The Ultimate Evolution
chapter-874

Seeing how hungry Saruman was for a Golden Fruit, Sheyan could not help but feel some regret. He guessed that if he could offer a Golden Fruit to Saruman, then there should be a follow-up mission, and the reward of the follow-up mission should be quite generous. Sheyan noticed that Saruman only offered the Golden Fruit mission after obtaining Elrond's Illusion Bone Crystals. Maybe a Golden Fruit was required to activate the crystals! It's hard to know which one's the cause and which one's the effect.

However, for Sheyan, the rewards he missed out on was not important anymore. The most important thing was the four Golden Fruits absorbed by the 'Stairway of the Sun', and the evolved ability 'Poison Monarch : Beast of Corrosion'. It's obvious that this ability was at least S-grade.

Saruman was a mage, so his rewards wouldn't be better than an S-rank ability. No matter how Sheyan thought about it, he couldn't think of a better possible reward than evolving the 'Pestilence Monarch'. Besides, Saruman wasn't a very reliable person. He would have no qualms with burning bridges after using them.

So after contemplating for a bit, Sheyan felt that he made the best choice. He knew that he was no longer of much use to Saruman, so as soon as he left the Tower of Orthanc, he wasted no time in meeting up with his team and leaving Isengard through the teleport formation.

That was no doubt a very sensible move. When the Uruk-hai, Lurtz received Saruman's order to "teach them a lesson", they've already long left.

Lurtz was so angry his blood veins almost popped. He was free to move within Isengard under Saruman's protection and magic disguise, but if he chased after them through the teleport formation, his identity would be exposed for sure. It would be like a guy in kimono suddenly appearing in the midst of an anti-Japan protest. The result would be obvious. The Uruk-hai had never had a great reputation after all. He could only roar a few times to vent his anger.

What Lurtz didn't know was that Reef and Franklin had only teleported away for a short while before returning to Isengard again. They would team up in the near future to complete their next mission.

Meanwhile, Sheyan teleported to the picturesque and warm Shire. The gentle lute sounds and adorable architectural styles had left a deep impression on him, not to mention the good stuff in the magic item stores here. Melody's companionship was nice too.

However, these were all not the most important reason for him to come the Shire. The real reason was because there was a problem with the 'Stairway of the Sun'.

After the ample energy from the Golden Fruits were absorbed by the 'Stairway of the Sun', it naturally evolved. The result of the evolution was that the 'Stairway of the Sun' changed from a peculiar half-plant, half-animal creature, into extreme forms. It could now interchange between a plant form and an animal form. This greatly enhanced Sheyan's strength.

But everything in this world had two sides. Sheyan received a great benefit from the 'Stairway of the Sun', but he must also bear the consequences. He could already feel the signs of his body gradually unraveling.

The fundamental reason for this was hard to explain, but to put it simply, the soul of the 'Stairway of the Sun' had dissolved. It was akin to being in a coma. It currently functioned as an organ in Sheyan's body. The organ had now obtained enough nutrition, but without a soul guiding it, it could only grow instinctively. That became a major problem for Sheyan.

The only one who could help Sheyan was Melody. Lucky for him, Melody should be very willing to help. During their stay in the Shire, Melody used various valuable magical materials and a large amount of divine arts to slowly regulate Sheyan's body.

She even tried to slowly implant a nurtured soul embryo into the 'Stairway of the Sun'. The soul embryo was derived from the soul fragment of a deceased female Elven mage. She was also a Fanatic believer of Sin'dorei who was willing to sacrifice everything for him. It let the 'Stairway of the Sun' regain control of itself.

By the time the limit ended, Sheyan's body had stabilised. He could interchange at will between the 'Pestilence Monarch' and the 'Poison Monarch'. There was a price to pay, of course. Each time he changed from one to the other, he had to use 30% of his current HP.

The levels of all abilities under 'Pestilence Monarch' had also increased by 1.

