"I never expected to et a monster that speaks," Adam said, his voice calm despite the pressure. His stance remained steady, refusing to show weakness. "Is this so kind of mutation?"
The lich didn’t respond.
It didn’t even acknowledge the question.
Its hollow gaze remained locked on the egg in Adam’s hand. The silence that followed felt heavier than the pressure itself, as if sothing unseen was tightening around the situation.
Adam noticed imdiately.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he followed the lich’s line of sight, glancing down at the egg.
It’s not looking at ... it’s looking at this. The realization ca fast, but the reason behind it didn’t.
What was so special about it?
Without wasting another second, Adam activated Analyze.
The mont the ability connected, information flooded in, but what he saw made his expression shift instantly. The calm in his eyes cracked, replaced by pure disbelief as the data settled in.
"How... is this possible?"
Adam’s voice barely faded when the disbelief hit him harder than the pressure in the air. The lich didn’t move. Its hollow gaze stayed locked on the egg, as if everything else had already lost aning.
Adam’s grip tightened slightly, mind racing as the information settled. This wasn’t normal. Not even close. He had gotten three things from Julius Nova, and each one had already proven how absurdly valuable they were.
Absolute Wind Control had changed everything. His wind attacks were smoother, sharper and more precise. Unlike his older techniques, which felt rigid and forced, this one responded instantly, bending to his will with almost no delay.
Then there was Midnight Shroud, his tier-nine defensive armant. Even against those three monstrous creatures, it had held. Torn slightly, yes. Damaged, sure. But the injuries he took were minimal compared to what should have happened.
And yet... none of that compared to the egg.
From the start, it had been a mystery. Even Analyze failed to reveal its contents. All Adam knew ca from Julius, tied to a potential extinction-level monster. That alone should have been enough to keep expectations in check.
But this was an extinction-class rift.
Even if it was an irregular one, the rules still applied. Things evolved. Things changed. And right now, standing in front of that silent lich, Adam felt it clearly—l, this egg wasn’t the sa anymore.
His eyes sharpened as the system display finally updated.
╭──────────╮
〖Na: ???〗
〖Bloodline〗
War
Conquest
Famine
╰───────────╯
Adam froze for half a second, staring at the three lines as if they might disappear. This was the first ti Analyze had ever shown anything about the egg. And what it showed made no sense.
Three bloodlines.
Not traits. Not attributes. Bloodlines.
A slow breath escaped him as his thoughts accelerated. This was sothing that could change everything if used correctly.
His eyes flickered, a single thought rising above all others.
Can I equip them?
The pressure in the air hadn’t eased, and the lich still hadn’t moved. It simply stood there, staring at the egg like everything else was irrelevant.
Adam didn’t miss it.
Across from him, the lich remained completely still, but beneath that silence was sothing far more dangerous. It wasn’t mindless. Not anymore. The presence it gave off was sharp, focused, and disturbingly aware of everything happening.
It hadn’t always been like this.
Once, it had been nothing more than a mindless zombie. A basic undead creature driven by instinct, programd to attack anything living that entered the rift. There was no thought or strategy, just endless hunger and decay.
But everything had changed the mont it encountered sothing it instinctively recognized.
[The Angel of Death].
Like all monsters, it knew what it was the mont it sensed it. Just like it understood its own abilities, its purpose, and how to kill, it understood that this... was a resource. Sothing beyond normal limits.
And more than that, it understood sothing else.
This rift had changed.
It was no longer just an extinction-class zone. It had beco an incursion. The rules had shifted. And the boundaries should have loosened. Yet sohow, all the monsters inside remained trapped, unable to escape.
The lich had reached one conclusion.
The Angel of Death was the cause.
That realization had been the turning point. Sothing new ignited within its hollow existence. For the first ti, it didn’t just react. It chose. It acted with purpose and seized the opportunity in front of it.
It took the resource for itself.
The transformation was imdiate. What had once been a simple extinction-class zombie began to evolve, mutating into sothing far more terrifying. Its presence deepened, its awareness sharpened, and its power surged beyond its original limits.
And it didn’t stop there.
With its newfound strength, it challenged the rift boss and won.
Instead of destroying it, the lich twisted it. Broke it apart and split it into three separate entities, forcing them into submission. They beca its tools, extensions of its will, bound to serve without resistance.
All while it continued absorbing the Angel of Death.
Then Adam appeared.
At first, the lich had felt it clearly. A strong pull. An instinctive urge to consu him. It believed that devouring Adam would accelerate the absorption process, pushing its evolution even further.
But now... that understanding had shifted.
Its hollow gaze narrowed slightly, locked onto the object in Adam’s hand.
It wasn’t Adam.
It had never been Adam.
It was the egg.
The realization settled deep within the lich as it stood frozen, its hollow gaze locked in place. For the first ti since its evolution, hesitation crept into its thoughts.
I cannot act yet.
That single conclusion repeated in its mind as it observed Adam carefully. The egg was an outlier, sothing beyond its understanding. Even with its newfound intelligence, it couldn’t predict what would happen if it acted recklessly.
And that uncertainty... was dangerous.
Its gaze sharpened slightly as new thoughts surfaced. How had such a weak creature obtained sothing like that? The difference in existence was obvious. Adam, despite his strength, shouldn’t have access to sothing of that level.
Unless...
The lich’s eyes widened slightly as a possibility ford.
Could he be working for it?
The thought ca unbidden, but once it appeared, it refused to leave. A divine-level existence. That was the only explanation that made sense. The egg alone had already been elevated to that level in its mind.
And now, Adam stood there holding it.
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