The Glorious Evolution

"Won't it feel good if you cleared the whole treasury?" Ash'Kral grinned... these kinds of treasures were too low to move him, but he still preferred it if Levi filled up his dimensional wallet and came back for more.

"Not happening... now help me choose."

Levi's brow twitched as he pulled out his first-dimensional wallet from his pocket and unlocked it with a unique incantation of his creation...

The wallet was brown and had Willow Grove engraved on its wooden surface, coloring it in green... If a wallet owner didn't belong to a Lineage family, the region's crest got engraved instead.

After the wallet opened up, Levi glanced inside to see if he had forgotten anything... Seeing that it was filled with empty boxes and containers, he got to work.

He started with the dimensional natural treasures, which were stacked up on the shelves... some in standard glass containers, and others in specific boxes to maintain their qualities.

'I may not have needed to bring so many boxes... oh well, better be safe than sorry,' Levi thought inwardly as he started collecting the boxes one by one, appearing like an aunty shopping in a grocery store.

Of course, he checked with Ash'Kral first on the type of treasure before he decided to take it... He wanted to bring only the ones with an actual use to his three evolutionary paths.

Though Sun and Void-related natural treasures were too rare, he managed to find only four... All four were low graded, the highest was a D grade.

The natural treasures grading system wasn't universal, as each treasure was graded based on multiple aspects... The most important one was its main attribute.

The rarer the attribute, the harder it became to find a high-grade treasure of said attribute.

In simpler terms... a D-grade Void-related natural treasure could be equal in value to an A-grade natural treasure of another attribute.

To save up space in his dimensional wallet, Levi removed any natural treasures from a standard container and placed them inside the ones he purchased.

The more special ones he kept in their boxes, not wanting to ruin their quality.

Although he knew that natural treasures couldn't get spoiled inside the dimensional wallet due to time being frozen inside, still... it was better to have them than not.

After he cleared the shelves of what he needed, Levi walked up to the artifacts' section... he scanned the artifacts for a moment and then went to a piece of black leather armor.

'Ooo... this looks like decent armor.' He nodded with a satisfied smile.

It was a tight fit with long sleeves and a slightly open collar... It had grey stripes running across its leather in the shape of three circles arranged in a triangle.

Each circle had a different rune implanted in its center.

'Rune of Spirit... Rune of Force... Rune of Decay... is this like a protection system that can shield against attacks from those three types?'

Since it was armor, Levi assumed that the runes' job would be to enhance the armor's innate abilities... He knew that runes weren't necessary to activate the stored innate abilities, but some Arraycraftians pick those artifacts and enhance them using the IIthorien language.

Soon, Levi asked the expert while touching the clean but slightly worn-out leather, 'Ash'Kral... what do you think?'

However, Ash'Kral ignored him.

'Ash'Kral?'

Levi turned his head to check his partner, just to find his eye affixed on a platinum crown cracked from the center... It was dirty and barely resembled a crown fitting a king... It had nine sockets for decorative gemstones, and all of them were empty.

If it wasn't for being in the treasury, Levi doubted anyone would spare it a glance.

"What is this?" Levi wondered.

Ash'Kral remained silent, continuing to ignore him... The moment his eye was fixed on the crown, he was sent down the memory line.

The nine empty sockets, the crack from the middle, everything... He recalled everything.

'Old friend, I found your hat.' He joked to himself while showing a nostalgic smile.

'Prick, have you gone deaf?' Levi said annoyedly.

'Ah...' Ash'Kral stopped reminiscing at once and shared, 'Do you want the good or bad news first?'

Levi's brow twitched.

'The good news.'

'This is the Crown of the Titan's Mandate... A SSS artifact,' Ash'Kral dropped a bombshell like it was nothing.

'Huh?'

Levi's hands, which were about to touch the crown, halted at once... He didn't know the triple S grade artifact existed!

He had searched the dimensional network... and from the general opinion, he understood that S artifacts were the peak... SS artifacts were rumored to have emerged here and there... But, they weren't confirmed like S grade.

Now, he was told he had found an SSS artifact... Levi knew his luck had been nice to him lately, but not this nice.

Soon, Levi took a deep breath and asked Ash'Kral about the bad news, having a strong feeling he was about to be brought back to reality.

As expected...

'Sadly, the crown's damages are too severe... It will take multiple Grandmaster Arraycraftians to repair it... Of course, that's if you manage to find the required materials and the missing gemstones to activate it.' Ash'Kral shook his head.

'Figures... I knew it was too good to be true.' Levi chuckled, unbothered.

'Still, take it with you...' Ash'Kral murmured, 'He might still be there...'

'Who?' Levi raised an eyebrow.

'An old friend...'

Silence.

'You had friends?' Levi asked with a skeptical voice.

