Humanity: Evolve

Zhang Long leaned back in his chair, holding Herman Dynard's journal closely.

He had a look of curiosity on his face, eager to obtain the knowledge within- as well as the "secret" as to why Autumn was so special.

The pages of the book were tattered, a few were ripped, whilst others were missing entirely.

'There's even a few bloodstains.' He frowned, carefully turning the page, afraid to rip it.

The pages were damp yellow, as if someone had spilled tea all over the journal.

Zhang Long absentmindedly stroked Winter's head as he looked through.

The first chunk of the book was missing, Herman Dynard's journal was starting at about a quarter of the way through.

"Praise the Hymn! I knew that the Lord would not abandon me! There is no doubt that the Master Composer's ship sinking was actually a blessing in disguise!

I, the lowly Apprentice, am not worthy of receiving the Lord's blessing!"

Zhang Long raised his eyebrows sceptically. He was taken aback by Herman Dynard's unrelenting praise towards his deity.

'What's a Master Composer?' He frowned, flipping across another few pages slowly.

"The Lord's might has surely brought me this magnificent beast! This must be confirmation that my next hymn will succeed!"

'Hymn?' Zhang Long asked aloud. 'Could Herman Dynard be some sort of religious musician?'

He shook his head. Even though he had only read a few of Dynard's words, he already felt lost. The man must have been religious to the point of insanity, even ordinary religious people he had met in the past weren't like this.

It was almost as if Dynard was finding every single opportunity to "praise the Lord" as he could.

Zhang Long decided to skip straight to a more coherent page, where the man wasn't blabbing on and on about the "Lord's" greatness.

'Aha, here it is.'

"Wonderful! The parent has finally given birth to a child, a healthy looking one too! This particular specimen is about half the size of my palm, of course, it won't be long before it grows as large as it's parents!

This little one has dark brown spots across it's shell, however most of it's body is the colour of orange and light red. It seems that the little one has inherited most of it's mothers features, with a slimmer and smoother neck.

It's legs are a fusion of flippers and a land dweller's appendages, this little one will certainly be able to traverse both land and sea when it grows up!

Ah, this lucky creature certainly has the best of both worlds, flippers from it's sea dwelling mother, legs from it's land dwelling father.

Whilst it's defensive capabilities won't be as great as it's father, it'll definitely be able to travel faster and farther, across multiple terrains might I add.

PRAISE THE LOR-"

Zhang Long shut the journal, narrowly escaping Dynard's sudden descent into religious madness.

'The "little one" Dynard is referring to must be Autumn. From the little one's description, it is almost exactly the same, save for one thing.' He summoned the tortoise in question.

The latter sat on his hand, staring right into Zhang Long's eyes. He lifted the small spirit beast up, gently prodding it's outstretched left leg.

The leg had a few small claws sticking out the front which looked very similar to rocks jutting out of a cliff face. The skin which it was attached to was unfittingly slim, flat and thin.

Zhang Long realised that without paying attention, it would have been extremely difficult to notice. Autumn's legs were a fusion of flippers and legs, with the smooth and streamlined build of a flipper, along with the sturdiness of a leg- certainly enough to hold up the little creature's weight.

Autumn shifted uncomfortably at being examined like a piece of priceless jewellery, retracting it's flipper-leg into it's shell.

Zhang Long grinned slightly, poking each of Autumn's other limbs, causing them to withdraw as well.

'I still haven't figured out what makes Autumn so valuable though.' He muttered, reaching to open the journal again.

However, his action was stopped by the beginning of a relaxing melody that seemed to permeate through the walls.

In an instant, his mind began to feel sluggish and his body began to feel heavy.

Only a warning bark from the seemingly unaffected Winter managed to startle him awake.

Zhang Long frowned. 'What was that?'

'My musical talent!' Replied a figure that had somehow managed to enter his room.

The man wore a cloak, covering his entire body. The only outstanding features were the violin held in his left hand, his right grasping a bow elegantly.

