Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 177

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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177
“Brixel! Have you finished cleaning?”
Brixel’s Mother scolded the young Brixel sharply.
“I’ll do it when I get back!”
Before Brixel’s Mother could burst into the room, he grabbed his bag and leaped through the window.
Brixel was the most curious and intelligent child in the village.
He had already mastered everything taught at school, and even the teachers couldn’t answer his questions.
When school failed to satisfy his intellectual curiosity, his interests turned outward—and nothing captivated him more than the Caretaker Clan’s Archive.
Though called a room, it was actually a massive rectangular wooden building. Stepping inside this unadorned wooden structure revealed a space dozens of times larger than the exterior.
Within the Archive lay an endless collection of creatures from countless species.
Many were grotesque beasts that seemed capable of swallowing small Brixel whole—yet he felt no fear. All these living beings were bound by temporal stasis magic and couldn’t move an inch.
Curious about how creatures that couldn’t even breathe remained preserved without dying, he studied magic whenever he had the chance.
“Zid, have you been well?”
Brixel patted the shoulder of a goblin he had named himself.
But it remained as motionless as stone.
The oldest specimens had apparently stood in this very spot for thousands of years.
Brixel’s clan had been entrusted with maintaining this Archive.
Unlike ordinary people, Brixel harbored forbidden questions. Why did they preserve so many creatures?
“Zid, could I find the answer if I went to the Tower of Truth?”
The Tower of Truth stood so distant that it couldn’t be reached on foot, yet it loomed so high that even the village could see it.
“The Tower’s scholars study the universe’s truths. I’ll definitely enter there someday.”
Though he was merely a member of a caretaker clan, Brixel’s dream remained unbroken.
His clan’s duty was maintaining the Archive. But truthfully, there wasn’t much work to do. Creatures bound by temporal stasis remained unharmed even if struck with a hammer.
“I tested it myself once, and Father nearly smashed my head with a hammer.”
Brixel shuddered at the memory. If not for Mother’s intervention, he might have actually been struck.
After greeting Zid, Brixel sought out unfamiliar species, observing them and recording notes in his journal.
Examining the unique faces and bodies of each distinct species never grew tiresome. With their endless variety, he wondered if he could possibly catalog them all before death.
After spending considerable time in the Ark, he emerged to see a Gate opening at the village entrance.
“Oh! The Warriors have brought a new species!”
He shoved his notebook into his bag and rushed toward the village entrance.
The Warriors of the Manager who ruled this world periodically brought new species. The Warriors themselves were of various races, and some were the same species as creatures already in the Ark.
Brixel wondered who decided which Warriors would bring specimens and which creatures would enter the Archive.
“For the great Manager.”
Brixel’s Father placed his palms against his head, then raised them skyward in salute—a gesture the Warriors mirrored.
“This time we’ve brought two thousand.”
At the Warrior’s words, Father examined the new species carefully. They had elongated ears and towering height.
“Please wait a moment.”
Father, the clan’s leader, retrieved a book.
As he opened it, information about the Archive materialized in the air. However, since it was merely administrative data, only dimensions, numbers, and locations appeared—no detailed information about individual specimens.
Father didn’t question this. He simply maintained the Archive according to clan tradition.
“We should dispose of the goblins and store them accordingly.”
The book conveyed the Manager’s will. It instructed which species to preserve and where to use them, so Brixel’s Father didn’t even need to think.
No matter how vast the Ark was, space remained finite. Whenever new species arrived, it was commonplace for those with larger populations or less developed civilizations to be disposed of.
“This is terrible! Zid!”
We couldn’t converse, but Zid had been my oldest friend.
“Should I smuggle him out…?”
A wicked thought crossed my mind.
“No… if Father finds out, he won’t let it slide. But still….”
After deliberating for some time, I made my decision. I was as greedy as I was curious.
“One missing goblin won’t be noticed.”
As the keeper of the Archive, Father possessed a time-freezing artifact. This item could also reverse the freeze.
Father would never let me touch it, but I knew exactly where it was.
While Father guided the Warriors, I bolted home.
I carefully checked if Mother was inside. Fortunately, she wasn’t home either. I placed my hand on the safe in Father’s office and dispelled its magic.
“Hehe, this much is nothing.”
My worry about Father’s scolding vanished, replaced by pride in having broken the safe’s security magic myself.
The fact that I had studied and mastered something the School never taught proved I was no ordinary child.
From inside the safe, I retrieved a circular artifact worn on the wrist.
I rushed to my goblin friend Zid.
“Huff… huff… I’ll save you, Zid.”
As a young child, I had witnessed many species being disposed of. Thrown into the black Gate—there was no doubt that was their end.
