Infinite Evolution: My Idle Evolution System

"Welcome all! Who would like a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the Timeless Turtle up close?? Buy your tickets now!"

A salesman with a windy mustache was waving around tickets that had the image of a giant turtle printed on them. Behind him were several flying sedans and a shop advertising, "Timeless Turtle: Journey of Self-discovery," which was the name of his business.

'If there are shops set up solely for the Aimless Ancestor, just how long has it been walking in this area…?'

At its old age, its speed was not what it used to be. Back in the day, it could do laps around the entirety of the Azure Dragon Ridge Region, but now that its death date was rapidly approaching, it took thousands of years just to cross a single Province.

Whole generations of commoners grew up and died of old age, with the Aimless Ancestor having never passed their City…

*Flap! Flap!*

"Hurm?" Hearing what sounded like the flapping of a pair of wings, the Timeless Turtle Shop Owner turned his head. However, the hooded boy that once stood there had… disappeared.

"How odd," said the Shop Owner. He scratched his head in confusion before getting back to selling tickets to any curious passerby.

Meanwhile, in the skies high above the City of Shelldom, Necro flapped the draconic wings he acquired from the |Ancient Fire Dragon| Bloodline. They were his fastest pair of wings by far and even had a nice visual aesthetic. When flying, a trail of fire was also left behind, which was another cool aspect.

"This Immortal… Can it not see me?" Necro had moved over to one of the Aimless Ancestor's enormous eyeballs, but strangely enough, it didn't react. Taking a closer look, he noticed a cloudy glaze above the Turtle's left eye; clearly, it was not in a lucid state of mind.

"How perplexing," Necro commented while flying toward a different part of the massive turtle. Its shell.

He was expecting to find a rounded, cracked surface with a barren landscape, but much to his surprise, there were… man-made structures.

"Properly made buildings," said Necro, continuing to look further inland. He saw more buildings, some with greater complexity, but all of which had been abandoned at some point.

"People, likely humans, used to live here," he analyzed. "There should still be some nearby."

He flew all around the Aimless Ancestor's backside, in search of some form of life.

But save the ruins of what was definitely a prosperous nation of sorts at one point, there was no one. Not a single living being was staying on the huge shell.

However, this came off as extremely unusual to Necro. After all, there had definitely been a civilization here. It didn't even look like it had been that long since the civilization had been around either.

What was actually going on here…?

Necro spent the next few hours scouring the Aimless Ancestor's vast backside. He didn't know why, but he was invested in figuring out what happened to the people that once lived here.

"Something very recent must've changed the situation of this place," said Necro, taking a break from circling the shell that he had inspected every inch of tens of times already. "That Shop Owner wouldn't bother bringing people to see a bunch of scattered ruins. And if he comes up here daily, then it's certainly a possibility that the drastic disappearance of this shell's civilization occurred far more recently than I originally predicted."

But seeing as how flying around in circles was getting him nowhere, Necro tried searching for any minute evidence. No matter how seemingly irrelevant, he placed importance on anything that could bring him closer to the truth.

However, after once again wasting hours and getting no further in the investigation, Necro realized something truly inexplicable.

"No bloodstains. No signs of robbery or raids on the buildings. Not even a single piece of torn-up clothing…" The more he delved deeper into this mystery, the more puzzling it became.

How could buildings be destroyed en masse, but there be no evidence of any sort of violence done to whoever lived here?

There was no struggle. No retaliation. It was as if the human civilization's people died instantly and were subsequently reduced to oblivion.

As for how the buildings had been so badly damaged, Necro honestly had no idea…

"Abduction? No, doesn't fit. Instant vaporization?? No, the clothes of the humans vanished for some, but stayed for others; the consistency is too irregular."

He filtered through every possibility, no matter how absurd it was. And eventually, he landed on there being only one possible answer.

"The Aimless Ancestor… Did it do something?" was the question he asked himself while flying back over to the giant turtle's head.

However, it was still as cloudy-eyed as it was a few hours ago. Its brain had obviously not been functioning properly for many thousands of years, possibly not even since its banishment from the High-Heaven Kingdom a million years ago.

Suddenly, Necro noticed something coming from out the top of the giant turtle's head.

