“It's probably yer energy, bossman,” Sooty said with a shrug, standing opposite him in his portable kitchen.

  “I’m gonna need more than that, Sooty. Why do I feel so weird after my racial evolution?" Aaron inched forward, desperate for an answer.

  “Ye don’t get it, do ye? Yer race is D-grade now. Ye’ve got a D grade body, but yer still usin’ E grade energy. Yer Class and Profession provide the energy, but yer body actually uses it. Yer putin’ E grade energy in a D grade body, and yer body doesn’t like it. Most people are smarter and wait until their Class or Profession hits D grade before upgrading their Race, but ye went an’ did the opposite.”

  “I see. You could have told me that earlier.”

  “To be fair, ye haven’t really included me much lately, bossman. Not my fault, I figured ye had it sorted.”

  Aaron groaned. Sooty wasn’t entirely wrong about that.

  “I didn’t want to distract you from your games,” Aaron said pointedly.

  “Oh, that?” Sooty reddened. “Ye know those goblin girls can always wait for ye, bossman. Yer me number one priority!”

  “Yeah, right,” Aaron rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you mind fetching me a mirror? I need to check this out.”

  Aaron had felt his face, and he didn’t notice anything different. But he certainly wanted to take a look for himself, after hitting a racial evolution.

  “What am I, your slave now?”

  “You were just complaining that I wasn’t asking you for help anymore, weren’t you?”

  “Oh, fine,” Sooty grumbled and left.

  But as Sooty left, his thoughts circled back to the strange sensation of energy flowing through him.

  It was, as Sooty said, it felt like the energy flowing through his body wasn’t made for it, or at least it wasn’t compared to how it had felt. But there was more to it than that. What really made it stand out was how it cycled through his core. Without that, he might not have noticed it, or at least, he might not have noticed it so quickly.

  Wanting answers, he closed his eyes and delved into the strange energy he felt flowing through him. There was more to it than just a mismatch between his energy and his now D-grade body, though. He himself felt stronger, but the energy felt like it was struggling to properly run things. It was designed for a smaller and weaker engine. It wasn’t as efficient as it had been, and it felt like it took more just to keep himself standing than it had before.

  This was not good. Even if he were stronger, overall, he might actually be weaker now, if drain his energy just to complete simple tasks.

  But what he kept coming back to was his core. It couldn’t keep up and felt like it was on overdrive just to maintain normal functionality.

  Sighing, he opened his eyes. He couldn’t deny it; he was worried that he had made a very big mistake, and with the looming threat of the ants, that just wasn’t something he could afford to do.

  But he had to remain calm. Panicking and getting worried wouldn’t get him anywhere. If he was going to overcome this problem, he was going to do it with a clear mind.

  With that thought, he opened up his status page. Perhaps it would inspire him.

  [ Name: Aaron Dober ]

  [ Age: 23 ]

  [ Race: Human [ Shinigami ] ]

  [ Grade: D ]

  [ HP: 126400 ]

  [ MP: 72500 ]

  [ SP: 164200 ]

  [ AP: 13684 ]

  [ Class: Empty-Handed Energy Monk, lvl 84 ]

  [ Profession: Ogre Gastronomist, lvl 68 ]

  [ Stats ]

  [ Strength: 1290 (+735) ]

  [ Vitality: 1264 (+737) ]

  [ Fortitude: 1642 (+943) ]

  [ Dexterity: 1006 (+563) ]

  [ Agility: 1344 (+742) ]

  [ Intelligence: 959 (+532) ]

  [ Willpower: 725 (+443) ]

  [ Charisma: 675 (+432) ]

  [ Perception: 1102 (+603) ]

  [ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer, Stamina Control Prodigy, Mana Control Prodigy, Vitality Control Prodigy, Holder of a True Blessing, In the Eyes of the Gods, Aether Wielder, World Overlord, Endurer, Dominator, Challenger, Shadow Trials Hall of Famer, Behemoth Slayer, Pack Leader ]

