[Status]
[ID: 345315364923]
[Rank: F+]
[Objective: Drink Red Rain]
[Proof Of Perfection Points: 30.5]
[Stats –
Strength – 4.0
Endurance – 4.0
Agility – 4.9
Willpower – 4.0
Mana Capacity – 0.0
Magic Affinity – 0.0]
[Special Abilities: N/A]
[Hide]
The thing that immediately jumped out to Kairos was the extremely large amount of points that he had. It was to the point where he really didn’t have to care about wasting them by adding them to his current stats.
However, one thing he almost missed was the changed objective.
[Objective: Drink Red Rain]
Before, it stated to touch the red sun. However, now it was to drink the red rain. By connecting all the dots, it wasn’t hard to tell that they had a similar effect.
Nonetheless, that red rain was approaching right now, so Kairos did not want to waste any more time.
[Strength 4.0 – 4.9 | Points 30.5 – 29.6]
[Endurance 4.0 – 4.9 | Points 29.6- 28.7]
[Willpower 4.0 – 4.9 | Points 28.7 – 27.8]
The expected warmth and hunger quickly assaulted him, prompting Kairos to grab a nearby snack and begin eating it.
…And waiting.
All of the options to add points were greyed out, meaning he could no longer add anything. Kairos assumed that the condition for evolution was maxing out all of these points, but it seemed a little more complicated than that.
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched.
“…I’m missing something, right?”
His glasses had a few bloodstains on them, so he took them off in an attempt to have a better look at the status panel. Though in the back of his mind, he doubted that this would do anything.
Yet, the moment Kairos removed his glasses, his eyes widened considerably.
Because he could see a second vague status panel behind the first.
[Status]
[ID: 345315364923]
[Rank: 44/150 Evolution Energy – 50 required for Rankup]
[Objective: Gain 6 Evolution Points]
[Proof Of Perfection Points: 27.8]
[Stats –
Strength – 4.9
Endurance – 4.9
Agility – 4.9
Willpower – 4.9
Mana Capacity – 0.0
Magic Affinity – 0.0]
[Special Abilities: N/A]
[Inborn Abilities: Shattered Truth (F-)]
[Hide]
The addition of ‘Inborn Abilities’ was a little startling to him, but it wasn’t too big of a shock to him since he knew about his future seeing ability. Though he did think the name, ‘Shattered Truth’, was a little strange, he didn’t mind it.
The main thing that surprised Kairos so much was how the rank and objective changed. Instead of the rank showing a letter, it was replaced by evolution energy. Along with that, it showed that there was a specific amount of evolution energy he needed to rank up.
The objective was also switched to gaining evolution energy instead. It seemed that the system was trying to help get people to evolve with the energy, but told them the most ‘efficient’ way of acquiring that energy.
Kairos could guess that too much evolution energy would have adverse effects and probably also force one to evolve. He probably did not want to go above 150, considering it showing 45/150.
He looked towards the giant monster’s corpse, then became curious about something.
After a bit of hesitation, he stuck his hand into its open wound, letting the blood run down it. At the same time, he paid close attention to the evolution energy counter.
Kairos kept it up for thirty seconds, not seeing any change. In the end, he began retracting his hand as the red rain was starting to get a little close.
But right as he was doing so, it changed.
[Rank: 45/150 Evolution Energy – 50 required for Rankup]
Kairos let out a soft sigh, realizing that even being in contact with other evolved beings would increase one’s own energy. However, considering how slow it was despite being such a high ranked creature, it shouldn’t be a problem if people were careful.
He then looked towards the red rain that was gradually creeping in.
Kairos recalled seeing himself touch a bit of that water with his finger. Honesty, he wasn’t brave enough to do so, but still wanted some evolution energy. And so, he took a few steps forward, crouching down and keeping his hand above the red water.
Kairos made sure to be walking back slowly so his feet did not touch it.
And sure enough, just being nearby made his evolution energy rise slowly. It was close to the rate of about one point every fifteen seconds.
Just as he hit fifty, Nicole called out for him.
“Kairos? Where are you?!”
Kairos hurriedly got away from the red rain, closed the system, and grabbed a few packages of snacks. He then ran out into the open, waving the snacks around.
“Sorry! I just got a little hungry!”
Nicole looked relieved, but also aggrieved.
“There’s plenty of food upstairs! Come on, hurry!”
Kairos nodded.
“Alright!”
With that, he promptly ran up the steps, meeting up with the rest of the group. This section had more miscellaneous items, such as clothes, purses, and even an electronic section.
Nonetheless, none of the group showed too much interest in the items.
Harold was just sitting around, while Sydney was eating some stuff she had found. As for Tori, she was sitting on a bench and Chase was lying down powerlessly next to her.
Nicole let out a soft sigh.
“I found him.”
Chase lifted his head and looked at Kairos.
“You took quite a while.”
In response, Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“Was a little hungry.”
He then pulled out the red prism from his pocket.
