Nameless King

Wain decided to stay in this Dungeon because he thought it was the best place to evolve.

Even if many people enter this Dungeon, they were unlikely to make it to the last room of the underwater temple. 

After these people enter the Dungeon, they would immediately find themselves in the water. They would have to swim up, and most likely, many of them would die along the way because of an attack by sea monsters. This was one of the reasons why Wain decided to evolve here.

Wain could start evolving in the last hall, but there was a slight chance he would be disturbed here, so he decided. Once he had decided on a location, he gradually dug a small tunnel under the pond. It was complicated, but he managed it in about half a day.

"Great, I can finally get started," Wain muttered and dove into the pond. He swam to the bottom and entered the tunnel he had dug. This tunnel went upward, which caused it to have no water.

When Wain was in place, he sat down and concentrated. He didn't know how he was supposed to start the process of evolution, so he decided to concentrate all his attention on the task at hand.

Nothing worked for Wain for a long time, but Soul Essence began to emanate from him after a few hours. Wain had to collect it in one point, condense it, and then move it back into himself, after which the process of evolution would begin.

Wain accomplished this task rather quickly, and after thirty minutes, all the Soul Essence accumulated in his Soul Altar was floating in the air in front of him.

This Soul Essence was different from what humans used to improve skills and souls. Every time he used a monster soul and received Soul Essence, some energy was channeled into the Soul Altar.

This energy could not be used to improve skills or souls. This part of Soul Essence gradually strengthened the human's Soul Altar to be ready to evolve.

After Wain gathered all Soul Essence into one point, a white sphere flew into his body. Wain felt as if he went into some kind of trance at the exact moment. He instinctively controlled the energy in his body, gradually changing it.

His aura strengthened and increased. He came closer to becoming a creature of the First Chronicle with every second. This would be his most important step since the apocalypse began.

The stronger Wain's aura became, the deeper he went into a trance. After a while, he could no longer think, energy moved through his body like a hurricane, and his cells were filled with strength and power. At one point, Wain would surpass his limit.

As Wain evolved, there were many changes in the world. This world was huge, with about a hundred billion people living in it before the apocalypse.

After the apocalypse, that number began to shrink rapidly, especially in the first days. But, the more time passed, the smaller the pace was.

Because of the many events, Wain was ready to evolve faster than most. So while others were trying to survive, killing monsters and gradually getting stronger, Wain was already in the process of evolving.

The world outside the Dungeon was changing, but so was the change in Wain's mind.

Somewhere deep in his mind, where Soul Altar was hidden. In the most hidden corners, there was something resembling a colossal black castle of dark energy.

The place was so deep in Wain's mind that even he could not notice it. Even if he scrutinized his Soul Altar, he could not see the place.

In the center of the castle was a spacious hall, which was a gray platform. On this platform were two silhouettes. Someone could even call them people because they were Wains.

More precisely, the two men looked a lot like him, but it was hard to see because they were wearing armor. 

One of them was wearing black and white armor and had long white hair reaching his waist. This man was floating in the air in a lotus pose, upside down. He symbolized a perfect balance.

A cold aura emanated from the second man, slowly freezing everything around him. This man wore a long cloak, torn in many places, and the darkness emanated from his black hair. His icy sword was thrust into the ground.

At one point, the man in the black and white armor said, "It looks like it's started. It happened pretty fast."

"Yeah..." Said the man in the cloak. Through the fabric covering half of his face, icy steam penetrated.

They were like Wain's because they were both parts of him and not. At that moment, it was something mystical and inexplicable.

"Our power is growing." Said the man floating in the air.

The cloaked man nodded and said slowly, "I wonder... Which path will he take?"

"We'll find out soon enough. He's already in the process. It seems to me that there is an infinite amount of energy hidden here, but everything will depend on other factors that no one knows about."

"I agree. We just have to wait a little longer."

...

In the meantime, Wain's aura was increasing smoothly. It strengthened, and his Soul Altar came into motion in an instant. It was as if the mechanism in the clock began to work, as if hundreds of gears started to move, creating one single chain.

This was the main stage of evolution when the human's body underwent significant changes. This process did not change the race. Like everyone else who evolved, Wain became powerful and destroyed his limits.

...

After a while, changes began to take place in the hall of the dark castle as well. An eerie aura began to emanate from that place. It was impressive even to the two people in the center of the hall at that moment.

"Unbelievable, it's so eerie. What kind of power is it? I wish I could call it ancient, but that would be the wrong definition because it isn't." Said the man in the black and white armor.

"That's strange, but it doesn't matter. I'm pleased with the result. Judging by the aura, it's the strongest possible." Said the man in the cloak.

At that moment, they were both staring at the same point from which emanated an energy that was terrifying in its essence and power. They felt incredible pressure, but it didn't harm because they were all one, only from different sides.

...

After a relatively long period, Wain had reached the final stage of evolution. His Soul Altar was filled with Soul Essence. Wain had one last step to take.

Wain was already able to think, and he was already acting on his own, not reflexively.

'Okay, let's go.' Said Wain to himself, and his aura increased a hundredfold the next moment.

Gray energy began to emanate from his body, which, along with his aura, turned into a massive pillar of light. All this energy was the power Wain received.

Then Wain took a deep breath, returning this energy to his body. His eyes shone brightly, and his black hair rose up like a strong wind blowing.

Wain successfully completed the process of evolution, he stood on his feet, and the ground beneath his feet cracked. He could feel every cell in his body filled with energy. Wain could not find the words to describe this fantastic and natural feeling.

"This power... There's no way I could have achieved something like this before, even with the Cursed Swordsman."

A couple of seconds later, a wave of energy came out of his body, and when it dissipated, Wain saw many messages in front of him. He had never seen so many notifications before.

[You have successfully completed your evolution and have taken the first, big step towards power and the true pinnacle of all worlds.]

[All of your stats have been increased by 25 points.]

[Rating of all your skills except - Nameless King's Forms has been reduced by one step while maintaining the overall strength of the skill]

'Hmm? Does that mean that now Plasma Destruction Sword is not a Rare Rating skill, but a Common Rating skill like before? Only the power doesn't change in either direction? That's interesting... Also, Nameless King's Forms hasn't even undergone this change. This skill is definitely special.' Wain thought.

When a person evolved and became a First Chronicle creature, the Rating of all their skills was lowered by one step. 

This was because the power of the human as a creature was moving into a different league, and the skills he had were not up to the standard of their Rating.

This did not mean that the skills' Chronicle had increased. They remained the same, and Wain had yet to raise them.

Because of such changes, it would be impossible for a person who has already evolved to have only an Ascendant or Legendary Rating. At the same time, these skills would be equal in strength to the Heroic Rating skills of the person who recently got them after evolution.

This could be called a strength adjustment so there would not be a colossal discrepancy between a skill's Rating and its actual strength.

The following message appeared before Wain's eyes.

[All restrictions have been removed. Now, as before, you can accumulate Soul Essence by crushing the souls of other creatures and increasing stats.]

Wain nodded. It was clear to him. One of the reasons he decided to evolve right away was the limitations in increasing his power. 

His body and Soul Altar could not withstand more Soul Essence. Wain had to move to the next stage to get stronger.

This was the third message, but it was not the end. It was only the beginning, and there were several more messages ahead, one of which struck Wain.

[You have received the Title - The First]