Akevorax glanced over the list of options twice before coming to some rather quick conclusions. The first one amounted to disappointment which anyone could see on his face. The four Divine Phalanx options were all a massive let down.

In retrospect this was obvious. A bloodline centred around divinity resulted in lots of interactions with it? Wow, so surprising…

However, he kept every one of these options around even so, reading through their effects quickly to get an idea of what everything did. It was here he decided to cut away all four of those bloodlines, Army Enhancement and Banner of War both depended on divine power to activate, which meant a merger of divinity with his bloodline.

Of course, one alternate option existed. That no such merger occurred, which hardly hurt him as the dragonstone pushed him up to master tier and granted him minor control over his divinity. He didn’t exactly have an army to make use of these bloodlines though, so why bother taking them?

The odds and uselessness of all four pushed him away, which left the rest of his options.

Candyland left him dazed. The Nexus vaguely discussed creating a land of literal candy, but did not specify if this happened in reality or his mental space… Neither option interested him greatly. Akevorax even went as far as to say aloud, “Even if it allows me to rapidly mutate things to candy, why is this worth it over all those other options?” He stared at the first option for a few seconds longer before cutting out a few more options.

Mental Growth, the unknown upgrade, Parasitic Body, and Global Cataclysm all went next.

None of them useless, per se, but the direction of growth didn’t really interest him.

Mental Growth allowed for the expansion of his mental space. Parasitic Body kept disconnected body parts alive, going so far as to give these parts the ability to parasitise and control weaker ingestors. Global Cataclysm, thankfully, did not actually create cataclysms, instead, it expanded his Disaster Fated bloodline to sense overwhelmingly powerful threats which endangered whole worlds. And that unknown upgrade… He didn’t even bother justifying the decision, not that he needed one.

As for further considerations, Eye of the Mind also left his list of options as it centred too heavily around an enhancement to his All-sight bloodline. It directed itself inwards and allowed his Mind Palace to directly observe the surroundings when descended, even going so far as to spy into the mental spaces of others if a large enough power gap existed.

That left just 5 options, and surprisingly, both eternity fern options remained in the running!

[Providence Extremum Ice-cream: Vast selections of providences are always available to take, but a cost must always be paid back. While the universe does not impose interest on this debt, to ensure you may pay it back, there is a limit to what you may obtain. Remove these limits and dive to your soul’s deepest depths, obtain providences with base power of a supreme and room to grow further beyond… But prepare for its repayment. Bonus stats delayed until bloodline effect confirmed]

“I don’t suppose this also pays off my current providence, right?” Akevorax asked a question after a few seconds of thought. While several came to mind, he only really cared for a few specific ones. Besides, just because he could obtain those naturally powerful items, did not mean his soul withstood their use.

[This bloodline does come with an automatic awakening, but it only pays off whatever item is selected, not any outstanding dues]

A fair response all things considered. It disappointed him slightly that the immense weight of that orb hung over his neck even so, thankfully he had yet to unlock it.

Anyway, next bloodline!

[Auric Metastasis Ice-cream: Origin Force dominates your body, spreading its tendrils throughout to form networks of self-regulated and fed generators at all times. A fixed quantity of mana and mana regen are allocated to the network of Origin Force within you, although it will abscond from absorption in cases where the host takes damage or requires mana for survival. This Origin Force network deeply integrates the spirit with yourself, the implications of which we cannot fully simulate. Bonus stats delayed until bloodline effect confirmed]

The name was perhaps a bit on-the-nose, calling it a form of cancer spread about his body, but he hardly disagreed. Besides, it appeared to self-regulate his Origin Force needs and ought to speed up the time between upgrades for his spirit.

A bit scary as a description, but he liked the effect. If it highly deepened his connection with it, then he might be able to aid it directly as it merged his body together with something else.

Akevorax immediately thought back to it holding off those void flames, its Mind was only so strong as a… Actually, he still couldn’t tell where its intelligence came from. But with his Mind added on top, there’d be no issues with this stuff ever again.

[Array Expertise Ice-cream: With great experience building and storing all manners of things for your palace, there comes a single limit as you expand beyond ‘objects’ into the magical domain. Specifically, arrays and materials which require abundant condensed mana and constant control, however, a bloodline with focus on this aspect greatly eases the overall difficulty of this process. Bonus stats delayed until bloodline effect confirmed]

A bitter taste filled his mouth as he read this description for the first time, and it remained with every further read through. While it gave no exact figures, he could tell it drastically sped up the two huge problems with creating large-scale arrays inside a mental space.

“If those last two choices are good, I’m going to be so mad,” he said aloud without remorse. His tongue clicked along with multiple sighs.

[It’s not our fault these options appeared. We can only randomly test things to see what comes up]

“I never said I’d be mad at you, just at myself for obtaining these two bloodlines at the same time. And then I might have to recover this one if I take either of the other two.” Akevorax clarified his statement, the existence of Array Expertise automatically made it a top contender for this evolution. On the other hand, he considered the hilarity of this situation.

