Chapter 1: The Birth

In a mass expanse of forest - one still frozen over from the recent winter - sat an ape. Not just any ape though, no, this was a Silverback gorilla. Standing at a short (for his species) 4ft 9, and with very little muscle in comparison to the rest of his kind, you would think that it would be impossible for such a seemingly weak (relatively speaking) Gorilla to be the leader of his tribe, yet you would be wrong.

Because this Gorilla in particular possesses something that all the others of his tribe seemed to sorely lack, no matter how hard he tries to help them.

“Sharp rock not as sharp as other rocks, Naipas is angry!” Said Gorilla, Naipas, yelled to himself in frustration as he threw his failed experiment at a tree, then promptly fell over as he had accidentally used his entire body's leverage to throw it, instead of just his arm. 

As he pulled himself out of the snow, he felt like raging some more, perhaps by breaking a rock or two. But instead, he stopped upon seeing his mate standing next to a tree, looking at him with confusion.

“Naipas not sleep in two moon, Omoh not want.” She said.

Naipas took a second to decipher her words. He had the best speaking capabilities of his tribe, and while that made it easier to talk to other animals, it also made it slightly harder to understand people with worse speech skills, which unfortunately included the entirety of his tribe.

When he finally figured out that she was saying that she was worried about him, he grunted in resignation. He had taken Omoh as his mate because she seemed much more emotional than the rest of the females (something that put off the other males), which fascinated him. He loved the extra attention, but at the same time, he wished she didn’t get scared so easily. She would always interrupt his experiments if they looked too dangerous.

She wouldn’t even let him stab himself to study his blood! She even tried to fight him over it!

Most Gorillas probably would have beaten her, or even killed her for something like that, but Naipas didn’t particularly mind. He knew she was just trying to keep him safe, which he appreciated.

“Naipas is fine, Omoh not worry. Naipas almost there, one more sharp rock. Naipas will learn it. Naipas will reach one hundred!” Naipas reassured her, which didn’t seem to work.

He was so close. Just one more point and he will achieve his life’s goal.

[Intelligence - 99/100]

Naipas’s resolve only reinforced itself upon looking at the number on his system page. He had spent his entire life learning, experimenting, and training his mind for this moment. He wanted to know what would happen when the intelligence stat was maxed out. 

No,

He needed to know what would happen.

He had gone through hell to reach that 99 in intelligence. He was belittled by the others in his original tribe.  He was beat, broken, and starved by them. All because he had the ‘foolish’ goal of increasing the most ‘useless’ stat on the system page. 

“Mind no make food” They said.

“Mind no kill enemy” They said

“Mind no protect tribe” They said.

They shut their mouths real fast though when Naipas managed to beat the ever-living hell out of the leader with only trickery, tools, and traps alone. 

But that wasn’t enough for Naipas. He may have been able to prove to the others that the intelligence stat was more important than they thought, but he also needed to prove it to himself. He needed to know that all the time, effort, and blood he put into it was worth it.

“Naipas say same last moon! Omoh not believe! Naipas no sleep, bear kill Naipas!” She exclaimed, clearly agitated.

Naipas sighed. “One more rock, Naipas will learn. Naipas promise. Omoh stay to protect.”

Omoh clearly wasn’t satisfied with that, but gave in anyway, knowing that it was the best she would get out of him.

Naipas turned his attention back to the several sharp rocks that were sitting in the snow in front of him.

The sharp rock was needed in multiple different crafting recipes; such as the knife, spear, and arrow. Naipas’s current experiments revolved around finding out why the sharp rock was sharp. He knew how to make them, how to use them, and even how to throw them. That last part is kind of useless since he always forgets to only use his arm to throw instead of his entire body, but the point stands. He knew all of that, but he didn’t know why it worked, and that annoyed him.

So, for the last few weeks he had been experimenting with them. He even gained five intelligence from it! Five! Now all he had to do was prove his theory and he was confident that he would be able to get that final point. That was why he was frustrated when the rock he made wasn’t as sharp as the other rock he made because that meant that he had gotten something wrong.

Naipas picked up a rock and resisted the urge to hurl it at another tree in anger. If the information was wrong, why did the system give him all those points? That doesn’t make any sense!

Naipas’s grip tightened around the rock, cracking It slightly under the pressure. Was the system just toying with him? Like the Polar Bears like to toy with the seal? 

