Humanity: Evolve

Zhang Long rode Winter through the darkness, using his quarterstaff as a torch.

A few lights had remained standing during the flock leader's attack and one of them happened to be at their destination, however their surroundings were almost completely dark.

He didn't want to take any chances and accidentally fall off the wall, but as a result he became a prime target for eaglefish who, unlike their flock leader, seemed to have as much trouble as the humans navigating in the dark.

Zhang Long had taken Eisel's satchel before, along with the numerous spirit stones within. He had counted the number- there were 37 spirit stones, enough to last him and Winter several grades of promotions.

The only problem was, he was certain that Eisel had sold other pioneer's spirit beasts as well as stolen the spirit stones from those he killed. Zhang Long found it difficult to use them, it gave him a slight guilty conscience.

Nevertheless, if it was a life-death situation, he'd use them without hesitation.

There definitely should have been more, but Eisel had most likely spent them.

He gingerly rubbed his left arm where it had been severed before.

Zhang Long felt thankful that he awakened such a strong talent and now that he had obtained Eisel's spirit stones, he was pretty much invulnerable to dying, however that was only if he wasn't killed instantly, knocked out or if the attacker was too fast.

Against truly strong opponents, his talent wouldn't be able to help him.

The third grade eaglefish was an example. It could have killed him on the spot, however it's predatory habits gave him a chance to escape.

Zhang Long heard shouting up ahead, urging Winter to run faster through their spiritual link.

The wolf yipped lightly, increasing the length of it's bounds.

Under the illumination of several temporary lights, a group of guardsmen and pioneers were hurrying about, halfway through assembling a large contraption.

It looked somewhat like the barrel of a blunderbuss, a metal tube which widened out like a trumpet.

It was attached to the abdomen of a large arachnid- a spider spirit beast. It's height dwarfed everyone, lying down it was already at 3 metres tall, Zhang Long could only guess how large it would be standing up.

It's body was covered in dark bristling hairs, and the colour of it's body was dark purple. Each of it's legs had backwards facing hooks, designed to rend and tear. Each time it speared an enemy a large chunk of flesh would be pulled out due to these hooks.

On the blunderbuss contraption on the arachnid's rear, Zhang Long could see several different coloured gemstones attached to it, similar to the one on his quarterstaff but much larger.

The gate commander stood beside the arachnid, sternly overlooking the battle field which was occasionally lit up by the flashing of activated talents.

'That arachnid must be the commander's tamed spirit beast. Then it should probably be grade 3 like the eaglefish matriarch, right?' Zhang Long thought as Winter padded onward.

The guardsmen and pioneers who were on the lookout had noticed him long ago, a few coming to greet him.

A tall white haired man, who looked as if he were in his fifties or sixties nodded at him, waving him closer.

'What's your skill set?' The man asked, glancing at Winter first in curiosity followed by surprise.

'This kid has connections, otherwise how could he obtain such a powerful spirit beast at grade one!' He thought.

'I'm a doctor. My talent allows me to heal any wound in a short amount of time.' Zhang Long replied, dismounting.

The man nodded absentmindedly.

'That's not fair! It's too strong!' He complained inwardly.

He didn't notice Zhang Long hide Eisel's spirit stone satchel inside his own leather bag.

'However my talent requires a lot of spiritual energy and I've already run out of spirit stones. I'll need to trouble you to get some for me.' Zhang Long said, shamelessly attempting to gather more resources for promotion.

The man seemed relieved for some reason.

'Ah, the gods are fair and reasonable after all.' He muttered.

'What?'

'A-ah. Nothing. If you need any spirit stones, just ask me. I'm a guard captain and am allowed to withdraw them from the city's treasury.' He stuttered whilst bragging.

Zhang Long nodded slowly.

'I'm not killing anyone or obtaining those spirit stones through immoral means, I'm just borrowing them from the city guard in order to better protect these people.' He thought

'I'll need twenty right now. I'll use them to heal up the wounded right now.'

The man froze and looked at him.

He seemed to be considering something, before he sighed and consented.

'Here.' He handed Zhang Long a satchel similar to the one Eisel carried.

Then, he led Zhang Long around, the latter using the "borrowed" spirit stones to heal all of the guardsmen and pioneer's wounds, much to everybody's shock.

'I'm already at grade 1/3 after using six small sized spirit stones..' He thought, terrified by the ever increasing rate of promotion.

