Endless Evolution: Last Star Chapter 3: Anomaly

"Electric Eel... It's a White Book Monster, but..." Adam whispered, his gaze fixed on the magnificent beast that pulsed with constant surges of lightning.

While Adam had prepared himself to face a standard White Book creature, the specimen before him was far from ordinary. This was an Anomaly version of the Electric Eel—an Anomalous Electric Eel. In terms of raw power, such a creature could rival the fearsome monsters found within the Red Book.

'It doesn't matter! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. At the very least, I can observe its movements. The only things I need to avoid are the stray electrical jolts and these clusters...' Adam noted, eyeing the spheres of lightning drifting throughout the anomaly zone.

These lightning balls were harmless to the Electric Eel, but for Adam, a single point of contact would be fatal.

Centering his focus, Adam charged forward and descended the hill. Speed was essential; it wouldn't be long before others arrived. He wasn't just worried about lone Phantoms; entire combat squads or passing merchant caravans could appear at any moment.

To claim the artifact, Adam's mission was clear: evade the ball lightning, slay the anomalous beast, and finish the job with extreme haste.

It was a daunting task, and Adam was acutely aware of his slim odds of success. However, they were not non-existent.

Though he had only transitioned into a Phantom an hour ago, his physical form was already swifter and more robust than any normal human. This was the power of the monster's initial gene linked to the Evolution Tree—the key that allowed humanity to evolve and combat the monsters.

Whoooooooosh.

The moment Adam crossed into the anomaly's borders, the Electric Eel locked onto him. The creature arched its body over Adam before violently slamming its massive tail against the earth.

A massive wave of sand erupted toward Adam, forcing him to raise his arms in a defensive posture.

The Electric Eel was issuing a warning: stay back. This was the first and final caution; Adam had exactly one chance to turn back and flee.

Suddenly, a transformation took hold of Adam’s eyes. White threads, resembling the roots of the Evolution Tree, manifested within his pupils as his veins began to bulge.

'With its physical build, I only need one successful strike to end this. But first... I must force it to reveal its full capabilities!'

Adam sprinted ahead, keeping a vigilant eye on the floating ball lightning. He took heart in the fact that the spheres were merely drifting aimlessly rather than actively hunting him.

"TTTTRRRRRKKK!!!"

Clearly incensed by Adam’s persistence, the Electric Eel emitted a strange, grating crackle. The monster then ascended to its maximum height, gathering a massive concentration of electrical discharge around its head.

In the blink of an eye, a jagged bolt of lightning tore through the air toward Adam at a speed no human could hope to match.

Adam’s pupils constricted. He threw himself backward in a desperate leap, narrowly avoiding the strike that scorched the ground right behind his heels.

The resulting explosion sent shockwaves of sand flying, tossing Adam through the air. The heat was so intense that millions of sand grains were instantly vitrified into tiny shards of glass.

*Cough*

Emerging from the sand and coughing violently, Adam looked up to see the Electric Eel looming over him like a tower.

"Hah, you might be an Anomalous type, but even you require time to recharge your lightning, right?" Adam smirked, throwing a mocking glare at the beast.

Adam’s intuition was correct; the monster needed a moment to build up its next charge. Nevertheless, its massive, menacing jaws were more than capable of tearing a man apart.

Whoooooooooooosh.

Moving in a sharp zigzag, the Electric Eel accelerated as if being propelled by the air itself. It closed the distance rapidly, intending to tear through Adam and leave nothing but his lower half behind.

This was the ultimate turning point. Victory, the artifact, and the chance to rewrite his destiny—everything rested on this single exchange.

Within him, the Evolution Tree shivered alongside the ball of thread that served as his starting gene.

Simultaneously, his eyes erupted with light, and white energy surged through the veins of his right arm. A flurry of snow-white threads materialized out of thin air, wrapping around his limb before condensing into a long, needle-like spike the size of a sword.

This was Adam’s first time utilizing Order. He felt no anxiety about failing, for this ability—this gene—was now an intrinsic part of his being.

While skills like reading, speaking, or walking required time to master, breathing was an instinctual act performed from the moment of birth. Order was the same; Adam might lack refined mastery, but summoning the Weaver’s Needle was as natural as drawing breath.

Just before the collision, a memory of his father gutting fish flashed through Adam’s mind. Such moments were rare, as meat was a luxury in the slums.

Adam recalled every precise movement of his father’s hand as the rusted knife slid through, splitting the fish’s belly in two.

'That’s it... It’s not complicated. I don’t need to breathe fire or summon bolts of lightning to kill a creature made of flesh and blood!' Adam shouted internally, lunging forward.

Whoooooooooosh.

The Electric Eel soared directly over him, its passing wind whipping his hair and sending sand spiraling in the wake of its massive frame.

"Now!"

Adam thrust the needle upward, burying it deep into the Electric Eel’s throat. He sprinted forward, the blade tearing through the monster’s hide and ripping its entire abdomen open.

Before the beast could even register the pain, its blood saturated the sand. Vital organs spilled out one by one, and the creature’s life force rapidly faded into the void.

Bam.

The Electric Eel crashed into the ground, twitching for a few final seconds before its eyes turned dull and lifeless.

Adam exhaled in relief as the needle dissolved back into white threads and vanished.

"I did it... I actually took down an anomalous monster..." Adam whispered. Then, his eyes snapped wide. "Wait, there's no time to dawdle! The artifact comes first!"

In his excitement, Adam completely overlooked using Revolve to harvest the Electric Eel’s genes. His only focus was the False Orb resting nearby.

Navigating around several floating spheres of lightning, Adam finally reached the False Orb, which crackled with electricity between its metallic rods.

After a quick scan of his surroundings, Adam reached down, intending to seize the artifact and sell it for a life-changing sum of money!

However, the moment Adam’s fingers brushed the False Orb, a violent surge of electricity racked his frame. His body convulsed, and he nearly lost consciousness, but he refused to let go. He stepped closer, gripping the False Orb with all his might.

"I'm taking you, no matter what!" Adam roared, his eyes glowing as they filled with the white branches of the Evolution Tree.

The False Orb vibrated fiercely, as if struggling to escape his palm. Suddenly, it transformed into a flash of blue light and shot out of his hand, sinking into his chest and merging with the Evolution Tree.

The artifact began to orbit the Evolution Tree like a moon circling a planet.

Small clouds of electrical discharge formed around the False Orb, as if a piece of its original environment had been transported into his internal space.

[The Evolution Tree and Primary Gene have accepted the artifact!]

[You have obtained your first artifact: False Orb!]

[Activate the Artifact to see its attributes!]

"What...? No... No... NO! I didn't want to absorb it! How do I get it out?!" Adam screamed, staring at his chest in horror. He realized his blunder almost instantly.

As a mere dweller of the slums, Adam was ignorant of the technicalities of artifact hunting. He knew they were valuable, but that was the extent of his knowledge.

He was unaware of the specialized containment units required for transport, or the insulated gloves needed to negate an artifact's recoil. Those tools were the only way to secure an artifact without absorbing it—an act that carried the risk of total systemic collapse.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!! My money!!!"

Adam wailed, collapsing to his knees and shouting at the sky with his arms thrown wide in despair.