Evolving My Undead Legion In A Game-Like World

Chapter 1263: Spirit Tamer [1]

In the universe, there was a difference between a race and a civilization. Regardless of the distinction, both were commonly divided into four broad levels.

Low. Mid. High. Top.

The two rankings did not necessarily match. A race could belong to a Top-level civilization while remaining naturally weak.

Likewise, an exceptionally gifted race could exist within a civilization that had failed to develop properly. Aurora was a good example.

Humans there were considered somewhere around a low-Mid-level race by universal standards. Aurora itself, however, had already developed into a high-Mid-level civilization.

Humans were the most widespread race Michael knew of in the universe. Their greatest advantage was numbers.

Humans lacked many of the overwhelming natural advantages possessed by stronger races. Elves generally had high magical affinity and long lifespans. Dragons possessed exceptional bodies, high magical affinity, powerful bloodlines, and inherited racial memories.

Humans were comparatively ordinary. They were only clearly superior to some weaker races in overall potential.

Goblins were one example. Like humans, ordinary goblins were not particularly impressive individually. Like vampires, a good part of them could be said to belong to the monster race.

Much like Starborn were to the human race, only variants of the goblin race usually reached the upper levels of supernatural society. Yet this did not stop goblins from developing powerful civilizations.

There was even a Goblin civilization whose technological advancement could be compared with the Star Nation. Starborn possessed terrifying natural intelligence and an innate ability to easily interact with rare forms of energy, particularly light and several higher derivatives related to it.

Their mental development was remarkably fast. By around eight years old, a Starborn’s brain was already fully mature and could reason better than adults of other races.

This intelligence was one of the foundations behind the Star Nation’s technological dominance. But their gift came with an equally severe curse.

Their lifespan was extremely short. Most Starborn could only live for around forty years naturally.

Even after becoming supernaturals, their lifespan remained unusually poor compared to others at the same Rank. A human, elf, or other supernatural of equivalent strength could often outlive a Starborn by a considerable margin.

That was the contradiction of their race.

In any case, seeing that Aurelius Veyr was not only ranked highly among the many other Rank Four existences in the universe, but was also a Starborn belonging to the Star Nation, made his identity even more interesting.

<i>Did he claim it alone like I did?</i>

The thought only lasted a moment before Michael shook his head.

It wasn’t that he underestimated others. But if the difficulty of claiming another Universal Cornerstone was anywhere near what he had experienced, accomplishing it alone was incredibly difficult.

Michael had only succeeded because he possessed advantages that were difficult to reproduce. Even then, the process had not been simple.

Someone else succeeding only four days after the Origin Battlefield reopened made Michael suspect there had been more involved. Perhaps Aurelius had encountered a situation similar to the one Michael had witnessed, where several powerful Awakeners grouped together to attack the monsters protecting a cornerstone.

The difference could simply be that this time, the assault had succeeded. The other possibility was that Aurelius might have received direct support from the Star Nation.

That possibility actually seemed more likely. Not everyone developed the way Michael did.

He had grown from an ordinary Awakener into a realm-shaking civilization power in roughly a year, and he had done most of it without any powerful organization carrying him forward. Even Director Arven, who did not strike Michael as someone with exceptional social skills, still belonged to an organization.

Michael had little doubt that if someone like Arven genuinely decided to claim a Universal Cornerstone and the academy supported him fully, success would only be a matter of time.

Aurelius Veyr came from the Star Nation. A Top-level civilization. With that kind of background, manpower and resources were the least surprising things he could possess.

The more Michael considered it, the more certain he became that Rank 18 had probably not claimed Sovereign’s Reach entirely alone.

Unfortunately, no matter how curious Michael became, there was nothing else to learn. The ranking had only given him a rank and realm.

Beyond that, Aurelius Veyr remained a mystery.

Just as Michael was thinking about what changes this new rival might bring, something else caught his attention. He turned his head slightly toward the sky and smiled.

"She’s awake?"

Almost at the same moment, far away in another location, Michael’s other body opened his eyes.

Golden fields stretched endlessly around him. Soft wind moved through the grass, sending waves across the plain beneath the dark sky of the Mausoleum. Above, the heavens were painted in shifting aurora hues.

Green, violet, blue, and faint traces of gold drifted slowly across the darkness like enormous ribbons of light, casting a soft glow over the entire field. The colors reflected faintly across the tips of the grass, making the plain look almost unreal.

Several meters away, beneath that strange glowing sky, a figure lay unconscious among the golden grass. Michael had been waiting there for some time.

The moment he sensed the change, he stood. His attention went at once to the figure lying several meters away.

Arianne. It had already been three days since Arianne returned from the trial.

Michael couldn’t help but think back to that moment. It had happened shortly after he returned from the ranking arena, after spending the remaining three hours teaching Beginning how to combine Corpse Explosion with Brutal Rebirth and repeatedly testing just how destructive the combination could become.

Not long after, the Awakening Temple had finally sent him the notification he had been waiting for.

[A participant has successfully completed the Awakening Trial.]

After confirming that she was alive, Michael had spent a long time reprimanding her for the reckless decisions she had made inside the trial.

Arianne’s experience gave him his first proper understanding of how the Awakening Temple worked from the participant’s perspective.