Infinite Evolution: My Idle Evolution System - Chapter 262

Chapter 262: Silver Bullet Demon’s Master
“You’re the Silver Bullet Demon’s Master!?” Viola shouted, barely able to restrain her emotions. “How could that be?? You’re the Master of the humanoid monster that took down the second strongest Hunter in the world?? One of the first Awakened!?”

“Actually,” Cassius said, scratching his cheek, “I’m the one who defeated that nuisance. But as of now, she would surely be able to accomplish the same feat, and quite easily at that.”

“That nuisance…?” Viola repeated in disbelief, unable to believe what she was hearing. “This level of strength… There’s no way you were always this strong… Is there…!?”

“…It’s something like that,” Cassius said with a wry smile. “But regardless of that, I’ve called you over to caution you about those around you. And also to… give you this.”

He extended his hand and opened it, allowing a circular purple amulet to drop from his palm.

“This here is an item I recently picked up but have no use for. It should do well to shield you from some of the danger that is sure to surround you. Use it well, and when not by my side, hold it close.”

Viola looked down at the purple-gemmed amulet, its intricately designed ruby chain sprawled out in her hands. Upon taking a more in-depth scan, her eyes widened repeatedly.

“This quality!” she exclaimed. “The magic within it! Just what sort of supreme treasure is this!? I think even the World-class Hunters possess items inferior to this one!”

Cassius merely smiled, ignoring the SS-Rank System Prompt that appeared every time he looked at the amulet.

“Don’t lose it,” he said jokingly. “It could be a while before I find something of such rarity again.”

“But I can’t receiv—”

“And don’t bother trying to give it back to me,” said Cassius, his back now turned to her. “Keeping you safe is far more important to me than some trinket.”

Even if it weren’t because of the benefits Viola could offer him with the VoidWarper Skill Set, he still would’ve given her the amulet. Once he began his ascent through the Ascension Towers, the items obtained from mere Purple-ranked Gates would make no difference, anyway.

“Regardless of any sentimentals, just be safe before and when the Gate Raid begins, Viola,” said Cassius, his listless gaze peering into the warm, reddish sunset. “Everything is more than it seems… everything is always more than it seems.”

“Cass…” Viola reached out her hand but retracted it at the last second. She could feel his unrest—sense his troubled state of mind.

‘There’s definitely something else he’s not telling me… But I…’

She was too scared to ask.

Even as the mighty Guild Leader of a very influential and wealthy Guild, Viola Voidweaver felt herself becoming unnaturally nervous in his presence. It was almost as if she unconsciously considered herself unworthy to share in his troubles—his woes—what kept him up at night.

And for some odd reason, she felt that no one was worthy. That no one could relate to him.

In the end, Viola could only silently nod. Then, with a hard lip bite, she returned through the mystical portal she had arrived through.

Cassius sighed softly at her departure, his chin lifting upward. He gazed into the blue skies above, looking past the fluffy white clouds and even the vast void of space beyond.

“Death and fear of death,” he murmured, arms crossed behind his back. “It’s such a weird thing, isn’t it? We live day to day in the moment, fearing the death that will undoubtedly arrive. But when faced with something we always knew would come, we quiver and resist with all our might. Even I… Even I resisted…”

In truth, he should’ve died within the Boundless Gorge on that day.

And yet he hadn’t.

He also hadn’t found it in himself to leave the Boundless Gorge’s entrance ever since. He merely came to the world, stayed an hour idling atop the mummified corpses of those he vanquished, then left. He had repeated this process nine times already for the sake of the Daily Quest, every time being unable to bring himself any closer to moving from his spot.

“I really am a coward,” Cassius muttered. “I fear death just as much as anyone else. And even though I’ve fallen in battle tens of thousands of times, I still can’t seem to overcome that fear.”

Looking to the limits of the Isolated Solar System, Cassius pitifully smiled.

“Am I really so different from how I was when I had no power?” he asked himself. “When I was less of a human being than any other human?”

He feared hearing the answer to that question, for he knew exactly what it would be.

Even with his incredibly handsome appearance, overpowered abilities, and cool demeanor, in the end, he had not changed. Inside him still resided his weak-willed mortal shell, one that bent under pressure too much for his mind to handle.

In that moment—in the Boundless Gorge—he saw his life flash before his eyes. And that sight absolutely terrified him.

He didn’t want to die… and somewhere inside him, something was telling him to run. Run and never look back. Run not just from that situation but from everything—from his power, from his System, even from his… family—he wanted to escape.

He wanted to return to how things once were prior to the Idle Evolution System’s activation…

The fear of true death overwhelmed him so much that he was ready to discard it all. Everything he worked so hard to achieve. All the pain and torture he experienced—it all would’ve been for naught.

Only now—when faced with the imminent end of everything in the world—did he realize how foolish he had been while inside his own mind.

“Everyone fears death,” Cassius said. “If you don’t fear it, then you were likely never really alive to begin with.”

“Running away from something that comes for us all is the epitome of foolishness,” he added, his lips curling up in disgust at his previous thoughts. “And pain… pain is merely a construct of the mind. Pain doesn’t truly exist.”