“I’m curious what’s inside that dungeon,” Cellestra said. “I hope you will tell me when you return.”

“Of course,” I spelled.

I was looking forward to seeing for myself what the dungeon held. From the stories I’d heard, dungeons held all kinds of treasures. Then I realized that I didn’t have an easy way to bring anything back with me. I would also have to make the entrance bigger. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t fit through the narrow dirt entrance anymore.

Whatever happened inside the dungeon would probably give me some more material to talk about with the elf. I was looking forward to sharing my stories.

“You want to try making something against the edge of my house, you said?” Cellestra continued. “Should I still continue with this shelter thingy? I don’t mind doing it, but if it’s of no use, there’s no real point in me doing it, is there?”

I thought about it for a moment. I guessed a large portion of that depended on how big I would grow with my next evolution. If she extended the shelter with two more panels, I’d barely fit, but if I could get my next evolution quickly and outgrow it, it would be a waste of her time.

I initially didn’t want to sleep outside at night without shelter, but my size and strength were both getting to the point where I was confident that I’d be safe no matter what I did. I might not even have to make this nest-like structure at all for the coming days. As long as it didn’t rain, I could spend the night under the stars.

If I were to set out soon after reaching my final evolution, it would also be pointless to make a shelter. I would have to see how things turned out…

“Forget about it for now,” I replied with the help of the paper. “Will be fine.”

“I assumed as such. I would say you’re too occupied with all the stuff that has to do with the blessing…” She paused for a second. “But I can see why you are. I don’t blame you for it. You have clear goals, and you’re pursuing them fervently. I do hope you will take things a bit easier once you’re done with your evolution stuff.”

She looked at me with a genuinely worried expression. Everything she’d said was true. I was too occupied with all this, and I knew it. The truth was that without this goal, I wouldn’t have any idea what to do with myself.

Sure, I wanted to spend as much time with Cellestra as possible, but the safety of the only people I had, in a way, loved in my old life would still take priority. I hoped Cellestra would agree with me on that subject. Though, she didn’t know how I felt about her, I guess…

“Hope so, too. Thank you. Will look at evolution stuff now.”

“Go ahead. Are you not hungry, by the way?”

The truth was that I was starving. I was confident I could literally eat an entire boar.

Maybe I should do just that…

“Very hungry. Will go hunt for food when I go off to dungeon. Quite big. Doubt you can do much to help…”

It pained me to say it as her cooking was delicious, but I had to remain truthful. She would have to cook for half a day if she were to feed my current form, or so I imagined.

“Heh,” Cellestra chuckled. “Yeah, you’re all grown up, aren’t you? I do like that rainbow you’re sporting now. It’s a proper rainbow at last.”

Cellestra’s words had me smile in my mind. At least she didn’t see me as a hideous creature. Her words still echoed in my mind as she went quiet and I started looking at my enhancement options. I was curious about what I could get.

Those weren’t that many new skills. Wait a second…

Why is the “Strong” level more expensive than “Very Strong”? Elysa?

Oh, no, keep it like this. I don’t mind it at all.

So do these new types of venom also have different reserves? I wasn’t sure if I’d asked earlier. I may have forgotten…

And what do these types do?

I didn’t know all of those words, but the info that this blessing gave me, and the information that was in my brain, told me something along the lines of “Rots away flesh until the target is dead.” It sounded pretty nasty…

The mana-sapping venom was more straightforward. It would cause the target to lose mana at a rapid rate, effectively draining their strength. This venom would be highly useful against enemies that could use magic.

Defensive? I thought this evolution was supposed to give me defensive skills? I was certain this could be used offensively. Although, the drawback of the skill would probably be detrimental if I decided to use this offensively. I imagined this was meant as an escape tool instead.

An interesting spell, but not something that could be used recklessly.

Yep.

This was what I was looking for. Another layer of protection? I instantly confirmed I wanted to enhance this skill without thinking twice.

I went through the changes and couldn’t focus on the blue square before me as the enhancement brought pain with it, followed by an extreme itch under the entirety of my carapace. I was starting to regret my decision when the pain and the itch faded.

Relieved, I went on to check out the last skill on my list.

With my current size, this would be quite an effective skill to have if I was ever forced to fight in melee… or if I could fight against creatures for which magic wasn’t necessary and remain safe, which was probably quite a few by now.

I imagined I’d reached the point where I could start to squish wolves… or well, at least fight them head-on with my legs and fangs.

I was wondering just how effective it would be in the dungeon. Without double thinking about it, I confirmed I wanted this skill as well. I went over the changes and then started wondering about what I should do next.

The other new skills altogether would cost me 380 evolution points. I decided to do just that as I saw proper use for all of the new abilities. They would all help out in a fight, or help me get away from a fight I couldn’t win. It wasn’t a hard choice.

Cellestra watched me go through all the selected enhancements. I swear I could see her wince when I felt pain shooting through my body at some of the enhancements. Was it visible in my eyes or something?

After going through all those changes, I was down to 72 evolution points. I then decided to look at what the future had in store for me.