"Is that a… worm…?" He flew over to whatever he was looking at, only to be forced on the sharp defensive as a thin worm-like creature lashed out at him.

---

{[Mind Devouring Parasite King]}

[Lifespan: 1230 / 65,008]

[Cultivation: Golden Core (5th Layer)]

— [For hundreds of years, this brain-corroding parasite has been implanted in the brain of the Aimless Ancestor. By feeding on the Monster Immortal's brain nutrients, it has evolved time and time again, becoming an Immortal itself.]

— [However, some hundred odd years ago, a wandering Heavenly Deity came to visit the Aimless Ancestor. Upon seeing the Immortal Parasite embedded into the Aimless Ancestor's brain, the furious Heavenly Deity unsheathed his Divine Godslaying Blade and perished the Parasite King right then and there.]

— [But with a vitality as tenacious as the one the Aimless Ancestor had, the death of its main body was not its end. Years later, it returned to power with one of its Symbiote cells, surely destined to reach the Immortal Realm once more.]

— [Interesting Information: Because it couldn't latch onto the Aimless Ancestor's brain before achieving the Golden Core Realm, it chose to devour all nearby life for a beginner's boost. All civilization on the Aimless Ancestor's shell was wiped out by the Parasite King.]

---

With this, the mystery revolving around the missing people had been solved.

However, Necro didn't feel like he accomplished anything…

"Kekeke—" A soulful cackling echoed from where the Parasite penetrated the Aimless Ancestor's skull. That original worm-like creature from before multiplied into dozens and hundreds of itself. Each one was an extension of a town-sized glob of white mass buried deep within the outermost layer of the Aimless Ancestor's brain.

"You're stronger than those other feeble humans." The owner of the soulful voice started to speak in a perfect human dialect, its vocals and knowledge developed from all that it had devoured in its life. "This'll make you all the tastier, kakaka!"

Necro frowned.

The monster before him was a serious threat. Even the True Fire Dragon from before fell a bit short in comparison.

'Still, this is an opportunity.'

An opportunity to acquire another powerful Bloodline.

"That look in your eyes," said the Parasite King. "You actually believe yourself to be my match."

OOOM!

"Truly delusional!"

The Parasite King erupted with an aura that suffocated everything around it. However, it didn't stop with just that, as it whipped out with its worm extensions, sparking them with electricity.

"Puny human, today is the day you die!" it roared, causing ripples to spread out above the Aimless Ancestor's shell. Worm extensions flowered outward, creating a lethal piercing arsenal that shot toward Necro at several times the speed of sound.

Necro expressionlessly observed the incoming barrage of attacks. Any normal Mid Golden Core Realm powerhouse would not be capable of fending them off. The him from the day prior also wouldn't have survived unscathed.

However, he had not been totally idle since discovering the Aimless Ancestor…

The Core of a True Dragon. An item of immeasurable value. A large sphere with a seemingly limitless amount of energy contained inside.

Now, what would happen if, say… someone devoured a True Dragon's Core?

WAAA!

"W-What is this!?" The Parasite King's extensions were blasted to oblivion by a massive discharge of crimson-gold energy. A sense of dread came over its primary cell body as it observed Necro's immensely unwavering aura.

"From the 1st Petal of the Red Lotus to the 5th Petal. A single Dragon Core did this," Necro said slowly, glancing at the staggering level of power coursing through his veins. "It was the right decision to directly consume it instead of selling it and purchasing cultivation materials. Now, every breath I take is able to kill a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator."

"As for you…"

"!!!"

The Parasite King feared for its life under that icy cold stare. Without a second's hesitation, it clawed its way out of the Aimless Ancestor's outermost brain layer, revealing its true body.

It proceeded to… flee!

'I have to return to the Hive!! Only that way can I escape this freakish human!!'

Centuries ago, it was that Heavenly Deity, and now there was this insane human who was mediocre one second and overpowered the next—just what the hell was up with the Human race!?

"Do you honestly believe you can flee?" Necro grabbed out with a claw-like hand motion before squeezing. The space surrounding the Parasite King was locked down, preventing it from escaping.

"Y-You…!!" Enraged, the Parasite King burned through its Life Force, shouting, "Don't you dare underestimate me, you paltry insect!!!"

RUMBLE!