章 370: Chapter 370
Inside the Tower in Tuseong, at Gilgamesh's throne.
"No…!"
Bang!
Gilgamesh abruptly stood up from his seat.
The usual leisurely smile had vanished; his face was contorted with anger.
"This is absurd!"
What he saw on the screen he was monitoring was Seong Jihan crafting the domination code to remove the Constellation's Command.
Last time, the domination code was incomplete and failed.
But this time, the code he created was definitely complete.
It even took precedence over the Constellation's Command.
"How could he have completed that in just a few days!"
The Constellation's Command that had been issued on Earth.
For Gilgamesh, this was a substantial investment.
So much so that the size of the golden tower located in Tuseong had halved.
After exploiting it to its fullest, to remove that buff on the last day?
Gilgamesh, his eyes twitching with anger, kicked his throne.
Crash!
The golden throne instantly shattered.
Though usually restrained in his temper, the energy expended this time was infuriating enough to boil his head.
As the throne turned to dust.
Swoosh.
Dongbang Sak appeared beside Gilgamesh.
"I step away for a moment, and you've been up to more tricks."
Then seeing Gilgamesh unable to contain his anger, he stroked his beard.
"But it looks like it failed."
"Dongbang Sak…!"
"What's the matter?"
Gilgamesh clenched his teeth and pointed a finger at the screen.
"It's him again, huh… Oh… he completed that script. It must have required tremendous vitality."
"Indeed. At his level, he shouldn't be able to complete that. But how did he manage to finish it?"
"That guy has grown quite a bit, not just once or twice."
Dongbang Sak said this but then.
Unknowingly, he fiddled with the middle part of his beard again.
Several times he did this.
"Hmm…"
He felt puzzled by his actions, then stroked his beard from top to bottom as usual.
There had been a certain way he touched his beard for thousands of years, why was he focusing on the middle lately?
'…Strange.'
Especially when it concerned that guy.
While Dongbang Sak looked at Seong Jihan with a settled gaze.
"This means… humanity should at least complete its evolution, right?"
"Thanks to your power, the evolution should indeed succeed."
"Kuk…"
Grrr.
Grinding his teeth, Gilgamesh watched the final stages of humanity's evolution mission.
As humanity barely managed a 60% win rate thanks to Seong Jihan's buff and subsequently succeeded in evolving,
"We succeeded!"
Rumble…
Tuseong began to shake.
No, precisely, it was the golden tower that Gilgamesh had created which started to get destroyed and was being rebuilt from the foundation.
"Hmm… I wondered why you were so interested in humanity's evolution in the first place, but they have indeed become much stronger. Gilgamesh."
Standing above the ruined tower, Dongbang Sak looked at Gilgamesh.
Energy of life, far more intense than before, was radiating from him, gleaming in golden light.
"Yes. I am the King of Humans… If they grow stronger, then I grow stronger too."
Calming the earlier fury.
Inspecting his condition coolly, Gilgamesh smirked.
"If humanity leaps to mid-tier, maybe I too can win against you."
"That would be nice. It would mean a worthy opponent for me."
Swoosh.
Dongbang Sak scanned Gilgamesh up and down, then turned his back.
"But even if you progress, at that level, you'd still be no match for me."
"…We'll see about that."
"I look forward to seeing it. Then when you rebuild the tower, I won't interrupt."
Swoosh!
Dongbang Sak disappeared from the scene.
Gilgamesh watched the direction he left towards, his gaze puzzled.
'Did something happen? The guy who used to watch me relentlessly now suddenly steps back on his own.'
It was fortunate he was a Constellation.
Had it been a person, Dongbang Sak would probably have followed him even to sleep or to the bathroom.
But lately, perhaps intentionally, his surveillance had somewhat slackened.
'There seems to be an intention, but I can't miss the opportunity that's been given.'
As Gilgamesh expanded the tower, he brought up the screen again.
Displayed on it were the evolved humans.
'Let's see…'
Among them, he focused on those with noticeably protruding ears.
'More than I expected.'
A sly smile formed on his lips as he watched the people.
* * *
[The evolved humanity, what are the tangible changes? The efficiency of stats is being measured within a range of 20-40%.]
[Cases of physical changes are predominantly ears. Cases where eye color changes or canines protrude have also been reported.]
[The hospitals are empty? During the evolution, many patients naturally healed and were discharged.]
Humanity, having evolved from the lowest-tier to a lower-tier species.
Visibly, aside from a few cases, there seemed to be no significant changes.
-There's some change, but maybe I'm not feeling it because I'm not a player…
-For ordinary people, it doesn't seem much different from a slight increase in stamina?
-Nah, evolution is awesome, my broken leg healed instantly lol. Saved on hospital bills, sweet!
-Isn't curing diseases the main thing after all lol
-But there are quite a few players with ears protruding, right?
-Yep, not among ordinary people, but quite visible among the players.
For ordinary people, curing diseases was the most tangible change in this evolution.
But the players, mostly experiencing a significant increase in stat efficiency, showed satisfaction.
However.
While many were satisfied with the evolution, those with elongated ears were frowning.
"Ah… I can't get used to these ears…."
Among them was Yoon Seah.
She moved her ears in front of a mirror.
Her ears moved dynamically, twitching.
Yoon Seah watched this and let out a resigned laugh.
"Heh… Uncle, see this? I can even use my ears to fan myself!"
"Well, that's quite something, but stop moving them and come here."
The penthouse living room.
