The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion

The [Path Finder Card] released an instant flash of silver light before disappearing into specks of light and entering his mind, filling it with specific information about what he should do next and what his next step should be.

His eyes widened in surprise because the [Path Finder Card] confirmed exactly what he had been thinking.

However, something else caught him off guard.

It stated that the best path for him now was to evolve again before attempting to persuade the non-elemental spirits to teach him their power.

But what truly surprised him was that after evolving, the [Path Finder Card] advised him to use the [Demon Dungeon Card] before returning to [Thaerris] to learn the powers of the non-elemental spirits.

Only then would he be ready to forge his own path.

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[Evolution Mission: Walking the Road of Human Evolution]

[You must complete the following conditions:]

[Increase Your Level: 188/180]

[Defeat Awakeners 50 levels higher than you: 83/20.]

[Obtain Source Cores of Monsters above Level 130: 94/30.]

[Increase your Vitality: 467 /200]

[Increase your Perception: 377/200]

________________________________

Damian looked at the [Evolution Mission].

In the midst of everything he had been doing, he had completely forgotten about it.

Now, as he glanced at it again, he realized he had already far surpassed the required conditions.

He could evolve again for the second time.

If the millions upon millions of Awakeners in the towers and different worlds found out about this, they might die of shock, greed, and disbelief.

Their reactions would be even more intense if they learned that the first time Damian evolved, he did it on his own without anyone's help, not even from the system.

And now, he was about to use the system's [Evolution Function] to evolve, which he had earned himself.

[You have completed the mission 'Walking the Road of Human Evolution.']

[You will be transported to the [Altar of Evolution]]

Damian felt his vision blur for a few moments, and his figure disappeared.

When his sight cleared, he found himself standing on an altar built at the center of a clear-water pond.

Surrounding the pond were dense trees, making it difficult for him to see beyond them, though he was certain that everything beyond those trees was just more forest.

"Hm." Damian crouched down and touched the altar beneath him.

It felt more like metal than stone, though it appeared to be made of rock.

Intricate patterns and symbols were carved into its surface, but he couldn't understand their meaning.

He then looked at the clear pond and saw fish of all colors and shapes swimming ethereally.

Some of them emitted a faint glow, like bioluminescence, making them mesmerizing to watch.

However, Damian didn't linger on them for too long because he suddenly felt a distortion of energy behind him.

At the same time, two incredibly strong presences appeared out of nowhere.

When he turned around, he saw two beings, a man and a woman, standing on the other side of the pond.

They were both about seven and a half feet tall, with the woman's arms wrapped around the man's.

Damian instinctively felt a suppression just from being under their gaze, and it took a significant amount of his strength to resist it.

However, he managed to overcome the suppression without letting it take control of him.

The couple watched Damian easily resist their racial suppression with minimal effort, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Who are you?" Damian asked, not particularly concerned about them.

He knew the system had sent him here to evolve, so these two were probably related to that purpose.

The system wouldn't let anyone harm him while he was under the management of one of its functions.

"That's not important," the man replied.

Damian didn't respond immediately.

Instead, he observed the man and woman for a few seconds before speaking. "You guys are... High Humans, right?"

"Yes," the woman replied.

"Aren't you supposed to be extinct?" Damian asked.

He recalled Sir Lucian Holloway mentioning that the High Humans had gone extinct, with only a handful still alive.

"Almost," the man said, observing Damian from head to toe.

Before the system sent them here, it had informed them that Damian was the only one with a chance to change things, that the secret to the redemption of the High Humans lay with him.

It told them to trust him and allow him to receive the [High Human Essence], which they had been safeguarding for tens of thousands of years.

The man and his wife exchanged a glance, communicating silently through telepathy.

After a few moments, they nodded to each other before leaping onto the altar.

"Enough with the questions. You came here to evolve, didn't you?" the man asked.

"Yeah..." Damian replied.

The man observed Damian for a few more seconds.

He knew this awakener was unlike any other.

According to the system, Damian had managed to evolve on his own, an extremely rare... no, impossible feat for a mere human.

More than that, with their own eyes, the couple could sense the strange, dense, and powerful presence radiating from him.

