Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Evolution "Humph," she huffed, lifting her chin, clearly satisfied with his humble attitude. "Since you beg so nicely." She waved her hand. The illusion shifted violently, the stars swirling to form new, terrifying shapes. "You must understand, bug, that these realms do not just sit idly by. They bleed. They leak. And when they do, the world changes." She pointed to a phantom image of a generic wolf,, its outline shimmering in pale light. "When a beast ’evolves’ in the world, it is rarely natural selection. It is actually tapping into the energy of one of these leaking realms. It is contamination." The wolf twisted grotesquely. Its fur hardened into scales, its body bulged, and three snarling heads sprouted from its shoulders. "Like a Serpent that finds a rift to the Verdant Realm and eats a Life-Seed," Isylia explained, her voice bored but educational, as though lecturing a child. "It becomes a Regenerating Hydra. Or a Boar that wanders into a fissure of the Elemental Realm, somehow survives, and eats a fire elemental seed. It becomes a Magma-Tusk Boar." She flicked her wrist, and the illusions shifted again... a menagerie of horrors: birds with molten wings, deer sprouting crystalline antlers, insects the size of houses, their bodies glowing with alien energy. "And so on," she said flatly. "Evolution here is not a ladder; it is a lottery of cosmic radiation." Hearing this, Sol’s face fell. A cold sweat broke out on his back. "Damn," he whispered. "If that’s true... this is Hell Level difficulty. I’m fighting magical mutants with a stone spear. ." Seeing his expression, Isylia rolled her eyes. Her tiny form radiating smugness. "Don’t wet yourself just yet. You don’t have to worry too much. Beasts like those... True Mutants... aren’t common near settlements, or more accurately you humans don’t dare to live near them. The beasts who can enter a Realm and come back alive are already Apex Predators. They have their own domain and stuff. They don’t bother with the edges of the map where you live." She leaned in, her small face serious. "With or without special powers, a powerful beast could decimate your entire tribe in seconds. If you met one, you wouldn’t be standing here negotiating; you would be a smear on the landscape." Sol breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. So I’m safe. For now." Isylia smirked, her lips curling into a cruel little smile. "Safe? Perhaps. But remember, bug... realms leak without warning. Today’s wolf is tomorrow’s hydra. And tomorrow’s hydra might be waiting outside your hut." Damn! He knew she was just teasing, but he really couldn’t get rid of this possibility. It seems like I have to get strong fast, otherwise, I’ll become a snack of some random beast. ... Sol rubbed the back of his neck, unease prickling at him. "Wait... if beasts can mutate by touching leaking realms... what about humans? Can we be contaminated too?" Isylia froze, her solar eyes narrowing. Then, slowly, she smirked. "Ah. Finally, the bug asks the right question." She raised her hand again, and the illusions shifted. The wolf dissolved, replaced by a phantom image of a man. At first, he looked ordinary... a hunter with a spear. But then the light warped. His skin shimmered, his eyes glowed, his body twisted into something half‑human, half‑otherworldly. "Yes," she said, her voice dripping with amusement. "Humans can be contaminated. When a mortal stumbles into a leaking fissure, sometimes they die instantly. Sometimes they go mad. And sometimes... they change." The phantom man grew wings of fire, his veins glowing like molten rivers. Then the image flickered, showing another human whose body had collapsed into ash. "Most of the time, it is fatal. Your fragile bodies cannot withstand pure energy. But on rare occasions, a mortal survives. He can really become an overlord in a single step,but only if fortune smiles and he absorbs something worthwhile. Otherwise, his fate is simply to vanish, one more eternally missing soul swallowed by the void." Sol’s mind raced with countless possibilities. Then he suddenly remembered the Sovereign of the Gorge. The mountain-sized snake that had snapped trees like toothpicks. "Wait," Sol asked. "What about the Sovereign of the Gorge? I saw a snake... it was easily fifty, maybe sixty feet tall. It roared like an earthquake. Was that a Mutant?" Isylia huffed, a sound of supreme derision. "That?" she laughed. "That worm? That is just a descendant of a descendant of a descendant. It has maybe a single drop of Abyssal bloodline diluted through a thousand generations. Real Abyssal Serpents can span thousands of meters. That thing you saw was a garden snake with a glandular problem." Sol stared at her. The monster that had almost ended his life... the creature that terrified the entire jungle... was a "garden snake" to her? Isylia smirked, her solar eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. "Size does not equal divinity, bug. That creature is a shadow of a shadow. A pale echo of what once was. If you had seen a true Abyssal Serpent, you would not be here to ask me questions. You would have been swallowed along with your entire valley, your tribe, and thousands of kilometers." She waved her hand, and the illusion shifted again. A colossal serpent appeared in the void, its body so vast it blotted out the stars. Its coils wrapped around entire landmasses, its scales shimmering like oceans, its eyes burning like suns. "This," she whispered, her voice trembling with reverence, "is an Abyssal Serpent. A creature born from the Water Realm itself. Compared to this, your Sovereign of the Gorge is a worm wriggling in the mud." Sol swallowed hard, his throat dry. The image of the serpent dwarfed everything he had ever known. His mind reeled at the scale, the sheer impossibility of it. "Okay," he muttered, his voice faint. "So I guess I should be... grateful I only met the garden snake version." Isylia smirked, her lips curling into a cruel smile. "Grateful? You should be on your knees, bug. The true Abyssal bloodline is extinction incarnate. Pray you never meet