Mystical Journey

He had only evolved silver totems before this, never attempting it on a primitive totem, which was why he had absolutely no idea what the situation was. Now, it’s finally as clear as day what was going on.

Primitive totems are living organisms, which means their bodies naturally accumulate a certain amount of energy. Not only that, an increase of energy happens whenever food is consumed. This was the reason why evolution through potential points only needed one step – activation.

When it came to silver totems[1], it was completely different. They do not need to consume food, which also means that they are unable to accumulate energy. Everything is provided by the totem user. Which is also why evolution then takes two steps – accumulation and activation.

"It’s no wonder why Reylan and said that silver totems will sooner or later surpass primitive totems."Garen suddenly understood the biggest advantage when it came to silver totems. It was not the derivator, or control of the numbers. It was in regards to the difficulty of what was required to evolve.

His cheapskate dad from this world was into biochemical studies. Garen could not wait to reach there a little earlier, as he yearned to increase the level of his knowledge with those books.

"Striped crystal was something I used as to play with, in a way you would with a potted plant at dad’s when I was younger…I’d have never thought that black striped white tiger would need this as an evolution core."Garen was slightly emotional. "To think of it , there were a lot of rare items and resources over at dad’s…he sure lives up to his name as a scholar employed by royalty.

In Acacia’s memories, resources of this level were treated lightly, as they could be played with at random. The house was full of them.

As these were rare alternative sources and not mainstream evolution resources, when Garen first gained knowledge from Emin, it had never occurred to him the value of these items.

He only understood now that he used to live in a house full of treasures without knowing it.

Striped crystal is a type of strange, fascinating crystal that grows continuously when planted. As long as he returned home, he could have as many of them as he wanted.

Besides, black striped white tigers needed more than a hundred potential points before undergoing an evolution activation. Once the evolution succeeds, there is no telling how strong it will turn out to be.

Garen was filled with expectation.

He examined himself carefully.

"If we were to assess in detail, Silver totems are always placed in the outside world as they can’t be kept in storage. At this rate, the silver totem light will always be present. This is equivalent to the use of a core totem. If the trouble caused by the derivator was non-existent, I would have been equivalent to a third form totem user."

After Garen’s self-evaluation, his mind became absolutely clear.

"Now the biggest problem would be the derivator. As long as the problem posed by the derivator is resolved early, I would not have to worry about the silver totems going out of control. The core totem should be capable of an upgrade as long as I head back.

His vision finally swept across the black striped white tiger’s icon, the data above changed slightly.

"Core- black striped white tiger: First form totem, can be upgraded. Probability of successful evolution: 11%. Potential points needed to activate gene fragment: 700%. An accumulation of 145 potential points is needed to achieve a chain activation. Striped crystal is needed as a core resource.

Ability: Tail whip, Puncturing Crunch"

The talent and power data displayed was in line with Garen’s own understanding, which is why he was not surprised.

Even though there were still a lot of grey areas when it came to understanding the evolution of a primitive totem, Garen had decided to put probing further on hold.

As he returned to reality, he came down from the carriage.

Outside, the hunting group crowded around a bonfire cooking something; the mixture of white smoke and water vapour carried a pleasant smell.

Surrounded by a vast expanse of deep green plains, there were occasional clusters of dense woods.

A few Unihorn lizards circulated the skies, but were afraid to swoop down and attack the crowd; they reduced to only squawking.

Nearing late noon, soft rays of sunlight shone from the rear, casting long slim shadows against the crowd.

Garen and Reylan walked aside privately, discussing difficult questions on the 3 subjects in low voices.

Angel brought Lala, who was still coughing, and joined the circle of the hunting group, talking about anything under the sun.

The surroundings were not filled with the roars of monsters, which intrigued the people. Although, they boiled it down to the mystery behind Garen. When it came to facing the rest of the journey, they began to relax a little.

Only Garen, who was in the midst of discussion with Reylan, saw that right below his field of vision, his potential points that were fluctuating like crazy. It meant that the silver totems under his command were on a wild hunt, targeting large groups of monsters in the area.

"We are almost exiting the area of Iron Tank City, next will be a desolate no-man’s land. According to the slow rate that we are moving, even the nearest city would require 2 or 3 days. Reylan stared at Garen with a little confusion,"What are your plans brother? Your current theory lacks concrete steps, I hope to get my hands on better research tools as soon as possible."

Of course, Garen would never reveal that the reason they were moving at this speed was to increase his potential points. "You should be able to find a temporary set of research tools right? The stuff that you are teaching me now belongs to the forgers?"

"Indeed, forgers are luminarists that specialize in researching totems, but our direction is more towards researching living totems." Reylan nodded her head.

"Then, you should know if there is a way to empower humans without being controlled?" Garen finally asked the question he had been yearning to ask.

"Empowering humans is our main area of research. Empowering a body itself is nothing new; the technique required is nothing difficult, but there is not much use for it either. No matter how strong a body is, it is impossible to evolve more powerfully than carefully selected living totems. Over at the headquarters, a significant number of people chose to be empowered in order to extend their lives." Reylan confirmed what Garen had in mind. "Although so, I do not recommend you to do that, brother."

