Humanity: Evolve

Zhang Long made his way past the next two gates, carefully noting the strengths of each guard. They were all grade 1, with only the guard captains being grade 2.

This led him to believe that the people who escorted his group of newcomers back were elites, the best of the best. Since grade 3 was the highest that any modern human had managed to get to so far, grade 2 was a very solid place to be standing.

After asking around for directions, Zhang Long managed to find the pioneer headquarters. The place looked like a miniature castle, it's metallic white exterior glinting in the rising sun.

The streets on the way to the pioneer headquarters were almost completely empty, perhaps due to the time of day but the building in front of him was a scene of bustling activity.

Zhang Long awkwardly squeezed through the crowd of pioneers, habitually taking subtle glances at their soul stones as he walked past.

'Mostly grade ones, but compared to the guards, there are substantially more grade two pioneers.'

The ratio of grade 2 guards to grade 2 pioneers from what he could see was about 1:3. Of course, this wasn't counting the escort.

'I'd definitely better not antagonise any of those escorts... Starting from now.' He muttered, realising how easily the guide could have put him in his place back then.

Zhang Long glanced at the seemingly well behaved wolf that was pacing behind him.

'And even more so, not allow Winter's emotions to effect me so drastically like before.'

He hurriedly made his way over to what seemed like a receptionist. The latter seemed not to notice his arrival, face glued closely to what seemed to be a larger version of Alan's scanner.

Zhang Long rapped his knuckles against the table, causing the "receptionist" to hurriedly raise his head.

'Ah, sorry. I didn't see you there.' He said with an apologetic look.

He glanced momentarily at Zhang Long before his eyes returned to the scanner.

'I'm looking for someone called Alan.'

'What's his surname? There are many people with that name you know.'

This time the receptionist didn't even raise his head, continuing to engross himself in his own little world.

Zhang Long frowned, trying to recall the surname which he knew he remembered.

'White.' Came a stern and monotone voice.

Zhang Long turned to see the familiar blond haired stern faced Westerner standing next to him.

He nodded his head in greeting.

Alan returned it, before looking around at the noisy surroundings.

'Let's go somewhere more suitable for a conversation.' He said, pulling Zhang Long behind him before the latter could reply.

They went up the building two floors, before arriving inside a corridor. Alan entered a room, beckoning for Zhang Long to follow.

The interior was surprisingly well furnished, with a variety of potted plants sitting on stands and desks at the edges of the room.

In the centre was a long meeting table, created entirely from glass. The place looked as if it had been pulled straight from old Earth's modern society and dropped here, in a seemingly primitive world.

Alan took a seat at the head of the table, gesturing for Zhang Long to sit next to him.

'I already heard about what happened with Anjie at the gates.' He said.

Zhang Long nodded whilst thinking, 'Anjie must be the guide.'

'I came here after she told me. That's why you got here before me.' Alan added.

'Anyway, enough of that. I noticed that you're a bit of an oddity around here, already stirring people up on your first day.'

'I asked a valid question, she overreacted.' Zhang Long retorted. 'So did I.'

He didn't say the second part though.

Alan grinned, as if knowing what Zhang Long thought.

'Well, I asked you to come see me for a few reasons.'

'I'm in charge of handing out some rookie starter bags but there's also something else I'd like to speak to you about.'

His tone became solemn, turning grim.

Zhang Long couldn't help but see some semblance between Alan and the person who told him his parents had died, all those years ago. The same stone cold face, the same serious tone.

The only difference was the location and the lack of emotion from Alan.

Although Zhang Long's expression didn't change, his expression hardened.

'When everyone refers to Pangaea as a cruel and barbaric world, it's not the spirit beasts they are talking about. Rather, it's the way people get stronger.'

Alan paused, checking if Zhang Long knew what he was about to say. He was met with a blank look of expectation. He let out a dry cough before continuing.

'You already know about how spirit beasts promote grades right?' He asked.

Zhang Long nodded.

'They absorb spiritual essence in the air and use it to grow their bodies. When they reach the third sub grade, they consume the beast core of another spirit beast which is of the same grade or higher and promote one major grade.' He recited.

