The Ultimate Evolution

Sheyan was in a dilemma.

He was without a doubt a very decisive person normally. His keen and careful brain usually enabled him to come up with multiple possible results in an instant and find the optimised solution.

But….But!

This time, the situation he was facing was too weird, and the temptation was too great.

That mysterious voice said many things that Sheyan had never heard before, such as being able to leave the Nightmare Realm after having entered it, and an offensive-type MT which defended by attacking!

These things seemed unbelievable at first, totally beyond the human line of thought, but upon careful deliberation, they were somehow within reason. There was no way to find any fault in them.

Moreover, Sheyan clearly knew that if a person wanted to deceive another, the best way was to tell 9 truths and 1 lie. Various contradicting emotions were warring within Sheyan’s heart. On the one hand, Sheyan wanted so hard to believe that person’s words, but on the other hand, his rationality was warning him not to believe them.

Sheyan buried his head in sea water for ten minutes, then asked himself a few questions.

First, will he die for sure in the next world if he did not strengthen himself this time?

Of course not.

Second, how risky would it be to do as the mysterious voice said?

The chance of dying was at least 40%.

Third, even if what the mysterious voice said was true, he already admitted that he did not have the power to help Sheyan. How much benefit would Sheyan get?

Most probably, the benefit would just be finding the way to break through.

After these three questions and three answers, Sheyan finally concluded that the risk and reward were not proportional. To trade a 40% chance of dying with the chance to obtain a possible breakthrough method….In business terms, this would be a project with a very poor evaluation. He decided against it.

However, Sheyan was truly unwilling to give up just like that, because his guts told him that the mysterious voice was not lying. More importantly, Sheyan himself was also very confused on what path to take in the future.

So, Sheyan compromised and made a less extreme decision. As the saying goes, without knowing anything, one did not have the right to speak. He decided to put this matter aside for now and investigate the site first before coming to a conclusion.

***

Sheyan had always loved the warm, humid ocean his whole life. The thought of climbing cold, towering snowy peaks never crossed his mind. He had no knowledge at all in this field.

However, Sheyan did know that climbing a tall mountain was a very dangerous thing to do. Extremely low temperature, snowstorms, avalanche and the risk of getting lost were all very lethal risk factors. Fortunately, there were a lot of information on the Internet. After a bit of research, he found that climbing a mountain actually required only two preparations.

The first was to have a strong enough body.

The second was to have enough money.

Sheyan happened to be doing quite well in these two aspects. A strong body went without saying – several normal humans combined may not add up to his strength. As for money…after getting close to a certain charming, sexy and wealthy female director, Sheyan got a card. He was supposedly able to withdraw money at will from any bank on Earth with that card, as long as the amount did not reach hundreds of millions of Euros.

After a crazy shopping spree, Sheyan found the address and phone number of one of Nepal’s largest mountain climbing agencies from the Internet. After some exchanges, – or, more precisely, after bombarding them with money, – hundreds of the mountain climbing agency’s employees worked through the night in a frenzy.

Everything was ready by the time Sheyan landed at Kathmandu Airport. The cost of getting everything ready in such a short moment’s notice was that most of the employees of the mountain climbing agency were now taking leave to make up for lost sleep at home.

Kathmandu exuded an ancient vibe accumulated over thousands of years of history, but the impact of modern luxury and advanced ideas also made the place rather fashionable. It was a place where traditions and modernity clashed. Various temples were mixed-in among the crude buildings of the slum districts. In the suburbs, many luxury hotels, restaurants and high-end shops were visible.

After Sheyan’s eyes adapted to this atmosphere, he placed the city of 400,000 people into two categories in his heart: one was a holy religious land full of red-walled shrines, the other was a chaotic city full of monkeys, beggars and exhaust gases.

At the same time, Sheyan reminded himself that he had better not get lost here, because all the streets here were narrow, winding and often without instructions. The notice boards that could be seen everywhere were filled with advertisements providing porters, tour guides and traveling companions. It truly gave people a sense of one family under the sun.

After arriving in the district of Thamel where the mountain climbing agency was based, Sheyan saw four experienced guides waiting for him. The three men and one woman seemed very reliable. The marks of wind and frost were clearly visible on the tanned skin of the three men. The wrinkles on their eyes and forehead were deep, and the outlines of their muscles were pronounced. Their main jobs were to carry the supplies and tents as well as various other heavy works.

The woman introduced herself as Hashemi. She was in her thirties and was very fluent in English. She would always smile before she said something. Sheyan could see that she should have some Western lineage in her.

The introduction given by the head of the mountain climbing agency was very simple.

“These three are Taba, Zenya and Guro. They’re as strong as buffaloes and have served mountaineering teams from many countries. They’ve visited the place you wished to visit six times before. Miss Hashemi is the most famous tour guide in Kathmandu, not only because of her eloquence and professionalism, but also because she’s an expert mountaineer herself. She’s obtained a number of internationally-recognised certificates.”

