[02:45:19.]

Leo thought enough time already passed and the orcs were going to discover his disappearance soon. This made him unwilling to stay outside much longer. Anyway, those rubbles were already a good spot, it was that or hiding on a crevice in a wall or on the body of dead captives.

Afterward, Leo squeezed in the rubbles and disappeared inside them in the blink of an eye. Once again, his body proved to be useful, bending in ways only cats were able to, he was able to travel the narrow gaps between the rocks and hide safely.

‘It’s a little hot and stuffy here,’ Leo muttered as he settled in a big enough gap between two rocks.

Once he was settled, Leo stayed completely still and waited as time slowly flowed.

[01:41:30]

‘Yawn, those lazy asses didn't notice anything,’ After waiting for an hour, Leo couldn’t help but feel astonished that nobody found out that he was missing.

‘Or maybe I’m less important than I thought,’ He muttered with a thoughtful expression. It was the first time he was glad about the fact that someone didn't care about him. Anyway, Leo wasn't going to complain about that, the later they found out about his disappearance, the better it was for him.

[01:00:60]

It was only after almost an hour passed that something changed. Unfortunately for the orcs, especially the one supposed to be monitoring Leo, none of them managed to discover his disappearance before the shaman came back.

“ROOOAAARRR.” An ear-splitting and angry roar filled the cave, making its walls, the captives, and the other orcs shake violently.

The shaman was the one who noticed Leo's disappearance, he just returned to the cave to find out that the shadow beast was missing.

“W... Why great shaman angry, gru-gru?” the unfortunate orc that should have been monitoring Leo came over and asked in a trembling voice.

“YOU DARE ASK ME WHY I AM ANGRY,” the shaman roared. His fury was so great that he smashed the head of the orc with his fully powered fist. The clueless orc was taken by surprise and unable to defend himself was killed on the spot.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh. Aaaaaaaah," the girls let out a shrill scream as they were showered in the blood and brain matter of the dead orc. Some of them couldn't take it and straight passed out. Even Eris was trembling fiercely as she looked at the blood and bit of flesh on her face.

“SHUT UP!” the shaman ordered as he glared fiercely at the girls huddled together, it was almost like he wanted nothing but to tear them to shreds. The only thing that was stopping him from doing so was the fact that they were still useful to him. He barely vented some of his anger by blowing that idiot to bits and now those girls started whining in his ears. Talk about having a death wish.

With much difficulty and through Eris's effort the girls managed to calm down. Even though an occasional sobbing sound could be heard from time to time.

The cave was filled with a deathly silence, and everybody looked warily at the shaman, waiting to see what he was going to do.

“FIND ME THAT DAMN BEAST. NOW!!” the shaman roared angrily and once again left the cave.

Once the shaman left, the cave instantly fell into chaos. All the orcs started running around, frantically looking for Leo. Even the captives were forced to help the orcs. However, even after looking everywhere for minutes, there was still no sign of Leo. It was as if he wasn’t in the cave at all. Even when they tried looking deeper inside the cave there was no trace of him.

What was even funnier was that many searched around the collapsed tunnel where Leo was hiding but left empty-handed. Well unless they were willing to move a ton of rocks, there was no way they could find Leo. Even if they were willing to do such excavation work, Leo wasn't going to just sit and let them get him. He was sure that heading further in the rubble would do the trick and they would give up before reaching him.

[00:06:02...]

Meanwhile, Leo just stayed in his hole and patiently waited for the countdown to come to an end. He could hear the commotion going on outside and was sure it was related to him, but he didn't bother with it.

‘Search all you want. You have less chance to find me than Terran have chances to find aliens.’ With the countdown coming to an end, Leo was even in the mood to joke.

[00:02:00

00:00:59

00:00:10

00:00:03

00:00:02

00:0001]

[DING…. SYSTEM INITIALIZATION SUCCESSFUL.]

