Read Re: Timeless Apocalypse - Chapter 110: Minor Evolutions(II)

Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 110: Minor Evolutions(II)

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Chapter 110: Minor Evolutions(II)

The Minor Evolutions, beyond the gain of the branch subject’s power and trait, also unlocked the power of the Initial Subject, but that access was strictly dependent on the assimilation rate.

Put simply, someone with a 30% assimilation rate, and thus a Lesser Evolution, would, even after completing all of their Minor Evolutions, only ever gain access to 30% of their Initial Subject’s total power.

But the consequences went deeper than that.

With an assimilation rate of only 30%, the types of branch subjects available to them would be drastically limited. The range of compatible branches shrank alongside the foundation itself.

They would be forced to choose from the weakest branch subjects.

If their Initial Subject was a Fire Dragon King, and they had only assimilated it at 30%, they would be restricted to the most inferior lizard branches, and even then, they would only ever wield 30% of the Fire Dragon King’s power.

Minor Evolutions granted the full power of their chosen branch subjects and birthed Spark Traits, but they also served as the gateway through which the power of the Initial Subject was expressed.

Those with low assimilation rates were left with scraps; weak branches, limited choices, stunted growth.

Those with high assimilation rates saw their power soar.

The system appeared complicated at first glance, layered with terminology and conditional mechanics, but in truth, it could be distilled into a single sentence.

Foundation was supreme.

And nowhere was that more clearly proven than in the step that followed the Branching Root Step.

The Purifying Replacement Step was the penultimate step of each rank.

By the time an Ascendant reached this stage, they were, by all conventional standards, already powerful.

They had inherited the power of six subjects through their Minor Evolutions, fully excavated the potential of their Initial Subject, and mastered both their talent and characteristic, all while having acquired six traits.

At that point, there was no longer any macro-level gain to be pursued.

No new subjects, no new traits, no new foundational leaps.

And that was precisely when the mechanics of Purifying Replacement came into play.

Using a Purifying Core Method of any type, the Ascendant was given one task, and it was deceptively simple.

Fuse.

Through the method, they had to fuse the ’lineal line’ of their subjects with their own, merging them into a single, perfectly harmonious whole.

The lineal line was nothing mystical or abstract. It was the condensed essence of a creature: its information, its ancestry, its origin, and its pure, inborn talent.

Nothing more, nothing less.

To refine their cores using the Purifying Core Method meant to fuse these lineal lines together, while simultaneously strengthening their natal aether.

Compared to the complexity and branching decisions of the Branching Root Step, the Purifying Replacement Step was almost laughably straightforward.

But that simplicity was intentional.

This step did not reward clever choices or opportunistic paths. It exposed the quality of the foundation that had already been built.

For those who had achieved a Sublime Evolution, fully fusing their lineal lines would propel them into the twin-letter ranks.

From G-Rank to GG-Rank.

Entering a twin-letter rank doubled their aether pool and their overall power, a transformation so dramatic that it marked a clear qualitative shift.

Yet even beyond that existed another summit.

Those who reached the twin-letter ranks gained the opportunity, however distant, to enter the triple-letter ranks.

From GG-Rank to GGG-Rank.

The absolute peak of a rank.

The most pristine and coveted foundational achievement.

The method to reach the triple-letter ranks was...complex.

To do so, an Ascendant had to somehow evolve their subjects’ lineal lines to their theoretical peaks.

It was a requirement so vague and so impossibly demanding that achieving it was regarded less as a goal and more as a myth.

Theoretical peaks were, by definition, unattainable ideals, perfection without compromise.

As a result, most considered the GGG-Rank an academic concept rather than a reachable state.

But for the few who somehow fulfilled this condition, the resulting ascensions were said to be otherworldly.

...

By virtue of Uriel’s Path of Ascendance, his road to the triple-letter ranks was already paved.

And not merely paved, perfected.

He did not need to search for a method to evolve his subjects’ lineal lines to their theoretical peaks.

They were already there because there was nothing beyond them. Because Uriel did not inherit his subjects from the world, he created them.

At every rank, it was as though he was assimilating the Primogenitors of entire races and species.

There were no diluted bloodlines, no eroded ancestries, and no ceilings imposed by preexisting evolution.

There was no block.

But even beyond this, his Minor Evolutions were not normal in the slightest.

His Major Evolutions themselves were already aberrant, unfolding across three layers and bearing the equivalent power of three Major Evolutions combined.

More importantly, each of those layers corresponded to a different stratum of his body, an avenue Uriel had not yet begun to comprehend.

These deviations echoed through his Minor Evolutions.

Each Minor Evolution bore power that infinitely neared that of a Major one. But more critically, they did not grant him traits.

Instead of gaining a trait, every Minor Evolution added another layer of complexity to his characteristic.

Whether this accumulation would prove beneficial or catastrophic was something only time would reveal.

...

Within the gigantic cave, sickening sounds echoed without pause.

Six Minor Evolutions were triggered simultaneously.

At the same time, Uriel activated his Path’s Purifying Core Method.

Cracking bones, tearing flesh and spilling blood echoed.

Uriel broke down layer by layer, from the spiritual to the physical.

His body collapsed onto the cold cobblestone ground, convulsing and trembling as his outer shell gave way first. It shattered into crystal shards that peeled away from him, exposing what lay beneath.

His flesh, meant to be red and bloody, was a sickening shade of grey and his blood blue and organs black.

Like a ribbon torn loose, his flesh unwound from his bones filament by filament, collapsing into a pool of foul, black liquid. His organs followed, falling apart in heavy chunks of rotten matter.

The rings surrounding his core shattered next.

Then his core itself fractured, shrinking and crumbling until it vanished entirely, leaving nothing behind but his bones, bones of a strange, unnatural silver.

Even those did not last.

They disintegrated into grey ash, sinking into the pool of viscous filth and dissolved flesh that was all Uriel had become.

There was no body left now, only a pool of sickening essence.

At its center, a small mark remained. It flashed.

Six crystals were summoned.

The moment they surged forth from Uriel’s dimensional mark, a thunderous boom reverberated through the cavern.

...

[You have ingested an {Earthen Oath Terracrule King} Crystal Gem!]