Heaven Breaker: SSS Rank Tiger Evolution-Chapter 52: Suspicious behavior

"How long has it been since I last said that?" I asked myself, taking a deep breath. "System, show my status..."

Level: 67

Rank: Wild

Exp: 100,234 / 224,450

Aura: 0 / 1500

Domain: [Can Be Established]

Skills: Stealth (Lv.10), Bite (Lv.10), Strike (Lv.10), Tracking (Lv.7), Enhanced Senses (Lv.4), Pain Tolerance (Lv.10), Fainting Tolerance (Lv.10), Beginner Earth-Heart Method (Lv.8), Intermediate Star-Heart Method (Lv.1), Resistance to Mental Attacks (Lv.5), Aura Control (Lv.4), Legacy Consciousness (Lv.4), Acrobatics (Lv.5), Spiritual Hearing (Lv.2), Healing (Lv.1), Fire Mastery (Lv.3), Water Mastery (Lv.1), Earth Mastery (Lv.1), Wind Mastery (Lv.1), Fire Breathing (Lv.3), Fire Claws (Lv.3), Flame Propulsion (Lv.3), Full Ignition (Lv.1), Flying (Lv.1), Ground-Shrinking (Lv.1), Living Shadow (Lv.1), Fire Resistance (Lv.4), Intermediate Martial Arts (Lv.1), Intermediate Quick Step (Lv.1).

Mutations: Complete [Evolution may begin]

"As expected. I’ve become much stronger than when I woke up in this world." I looked at the night sky before letting out a deep sigh, my shadow growing darker.

"Even so, I feel that more and more my humanity is slipping away as my mind becomes increasingly filled with whispers and endless madness that haunt me day and night. I knew this world was insane, and that it wished to contaminate me with its endless madness, and yet I accepted it with a smile..."

"It saddens me to think about it, but my past self would abhor me just as my future self will probably be even more abhorrent to me. Even so, I feel good about being abhorrent, and I will continue becoming even worse if that makes me happy. I’ve truly become a selfish person."

I sighed deeply.

My level had increased a lot, as had the number of skills, and the reasons behind it were many.

Vlad’s army, of course, was the biggest culprit behind the excessive increase in my level, since I killed an absurd number of people in that battle.

Vlad himself was frightened at the time when he saw the flow of Primordial Force and put me on his list of people he absolutely did not want to face.

The second culprit was Euphy, who forced me to kill Sinners day and night during our journey—each one of them granting me an absurd amount of experience, considering they were all a level above me, like Ferocious Beasts.

Third, and not least—actually, the most important—the celestial bodies above the territory of the Lightning Tiger that were being devoured by Ludwig, my [Living Shadow], every single night without exception.

I laughed amused at the thought. Euphy was sleeping alone in our room night after night—since night after night I was going far away to deal with the excessive energy of each celestial body.

It was painful, but the price to be paid was small compared to the amount of power they granted me.

As for elemental skills, many of them were created as a result of my experiments with fire—which accidentally became my main element, as highlighted by [Fire Mastery], which was a few levels higher than the others.

Likewise, [Martial Arts] and the movement technique [Quick Step] evolved to the point of deserving their own space as [Skills].

But not only that—[Martial Arts], as well as [Star-Heart Method] and [Quick Step], which shared a close bond, evolved to the point where they could no longer be called simple basic skills, but intermediate-level ones.

"Anyway, it’s time to begin," I thought, reflecting on my evolution and what it would be like.

Certainly, I met more than enough requirements to become a tiger of each individual element, or even one of all elements.

Especially a fire tiger.

However, I pushed those thoughts aside, focusing on the Aura meter.

[Aura: 0 / 1500]

’Strange...’

"System, initiate evolution," I requested anyway.

[Ready to evolve from [Wild] to [Ferocious (Mythological)]?]

[Warning! The evolution will leave the user completely vulnerable. Only perform this in a safe location.]

"Again, strange... I wonder what this means..." I pondered, seeing that despite the empty aura meter, I could proceed.

It didn’t make sense...

Since I completed the five stages—Organs, Skin, Muscles, Claws, and Fangs—I could evolve whenever I wanted, without any requirements.

It was strange.

The system had always encouraged me to face more and more adversity in order to evolve.

My aura was built on sweat, tears, and blood; just like the vast majority of my skills, many of which were created in the midst of battles where I either learned something new or died trying.

And now, precisely at the most decisive moment, it decides to go easy on me?

Something is very wrong.

The system doesn’t even offer me pain during evolution; I can feel it telling me between the lines that it will sedate me this time.

It never acted like this.

Every mutation until now had been a painful surgery that required time to recover—the main reason why I postponed many mutations.

It always seemed to me that the system wanted me to feel all the pain gradually, in the most agonizing way possible—but now, at the greatest change of all, one that would completely alter my appearance...

It promises me a smooth evolution?

Don’t make me laugh.

What a tasteless joke.

"However, it leaves behind two subtle hints that I couldn’t help but notice."

The first was the incomplete aura meter, and the second, less obvious one, was my level.

"Why is the aura incomplete and has a higher-than-normal limit, but the level has no limit?" I said suspiciously. "My body must certainly have a limit. My Wild vessel must have a lower Primordial Force limit than the Ferocious vessel will."

"That being the case, this meter that only rises without restriction tells me that my current vessel hasn’t reached its final limit and isn’t even close to it. In other words... I can still level up more, much more. Just as I can accumulate aura—much more as well..."

I laughed amused.

Level: 67

Rank: Wild

Exp: 100,234 / 224,450

Aura: 0 / 1500

Up to the present moment, I had accumulated [Aura: 500] and [Exp: 5,225,734].

That was a lot, considering my first hunts gave me almost no experience.

"If I try to reach level one hundred... I’d need about..." I calculated quickly. "A little more than double my current experience. As for aura... that would be problematic, since I’d need exceptional enemies and three times what I’ve accumulated so far."

It sounded like a difficult mission—if not an impossible one—for many.

"However, luckily I know a place where I can level up quickly, as well as find exceptional enemies with ease."

I said that before looking toward the horizon.

"Shattered Sky..." I laughed amused, remembering that I once had to run away from a rat there.

"I hope you haven’t forgotten me, Rat King, because I certainly haven’t."

"Time to take a trip and start grinding..."