Chapter 388 - 386
(Volume 4: Beyond Humanity)
[Evolution Successfully Completed....]
[Congratulations Host; You have successfully evolved into a Tribrid Master.]
Afterward, dozens of notifications flooded Ray’s vision.
Mechanical chimes echoed inside his head while countless translucent blocks of text streamed across his sight, completely obscuring his view of the chamber.
He felt overwhelmed.
Without a second thought, he waved them all away.
Now wasn’t the time to deal with any of that.
He would go through every notification once he returned to the Corps.
Pulling himself upright, Ray let out a low groan.
His gaze drifted downward to inspect himself.
His uniform was riddled with holes, stained with dried and fresh blood alike, while one sleeve had been completely torn away.
The countless cuts and tears served as silent reminders of the brutal battle he had barely survived.
Turning toward Nebula’s lifeless body, he stared at the colossal carcass of the Emperor-rank beast for several long seconds.
"You surely gave me a hell of a problem."
As memories of the battle replayed inside his mind, a faint glimmer surfaced in his eyes before he lowered his gaze to his own hands.
".... From this battle, I have realised that I still am not strong enough to battle an Emperor-rank beast. If it wasn’t for the help of my team and even my daggers, we would all be dead by now."
Speaking of the daggers, Ray shifted his attention to his inventory before equipping them.
Unseen by the rest of the world, faint purple sparks crackled around his remaining hand for several seconds before a pair of daggers materialized within his grasp.
Resting in his hands was a pair of exquisitely crafted weapons.
The first possessed a blade as black as the deepest abyss, its polished surface swallowing every trace of light that touched it.
The edge curved gently into an impossibly sharp point, giving the weapon the elegant silhouette of a predator’s fang.
Faint crimson veins flowed beneath the dark metal like molten lava trapped inside obsidian, pulsing ever so slightly with dormant power.
Its guard was minimal, shaped like two swept-back claws, while the hilt was wrapped in black leather that offered a firm yet comfortable grip.
A blood-red gemstone rested within the pommel, glowing faintly like the eye of a slumbering beast.
Its twin contrasted it perfectly.
Forged from deep crimson metal, the second dagger gleamed as though it had been tempered in fresh blood.
The blade shared the same graceful curve but was adorned with jagged crimson engravings stretching from its base to the razor-sharp tip, resembling streams of flames frozen within steel.
Its edge shimmered with unnatural sharpness, promising to carve effortlessly through flesh and armour alike.
The guard mirrored the black dagger’s claw-like design, though this one resembled crimson talons clutching the blade itself.
The hilt was wrapped in dark scarlet leather, ending with an obsidian gemstone embedded into the pommel.
Despite their contrasting colours, the two weapons were unmistakably a matched pair.
Their craftsmanship was flawless.
Their balance felt almost perfect.
Simply holding them gave the unsettling impression that they had been forged not for honourable combat...
...but for swift, silent executions.
Their blades were neither overly broad nor excessively thin, striking the perfect balance between speed and lethality.
Every curve.
Every edge.
Every engraved detail.
Everything about them spoke of weapons forged by a master smith whose sole purpose had been to create instruments of death.
A small smile tugged at Ray’s lips before it gradually faded.
He slowly looked around the devastated chamber.
Broken pillars littered the battlefield.
The marble floor had been reduced to craters and jagged cracks.
Spider corpses were scattered in every direction while the scent of blood lingered heavily in the air.
A hint of silent regret settled across his face.
’System, how long do I have before the gate closes?’
[Three minutes and some seconds.]
With a heavy sigh, Ray pushed himself to his feet.
"Not enough time to take their beast cores, so I will just take the ones that are more valuable."
Even with the fact that he had just gone through something so dangerous, he refused to pause.
The moment he jumped to his feet, he immediately felt how much lighter and stronger his body had become.
Every muscle responded with renewed vitality, and an unfamiliar surge of power quietly coursed through his veins.
But there was no time to admire or inspect the changes that must have occurred to his body.
He had barely taken a single step forward when,
[DING!]
[Skill Acquired: Echo Manifestation]
’Huh?’
His brows furrowed as he came to an abrupt halt.
His gaze narrowed toward the system screen floating before him.
Clicking on the notification, it read;
[The Tribrid System can now preserve the combat imprint of compatible beings and reconstruct them as Echoes.]
’Preserve and reconstruct? I don’t understand what that means.’ Ray’s brows twitched as he reread the notification several times.
*Tring!*
[New tab has opened up in the Tribrid System; Echo Registry.]
"Echo Registry?"
The moment the words left his mouth, the screen switched instantly.
[ECHO REGISTRY]
[Echo Slots: 0/5]
[Echo Essence: 100/100]
[Registered Echoes:
- Empty
- Empty
- Empty
- Empty
- Empty]
Scratching his head for a few seconds, Ray looked around him as though the chamber itself would somehow provide answers to what he was reading.
"Uh.... System, kindly explain this."
{Sigh....}
The system sounded genuinely frustrated, as though the notification had been painfully easy to understand and its Host was simply acting like a complete dumbass.
{.... It simply means that any being or creature killed by Host’s own hands can be reconstructed into Echoes. As long as they are compatible with the Tribrid System, they can be converted into Echoes for the Host to summon. Understood now?}
"...."
Ray blinked several times.
His mouth quivered slightly before his eyes stretched wide with genuine surprise.
’Wai-wait. For fucking real?!’
{Two minutes till the gate closes.}
Hurriedly spinning on his heels, Ray set his sights on one of the Advanced-rank beasts he had personally killed.
He didn’t waste a second before dashing toward it and crouching in front of the beast.
The moment he laid his hand on its corpse, almost as if by instinct,
[Ding]
[Echo Candidate Detected: Advanced Rank Carapace Spider.]
[Create Echo?]
[YES / NO]
"Yes."
The instant the word left his mouth, the air shifted for half a second.
The corpse before him didn’t seem to move or react at all.
Ray lifted a brow, wondering if the process had failed or if it had even worked in the first place.
But then,
The air suddenly grew heavy behind him, prompting him to spin around.
"Huh?"
Standing before him in all its menacing glory was the very same spider he had just laid his hand on.
Same design.
Same stance.
Same towering figure.
Same terrifying appearance.
The only thing different was its eyes....
Squinting closer, Ray finally realised what it was.
The eyes looked utterly hollow, devoid of life yet strangely obedient.
[DING!]
[Echo successfully created.]
[Echo Slots: 1/5]
[Registered Echoes:
- Carapace Spider
Advanced Rank.
- Empty
- Empty
- Empty
- Empty]
"This....."
As Ray stared at the Echo before him, seeing that it wasn’t attacking, he observed it silently for a few seconds before the corners of his lips slowly curled into a knowing smile.
’Beautiful.’