Infinite Evolution: My Idle Evolution System

"I'm glad that you're here, Firecracker. And we're all honored to have you, but do tell me: why have you left the big city of Tokyo and returned to your humble beginnings?"

Hearing the Branch Master's deep and slightly hoarse voice made Firecracker all of a sudden feel rather guilty. Although he hadn't betrayed the country or anything of the sort, he still ghosted the city and community that might as well have raised him up from nothing. It would've been unusual if he hadn't felt any guilt upon seeing the worn-down appearance of the old man whom he once saw as a mentor.

"Teacher… I…" Firecracker had a hard time finding the exact words he wanted to say. Though, after steadying his erratically flickering eyes on the refined Old Man, he built up the courage to say, "I apologize for leaving on those terms! I also apologize for pretending that all of you didn't exist! Please forgive me, Teacher!"

The Branch Master stared at the extravagantly dressed man taking a respectful bow. He wanted to stay mad, but doing so at this point would just make him seem spiteful.

Releasing a heap of oxygen stored in his lungs, the Branch Master said, "I've already forgotten about the whole ordeal, so do stand properly. And you still haven't answered my previous question: why are you here?"

Firecracker hesitated slightly, yet still stood up and faced his ex-teacher in the end.

"I have come to retire!" he announced without a hint of deceit. However, seeing as that wasn't a very good point to end on, he added, "I have been going in and out of perilous Gates for nearly a decade. At any moment, I could've lost my life. But now that I'm 26, I no longer wish to risk my life for money that I'll likely never use in my lifetime."

"I just want to settle down in the area where I grew up in, and maybe even find myself a beautiful wife. Mhm… That would be nice…"

The Branch Master observed the earnest face that Firecracker was making.

With a constantly changing expression, the Branch Master thought, 'He really has changed. Nine years ago, he was still in his teens, and he knew not except what lay beyond the other side of the TV screen. He dreamed of making it big one day, and when he finally awakened as an A-Rank of the Elemental Fighter Class, he knew that his dream would soon come true.'

'Within days, he quit the Dojo I used to teach at part-time, then he left everything behind. But now look at him…'

The Branch Master saw not the young, naive child he once knew. He was now looking at a man.

"So, Master, you know anywhere that I can find beautiful ladies? I have money, so raising a family is not out of the question, even in this economy."

'...Well, sort of a man… Perhaps a rather lascivious man…'

The Branch Master helplessly sighed before spinning his chair around to a position facing the prosperous city outside. Looking through that thin glass screen, one could see the lives of countless people, all doing whatever they had to do to make it to the next dawn that shed its light unto the world. Awakened mingled with the far greater in quantity unawakened; it created a cohabitation that was in no way perfect. But it was wonderful.

"You know, Firecracker," the Branch Master suddenly spoke up, prompting the A-Rank Hunter to ask, "What is it, Teacher?"

"I have lived for more than half a lifetime," began the Branch Master, his eyes still glued to the intricate world that resided outside his office window. "And my Grandfather, a man who had lived even longer than I have, was around to witness the days before Gates became a part of everyday life. He experienced a world that, although still fraught with danger, was not at the level of the fragile balance that we're teetering on right now."

Firecracker didn't understand the point of this talk. What was his Teacher getting at?

The Branch Master, knowing exactly what the flame-adorned man was thinking, only shook his head and looked beyond the point where the land touched the sky.

"You can do whatever you wish in this city, Fashio. Just don't break any laws and don't abuse your status too much."

"That is all; you can leave now if you wish."

Fashio was really not following, but he wasn't one to stick around under an awkward atmosphere like this one. Therefore, after bowing once more and thanking his Teacher for his grace, he left the same way he came in, still peachy as could be.

When no one was left in the large room except for the brooding Branch Master, he turned his head up into the horizon.
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"It truly is a shame that all of this could very well be gone soon. The world in my grandfather's generation—I wonder if that's what the world will turn back into once Homosapiens vanish from the face of the Earth."

As a Branch Master of the Hunter's Association, and one on good terms with a plethora of highly influential figures, he was privy to many things that even the A-Rank Firecracker did not know about. He knew of the backstory behind the World's End Gate located at the center of the world, and he knew of Baba Yaga's Prophecy, but neither was what made him as melancholic as he was at this very moment.

The truth was that less than a few hours ago, the Branch Master learned of some new, devastating news—news that would send ripples throughout the country and even the world.

"Beings from beyond the stars…. They've really invaded us. I never thought a day like this would come, but it has. And it surely won't be very long before what Prophet Baba Yaga said comes to fruition."

The moment the Branch Master heard this information from a high-ranking friend of his in Tokyo's Capital City, he thought it to be ludicrous.

However, as his friend went into great detail about the subtle and peculiar changes occurring in those around him, he began to see more and more of something he didn't want to see—the truth.