“Anyways, now that there isn’t anything trying to kill us, maybe we can try and figure out what this thing is.”
Suddenly, the system popped up.
[Status]
[ID: 000000000001]
[Hide]
Kairos had his glasses on currently. He decided to take out one of the disinfectant wipes and begin wiping it to clean the blood off.
And that was when he saw the red prism display something else.
[Status]
[ID: 1/10]
[Energy: 7/1000]
[Hide]
Kairos was attracted by the change in ID, from just a one, to one out of ten. It seemed that this was a part of some ten-piece whole.
As for the energy, Kairos hedged a guess and assumed it was the same as the evolution energy. However, that wasn’t the strangest thing to him.
He was the most surprised by the fact he… had an idea of how to use it now. Almost like it was some sort of instinct.
Nicole tilted her head to the side.
“…Is there a switch on it? Maybe?”
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
“Let me try something.”
He tried to move the red prism with his mind.
Then, it began to float up out of his hand.
Tori raised both eyebrows.
“What did you do?”
Kairos scratched his hair.
“I’m not sure. It’s a little hard to explain.”
He then began thinking of creating a small platform.
Suddenly, red veins began to appear on the floor in front of him, rapidly expanding. Then, a stone platform began to rise out of the ground with those red veins covering it. The overall size was around the average dinner table.
Kairos wanted to try to do more, but found he couldn’t
The red prism had dimmed substantially. While it was originally a blood-red color, now it was more of a mahogany.
Kairos peeked at the second status panel.
[Energy: 0/1000]
Sydney let out a soft gasp.
“You… you did that?”
Kairos rubbed his chin.
“It seems so… This prism is able to create things. Though it seems to have run out of juice.”
He snatched it out from the air, continuing to inspect it for a little before tucking it away. Then, Kairos walked over to the stone table and gently felt it with his hand.
The stone was smooth, and so was the red vein.
He let out a hum.
“I’m going to test how durable it is.”
Kairos lifted the fire axe up with both hands and tightened his grip. Then, he swung.
An extremely high-pitched clink rang out.
Kairos hit the stone table and ended up stumbling back a few steps. As for the table, there wasn’t even a scratch.
Chase raised an eyebrow.
“That’s sturdy.”
Kairos nodded.
“Let me test if these veins have the same strength.”
And so, he repeated the process.
Another high-pitched clink rang out.
Kairos stumbled a few steps backwards like last time. However, there was a bruised look on the vein. Though just a few seconds later, it healed back to normal.
Tori nodded approvingly.
“It did take a bit of damage, but this thing is still incredibly tough. We can use that to create a homebase wherever we want.”
Nicole muttered to herself.
“…We can make a safe place.”
Kairos’ eyes drifted.
“One moment, I’m going to go see if I can add energy back into this thing.”
He pulled out the prism and went back down the steps.
By now, a thin layer of red water had coated the bottom of the grocery store. Kairos held onto the prism by one end, then stuck it out so just the tip touched the red water.
In mere moments, the energy value shot up.
[Energy: 10/1000]
It began increasing at a rate of about 10 energy per second, but that rate quickly slowed down. The redness of the water around the prism decreased significantly. However, the redness from the surrounding water came to fill in the gaps quickly.
In the end, it began filling up at about 5 energy each second.
The prism went from its dark mahogany to red in just a few moments.
While Kairos was waiting, he was about to open his system panel. However, he quickly stopped himself.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Because Nicole was behind him.
Kairos turned around.
“Why are you here?”
Nicole pouted slightly.
“I’m not allowed to watch?”
Kairos let out a soft sigh.
“Just don’t get too close to the red water.”
Nicole nodded.
“Ok!”
She sat down on the steps, a little bit behind Kairos. After a moment of awkward silence, she spoke up with a small smile.
“It seems that the future we were talking about isn’t that far away. Now that we can make those walls…”
Kairos blinked a few times.
He was very aware that while this prism could make a fairly sturdy wall, he doubted that it would last that long.
Everything was becoming stronger by the second.
And the best example was the giant monster that they just fought. Though Kairos wasn’t sure if it would be able to break down walls made by the prism, it shouldn’t take too long for something like that to arise if it already has once.
Though he wasn’t sure if he should’ve stated the truth so blankly in front of her.
…But in the end, it was better to say it earlier.
Kairos shook his head slowly.
“All of the monsters are growing stronger. The walls will not be able to protect us forever, maybe only a year if we are being optimistic. The only real way of staying alive is fighting and growing stronger with the tide.”
Nicole looked slightly despondent.
“Ah.”
After a moment of silence, she smiled bitterly.
“…But wouldn’t a year of comfort be better than just fighting for the rest of our lives?”
Kairos looked towards Nicole.
“Who said we would be fighting for the rest of our lives?”
He then looked towards the red prism that was slowly filling up with energy, but wasn’t really looking at it.
“Surviving is for more than just the happy things.”
Kairos’ eyes became a little dull.
“It’s to be proud of the life you lived, as fickle it may be.”