Endless Evolution: Last Star

When a person became a Phantom, they had only one ability - the First Order. For most Phantoms, it was the foundation of their power, the most used ability.

Sure, rarely was the First Order the strongest ability, but the Phantom had the most experience using this ability, it was efficient and simple.

But... If Phantom was going to get stronger by actively evolving and developing, he should be ready for a change.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

The two unique branches, their outer part, shattered into small shards like shells along with the runes that were carved into the bark.

Given the nature of these branches, it meant that Adam had just lost his Orders. He could feel it, but... the branches weren't destroyed, they'd just lost their bark - the inner part where the energy flowed remained unchanged.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

Then, the two branches began to grow rapidly, along with the entire Evolution Tree, becoming much larger and more majestic than before.

Dense white energy covered the insides of the branches, creating new bark along with new runes, deeper, more complex, and majestic.

Adam had no way to influence this process and not that he had any desire to. He already made his choice, so he only watched, feeling his power increasing.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Evolution Tree continued to grow, becoming almost one and a half times larger. Yes, it wasn't a difference of two or five times, but Evolution Tree wasn't some empty thing where size was all that mattered.

Energy.

The energy density and its volume had increased several times, which was truly important, but not as noticeable as the size of the great Evolution Tree.

After an unknown amount of time, the Evolution Tree stopped growing, as well as the two unique branches.

Was this the end of Adam's evolution?

Yes, but only one of several parts.

[Your First Order - Weaver's Needle, was lost.]

[Your Second Order - Weaver's Silver Claws, was lost.]

[The core of your Orders remains intact.]

[Your Orders will be reconstructed to your needs, based on your memories and battle experience.] The two branches shone brightly, filling their runes with energy, causing many rapid pulses to pass throughout the Evolution Tree.

[New First Order - Dormant Needle, obtained.]

Then, the second root shone brightly, reflecting in Adam's astonished eyes.

[New Second Order - Fallen Weaver's Gaze, obtained.]

"What...? I lost two Orders and got new ones in return...? Wasn't I supposed to get a Third Order or something?" Adam muttered baffled.

Then, two pages with white glowing runes flew out of the Vault. Adam couldn't understand what it said, but soon, the runes turned into letters he was able to read.

This hadn't happened before, Evolution Tree just transferred all the information about the abilities into his mind at once.

Adam didn't know why this was happening, but it didn't matter at the time, as all his attention was directed to his new abilities.

[Dormant Needle

A needle that became not just a tool, but a weapon of a warrior who learned a lot, but that was only part of his long journey. A sharp, willful needle, hungry for blood and challenges to awaken from its deep slumber.]

Then, Adam turned his gaze to the second page.

[Fallen Weaver's Gaze

There is no more reason for animal rage. A weaver needs strength and depth to deal with the obstacles in his thorny path. The threads. Let the weaver use his threads and his new perspective, clear and sublime, like the true master who learned the cruelty and sorrow of his work].

Adam blinked a few times, trying to make sense of his new abilities. The descriptions didn't give him much information, and Traits weren't there at all, perhaps temporarily, and possibly it was meant to be.

But, before Adam could come to any conclusion, the pages flew away, returning to the Vault.

As soon as that happened, the massive white book that held all of Adam's genes began to shake violently, releasing large particles of light.

The light particles like snowflakes completely covered the Vault, slowly changing it.

"What the hell..." Adam muttered, puzzled.

His Vault was going to change? But... How?

After an unknown period, a bright flash of light illuminated everything around him, and then, blinking once, Adam saw his new Vault.

Strangely enough, the Vault hadn't changed much. It was still a white book with an atom sign in the center, but soon Adam noticed new details.

There were azure plates around the edges, like metal. It looked as if some craftsman had customized the cover of the book, creating art.

From time to time, there were straight blue lines of energy running through the book, changing direction but not curving as they ran at right angles.

Then, the Vault opened up letting out a pale blue light. Among the thin rays were thin beams, forming an even figure around the Vault.

It was a wide, transparent cube, a special area the Vault created within the inner space.

Adam was confused, but soon a page of explanations came to him that he needed so badly.

[Gene Cube

This is a special space that depends on the progress of the genes you have collected in the Vault. Within the Gene Cube can be stored physical objects in ghostly form, only those with a large amount of energy: essences, artifacts, and other objects of a similar type].

Adam's eyes sparkled, he immediately realized what that meant and how he could use the Gene Cube. He had already been in a situation once before where he needed artifacts to unlock one of his Traits.

The problem wasn't that he didn't have artifacts, no, quite a while ago, after a few missions, Adam got more than enough Zero and First Rarity Artifacts.

However, they were in the Citadel, in his storage, carrying the artifacts around was impractical and hardly possible.

Even after the battle against Plague Reaper, Adam faced this problem. Sure, in this situation, he didn't need to immediately start evolving and creating the Key, but if he wanted to, he couldn't do it.

The genes and Midnight Crystal were in his inner space while the artifacts were in the Citadel, in protective containers.

"But..." Adam muttered with a slight smile on his face, "Apparently now I won't have that problem anymore."

Then, Adam cast a long look at Vault, with a slight frown. He sensed that something was lurking inside Vault, some other function, but the new pages weren't coming to him to explain and he didn't know where to look to find it.

"Well, I'll probably figure it all out soon. Agh, more importantly... Looks like this isn't over yet." Adam sighed heavily turning to his Evolution Tree.

The Evolution Tree stopped growing, as did the two unique branches, the Vault went through its development as well, but... The Initial Gene and Power Gene were actively shaking absorbing energy from the Evolution Tree.

Adam scratched the back of his head, he felt strange.

He was greatly delaying his evolution, most Phantoms went from K1 to K2 level faster, though Adam didn't set records for the longest time on the same level.

He didn't aim to evolve as fast as possible, so... he just took his time.

However, Adam expected that he would just get one new ability and maybe there would be some other changes, but practically everything turned out to be different.

The changes continued and they weren't going to stop.

And, Adam wasn't going to hide it, he was glad that his power was growing relentlessly right before his eyes.