Sheyan actually really wanted to tell him that he did not need the three buffaloes and only needed a guide. It required very little effort for him to carry the supplies himself. But considering that the matter may be too shocking for them and that there was no need to save on money, the three guys successfully found employment.

Because Sheyan had said that he was in a hurry, the physical examination process was omitted. They took a bus to their initial destination. Miss Hashemi sat next to Sheyan on the bus and explained various things that he had to take note of. The two people soon got more familiar with each other.

After a while, Miss Hashemi could not help telling Sheyan, “Although it may be impolite to say this, Mr. Sheyan, but forgive me for being frank. You’re doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. It’s now June, and the most suitable time for a pilgrimage to the Lotus Stone is in September or October.”

Sheyan smiled. “That’s why I paid you guys three times the normal rate.”

Ms. Hashemi returned his smile. “To tell you the truth, Mr. Sheyan, if you’re going somewhere other than the Lotus Stone, even if it’s only a hundred meters higher, we won’t take this job no matter how much you pay. On the snowy mountains, even an additional fifty meters is a deadly distance.”

“But I don’t need to go anywhere else, so it’s good doing business with you,” replied Sheyan with a smile. “Believe me, I’m a generous person. If I’m happy, you guys will be even happier.”

***

The rest of the journey was rather uneventful.

With Sheyan’s strong Physique, although he had no experience, his speed still far exceeded the rest of the team.

The only obstacle they encountered was in the Gungdak forest at the foot of the mountain at an elevation of 1070 meters. All the team members repeatedly warned him of possible attacks from leeches. However, Sheyan couldn’t care less. If the leeches dared to bite him, they would be seeking death. The other team members were amazed at the insect-repellent Sheyan smeared on his body.

Because the weather was good, they could already see the Hanikurik Terrace after climbing the snowy mountain for two days. However, the weather suddenly turned bad after that. This was the first time Sheyan experienced for himself the danger of nature on a snowy mountain. The weather changed really abruptly; the temperature dropped at least 30 degrees in a mere 10 minutes! Fist-sized hailstones smashed down fiercely towards them. The velocity of the gale was at least 90 meters per second!

Such an astonishing wind velocity was enough to blow a car away, let alone a human. Fortunately, Sheyan’s money was not spent in vain. The few people who came along with him had already built a camp in a spot which was shielded from the wind. The metal spikes used to fix the tents in place were all hammered into the rocks. Although Sheyan knew that the Lotus Stone was only less than a kilometer away, and he was short on time, but considering the weather, there was no way he could go there right now.

In the middle of the night, the sound of the wind coming from the outside of the tent turned weaker, so he crawled out of his sleeping bag and tested the wind speed with his hand. He found that the wind velocity had dropped to about 30 meters per second (ED: Those are some insane deduction skills), and without the hail, visibility had greatly increased. He did not want to wake the others, so he climbed out and went to the Lotus Stone alone with careful steps. Sheyan was confident that even if the wind suddenly got strong again, he could still deal with it easily.

The Lotus Stone the mysterious voice told Sheyan about was finally in front of him. The stone was indeed unique, exactly as described by the mysterious voice. But when Sheyan saw the stone, a chill crept into his heart. This thing was right next to an abyss thousands of feet deep. If he really jumped down from the stone according to the mysterious voice’s instruction….

“Sh*t!”

Sheyan could not stop himself from swearing out loud. It was foggy in front of the cliff; he could not see the bottom at all. But, he could see that the edge of the cliff was covered with ice spikes and frost lances! If he really were to jump down, 4000 HP was definitely not enough. Heck, even if he had 400,000 HP, he’d still die!

Suddenly, Sheyan heard some noises. It turned out that the four people he hired were climbing up after him. Sheyan waved his hand to let them know that he’s fine and there was no need to worry, then continued studying the stone. After all, the customer is always right. The four could only stand around and wait for him. They stood very close to Sheyan so that they could come to his rescue in time in case anything happened to him.

While inspecting the surface of the Lotus Stone, Sheyan suddenly came up with an idea. Could the real intention of the mysterious voice be to just have him stand on the stone? Would anything happen if a person’s weight pushed down on the stone? Or could the real key be underneath the Lotus Stone?

With that thought in mind, Sheyan could not resist stepping onto the stone, but of course, he would never jump down. The result was that nothing happened. While he continued to rack his brain, he suddenly felt a strong force acting on his back!!

Sheyan was currently standing on the Lotus Stone, facing the abyss! He was less than a meter away from the edge, and there was a thin layer of ice on the stone so the surface was quite wet and slippery. Sheyan was pushed without warning, so even if he was a powerful contestant, he still could not escape the fate of falling into the terrifying abyss!