This Monster Planet had few inhabitants, leaving vast empty lands. They didn’t eat or breathe, so why not preserve more? Each species had similarities yet distinct differences, making every individual meaningful. It was all incomprehensible to me.
I resented seeing other species disposed of, but I couldn’t bear to watch my friend Zid meet that fate.
I extended my left hand to Zid and placed my right hand over the artifact on my wrist.
As I channeled mana to activate the artifact, Zid’s ashen complexion gradually returned to life.
“Cough! Wh… where is this?”
The goblin Zid coughed violently, then glanced around in confusion.
“Hello? Zid. Oh wait, you’re not Zid, are you? What’s your name?”
“You… who are you?”
The goblin’s expression was filled with bewilderment at this incomprehensible situation.
“Calm down. We need to escape first.”
“Escape? From whom… my dear!”
The goblin glanced around and grabbed the goblin beside him, shaking frantically. But the frozen goblin didn’t budge an inch.
“Release my wife!”
“Please, just calm down. Wait a moment.”
The goblin’s desperate cry startled even young me. I thought he would be grateful for being freed. I thought we would become friends. But Zid was nothing like I imagined. His eyes blazed red as he screamed—he terrified me.
Just as I was about to release Zid’s wife’s seal.
Splurt.
Something burst, and warm liquid splattered across my face.
“Huh?”
It was Zid’s blood.
And just then, Zid’s wife’s seal had been broken.
“Kyaaaaaaah! Honey! Clearid!”
The female goblin caught the collapsing Clearid and let out a piercing wail.
With half his head blown away, not even a troll could have survived such a wound.
Thud.
And she followed Clearid into death.
“Brixel! What… what have you done?!”
Father came rushing over with a pale face, and the Warriors trudged behind him.
“Give it to me at once!”
Father snatched the item from Brixel’s arms and slammed his head to the ground. Then he pressed his own head down as well.
Brixel’s and his father’s heads were submerged in a pool of blood made from goblin blood.
“Please… please have mercy. All of this is my fault.”
I could feel Father’s hand trembling as it pressed down on my head.
“Do not worry so. It is good that the child is curious. And… to activate an item at such a young age—the boy shows promise.”
The Warrior spoke as though this were no great matter.
Brixel was locked in a room of the house, and his father, along with the Warriors, disposed of the goblins and replaced them with a new species.
Thud! Thud!
“Do you understand what you’ve done?! You’ve endangered not just your own life, but mine and your mother’s! The lives of our entire Caretaker Clan!”
He beat young Brixel as though he meant to kill me. Bones broke, blood spilled, but this time Mother did not intervene. What I had done was dangerous enough to warrant such fury.
Yet Brixel could not understand Father’s rage.
Father simply obeyed orders from above without knowing the reason. Not just Father, but the entire Caretaker Clan was largely obedient and docile by nature. I wondered if our species had become the guardians of the Archive precisely because of such traits.
After that, Brixel studied diligently at school and never returned to the Archive.
I wanted to know the reason. Why were such things necessary? But I held my tongue.
Within days, I was given the opportunity to learn the answer.
“Is Brixel going to the Tower of Truth?”
“Yes. The boy is quite curious, I hear? Consider it an honor. I will come to collect him next week.”
The Tower Scholar came to retrieve me. He had discovered that I had disarmed the vault’s magical seal and used the frozen item.
My parents could not bring themselves to refuse the Tower Scholar, though their expressions grew somber.
“Father, why do you look like that? This is a good thing, isn’t it?”
“Once you enter the Tower of Truth… you cannot return.”
Brixel felt some sadness at the thought of never seeing my parents again, but the excitement of learning new things burned far brighter.
Without truly understanding my grieving parents, Brixel departed for the Tower of Truth.
“Hmm… it is the first time a selectee has emerged from that species. Study diligently.”
The Tower Scholar guided Brixel through the halls.
And every day was nothing but study.
It was not as though I learned one particular subject. The Tower seemed intent on teaching all the knowledge in the world—every moment except sleep was devoted to study.
I read countless books and solved problems whose purpose remained unclear. What I loved most were magic and history.
Once a year, progress was assessed, and children who failed to pass were eliminated and sent away from the Tower. Few children could endure the overwhelming flood of knowledge.
Father had said that once you enter the Tower of Truth, you cannot return. But Father was wrong. Don’t they all leave eventually?
Learning knew no end, and time flowed swiftly—I had already spent ten years in the Tower of Truth. All the children who had entered alongside me had long since departed, leaving only myself behind.
After ten years of study and observation, I harbored no naive illusions that they had returned to their hometowns.
What became of others held no concern for me. No matter how much I studied, knowledge overflowed in endless abundance.
Another ten years elapsed, and I had emerged as the Tower’s most distinguished scholar.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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