Lucius walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his wet hair, yawning loudly as he rubbed the remaining water from his face. The exhaustion from the day had settled deep into his body, but his mind remained far too active to simply crawl into bed.
Lia sat cross legged on the bed with a box of doughnuts beside her, watching his every movement with deep curiosity. She had apparently been waiting for him to finish, and the way her eyes followed him made it obvious she was wondering what he intended to do next.
Lucius went straight toward the reading desk, where several stacks of books had been arranged across the edge of the table. He pulled one of them toward himself. The thick cover read Curse of Blue Death. He glanced at the title for a moment before settling into the chair.
"Aren’t you tired? You have been out the whole day," Lia asked, reaching into the box for another doughnut.
Lucius spun his chair around to face her curious gaze. "None of this is free. Everything we have now is given on the expectation that I become someone capable of killing those monsters you have come across a few times back home. And I have only eight months to prepare before I’m put to the test against people who have been receiving training for many years now. So no... I can’t stop even if I’m tired, and I won’t be as available as usual, so you need to get some hobbies to distract yourself when I’m not around," Lucius explained.
Lia slowly nodded while chewing, leaving a small amount of cream at the corners of her lips. She wiped it away with the back of her hand before glancing toward the nightstand.
"I do have things to do now. William got me this phone and even put in some games... You should try it out." Lia held up the phone for him to see.
A surfing game was paused on the screen, the colorful character frozen in the middle of an obstacle course. Lucius stared at it for a moment before chuckling and rolling his eyes.
"You’re already addicted."
"I am not," Lia protested, though she immediately looked down at the phone again.
Lucius turned his chair back toward the desk, flipped open the book, and began reading. The first few pages focused on explaining the effects of Aether on humanity and the rest of the planet.
According to the book, Mutants were creatures, including humans, beasts, insects, and plants, that failed to reach the genetic requirements necessary for evolution. As a result, their gains from Aether remained superficial compared to those who successfully evolved. They were classified into five stages, MT 1 through MT 5, with MT 1 being the lowest and MT 5 being the closest to the evolutionary threshold.
According to the book, the primary difference between each level was physical development. The illustrations used insects to demonstrate the distinctions, and the difference was immediately obvious. MT 1 insects looked almost no different from their ordinary counterparts before mutation, while MT 5 insects were considerably larger, stronger, and more physically developed.
The same principle applied to humans. The book displayed pictures of Dregs at different mutation stages, and while an MT 1 human looked relatively ordinary, an MT 5 human possessed a noticeably healthier and more muscular physique.
Lucius leaned closer to the illustrations, comparing the descriptions with what he had seen in the mines. He remembered how some miners were barely recognizable as healthy human beings after years of Aether exposure, while others like him seemed strangely resistant to the effects. The book finally explained why. This chapter was taken from novelping dot com without permission.
Beasts, insects, and plants that reached MT 5 tended to seek out powerful Aether sources in the hope that prolonged exposure would forcibly trigger evolution. However, this process was extremely dangerous. Only one in ten successfully evolved. The others suffered Aether poisoning and died before their bodies could complete the transformation.
Lucius leaned back and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Before I got stabbed by that thing in the meteor, didn’t it call me MT 5?" Lucius muttered.
The memory returned with surprising clarity. The creature’s cold voice echoed through his mind.
"MT5... NOT EVOLVED BUT CLOSE... RUTHLESS IN NATURE WITH A STRONG DESIRE TO LIVE AND A WILL TO FIGHT... NOT OPTIMAL, BUT SATISFACTORY. VERY WELL, I’LL MAKE YOU MINE."
Lucius’s eyes slowly widened as the pieces began falling into place.
[Correct. The evolution triggered through the fusion was only possible because your genes were already close to evolution.]
The system panel returned, confirming his suspicion.
"It makes sense. I was always good looking unlike the others working in the mines, and that’s why I got all the girls too."
Lucius instinctively turned his attention toward Lia. She was already sleeping peacefully on the bed with the game still running on her phone, her breathing slow and steady.
He stared at her for several seconds before admitting something he had never really considered. She did not look nearly as healthy as him. Even after being removed from the mines and given proper food, she still retained the thin, almost emaciated appearance that years of poverty had carved into her body.
"What category is she?" Lucius asked.
[MT 2... She has no hope of evolution.]
Lucius stared at Lia for another moment before shrugging indifferently. "I don’t want her to evolve and get involved in all this messy Guardian shit."
He turned his attention back toward the book and continued reading.
According to the text, Talents became stronger over time through constant use and refinement. Their growth was divided into five stages: Awakened, Refined, Manifest, Boundless, and Overdrive. At the Overdrive stage, many consider this the natural limit of man, however, scientific research does not agree with this belief. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
This was where things became dangerous.
According to the book, Guardians had two options once they reached the natural limit of their Talent. They could accept that limit as the peak of their potential, or they could take the risk of undergoing what was known as Biogenic Evolution. The process essentially forced the evolution of human cells in an attempt to push the Guardian’s Talent beyond its natural limits.
The success rate was horrifyingly low.
Only five percent of those who underwent the process successfully evolved. Those who failed lost their humanity entirely, transforming into mindless creatures of mass chaos and destruction known as Deviants.
Lucius’s eyes narrowed as he continued reading.
"The most popular case of failed Biogenic Evolution lies in the story of an A rated American Guardian, Dennis Foreman, who possessed the Beast Whisperer Talent. He started off with the ability to speak to mutant and evolved beasts, and at the stage of Talent Overdrive, he could even forcefully control a few evolved beasts at once. Eager to break through his limit, Foreman underwent the Biogenic Evolution process, but it ended in failure, turning him into a Deviant now known as the Beast Emperor, capable of controlling Tides of mutant and evolved beasts and going toe to toe with America’s God of War, Wilder Briggs. It does not come as a surprise that the country has not been able to apprehend such a monster even till the publication of this work."
Lucius’s eyes widened as he lowered the book slightly.
How the fuck does an A rated Guardian jump to Special Authority level once he becomes a Deviant?
The answer came quickly as he continued reading.
The final and most damaging effect of Aether on all living things is the Deviant stage, and this was not restricted to humans alone.
Among evolved beasts, insects, and plants, coexistence with their own kind was common. Different species could establish territories, form groups, and even interact without immediately attempting to destroy everything around them. Deviants are fundamentally different.
They are monsters with seemingly boundless powers that feed on everything and anything around them. Their existence represente a direct threat to every other living creature in their environment. It is not uncommon for evolved beasts to join forces against a Deviant beast because even they understand the danger their corrupted counterpart pose.
Lucius slowly lowered the book onto the desk, his expression becoming increasingly serious.
"This world is actually, fucking scary." Lucius mumbled