Copy cat

Kaden's mind raced and he started to panic. He didn't think he was claustrophobic but it looked like he was. What the fuck was happening here? 

He balled up his fists and started punching the walls. He had about to cast [Thorn Whip] and attempt to smash the walls from the inside out when he noticed the odd material the wall was made of. It was biological. More importantly, it felt familiar. 

This was the same kind of membrane surrounding that egg sac. What the hell?

As he stared at the wall or rather cocoon dumbfoundedly, all of a sudden his vision blackened, and before he could make sense of anything his consciousness drifted away.

When he woke up again, Kaden gasped in shock and panic. He couldn't breathe. He was completely submerged in water or some sort of liquid. It was in his lungs, his nose, everywhere. He felt as if he was going to die.

He instinctively lashed out at the wall and this time it exploded with a plop sound as if it was a water balloon.

Kaden tumbled forward, gasping and choking as thick, viscous liquid spilled out around him, pooling onto the ground in a slick, bubbling mess. His lungs burned, his muscles spasmed, and for a brief moment, pure panic took over.

He coughed, hacking up the strange, mucus-like substance that had invaded his throat. His vision blurred, his ears rang, and everything felt wrong. His body—his skin—it felt… new. Different.

What the fuck just happened?

His fingers dug into the damp earth beneath him as he pushed himself upright, shaking, dripping in whatever the hell that fluid was. His breath was ragged, his mind disoriented, but Kaden definitely did not forget the most important thing. Now that he could breathe, he needed to fight.

Kaden snapped to look at his surroundings, fully prepared to block and evade but there was nothing near him. Absolutely nothing at all. Where did all the beasts go? There was an entire beast horde behind him and now…there was only silence.

No screeches. No chittering mandibles. No growling salamanders.

Just the hollow drip, drip of the thick embryonic fluid pooling at his feet. Kaden's breathing evened out, but his fingers twitched with unease. 

He thought he was going to have some sort of control at least the first few days of the apocalypse but everything that was happening was getting beyond his control. Even beyond his understanding.

The last thing he remembered was being seconds away from getting torn apart. Then the cocoon. Then the suffocating, liquid-filled nightmare. And now… this?

He needed a moment.

Kaden silently scaled the tree closest to him and settled on a branch, good and hidden. He then closed his eyes to recollect everything that had happened. As he thought about everything, only one answer came to his mind.

His evolution. His transition to the E Rank.

It was suspicious when he did not get any special quests or requirements and now what happened made everything even more complicated.

He first needed to find out if he evolved at all. He opened the system notifications to take a look.

Name: Kaden MacAllister

Class: Dreadwood Druid (Can be upgraded)

Rank: E

Level: 25

Title: Hidden Class Awakener, Boss Killer, Ruthless Killer, Reckless Survivor, Shooting Star

Health: 2000

Mana: 2000

Physical Strength: 100

Agility: 100

Dexterity: 100

Perception: 100

Mental Strength: 100

Soul Strength: 100

Free Attributes: 0

Skills: [Sanguine Roots], [Thorn Whip], [Mana Bolt], [Nature's Grasp], [Healing Touch], [One with Nature]

***

Kaden stared at the status screen, his mind struggling to process the impossible numbers displayed before him. His fingers trembled slightly as he scrolled through the raw data, his pulse thudding in his ears. This wasn't normal.

Not even remotely.

His stats had skyrocketed, leaping beyond anything a mere Level 25 should be capable of. 2000 health. 2000 mana. A single glance told him that his physical strength, agility, perception—every single stat—had hit triple digits.

That wasn't just unusual. It was unprecedented.

He had never seen numbers like this in his past life—not from other people, not from monsters, not even from the so-called world heroes who had stood at the top.

His breathing quickened. What had just happened to him?

There was only one logical explanation.

His mind drifted back to the suffocating darkness, the cocoon, the embryonic fluid filling his lungs, the transformation that had stolen his consciousness away.

It had felt eerily similar to the egg sac.

The one that had been slowly draining the corpses in the cavern. The one that had absorbed its own embryonic fluid. The one that had been protected by a beast horde…

And the one that had begun to wither away the longer Kaden siphoned its essence.

Had he absorbed so much of its essence that he somehow managed to steal and copy its entire evolution process and made it his own?

The thought sent an involuntary shudder down his spine.

If that was true, then Kaden hadn't just experienced a normal evolution. He had forced himself into a transformation that was never meant for a human.

His hands curled into fists.

What kind of creature had been inside that sac? What kind of being could have stats this monstrous at Level 25?