No longer fighting against it, but instead becoming one with it, the world’s trembling and destruction soon stopped along with it. The light show, the energy that was continuously released started to swirl around Aiden. The air around him vibrated, and the light distorted giving the whole event a fuzzy, unreal appearance. 

Still controlled by the directives he received, the old hermit did not move or attack, he simply stood still and looked at the strange turn of events. He did not bother with the fragile-looking girl, he only attacked her to get a reaction out of the boy.

Lily looked at the cocoon Aiden shrouded himself with an excited expression. The power Aiden released was so incredibly strong it shook the entire Pocket World! How could she be not excited now?!

Inside the protective cover of the swirling energy, Aiden was experiencing tremendous changes. He could not see, could not hear, speak, or feel anything at all. He was not just simply overloaded, he felt that the energy was changing, evolving him. As he already decided to not fight it, he allowed the energy to coarse through him, and do as it pleased.

Several long seconds had passed before the energy started to calm down and slowly the silhouette was visible. It was slightly over 6 feet in height (A/N.: you could say 185 cm, so technically 6’1, but you can’t be that exact from a single glance), while the structure of the body remained similar than what was before. As the light continued to fade, a sporty, lean but still toned creole body of Aiden was in front of them. 

Apart from gaining some height and maybe a bit of muscle mass, the other thing that was different than before was that his hair seemed to have become even longer. He already had silky black hair, but now it reached below his shoulders touching his back. Both his eyes and his entire body had golden colored sparks sizzle around it.

While visually the changes weren’t that drastic, his power level has experienced a drastic change. Sadly, he felt that this change wasn’t permanent, he could already feel a toll on his reserves.

Still, looking at the notification, Aiden couldn’t help but smile.

[New Primal Evolution Achieved! 

Primal Slime (Tier 0) has evolved and has now become Primal (-). 

Primal Slime (Tier 0) form is no longer available. 

Blessing of Ioris (-) ability has been upgraded and is now available to be used while in Primal (-) state. 

Note: As the Primal (-) is a special form, details are not available in the system until further analysis can be completed.]

There were also a few more notifications in the system that was relevant. Aiden quickly skimmed through them.

[Warning! Special State: Primal (-) energy requirement is too high to maintain. Time until energy exhaustion and forced change: 00 hours 09 minutes 50 seconds]

[Note: Due to the Special State: Primal (-) being active, all primary attributes have received a temporary boost. Details are as follows:

Might: +30 (Current Value: 60)

Agility: +30 (Current Value: 60)]

While the duration of the state wasn’t that long, it should hopefully be enough. Still, the power he felt inside him was incredible, almost intoxicating. 

Although there were many questions that were bugging him, Aiden knew that now was not the time. He had a very limited time to enjoy these gains and make the most out of it. Roughly 10 minutes to be exact.

Still, Enya already knew what he was thinking about and promptly provided some answers.

[We can’t be sure Aiden, but I think that basically your main body, your Primal state has gone through a qualitative evolution ahead of time. That caused this special form, a sort of semi-state to be created. It provides you with some part of the benefits you would receive as if you would have naturally matured. Unfortunately, because a Primal’s adult form is of a much higher-tiered existence than what you could currently handle, the energy consumption is too much for the system.]

Listening to his words, another question came to his mind, which, again, was promptly answered as if Enya was already expecting it.

[I know you have lots of questions, but they will have to wait. Currently, you are on borrowed time, and with the amount of energy this state saps from you, you have to be very careful. If you overdraft, it can damage your soul, and then the system will hibernate you to recover. Focus on the battle ahead. You have limited time and should not waste away this opportunity.]

‘I know…’ Aiden mumbled. He knew that she was right. Shaking his head, he looked at the old man, then to Lily. He wanted to say to not take action, but he knew that would be selfish of him. They already agreed to stand as equals, so if he would force her to stay back, she might not forgive him. So, in the end, he could only sigh, and just ask for a compromise.

“Lily, I know that we talked about this before, but please, watch for yourself. Once you are out of arrows, you will stay behind and not come any closer, okay?”

Lily looked at Aiden, slightly pouting, but she still nodded.

“Fine!” 

Smiling at her response, he focused his attention on the old man once again. Aiden didn’t know why he hadn’t made a move when he had plenty of opportunities. Still, it’s not like he will complain! 

“I’m going in!” he whispered. In the next moment, Aiden vanished and clashed with the Energy Shield. As he punched the shield, the golden sparks that ran all around his body clashed with the energy causing a loud explosion. Huge waves rippled through its surface, much more intense than before.

“It’s working! Try again, brother!” Lily shouted excitedly when she saw the results. Previously, their combined assault couldn’t muster up for half of what Aiden could now achieve alone.

The second punch caused an even louder bang, as Aiden put in even more of his strength on the swing. Again, the ripples strode on the surface of the shield. At the point of the impact, small transparent cracks appeared. 

“You are almost there! One more time!” Lily shouted excitedly. She already had her bow in hand with an arrow prepared.

The third punch was the strongest. Putting in all the strength he had, he punched the same spot where the cracks appeared. With a momentary resistance, Aiden felt his fist go through a mass of energy. Finally breaking it, this mass of energy could no longer be contained and with a loud explosion, it got released. The energy shield shattered as if it was like a huge upside-down glass bowl.

Not willing to wait until the situation calmed down or if the old man has a chance to react, Aiden vanished once again, only to appear above the old man in the next moment, with his fist rocketing towards him. The golden sparks were coursing through on his skin rushing towards his fist ready to wreak havoc upon impact.

The old man simply looked up, and with incredible speed, he raised his hand and managed to block the hit. The golden sparks crashed into the dark energy and quickly died down.

With the same cruel smile he had before, he looked at the boy that just managed to attack him and threw him back on the ground in front of him. 

Aiden landing on his feet was already swinging for his next punch as a light green beam flew by his head and was promptly blocked by one hand, while the Old man was already moving his other hand to block his second punch. 

His speed was much higher than they expected. The ease of how he blocked both attacks at the same time was simply out of this world!

Not giving him any time to rest, another arrow was already en route, while at the same time, Aiden’s golden light-coated fist was also closing in on the old man’s face. 

The old man once again moved his hands to intercept and block both attacks, but this time Aiden was prepared. Just before his attack would have been blocked, his other fist was flying to give the old man an uppercut.

In a split second, however, the old man managed to react to the surprise attack, and with his right leg, he kicked Aiden in the chest, pushing him back a few meters.

“This is gonna be harder than I thought. He is simply too fast…” Aiden muttered while holding his aching chest. The speed and precision were simply too much. The strength of the kick was calculated to not cause any harm but to only create a suitable distance. 

It felt like that the enemy was still only measuring their power. However, he couldn’t back down now, he had to keep up the pressure, or he would risk him getting free and attacking Lily at the back. 

Rushing in once again, Aiden jumped up in the air, and with both of his hands, he was aiming for the old man’s head. At the same time, another light green beam arrived only to be blocked by one of his hands while he raised the other to block Aiden’s attack.

However, just as the light green beam was about to crash in, it split into three smaller parts. While the old man managed to block two, the third slipped through! 

Jumping back, Aiden looked at the wound. As the black substance was slowly dripping out of it, he couldn’t help but feel proud of themselves. They accomplished something that he never did in all of his visions of the future.

Inside his Soul Space Enya was also smiling at the results.