  [ Traits: Fate Weaver (Alpha), Major Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund, True Blessing of Yendal the Empty-Handed, Herald of a God, Death Cheat, Pack Alpha ]

  [ Racial Skills: Inspect, Lingua Multiversa, World Map. Reap ]

  [ Profession Passive Skills (3/3): Mass Produced Cooking!, Conductive Gut, Adipose Fusion ]

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  [ Profession Active Skills (6/6): Spirit Toes, Oozagh’s Breath, Foul Ichor, Unsightly Degustation, Perfect Measurements, Spirit Hands ]

  [ Class Passive Skills (3/3): Reverse Cycle Faux Core, Equal and Opposite, Girth by Length, Power by Volume ]

  [ Class Active Skills (6/6): Soul Shattering Strike, Spectral Projection, Gorgon’s Soul Vortex, Turbocharged Haymaker, Spectral Rush, Spectral Bullet Punch ]

  There it was, D-grade in all its glory. Seeing his grade set as D almost made up for the troubling thoughts running through his head.

  He knew Talia had yet to reach her D-grade racial evolution, and he wondered if perhaps he was the first on his world to do it. After all, even those at much higher levels didn’t necessarily have access to soul-strengthening foods that he did.

  But it was far more than just his grade increase that caught his eye. Perhaps most importantly, was his aether. It had gone through the absolute roof, and his other energy values seemed the same.

  He wasn’t entirely sure how that was supposed to work. After all, it had been mentioned that a shinigami had lower energy levels for their other energy types, but perhaps that was something he would notice as he continued to level.

  He continued going down the list of his status page until his eyes lit up at an unexpected sight. He had a new racial Skill. The System hadn’t mentioned that when evolving, and it was the kind of surprise he had hoped would inspire him.

  Reap [ Racial ] Guiding the souls of the fallen, shinigami use their powers to feed on the dead. Recover a portion of aether relative to the fallen’s previous power when slaying enemies.

  “Okay, now that sounds helpful.”

  Gaining energy when slaying an enemy was no minor Skill. Especially when he was planning on going up against an army of ants. With something like this up his sleeve, the prospect of being greatly outnumbered started to look a whole lot more favorable to him.

  Okay, keep getting nice surprises like this, and maybe this evolution wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

  “Here you go, bossman,” Sooty said, interrupting his thoughts as he barged back into the kitchen with a handheld mirror.

  “Thanks,” Aaron looked up. “By the way, have my stats increased? I didn’t write anything down, but I’m pretty sure they’re higher than they were.”

  “Yeah, bossman. Of course they have. Don’t ya remember your last racial evolution?”

  “Er, I remember feeling stronger. But I don’t remember if my Stats increased.”

  “Hah,” Sooty shook his head. “It was only a small increase. 25 points. Ye increased by a full 100 this time. A little harder to miss.”

  “I see. Thanks again, Sooty.”

  "Don't mention it, bossman. I’m here to serve, right?”

  100 additional points in all Stats was no minor boon, at least it wouldn’t be assuming he hadn’t actually crippled himself evolving to D-grade too soon.

  He tried to distract himself from the worrying thought as he looked into the mirror, turning his head from side to side. Just as with his previous racial Evolution, he had changed a little. It seemed that he was moving closer toward his idea of perfection, or at least what the System interpreted as his idea of perfection.

  He had slightly sharper features, and the color of his eyes appeared brighter and more captivating. His hair was thicker, and his muscles looked more defined. But his skin? Well, it had paled.

  Race obviously affected appearance. The System might have guided one’s appearance as they evolved, but there was only so much it could do. An ogre was always going to look somewhat like an ogre, for example. And it made him wonder how much his new racial mutation would affect him, or had already.

  There was no conversation between him and the System, and he wasn’t even sure what his actual idea of ideal beauty was. The way the System worked was vaguer than that. It was pulling information from his subconscious.

