Born in apocalypse

He glanced at the screen once more to make sure what he saw was real. Even after checking it a second time, the content remained unchanged. Even after rubbing his eyes the content remained unchanged that’s when he finally realized that it wasn’t an illusion; he was indeed looking at something that was true.

The thing he was looking at was two new words added to their status and those two words were "Variant Asteri"

’But what does that even mean? Is it that Vexar has become a part of my species now? Wasn’t he a demon? And how did that happen without him evolving, at least? How did he suddenly become part of my species?’ Dhruv thought with an expression of frustration.

Dhruv could feel a headache forming in his mind due to all the new questions. And the really frustrating part was this wasn’t the first time this has happened... Noo!.. It happened every time.. Whenever he tried to find an answer to a question, he would always stumble upon new questions along the way and end up forgetting the main question. That’s exactly what was happening now.

Before he could even think of a possible answer to any of these questions, a new one popped into his mind.

’But why did only Vexar get the tattoo, and not Azarex and Alaric?’

This was a concerning question because there didn’t seem to be anything unique about Vexar, or maybe there was something unique about him. Whatever the case, he had to find the answer. To find the answer he first has to confirm if the other two species have really changed or not. So, he looked toward Azarex and Alaric and said,

"Check your status and see if your species has changed as well."

"Changed as well, does that mean Vexar species has been changed," Alaric asked with a curious gaze.

"Yes! Now hurry up and see." Dhruv hurriedly said as he couldn’t wait any longer.

He didn’t have to wait long as just a second later both of them said in unison,

"Yes, master,"

What is the name of it,"

"Variant of Asteri," said again in unison.

’Huh so their species have been changed and Vexar wasn’t alone, then how come they didn’t notice any tattoo on their body? They didn’t notice any tattoos on their body... yet.

"Alaric, Azarex, have you checked your body for any tattoo markings," he said.

"No master, we didn’t have,"

"So, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and check," he said.

Listing the order, Azarex put down his ragtag shawl and began examining his bones for any traces of the tattoo, It took him longer to go through his whole body—as he was made out of only bones— but no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find anything like that tattoo.

Azarex began to panic and think that there was something wrong with him, First he only got special rank evolution, and now he didn’t have the tattoo. He was about to voice his affirmation that there wasn’t any tattoo on his body but stopped when he heard Alaric talking...

"Yes, master, there is a tattoo ’in my body’. In my case, instead of it being on top like yours, it is beneath the place where the heart is supposed to be in your species, sorry, your former species," Alaric explained.

"What about you, Azarex?" Dhruv asked as he looked toward Azarex.

"Sorry master, there isn’t one on me.."

"What are you talking about, Azarex? There is clearly a tattoo on your skull," Alaric said, cutting him off once again.

’How come I forget about my skull,’ Azarex thought, feeling embarrassed.

"Ohhh!" Dhruv and Azarex both acknowledged the fact.

"So, it means the reason behind your species change is because of this tattoo, or this tattoo is here because of your species change. Whichever is true, it doesn’t matter. What matters is why I can’t get experience points for my kills, and we don’t have any clue about that," Dhruv said.

With a defeated expression, he looked at the trio and asked, "Are there any more changes in your status?" He inquired about any changes, but he believed there wouldn’t be any. So Dhruv began to open his own status, thinking that maybe his answer lay within his own status.

His status screen opened and presented itself in front of him. Before he could even look at his own changes, he heard Alaric’s voice once again.

"Yes! There is another change in our status, Master" Alaric exclaimed.

With a hint of hope, Dhruv asked, "What is it"

"There is a new exclusive ability that has been added with the name, "Mark of Asteri". There are two abilities given with it, which seems quite interesting."

"Explain them to me," he said.

"Master it would be easy if you check them yourselves"

Finding it true, he walked toward him and accessed his status. After skipping through all the other information, he looked directly at the section where exclusive abilities were mentioned. Along with the usual three ones, there sure was a new one.

[Mark of Asteri: With the power and sacrifice of your creator, a new species has been formed in this cosmos. Be proud of the fact that you are the first member of it. With this mark on your body, you are forever connected with your progenitor.

The abilities [Sapient] and [Metamorphosis] are given to you.]

"Huh! So the thing we mistook as a tattoo wasn’t a tattoo but a mark. Maybe it’s similar to the Mark of Cosmos. After all, both of their functions are to connect their user with something. So, does this mean they are connected with me?" Dhruv thought.

After some pondering over it he found the description of this new exclusive ability strange. Because the trio were already connected with him through the [Soulbond].

’Maybe the meaning of this connection is different and could be used in a different way,’ Dhruv thought of this simple answer, not wanting to dive deeper into the rabbit hole of questions.

With all these things, he truly began to feel stressed. Not having any way out of this he simply rubbed his eyes for a moment to relieve the stress And opened the description of the abilities that were gifted to them.

[Sapeint: After becoming a member of the Asteri race you have gained the right to be sapeint and could fully use the function of the cosmos. You can now level up with the help of exp, and gain coins after killing the monsters and could also use the Cosmic shop to buy anything with the help of Cosmic coins.

Note: These features will only be applicable after you choose a ’Variant Asteri’ evolution option for your third tier.]

"Whhhhaaatttt!!??? What is this broken ability."

He found it so absurd that he thought he was drunk and just seeing random things at this point and how come he didn’t question it when the matter was this big?

’So, if the description is correct—which it always has been—then they could use earn exp for themselves level up and even use the store on their own for that matter.’ Dhruv gulped after thinking about the possibilities with that.

He quickly began to point out the obvious benefits he could think of at this moment.

The very first, which was obviously the biggest advantage was that they could progress twice as fast as before. They could use exp and core absorption to aid themselves in reaching the next level.

The second was that they could earn coins so he wouldn’t be the only one with a shit load of money and the last he could think of was that they could use that coin for buying. Which means they didn’t have to rely on him for any purchase.

He was frustrated before when he found out that he wouldn’t get exp from their kills, but now... Now he couldn’t be any happier. Controlling himself, he opened the description of...

[Metamorphosis: You can change into human form or your monster form anytime.

Note: These features will only be applicable after you choose a ’Variant Asteri’ evolution option for your third tier.]

"Whoaaa!!!"

’Huh! They could even change into human form after the next evolution, Isn’t that wonderful news,’ Dhruv thought.

It was indeed wonderful news. Their appearance didn’t matter on the island, but if they were to travel the rest of the world, they wouldn’t fit in quite well, and that could be a problem. So, this was a fantastic ability to have for those instances.

"These two are quite nice abilities to have, so let’s quickly prepare to advance onto the next evolution." Pausing for a bit, he continued, "Speaking of evolution, how far have you gone in your core saturation?" Dhruv asked.

"All of us are almost slightly above 50%. Counting the cores from this wave we would need one more additional wave to reach 100%," Alaric explained.

"Ohh! Ok! Go and absorb from this wave, take as much as you need because we will have quite some free time for ourselves." Dhruv said.

Watching them go toward the corpses to harvest the cores, Dhruv finally found some free time to check his own status.

"Shall we see our own progress,"