Confusion struck me once again as I followed the elf back to the building. Somehow, her words filled me with warmth. I had no idea why.

I disregarded it and climbed on the table. The elf and I practiced the magical barrier several times. Every time I felt Cellestra’s warm magic flow through me, I regretted not being able to smile. The comfort it brought me… it was unparalleled…

Cellestra sighed deeply after the fifth or so attempt.

“I sincerely hope that this spell doesn’t change regarding mana flow when you… enhance it, was it?”

I nodded yes before writing with my legs. “Have no idea what happens.”

It made me wonder. Should I not upgrade this ability? I didn’t want to hold back, but I also didn’t want Cellestra to have to learn the spell again from scratch. She’d seemed so happy with the progress she’d made so far.

Then again, it was the magical barrier. I haven’t had much use for it… yet.

“Anyway,” Cellestra continued, “I’m going to try to practice the first two parts of the spell now. I’m certain you have several things to take care of.”

I gestured yes before spelling once more. “Will stay here for bit. Check blessing for information. Good luck.”

“Thank you,” She said with a warm smile. “You too.”

I turned to my blessing and decided to check whether there were any easy to attain achievements before I started spending my evolution points.

Elysa?

Well, it looked like I was forced into killing again…

I could complete none of these achievements from the safety of these walls.

After going over the achievements, I went back to the evolutions themselves. It appeared each of these evolutions would unlock a new set of skills. I would have to cycle through these three before new options would show up.

I wondered what order would be best…

Would it matter a lot?

Hey, Elysa, is the rainbow effect still active in all these evolutions? Will I be able to upgrade any skill to the maximum even after selecting a different evolution after going through one of them?

I had expected it, but I wanted to be absolutely sure.

If that was the case, I didn’t think it would matter much what I would choose. Although, offense would likely be the way to go.

I would have to make sure if it was. My first step towards knowing for sure what I would choose later on, was to check how powerful these spells were if I upgraded them to their maximum level.

Then, if my spells were as powerful as I hoped, I would try to take the blue evolution first.

And for that, I needed to kill two more boars, and I needed to kill something that awarded experience from a large distance.

I figured the easiest way to set up the second achievement was to use my webs, probably upgraded. That, or I would need to finish off something large that was hard to miss, but the first option seemed like the most feasible one.

I merely skimmed the other two achievements and was left wondering what the classification ”Titan” meant. Just how big would something need to be for that?

It was time to check my enhancements again.

I went through the massive list of skills and focused on the mana reserves and the fireball spell. The fireball spell had been extremely effective against that first boar, so if I needed to kill two more it made sense for me to upgrade it.

I decided to upgrade both my mana reserves and the fireball spell to “Strong”. This would cost me 120 points, leaving me with 47. Hopefully, the enhancements would allow me to take out boars with relative ease which would then allow me to upgrade the mana reserves and fireball spell further.

I hoped the new spell wouldn’t drain me too fast, as my mana regeneration would lag behind for the moment.

I went through the changes one by one as I observed Cellestra try to cast the magical barrier several times. One time, I swore I could see part of the spell but I wasn’t entirely sure. She looked both surprised and happy after it happened so I assumed my intuition was right.

I finished upgrading my skills and continued watching Cellestra stumble over my spell. Her facial expression was one of sheer focus and then one of either frustration or happiness after a try. There seemed to be many obstacles for her in this spell that was so simple for me.

“Going well?” I spelled out.

“Yes and no,” She said before pausing a moment to cast the spell once more. “The first part I mastered. It’s the second part I’m currently struggling with. The end of it… I can’t seem to grasp it properly. Could you show me once more?”

I nodded with my legs before Cellestra placed a hand on my abdomen to allow her spell to flow through me as I cast the magical barrier spell again.

“Hmmm,” She murmured. “I can see its flow… I just don’t know how to make my mana flow that way.”

I had no idea how she would have to do it. It pained me that I couldn’t help out more than this.

“I’ll try again. I assume you would like to head out again, no?”

…

I didn’t know.

I wanted to get out there and progress towards my next evolution, but…

Part of me also wanted to stay here…

Cellestra’s presence… her eagerness… happiness… It was projected onto me. Whenever she was happy, so was I. I didn’t know why.

“Kealyna?” Cellestra looked at me. I realized I had given no answer yet. I quickly spelled out yes.

I waved at her as I made my way down to the floor. The elf waved back and wished me luck as I walked outside.

It was time to hunt boars… if I could find any. The last time, I had merely walked into one by accident. Hopefully, that meant they wandered through the area fairly often. With my current size and power, I might as well try to scour the area for one. I could already take on wolves and boar before. They should be no issue for me now.

I would have to be careful, though.

I walked along the stream towards the lake. I found nothing of interest on my way there. A snake hissed at me at one point, but I didn’t get any experience for killing it. Apparently, those were considered too easy after my latest evolution.

When I arrived at the lake and peered into the water, I couldn’t see any large fish. I had hoped for a couple, but it seemed it had been in vain.

That meant it was time to explore further.

I followed along the lakeshore to the east. Well, I thought it was east, but I wasn’t actually quite sure anymore. I would have to ask Cellestra again what the directions were. I forgot.

The grass that bordered the lake eventually made way for sand as a beach appeared. To my left was still the forest, it was just that the grass line had receded for this beach.

I found it unexpectedly difficult to walk in the sand. My weight was too much for it to support me and my small feet kept sinking in. I quickly made my way back onto the grass and walked around the beach area.

Movement in the forest caught my attention and I climbed up the nearest tree to see what moved around in the bushes.

A boar appeared. It was smaller than the one I had taken out before and it seemed to be foraging. It was digging up loose dirt here and there and, quite literally, following its nose.

The best part was that it had not even spotted me.

I climbed further into the tree with slow and steady movements to avoid detection. I made my way onto a branch and lined up to cast my stronger fireball spell.

I could already feel from the difference in mana flow that this spell was far more powerful than the fireball I used before. The ball of fire created before me in mid-air was half a foot in diameter and burned far hotter. I felt the heat from it all throughout my body.

The beast below me turned towards the source of the heat a moment before I loosed the spell.