Volume 19 Chapter 8, Fruit of Evolution

Upon returning to the Administration Floor of Amamiya Tower, Kousuke immediately went to see Shrein.

Shrein happened to be in the relaxation area at the time, so he was able to find her immediately.

Shrein looked somewhat surprised at Kousuke’s brisk arrival.

“Kousuke, what’s the matter, why are you in such a hurry?”

“Shrein, we are going to check out the <Vermilinia jewel>!”

“What? Oh, what? I don’t mind going to see it, but what’s wrong?”

Shrein tilted her head at Kousuke, who suddenly suggesting such a thing.

The <Vermilinia jewel> was originally the supreme treasure of the blood-sucking family.

It was not something that could be shown so easily, but Shrein, who thought that the <Vermilinia jewel> itself belonged to Kousuke in the first place, permitted it without any particular resistance.

There was no need for her to say no.

To Shrein, who was tilting his head, Kousuke explained what he had just seen with the <Earth Jewel>.

“I see~. So, that’s why you want to see the <Vermilinia jewel> right?”

Peach, who had been following along with Kousuke, chimed in with a satisfied look.

“You mean that our jewels might look the same as the <Earth Jewel>?”

“Oh, that makes sense!”

Collete finally sounded convinced by Shrein’s clarification.

“Well, that is what I think. Regarding the <Vermilinia jewel>, there might be some differences from the others.”

“Oh, then in that case, let me guide you.”

Shrein said, getting up from the couch.

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A room in the Vermilion Castle in the northern tower.

The <Vermilinia jewel> was placed in a location that even clan members were not allowed to see.

The only people on this floor were the vampire clan and the Ygrite clan, and the Ygrite clan did not enter Vermilion Castle, so there is little point in keeping it a secret.

The Ygrite tribe, however, would still occasionally go out through Amamiya Tower, so this was done as a precautionary measure.

Naturally, the vampire clans also understood the importance of the <Vermilinia jewel>.

Because they know this, they were so thorough, they did not dare to ask the location of the jewel.

Of course, this excessive care was based on their experience.

Kousuke went to the side of the <Vermilinia jewel> and looked at it using the power of his right eye.

As a result, the power manifested itself beautifully, as he expected.

<Fruit of Evolution>

Minimum Requirements: More crystalline stones

Kousuke almost screamed.

For the first time, different requirements and names were being given.

“Hey Shrein, do you know what crystalline stones are? It has to do with <Vermilinia jewel>.”

Shrein immediately answered Kousuke’s question.

“Oh, that would be this.”

Shrein said, and opened the drawer of the pedestal on which the <Vermilinia jewel> was placed.

Among them, she removed a glowing red spherical object.

Looking at the color and such, it could have been a ruby, but the fact that it was glowing indicated that it was different.

“What is it?”

“As Kousuke just said, it’s called a crystalline stone. Simply put, it’s a lump of blood.”

“What’s that, sounds scary.”

Shrein laughed at Kousuke’s reflexive remark.

“It’s magic that our clan could use, something that can be created using our own blood.”

“What? Is that safe?

“It has been studied to the extent that it’s not dangerous to create, but it is difficult.”

Because it used the blood of the conjurer itself, over the long history of the bloodsucking clan, there had been research on what was an acceptable limit within the clan.

In the past, some people died because they exceeded the limits, but nowadays, such accidents did not occur unless there was a serious problem.

“What do you mean by ‘serious problem’?”

“A disturbance in the middle of creation? Well, it’s unlikely nowadays, since this technique is performed under the watchful eye of several people.”

She mentioned that once the preparation was complete, all that remained was to wait for the activation to finish, so as long as the preparation was not interfered with, failure was impossible.

“What’s the point of going that far to make it?”

“Oh, I never told you… it’s because we use it like this”

Shrein approached the <Vermilinia jewel> with the crystalline stone.

And when she got close enough that the crystalline stone was almost touching it, the next moment the crystalline stone disappeared from Shrein’s hand.

“Was it absorbed by the <Vermilinia jewel>?”

“Oh? You can tell? To simply put it, the crystal stone is our power itself. By absorbing that power, we improve our status.”

Shrein’s story was directly in line with the required conditions.

It would mean that the <Vermilinia jewel> evolved by absorbing the crystalline stone, which was the power of the Vermilinia tribe itself.

“I see. I understand, thank you.”

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“So? Was it worth it?”

Shrein asked Kousuke as they returned from Vermilion Castle to the Administration Floor.

Kousuke had been so absorbed in his thoughts that those around him did not ask any questions.

He also thought it would be better to talk to the other members of the group at the same time, so he wouldn’t have to do it twice.

Now it was dinner time and everyone was there.

“Ah, yes. To a certain extent.”

Kousuke told them what he saw in the <Vermilinia jewel>.

Hearing that story, everyone was silent for a while, but eventually Sylvia spoke up.

“From what you said, are you saying that its power is to see things that are in the process of evolving?”

“Hmmm. That part is a bit simple, too. And if that’s the case, I don’t understand why it only appears on the dependents after they have evolved at least once.”

The <Evolution Sprout> did not appear in the pre-evolution dependents.

If <Evolution Sprout> would appear in individuals that were in the process of evolving, it should appear in dependents that have never evolved.

“I’ve been thinking about that for a while now.”

“Eh? What?”

“If it evolved by simply increasing its power, wouldn’t it show up then?”

Floria nodded in agreement with Sylvia’s thoughts.

“In other words, it would only appear under some special conditions?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

More to the point, about species that evolved simply by developing their initial skills, they would not be shown under the power of the right eye.

It would mean that the power of the right eye would be activated when certain conditions must be met to evolve.

“Hmmm… Indeed. I guess you could say it fits… No, wait. If that’s the case, won’t it also apply to the special condition where the gray wolves are split into black wolves and white wolves?”

“Ah… Yes, it does.”

Sylvia gave a sidelong glance at Kousuke’s point of view.

“I guess, but I don’t think the perspective is wrong, though.”

Shrein, who had been listening silently, interjected.

“Could the power of the right eye only see those who are trying to evolve or are in the process of evolving?”

“Then, the reason we can’t see them in the gray wolves is because they evolved quickly without even entering the evolutionary process?”

“That’s what I mean.”

“Okay. For example, if evolution can be done just by being able to acquire a skill, does that mean that the right eye can’t see what is in between since the gray wolves can evolve instantly after acquiring that skill?”

That would mean that the power of the right eye would only show things that were in the middle of an evolutionary process.

If something could evolve just by meeting one condition, it would evolve the moment that condition was met, which means that the power of the right eye would not be able to see it.

“Does that mean that one of your abilities is the power to be able to identify individuals who are in the process of evolving?”

Collete chimed in with an opinion that summed up what they had been talking about.

And those words fit Kousuke best.

“…Well, that sounds about right.”

He recognized that it was the correct answer in his own mind.

“Apparently, that’s only part of my new authority.”

“Part of?”

“Don’t forget that it’s a divine ability. Even the status display doesn’t show everything, so we should assume that this one does as well.”

Kousuke nodded in agreement to Sylvia’s words.

At the very least, it would be significant to say that they now know the conditions under which the power of the right eye could be activated in this case.

The rest was how to use this power, but unlike the status display, Kousuke was troubled by the fact that he could not immediately make use of it.