No, that couldn’t be it. Why would the system pick Naipas specifically to mess with? It inhabited all beings on Earth except plants and bugs, so why would it choose him out of all those other beings? Surely, there was someone else trying to raise their intelligence to max, right?

But no, that’s not what's happening. Naipas just needed to calm his emotions and think logically. Why doesn’t the rock have the same sharpness as the other rock? The only reason he could think of was that his theory of the sharpness of rocks coming from the rock's color was wrong. But if it’s wrong, then why did he get intelligence points for it? 

Then an idea struck him.

‘System… System not care for right?’ Naipas’s grip on the rock loosened as his head shot up and he looked at the rock pile with wide eyes. The idea had never occurred to him!

‘System not looking for right! Intelligence isn’t right! Intelligence is trying to be right! Being right not matter.’ The second Naipas finished that thought, he heard the sound he had been waiting for his entire life.

[Ping]

[For logical thinking, you have gained +1 intelligence]

Naipas’s back straightened as he excitedly opened his system page, the sudden excitement startling his mate.

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[Intelligence 100/100]

The sight alone was enough to fill him with pride. He had finally done it!

[Ping]

[The following conditions have been met-

1. Possess a stamina stat within the upper ranges of your species limit

2. Possess an Intelligence stat at your species limit

3. Empathy trait

4. Strong Will trait

5. Curiosity trait

6. Creativity trait

7. All crafting recipes unlocked]

[Would you like to begin the evolution process?]

[Warning, upon the start of the evolution process, you will be unconscious for three days.]

Naipas froze. An evolution? Those are supposed to be so rare they only appear in myths! The legends of his old tribe spoke of a fox that managed to become the first Gorilla of this land through an evolution. There are supposedly similar tales told for the other animal tribes as well.

He was about to accept without thinking before he caught sight of his mate's worried face, and a sudden thought struck him.

“Omoh! Naipas has done it! One hundred intelligence has given Naipas evolution! Naipas will sleep for three moons, Omoh protect Naipas from bears! Naipas ask Naen to protect too, so return to tribe.” Omoh looked shocked and confused at the statement, but began following him immediately as they took off through the snow toward the rest of their tribe.

Less than two minutes later, they arrived at a hill that could only be climbed from one side due to the cliffs surrounding it. On this hill were primitive huts and lean-to’s made of sticks and leaves, and a fire sitting in the center of the village which melted the snow around it and allowed sparse amounts of grass to grow.

As they arrived in a frenzy, the others in the tribe grew nervous and alert. The biggest one there approached the two just as they came upon the tribe leader's hut. He had brown fur, an odd color for their tribe, covering him from head to toe, somehow hiding his excessive amounts of muscle behind it. He was also very tall, standing at a solid 5ft 3.

“Naipas? Omoh? Enemy?” He was a lot simpler than most in the tribe due to dedicating himself to their protection by raising his physical stats, so Naen couldn’t communicate with sentences yet, but he could understand them.

“Naen! No enemy! Naipas has done it! Naipas has one hundred intelligence! System told Naipas that he must start evolution, and will sleep for three moons. Omoh and Naen must protect Naipas while he sleeps!” Naipas said, not noticing that he had used a lot more words in that sentence than he normally did, nor that his grammar had improved slightly.

The rest of the tribe seemed startled and a little scared at the statement. What were they to do with their leader asleep for three days? This was the time when the bears would start to wake from their winter-long sleep, they couldn’t go without their leader now!

Before any of them could raise their concern though, they were interrupted by Naen, who had a very serious expression on his face. “Naen protect! Omoh help! Village safe.”

The rest of the tribe calmed down after that. They had still thought that they were in their old tribe and had forgotten for a second that Naen was there. Old leader couldn’t defeat a bear by themself as Naen could. Bears were rare too, so Naen would only have to fight one at most anyway. 

Naipas nodded with a huff. “Thank you Naen. Naipas will start his evolution now, be careful, protect village.”

After saying his peace, Naipas entered his hut hurriedly, scared that the evolution might not be an option anymore if he took to long, and laid down in the middle. With a deep breath to calm himself, he accepted the evolution, and the process began.

[Accepted!] 

[Beginning Evolution process]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[Success!]

[Evolution Process started, User Naipas will be put under temporary stasis while the evolution proceeds]

With that, Naipas saw black.

And in the next moment, he saw the light once more, waking to a screen hovering in his vision.

[Congratulations! Species has successfully been changed from Gorilla Beringei to Homo Sapiens!]

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