PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 12: Evolution System

(A/N: This section covers the events of the Evolution System storyline. Evolution System was a special dungeon released alongside Dimension Invasion in September 2012 right after the Tempest update. The premise of the Evolution System is that it’s a special system created by Gelimer that allows the player to customize a training map based on their preferences, with special cores that could change the system settings. From an in-universe perspective, the purpose of the Evolution System was to gather combat data from the members of the Alliance, all of which was used to train the AI for Lotus in order to make him the perfect weapon by studying the abilities and techniques of the Alliance’s soldiers.

The Evolution System storyline was particularly notable because this was the moment that Gelimer seized control of the Black Wings from Orchid, which was a pretty major development in the lore. Despite this, however, the Evolution System game mechanic suffered from a severe lack of utilization, which is why the KMS Spring 2023 update removed both the Evolution System and Dimension Invasion dungeons from the game. The Evolution System storyline was then incorporated as the prologue for Act 1 of Black Heaven, with several minor changes made to remove the player’s involvement and instead have the storyline focus solely on the Resistance leadership investigating the Evolution System.

During the KMS Spring 2025 update, the Lotus boss fight was significantly remastered with all-new mechanics and a redesign of his final form, which became known as the Annihilation Weapon. This resulted in several different NPC sprite and illustration changes made to Black Heaven - including the Evolution System prologue - that updated Lotus’s design to reflect his new Annihilation Weapon form, which now includes blue circuitry over his eye and a mechanical collar to represent his forced servitude to Gelimer.)

In the Verne Mine, Gelimer moved Lotus from Orchid’s room to a new area of the laboratory called the Evolution Lab. There, he finished transforming Lotus into the perfect Xenoroid, making him far stronger than his prototypes, Xenon and Beryl. Soon after, Orchid discovered the Evolution Lab and demanded to know why he had moved Lotus without her permission. She threatened Gelimer and reminded him that his experiments should have concluded months ago. Gelimer promised that Lotus would awaken imminently and demonstrated his claim by releasing Lotus from his pod.

Orchid was overjoyed to see her brother awaken, but she quickly grew confused when he wouldn’t respond to her. Gelimer then commanded Lotus to execute Program Alpha-97, which caused Lotus to turn on his sister and drain her half of the Wing Master powers. Gelimer revealed that he had succeeded in taking control of Lotus, who himself had the ability to control others, and explained that he had deliberately kept Lotus’s brain in hibernation, since his powers were all that Gelimer wanted. Severely injured, Orchid weakly asked Gelimer why he needed Lotus’s body. Gelimer explained that the Black Mage required a vessel, not another follower, and with that, he left Orchid to die and took Lotus with him.

(A/N: It’s surprising that Gelimer knows about Lotus’s ability to possess others, although I guess it makes sense when you consider that he’s been closely observing Lotus and performing experiments on him for years. In Black Heaven, Gelimer reveals that he wants to use Retoxin gas in order to turn the people of Maple World into mindless slaves, all of whom would be linked into a hive mind controlled by Lotus. While I originally assumed that he’d link them through technology, it might actually be that he wanted Lotus to possess them all. Since Lotus can only possess weak-minded people from a distance, it’s possible that he wanted to use the Retoxin gas in order to weaken everyone’s minds for Lotus to be able to control them all at once.)

Soon after, the Resistance discovered the Evolution Lab and found an unconscious Orchid, whom they brought back to the Secret Plaza. Claudine briefed the other Resistance leaders on what had happened between Orchid and Gelimer, adding that Orchid was now just like a normal little girl without her powers. She explained that she hadn’t put Orchid in prison because of her fragile condition, though she hoped to make Orchid pay for her crimes soon enough. In order to learn more about what Gelimer was plotting, Claudine decided to send Belle to investigate the Evolution Lab.

(A/N: Originally, Claudine would summon the player and give them the briefing on Gelimer and Orchid, rather than her speaking with the Resistance. It was explained that Checky was the one who had found Orchid, and while Belle did go to investigate the lab, the player was sent there first.)

Several days later, Brighton rushed urgently to Claudine and informed her that Orchid had managed to escape. Meanwhile, Orchid traveled to the Evolution Lab, where she encountered a hologram of Lotus, which had been created as the interface for the Evolution System. Orchid quickly realized that the hologram was an AI created by Gelimer and grew angry, causing the last remnants of her Wing Master power to manifest. The AI detected Orchid as a threat and attacked her, immediately knocking her out.

(A/N: In the original story, Claudine sent the player in order to track down Orchid. After the Evolution System attacked Orchid, it would scan the player, whom it had registered as a valid user when they had first encountered it during their initial investigation, causing it to return to normal.)

The Resistance then discovered Orchid and brought her back to the Secret Plaza, where Claudine treated her injuries. Soon after, she spoke with Brighton and explained that though she had done all that she could medically, Orchid had fallen into a coma. Just then, Belle arrived from the Evolution Lab and explained her findings. She told them that the Evolution System had evolved by itself without any changes to its internal system and begrudgingly admitted that Gelimer was a genius, despite how much it pained her to say.

She explained that the system was capable of making its own judgements, allowing it to evolve into a stronger model on its own. Having recognized Orchid as a strong enemy, it had enhanced its own system to accommodate. As they wondered what this would mean, Orchid suddenly called out to Lotus from her coma, surprising the group. Far away, Lotus shed a tear for the sister whom he had been forced to turn against. Gelimer was surprised to see Lotus crying, as he had believed that he had suppressed all of Lotus’s emotions and desires. As Gelimer set out to correct the behavior, Lotus also called out to Orchid.

As the Alliance continued to use the Evolution System in order to learn more about it, the system recorded the combat data of countless Alliance members and imprinted it onto Lotus in order to have him analyze and enhance his own battle algorithms, thus making him even stronger. Soon after, Gelimer sought out the Commanders and presented Lotus’s enhanced body to them, claiming that it would be the perfect vessel for the Black Mage to inhabit. Though the Commanders were plainly aware of Gelimer’s hidden agenda, they nevertheless accepted him into their ranks in order to use his talents, though they refused to make him a full Commander. With the support of the Commanders and free from Orchid’s oversight, Gelimer was in the perfect position to achieve his goals unobstructed.

(A/N: The Evolution System was more meaningful when the actual in-game feature used to exist, as players interacting with the system and using it to get stronger was the very thing that made Lotus even stronger. It felt pretty cool to know that Lotus was learning about our own fighting techniques in real-time, although the removal of the Evolution Lab means that we don’t really ever get to see anyone actually training Lotus’s AI model.)