His aura was eerily similar to that of wild monsters and beasts as if more than ten of them were combined within a single body.

Even after living for more than fifteen thousand years, the couple found his presence incomprehensible unlike any they came across before.

The man sighed and took a deep breath before summoning something.

A wide golden goblet, filled with an unknown crimson liquid, manifested out of nowhere and landed gracefully in his hand.

As soon as the goblet appeared, Damian felt a chill spread through his skin.

It wasn't intense, but it was enough to intrigue him.

"Drink this blood," the High Human said, handing the goblet to Damian.

"Uh... no thanks. I'm not a vampire," Damian said, waving his hands and shaking his head.

"...This is to help you evolve," the man said, pushing the goblet into Damian's hands.

-----

[Item: The True Essence of Forgotten High Humans]

Created by gathering the high human essence of one hundred thousand True High Humans from ancient worlds over hundreds of thousands of years.

-----

"The essence of True High Humans?"

"Yes," the High Human continued. "It was created by gathering a drop of blood from hundreds of thousands of High Humans from many worlds. It contains the highest possible quality of human essence, the true human essence. Unfortunately, this is the last batch we have, and you are going to use it now."

"The last?"

"Yes... Like you said, High Humans are on the brink of extinction. We can't create another," the female High Human said.

"Can't you guys create True High Human essence using your own blood?" Damian asked, looking at the faint energy radiating from the goblet, even though it was sealed with a transparent glass lid.

"Because we are not True High Humans... We are just High Humans... The True High Humans went completely extinct long ago. We exist only because our ancestors mixed with lesser humans to keep the species alive."

"And even though we have managed to retain most of our lineage, we are definitely not True High Humans, at least not 100%," the male High Human replied.

"And the system told you to use it on me?" Damian asked.

"Well, you are not the first human who came here seeking to evolve into a higher species. But no one has ever succeeded, not even close."

"And you're definitely not the only one who gets to use it. Many before you have drunk the essence, but none managed to evolve."

"However, the system suggests you might be a different case. That's why, even though we have absolutely no idea if it will work, we have nothing left to lose but to try it on you."

"If it fails, It would just be another failure among the thousands before," the female High Human replied.

Damian found this very interesting.

He had heard something similar about vampires from the plebeian vampire, Sir Lucian Holloway.

In his faction, vampires were also facing extreme extinction.

The birthrate of noble vampires was declining drastically, making it increasingly difficult for them to have children.

Sir Holloway had mentioned that they were desperately searching for ways to prevent their kind from vanishing completely.

There was also something similar happening to the werewolves.

However, Sir Holloway didn't have much information about them, so Damian didn't know exactly what was going on.

Still, he had learned that werewolves, too, were on the path to extinction.

"It's as if the universe wants everyone to go extinct. And I can kind of understand that. Is that weird?" Damian said.

The couple didn't respond to his comment. Instead, the male High Human pointed to the center of the altar.

"Drink the essence in the goblet, sit on the altar, and let its energy flow into you without resistance. Then, we'll see if you are truly as special as the system claims."

Damian removed the glass cap of the goblet and looked at the crimson liquid for a few seconds before closing his eyes and gulping it down completely.

He then sat at the center of the altar while the couple jumped back from it, landing on the other side of the pond.

Sitting cross-legged, Damian ignored the cold, hard sensation spreading through his stomach.

Intricate patterns and symbols on the altar began to emit a faint white light.

The glow intensified, and soon, the pond also started radiating a similar faint white light, all of it converging toward the person sitting at the center of the altar.

Suddenly, Damian felt his consciousness slipping away.

He lost all control over his body except for the alternating warm and cold sensations assaulting him from every direction.

Everything seemed to be proceeding as expected, but the couple of High Humans shook their heads, gritting their teeth.

"Is this going to be another failure?"

The Essence of True High Humans that Damian drank should have merged with his own essence, but nothing was happening.

The essence was not responding.

"Failure," one of the High Humans sighed, shaking his head.

They had already concluded that Damian was just another failure.

Then, suddenly, something changed.

The white glow of energy surrounding him began to shift, first turning blue, then dark blue, as the energy grew more and more intense.

"What is happening?"