Endless Evolution: Last Star

Chapter 3: Anomaly

"Electric Eel... White Book Monster, but..." Adam muttered, looking at the majestic creature that had lightning discharges constantly running through its body.

Adam was ready to fight an ordinary White Book monster, but the one in front of him was not quite like that. It was an Anomaly version of the Electric Eel or an Anomalous Electric Eel, and in that case, in terms of strength, it could reach even those monsters from the Red Book.

'Whatever! This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, at least I can see its action, all I have to fear is the occasional jolt of electricity and these clots...' Adam looked at the lightning balls scattered throughout the anomaly.

To the Electric Eel, they posed no threat, but to Adam one hit could be fatal.

Gathering his thoughts, Adam ran forward, heading down the hill. He had to hurry because very soon everyone would be coming here, and not just some random Phantom, but whole squads or even caravans passing nearby.

In general, to get the artifact Adam had to dodge ball lightning, kill the anomalous monster, and do it all quite quickly.

The task was difficult, and frankly, Adam had little chance, he realized it himself, but they were not zero.

Even if he had become a Phantom only an hour ago, his body was stronger and faster than any human's. After all, the monster's initial gene was linked to the Evolution Tree - allowing humans to evolve, to fight monsters.

Whoooooooosh.

Adam entered the anomaly territory, and the Electric Eel immediately turned its attention to him. The monster arced over Adam before slamming its tail into the ground.

A wave of sand crashed down on Adam, forcing him to cover himself with his arms.

Electric Eel warned him not to go any farther, it was the first and last warning, and Adam had only one chance to retreat.

Suddenly, Adam's eyes changed as white threads appeared among them, looking like the roots of the Evolution Tree as his veins swelled.

'Given its physique, I only need one good attack to win, but first... I have to make it show what it can do!'

Adam ran forward, keeping a close eye on the ball lightning. The fact that they were just wandering around rather than making him their target was a great advantage to Adam.

"TTTTRRRRRKKK!!!"

The Electric Eel made a strange cracking sound, irritated by Adam's decision. Then, the monster soared as high as it ever could and gathered electrical discharges near its head.

In a heartbeat, a powerful bolt of lightning rained down on Adam, at a speed impossible for a human.

Adam's pupils narrowed as he jumped backward, dodging the lightning that struck right behind him at the last moment.

The powerful explosion raised waves of sand, tossing Adam aside and turning millions of grains of sand into tiny glass crystals.

*Cough*

Adam climbed out of the sand, coughing and turning to see Electric Eel towering over him.

"Hah, you may be an Anomalous one, but even you need time to summon lightning again, don't you?" Adam smirked, glaring mockingly at the Electric Eel.

Adam was right, the monster did need time to build up a charge, however, the menacing maw was enough to kill a man.

Whoooooooooooosh.

Moving in a zigzag trajectory, the Electric Eel gradually accelerated as if being pushed out of the air. The monster was rapidly approaching Adam, about to sweep through him and leave only the lower part of his body.

This was the decisive moment, whether Adam would win, whether he would take the artifact, and whether he could change his life - everything was at stake for one attack.

The Evolution Tree trembled as well as the ball of thread, Adam's starting gene.

At the same moment, his eyes shone brightly, and white energy flowed through the veins of his right arm. In a heartbeat, a cascade of snow-white threads appeared out of nowhere, first enveloping his arm, then transforming into a long needle the size of a sword.

Adam used Order for the first time, but he wasn't worried about making a mistake, because this ability, this gene was now part of his body.

It took time to learn to read, to speak, or even to walk, but breathing was a natural process that everyone could do from the very first second of their birth. The same was true for Order - Adam had yet to learn the mastery, but he didn't need to learn to summon the Weaver's Needle.

In the moment before the attack, Adam's mind flashed back to the fragments of his father cutting up fish. It had only been a few times because getting any meat in the slums was a daunting task.

Adam remembered his father's every move as the old knife passed along, cutting the belly of the fish in two.

'Right... Nothing complicated, I don't need to shoot fire and summon lightning to defeat a creature of blood and flesh!' Adam inwardly exclaimed, stepping forward.

Whoooooooooosh.

The Electric Eel swept right over him, fluttering his hair and whipping the sand sideways with streams of wind moving erratically from behind its huge body.

"Now!"

Adam swung the needle, plunging it into the Electric Eel's throat and rushing forward, cutting through the monster's flesh and ripping its belly open.

Before the Electric Eel could realize anything, its blood flooded the sand around it, while huge organs, one by one, fell out of the monster's body, quickly plunging it into oblivion.

Bam.

Electric Eel collapsed to the ground, twitching for a few more seconds until the monster's eyes went completely blank.

Adam breathed a sigh of relief while the needle fluttered into snow-white threads disappearing into the void.

"I did it... I was able to defeat the anomalous monster..." Adam muttered, then his eyes went wide, "Right, I don't have time to waste! The artifact first!"

Adam was so enthusiastic that he had completely forgotten to collect the genes from the Electric Eel with Revolve - all he cared about then was picking up the False Orb that was in the same spot.

Dodging several balls of lightning flying nearby, Adam finally approached the False Orb, with electrical discharges running between its rods.

Taking one last look around, Adam bent down, intending to pick up the artifact and take it with him so he could sell it and make a fortune!

However, as soon as Adam touched the False Orb, a powerful electric shock went through his entire body. His body shook, and he could barely stay conscious, but he didn't back away, instead stepping forward, clutching the False Orb tightly in his hand.

"I'll take you no matter what it costs me!" Adam exclaimed as his eyes glowed, filling with white threads or branches from the Evolution Tree.

False Orb trembled violently as if trying to break free of Adam's grip. But, as it did so, the False Orb flew out of Adam's hand in a blue flash, entering his chest and heading straight for the Evolution Tree.

The artifact soared next to the Evolution Tree, moving around it like a satellite surrounding a planet.

Localized clouds of electrical discharges condensed over the False Orb as if carrying some of its biome into that space.

[Evolution Tree and Primary Gene have accepted the artifact!]

[You have received your first artifact, the False Orb!]

[Activate the Artifact to reveal its properties!]

"What...? No... No... No! I didn't want to absorb it?! How do I get the artifact out?!" Adam exclaimed, looking at his chest. Very quickly he realized what a mistake he had made.

As a citizen of the slums, Adam simply didn't know about how artifact hunting happened. He knew of their existence and price, but nothing more.

Adam didn't know about the special containers for collecting artifacts, nor about the protective gloves to resist the artifact's recoil. This was the only way to collect the artifact without absorbing it, which was a huge risk because the artifact could simply destroy the entire system.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!! My money!!!"

Adam cried out, falling to the ground and looking up at the sky with his arms spread out to the side.