Chapter 84

Lykan

The Third Echelon

Focus, determination, tenacity; these were the three words that defined Lykan. From his want to constantly improve, to his relentless nature of seeing what was next. He constantly pushed himself forward. He continued to move, to draw in Qi from the world around him and to grow. With each breath, with each cycle of Qi around his core he felt power course through his body.

QI was a drug, or at least if often came across that way to Lykan. If he had to describe it, the flavor would be the taste of pure water after a long scorching day in the sun. Qi would also feel like aloe to dry and cracked skin, seeping out from his very body and filling in cracks that would constantly form as old skin broke away. The entire process was both minor and profound. Minor in the fact that Qi would focus on individual parts of his body and slowly fix them. One molecule of Qi at a time would be used to fix torn or muscles that had broken down due to constant unrelenting use. Every fiber of his being would be changed constantly, until finally only Qi particles remained. Then even those were replaced by smaller and more compact modules of Qi. The entire process was taxing, while at the same time fulfilling.

With every breath he was getting stronger. With every action, he would break away more parts of his old self until finally only Qi particles remained. While he had suspected a deeper plan to his cursed blessing, he was certain that there was more to such a blessing. For one curse could be removed, so Lykan held the thought that eventually he would be able to remove the curse if the right conditions were met. He also realized that if he had any lingering aspect of mana in his system, he would be dead by now. His body would not have been able to make the transition over to Qi as quickly and effectively as it had.

Had this always been the goal for the gods? Had the gods only wanted him to be a null so he could go down into the catacombs and learn the lessons of the titans early? Had he not been kicked out; he likely would have eventually gone down into the catacombs before his class day. Most children used the catacombs as a place to hide from their chores, so it wouldn’t have been too hard to imagine Lykan stumbling on this training chamber when he was a child. Though truth be told he knew that he likely would have died had he come here right away. First, he had years’ worth of skills that were uniquely suited to this very process. Second, he had learned to harden his mind and his resolve to survive such conditions. While he was hungry and thirsty, he was not feeling excessively of either. Instead, he was at that border area of wanting food, but not needing it. Where he wanted a drink but could still feel the moisture in his mouth. So many thoughts and sensations were going through his mind that if he didn’t have the Focus skill to help direct most of his thoughts to the task at hand that he would likely have to start over. As it was, he could focus on multiple ideas and concepts all at once.

Lykan’s ability to disassociate his mind from the physical activities that he was doing caused him to miss the moment his Power attribute increased to 10. Lykan for his part didn’t really care much for the Attribute increases, for in his mind the skills and ability to use master his skills were more important. His focus on improving his skills was what led him to be so driven, but also what helped him to survive to this point. He realized that with each master level skill that he improved to Maximum the next two that spawned would also be master level. This made it a continuing process of improvement.

When Lykan got his Power Attribute to ten it would have been no big deal. Especially as he already managed to reach the human maximum for his Mobility Attribute years earlier. He would have assumed that his improving his Power Attribute to its maximum would have also been no big deal as well. He would have been right, had this attribute increase not come on as the marker for a threshold.

Blessing Bestowed: Third Echelon

Third Echelon: You have managed to push your mind, body, and soul beyond the normal limits of human capability. You have reached the third echelon of transcendence. Requirements: Minimum of one Attribute to thirty (1 of 1). Minimum of four Skills evolved to the third skill tier (4 of 4). Minimum of two Abilities evolved to the third evolution (2 of 2). This is an evolutionary echelon, as such you can pick options that will change not only yourself but will be carried down to your future progeny.

Reward Options: [Sight of the Predator], [Skin of the Chameleon], [Wings of the Eagle], or [Mind of the Psionic*]

Note: Traces of [Mind of the Psionic] are already identified within host. Next stage of adaptation is now available.

The whole announcement seemed off. What was this about already having traces of Mind of the Psionic? What did it mean that the next stage was now available? So many questions. The first and most important was what exactly happened to him. Taking a second to center himself he pulled up his status and looked at the changes that occurred.

Name Lykan Vov'Vita Race Human Class Valiant Wanderer Age 18 (Unageing) Attribute Base Plus Modifier(s) Total Strength (9 + 12 + 2) 23 Awareness (9 + 12) 21 Mobility* (10 + 12 + 2) 24 Intelligence (9 + 18) 27 Power* (10 + 18 + 2) 30

Looking at his attributes he was surprised to see that his Power, Strength, and Intelligence all increased by one point. This could have happened anywhere along his travels to now. Looking back on the past he had not been in the right frame of mind to properly access everything. He was also shocked to see that his attributes were all so high. He knew he had two to Strength, Mobility, and Power from his core. But where had the other three points come from?

