Path of Evolution - Chapter 12

Chapter 12






I looked at sun rising in the horizon. And a warm feeling started to permeate my body.

'It's hard to believe that it's only the second day since the start of the Apocalypse. It's almost as if I've been in here for weeks.'

'Of course. A lot of things happened yesterday after all.' Lily said.

By this time, I was almost getting used to Lily's random comments on my thoughts. I was even starting to like it.

I looked my wound on the side and realized that there was no trace of any wound there except for the few scars where the wood splinters had cut through my skin.

'That medicine was really awesome.' I thought.

'Of course. Every single item that you see in the interface is of the highest quality.'

'Hey! Why didn't you tell me about the the medicine when I was wounded?' I asked in indignation.

'Well. You never asked.' She said.

'But I was wounded. Shouldn't you be like. 'Hey! There's a medicine that can heal your wounds here in case you don't know.' You're a very shitty friend, you know that.'

'Oh! So I'm your friend now.'

'Of course you are what do you think that I see you as.'

'I…' she sighed. 'Listen. The reason I didn't tell you about the medicine was not because I didn't want to.'

'Why then?'

'Because I cannot give you information on our own violation. That's one of the rules which we always have to follow.'

'Is that so." I said "Well, I understand now. Sorry for blaming you.'

'It was not your fault.'

'So as long as I ask the question, you'll give me the answer?'

'If the answers are within your authority. If you ask high level questions then I won't be able to answer them.'

'Hmm… Doesn't that mean that if I don't ask anything then you won't tell me anything.'

'That's correct.' She replied.

'Then, If I had not asked you any question by mistake back then, would your presence have remained unknown to me.'

'Something like that.'

'Then, doesn't that mean that many people would never know about their AI?' I asked in confusion. 'After all, not everybody will make the mistake of talking with their Black watch you know.'

'Maybe.' She replied in a tone that implied that all of this had nothing to do with her.

'Ah. Well, let's not talk about this any further.' I said. 'Tell me, what crystals should I use right now. What would suit my purpose the best? Should I continue buying Yellow ones for increasing my Perception.'

'No. Don't do that.' She said immediately.

'Why?' I was a bit surprised by her immediate rejection. Wasn't high perception working well so far.

'After your stats had gained 2.0 points, their particular crystal will lose half of their efficiency. That means eating one Yellow crystal will only give you 0.05 stat points from now on.'

'Hmm?' I frowned. 'Isn't that kinda bad for me.'

'It may be bad for you but it's logical. The more crystals you eat, the more your body will get used to it. And as a result, the more it's efficiency will decrease.' She said.

She then dropped another bomb at me. 'After 4.0 points, no matter how many 1st tier crystals you eat, it won't bring any changes to your stats.'

'Then how will I increase my stats after that?' I asked in panic.

'By eating 2nd tier crystals of course.' She said.

Her words were simple, but I felt a back turn cold when I heard them.

'A single attack from a 2nd tier Abnormal almost killed me. Do I even stand a chance against such monsters?' I asked

'Of course.' She said 'When all of your stats reach 4.0, fighting against a 2nd tier Abnormal won't be that difficult.'

After I heard her words, I went into a long silence

I frowned at this new information that I'd gained. But when I thought about it again, it did made a bit of sense.

Otherwise if someone goes on a killing spree and keeps on consuming the 1st crystals like candy then won't he become unimaginably strong.

Like strong enough to the point that he alone would be enough to wipe out any life on earth.

Although such a thing had seemed harsh to me, it was also a bit reasonable.

'So that's why you didn't want me to eat anymore Yellow Crystals?' I asked. 'Because it'll only increase by stats by 0.05points.'

'Yes.' She said.

'Then what type of crystal should I eat now.' I asked.

'Depends on what your goal is.' She said.

'Well, for now, I want to reach back home as fast as possible. But I also want to increase my fighting capability.'

'In that case. I suggest that you eat the Blue Crystals and increase your Agility.'

'Hmm… Now that I think about it, that does sound like a good plan.' I thought.

Since the decision was made, I quickly exchanged all of my crystals for Blue crystals and ate them.

After consuming all six blue crystals I checked my stats once more.

User name:- Ashok Singh Rana

Stats:-

Strength - 0.9

Agility - 1.5 (0.9)

Endurance - 1.0

Perception - 2.0

Mana - 0.0

Skills:-

None

Equipments:-

None

Wealth:-

None

'Do you feel any different?' Lily asked.

I threw a few punches in the air and heard the 'whoosh' sound after every punch. Then I raised the Axe and swung it a few times as well.

After that, I ran around a bit to test my speed and realized that I was much more faster than I was previously. Even my normal walking speed had been increased by half.

'This is awesome.' I thought to myself.

