Chapter 1267 – Theories & Visitors

Jake’s Race Evolution Quests had always been a big mystery, as it implied he wasn’t entirely human. All creatures born in the multiverse by natural conception had a natural grade at birth, determined by the power of their parents.

For something like high elves, it was C-grade, and for a child to be born naturally at that grade, the parents needed to be one grade higher. So two C-grade high elves would give birth to a natural D-grade, two B-grades would give birth to a natural C-grade, while both A and S-grades would also cap out at producing a C-grade child.

The peak races of the multiverse, like True Dragons, were born as natural B-grades and required two A-grade parents. Meanwhile, humans were solidly a mid-tier race in that regard, with their highest cap being D-grade. In other words, no matter how powerful a human’s parents were, the child would at most naturally grow to D-grade after birth.

The way to tell that a person would naturally grow to a parent-determined grade was through them passively gaining experience just by being alive… and the lack of evolution quests.

This was a hard rule with no exceptions. At least not until now.

Jake knew both his parents, and he could confirm they weren’t secretly at a higher grade. Moreover, while Jake didn’t get any evolution quests, he didn’t quite fit the description of someone naturally of a higher grade.

He didn’t get any passive experience just from life, but had to level up like any other human. This in itself should shut down the theory that Jake was naturally of a higher grade from birth… yet the lack of a Race Evolution Quest was also definite proof he was indeed of a higher grade naturally.

There was no doubt that this was an unprecedented situation, and he was very interested to also hear what the Viper thought, considering the Primordial surpassed Jake in every aspect when it came to the system and how it worked.

“So, we both agree that this is obviously linked to your Bloodline, right?” Villy asked.

“Can’t see it being anything else,” Jake nodded in confirmation.

“Yeah, no, me neither. Anyway, while you definitely know your Bloodline better than I could, I believe the source of these lacking evolution quests stems from your ability to manipulate Primeval Origins,” the Malefic Viper began.

“Using this energy, you can spark growth in Records of other creatures, potentially allowing them to evolve to never-before-seen variants of their race. Just a bit of this energy is enough to have a profound impact on another’s soul and Path, which got me thinking… out of everyone, who’s the most affected person by your Primeval Origin Energy?”

Jake couldn’t help but smile as he and the Viper clearly had thought on the same track as he answered. “Me.”

“Precisely. You’re under constant passive influence from your own Primeval Origin Energy, and seeing as it can cause growth in Records and create variant evolutions for other creatures, why should you be any exception? In fact, shouldn’t the impact on your own Path be far more noticeable than anyone else’s? I believe it indeed is, and your evolution to C-grade proved it, as while you evolved as a human, you didn’t exactly evolve as a standard human, now did you?”

Jake continued to nod, the Viper still right on the money with what Jake was also thinking. He recalled that upon evolving to C-grade, he had indeed received a system message he doubted any other human had ever seen, at least not with their race name remaining simply ‘human’.

“Congratulations! You have successfully managed to evolve into C-grade as a variant evolution.

All future potential variant evolutions will be blocked due to Origin.”

Unlike Jake’s Evolution Quests, this system message wasn’t vague at all, but made it extremely clear that Jake had become a variant evolution of a human and that he couldn’t get any other variant evolution in the future.

However, despite this clarification, Jake didn’t think many things made sense at the moment. He was a variant human, yes, but at the same time, he was also just a human. His stat gain, level pace, and everything else made it clear he was a human. Even other skills referred to him still being a human, and like all others of his race, he had to pick a Path skill – the one where he picked Path of the Hunter – when he evolved to C-grade.

So, while Jake indeed wasn’t what Villy referred to as a “standard human,” he still very much remained human. Perhaps more human than anyone else.

“Yet despite being a variant evolution that’s seemingly at a naturally higher grade, you don’t show any of the traits usually seen in those cases. No one can tell that you aren’t just a standard human, not even Valdemar, who’s deeply connected to the Records of humanity, which means I can conclude that you are indeed just a human. At your core, anyway,” Villy continued, putting into words much of what Jake had thought about.

“This oddity made me consider that maybe you aren’t actually a being of a naturally higher grade. You are essentially just a regular human with a very minor mutation that’s not even recognized enough by the system to have any effect as you progress through the grades in a regular fashion. Instead, I believe this variant evolution only affects something at the core of your Truesoul,” the snake god kept theorizing as Jake remained very interested in hearing what the Primordial concluded.

“Then, for the big question, why don’t I have any evolution quests?” Jake asked with a raised eyebrow.

“See, that is the tricky part, but my theory is that while you weren’t a variant evolution that was naturally a B-grade the day you evolved to C-grade… the same isn’t true now. In fact, it only came true earlier today when you reached level 349,” Villy shared his theory.

Jake was silent for a moment before he smiled and chuckled. “Great minds do indeed think alike.”

“You saying that feels like an insult to me, but sure, continue that thought. Do you agree with my little theory?”

“I do in broad strokes, yeah. As we also both agree, the causing factor of all this is clearly the Bloodline, which brings us back to one fascinating trait of my Bloodline that, despite studying Bloodlines a lot, I’ve not seen any mention of. Something that, when I casually mentioned it to you way back in the day, you told me to never speak out loud to anyone,” Jake said, but before he could continue, Villy cut him off.

“Don’t say it out loud; we both know what you’re talking about. And yes, I also believe that the two are intrinsically tied together,” the snake god said, his tone quite serious.

Jake nodded, the Viper not even wanting Jake to say it, confirming that the Chosen and Patron were indeed thinking of the same thing.

During the many talks Villy and Jake had, the thing Jake remembered the Viper being the most stern about Jake never mentioning to anyone was what happened with his Bloodline upon evolution.

As Jake evolved, Jake’s Bloodline also evolved, expressing itself by granting him more Perception. The mere fact that Jake’s Bloodline gave a percentage boost to a stat was already something the snake god found unprecedented, but the fact that it evolved was what Jake and Villy both seemingly believed was intrinsically tied to Jake’s weird variant race.

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Bloodlines naturally grew with a person as they evolved, but it didn’t evolve. It didn’t change. Jake’s Bloodline, on the other hand, was capable of evolving and improving itself as Jake also grew stronger, which was the clue that made Jake and Villy reach the conclusion they did:

His Bloodline and, by extension, Jake were both in a constant state of evolution. With every level, the Bloodline moved a tiny step closer to evolution. When Jake reached the peak of a grade, it finished accumulating all the Records required to once more evolve alongside Jake himself. That was why Jake didn’t get any Evolution Quests… because by the time he reached the peak of a C-grade, his Bloodline had already made his race grow to a variant race that was naturally of a higher grade.

At least, that was the working theory. It would be a bit funny – and incredibly saddening – if this theory were immediately shut down upon Jake evolving without his Bloodline following suit, but Jake really couldn’t see that happening.

“I guess all there’s left to do is actually evolve,” Jake said, concluding his and Villy’s little theory-discussion.

“Indeed. On a completely unrelated note, when you return to the Order of the Malefic Viper, both Duskleaf and I would like to have a little chat with you,” the snake god said.

Jake was momentarily confused until he quickly realized why, making him smile. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that both of you are interested in seeing it.”