Arthur paid no mind to the pain in his chest and directed all his focus toward the Primal Core, which was growing very slowly. With great excitement, he sensed the changes occurring inside his body.

  The Mana pathways that appeared out of nowhere pulsed like hungry beasts waiting to be fed, then expanded rapidly, linking to all his organs, nerves, and major blood vessels, forming a dense network of paths.

  In turn, his heart beat at an incredible speed, pumping blood through the new pathways until it reached the Primal Core.

  There, his blood essence, rich with his bloodline, was absorbed and stored within the Core, while his normal blood continued its path back to the heart. The cycle repeated again and again, hundreds of times.

  Seconds passed, then minutes, and his body continued to work and burn like a nuclear reactor at its peak activity. Steam rose intensely from his skin.

  After about an hour, when the progress bar reached 60%, the blood finally stopped flowing through his Core. At that moment, he felt something strange in the air around him.

  Something he had never noticed before—it had no shape, color, or even smell. Had he not been certain of its presence, he would have thought he was hallucinating. Of course, it only took him a few seconds to realize it was Mana.

  'Has this moment finally come?' A small smile appeared on his face. To avoid interrupting this delicate process, he remained calm and merely watched as his body worked on its own.

  His Primal Core shook and glowed like a dormant volcano waking up. All his pores opened, and his body began to absorb Mana at a steady, slow pace.

  The Mana traveled through his pathways; along the way, some of it dissipated and was lost, some nourished his organs and blood, and the small amount remaining finally reached his Primal Core, where it was stored as pure energy.

  Suddenly, his insides churned violently. Before he could fully understand what was happening, he opened his mouth and vomited a large amount of sticky black substance that reeked of a foul stench.

  A disgusted expression appeared on his face as he stared at the unfamiliar substance, muttering in doubt,

  "Are these impurities? Probably. I went through a major rank up this time, and my body underwent a complete transformation, so it makes sense to expel the toxic materials that had accumulated inside me."

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  After vomiting several more times, his body felt noticeably lighter and more refreshed. At the same time, he sensed that his very existence had become more obscure, as if he were no longer just an ordinary beast—and this only confirmed his hypothesis.

  The rank-up process continued for another forty minutes. When it finally ended, numerous system screens appeared before him.

  [Rank Up Complete]

  [Evolution Successful: Zomboid Wolf]

  [Current Primal Core Awakening Rate: 79%]

  [Congratulations]

  [Primal Predator has unlocked a new effect: Night Predator]

  [Poison Resistance has evolved into Poison Immunity]

  [Regeneration effectiveness has increased]

  [A large number of your Skills have received minor enhancements to certain effects]

  [Warning]

  [Due to your physical condition being unstable during the Rank Up, 15 Evolution Points have been lost]

  After reading the final notification, a faint look of regret appeared on his face. He let out a sigh and said,

  "I wanted to avoid losing those precious Evolution Points, but it couldn’t be helped. Still, the rank up was successful, and I gained a lot from it."

  Fifteen Evolution Points weren’t a big loss, so he pushed the matter aside. His excitement quickly returned as he opened his Status, eager to see the changes that had occurred to his Attributes.

  [— Status —]

  Name: Arthur Grafton

  Race: Zomboid Wolf

  Rank: D

  XP: 457 / 4000

  HP: 899 / 950

  Mana: 100 / 100

  Evolution Points: 18

  [— Basic Status —]

  Strength: 67

  Endurance: 69

  Speed: 44

  Agility: 32

  Vitality: 95

  Perception: 31

  Mana Control: 17

  [— Skills —]

  Primal Predator (SSS)

  The Last One Standing (S)

  King’s Bloodline (A)

  Immortal Body (A)

  Dimensional Storage (B)

  Evaluation (B)

  Enhanced Senses (D)

  Unbreakable will (B)

  Regeneration (D)

  Poison Immunity (D)

  – – –

  His smile widened, and his happiness grew as he calculated the total EP he had gained from the rank up.

  'I’ve gained 125 points in total, but unlike the first time, the points weren’t distributed evenly across my Attributes. Most went to my Vitality and Endurance, with a little in Mana Control.

  This is probably due to the evolution path I chose. As for the remaining Evolution Points, I’ll save them for later to see which aspects need more improvement.'

  Without giving the matter any more thought, he turned his gaze to the Mana bar, which finally was no longer stuck at zero.

  To test this new energy, he activated the "Immortal Body" skill and felt his Primal Core pumping Mana through his pathways all the way to his skin.

  As with the first time he tried the skill, his skin and fur thickened and hardened, and his body became heavier. But this time, he didn’t feel fatigued. His physical defense had doubled, and a thin, transparent red Mana barrier formed around him.

  Even after keeping the skill active continuously for three minutes, he felt no exhaustion; all that happened was that the Mana bar decreased by 40%.

  'This is much better than I expected. Still, I need to keep in mind that using this skill in battle will consume Mana at a faster rate.'

  Arthur nodded with satisfaction and deactivated the skill, then examined the minor improvements that had occurred to his other skills.

  He found that his pain tolerance had increased from 30% to 50%, his Regeneration rate had risen by about 40%, and the damage absorption of the "Immortal Body" skill had increased from 600 to 800 HP.

  As for the new effect unlocked by the "Primal Predator" skill, it was as follows:

  [Night Predator: Increases all your stats by 7% during nighttime and greatly enhances your stealth and camouflage abilities]

  In truth, Arthur felt relieved. He had taken an important step forward, slightly increasing his chances of survival in this world.

  Yet he did not celebrate; there was still a long way to go, and the first thing he needed to do now was to find a safe place to continue his evolution and rank up.

  The sealed mushroom inside him had also weakened considerably and could be completely removed in just a few weeks. More importantly, the Spider Woman’s web had also become weaker.

  'If I reach C-Rank, I might be able to get rid of this web entirely, or at least it won’t affect my body anymore. Right now it’s dormant because the link between me and the Spider Woman is cut, but if I enter her range, it will reactivate—and that won’t be good.’