Ash'Kral's lip twitched, but he kept his curses to himself. He narrowed his eye at Levi from the staff and said, "I used to be popular, you know?"

"I bet it ain't for a good reason." Levi chuckled as he placed the crown in a box and then in his dimensional wallet.

"..."

Ash'Kral thought about it for a moment and realized he was right... He chuckled to himself and dropped the matter.

"So, what's the deal with this old friend of yours?" Levi asked.

He could tell that the crown's owner wasn't a normal entity at all... To have his artifact claimed as SSS grade, it only implied that his strength in his time was simply inconceivable.

"Well, have you heard about the Nineborn? The first ancient Golems to be bestowed life upon?" He asked.

Levi shook his head, never having read about such information... He had a limited time with the dimensional network, and he didn't waste it on looking for legends and myths.

Ash'Kral went on and narrated a similar story of when the two elites found out about Arthur's gemstone origin.

But then, he added something... something that stunned Levi, who was already intrigued by the golems' origin story.

"The Crown of the Titan's Mandate was worn by The Titan of Nine Thrones... The only being in the chained universe and its realms with rulership over the Nineborn Golems." Ash'Kral smiled faintly, "He wasn't their creator, but he stepped up as their father."

"...That's your friend?" Levi was stunned.

He could tell that the Nineborn had been living during ancient times... Time so far gone, Levi couldn't even count down the years in years.

Yet, his old friend was their father? Meaning, he was older than they?

As he gazed at the staff in his hand, Levi felt it more than ever... He wasn't wielding a nightcrawler, but something far ancient and sinister.

A Relic from the past... and he was just about to collect another one.

Still, Levi stored it within his dimensional wallet with the artifact he had fancied earlier... He saved his questions for later.

Then, he moved on to a shelf with tens of books on it... Some told myths of the past, some discussed ancient philosophy, and some spoke about the rise and fall of the Nineborn Royal families.

It was like any regular bookshelf. However, since knowledge was power in this universe, Levi soon found a book about evolutionary formulas.

Though the formulas were written for Alchemists... Not science-based formulas that Earthlings were creating.

The two provided similar results, but the way to reach the concoction process was different.

'This might come in handy.'

After a brief reading of its fascinating content, Levi stored it as well with the rest of the books... But, as he was robbing the treasury clean, a sudden idea struck him akin to a thunderbolt.

An idea that would hit three birds with one stone!

His hand froze as he murmured, "What if I wrote some pages with limited, perfect evolutionary formulas and left them here?"

Levi was thinking just earlier about how he could provide perfect evolutionary formulas to his friends for the sake of strengthening them, while simultaneously avoiding unwanted attention... For him and his brother.

Before Levi could attempt the heist, he couldn't help but feel bad about the others... They had fought to the bitter end, and without them, the expedition's success wouldn't have been a thing.

But at the same time, Levi learned that missing opportunities to grow stronger might not come often... After what happened to Melissa, his classmates, and the threat from Lord Darius, Levi was desperate to grow strong and fast.

Guilt had no place.

That's why he took only what he needed and left the rest, even when the devil was whispering in his ears to clear it whole.

But now? Everything changed!

Levi realized that his idea would solve all of his problems.

Lord Idriss would have a book filled with perfect evolutionary formulas related to Levi's, Arthur's, Nurah's, Jojo's, Rayan's, and some other species unrelated to them... to not make it too obvious.

Once the Blood Hunters find the treasury and the book, even if the entire treasury were empty, none would feel disheartened.

After all, such a book was simply priceless, even if the evolutionary formulas ended at Warden Rank.

So, instead of Levi robbing his people clean... he would be making a trade, allowing both sides to come out as winners.

Levi was certain that once Lord Idriss obtained the book, he would share the information with the High Chancellor... His daughter was on the Superteam, and he would never send her on a team he could have personally helped become stronger.

Levi and Arthur would be included!

It was a masterstroke of a move with absolutely no downsides to Levi... Everybody wins... He just wins a bit more.

After he had weighed the pros and cons, Levi picked up any book with some empty pages and tore them with a pained grimace... He was raised on books; to him, this was the same as a child who grew up playing football, slicing up a signed ball.

But... it was for the greater good.

Levi then started asking Ash'Kral about the formulas, and he gave them to him with an irritated expression, not too fond of his research getting shared like this.

But, he wasn't irrational... He knew the plan would help Levi clear out the entire treasury, which was something he already wanted him to do.

After Levi was done writing more than fifteen perfect evolutionary paths in IIthorien, he hung up each paper on a shelf.

Of course, each perfect evolutionary path either ended on a Warden rank or lower... Though he ensured his Super Team got the better part of the deal.

Once he was done, he smiled widely while cracking his knuckles.

"Now? Where were we?"