'Yes, Yes, Yes!! Finally!!' Leo cheered when the 03 hours long wait came to an end. His system was now online and hopefully, it would prove useful.

[Ding…... System initialization is successful……... Welcome host, and congratulations on becoming the owner of the Ultimate Beast Evolution System……….] For Leo, those few lines were as sweet as honey, and he couldn't care less about the cold voice the system used to tell them.

"Ah yes. I'm honored. So, what can you do, system?" Leo asked and eagerly waited for the system's answer. What was important right now was to find how the system could help him escape. He would have all the time to explore the system functions at a later time.

[The system can help you become stronger easily and quickly. Like my name suggests, I can help you to evolve in a stronger form easily.] The cold voice of the system resounded in his head.

"No shit Sherlock. I could have guessed that. We don't have time to play. Don't you have anything that can help me right now? We will talk about anything else later. A newbie pack or some s**t like that. That's what I need right now," Leo asked impatiently.

[Yes, the system has a Beginner's gift ready for the host…...]

"You see that you can when you want. Now, quickly give it to me," Leo asked, not waiting for the system to finish.

[...but it would only become available once the host accomplishes his first mission.]

"What!? Fuck you," Leo retorted angrily, the answer of the system felt like a cold shower.

"What do you want me to do with such a weak body and in the middle of such a dangerous place? If you want to give me something, just give it to me. Is there a reason to go such a roundabout way?" Leo said furiously, not only did the system make him wait for three hours but now it was asking him to accomplish a mission before receiving his beginner's gift. It has to be kidding him.

[Maybe the host should start by looking at his status.] The same cold and robotic voice said in his head, not bothering to reply to his outburst.

"Sigh, I guess you are right. I had already waited for 03 hours. What can change in a few minutes?" Leo said as he calmed down a little.

"Ok, so how should I do it? Old same way, I guess."

[To access it you just have to say status in your head.]

As the system told him to, he muttered status, and a holographic-like blue sheet with strings of words and numbers appeared floating before his eyes. It was a little strange as he could see through it while perfectly seeing the writings on it.

[Name: Leo Willis

Race: Shadow Cat

Rank: E

Qualification: Common

Title: Reincarnated, ????

Status: Healthy, Confused, Angry, Slight hunger and thirst.

Level: 1/10 (Evolution available at Lvl 10)

Experience (Exp): 0/100

Hit points (HP):120/120

Mana points (EP): 720/720

Stamina: 90/90

Constitution (CONS): 3

Strength (STR): 4

Agility (AGI): 8

Intelligence (INT): 9

Spirit (SPI): 6

Charisma (CHA): 3

Luck (LUK): 4

Free attribute points (AP): 0

Skill points (SP): 0

Elemental Affinity: Shadow

Resistance: None

Skills:

Rank E:

'Dash Lv1/5 (0/100):

Upon activation, increase your movement speed by 10% for 3 sec.

Cost:10 Stamina'

ScratchLv1/5 (0/100)

Your claws are extra sharp. Attack with your claws deals 110% physical damage to your opponents.

 Bloodline skills:

'Shadow cloak Lv1/5 (0/100):

Upon activation, enter a stealth state by covering yourself with shadow. Skill efficiency is reduced by 50% in daylight or a lighted place. Chances of being discovered are reduced by 50% during the night. You'll lose your stealth state as soon as you attack, or an attack hits you.

Duration: None;   Cost: 3MP/sec'

???:

####### ######Lv Max:????

Talent:

Quick Learner:

-You can remember everything you learn perfectly.

-You can reproduce all skills and techniques of your rank and one rank above you have seen at least once. You'll not be able to reproduce skills needing unique resources, constitution, or elemental affinity you don't have.

-You can automatically learn any skills you witness at least once.

Available slots(3)

-All resources involved in learning, training, and upgrading your skills will be halved.

 Innate hunter: When in a hunting state,

-All your stats and senses receive a 100% bonus.

