my mind and I just stared at the new evolution path in awe. Wait, seriously?!

Although it was true that I had expected that Potential Boost would somehow affect my evolution, it still never occurred to me that it could somehow unlock a new path for my evolution. At best, I only expected it to interfere during the actual evolution process and only alter my race by adding Variant and such. After all, that was what had happened up until now.

Furthermore, I never even knew that there was such a thing as a Darkness Wolf.

That’s right, even my memories as a normal wolf didn’t help because there was never even a single information regarding that Darkness Wolf. Of course, it may only be just due to the collective ignorance of the pack. But even then, that forest in my memories was undoubtedly being ruled by the wolf species. The very existence of the four wolf-type alpha class monsters in that forest proved that point. And yet, for some reason, there wasn’t even a trace nor knowledge that a Darkness Wolf had existed in that place.

Okay, let’s try if we can get more information out of this. And so, I examined the evolution paths one by one. Luckily, my efforts weren’t in vain because some new information popped up.

[Tempest Wolf:

A Ruling Class wolf-type monster that is incredibly proficient when it came to magic battles. That said, the monster is mostly specialized in using Wind Magic and is unable to cast any other elemental spell. In exchange, the monster’s Wind Magic spells were more powerful in comparison to a normal Wind Magic spell of the same exact level.]

[Frost Wolf:

A Ruling Class wolf-type monster that is incredibly proficient when it came to magic battles. That said, the monster is mostly specialized in using Ice Magic and is unable to cast any other elemental spell. In exchange, the monster’s Ice Magic spells were more powerful in comparison to a normal Ice Magic spell of the same exact level.]

[Flame Wolf:

A Ruling Class wolf-type monster that is incredibly proficient when it came to magic battles. That said, the monster is mostly specialized in using Fire Magic and is unable to cast any other elemental spell. In exchange, the monster’s Fire Magic spells were more powerful in comparison to a normal Fire Magic spell of the same exact level.]

[Lightning Wolf:

A Ruling Class wolf-type monster that is incredibly proficient when it came to magic battles. That said, the monster is mostly specialized in using Electric Magic and is unable to cast any other elemental spell. In exchange, the monster’s Electric Magic spells were more powerful in comparison to a normal Electric Magic spell of the same exact level.]

[Darkness Wolf:

A part of the Ruling Class wolf-type monsters, but unlike its counterparts, this one in particular is considered as a Special Monster since it can only be unlocked through the skill Potential Boost. Because of this, it is only available to the wolf-type monsters that had the title Awakened One.

Due to its signature skills, the monster is mostly proficient in close quarter combat rather than magical battles. Another feature of the monster is its proficiency in handling pure Mana and its high resistance against magical spells. Furthermore, the monster also had an ability to tap into the Chaos Energy in order to further enhance its combat capabilities.]

I see… So, in short. The other four evolution paths are pretty much the default ones, while the last remaining one is a special case that can be considered as a result of acquiring the title Awakened One. I easily concluded while reading the information on the Darkness Wolf for the second time.

Once I was done, I began organizing my thoughts. Seriously, it is more than clear that this Darkness Wolf is superior compared to the other ones so my choice is already pretty much decided. The problem is the Chaos Energy thing… While repositioning myself, I squint my eyes at the word Chaos Energy which was currently displayed in front of me.

Honestly, I would like to have at least some more information regarding that Chaos Energy thing. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like my Status Screen would display any more information regarding it so I had no other choice but to give up.

Ha… No matter how I look at it, this thing seemed incredibly fishy… Giving up on it, I closed the information window. Well, though I feel as if I was being lured by the devil, it would still be a waste if I let this opportunity pass… Okay, I guess there's nothing new and I had no other choice but to deal with it once the time comes… After deciding that, I hype myself up then chose the Darkness Wolf path without any hesitation. Let’s do this!!

[Starting Evolution…]

And with that, my consciousness was snuffed out.