Here, alongside Seong Jihan's family, the Shadow Queen was present.
"Queen. Can you check? Does Seah have some relation to the elves?"
"Hmm… let me see."
The Shadow Queen reached towards Yoon Seah's ears, inspecting them closely.
"There's a very faint trace of the World Tree elves here."
"…Really?"
"Did the World Tree elves conduct experiments here before?"
"Yes! Remember, that masked elf tried to cross over but failed. It was said to be an experimented world."
Yoon Seah quickly answered the Shadow Queen's question.
This fact was well known to all of humanity as the high elves had widely advertised it.
Of course, apart from Seong Jihan, hardly anyone knew the detailed background.
But the fact that something had been carried out was known.
So now, with people's ears protruding, there were already talks that it might be due to those experiments.
And,
"I'm not sure of the exact details, but it seems there's an aftermath from that experiment. It's possible that some individuals among humanity have residual genetic factors related to elves. Shall we test it?"
Chick!
As she said this, the Shadow Queen lightly cut the back of Yoon Seah's hand with her nail.
"Ouch!"
A line of blood formed on her hand, but,
Sssss…
The shallow scratch regenerated in the blink of an eye.
'It's not comparable to the regenerative powers of the World Tree elves, but it's still considerable.'
This confirms she's beyond human.
As Seong Jihan was thinking this,
"What, what… am I a descendant of elves? But why."
Swoosh.
Yoon Seah looked around at Yoon Sejin and Seong Jihan.
"Why didn't it manifest in Dad or Uncle… Could it be that I was picked up somewhere?"
"What nonsense! I held our Seah right after she was born at the gynecologist!"
"I was there with Jigan too. That time."
"The expression of genetic factors doesn't necessarily relate to lineage. Don't worry about any secrets of birth."
"Alright…."
Yoon Seah seemed somewhat relieved by that.
Yoon Sejin, wanting to reassure his daughter, showed her various cases.
"Seah, there are quite a few others with slightly protruding ears. And you should be glad your molars aren't protruding. This person had to remove a wisdom tooth and get implants."
With that, he showed some extreme cases.
Pointy ears seemed mild compared to molars jutting out like a predator's or pupils disappearing.
"Hmm, are the teeth a sign of werewolf traits? The eyes… remind me of several species. Can't specify who they were influenced by until seen directly."
"Oh. So, besides elves, does humanity also have genetic traces of those species?"
"Seems like it. It's fascinating. Traces of species seemingly unrelated to humanity have been hiding like this."
The Shadow Queen said this and tilted her head.
"I wonder what else will pop out if they evolve to a mid-tier."
"…More changes from here?"
"Yes. Your ears might get even longer."
"Ugh, I don't want them to be like elf ears…."
Since the mischief of the World Tree elves, the image of elves had hit rock bottom.
The idea of having ears like theirs wasn't welcoming to the person concerned.
"Shadow Queen. Isn't there a way to reverse this?"
"If a species' genetic traits have manifested, it's irreversible. If you find protruding ears unsightly, wearing an artifact to transform the body and return the ears to their original shape might be a solution."
"Artifact…."
Yoon Sejin, upon hearing the Shadow Queen's response, immediately started scouring the auction houses.
Meanwhile,
'Is this related to the experiments conducted on humanity?'
Seong Jihan recalled the ancient events upon hearing the Shadow Queen's words.
The blood clan striving to create a limitless species, testing on humanity.
Various experiments were conducted back then.
The genetic factors of other species manifesting in humanity now, were they introduced back then?
'If it really ascends to mid-tier, it may diversify into even more varied species than now….'
Currently, those whose appearance had changed constituted less than 0.001% of the population, hence it hadn't been a major issue.
But if genetic traits express more as they ascend to mid-tier, the species known as humanity might branch into several paths.
"Queen. If we escape from BattleNet, would it reset this?"
"I'm not sure. I haven't seen any species that have experienced evolution escape BattleNet."
"Right…"
"Why would a species that has experienced evolution bother leaving?"
Having tasted evolution, why would they leave?
"Right… Who would leave? Giving up extended life and flawless skin would be a shame. Better to have some ears than miss out."
"Mmm… If only Seah's ears would return to normal, I'd want to escape right away, but realistically, there's bound to be opposition."
"Probably so."
The evolutionary bonus received via BattleNet.
The societal shifts it had brought to humanity were significant.
People were healthier than ever, and most diseases couldn't surpass the enhanced human physiology.
With people guessing lifespans could extend beyond a century and a half, the change BattleNet brought to humanity was a blessing in itself.
Such physical transformations were manageable to an extent.
However,
'This is but a castle built on sand.'
The evolutionary status of humanity was possible only because Seong Jihan had acquired it.
If Seong Jihan were to disappear, it would swiftly crumble like a mirage.
Although now classified as a lower-tier species, humanity was still too frail to navigate the world of BattleNet on its own.
Escaping from the game if the opportunity arose was a rational choice.
Thus, Seong Jihan maintained his original thoughts despite witnessing the evolution.
However, in a Space League match a few days later, a different scenario unfolded.
=Ah… Match 1, Seong Jihan is banned!
=It feels like it's become a constant tactic to ban him when facing us!
=Did the World Tree elves spread the word! How do these new species know how to counter so well!
With Seong Jihan banned, humanity started the game at a disadvantage.
=Uh…
=The players are pressing their opponents!
But, they were actually managing to turn the tide in their favor.
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