'It's exactly the same for humans.' Alan said, a grim look emerging on his face.

Zhang Long's mind took a moment to understand the sentence, before a look of complete shock was plastered on his face.

'This changes everything.' He thought, a grim expression replacing his shocked one.

'Whilst I'd be able to promote Winter's grades as before, my own strength would quickly hit the bottleneck of 1/3. I'd have to kill someone and absorb their soul stone to progress.'

'Although I personally wouldn't mind my strength stagnating, the large organisations and masses will definitely pay more attention to the strength of an individual, rather than their spirit beasts.'

'My goal is precisely to become one of those noticeable and respectable individuals.'

His mind faltered as he tried to find ways of avoiding human blood being spilled whilst simultaneously gaining soul stones at the same time.

After several unsuccessful ideas, he realised that it wasn't possible.

Alan watched him silently. He himself had been through this exact dilemma. He had lain in bed for hours, not being able to sleep whilst agonising over this problem. He had formulated many different plans, but they were all missing the key piece.

And now, the key piece had fallen directly into his hands.

After a few minutes, Zhang Long let out a sigh.

'Did you know that usually, the captain of a pioneering team is grade two?' Alan asked, abruptly changing the topic.

'It's the same as the guardsmen and their captains, right?' Zhang Long replied slowly.

Alan nodded.

'I'm an exception. It's because I refused to kill any humans. I have no qualms about killing spirit beasts, but I can't do that to people.' He explained.

Zhang Long felt something familiar about the pioneering captain's tone.

'The pioneering association forbids modern man from killing each other. This is for obvious reasons, humanity requires a level of cohesiveness to be able to react appropriately to dangerous situations like calamities or beast waves. Infighting can not be tolerated.

Do you know how they deal with it?

They direct humanity's merciless greed toward Pangaea's native population. As long as it's not one of us, it's okay to slaughter them in cold blood.'

Zhang Long had already begun to arrive at a similar conclusion the moment Alan started talking, however hearing someone else speak aloud about it turned his heart stone cold.

'What's worse is that the natives are the ones who welcomed our ancestors in their first adventures into this land. They are the ones who helped us build our first settlements and the ones who taught us how to tame and summon spirit beasts.'

At this point, Alan's stern face had contorted into one of disgust and irony.

'Spirit beasts gather spiritual essence from the atmosphere and subconsciously use it to grow, as do humans. In truth, killing another person and absorbing their soul stone is not the only way to promote grades. It is just a short cut to gain a large amount of readily converted spiritual energy to break through a major grade's bottleneck.'

Hope flashed through Zhang Long's eyes, but then they dimmed again.

'The pioneer association would have advocated the natural way of promoting grades if it weren't for how slow it takes. The natural build up of spiritual energy required to jump from one major grade to another is massive, if we let it increase naturally, each pioneer would spend tens of years just to reach 1/3 from 1/1.'

'The world government is in a rush. Maybe it's due to the fact that old Earth will collapse in the near future, or to better prepare themselves for the soon to come influx of defenceless citizens, but I personally believe it's more likely because they want to build a solid foundation and keep control over all people and organisations in this new world, just as they do in the old world.'

Alan turned and looked Zhang Long in the eyes.

'The government doesn't control all of the portals to Pangaea.

There are tens, if not hundreds of anti-governmental and religious organisations which do too.

This is the real reason why the world government are in a rush.'

Suddenly, Zhang Long felt as if he were a sailor balancing on a wooden log. One wrong step and he'd fall off, plunging into the ocean's unforgiving current. Without knowing it, he'd already taken the first step off of the log, that is, getting involved in Pangaea's affairs in the first place.

'Then why are you a captain here? Why not run off and join some obscure native tribe?' He asked.

Alan sighed, before scratching the back of his head.

'I want to do something to stop the world government, but also the myriad of hidden organisations from completely colonising Pangaea and stripping it b.a.r.e. I don't want a repeat of old Earth, a thriving ecosystem put to an early death by generations of war.'

