Evan replayed the battle with the mutated giant crocodile in his mind. Throughout the entire fight, the creature had only used two skills:

  The enhanced version of Raging Tides

  And burrowing.

  Burrowing was a Tier?1 skill, so it wouldn’t appear as an extractable ability. But… was that really all the monster had?

  He couldn’t figure it out. Maybe this was the price of mutation—

  The mutated crocodile was far stronger than a normal Vahn River crocodile, but it had lost many of its innate skills.

  Floating in the blank white space was a single cluster of orange mist. Its size and density far surpassed anything Evan had ever seen.

  There was no doubt—

  This was the enhanced version of Raging Tides.

  Evan decided to rename it:

  Raging Myriad Tides.

  “Only one skill available… honestly, that’s a win. If I sold this extract, it’d easily go for over two hundred million.”

  Most evolvers didn’t have the luxury of choosing skills like he did. Having only one skill meant no gambling, no randomness—

  Absorb it, and you guaranteed the strongest ability.

  Evan merged his consciousness into the orange mist.

  When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the cramped cabin.

  He had successfully obtained Raging Myriad Tides.

  He closed his eyes and sensed the new ability—

  A smile slowly spread across his face.

  It was even stronger than he expected.

  Raging Myriad Tides:

  Slam the ground to unleash a violent shockwave that strikes all targets within a radius—ground, underground, and air.

  Targets hit are briefly stunned.

  The user can sense the position of all living beings within the shockwave’s range.

  The power was immense—he had experienced it firsthand.

  But what surprised him most was the anti?stealth effect.

  When he activated the skill, he could sense every living creature within range. Invisible, hidden, burrowed—none of it mattered.

  This turned him from prey into hunter against stealth?type enemies.

  It filled multiple gaps in his combat toolkit.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  And the extract’s physical enhancement was equally impressive.

  The higher the extract quality, the harder it was to absorb—

  But the rewards were greater.

  Evan stretched his limbs. His strength and speed had increased far more than when he absorbed the Undying Salamander extract.

  Among Chrysalis?tier evolvers, few could match his physical foundation—

  And he still had two extracts left unused.

  If he completed all four Chrysalis extracts…

  He suspected he might be able to kill same?tier evolvers bare?handed, without skills.

  He opened the door.

  FangBro was still guarding it.

  “Big bro, you succeeded—huh? Why are you so… round?”

  “Overate,” Evan said casually.

  His body was still swollen from the excess energy. He just needed time—and Swan Dance—to digest it.

  Once fully absorbed, his physique would reach a new level.

  Maybe it was time to consider a Tier?3 extract next.

  Night fell.

  Evan slipped onto the deck again, moving his swollen body under the moonlight.

  He danced Swan Dance repeatedly. Each cycle made him noticeably slimmer.

  He danced until his hips ached.

  He rested, letting his Regenerator Core repair the soreness and restore stamina.

  Then he danced again.

  He needed to digest the mutated crocodile extract as quickly as possible.

  When he turned around, the crewman uncle was standing behind him again.

  “Uncle, did you learn Silent Step? How do you make no sound at all?”

  The uncle chuckled.

  “Fatter now. Dance isn’t as pretty as yesterday.”

  Evan: “…”

  He rested, recovered, and continued dancing in front of the uncle.

  He danced all night.

  By dawn, he had gone from “pretty fat” to “slightly chubby”—

  A chubby handsome guy.

  He returned to his room and slept.

  They were expected to reach the Rovan capital, Mori City, by evening.

  At 4 p.m., Evan woke naturally.

  They were two or three hours away.

  He asked FangBro to book a standard room at a hotel near Rovan Academy. Without an ID, he had to share a room with FangBro.

  When the boat docked, Evan waved goodbye to the crewman uncle.

  Mori City felt even more polarized than other Rovan cities—

  A massive gap between rich and poor.

  The slums weren’t the largest in area, but had the highest population density in all six nations.

  The rich district, however, was the most prosperous place in Rovan.

  Rovan Academy was located in the rich district. Someone like Evan, with no identity records, couldn’t pass security.

  FangBro used earth?phase movement to sneak them in.

  They did the same to bypass hotel security.

  After washing up, both lay on their beds scrolling through their phones.

  Evan searched for information on Amida, the academy’s dean.

  As the top figure in Rovan’s education system, Amida was a major public figure. He had attended an important meeting in the capital that morning.

  That meant he was already back in Mori City—

  And Wendy Lewis and Yvonne Hart were likely brought to Rovan Academy.

  Amida had promised Wendy a full professorship.

  But when Evan checked the academy’s website, her name wasn’t listed among the evolutionary science faculty.

  “Better go in person tomorrow morning.”

  He made up his mind.

  A normal extract offers choices.

  A mutated one offers a command.

  Raging Myriad Tides is overwhelming, absolute, and invasive—

  a skill that sees everything, shakes everything, and leaves nowhere to hide.

  But power like this never comes without a price.

  what do you think mutation took from the crocodile…

  and what will it take from Evan?