Chapter 33: First Evolution

Rosario stood staring at the 11 still figures arrayed before him. Standing at attention were his original 10 summons along with Julie who had joined his group only a week prior. The were all standing in the training field that was part of the barracks that had been built in the past month. Looking them over, their Steel armor mirrored his own with the exception they did not have a mask on theirs.

So much had changed over the past 4 weeks, they now had a rough palisade wall surrounding the portion of the city that would become the castle. Each of them had their own house while a blacksmith shop still radiated the heat from the recent use it had gotten.

Rosario had sat with Havresh and spoken with him at length of how he wanted their Legions to be armed moving forward. Until he was able to see what the rest of the world used in combat he would go forward with his thoughts. He was told that once everyone had achieved their first evolution they would be able to imbue their weapons with essence as they wielded them, this would make a simple steel sword much more durable.

Rosario had decided to go with a hybrid of the Roman and Macedonian armors. They would use Corinthian Helmets that were painted black to allow them to blend with the darkness of the forest more and so the shine from the metal would be a non-issue. The plume would only be used for ceremonial purposes or when entire legions that could not be hidden would march to war. All of them were armed with Spears, Hand and a half swords, and a Bow.

They all had their biceps open to the air to allow for easy movement and flexibility, covering their forearms were bracers, and on their hands were crude fingerless leather gloves. On their chests they wore tunics underneath a steel cuirasses, the cuirasses were custom fitted for both the males and females. On their bottoms they currently wore pteruges, made with an underlayer of purple cloth, and second layer of leather strips that had steel studs throughout them for reinforcement. Underneath the pteruges they each wore a pair of woolen pants. Guarding from their knees to their ankles were steel greaves. And on each of their feet currently the shoes they had each come into this world with as they already struggled to make the gloves let alone shoes.

The last piece of equipment they all wielded was the roman rectangular shields, instead of the circular ones he had chosen to use the Roman rectangular ones. They were made of wood with steel plating and could be infused with their essence when they reached the first evolution. Currently they were all black but Rosario had plans to place the clan symbol on all of them.

It had taken quite a bit of essence, but Andromina had been able to engrave all the steel pieces of armor with a color rune, to make them black, a lightweight rune, to lower the weight of the equipment, and cooling and heating runes that would adjust based on the wearer. If the wearer stood in the blazing sun all day wearing their armor it would automatically cool the inside, while if the wearer stood in the freezing cold the armor would heat to keep the occupant warm. They each had a ranger cloak that was used in recon missions or in heavy precipitation. All their cloaks were black and made from the fur of a species of black bear they had found in the area on some of their expeditions.

Rosarios armor mirrored his subordinates except that instead of being able to see his face. Under his helmet he wore a wrap that covered his whole head except his eyes. Over that sat his helmet that was engraved just like the others but with another engraving that made the parts of his helmet you could normally look through completely black to those looking at him. For him there was no change in his view.

As he stood silently looking over his people a thought to ask Andromenia to add the same engraving to the rest of their helmets passed through his head. He wanted them all to have a royal purple haze that would keep others from seeing where each of them was looking. He also thought that maybe he should explain what infrared vision was and maybe see if she could make that part of the helmet's features.

Apparently it was easy for Andromina to place enchantments onto some small gold rings they had made, now everyone had spatial storage. Rosario thought he had gotten japed with his copper ring, but Andromina pointed out to him that his ring could be upgraded indefinitely while theirs would have to be trashed and remade to get more space in them.

"As you all know, one of our teams was so kind as to find out we have neighbors now."

Glancing at the form of Julie Rosario continued. "Today each and every one of you has now reached the limit of level ten and can evolve now. We will begin evolving two at a time as the rest watch over the camp and their peers."

"I will evolve first along with Julie, the rest of you pair up and set a patrol. Julie come with me."

Rosario began making his way towards the cave with Julie silently following behind him. As they made their way into the cavern Rosario explained his plan.

"A while back I was told that if there is a source of energy or a natural treasure used when I evolve it will help me with the evolution and to gain better traits. I decided to use the pool to see if it will make a good replacement for a natural treasure."

Rosario didn't see as Julie's eyebrows shot up on her head, she had seen the pool before and knew of its uses. In fact, she had used it a week ago to become a Celestial Asura herself. She had been amazed and so thankful when she had found out her potential had gone from black to blood red. She had found moves had become easier to learn when fighting and her mind was much clearer to understand certain concepts.

"Do you think the pool will be able to help us become more powerful with our evolutions?"

"I do."

With the short exchange over they continued until they reached the inner cavern, Rosario had long ago set torches along the walls that took essence stones to run. He had made sure that either Tormund himself or someone he assigned the job too, would replace the essence stones once a week to keep the entire cave lit.

Upon reaching the shelf leading into the water Rosario began removing all of his armor and clothing but his undergarments and the wrapping on his head. As Julie did the same Rosario made his way to where he had carved out some steps that led into the water. In his hand he held the last essence crystal that would bring him to his first evolution.

He waited waist deep in the water till Julie joined him, tossing her a crystal to use Rosario gave his last instructions.

"I will go first, just keep me from drowning will ya."

Hearing the teasing smirk in his voice Julie smiled. "Don't worry boss I will not let you down."

"Snorting at her Rosario took one last look at his status screen before evolving." As he stared over his stats he though of how much Julie had changed in just one week of being surrounded by his people. She had gone from a shy introvert to someone who was constantly smiling and joking with others.

Rosario Updated stats:

[Name: Rosario Morlux

Title: Squire (11/1,000), Primordial

Race: Primordial Celestial Asura

Evo 0

Level 10 (985/1000)

Blessed Primordial of the Abyss I (0/10)

Mana: 0

Constitution: 110

Strength: 109

Agility: 110

Dexterity: 107

Mind Capacity: 96

Mind Processing: 97

Passive Abilities: Blessed Primordial of the Abyss I, One with the Void

Proficiencies:

Light(Beginner II)

Dark(Beginner VI)

Void(Student III)

Chaos(Novice I)

Life(Beginner II)

Death(Beginner VII)]

Rosario had placed the stats he had received from the remaining 9 levels into both his mind stats. His goal was to reach 100 in both and unlock his mana heart and begin using magic early after his evolution. He literally needed only one more level up to reach both.

Closing his status window, Rosario took a deep breath as he prepared his mind for whatever was going to happen. Silently he began absorbing the Evo 0, Level 3 essence crystal till he reached the limit of 1000 absorbed, once he absorbed all the essence he received a system message.

[Congratulations you have reached the milestone of your first evolution, this will be painful.]

Seeing the prompt Rosario couldn't even voice his grievances before he felt the essence charge around his body feeling like it was tearing his insides apart. With a last thought of how he needed to stop passing out in front of his people Rosario lost consciousness as his body sunk into the water.

Julie barely caught his head before it submerged underwater, if it weren't for the fact that she had put quite a few of her stats into strength and that she was supporting him in water she didn't think she would have been able to hold even his head up.

"Ugh, you need to go on a diet."