The instrument was brimming with spiritual energy, showcasing it's status as an artefact.

The man's cloak had dark grey musical notes lining the hems, barely visible if not for Zhang Long's attention to detail.

He was about to raise his quarterstaff, but realised that it was on the other side of the bed, whilst he was sitting on a chair at the window.

'Who are you?' Zhang Long asked, trying not to glance over at the quarterstaff.

If the man noticed him attempting to make any sort of provocative move, he would definitely make a move as well.

The cloaked man seemed to grin, shrugging playfully. Then he looked at Autumn who was still sleeping on his palm, before staring at Herman Dynard's journal intensely.

'It doesn't matter. That journal you have, yes don't try and hide it, I can see it.'

Zhang Long raised the book slowly, mind furiously calculating.

'This man clearly has hostile intentions, this can be seen in his initial musical attack. He seems to be after this notebook...'

He looked at the man's hidden face, gesturing to Dynard's journal.

'Do you mean this?'

The latter nodded eagerly, clearly happy with the lack of resistance.

'Yes, hand it over!'

Zhang Long frowned. On one hand, he was happy that this strange man didn't want to poach any of his spirit beasts, especially Winter.

On the other hand, he sorely wanted to continue examining the contents of the journal, even though it was full of religious garbage, it still contained several useful bits of knowledge.

Suddenly, he was struck by a flash of enlightenment.

'Could this man be one of Herman Dynard's allies? Maybe they both worship the same religion.' He thought, feeling slightly nervous.

Then he decided. He wasn't going to let this man take the journal away without finding out what kind of organisation they belonged to, perhaps they could even be one of the "Hidden religious groups" which Alan had cautioned him about before.

'If that is the case, then he is one of our enemies.' He thought.

Then Zhang Long looked at the man again, forcing his expression to remain unmoved.

'Why do you want this journal?' He asked with feigned innocence.

The man chuckled and shook his head. 'None of your business, just be a good lad and hand it over.'

Zhang Long felt slightly irritated at his condescending tone, with Winter's anger at the intruder egging him on, it took everything he had not to leap at the man, arms swinging.

He recalled the small passage that he read from the journal- the only part he noticed which had no "praise the lord" scrawled everywhere.

Then he shook his head internally, it wasn't that part but the section at the very beginning.

He had read about a "Master composer" or something, perhaps it was this religion's equivalent to a deacon?

'Are you a member of the Master composer's organisation?' He asked carefully, trying to sound the man out.

The man seemed to hesitate for a moment.

'From which symphony does he belo-' He asked before hurriedly stopping himself.

The man slapped himself, covering his mouth in anger.

'How did you learn that term? Who told you about the Master composer?' He yelled, raising his instrumental artefact in a seemingly threatening manner.

Zhang Long flinched, before deciding to test the man's limits. Since the latter was already in a fit of rage, there would be no point in trying to calm him down and subtly glean any information from him.

The only way he could go was to further antagonise the man and hope he carelessly let some information loose in his anger.

'I've read everything in this journal. I know everything about your organisation.' He bluffed, shaking the journal lightly.

The man growled menacingly, before suddenly retracting his threatening aura. Zhang Long felt that the man had somehow become more frightening.

'That journal belonged to Herman Dynard, a mere apprentice. How do you think the likes of him would know anything about the glorious Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra!?'

He pointed to the book in Zhang Long's hand with a grin.

'That man hadn't even been fully inducted yet, a weak grade one human like yourself. He died whilst searching for the Autumn Grove- or so we thought.

It turns out he did find it, it's location must be within that book.

And for trying to trick me into leaking information about the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra... You shall die!'

Zhang Long's heart sank, however he didn't give up.

'Stall him!' He commanded Winter, leaping across the bed whilst simultaneously absorbing the sleeping Autumn into his soul stone.

The cloaked man had lunged forward like a gust of wind, his bow shone with a dangerous light.

Winter snarled and beat his wings, covering two metres in an instant and appearing in front of the cloaked man.

