Ghoul Evolution

Chapter 19: Grades and illness

The grades of Aether Beasts were divided into five categories:

Tarnished → Blemished → Pristine → Exalted → Godmarked

Just as not every human of the same rank possessed the same level of strength, Aether Beasts also varied greatly in power. Grades are basically a measure of the quality of a beast’s existence, it’s talent, and it’s potential.

A higher grade often meant stronger attributes, greater intelligence, superior instincts, and more potent abilities; and because of this, rank alone was not enough to determine a beast’s strength.

A sufficiently powerful beast could even overcome opponents of a higher rank if the difference in grade was great enough.

In fact, one of the most infamous disasters in human history had involved a Godmarked Calamity-ranked Aether Beast, who had emerged from a gate.

This creature had been so powerful that not a single force could challenge it on it’s own, and it’s eventual defeat had required the combined efforts of the government’s of numerous nations, countless Ghouls, and the Four Apostolic Clans themselves.

And even then, the victory had come at a terrible cost.

As Oliver tore into the wasp’s corpse, he found that it didn’t contain normal blood. Instead, a bluish-green liquid oozed from the wound, something he vaguely remembered being called hemolymph from a biology class he had barely paid attention to.

’Damn... there was a time when all I had to care about were school marks.’

Oliver couldn’t help but sigh as he remembered the old days.

’Haah... all my college applications went to waste.’

’In just two more months I would’ve started college in September for my FE.’

[Soul Core of Aether Beast: Gloom Sting being absorbed.]

[Grade: Blemished | Rank: Feral]

[2 Essence Shard absorbed]

[Essence Shards: 7/500]

Oliver looked at the System’s notification and smiled.

A few moments later, Goldie came running back and leapt onto his shoulder as if nothing had happened.

Oliver glanced at the squirrel and couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Thanks for the assist, mate."

Goldie immediately puffed out its chest proudly, looking extremely pleased with itself.

"Yeah, yeah. Don’t get too full of yourself."

Oliver then lifted his shirt from the back and tried to inspect the wound left behind by the wasp’s stinger, but, unfortunately, he wasn’t nearly flexible enough to actually see it.

All he managed to accomplish was twisting himself awkwardly and making his back hurt even more.

The wound still burned like fire, and even now his body didn’t feel right. His movements were sluggish, his limbs felt heavier than usual, and there was an annoying numbness that refused to disappear.

Clicking his tongue, he looked toward Goldie and pointed at his back.

"Hey, how does it look?"

Goldie hopped onto a nearby rock and leaned forward to inspect the injury, stared at it for a few seconds and then just shrugged and shook his head.

"What does that mean?"

The squirrel pointed at the wound and made a face that somehow managed to convey disgust.

"Not very visually pleasing, is it?"

Goldie shook his head again.

"Great."

’How am I supposed to deal with it?’

Oliver let out a frustrated sigh.

After a moment, he untucked one of the crude bottles hanging from his waist. They weren’t actually bottles, of course. When he was camping near the river, he had found several large gourd-like fruits. He had then emptied them out, and cleaned the insides as best he could.

To seal them, he had shut the openings with layers of broad leaves before tying everything down tightly with vines.

He had made three of these bottles in total.

The containers were tied securely to his body so they wouldn’t fall off while running or climbing. Originally, they had been meant as an emergency water supply in case he went too long without finding another river or stream.

Unfortunately, he was being forced to use one of them to clean the sting wound on his back.

"Great."

Pulling out the leafy stopper, Oliver carefully poured some water over the injury and tried to clean it best he could. The cool liquid washed over the wound and did cool it a little bit but he still felt weak.

"Welp, there goes part of my emergency supply."

He couldn’t just stop here as there still seemed to be beasts roaming around the area, and if he wanted to keep growing stronger, he had to keep moving. So despite feeling weak, Oliver forced himself onward.

The problem was that with every passing minute, he felt worse.

His limbs felt heavier than before, his head was beginning to ache, and there was a strange nauseous feeling sitting in his stomach. Whether it was the venom or simple exhaustion, he wasn’t sure.

After walking for what felt like another half an hour, he suddenly spotted a river ahead with strong currents.

"Hey, is this the same river?"

Goldie looked at it and immediately nodded before making a series of expressions and gestures that Oliver completely failed to understand.

He just weakly thought, ’So this river continues all the way here, huh.’

Looking around, the area seemed decent enough and there were a few trees nearby, the river provided water, and for the moment he couldn’t see any beasts as the river kept beasts away.

Even more importantly, he felt absolutely terrible.

"Haaah..."

Oliver let out a tired breath.

"I feel sick."

His entire body felt sluggish as the venom hadn’t left his system, and now exhaustion was piling on top of it. Between the fight with the wasp, the constant walking, and the fact that he had eaten nothing but fruits all day, he felt as though his body was running on fumes.

The rabbit meat was still sitting besides him untouched as he had wanted to find a clean water source before preparing it, and honestly, he hadn’t really felt like cleaning and cooking a rabbit either. It just required too much energy and effort. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

As he bent down to put his belongings on the ground and rest for a while, his luck decided to remind him that it wasn’t always on his side.

Goldie suddenly became alert and immediately jumped onto his shoulder and began shaking him frantically.

"Huh? What now—"

Before he could finish speaking, a massive shadow swept across the ground.

Oliver’s instincts screamed and he threw himself aside almost on reflex.

A giant vulture-like beast crashed into the spot where he had been standing only a moment earlier, the creature then screeched loudly and soared back into the air.

Thanks to Goldie’s warning, he had barely managed to avoid the first attack but, unfortunately, the beast wasn’t done.

The giant bird folded its wings and immediately turned around for another dive.

Oliver tried to move, tried to dodge but his body was too slow and weak.

The bird adjusted it’s trajectory according to his little movement mid-flight, and it’s razor-sharp talons ripped through his back.

"ARRRGHHH!"

Fresh pain exploded through his body as Oliver nearly collapsed.

He tried to raise his spear, tried to force himself to fight but everything felt heavy as his vision blurred and his arms trembled.

The fight with the wasp had already drained him, the venom was still affecting him, and now this thing had decided to attack him as well.

His legs finally gave out, but then suddenly—

Bang!

Something slammed into his side. It was Goldie who had thrown itself at him with surprising force. The impact sent Oliver tumbling straight into the river and the freezing water swallowed him immediately.

Oliver tried to swim and fight against the current, but, his body simply refused to cooperate and the river dragged him away.

The last thing he saw before darkness claimed him was Goldie racing desperately along the riverbank and jumping in the river behind him too, and then everything went black.