Lines of system notifications scrolled endlessly before Adrian Cross's eyes. His pulse quickened, the corners of his lips tugging upward despite himself.
He had done it.
Against a one-percent probability, the evolution had succeeded—one of his gnoll followers had advanced three full ranks in a single leap.
For a moment, he simply stared, almost disbelieving.
A one-percent chance didn't mean one in every hundred evolutions would guarantee success. Randomness in Eternal Ascendancy was merciless; it could easily take thousands of attempts to trigger even once.
But here it was. Real.
Out of his hundred gnoll believers, eleven had risen by two ranks… and one had leaped straight into the realm of the epic.
A thrill ran through Adrian's veins.
> "Ha! A third-tier evolution on the first draw… and it's the leader too. Luck really is on my side."
He had to laugh.
In his previous life, when had he ever obtained an epic-ranked believer? Half a year in? Maybe a full year? The average demigod would have wept with envy.
Now, he had one from the very start.
The transformation data soon filled his interface in dazzling lines of text. Adrian's eyes flicked over the newly revealed statistics.
[Race Interface]
Name: Gedo
Race: Gelb Bloodthirsty Gnoll
Title: Gnoll Leader
Rank: Epic
Class: Warrior
Skills: Deadly Bite Lv.8, Axe Throw Lv.7, Bloody Rage Lv.5, Bloodthirsty Strike Lv.5
Attributes:
Strength: 46
Constitution: 45
Agility: 47
Spirit: 31
Adrian whistled low. "So that's what an epic-tier looks like…"
But there was more.
Name: Sallen
Race: Gelb Bloodthirsty Gnoll
Title: Gnoll Shaman
Rank: Gold
Class: Warlock-Shaman
Skills: Dark Fireball Lv.5, Dark Vision Lv.4, Mass Amplification Lv.4, Devotional Sacrifice Lv.4, Healing Lv.3
Attributes:
Strength: 25
Constitution: 24
Agility: 26
Spirit: 37
And beneath them—
Rows upon rows of lesser gnolls, their data filling the feed like an army muster roll.
Name: ———
Race: Gelb Bloodthirsty Gnoll
Rank: Silver
Class: Warrior
Skills: Bite Lv.3, Axe Throw Lv.3, Rage Lv.2
Attributes:
Strength: 25
Constitution: 23
Agility: 23
Spirit: 18
Name: ———
Race: Gelb Bloodthirsty Gnoll
Rank: Bronze
Class: Warrior
Skills: Bite Lv.2, Axe Throw Lv.2, Rage Lv.1
Attributes:
Strength: 15
Constitution: 14
Agility: 15
Spirit: 8
The sight made Adrian's grin widen until his cheeks hurt.
Just minutes ago, these creatures had been a ragtag band of crude scavengers—ninety-eight black-iron gnolls, one bronze leader, one bronze shaman.
Now?
Eighty-eight bronze warriors.
Ten silver elites.
One gold-ranked shaman.
And one epic-ranked gnoll leader.
The gnoll tribe had been reborn.
They no longer resembled the ragged pack they once were. Their frames had stretched and hardened, muscles swelling beneath their mottled hides. Fangs jutted from snarling jaws, and their blood-red eyes gleamed with raw hunger and feral pride.
Even the lowest gnoll now stood over two meters tall.
As for Gedo—the new chieftain—he towered over three meters, a living juggernaut of muscle and malice. The air around him rippled faintly, a pressure that made even other gnolls bow instinctively.
Adrian studied his stats again. Forty-six points of Strength. In Eternal Ascendancy, attributes didn't simply add up—they multiplied.
A Strength of forty-six wasn't merely triple that of a novice. It represented a hundredfold leap in combat power.
Crossing fifty points would place a being squarely in the domain of legendary creatures—the kind that shattered mountains with their fists.
"Not bad at all," Adrian murmured. "Not bad in the slightest."
Around him, the newly empowered gnolls prostrated themselves, foreheads pressed into the dirt, trembling in reverence.
Their god's power had touched them. Their blood sang with new strength.
"The Great Lord of Slaughter," intoned Sallen, voice trembling with fervor, "your radiance shames the sun and moon. Your grace makes even the cruel-hearted gnoll weep in gratitude. We would offer our lives to your glory!"