The wolf whipped it's wings forward, slamming into the man's head and sending him flying backward.

Zhang Long grabbed his quarterstaff, rolling and leaping back up deftly.

He didn't activate it as he was afraid that he might set the inn alight, but he wielded the short staff in a well practised manner.

The cloaked man's hood had blown back, revealing a pale white face.

He looked as if he had never seen the light of day, the deep bags under his eyes betraying his lack of sleep- and perhaps a lot of stress.

Zhang Long might have even mistaken the man as a vampire, if not for his non-belief in folklore.

The man's eyes were red and his face contorted in anger. Winter closed in, wings raised dangerously in a show of dominance.

Zhang Long followed by the winged wolf's side.

'Hahaha! Well done! For only a grade one human to do this to me... You must be tired of living!'

The pale man screamed shrilly, causing Zhang Long to cringe in pain. The former's voice seemed to contain some sort of piercing attack, the latter felt as if he was submerged deep under the sea with water pressure crushing him into mush.

Winter howled in response and leapt forward, claws flashing with yellow light.

His slash was blocked by the sudden appearance of a large python. It's eyes glittered dangerously and it's body was covered in an array of bright warning stripes.

Winter continued to attack, his attacks becoming faster and faster, the python trembled under the fierce barrage of endless blows.

Zhang Long braced himself as well, having stowed the journal into his leather bag long ago.

He planned to capture the man and obtain as much information as possible. Then, he'd hand him in to the association, after all, letting one's enemies do each other in would save a lot of effort.

All of a sudden, pale faced man struck his violin with ferocity, drawing his bow in a mesmerising arc across the instrument's strings.

Even though the man's movements seemed violent, a relaxing melody forced it's way into Zhang Long's mind, trying to immobilise him.

Winter growled and nudged him awake with his wings, simultaneously oppressing the python.

The latter flashed with green and liquid venom leaked out of it's unsheathed fangs.

Zhang Long immediately reacted, slamming his quarterstaff into the spirit beast's wide maw.

He activated the staff, destroying the python from the inside out. It hissed as smoke drifted out of it's mouth, eyes blank as it flopped limply onto the floor.

Then, it was two against one.

Zhang Long had gleaned a few pieces of information from the man. His musical talent could only entrance grade two lifeforms and below, but not grade threes like Winter.

This was shown by how both he and Autumn had fallen asleep when the man played his melody, whilst Winter had stayed conscious and managed to wake him up.

He glanced at the python's corpse, it's remains still smoking.

The beast was grade two, which could be seen when it attempted to inject Winter with venom. It's talent had let out a flash of green, signalling the attack of a grade two spirit beast.

If a grade two spirit beast like that could hold off a grade three such as Winter, how dangerous must it's master be?

The pale faced man in question had a bundle of cloth concealing his soul stone, however Zhang Long determined that the man was only slightly stronger than himself.

He and Winter closed in slowly on the man, forcing him into the corner.

The pale faced man grinned, he seemed not to affected by the death of his tamed spirit beast. If not for the trace of blood lining the corner of his lips, Zhang Long would have thought that the python belonged to an accomplice.

'You're surrounded, give up.' Zhang Long said, giving his quarterstaff a twirl.

Winter growled and pawed the ground, revealing his great white canines.

The pale faced man stood silently with a stupid grin on his face, before shaking his head pityingly.

'It seems I have failed this mission, however, more musicians will come after you! No one sullies the prestige of the Hymnist Orc.h.e.s.tra!' He shouted in an unyielding manner.

Then, before either Winter or Zhang Long could do anything, the man activated a strange device and then his body began to decay.

The man committed suicide on the spot, his body collapsing in a pile of rotten flesh.

Man and spirit beast alike were both stunned, glancing at one another in shock.

Zhang Long grimaced, not only at the man's decayed corpse but also the state of his rented room.

'Disgusting.'

He resisted the urge to gag, raising his quarterstaff carefully and burning the pale faced man's remains into oblivion.

Among the dust and ashes, only a glittering green soul stone remained.