  But he was fairly certain he didn’t want pale skin. That had to be the work of his shinigami race. The thing was, he wasn’t quite a shinigami yet. He was simply on a mutation path toward it, unless he decided to diverge and head in a different direction.

  Was pale skin so bad? No, Aaron was nowhere near that superficial. Maybe he’d prefer a nice tan, but not more than a massive buff to his aether reserves.

  That said, he really hoped that he would get a quest or be provided with some other means of finding these rumored shinigami hideouts. If for no other reason than to see what a full-blooded shinigami looked like.

  But there were far more pressing matters to worry about than his appearance. And at least he wasn’t mutating into an ogre.

  His thoughts returned to the strange energy as it passed through his core. He needed an answer, and he had just the idea to get himself started.

  “Where are ya going? I thought ye plan was to cook everything up?” Sooty said, gesturing to the remaining ingredients.

  “I am. But first, I want to test something. I’ll be back.”

  “Going again already?”

  Aaron didn’t reply, his thoughts racing. Instead, he stepped outside and activated [ Spectral Rush ], and in an instant, he was shooting out of camp and sailing through the sky.

  Bouncing across the horizon with his Skill, he headed toward the forest. He wasn’t looking for any particularly special kind of prey, just something to kill. Something that would provide him with energy.

  And it wasn’t long before he came across a few weak beasts wandering in the forest.

  There were a couple of boars, and they didn’t even see him coming before he flew into a quick flurry of attacks.

  The battle itself wasn’t important, but feeling the strain of his core was. If he didn’t do something about his predicament, it was going to be a problem. He could tell then and there that the strain would be a serious issue if thrown into a more difficult fight.

  Nonetheless, the weaker beasts were dead within seconds, and he activated his new racial Skill, using [ Reap ] and draining them of their aether. But it wasn’t just aether he was pulling on, but both the energy that flooded into him via experience, and a small amount of energy that his gauntlets provided.

  And as the energies flowed into him, he cycled them through his core. Feeling the different energy types trying to pass through it, and leaking out in the process.

  His initial thought was that this was really bad. But gradually, as he continued to pass energy through his core, his brows perked. He felt something.

  Suddenly, he dipped into his scabbard and started to grab some food, eating it down and pulling on his newly formed adipose reserves, and draining them through his core.

  It fluctuated, and he felt errant energy flooding outward, but he persisted, pushing more and more of the stuff into it, and attempting to use his mind’s eye to catch the lost energy and redirect it back into his core.

  At first, it felt hopeless. No matter how hard he tried, he was simply losing too much of it. And it was making his body feel weak.

  But Aaron’s stubbornness persisted, and his eyes went white. He was more than just a man these days, and he pulled on the strengths of his spirit, guided by his shinigami side, as infantile as it was, to push harder.

  Crackling energy started to reverberate around him, and he could sense himself getting closer to something. Like a truth that was just out of reach, waiting for him to seize it.

  The additional energy had helped, but now was a time for meditation, he realized.

  Jumping back into the sky, he raced back to camp and charged straight back into his kitchen.

  He wished his temple were already finished. It would be the perfect place for moments like this, but for now, the quiet of his kitchen would have to do.

  “Nobody enters,” he commanded Sooty, his eyes still filled with white as he barred himself into his kitchen.

  Madness would take over, now. But it wasn’t madness without direction. He could feel it. With the promise of power at his fingertips, he just had to push a little harder.

  Lowering himself into a meditative pose, he began to cycle energy.

  This was important. Failure here could leave him crippled before a powerful enemy like the ever-expanding horde of ants, and no one else possessed the strength to take up the mantle.

  Aaron’s focus reached a tipping point, passing through into something more intense than he had ever felt before. This wasn’t just a trial; this was a matter of life and death, and he needed to find the answer.

  His teeth gritted, and despite the pressure of it all, a smile formed.

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