The Second Growth

Before I reached Level 20, I was scouting the forest depths, determined to keep my promise to Lia.

I'd sworn to repay her for helping Brother Buri. That hadn't been a lie.

Even just giving advance warning of goblin raids would have been useful enough. But something about stopping there left a sour taste in my mouth.

The goblins only pushed north into the Verdant Grove because of me in the first place.

A tiger ought to take at least a little responsibility. That was why I'd thrown myself into the goblin-hunting effort. In truth, this was the real repayment I'd promised Lia.

"Grrrng!"

"Kruk?!"

The goblins storming the human village weren't much different from Thrillzhak's Rotclaw Tribe.

Were all goblins locked at a fixed level? Aside from the occasional freak specimen, every one of them sat at Level 15. That had to be their growth ceiling.

A growth ceiling. What set them apart from Thrillzhak, then?

"Kruk!!"

The goblins attacking the village spotted me and charged without hesitation. But I'd already beaten a prison warden one-on-one. With Eryllion backing me up on top of that, these things were no longer in my league.

"KRAAANG!"

Every sweep of my claws cost them a limb. They crumpled and rolled. I finished them off with ease, then turned my attention to the humans still tangled up with the remaining goblins.

Most of the villagers and the guards protecting the settlement were under Level 20. One man among them stood out, though.

Just as I wrapped Wildness around my claws, he coiled a faint Aura around his blade and fought the goblins with raw courage. At first the numbers had pushed him back, but the moment I joined the front line, he became the most conspicuous fighter on the field.

So that was it. I was finally starting to understand the difference between the Level 10s and the Level 20s.

Mana.

Thrillzhak with his shamanic arts, the Guard Captain who'd mastered Aura — both had broken through the Level 20 growth ceiling. And from that, I pulled a useful hint.

What separated ordinary people from the truly strong was mana. Honestly, that was something I could have figured out from my previous life's knowledge alone.

Meaning the hard level cap before a growth breakthrough is twenty.

That was the hint that actually mattered to me. I thought back to my first growth. Evolution had reset me to Level 1.

So the answer was obvious.

Hit the level cap, then grow again!

Your Level 20 and my Level 20 are qualitatively different? I'm an Infinity Tiger — I get infinitely stronger!

My theory proved exactly right. And by pure coincidence, I walked away from that village with a reward I never saw coming.

"W-what is that monster?"

"Mom! That one saved us!!"

"Oh my god! Hans! Thank you, Lord Sol. Hic— thank you so much!"

I hadn't planned any of this. Back in Lia's room, I'd gotten my hands on a map of the count's territory. South of the Bloodmoon domain lay a forest called the Emerald Labyrinth; to the north stretched the Verdant Grove. I'd simply visited a village sitting on the straight-line path between the Emerald Labyrinth and the Verdant Grove.

I'd half-doubted that even brainless goblins would actually raid a human settlement. But goblins, it turned out, were still goblins. Maybe they'd wanted to plunder a human village all along and were just using "catch that tiger" as an excuse.

Filthy goblins.

Anyway — I'd studied the map, predicted their route, and reinforced the most vulnerable-looking spot. That was all.

"Kitty! Thank you!"

"Kitty? Thompson, that has to be a sacred spirit sent down by Lord Sol himself. Come on, let's pray!"

"Spirit Lord! Thank you! May Sol's blessing be upon you!"

I'd somehow ended up with a bizarre misunderstanding. I hadn't exactly saved them out of the goodness of my heart… but because this was a rural village, the people treated me like a holy spirit beast and showered me with blessings.

And that produced an effect I never expected.

Hell yeah!

Riding their misunderstanding, I'd stumbled straight into a new evolutionary clue. Jackpot! So on this continent, becoming an attention magnet actually makes you stronger?

"Grrrng!!"

"Ah! The Spirit Lord is leaving!"

"Bye-bye! Meow-meow!"

Well then! I started to make a cool exit — then stopped and left a single pawprint in the dirt.

I dropped my name like a boss and walked off. Moments later, the status window sang the praises of my achievement.

Ahh, that felt good!

Of course, I hadn't revealed my name just to become famous. When the system said my deeds would take root across the continent, something had clicked. The reaction should be coming any second now—

There it is! Looks like I was right.

A new clue to evolution. I had a pretty good idea what that meant. Whether my guess was correct would become clear once I saw the growth options.

But to grow, I needed a safe place to hole up for a while. And right now, there was only one real choice.

Back to Lia.

"Grrrng!"

"Per!"

