Inside were:
a phone, several IDs, a few bottles of pills, a stack of cash, several child?safety inhibitors, and—
A vial.
Evan’s pupils tightened.
The vial held a clear liquid, but within it floated a shimmering green glow, pulsing like a dream.
Green evolution light.
Fourth?tier extract.
A vial created from a lifeform that had evolved four times — a Saint?tier being.
A single vial meant a Saint?tier powerhouse had died.
Even the King of Arden — the strongest man in the nation — had only evolved four times.
This thing was priceless.
Beyond priceless.
First? and second?tier extracts could be bought on the market.
Third?tier required connections.
Fourth?tier?
Almost impossible to obtain.
Even Fante Zhang, a Butterfly?tier powerhouse, had never absorbed a fourth?tier extract.
Not because he lacked money — but because:
Fourth?tier extracts were nearly impossible to acquire.
Even if you had one, the success rate was low.
Failure meant crippling your future evolution forever.
Even with the Zhao family’s wealth, creating a Saint?tier evolutionist was nearly impossible.
So why was a vial like this in Liam Zhao’s bag?
Evan found the answer in the memories that had recently resurfaced — the month of memories that had been sealed inside his cloned brain.
A month and a half ago, Liam attended Princess Seraphine’s grand coming?of?age ceremony as her close friend.
On the way home, he encountered a mysterious man — powerful, foul?smelling, claiming to represent a secret organization.
He offered Liam a deal that sounded insane:
Kill Princess Seraphine.
Extract her evolutionary essence.
Hand over her extract.
In return, they would make Liam stronger than the King himself.
All evolved lifeforms could be extracted — even humans.
But human extracts were strictly forbidden.
Creating, selling, or absorbing them was punishable by death.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Liam didn’t believe the man.
Until the stranger produced:
Three fourth?tier extracts.
One fifth?tier extract.
And said they were all Liam’s — if he completed the job.
He even offered one vial upfront as a deposit.
Liam was hooked.
Those extracts alone could carry him all the way to Saint?tier — assuming he didn’t fail along the way.
Even the Zhao family couldn’t buy this kind of power.
Knowing his father would never approve, Liam secretly accepted the deal and took the deposit — the very vial now in Evan’s hand.
Over the next weeks, Liam plotted.
Half a month later, he finally found a chance to be alone with Princess Seraphine.
She trusted him completely.
Though she was a Chrysalis?tier evolutionist, she was still vulnerable to firearms — and even more vulnerable to a Second?Tier Relic like the Wailing Skull.
She never saw it coming.
After killing her, Liam used a portable extraction device to harvest her evolutionary essence, producing a vial of first?tier human extract — tinged faintly red.
But afterward, Liam panicked.
Why would a secret organization trade multiple Saint?tier extracts for a single first?tier human extract?
Unless…
Princess Seraphine’s extract was worth more than all of them.
But why?
Unable to resist, Liam gambled — and absorbed the extract himself.
He had already absorbed two first?tier extracts.
This was his third.
After absorbing it, he could attempt his first evolution.
He succeeded.
And gained a skill beyond anything he’d imagined:
A passive ability that allowed him to absorb one extra extract per evolution stage.
Everyone else could only absorb three extracts per stage.
After that, they had to evolve.
But Liam could absorb four.
In the back seat of the car, Evan’s eyes snapped open.
As Liam’s clone, he had inherited all of Liam’s abilities.
Including this one.
So that was the “special skill” Elias Zhao had insisted must be copied.
Evan focused inward — and felt it.
A passive skill.
A monstrous one.
He couldn’t hide his excitement.
Every stage, he could absorb one more extract than anyone else.
Which meant:
- One extra skill per stage
- One extra boost to physical stats per stage
- A compounding advantage that would snowball over time
Same?tier fights?
He’d crush them.
Higher?tier fights?
Not impossible.
Liam had named the skill Evolution’s Grace — a blessing from the god of evolution.
Evan agreed.
It deserved the name.
“So I’ve already absorbed three first?tier extracts… and thanks to Evolution’s Grace, I can absorb a fourth before evolving.”
There was only one downside:
It was expensive.
Every stage required one extra extract.
And high?quality extracts cost a fortune.
Fortunately…
he was now the heir of a very wealthy family.
“Is this my cheat ability?” Evan wondered.
He felt a little annoyed — not because the ability was weak, but because the cheat had taken such a ridiculous route to reach him.
Other transmigrators got systems the moment they arrived.
He had to wait for:
Princess Seraphine → Liam Zhao → cloning lab → Evan Cole
A third?hand cheat.
One?star review.
But…
Princess Seraphine was dead.
Liam Zhao was dead.
And Evan was the only one left with this ability.
Which made it…
Pretty damn sweet.
Still, one question nagged at him:
If Evolution’s Grace was this powerful, could it really be copied through cloning?
If that secret organization had cloning tech, couldn’t they mass?produce Evolution’s Grace?
Why go through all this trouble?
It didn’t add up.
Power this clean was impossible. Power this dirty was inevitable. And Evan was starting to realize he wasn’t the only one who wanted Evolution’s Grace.