What the blond haired man said had resonated with Zhang Long. He realised that he too hated the plague that was human greed.

'As for why I'm a member of the pioneer association, an organisation under the world government, it's because I chose the lesser of two evils.'

'You know, some religious groups believe that Pangaea is a gift from their gods to humanity. So that we have a chance to start fresh and anew.

It's foolish.

With our thousands of industries and ever expanding population, the amount of resources we go through is astounding, Pangaea won't last long and then we'll be in the same situation all over again.'

Alan shook his head, before looking Zhang Long in the eyes.

'When you came here, how many people above grade one did you see?'

The latter momentarily narrowed his eyes in concentration.

'At least fifty. Not including the escort.' He replied uncertainly.

'That's the number of people who have given up on their morals! And there are so- so many others who wouldn't hesitate to do the same!' Alan said, raising his voice in anger.

Winter whimpered quietly, sensing it's master's discomfort. In truth, Zhang Long felt stumped.

What could a lone grade one human do?

As they remained stubborn and refused to strengthen themselves, others would unceasingly rid themselves of the shackles called morals and kill.

Others would soon become giants, whilst that lone man remained an insignificant ant!

'I didn't bring you here to rant, or to try and convince you to stay at grade one.'

Alan grinned, however the ferocity in his eyes reminded Zhang Long of a dusty blade that had just been drawn, after hundreds of years of neglect.

'I brought you here to discuss the future. Not just of you and I, but of all mankind.'

***

Zhang Long went to pinch his glabella, however his hand stopped in midair as he realised that he had a soul stone embedded there.

He slowly sipped cold water from the plastic cup, looking out of the balcony.

Alan Remained seated at the long table, silently swiping through his scanner.

Zhang Long's mind flitted through parts of their previous conversation.

He had found out that the world government wasn't the only organisation to hold control over the portals to Pangaea. There were also hidden organisations such as religious extremist groups or industrial giants who had already firmly planted their roots in the new world, exploiting the natural resources and exotics to sell as merchandise back in the old world.

Alan had muttered "short-sighted fools" in anger when describing them. Zhang Long very much agreed, all of the world's leading figures had been blinded by greed, treating Pangaea as a treasure trove of infinite resources.

Even worse; those hidden organisations wanted to take control over the entirety of Pangaea, to crown themselves overlord over common men.

This made even the usually steadfast Zhang Long to frown in disgust.

There was a single upside to the depressing conversation however. Alan had proposed that the two of them formed an alliance of sorts.

He had said that setting up a business which relied on Zhang Long's godly talent would be a good way for the pair to grow stronger.

They could start up a mock-hospital with only one doctor and one guard.

Alan had even thought of prices already, sovereigns for trivial injuries, spirit stones for crippling injuries and soul stones for fatal injuries.

This way they could earn sovereigns to keep the company afloat, spirit stones to jump sub grades and soul stones to promote major grades.

What's more, was that the weekly beast waves would make sure that they wouldn't be put out of business, with large numbers of injured pioneers coming to seek medical treatment.

Alan said that he would handle the advertis.e.m.e.nt and administrative aspects of the company since he already had a large network of friends, whilst Zhang Long could focus solely on healing patients.

The fatal injuries service would take a while to be of any use, as they would need to build up a good reputation for anyone to entrust their lives to them.

The only worries Zhang Long had was that some people might actively kill for soul stones and murder innocent people to pay for treatment.

The original idea was that people would scavenge soul stones from dead pioneers during the beast waves, rather than going out to actively hunt people. Unfortunately, there were likely to be a few deviants.

Zhang Long mentally sighed. 'This arrangement is already as good as it gets.'

The day had been an emotional roller coaster, the initial dismay at being unable to promote major grades being quickly changed into a feeling of eagerness.

He turned to Alan, tossing the plastic cup in his hand towards the bin in the corner of the room. It rolled around the bin's shiny chrome rim, before falling in with a "plunk" sound.

The latter looked at him with a slight grin.

'Have you decided?' He asked.

Zhang Long smiled back.

'When do we start?'