Eryllion and I decided to lean on Lia's help one more time. Hmm… this was starting to feel like pure freeloading…

Bah! That's what butlers are for. If you've been chosen by me, you put up with this much!

For the record, I now had free access to come and go from Lia's room. …Embarrassing as it was, that meant I was officially being treated as her pet.

Stupid humans! How dare you underestimate Lord Rudeus! Someday I'd teach this household exactly who the real master was. For now, though — time for a nap…

"What? You're saying you'll become an egg?"

"Grrrng."

I gave a halfhearted answer while sinking into the fluffy pillow Lia had brought me.

"Aww! So cute!"

"Grrrng!!"

"Fine, fine. I won't touch you. Just go to sleep."

"Grrrng!"

Despite her words, Lia pestered me for quite a while before finally peeling herself away. Eryllion, as before, began exploring every corner of her room, and I gradually drifted toward sleep.

Oh — and for the record, the information about the Magic Tower of Knowledge had also come from Eryllion.

Alright then… time to grow?

I was feeling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pretty confident this round. I had the Karma from evolving Brother Buri into a phoenix, and Spirituality to go with it. On top of that, I'd made a name for myself in Darkluna Grove. Would the option I was hoping for actually appear?

Heart racing, I closed my eyes. Sleep claimed me almost at once. In the darkness behind my eyelids, familiar text bloomed into view.

Same pattern as last time. I skipped past them without a second thought.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Quite the list. The stage where Potential reviewed my achievements passed, and I realized my guess had been roughly on the mark.

This time the modifiers looked far more powerful than before. Sacred Beast, Divine, Demonic, Chaos — not a single one of them sounded ordinary. There was a catch, though.

No free samples, basically. But I got the general idea.

So it's time to pick an affinity, huh?

This continent almost certainly had a real Demon King and a real Goddess. The appearance of Divine and Demonic options all but confirmed it. And from that, I snagged another clue.

Whoever gave me these powers has to be one of them.

The omnipotent being who'd handed me a status window. Was it a Goddess… or a Demon King?

Common sense said Goddess. What would a Demon King even gain from raising something like me?

Unless they planned to turn me into a demon that destroys the continent…

In that case, wouldn't they have picked someone far more consumed by revenge than I was?

Which meant—

Someday down the line, I might have to fight those beings myself.

Maybe I was thinking too far ahead. But I'd always been an aspiring writer who loved to daydream, so options like these inevitably sent my mind racing into the future.

In other words: pick Divine, and I side with the Goddess. If I didn't want the Goddess or the Demon King, pick something else.

Faced with choices like these, eight or nine people out of ten would go for Sacred Beast, Magical, or Chaos. Safest bets. There was no way to tell yet which of the Goddess or Demon King was good or evil. "Shift into neutral gear" was a phrase made for moments like this.

But…

I hesitated. If I picked one of those options, could I really avoid becoming their plaything? Growing stronger on the strength of their power in the first place?

No. This wouldn't create a real variable.

I looked over the options again. Strangely, the new list didn't include the one I'd been hoping for. Deeds carved into the continent — there had to be a growth path rooted in that route.

And then—

A third change I never saw coming. And on the rewritten list of options, the path I'd been searching for was written clear as day.

This was it!

I felt it in my bones. This was the option that held the growth direction I wanted.

Selecting option 0 brought up the same hold message as the first time I'd chosen a species. In a situation like this, there was only one answer.

"Grrrng!"

No — why am I still going grrrng even here? Anyway. Yes.

Then the text of the status window blazed with light and shattered into tiny particles. Those particles scattered across the darkness like stars in a night sky, sketching out constellations as a vast continent bloomed into being alongside them.

I watched flora and fauna take shape, watched countless races flourish — and understood one thing.

History. This was the history of the Iden Continent.

There were Goddesses and Demon Kings, heroes and their party members. An endlessly repeating current of history. And within that current, I saw a single small star rise into the sky.

I gazed at that star with overwhelming emotion. Its light was still frail and unimpressive. Whether it even deserved to be called a star was unclear. The being that had launched that starlight was far too weak a mortal for anything more.

It was not yet a star. It did not shine ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠brightly. It simply held a sliver of possibility — nothing more.

I recognized what that light was. It was the small wish that mortal had always dreamed of.

That feeble light caught among the brilliant constellations, and a strange gaze fell upon me.

As the messages rose, I felt the Potential dwelling in my body begin to sprout.

With those blood-red messages, the starlit surroundings drowned once more in absolute dark. In the floating haze of my consciousness, a faint voice reached me.

And then—

I welcomed my new evolution.