More importantly, because the soul embryo in the 'Stairway of the Sun' had begun to sprout, an extra slot was unlocked for the rank 3 diseases of Sheyan's 'Pestilence Monarch'. It meant that he could get the 3rd disease without spending any utility points, achievement points or potential points. He only had to pass the test of the disease. In addition, the disease will get a level 2 bonus right away.

According to Melody, the soul embryo needed a large amount of soul energy after it sprouted, so if Sheyan could seize the souls of other strong creatures, he should take every opportunity to do so. The more the soul embryo grew, the more slots it would unlock, and the more benefits Sheyan would gain.

As the time limit of 20 days approaches, Sheyan reluctantly accepted a piece of 'shattered Ent heart' from Melody. Reef and Franklin had long completed this mission. There were also a series of follow-ups, but Sheyan was busy cultivating with Melody so he didn't have the time to do them. He could only give up on them regretfully.

After the confirmation of handling over the mission item, he received these notifications:

[You have completed the hidden main storyline mission: Isengard's Hidden Dangers]

[Difficulty: Unable to evaluate]

[Time limit: 20 days]

[Mission summary: Since you have chosen the hidden faction of Saruman, then you should provide some service for this faction.]

[Mission objective: You have obtained a piece of shattered Ent heart]

[You receive 10,000 utility points and 1 achievement point]

Sheyan knew that to obtain the perfect reward for this hidden main storyline mission, he must undoubtedly obtain all three of the mission items 'black dorsal fin of water monster', 'Dunlending golden tooth' and 'shattered Ent heart'.

But a lot of times, knowing something and doing it were two different things! Sheyan's body was about to unravel. How could he leave to collect more mission items?

The strict nightmare realm didn't care about his situation. It dished out a strict punishment for his lackadaisical attitude. The mere reward of 10,000 utility points and 1 achievement point was proof of that.

The next thing that happened was also within Sheyan's expectation. The realm was very dissatisfied with his performance, so it wished for Sheyan to scram from this world instead of enjoying his life here. He was ordered to return to the nightmare realm within an hour.

On the other hand, Reef and Franklin, with the reminder of the "recuperating" Sheyan, perfectly completed the mission. They were now at the last step. They estimated they would stay in this world for 2 or 3 more days. With the help of Melody and Mr. Ferrell, completing the mission should not be a problem. Their rewards should be pretty handsome.

Sheyan kissed the teary-eyed Melody and chose to return. A door made of light appeared behind him. Under normal circumstances, the contestant had to step into the door. But this time, it was the other way around. The door swallowed Sheyan like the mouth of a giant beast.

Sheyan floated in the universal dimension, then watched the playback of some familiar scenes. He took parts in some major events in this world, such as the death of Elrond, the change in Rivendell's ruler, the capturing of the Balrog, the intrusion of the Ocean-freak of Moria, Treebeard falling into slumber, and Saruman obtaining the Illusion Bone Crystals of an Elf. All these caused great changes to the plot.

These events, of course, were not caused by Sheyan alone. Without the Stockholm Party injuring Elrond beforehand and without them assembling the Ringwraiths, there was no way Sheyan could do all this. He was merely following the flow; he didn't expect things to get out of hand. Melody getting Vilya, the Ring of Air was her own initiative at grasping her opportunity.

The following messages appeared in the air:

[Setting: The world of the Lord of the Rings]

[Difficulty: A+ (Top tier existences such as Treebeard and the Ringwraiths were involved after all)]

[Pain limitation: 50%]

[Additional capabilities boost: 0%]

[Current setting exploration rate: 31.21%]

[Mission exploration rate: 7%]

[Mission completion score: D+ (You barely met the requirement to complete the hidden main storyline mission)]

[Reward analysis: You obtained 1 + 1 free attribute point(s) (+1 legend level bonus). You currently have 2 free attribute points. Please allocate them to your base attributes as soon as possible. Otherwise, idle free attribute points would still be factored into difficulty calculations. You have reached the attribute boundary; please take the Growth-Hunter test as soon as possible.]

[ Mission exploration rate / mission completion score reward: 17,000 + 1,814 utility points (Silver party leader reward), 10 potential points, 9 + 1 achievement points (+1 legend level bonus) ]