It took him a moment to see that he received a blessing from the great forest spirit for helping to purify the great jungle basin.

Blessing Bestowed: Cleansed.

Cleansed (Epic): You were part of a land that had all seven pillars directed solely to improving the land. This monumental feat has been witnessed and awarded by the gods. As you were part of the group who finished clearing the final pillar, the rarity of your blessing has been increased to Epic. Reward: All attributes +3. Special reward, your body’s need for food and water have been greatly reduced.

Looking at the reward at the end also helped to explain how he was able to survive off only Qi for the past few days of training. The reward seemed to have been tailor made for his survival down here. He wondered if Nayali and Aren received similar blessings? Or if theirs were also tailored for their own futures.

Realizing everything that was happening Lykan couldn’t help but feel there was a greater hand guiding everything. Despite his protestations against the gods of late, he could see that they were in fact guiding him in the correct direction. Or at least they were guiding him in a way that he could survive the trials that lay before him. Had he faltered, or had he strayed from the path he would be dead. Or at the very least would not have made it to the third echelon of evolution. This was an accomplishment that few, if any seemed to receive. Still he couldn’t help but focus on the options that were available to him.

Each seemed to be related to a way he could evolve not only himself, but his progeny.

Then there was the cryptic message at the end that seemed to imply that he already had traces of a Psionic within him. What does that even mean? He wondered to himself as he stared at his options. Surprisingly his body as so used to draw in Qi that he realized only at this point that he had still been performing the Qi exercises without being disrupted. The only time he in fact came close to losing his focus and having to restart was at the very moment he made the revelation. Fortunately, he caught himself before he could stop and must restart from the very beginning.

He was on the sit-up portion of the Qi exercises. Then next was the squats, then handstand push-ups. After a few minutes of making sure his body would continue to exercise while his mind wandered elsewhere, he focused on his evolutionary options that were available to him. Each seemed to have a significance to him.

The Chameleon one seemed like it would provide an immediate benefit right now and help him to clear this individual trial. What better way to avoid detection than to have chameleon skin after all, but that would feel like cheating? Also, he felt he was getting somewhere with his trials and didn’t want to cut them short by cheating. His major fear of needing food or water seemed to be diminished from his blessing of the gods. He didn’t think he needed to use it for Chameleon skin.

The other option that could be discounted was the wings of the eagle. While eagle wings would allow him to fly once more, they would make blending into society tougher. He felt that if he tried hard enough, he could fly with Qi. He still remembered the moment during training when he fell to the ground after seemingly being aloft in the air. While Qi felt denser than mana, he felt there was still likely a way to use it to get his body to fly. As such the wings were off. That left the predator’s sight, and the Psionic lineage.

Predator’s sight sounded interesting, but also made Lykan feel that he would be evolving into some form of monster. In the end the only choice that felt remotely close to how he wanted to be in the future was [Mind of the Psionic] which also appealed to him as it would be the second such evolution he received. He had heard about such actions, the Azani were of course famous for claiming to have multiple generations of exceptional children, each gaining the third echelon and thus improving on their powers. This of course was mostly a lie, the grand ancestors clearly evolved, but the children, not so much. Even Nayali who was famed for her power and prowess had not yet reached the third echelon, if she had then their duel would have been completely different.

As it was there was only one true path forward for Lykan. Focusing his mind, he chose the evolution that would help him become closer to his ancestors.

Are you sure you wish to choose [Mind of the Psionic*]?

Warning: Choosing this evolutionary path will close off other possible paths for both you and your progeny. Do you wish to continue [Yes] or [No]?

Even with the warning Lykan felt a cooling wave of resolve wash over him. Taking a deep breath he breathed in Qi and accepted the final choice. [Yes].

With that a message appeared in his mind’s eye a split second before searing pain began to burn like white-hot pokers in his brain.

Evolutionary path chosen. Relax this will only hurt a bit…

Pain and pressure mounted.

Warning anomaly detected. Safety measures put in place.

Burning. The world was burning pain, as white lights began to flash and twirl around him. His world went white, then his mind filled with too much pain and sensations shut down.

Darkness.

The last thing that Lykan’s mind registered was the floating texts from within his own mind.

Evolutionary Process complete. Subject has …