CHAPTER 46
"AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!"
The cry echoed through the forest with such intensity that the chirping of birds quietened in a second.
Ray collapsed face-first onto the ground as his breathing turned rough almost instantly.
He began convulsing violently, writhing like a worm as blood spewed from his mouth with another choking cough.
It felt like his blood was on fire inside his veins.
If the pain he had felt when the stone creature fused with his body could be called agony, then this… this was outright torture.
His bones were breaking and reforming at terrifying speed.
Crumbling, rebuilding, collapsing again—so fast that his mind was unable to keep up for a while.
His eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost, fingers clawing into the soil again and again as though trying to anchor himself to reality.
Teeth gnashing against each other in unbearable pain before another roar tore from his throat.
"AAAAAAAAAARGH!"
His head felt like it was about to explode.
His blood bubbled violently, surging at a rapid pace as his vision blurred at the edges.
But Ray wasn't about to lose to pain.
He held on, grinding his teeth and even biting down hard on his lips, drawing droplets of blood just to keep himself from blacking out.
The torture continued for several agonising minutes.
Ray cried out with every jolt of pain, his body trembling and convulsing relentlessly until—after what felt like an eternity—about five more minutes passed and the pain finally began to subside.
The boiling blood.
The breaking and reforming bones.
The sharp headaches.
The uncontrollable shaking.
All of it faded away, like the sea calming after a violent storm.
Slowly, his vision cleared.
His breathing steadied as he clenched the grass beneath him, fingers digging deep while he painstakingly pulled himself upright.
His face was stained with blood, dirt, and patches of grass clinging to his skin.
He didn't care about his appearance.
Only one question echoed endlessly in his mind.
'What the hell just happened?!'
[DING!]
[Congratulations Host; First Evolution Completed]
Evolution?
What was this deal about an evolution?
Ray's heart was still pounding from the lingering pain, but he couldn't deny it anymore—something was different.
His entire body felt lighter.
Freer.
And his senses were… different.
Earlier, after he had obtained the system, his vision had improved slightly—he could see about a metre farther, and everything within that range was clearer.
His hearing had also sharpened.
But now?
Why could he see perfectly in the dark?
It wasn't the moon.
The half-moon only cast a faint glow, nowhere near enough to illuminate the dense forest.
Yet Ray didn't need it.
His vision was so crystal clear that he almost doubted it was still nighttime.
He could see as clearly as day.
Rustle—!
He snapped his head toward the sound and immediately spotted a bird perched among the trees several metres away.
'... How could I hear that from this distance?'
He slowly lowered his gaze to his hands, staring at them in confusion when the system lit up once more.
[Congratulations Host on your first evolution; You have successfully evolved from a mere weak human into something more… something different]
'Something more? Something different? What does that even mean?'
[... New evolved race has been recorded]
[You have fully awakened the Tribrid System]
"...."
Silence.
The kind of silence where even a pin drop could be heard.
Ray stood frozen, staring at the message glowing before his eyes as that same silence enveloped the forest around him.
'N…n…new race? Wh…what is the system talking about?'
Hastily, he summoned his status tab to confirm what he had just seen.
____
[Status]
[Name: Ray Dawson]
[Age: 15]
[Race: Tribrid]
[Level: 2]
[Exp: 70/150]
[HP: 10/50]
[MF: 50/50]
{Attributes:}
[STR: 8>>>10]
[AGI: 9]
[INT: 9]
[PER: 4]
___
Ray's heart skipped a dozen beats in a single second at the sight of the race change.
A sudden headache gripped his skull, sharp and invasive, causing his vision to blur momentarily.
It cleared just long enough for him to see the word again—Tribrid—before blurring once more.
His mouth quivered in confusion, words completely failing him.
'Tr… Tribrid? What on earth does that mean?'
He paused, trying to recall anything from the dozens of articles he had read—both real and fantasy-based—and that was when something clicked.
'Aren't Tribrids beings born from three different races or bloodlines… possessing abilities from all three instead of just one? Or am I wrong?' He mused uneasily as his eyes remained glued to the race change.
'... So… so does that mean I'm no longer fully human? I'm now of three different blood—'
His thoughts cut off abruptly as something surfaced in his memory.
Frowning, he hastily switched the tab in front of him to another interface.
[Bloodline: 3/3 available]
[Bloodline types: Lightning / dormant (requires special condition to awaken) / dormant (requires special condition to awaken)]
[Resonance: 5/300]
[Lightning: 10 percent]
__
Where earlier the other two bloodlines had been marked as locked, the status had now changed to dormant, each tagged with a special condition to awaken.
Ray felt a dull ache building in the corner of his head, deep and persistent, forcing him to slam his butt onto the cold, rocky ground mixed with patches of grass as he sank into thought.
'What on earth was that rock that gave me this damned system? And what the hell is really going on in this world?'
His lips trembled as he clasped his hair tightly, fingers digging into his scalp while his mind raced.
'... So… if I'm a Tribrid, does that mean there are two others inside me? An elf? A dwarf? A vampire? Or maybe a demon? Which one is it?' He pondered, letting out a dry, humourless chuckle as his shoulders rose and fell in a strained rhythm.
Slowly, he pushed himself up from the ground, grimacing as pain flared through his body. He glanced at his watch to check the time.
"9pm."
'Shit. I need to get back to my dorm. Then I'll try and figure this shit out.'
His gaze swept the area, confirming that Flinn and his friends were still sprawled on the ground, unconscious.
With a tired sigh, he stepped forward and picked up his bag of snacks.
Then his eyes drifted back to the status screen in his mind—back to his new race.
His chest tightened painfully at the realisation that he was no longer human… and the fear that one day, he might turn into something monstrous.
The thought of losing his sanity, his humanity—and becoming something akin to the Abberants—the very creatures he despised, made him clench his fists until his knuckles turned white.
Exhaling sharply, he lifted his head and stared at the moon overhead before shaking his head.
"I should have known… The path to power is never easy. It's always unpredictable."
With those words, Ray darted out of the forest, heading back toward his room at immense speed.