'How many spirit stones would a grade three or four human need to absorb in order to promote?'

Zhang Long shook his head and sighed silently.

He had already healed all of the wounded, expending six spirit stones in the process. As a result, he had already increased his grade by quite a lot- all he needed was a grade 2 soul stone in order to promote the final major barrier.

'Guess I'm going to be stuck at this bottleneck for a while.'

Then he glanced at Winter who was slumbering comfortably on the floor.

'I'll promote you to 2/3 three after the beast wave. If I'm right, it should take you 12 spirit stones to reach that grade. I've got 51 spirit stones but who knows, spending recklessly now might lead to an unfavourable situation.' He mused, stroking Winter's crested head gently.

It's feathers were soft and silky to the touch, yet possessed some sort of sturdy quality. Zhang Long was certain that brute force attacks would have a lot of their damage negated by Winter's dense plumage.

After what seemed like hours, there was movement.

Whilst there were occasional scuffles with a handful of eagle-fish every now and then, generally, nothing happened.

Zhang Long had also taken the liberty to scan one.

[Exocoetid Accipitrid]

(Sailfin Eaglefish)

Grade: 2/2

S.e.x: Female

Diet: Carnivorous

Talent Class: Physical - Grade 1/3

Method of Attack: Pecking, Clawing, Dive Bombing Tactics

Evolution: 56%

(Dive Bombing Tactics: Speed increases drastically when flying downwards.)

(Habits: Maim their prey or suffocate them- they let their prey die from blood loss, whilst staying nearby to make sure their target does not escape.)

(Beast Wave: All of the spirit beasts have been drawn together by a single individual's power. Killing that individual will result in the destruction of the beast wave.)

---

Zhang Long grinned at the habits section. Clearly, the eaglefish matriarch had bitten off too much to chew, it probably had gone after too many humans at once.

Then, he heard the frantic pattering of footsteps, a small wiry man who Zhang Long identified the gate commander's messenger.

The latter ran up to the commander an whispered in his ear.

The commander nodded, patting the man on the back and turning to look at the guardsmen and pioneers around him.

'Everyone, the final battle is about to begin.' He said, his deep voice reminiscent of an earthquake.

Every person stopped what they were doing, looking at the commander reverently.

'All of those under 2nd grade, move to the back. Everyone else will hold the matriarch back until my tamed spirit beast can launch it's attack.'

There were quite a few grade one pioneers and guardsmen other than Zhang Long. They were here to provide manual labour whilst those of higher grades helped defend against eaglefish attacks.

Those who had not yet summoned their spirit beasts did so, a wide variety of different creatures appearing in flashes of blue and green.

The gate commander appeared only to have the arachnid, nothing else. Either that or he wasn't bothered to summon any of his other spirit beasts.

Zhang Long wasn't sure whether it was the commander's hubris or that his other spirit beasts weren't strong enough.

Maybe the commander only had a single spirit beast.

He was now a spectator, however his help would probably be called for during the battle to provide quick instant heals to the injured.

The slow but heavy wing of the beats eaglefish matriarch sounded in his ears, as if it were behind him.

He resisted the urge to turn and look because he had already experienced this disorienting ability when he and Eisel were hanging off of the wall. It made one feel as if he was surrounded on all sides, causing them to feel insecure.

The gate commander raised a sword and shield, both armaments decorated with exotic patterns.

'Testudo!' He yelled.

'Hooh!' The guardsmen replied, lifting their own spears and shields and moving to form a box.

The formation was box-like, their tower shields above and around them, thoroughly protecting one another.

The guardsmen had been trained to work together seamlessly, but the pioneers had not, only able to awkwardly raise their mismatching weapons and stand next to the testudo formation.

The gate commander himself stood at the forefront, his helmet's crest flowing in the wind.

Then came a flash of yellow, like lightning. The claw came before the sound, creating another disorienting effect.

If one noticed the attack due to it's sound, then they'd already be dead.

The matriarch's claw was the speed of light, receiving a speed boost from it's Dive Bombing Tactics.

The commander didn't fall for it's trick, raising his own tower shield with a yellow glow.

A thin yellow screen of light seemed to flow off of it, like tendrils of fire.

The matriarch's claw ricocheted off the light screen with a sound akin to the screeching of metal.

The eaglefish shrieked in fury, talons shooting forward just as fast as it's first attack.