The devotion in their voices rolled like thunder. Adrian felt the surge of faith wash over him, tangible as a rising tide.
[Log]: The gnoll believers are overwhelmed with gratitude! Their faith has greatly increased!
[Log]: You have received 99 Fanatic Believers and 1 Apostle!
[Log]: Gained 15,020 Threads of Faith Power!
[Log]: Gnoll Authority increased by 0.1%!
Adrian let out a long, satisfied breath.
This was the natural order of divinity.
When gods bestowed blessings, their followers' devotion deepened in return. Even so, to make creatures as vicious and cynical as gnolls weep with faith was almost unthinkable.
It was proof of how monumental this evolution had been.
One ordinary believer produced a single thread of faith per day. A fanatic produced a thousand. An apostle, ten thousand.
With 99 fanatics and one apostle, his passive faith income reached 108,000 threads per day.
And faith was power. Ten thousand threads condensed into one fragment of divine power.
At this rate, he could craft a divine fragment every ten days—an acceleration that would make his past self green with envy.
And that was merely the passive gain. Once the gnolls began hunting, sacrificing prey, and erecting totems in his name, the inflow would multiply tenfold.
Adrian's mind raced with anticipation.
> "In this life," he whispered, "I'll ascend faster than any god before me. I'll leave them all in awe."
He wasn't done yet.
According to the Eternal Rules, the first player to establish a believer's tribe would receive a special divine reward.
With a tribe this powerful, Adrian had every confidence that honor would be his.
He rose from his divine seat, eyes gleaming with divine fire.
> "My faithful children," he said, his voice resonating through the divine link, "your devotion reaches my ears and fills me with pride. Now, prove your strength and courage to me. Go forth—tear down your enemies, and build the homeland that shall bear my name!"
A shudder of exultation passed through the gnolls.
Their scarlet eyes burned brighter, breath heavy with murderous hunger.
"The will of our god is our command!" Gedo bellowed, voice echoing like thunder across the wasteland. "We will fight in your name, Lord of Slaughter! The courage of the gnoll will not fail you!"
He threw back his massive head and howled—a sound that sent tremors through the ground. The rest of the tribe joined in, a chorus of wild, bloodthirsty roars that rolled across the plains.
The newly evolved gnoll priest, Sallen, stepped forward, clutching his dark totem. "I will divine the presence of our enemies, my lord," he vowed. "The gnoll tribe shall march before the sun sets."
Adrian could almost see them in his mind's eye—fanged warriors assembling beneath crimson banners, axes glinting, claws flexing, their hunger now tempered by the discipline of divine faith.
Yes. This was the birth of a true believer's tribe.
Far away, the Eternal Continent stirred.
On the endless plains and shadowed forests, at the edges of mountain ranges and forgotten ruins, billions of new demigods from Blue Star descended into existence.
Billions. The number sounded vast, but against the immeasurable scale of this world, it was no more than a drop of rain in an endless sea.
Each demigod's consciousness awoke within their divine domain, linked to the primitive tribes that formed their first believers.
And not just from Blue Star. Across countless planes, other newborn demigods arrived—some radiant and new, others ancient and grim, their faiths drawn from forgotten worlds.
Yet, in this moment, one divine command echoed simultaneously across the hearts of all their believers:
"Build a tribe."
For most, the task was daunting. Their believers were weak—mere mortals, disorganized and afraid.
But for Adrian, whose followers had just undergone a metamorphosis that defied the heavens, this was an opportunity.
The gnolls already howled his name. Their claws and axes gleamed under the red sun. They had strength, ferocity, and above all, faith.
Soon, the first foundation stones of the Gnoll Tribe would rise—a brutal kingdom built on blood and worship.
And at its head stood Gedo, the newly crowned Epic Gnoll Chieftain, roaring to the skies in Adrian's name.
High above, within his divine domain, Adrian smiled faintly.
> "Let the others struggle," he murmured. "Let them crawl and pray for scraps. This time, I'll stand at the top of the pantheon. This time, the world will remember the name Adrian Cross."
The divine interface pulsed faintly, as if in approval.
And far below, his army of gnolls surged forward into the dawn—fangs bared, eyes blazing, ready to carve their god's dominion into the living world.