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CHAPTER 284: CONDITIONS FOR EVOLUTION

 

— Plainevelt Dungeon: Core Room —

It had been two weeks since we made it back to Wislo from that deranged theater-type dungeon. After wrapping up our reports and loose ends in Wislo, we returned to Plainevelt.

「Huh… this feels weirdly nostalgic.」

Even just from the Core Room, I could tell how fast the town of Plainevelt was growing—more buildings, sure, but the population had shot up too.

In Wislo, adventurers kind of felt like the stars of the show. Here, it wasn’t just adventurers; other trades were buzzing too, with that lively racket you only get in a developing town.

「Mm. Let’s go walk the streets later and take a look.」

「Yeah, good idea! We haven’t gone out for a stroll together in a while. …But first we should meet with Barbaru and the Cores and get on the same page.」

Right then, Ars, Irs, Barbaru, and Quelebre teleported into the Core Room.

「Welcome back, everyone!」

「We’re home! Looks like things are going smoothly on your end!」

「Yes—everything is progressing nicely! Members of Calvados have been moving over here in stages, and just the other day they filed the Clan House application and registered their base transfer.」

「Gotcha, gotcha! So we’ll probably see full-on dungeon runs start in, what, about a month?」

「That’s about right! The Plainevelt Dungeon has finished expansion to Floor 40. We’ve already summoned the SS-rank monster, the Frost Lich, and we successfully installed the special gimmicks in the boss area!」

「From Floor 41 up to Floor 50, we’ll add on as Dungeon Points accumulate—dat’s the plan!」

Yeah. Even if Calvados begins serious raiding, we should be fine for a while. Once real raiding starts, Dungeon Points will pile up faster and faster. Hitting Floor 50 shouldn’t be an issue, and even if a party manages to push beyond that, the Phantom Castle Dungeon waiting beyond isn’t something you clear easily.

Finishing the Phantom Castle Dungeon will take a mind-boggling amount of Dungeon Points anyway. All told, luring Calvados to Plainevelt is a pretty sweet setup for us.

「That’s it for Plainevelt’s status report! We’ve got the matter of the egg too, but before that, we wanna hear what kind of expedition Aun and the others had.」

「Right. Before that… there’s something I want to tell everyone.」

This expedition to Wislo had been, in large part, for our individual growth. In The Grand Theatre of Mad Elegance and Countless Sins, I managed to evolve, and the other four all seemed to find threads to pull for their own power-ups. More than anything, though, my evolution taught me a lot.

About the conditions for evolution.

Up to now we’ve half-assumed, ‘If you raise your level, you evolve’, but… evolution from here on isn’t that simple.

There’s also Drake and Nelfie—who aren’t evolving from monster lineages but from demi-humans. They’ve each got their own thoughts on that, I’m sure, but I should start with mine.

「I’ve been thinking about it nonstop—what you actually need in order to evolve. When I evolved into Enma Ruler, some things came into focus.」

Everyone’s eyes widened; the room held its breath.

No surprise. Even if you comb every text in the world, you wouldn’t find a credible answer on ‘conditions for evolution’.

I paused a beat, then held up my fingers one by one, choosing my words carefully.

「First: Level.

Think of it as the vessel. It sets the upper limit for how much power you can pour in. But a big vessel is pointless if there’s nothing in it.」

That’s the first condition. We already knew just grinding levels alone won’t make you evolve; the key is reframing it as the capacity—the vessel.

With that, the rest is easier to grasp.

「Next: Attribute.

That’s the kind of liquid you pour into the vessel—fire, ice, darkness, light. Think of it like: what color power are you housing?」

What powers you pour into the vessel—and most likely, the balance among those attributes—shapes the evolution path.

「Third: Emotion.

That’s the trigger for evolution. Fear, anger, grief—when your soul is shaken hard enough, only then can you crack the shell.」

In my case, anger was the trigger for my special evolution. I’m sure of that much.

「Fourth: Experience.

This is the liquid you pour in. And no matter how intense the emotion, without the layers of your past, it won’t detonate big. If I put it a little stiffly: it’s the habits of thought carved into your soul. How you move in a fight, how you decide—those layers shape the form of your soul.」

The kind of will strong enough to break the soul’s shell—that’s a confidence or conviction you only get from accumulated experience.

For monsters, a single choice often means life or death. Maybe that’s why stronger monsters live in harsher environments.

「Fifth: Blood.

I think this is the factor that biases your likely destination.

But the flip side is, it doesn’t determine everything. Blood is just a starting point.」

Zoa kept going on about the ‘blood of the Doumeki’.

A lot about that is still unknown, but it could strongly influence where you evolve to. Flip it around, though, and it means whether you can evolve isn’t just a matter of race.

No matter your lineage, evolution probably isn’t off-limits. Monsters do find it easier, sure—but humans can accumulate a wider variety of experiences. In that sense, knowing your roots can be a compass for the future you’re aiming at.

「And last—the soul’s orientation.

No matter how much power you have, if you haven’t found what you want to become, you won’t evolve.

In other words, evolution isn’t a change in strength—it’s a change in how you are.」

When I finished, the air in the room went still.

It was a silence that said everyone was thinking about something.

I glanced around. Nelfie’s brows were knit. Drake had his fists clenched. Kinu and Shinku were just quietly watching me, but in each expression, more than words, I could see resolve seeping through.

…Yeah. They all feel it too. To move forward from here, what we need isn’t strength—it’s resolve.

Nobody said anything at the moment, but at this moment, everyone decided the course they would run through.