Born in apocalypse

As the night surrenders to the embrace of the dawn, a breathtaking spectacle begins to unfold—the arrival of a new day painted across the canvas of the sky. The air is cool and serene, carrying with it a sense of anticipation and renewal.

As time progresses, the sky transitions through a mesmerizing display of colors. Hues of deep purple, indigo, and navy blue slowly give way to lighter shades of pink, orange, and gold. The horizon becomes a seamless blend of warm tones, with the stars quietly retreating into the background, their brilliance fading against the approaching light.

Feeling the warmth of the sunlight on his face, Dhruv got out of bed. God knows how many months have gone by without him sleeping peacefully. But now it wasn't for being lazy—no matter how much his mind craves it. Looking at the rising sun through his window, he remembers his conversion with the trio.

One day had passed since the birth of the trio and many things had changed as well. First and foremost, they now have something to wear... except for Alaric, who refused to wear any clothes, saying that it hindered his ability to accurately interfere with his shadow sense.

The clothes were bought from the cosmic store with the help of coins, as there weren't any clothes in child sizes lying in the prison... And why would they even be?

Talking about the trio, there is one thing that is bothering him so much. And that was because they were so loyal to Dhruv that it almost feels like they view themselves as slaves in front of him.

I mean, I wanted loyal partners for my quests, but this isn't something even I am comfortable with. I probably consider myself a very adept person.

As he had killed so many people despite having no prior involvement in any crimes. And If the circumstances demanded it, he wouldn't hesitate to do it all over again. But keeping someone against their will... that thing even makes him shiver, but the strange thing is that they enjoy serving me. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"And there is a saying.."If anyone loves doing something, who are you to judge them?"—probably something like that.

After their arrival, my knowledge of the cosmos had grown much more. Prior to their existence, he often thought that if the cosmos gave everyone an equal chance, Could monsters also be able to level up like us humans, and evolve their class?

And with this question, another one always pops up... If maybe monsters also level up like us and obtain classes like swordsmen, spearmen, wizards, etc., then how will they use these types of classes, which require hands... if you want to use the full potential of that class? Of course.

But you see! I was wrong, but only partially; And they indeed level up after killing their opponent—not like how we acquire exp—and absorb their monster core. Like, for humans, our soul is most important; and just like that, it was their monster core.

After absorbing their opponent's core, their own core will start to fill up, and after filling up the required amount, they could begin the process of their evolution. And unlike us, instead of only evolving their class, their whole body evolves.

Talking about their bodies, there was one more difference between humans and monsters. Monsters can mutate their own body parts with the help of an energy known as essence. They get essence points after eating any living organism.

Evolving a monster can be very efficient, as monster bodies provide very beautiful benefits. The benefit was that they could buy cores from anywhere and evolve without any danger of being in battle.

But monsters alone couldn't exploit this flaw in the system because they don't possess the intelligence required for trade. But this will change if they are under a master who can provide them with sufficient core.

But just like there weren't any blessings without a curse, there was also a flaw in them. The flaw was very simple yet very problematic at the same time. The exp, or essence, they get from the core is almost one-fifth of what a human would get for killing the same creature.

But one thing that still bothers him and he still doesn't understand is why the trio seems to possess human traits; for example, Vexer wields a sword like a human swordsman would, and Azarax seems very good at handling magic, yet the cosmos considers them Monsters, not even hybrids, but full fledge monsters.

He had tried to think about it all night but couldn't come to any reasonable conclusion, so he stopped searching for an answer—for now, that is.

Because today he had a very important thing to do.

After naming them, the cosmos informed him that he could copy one of their exclusive attributes for himself if he wanted to. Just like it sounded, this was a very good thing; he would get an exclusive attribute without having to do anything, so he was so eager to try it out.

Talking about exclusive attributes, his own has not bloomed yet; why would that be?

'Will he get a powerful attribute... just like the creation stone. That would be so good..'

Before he could distract himself from his plan, he pulled himself out of his mind

'Focus Dhruv! Focus, Let's not distract ourselves...'

Fully determined, he called the trio that was guarding the door of his room, protecting him from God knows who, as there wasn't a single soul left on this deserted island except for themselves.

Vexar and Azarx entered the room after listing the command, but Alaric was nowhere to be found.

Dhruv didn't find Alaric in the gang and was almost about to panic when he remembered that he didn't have to worry about him, as this one always seemed and probably loves to reside in his shadow.

Alaric also exited the shadow of his master when he heard his command, but was almost reluctant to leave the embrace of his kin.

All three lined up in front of him like school children getting ready for morning prayer.

He called the little swordsman and peered at his status.

--------------------------

Name: Vexar

Species: Lesser fire demon

Core: Tier I [O%]

Magic Affinity: Fire (S)]

There was some similarity with his own status, like the name and affinity section being the same as his... but that's where the similarities end, as instead of class, his shows species, and in place of level, here it is written as core...

'So, Vexar's core was of tier I... and that [0%] shows how much it had filled as of yet, which was nothing..'

[Stats: Strength Lv. 35, Stamina Lv. 30, Agility Lv. 30, Magic Power Lv. 25]

'Woah! They got 30 as their average stat; talk about cheating.'

[Exclusive attributes: Soul Bond, Master Swordsmen,

Skills: Basic mana manipulation Lv.1, Basic Fire resistance Lv.3, Slash Lv.1, Thrust Lv.1

Mutation: Arm +0, Legs +0

Skill point: 0

Essence point: 0]

He found two exclusive attributes on Vexar's status, but it wasn't of his liking. So, he didn't copy it and left it as it was. Decided to look once again after his evolution to tier II.

Dejected, he looks at Azarx's status...

"Now we talking..."

With that creepy smile made his debut in front of the trio... making them shiver in cold sweats.