-All your hiding and tracking skills will have their efficiency raised by 100%, and their cost halved.

-Your first strike when entering battle will inflict 200% damage.

Currency:0

System credit (SC):0

Remark: Your only utility is being a cute ball of fluff or some beast snack. ]

{AN: The most a non-trained human adult can have in an attribute is 10}

"Damn, I am weak as hell!" he couldn't help but complain after seeing his status. He didn't know the standard of this world, but he knew he was weak. The data before his eyes was showing clearly how weak he was. Even the system note didn't spare him a little bit of face. The only thing that looked like it was worth it was his mana, and even then, Leo couldn't help but find it weird since its value doesn't seem to add up. Also, it was useless, like a black card in the middle of a desert. He had only one skill that required the use of mana and it wasn't even an offensive one. As for his talent, while they look pretty powerful, neither of the two looked like they could be of any use right now, so he didn't care much.

"Hum, did I have those skills from the beginning?" Leo asked, curious about the skills present on his status window. He never felt like he could use any skill. What he meant was, since obtaining this body he was able to understand it completely and use it without any difficulty, however, he never felt it had any special qualities or abilities.

[They are the innate skills of the host's current form, but they were inactive before being awakened by the system.]

[Just wish for a skill to work, and it’ll activate. ] The system continued, anticipating Leo's next questions.

"Ok, I see. Thank you, I guess. Uhm..." Leo mumbled, it looked like the system did help him a little bit. He also wanted to ask about his mana and the questions mark on his status, but he abstained from it as he felt like he wouldn't like whatever answer he would receive, and it was pretty irrelevant to his current situation. He wasn't sure he was going to react if he had to swallow a ' Your authority level is insufficient.'.

'I would probably do nothing.'

Stopping himself before he started wandering too far from his current priorities, Leo returned to pondering about his current situation. He could feel that with his current skill set his chances at escaping the place in one piece were considerably greater. With 'Shadow Cloak' he would feel more at ease and have less difficulty while moving. There was also the innate hunter talent that could be of great help but since he had no idea what the hunting state was and didn't know how to enter it, he wasn't going to put too much hope on the help of that new talent of his. Well, he would have all the time to learn, the most important right now, was to escape this place.

[Ding….Congratulations. The host has received his first mission] The cold and robotic voice of the system sounded in his head. It was soon followed by another sheet of paper appearing in front of Leo, only that this time on it wasn't Leo's status but the content of his mission.

[Run, Ch*ck, Run]

[Mission introduction: As soon as you woke up in this world, you found yourself in a tricky situation, about to become a sacrificial offering in an unknown ritual. As the host of the Ultimate Beast Evolution System, how could you sit and wait for such a grim fate? Prove your worth, find your way out of the cave, and escape the grasp of the evil orcs.

[Rewards: Inventory unlocked, Beginner's gift.

Failure penalty: You will be used as an offering.]

Twitch, twitch...

Reading the mission introduction, Leo almost snapped at the system but barely managed to keep his calm. From the way the system was phrasing it, it was almost like Leo gave up on any hope of escaping and it was trying to cheer it up.

'Sigh, forget it. Let's just get to work,' Leo muttered as he started to make his way out of the rubble.

After struggling for some minutes, Leo finally managed to get out of his hiding spot. Once outside, Leo was greeted by a chaotic scene, with orcs and humans alike running around with terrified expressions as they looked for none other than him.

While Leo may have guessed the situation from the noise he was hearing previously, seeing it was another deal. The most intriguing thing was the terrified expression on the face of the humans and orcs. The situation was so chaotic that Leo couldn't help but doubt if they were truly looking for him.

'What could have happened here? A bunch of bees that lost their queen would look less confused than this,' Leo muttered as he looked at the scene in front of him while hiding behind a rock.

'Well, whatever it is I don't care, the most important thing is to get out of here,' Leo said with a determined gaze.

'Time to go,' he muttered, wishing for his skill shadow cloak to activate