At this point, even though I still might not be as fast as a 1st tier Abnormal, I could easily kill them in a one-on-one fight with the help of my high Perception and my newly upgraded Agility stats.

At this point in time, although I was not sure if I would be able to fight 3 Abnormals, I was still confident in my ability to deal with 2 Abnormals.

Though I would still not forget Rahul's advice and not get too full of myself. The fight with the 2nd tier Abnormals had made me realize that no matter how powerful I become, there'll always be someone who is even more powerful than me.

One mistake is all it would take to crush all my hopes and dreams. So I controlled my excitement and desire to do battle and calmed myself down with deep breaths.

'This is great. Thank you for your advice Lily.' I said.

'Don't mind it.' She replied.

I then looked at Rahul who was currently sitting on top of the trunk that he had cut yesterday and was sharpening his newly bought sword, which seemed a little weird to me.

There was nothing wrong with sharpening a sword but he had been doing it for the past two hours. And the sword was already so sharp that it could cut through a waist thick tree without any problem. So what was even the point.

'Does he wants to cut diamond with it or something.'

'Oi Lily. Why do you think he's sharpening his sword with such passion.'

'Who knows. Maybe it's a hobby of his. Maybe he's doing it to keep his mind off some difficult problem. Or Maybe he's just weird.'

'Oi don't call my big bro weird.'

'Yeah yeah. Whatever. Not like he's gonna hear us or anything.'

'Lily. Stop talking.'

'Okay.'

I then walked up to Rahul while carrying my Tracking bag. He stopped his actions and put the sword down before he looked at me with a smile.

"So you increased your Agility. Nice choice. I would have done the same if I had been in your position. Agility goes well with Perception." He said.

"Yeah. I realized it as well." I said.

He then pointed at my wound and said. "How's your wound? Has it completely healed or do you need more time to rest."

"It's completely healed." I said "We should start moving now."

He nodded and we continued on our journey.

Since I had better agility now, my walking speed had increased by half and he had to try hard to keep up with me.

At last, he got frustrated and used his last two crystals on agility as well. After that, though he was still not able to catch up with me, his speed still increased by a bit.

"Yesterday we were only able to cover 13 kilometers." Rahul suddenly spoke. "If we maintained such a speed then it'll take us more than 12 days to reach our destination. This cannot go on."

"Then what should we do?" I asked. This was something I was worried about as well. Neha had only bought supplies for 7 days. If she rationed her food then she might be able to last 12 days but water was another thing.

Plus, there was still the potential danger of the Abnormals lurking outside in the streets. It would be best for us to reach back home as soon as possible.

"Your idea of increasing Agility was not bad." Rahul said. "How about we focus on increasing our Agility till we reach 2.0 stat points in it."

"After that we'll increase our stamina. This way, the distance we cover in one day will increase by 4 times easily. That is the best method that I can think or right now. What do you think?" He said.

"That's not a bad idea." I said and agreed with his proposal. The highway was filled with Abnormals so driving a vehicle was nothing but a pipe dream now. Without a road and a vehicle, the best we could do is walk.

So increasing our walking speed and stamina was the only way to travel fast now.

"So it's settled." He said. "We'll continue to do what we did yesterday. We'll walk along with the highway while maintaining a fixed distance from it. But this time, we're going to increase our target range by a bit."

"How so?" I asked.

"Yesterday, we only searched for small groups of about 2 to 3. Today, I've a sword, and you've increased your Agility stat so the fighting power of our group has increased significantly."

"So today, we'll increase our Target group from 2-3 Abnormals to 6-8. That means any group that has less then 8 abnormals, will become out target. What do you say?"

"That does not seem like a bad idea. But isn't it a bit risky?" I asked.

Although I was confident in dealing with 2 abnormals, if we attract a large group over to us, then the chance of something unforeseen happening will become larger as well. I was anxious about Neha but I knew that I had to live before I can worry about her.

Rahul laughed when he heard my words and said "If you were not here, then I would have chosen to fight against groups of 10 or so abnormals. Don't worry. It might seem I'm reckless. But I won't take any unnecessary risks that'll put your life in danger. Understand little brother."

"I understand." Although I was a bit sceptical about his claim to fight 10 Abnormals on his own, I decided to not say anything regarding that matter.

After walking for half a day we came across two small groups of Abnormals which had two to three Abnormals each. We took care of them without a lot of efforts.

And although I got two crystals from the fights and was rather unhappy with this outcome.

"If this goes on, then it'll take us a lot of time to increase our stats." I said. "Where the hell are all the Abnormals."

"Be patient." Rahul said. "We'll find them sooner or later. But for now, it's time for us to rest. Let's search for a place to rest for a few hours."

