Chapter 40: A Bold Idea

Firefly was his most crucial main totem, determining whether he could advance. He had to awaken it as soon as possible and find a way to help it evolve.

Charles picked up Firefly, who lay sprawled on the grass, and placed it on his lap, letting it enjoy the comfort of his knee pillow as he carefully observed the changes on its body.

As the evolution points were consumed, the little white fox began to tremble. Beneath its snowy fur, its body would occasionally bulge, as if a snake were slithering inside.

After a moment, the bulging subsided. Its body showed no signs of evolution, but its fur appeared sleeker and glossier, shimmering with a faint phosphorescence.

It slowly opened its eyes and let out a soft, worm-like cry, its big eyes briefly unfocused. Upon seeing him, it immediately drew close, jumping onto his shoulder and rubbing its little head against his cheek.

“Well, at least you woke up. If you didn’t evolve this time, then we’ll have to wait for the next.” Charles glanced at the information on the attribute panel, feeling slightly disappointed.

He had spent five evolution points at once, but it hadn’t completed its evolution. The success rate had, however, risen from fifteen to twenty-three percent.

“Huh?” Suddenly, he noticed the evolution points had jumped up to 3.6.

“Two evolution points were returned—does that mean if evolution fails, some points are refunded?” Charles was pleasantly surprised.

He had thought that failed attempts would consume the points entirely, but now it seemed part of them were returned. Moreover, the points spent weren’t wasted—they raised the success rate for the next attempt. This modifier was truly abnormal!

“In this way, the actual consumption is much less than I’d anticipated. That’s not bad at all.” Charles set the little white fox on the ground, smiling at its puzzled expression. “Firefly, you need to fight without restraint now. Next, we’ll become hunters, hunting down any soulmasters who dare to commit crimes!”

Firefly didn’t understand his words, but nodded earnestly.

“All right, do you see that forest wolf drinking at the lake? Go kill it—don’t use your Fox Charm ability!” Charles pointed at the wolf beside the water, issuing his command.

Firefly nodded. Its petite frame darted forward, leaping across the large rocks, leaving almost a white afterimage.

The forest wolf, upon seeing its charge, seemed provoked and met it head-on, unwilling to show weakness. Unfortunately, its proud speed was utterly suppressed by Firefly. To its eyes, only a blur of white circled it, the sharp claws occasionally tearing fresh wounds in its hide.

The wolf whimpered, trying to flee, but it was too late. The seemingly frail white fox ruthlessly slashed its throat, sending it crashing to the ground—dead in an instant.

A flawless victory.

But as Firefly ran over, clearly seeking praise, Charles shook his head in dissatisfaction. “No, Firefly. As a totem beast, you already outmatch your opponent physically, yet it still took you three minutes to finish it. You lack combat experience—keep fighting.”

The little white fox lowered its head, letting out a pitiful sound, then stubbornly leapt toward the forest bear lured by the scent of blood.

“What a stubborn little thing.” Charles watched the tiny fox battle the massive creature, dozens of times its size, and couldn’t help but find it amusing.

Still, everything he’d said was true.

After becoming a totem beast, Firefly’s strength and speed had increased, and would become even more exaggerated as its evolution progressed.

Once it completed its evolution, ordinary forest wolves and bears would be unable to withstand even a single attack from it!

“At present, I have an evolved Komodo Giant Lizard and my main totem Firefly, but I’m still lacking a flying totem beast.”

Charles browsed through his notebook, searching for his next candidate.

“Flame Sparrow—medium-grade totem beast, no special abilities, but its peck is powerful. Can evolve into a Flame Ember Sparrow with fire attack abilities. Usually lives in the wilderness, highly cold-resistant, social species. Parrot-like appearance, can mimic human speech.

Using ordinary colored gemstones increases evolution success rate. Note: upon failed evolution, it self-destructs, causing a devastating fire attack.”

“Whirlwind Bird—medium-grade totem beast, chicken-like, can rapidly flap wings to generate small whirlwinds, doubling flight speed. Can evolve into a Blade Bird, able to form sharp blades or small tornadoes to attack enemies.

Using sapphires and yellow gemstones increases evolution success rate.”

……

Soulmasters choose totem beasts based on their future growth potential, divided into inferior, low, medium, high, and the extremely rare supreme grade.

Inferior totem beasts are common creatures—rabbits, for example—and ordinary forest wolves are considered inferior choices, mostly used as auxiliary totems.

But this isn’t absolute; rare variants exist, like the Moonlight Fox he possessed, which, under Niu Keliang’s appraisal, was already qualified as a high-grade totem beast.

The higher the potential, the easier and smoother the evolution, with even ultimate or super evolution chances improved.

However, for Charles, potential wasn’t as important, since he didn’t have to painstakingly gather resources or gemstones for evolution.

As long as he had enough evolution points, any totem beast in his hands could evolve—even super evolve!

His selection criteria were straightforward: could it eliminate enemies faster? Everything served the purpose of combat.

It seemed to follow the law of conservation of energy—the stronger the totem beast, the more evolution points required.

A bold idea suddenly surfaced in his mind: “If I choose bees or ants—these weak creatures—could I treat their entire colony as a single entity and evolve them collectively?”

Ants and bees were feeble, and evolution wouldn’t greatly enhance their strength, but such creatures weren’t made for solo combat—they were famed for fighting as a group.

In documentaries from his previous life, the army ants surged like a terrifying black tide, devouring everything in their path—even poisonous snakes thousands of times their size couldn’t escape!

The idea took root in his mind, branching out into immature plans and spawning even bolder thoughts.

He couldn’t help but recall a game from his past life, where insect races were the undisputed protagonists, rampaging across the universe and overwhelming the other two factions.

They feared nothing—always daring to charge into battle against formidable foes, forming terrifying swarms that destroyed all enemies.

They were known as—the Swarm.