Chapter 54 - 52

EX Story: The Ape King’s Ascension Part III

During his deep slumber, a bunch of notifications and announcements flooded into the Future Ape King’s mind…

[Awakening process complete]

[Individual (Unnamed) Fully Awakened]

[Title Received: Awakened One]

[Acquired Skills: Potential Boost, Assess, Presence of Mind]

[Title Received: Survivor]

[Acquired Skills: Toughness, Pain Endurance]

[As a bonus for awakening, individual (Unnamed) gained additional Experience]

[Level cap reached]

[Evolution is now possible]

[Individual (Unnamed) had reached the maximum level of its current Species’ Class.]

[Individual (Unnamed) is now able to ascend from Common Class to Ruling Class.]

[Two paths of the Inferior Ape Species are now available:

Tronobo

Pronobo…]

When all that announcements were finally done, the Future Ape King felt his consciousness and senses slowly starting up. But before he was fully awakened, a new bunch of announcements and notifications suddenly popped up.

[Effect of the skill Potential Boost was invoked.]

[Alteration was a success.]

[A special evolution path has been unlocked.]

[Three paths of the Inferior Ape Species are now available:

Tronobo

Pronobo

Gorillon]

[Due to the individual’s lack of self-awareness, evolution would proceed automatically.]

[Choosing the optimal evolution path…]

[The Race Gorillon was chosen...]

After that, his consciousness faded once again.

***

[Evolution Complete]

With that announcement as the catalyst, the Future Ape King woke up, then with bloodshot eyes, he immediately stood up.

“GRAAAHHH!!”

Accompanied by a vicious roar, the Future Ape King took his fighting stance. But contrary to his expectations, he wasn’t standing in the middle of the battlefield. Instead, he was now back inside his cage with bounds restraining all his limbs once again.

In truth, there were still some announcements resounding inside his head. On top of that, a flood of notifications was also popping up in his field of vision. But without paying attention to any of that, the Future Ape King instead began to scan his immediate surroundings, and it was because he could still smell some traces of blood within his cell. Furthermore, it seemed like the traces came from a third party which means that it all didn’t simply come from his injuries alone.

Looking around, the Future Ape King noticed that he was surrounded by a pile of bones. And from the looks of it, all of these bones were just a leftover of what was supposed to be some monster’s corpses and remains. More than that, all the bones were also scattered haphazardly as if someone had gone on a rampage not too long ago. In fact, that was probably why the scent of blood could be found in almost every corner of the cell. Most likely, it was the result of that said rampage. At least, that’s what the Future Ape King thought.

But then, he finally noticed. 'Huh? What’s this?'

Strangely enough, the Future Ape King felt as if his mind was clearer than before. Furthermore, he could also clearly feel as if his sense of self and understanding had become much deeper and profound. For him, it was like the life he had lived before was nothing but a dream or illusion. No, it wasn’t only a dream. Without a doubt, all of it was real. It’s just that, it all felt surreal. As if he was just there doing nothing but watch all of it unfold. Like he was just nothing but a mere bystander and spectator. But at the same time, he couldn’t deny the fact that all of those actions and choices were done by him alone. In short, he wasn’t a different entity. In fact, they were the same. In a human analogy, it was like the "two sides of a single coin."

The Future Ape King was surprised by his own thought process. After all, he couldn’t remember or even imagine himself thinking in this way in the past. That was why for him, this experience was something fresh and indescribable. Of course, it would be a lie if he said that it didn’t bother him at all. But despite his confusion and surprise, the feeling of euphoria after experiencing such sensations still won over. And more than that, the very fact that he could now acknowledge such things showed that he had reached the point of no return. So instead of worrying about "what to do with it," it would be much more efficient to ask; "how would he make use of it?"

Naturally, even though his state of mind was the biggest and most important change of all, it didn’t simply end there. In fact, from an outsider’s perspective, it wouldn’t be too hard to point out what had exactly changed. Because for one, the Future Ape King was much bigger than before. And well, that wasn’t even the most noticeable change in him. To be more specific, what had changed the most were probably his presence and the overall aura. As a matter of fact, just his aura alone would probably be enough to bring terror to the hearts of any normal human. Of course, that would also mean that a face-to-face confrontation could make them faint and wet themselves.

Though of course, all these only happened in an instant. Because for some reason, probably also as a result of gaining a sense of self-awareness, it didn’t take too long for the Future Ape King to calm down. And naturally, after he regained his composure, the Future Ape King immediately recalled the reason why he had fought back before. In other words, it was the message that his master had left for him.

Upon remembering that, the Future Ape King sat down and once again searched for his master’s message. But unlike last time, the Future Ape King didn’t blindly search for it. Instead, he made use of his experience and memories and searched based on that. And from what he knew, the message should be within the remnant of a skill that connected him to his master in the past.

Fortunately, his guess was right. Then, after opening his eyes and checking his surroundings, the Future Ape King activated the skill

“Hello partner, looks like you are alive and well! Now, I am pretty sure that you’re quite confused with this turn of events, but don’t worry, I will now explain, so listen carefully…” After opening with that cheerful tone, the voice then began to explain what had happened at that time.

From what the Future Ape King could understand, after he had passed out, the battle took a sudden turn at that time. And unbelievable as it was, all of that happened just because of the presence of a single human. Furthermore, it also seemed like that human alone actually managed to defeat his master and annihilate all of his subordinates. As a result, his master got captured by the enemy and that put the war to an abrupt end. But more than that, what shocked the Future Ape King the most was the next following words.

“After we were defeated, the enemy commanders were dead set on killing you on the spot. But after striking a deal with that woman, I managed to make her swear to keep you alive. In exchange, you would be forced to fight in their Gladiatorial Tournament as a Gladiatorial Tournament.”

Shocked by these words, the Future Ape King opened his eyes. But without giving him a chance to process that, the voice continued.

Hearing that, the Future Ape King felt a pang of pain in his heart. More than that, he also felt incredibly angry at that human that his master had mentioned. But for better or for worse, before he even managed to think about revenge, the next words from the message woke him up.

“Listen, partner. I know you are angry at that vixen after what she’d done. I’m sure of it because I feel the same. But even with that, I am warning you now… Don’t ever try to fight her… I’m sure it's hard. But since you had already fought her, you might have already noticed. That woman is incredibly strong. So strong in fact that she was considered one of the special existences in this world… That is why please, don’t fight her. Because no matter what, I need you to live… This might just be my selfish request, but please… Live… At the very least, you need to survive…”

With that, the message ended. Then, as if it had finally completed its final task, the remnant of the skill vanished. And for a long while after that, the Future Ape King sat there in silence with his master’s last will still echoing into his mind.

That day, not only did he gain wisdom, the Future Ape King also gained a reason to live and survive.