The gate commander stood firm, shield standing against the ground in front of him.

Zhang Long noticed the man shake as the matriarch struck his shield a second time.

'Such a powerful defensive talent must be extremely taxing on the user.' He murmured.

A sudden glow of white light caught his attention.

The arachnid which was the gate commander's spirit beast was now standing, it's abdomen raised threateningly.

One of the gemstones on it's blunderbuss-like contraption shone brightly, before dimming.

The pioneers that were surrounding the arachnid were defending it from the flock of eaglefish, almost the entire invading force was gathered in one place, all going after one target.

Someone was sliced across his arm, causing it to hang limply by his side. He shouted in pain and fell backwards.

Zhang Long immediately activate his talent, sending a steady stream of spiritual energy into the wound.

After a few seconds, the man's arm was good as new. He looked at Zhang Long and nodded gratefully, before yelling and slicing outwards with his sword.

It seemed like the arachnid was the key to defeating the matriarch, it was no wonder why everyone was protecting it with their lives.

Then, a shout of pain came from the gate commander. His light shield had been shattered, and stumbled back, however he quickly regained balance and retaliated.

He growled and leapt forwards, sword flashing yellow.

It became covered in a light screen, just like his shield had been before.

It collided with the matriarch's outstretched talons, creating another ear-piercing screech.

The commander's sword seemed to have been protected by the screen of light and it swung forward again shortly after the previous collision.

'Interesting, a single talent that can be used multiple ways.' Zhang Long thought, healing another injured person.

Suddenly, the area around them became bright as day.

The arachnid's blunderbuss fired a streak of light which came crashing down on the eaglefish matriarch like a shooting star, eliciting a shriek of horror from the latter.

Then, as the matriarch was disoriented, the arachnid fired a second bolt- a black one this time.

It was a tar-like substance which splashed all over the matriarch's feathers. It hung over the latter like a heavy blanket and prevented it from becoming airborne.

Just as Zhang Long thought that the commander would go for the kill, the arachnid fired again.

A web shot out, however it was covered in roaring red flames. The moment the web made contact with the matriarch, it's fate was sealed.

The flames spread instantly due to the tar on it's body. The web prevented it from moving about, leaving it bundled up in hot fire.

After a few seconds, all that remained was a bright yellow beast core and a pile of smoking remains.

Just like that, a grade three spirit beast had been killed.

The eaglefish flock became disorganised, some staying to fight whilst others flapped away in a daze.

It seemed that killing a beast wave's leadership would cause it to stop functioning.

Even the land bound beasts began to retreat, tails between their legs.

Everyone on the walls were in a slight stupor.

Suddenly, people began to cheer, nobody knew who started it but it created a chain reaction.

The cries of triumph echoed loudly into the night with people hugging each other in relief, whilst others charged towards the corpses of fallen spirit beasts and humans with greedy looks on their faces.

Zhang Long exhaled deeply.

The nightmarish beast wave had been vanquished and he had earned a large sum of spirit stones from it.

***

The southern gate commander sat in his office, a weary look on his face.

'How bad was it?' He asked weakly.

The attendant frowned and handed over the clipboard.

The commander looked at it and sighed, dropping it on his desk and leaning back.

He seemed to age ten years in an instant.

'So many losses... What will become of us in the future?' He muttered, waving his attendant out of the room.

The commander turned to look out of his window, staring into the starry night sky.

'Only time will tell.'

***

Zhang Long sat in his room at the Pitcher inn. He resisting the pull of sleep, having taken a shower the moment he returned.

In his nightwear, he held a satchel and counted the spirit stones within.

'45, huh. I've made quite a windfall.' He said, grinning.

Winter looked at him, before looking at the spirit stones in his hands.

'Don't worry buddy, you can have as much as you need.'

The wolf seemed to grin as well, sticking out it's tongue and shaking it's mane.

Thus, 12 spirit stones vanished from his stockpile, leaving behind 33.

Zhang Long had reluctantly joined in the festival of looting corpses after the beast wave. He had steered clear of those of humans, only plundering the beast cores of two eaglefish.

Now he had one beast core to use on Winter and another as spare.

It had only been three days since he'd arrived in Pangaea, yet he already had a grade 2 spirit beast which was just about to directly promote into the pinnacle of the Lower Pillar, grade 3.

'But that makes me a larger target for poachers. I'd better be on my guard from now on.' He said, eyes hardening.