Imagine if it lost to either of the next two? From a mere Magical rank bloodline!

[Nascent Rebirth Ice-cream: Life is too precious, and whilst everything may be done to protect it, occasionally, an abrupt end is unavoidable. Through the rebirth to primitive form, the Soul and Mind may be preserved to a new body that allows for a single route of survival. The primitive form is not completely created anew though, as its seed is created from your current powers. Only one such ‘seed’ may exist at once, and your soul will instantly be drawn towards it near death. Bonus stats delayed until bloodline effect confirmed]

[Endless Endlessness Ice-cream: Time is an illusion of entropy, only given form by the concept of beginnings and ends. Cut off both and all that remains is an endless constant. An endless now. Where no resources are consumed, they cannot run out, and you emulate this existence to its extremes. Return entropy to null and take on a constant form, so long as you do not consume resources, they cannot run out. Bonus stats delayed until bloodline effect confirmed]

Akevorax tilted his head as he read the pair of bloodlines, the options contained that vague sense of wonder he hadn’t seen in quite a while. Promptly, the sitting dragon asked, “Were these a bit hard for you to properly simulate?”

[Strangely, yes. Things of flesh and blood are really not supposed to be able to obtain these sorts of things, at least, nothing with a Soul comes with these]

“What do you mean by ‘these things’? The first one is just a method to save my life… And the second one stops me losing any sort of power as long as I don’t voluntarily spend it. I admit the latter is rather strange.”

[You don’t understand. Inherently, it should be somewhat impossible for a conscious being to avoid all forms of costs. Just living decays your soul ever so slightly, kind of like genetic degradation, if that even mattered in this universe. But the fact we can simulate this means it doesn’t break any laws… The complexity involved was extraordinary]

While also incredibly confused, Akevorax exclaimed with a partial realisation, “Right, I rarely obtain that many directions from plant bloodlines because our bloodlines differ so much as well.”

This didn’t resolve the problem at hand though. These bloodlines could only be described as incredible for their source, furthering the idea that their existence straddled the line between Exeter and allowable. However, strangeness only acquired intrigue, not immediate value. The simplistic question for his evolution remained.

‘Were they better than Array Expertise?’

“For Nascent Rebirth, won’t supreme tiers and Great Sages just intervene and grab my soul as it tries to escape? I hardly see it being good if I can be killed anyway,” he said while flummoxed. Hopefully, this question removed one of the three options, and gave a way for him to just choose between the final two.

[Simulations show the soul retreats at roughly 99% the speed of light. No, we don’t understand why this is the case]

Great… Double great even!

What the actual hell was causing this ridiculous bloodline? Were plant bloodlines really just never meant to cross over?

Actually, that was a dumb question.

“Let me guess, Endless Endlessness actually means that I only lose lifespan when I actively consume it for things? So I could theoretically live forever if I stopped evolving so often?”

[It’s nice that you understand our confliction with these bloodlines]

The dragon butted his wafer scale head against the ground several times over, now thrown into complete disarray by the furthered implications of this all. It meant that potentially any plant with uncommon effects, but a bloodline, mattered to him! All the way from the weakest grasses to supreme tier trees of life… why he could only acquire these strange bloodlines now probably just came down to him being strong enough for his body to acquire them.

Also, the Nexus did say that even when forced into a dormant state after assimilation, the eternity fern’s bloodline somehow continually tried to repair itself and consume him. These sorts of strange plants mattered most to him.

But how many actually existed? These ferns were only found here because many considered them weeds native to all snowy biomes and handled accordingly! With high tenacity and excellent growth in these frosty environments, of course he found them quickly.

“Why can’t it ever be easy?” Akevorax lamented his current decisions as he silently accepted that Array Expertise wouldn’t be selected today. While both of the bloodlines interested him, a minute of careful thought eventually narrowed their pros and cons down to very simple points. Which left just one question for Akevorax to the Nexus, him asking exhaustedly, “Does Nascent Rebirth still activate if I’m in a sub-realm or equivalent?”

[Yes, unless a supreme tier array is already active and locking down your Soul in advance]

That was all he needed to know. Akevorax came to his decision very simply after remembering the atmosphere of his group the days prior to battling Lostadus. Raccelline refused to let go most of the time, and whilst still positive, all of them deeply feared he’d actually perish in that battle.

Hell, he almost had!

An incredibly fast, nearly-untraceable backup which could save him in any dire strait? Honestly, did anyone even need to justify this decision?

“I select Nascent Rebirth Ice-cream,” he sighed at the decision but felt no regret. This decision could save his life under any number of strange or dangerous conditions, and it could just be recreated if he ever died! Even the True Will within resonated as he chose what his heart believed was best for him. To give up such a necessary route for power hurt, but he had ways to obtain it later.

This opportunity might never come again. And he certainly didn’t want to die, so why would he go out of his way to justify refusal of this method?

Untraceable, untouchable, and completely unknowable.

To Akevorax, it seemed a perfect option.