"Alright." I said. Earlier, we had discussed that we would sleep from Late Afternoon till Dusk and continue our journey at Night time.

Although we were not able to see our path clearly during the night, during that time, the Abnormals were essentially no different then blind people. So it was not only safe to travel at night. But hunting Abnormals also became easier.

So contrary to what other people might expect. Night time was the best time for hunting in this Apocalypse.

After walking for half an hour, we finally found a proper place to rest. And to my surprise, there were a few Abnormals around that place which made me very happy.

But that didn't change the fact that the situation was a bit weird.

"Why is there a group of college students near that Hut?" I asked in confusion as I looked at the 7 Abnormals surrounding the hut.

Plus all of the college students in the group seemed to be in perfect health and were good looking.

Although me and Rahul could not be said to be Very good looking, we were still better than the average. But all of these Abnormals looked better than us.

'What the hell is up with this group?' I thought to myself. I would be lying if I said that I was not jealous right now.

"That's none of our business." Rahul said. "What we need to do is kill those 7 and take their crystals. Do you understand."

"Yeah." I agreed instantly. Although their behaviour was a bit odd, that had nothing to do with us. We needed their crystals. End of story.

"Are you ready." Rahul asked.

"Yes." I said.

"Then let's get started."

Soon as those words were said we both rushed out from behind the bushes and attacked the nearest Abnormals first.

I was a bit faster than Rahul so I reached their group first.

The first Abnormal I had targeted was a tall muscular Abnormal. He was facing the other side when I rushed toward him.

The perception of Abnormals are far lower than that of humans so normally they needed a bit more time to make sense of the situation around them and react.

By the time that muscular Abnormal turned around to look at me, I had already swung my Axe at his head.

The axe struck his neck, cut through his skin, sliced through his muscles, destroyed the spinal cord and then came out of the other side of the neck. Blood rained out of his veins and he was decapitated before he could realize anything.

Before his head fell to the ground, I had already rushed toward my second target but realized that Rahul was already on top of it and decided to change my target.

The third target was a young girl with toned muscles. She must have been a beauty when she was a human. I could guess because even after becoming an Abnormal, she still looked quite beautiful.

'Such a pity.' I thought, but that didn't stop me from lusting after her crystal.

By the time I rushed at her, she had already seen me kill her comrade and was shrieking on top of her lungs.

Her shrieking seemed really unpleasant to the ears, I decided to quickly shut her up but she attacked me first with a swing of her hand.

After fighting a few 1st Abnormals, I started noticing the pattern of their attacks and realized that their attacks, although deadly, were very simple.

I moved a bit to the left side and dodged her attack easily. After that I decided to swing my Axe but before I could do that, I saw another Abnormal from behind her jump at me.

The most important rule of fighting Abnormals was to never get surrounded by them. Getting caught by them was even worse as once someone get caught by them, they would most likely not be able to escape from their grasp as the Strength of Abnormals are far above that of us humans.

I gritted my teeth and instead of attacking the Female Abnormal, I forced myself to fall to the ground and attacked the Abnormals jumping at my with the handle of the Axe.

Although the attack didn't harm the Abnormals, it changed its direction and I watched with cold eyes as it's hands almost scratched my stomach.

At such a speed and with such a strength a scratch from it might be enough to take my life.

I fell to the ground but instead of getting up directly, I rolled back and few time to create some distance between them and myself.

Since the attack had not gone as well as I had planned earlier, I had improvise.

Improvise on how I can still kill the abnormals as fast as possible. Because if I don't then…

I gritted my teeth and glanced at Rahul who had already decapitated two Abnormals and was already on the third one.

'Damn it! It seems like I won't be getting more than two crystals this time either.'

While the Abnormal who had jumped at me was still down, I stood up and quickly rushed at the female Abnormal with all my strength.

Looking at me running at her like that, the Female Abnormal showed a ferocious expression and attacked me with all her might.

But just like before, although her attack was deadly, it was just as simple. I dodged to the side and wanted to slice her neck but realized that I won't be able to do so at this position so I swung at her abdomen.

The Axe struck her abdomen from the side and took a big chunk out of it. Blood along with a few pieces of internal organs fell out to the side as she stumbled a bit. But then she turned around to attack me immediately.

I had already guessed that she would do something like this and dodged her attack once again before I swung at her neck once again.

But this time, I had attacked hastily, I missed the neck as the Axe, went through her nose, crushed her skull and came out of the other side.

The attack had missed her neck but the end result was still favourable to me. Her brain was destroyed and she died.

I looked up at the Abnormal who had jumped at me and realized that it had already stood up and was running in my direction.

I glance at Rahul and realized that he had already killed the fourth Abnormal and was running in this direction as well.

'Damn it!' I cursed in my mind and rushed forward to get a 3rd crystal for myself.