Endless Evolution: Last Star

Pale blue energy came out from their many slabs, stopping the black lightning blade before it collided with the wall.

The lightning blade tried to break through the transparent barrier but ended up losing all of its energy, dissipating into the void.

Silvana blinked a few times, Adam’s new ability looked impressive, but because of the absorbing artifacts, she couldn’t realize how powerful it was.

After all, it was thanks to Silvana, her Operator’s Star, that Adam had gotten this ability.

Looking for an answer, she turned to Refesa, but her gaze was calm and serene, not giving Silvana any clues.

Crackle.

Chains shattered simultaneously, turning into lone particles of darkness, flying in front of Adam’s deep eyes, his blue color becoming much darker for a moment.

Exhaustion covered Adam as he fell to his knees and his left hand trembled slightly, he had to put effort to clench his hand into a fist, to get his fingers to move.

"Well, well..." Refesa stepped forward looking Adam up and down, "You used the ability once and immediately fell to the ground with no powers. Hah, that can only mean that you have another powerful trump card in the battle."

Silvana gulped, a slight joy appeared on her face, but it was soon replaced by anxiety.

"But... Adam, what happened to your artifact? I mean, did you lose your past artifact ability?"

He knew the answer to that question, but he decided to see things with his own eyes first, soon finding himself in the inner space.

As always, next to his Evolution Tree hovered his artifact, the Horn of Calamity, but it no longer looked the same and was no longer a past version of itself. Your adventure continues at NovelBin.Côm

His artifact had become black and elongated with two sharp-tipped branches somewhat resembling the shape of scissors, but very distantly.

From time to time, white electrical discharges passed through the horn, emerging from the tips and traveling straight towards the Evolution Tree. Then, the energy would quickly return in the form of black lightning bolts, filling the horn with new power.

[Horn of Fallen Thunder (Third Rarity Artifact.)

A horn that has seen both victory over a monster and defeat, but from two different individuals who created a strong pair. The strong chains remember defeat and the lightning embraces victory, a great power that only requires one slight movement.]

Adam gulped, he understood what the description was about. He remembered his difficult triumph over Essence Thunder Demon, the initial origin of the artifact, as well as witnessing Silvana’s illusion and her defeat for the sake of his rescue from Obsidian Hydra.

"Hah, now it is much closer to Evolution Tree than before..." Adam muttered before noticing one important detail in the description.

’Wait... Third Rarity Artifact?’

Out of surprise, Adam said it out loud, drawing Silvana’s and Refesa’s attention.

Refesa’s corners of her lips went up, forming a sly smirk.

"Oh, you only had a Second Rarity level artifact before? At the same time, you possessed such power... Although considering what kind of opponent you defeated to improve your artifact earlier, it’s not surprising."

After a few seconds, Refesa nodded deeply once more, she came to a conclusion:

"Now it makes sense to me why Operator’s Star chose an artifact though usually it’s either Initial Gene or Power Gene. Thus, you have been prepared to pass the trials before you quickly."

Then, Refesa waved her hand and pointed to a door off to the side with a stern look.

"That will be all for now. The Gene Diffusion has been successfully completed, you must leave White Cube and I must return to my work."

Before Silvana or Adam could say anything, Refesa abruptly turned around, heading for the exit, her white coat fluttering.

After taking a few steps, Refesa stopped, casting a hard glance over her shoulder at them.

"By the way, I wasn’t kidding about the donuts, I’m not kicking you out of the Iron Observatory. You can walk around the main building if you want, but only to the accessible floors, also the common dining hall is open for you." @@novelbin@@

Adam and Silvana looked at each other. They no longer had any other plans for tonight, so they thought it was a great suggestion.

"Hey!" Adam shouted, causing Refesa to turn around again.

She frowned heavily, annoyed.

"What flavor do you recommend?"

"Don’t fuck with me, kid!" Refesa shouted irritably before walking out like a storm from the White Cube.

Stina who stood silently to the side, exchanged glances with Adam and Silvana, bowed low following Refesa.

"Hahahahahahaha!"

Laughing, Adam lay on the floor looking up at the bright ceiling.

Unsure, Silvana walked over to him, twirling a lock of her black hair.

"What are we going to do next...? I mean, we had very different plans for today."

Adam slowly turned his head, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Hah, what are you talking about? Isn’t it obvious?"

"Agh...?"

Whooooooosh.

Adam stood up quickly, his hand falling on Silvana’s shoulder.

"When else will we have the opportunity to walk freely around the Iron Observatory and visit its dining hall?"

...

A few hours later, Adam and Silvana emerged from the dining hall that took up a good portion of the first floor. There were a few other scientists like Stina, but they didn’t spend much time with their meals, wanting to get back to work quickly.

Then, they eyed the technical exhibits on display in the main hall with curiosity - failures in Refesa’s opinion. Adam and Silvana didn’t know much about it, but they just wanted to quench their curiosity.

As the sun was about to go behind Adam and Silvana’s horizon line, they headed for the exit. These few hours they talked about many things, but nothing serious, just light chatter filled with jokes.

Toward the end, they remained in silence as they approached the massive iron gate. With a loud crack, the gate opened, letting in a cold stream of wind, allowing Adam and Silvana to step outside the Iron Observatory.

However... the gate did not immediately close as a black car pulled up to the Iron Observatory.

Two silhouettes, both Phantom and Operator like them, stepped out.

Oddly enough, Adam knew one of them well, after all, together they had defeated the strongest opponent in their history.