Chapter 21: The Very First Evolution (1)

TL: Haku

Editor: Stealth

Sponsor: Anonymous (2), Manpapper and Yanle

To get to Saumur Canyon, you needed to pa.s.s through Saumur Forest.

Saumur Forest was a map that had lower level monsters appear than the Canyon but they were still a level that Ian could behave carelessly.

The monsters that appeared were a predatory monster named ‘Corkun’.

It was around late lv 30s and it wasn’t much bigger than a Half-Moon Bear but because it had a habit of moving in a large group, it was cla.s.sified as a much more dangerous monster than the Half-Moon Bear.

If you were to compare a real animal to how the Corkun looked, it felt like a Jaguar that had a rusty-coloured integument.

‘If I caught a Corkun and raised it, I’d look cool. To look cool with this Ly is a little…’

Ian glanced slightly at Ly, who followed his back. He was showing fearful potential and growth to the point it was impossible to think that he was a Wolf but truthfully, his appearance was shabby. His appearance was just as a Wolf, a low-level hunting ground field monster, anyways.

However, just then, Ly, who was following him, suddenly stopped and stood.

At that, Ian was startled on the inside.

‘It’s, it’s not like our thoughts were shared by any chance, right…?’

Ian, who felt sorry in vain, spoke as he petted Ly.

“This Ly, you know that this bro fiercely likes you, right?”

Ian, who was very worried that the Affinity he difficultly raised would drop.

However, Ly didn’t move an inch and stood still.

Just when Ian was questioning him, a faint light began to gather around Ly’s surrounding.

“What, what’s this?”

Ian, who was taken aback, opened Ly’s stat window. And shortly after, he was enlightened on the situation.

Evolving

The information that was always written as Evolution possible on Ly’s stat window had changed to ‘Evolving’ and was blinking a red light.

‘Finally! You’re finally evolving!’

Dozens of times, whenever he opened Ly’s stat window, the ‘Evolution possible’ information always caught Ian’s eyes. He uttered yells of delight as he had secretly antic.i.p.ated when the evolution would happen.

‘But why is he suddenly evolving? What exactly is the condition to evolve?’

Ian attentively searched Ly’s stat window. And shortly after, he was able to find the related answer.

‘Potential! His Potential reached 100!’

Ian, who wouldn’t have wasted travelling time as expected, continuously rotated the Intermediate-level Training skill periodically and through that, Ly was able to reach 100 Potential and evolve.

Ian wanted to dance joyfully.

‘If he evolves, his appearance will definitely change, right? I wish his build got a little bigger… so I can go around riding him…’

Separately from Ian, who was grinning from ear to ear, Ly’s evolution was still progressing.

The light that gathered from Ly’s surrounding had become so bright that it was dazzling and it wrapped around his whole body. And Ly’s appearance began to slowly change.

‘Whoa…’

Ian just let go of his spirit and watched that figure.

Grrr-!

Ly’s body, which was wrapped in the white light, grew almost twice his previous size before stopping his growth.

And shortly after the light began to clear, a system message that made Ian feel good popped up.

Ring-.

Blood-Red Maned Wolf.

The t.i.tle of the newly evolved monster exactly sniped Ian’s taste. An exclamation naturally flowed out of Ian’s mouth.

“Wow…”

And this wasn’t the end of the messages.

System messages that popped up consecutively!

Each and every message was a notification that was equally exciting news but the point that was making Ian the happiest was that the individual that Ly evolved into was a unique monster that he hadn’t seen until now.

“Muahahaha!!”

Ian burst out in laughter.

A full, red mane that shone extremely and on top of that, a build that wouldn’t fall back even when compared to a relative opponent.

Ian, who was positively thrilled, hugged Ly.

“Argh, Ly, this bro fiercely loves you.”

As if looking at a happy Ian put Ly in a good mood, he licked his cheek and rubbed his body against him.

As the excitement died down, Ian opened Ly’s information window.

Ly

Lv: 20

Cla.s.sification: Predatory Animal

Rank: Rare

Personality: Valiant (용맹함)

Evolution possible

Offensive Power: 235

Defensive Power: 97

Agility: 215

Intellect: 135

Vitality: 790/790

Inherent Ability

A ferocious wolf with a mysterious, red mane. It has an incredibly aggressive tendency.

Ly’s information window were simply showing surprises one after another. His Offensive Power and Agility were higher than Ian who had a full set of equipment and inherent abilities such as health absorption and Bleeding were newly developed.

His Defensive Power and Health were comparably low but he decided that his high Offensive Power and health absorption could cover for it sufficiently.

‘His rank also changed from Common to Rare…’

Since his rank went up, he consumed more Leaders.h.i.+p but for these stats, the consumed Leaders.h.i.+p was nothing. Since he got 30 more Leaders.h.i.+p points as a bonus for his first evolution, it seemed he wouldn’t be lacking in extra Leaders.h.i.+p.

And if useless, high-level field monsters were common items, he considered Ly almost as a Unique-ranking item.

On top of that…

‘He’s still able to evolve?’

It meant that Ly still had available potential.

‘If he evolves once more, will he become a Unique-rank?’

Even just thinking about it was a happy thought!

To be more exact, Ian’s hidden cla.s.s, ‘Taming Master’, was more of a fraud than the Summoner.

Of course, Ian’s talent was incredible as he was able to find Ly within a ton of normal Wolves… But if it wasn’t for the Taming Master’s own skill ‘Intermediate-level Training’, it was certain that Ly’s evolution would still be far-off.

Anyways, thanks to that, Ian’s footsteps towards Saumur Canyon had lightened considerably.

Ian, who watched the Corkuns hang around in groups far away, rebuked himself for momentarily being envious of the appearance of Corkuns.

‘Pfft, Corkuns. Even if you gave me a million trucks worth of them, I wouldn’t need them. My Ly is the best, of course!’

Ian approached Ly.

“Ly, do you think you can give me a ride and move?”

Grrr-.

At Ian’s words, Ly lowered his stance and sat down as if to say for him to climb on.

Ian gave a bright smile before immediately climbing onto Ly’s back.

“Wow, Ly, run!”

Ian, who was excited about climbing onto Ly’s back, shouted ‘run’ but shortly after, he couldn’t help but regret it. This was because Ly shot forward in an instant and he was flung onto the ground in an unedifying form.

As if Ly felt sorry, he approached Ian, who was knocked over and licked his arm.

“Err… Do I at least need a saddle? If I put something like a saddle on, it doesn’t look good.”

Ian climbed onto Ly’s back again. It wasn’t like Ian to give up after tumbling down once. Ian had already felt a need of his image riding Ly greater than any narcissism.

“Try to move, Ly. A little slower.”

At those words, Ly began to move cautiously and Ian slowly adjusted to Ly’s back.

“Good, good.”

Ly slowly increased his speed with Ian on his back. Thanks to that, they were able to arrive at Saumur Canyon faster than Ian thought he would.