She paused, "Top level primitive totem users have encountered a weird phenomenon. The totem light brought by their totems would bring changes to their own bodies, making it stronger and healthier, as well as extending their life. There were even totem users that merged themselves with their totems, becoming a collective body. This was the highest power imaginable achieved, which was also signified the birth of empowerment."

"Elemental totems, Plant totems, Animal totems. In actuality, these 3 types of totems would definitely reach that stage. The main body and the totem will merge to become one, transforming into an inhuman being that exhibits the terror of a totem. This is Obscuro Society’s main goal. Brother, if you want to walk this path, the requirements are of high difficulty. When it comes to technical abilities, even I myself would not be able to help. This type of technical ability requires too much, even if I were to research for more than ten years, it would not guarantee any success." Reylan rejected Garen’s train of thought, "Obscuro society had researched for so many years, and only reaped a small area of technical success. Let’s not even consider the possibility if I were to do this alone."

Garen smiled, changing the topic. "So how do totem users define their abilities?

"Usually evolution is divided according to Form; the first form is definitely incapable of beating second form, and a form 2 definitely incapable of beating third form and so on. Besides that, there are tactics and precious heirlooms that will affect the level of strength. Of course, there is also the manipulator’s strategy and natural talent. Let’s put everything aside and talking about totems alone. Of the totems, the strongest is The Ultimate totem. This means that the totem has reached the highest level imaginable for evolution. Ultimate represents the end of possible evolution. Although such, when it comes to which ultimate totem is stronger than the other, it boils down to the nature of the body itself. The better the nature of the body, the harder it is to evolve, but the stronger it is after evolution. If the nature of the body is good and the number of evolution undergone is high, when and if the totem has finally evolved into its final form, it would be horrifying. Just like the black striped white tiger that you have brother, if it evolved into the fourth form, the power it holds is unimaginable." Reylan explained carefully.

"But no one even knows if there is a third form; no one has been able to evolve this thing." Garen shrugged his shoulders.

"That’s because its foundation is too strong, the difficulty of evolving it is extremely high."Reylan shaked her head."I suggest you to look for a new core totem when you can."

"We’ll see."Garen has not given up yet.

Garen and Reylan talked a lot when they were together. This helped him to have a deeper understanding of totem users.

In the evening, the hunting group made potato and meat broth, served with stale bread, and an apple per person. They ate as if it were a feast.

A group of people sat around the bonfire barbecuing, their bodies and hearts were warm.

The temperature dropped in the late evening; everyone was freezing. Lala, an ordinary person, felt the same way and wrapped herself with blankets near the fire, her face still red. Obviously the sickness hasn’t left her body.

"Further forward is Ferrochrome. Ferrochrome is a small town at the borders of Tilan City and Aisley City. I went there for a holiday when I was younger, and the red tea biscuits there are amazing. I am not sure how it’s like now…" Amongst the hunting group, a petite young lady spoke in a soft voice, she seemed a little down.

"In this kind of environment, I would think there is but a few human habitations."

"Tilan City and Aisley City?"Garen was not familiar with these two places,"These two cities, which are richer in resources? Anyone knows?"

"Chief, Aisley City is very rich in resources, are you lacking any evolution resource ?" That petite lady said softly towards Garen. She and her companions have always called Garen and his sister Chief. Reprimand in them for this didn’t work, and after a couple of times, Garen just gave up and allowed them to called him whatever their heart desired.

"I want some striped crystals." Garen thought of attempting to look for the item along the way. As everything now was pretty chaotic, and deaths were prevalent, resources have been left unused. Who knows if he will be able to get his hands on it ahead of time. If he could find it along the way, he wouldn’t have to speed up the journey anymore; going at a slower rate to increase his potential points would be the wiser move.

"When it comes to striped crystals, I know which place has them." A black shirt guy who didn’t really like to talk much from the hunting group voiced out.

Seeing that everyone is the crowd turned to look at him, the guy fiddled with his collar.

"There are striped crystals in Aisley City, I have seen it in the city museum. It is embedded into a crown that is being kept as a relic."

"You are talking about the Prime Crown right? I have heard of that crown, never have thought it to be in Ailey City’s museum."A man from the back of the group whispered.

Angel nodded her head and looked to Garen, he was already deep in thought.

After thinking for a moment, Garen spoke out again."From here, if we were to turn into Aisley City, how long would we need? Anybody knows?"

The petite lady was most familiar with the geographical area, and answered after some calculations.

"It is similar to our route now, just in the opposite direction. Our time would not be delayed. We will need to cross two paths, Aisley City and Tilan City. According to our current direction, we move towards Tilan."

"Vicky, how can you be so sure without a map?" The black shirt guy said in puzzlement.

"My family was from Tilan, I have explored the surrounding areas." Petite Vicky said. "So what now? Do we head towards Tilan City? Chief." Her gaze fell on Garen. She was always intrigued by this powerful and mysterious man. His relationship with Miss Angel had seemed a little unusual.

"Since it does not affect the distance, let’s change it." Garen nodded his head. "Do you guys have any opinion?"He looked towards Reylan and Angel.

Both of them shook their heads, signaling that they did not have any opinion.

Translator's Thoughts

J_Squared J_Squared

1. Author mistakenly wrote primitive totem