Chapter 159: The Evolution Pathways Everyone’s mouth began watering uncontrollably at the intoxicating scent, but they maintained discipline and restraint until Yara officially declared the meat properly cooked and ready to consume. "It’s done," Yara announced, her own voice slightly unsteady with anticipation. The moment permission was granted, everyone reached for their portions. As they began eating, their hands didn’t slow down, quite the opposite. Their pace accelerated with each bite, completely unable to control themselves from consuming more and more of the incredible meat. The flavor was indescribable. Sweet yet savory, tender yet substantial, with complexity that seemed to evolve with each bite. The texture practically melted against the tongue while simultaneously providing satisfying resistance. Moon had eaten expensive meals at high-end restaurants before his transmigration. But this surpassed anything he’d ever experienced. "This is..." Selene tried to speak around a mouthful, gave up, swallowed, then tried again. "This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life." Yara was eating with tears actually streaming down her blue-tinted cheeks, overwhelmed by flavor so profound. "The benefactor once described food from his homeland that sounded impossible... I think this might actually match those descriptions...the meat is so good." The Savi warriors had abandoned all pretense of dignified eating, devouring their portions. Mirage had also devoured his portion before waiting for Moon to give him another. Moon felt warmth spreading through his body as he ate, his muscles felt stronger. The S-rank beast’s concentrated life force was tangibly enhancing everyone who consumed it. [Constitution +1] Moon’s eyes widened as a system notification appeared. The meat had provided a permanent attribute increase. From the expressions on Selene’s and Yara’s faces, they were experiencing similar benefits. Moon had enough stored away for multiple future servings. "We’re definitely hunting more S-rank beasts in the future. Thank you for sharing such an amazing meal with all of us, Moon," Selene said with absolute conviction, already reaching eagerly for a second generous helping of the incredible meat. Moon couldn’t possibly disagree with that assessment. "You’re very welcome. Enjoy your food, you all earned it." Moon smiled warmly before casually tossing a large handful of premium meat toward Mirage, who had already demolished his second massive portion and was eyeing the cooking pot with obvious hunger despite his bulging stomach. The White Horse’s stomach was like a black hole, swallowing anything and everything across its path. [ Name: Moon ] [ Race: Human ] [ Class: Classless ] [ Level: 25 ][Awaiting Evolution] [ Lives: 18,541 ] 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺 [ Strength: 38 ] [ Agility: 38 ] [ Constitution: 43 ] [ Mana: 58 ] (+5 to all stats) [ Attribute Points: 5 ] [ Skills: Elemental Attack, Five Element Affinity, Tenacity, Silver Skin, Ignite ] [ Talent: Grim Reaper ] [ Class Skill: Class Slot {0/1} ] Staring at his status screen in the peaceful firelight, Moon felt satisfied with his current progression rate. This hidden realm was extraordinarily valuable, exceptional in fact. Although it carried significant dangers that could result in permanent death, the treasures and rewards available were incredibly rare and worth the risks. His physical body had strengthened by leaps and bounds through the golden fish blood’s permanent attribute boosts. His level had reached the maximum threshold for awakeners. His life reserves had grown to truly impressive numbers. But despite all these positive developments, there remained one critical problem. The realm, as beneficial as it had proven to be, didn’t provide Moon with something absolutely crucial for his class advancement: access to diverse classes he could copy and analyze. Moon was completely unable to utilize his Class Slot ability to copy classes from anyone else in this realm because Selene represented the only other human awakener present. The Savi people apparently didn’t possess the awakener class system at all based on Yara’s complete unfamiliarity with the concept. His class as powerful as it was, didn’t allow him to copy any class beyond the humans. His gaze shifted toward Selene, who was eating with obvious joy and satisfaction written across her face. ’Maybe I should copy her class temporarily,’ Moon considered seriously. He was certain that Selene would choose to evolve her Four Elements Affinity. He had copied her class before, and he knew that based on her ambitions, Selene would choose to save her lives and evolve her skill to epic rank. ’She should have accumulated enough spare lives by now to afford evolving her Four Elements Affinity skill to the next rank... I’m genuinely curious what kind of evolution path she’ll receive.’ He was certain that Selene would choose to evolve her Four Elements Affinity. He had copied her class before, and he knew that based on her ambitions, Selene would choose to save her lives and evolve her skill to epic rank. The thought intrigued him beyond just task necessity. Different people could possess the exact same skill at the same rank, but when they evolved those skills through life expenditure, the resulting upgrades could manifest as completely different abilities. The evolution outcomes were fundamentally unpredictable, nobody could accurately tell you what specific upgrade you might receive next. Prediction was essentially impossible despite centuries of research. Across the past two hundred years since the apocalypse and the awakener system’s arrival, the greatest thinkers and dedicated researchers had developed two primary competing theories attempting to explain this phenomenon. The first theory proposed complete randomness. According to this model, the base skill functioned like a tree trunk, and each potential evolution represented one of many possible branches that the skill could randomly develop along. Pure chance determined which branch manifested during any specific evolution attempt. The second theory, which had been adopted by most prominent thinkers and was considered more credible. It proposed that skill evolution wasn’t random at all. Rather, it was intrinsically personalized and innate to each individual’s fundamental nature. Just like how talents were unique expressions of personal essence, evolving skills supposedly followed paths that were inherently best suited for that specific person’s combat style, inner personality, and deeper nature. Moon honestly wasn’t certain which theory was objectively correct. But he absolutely knew one thing with complete confidence: he was going to copy and comprehend whatever evolutionary path he could observe, regardless of which theory explained it best.