one." "So... beasts can evolve too," Sol muttered, his mind racing. "Damn. There is so much I don’t know. There wasn’t anything like that in the previous Sol’s memory. No one in the tribe talks about mutant beasts and stuff. It seems like the area we are in really is just the Beginner Village." He looked at Isylia, a fire igniting in his eyes. "Then is there any way for humans to grow stronger? " he asked, stepping closer. He could already imagine it. Breaking the limits of biology. Flying. Laser eyes. Wearing red underwear on the outside. Isylia looked at him with pity. "You really are ignorant. Have you been living in caves all this time? Don’t you know this basic stuff?" Sol smiled awkwardly. "Well... that does seem to be the case. Mud huts, actually." She huffed again, spreading her hands. "Of course humans and other species can evolve. There are countless ways. Training. Bloodline awakening. Artifact binding. And blah blah blah." " Some stumble into leaking realms and survive contamination. Some are chosen by higher beings. The paths are endless. As for what they are specifically... I don’t know." "You don’t know?" Sol asked, incredulous. "But didn’t you say you were a Goddess? How can you not know?" "Humph. Exactly. I am a Goddess," she countered, puffing her chest. "Why do I concern myself with how ants evolve to become bigger ants? No matter how strong an ant gets, it is still an ant. I deal in concepts, not study of ants." Sol’s face fell. "Really? Can they never become... gods? Or something close?" He asked sadly. If there was a ceiling, his dream of world domination... and flying in red underwear... was going to shatter. Isylia opened her mouth to answer, then stopped. Her eyes flickered. "Humph," she turned her face to the side comically, refusing to meet his gaze. "I don’t know. Who knows if it is possible or not. Maybe. Maybe not." Sol narrowed his eyes. He saw the evasion. She knew. She definitely knew. And the fact that she wasn’t saying "No" meant the answer was "Yes," but it was forbidden or dangerous to say. He smirked. He leaned down, bringing his face level with hers. "Don’t forget," Sol whispered, "you are trapped here. And the only way you can get out... is by satisfying me." Isylia blushed, then glared. "No matter what, I’m not going to tell you! It is restricted knowledge! Change the question!" He tried a few more times, poking and prodding, before she finally divulged something. Isylia tilted her head, her expression shifting from arrogance to something more complex. For a moment, she almost looked thoughtful. "Mortals becoming gods..." she murmured. "It is not impossible. But it is not simple either. To rise from mud to divinity requires more than strength. It requires law. It requires recognition. It requires the world itself to bend and say: yes, you are worthy." She leaned closer, her solar eyes burning into him. "Do you understand, bug? Power alone does not make a god. Even if you sprout wings, even if you breathe fire, even if you crush mountains... you are still mortal unless the Realm itself acknowledges you. Without that, you are just a mutant with delusions of grandeur." Sol swallowed hard, his heart pounding. His dream wasn’t shattered.. but it was far more complicated than he had imagined. Isylia smirked, satisfied with his silence. "So dream if you must. But remember: ants who dream of godhood usually end up crushed beneath the heel of those who already are." He tried to get more info, like had any human ascended and stuff and like how to become and stuff, but she really remained tight-lipped this time. It seemed he really couldn’t get this out of her. "Fine," Sol gave up. "But your silence tells us that it is possible. If I can evolve from Wolverine to Superman. That’s enough for me." Isylia ignored his gibberish references and continued, eager to move past the topic. "And then," she said, pointing to a swirling grey mist in the illusion. "Where two realms overlap, the world changes massively." The mist thickened, condensing into a phantom forest. The trees warped, their bark turning black, their branches curling like skeletal fingers. The light dimmed until it was swallowed entirely, leaving only a suffocating gloom. From the shadows, insects crawled... grotesque, massive things with glistening carapaces and eyes that glowed like lanterns. They moved unnaturally, slipping in and out of the darkness as if the shadows themselves were doorways. "Like a part of the forest where the Shadow Realm and the Insectoid Realm overlap," Isylia explained, her tone bored but edged with warning. "The trees turn black, the light dies, and the insects grow massive and move through shadows. Those are the Danger Zones. Avoid them." Sol’s stomach twisted as he watched the phantom insects scuttle across the illusion. One of them lunged, vanishing into shadow, only to reappear behind its prey... a deer that was torn apart in seconds. "Danger Zones..." Sol muttered, his voice tight. "So they’re like... dungeons. Places where the rules break." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺 Isylia smirked, her solar eyes gleaming. "Dungeons? Call them whatever you like. They are wounds in the world. Places where realms bleed into each other. The laws of nature collapse there. Beasts mutate. Plants awaken. Even the air becomes hostile. Mortals who wander in rarely wander out." She leaned closer, her small face serious, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Remember this too: just like with beasts, realms overlap without warning. And today’s forest could be tomorrow’s Danger Zone. And once it happens, your tribe or whatever place you live in, will no longer be there. It will be a graveyard, where only death reigns supreme. Of course, that’s only if you are weak, if you are strong maybe you can get out of there alive. " Sol swallowed hard, his throat dry. The fire in his eyes flickered, tempered by the weight of her words. "Alright," he muttered. "Avoid the creepy shadow‑bug forests. Got it." Isylia smirked, satisfied. "Good. At least you’re not completely hopeless. Not that I care about your well being or anything. " "Now moving on..."