I would still have to look at the skills that I could possibly merge now, but I was pretty curious about the skill that would give evolution points. It seemed the blessing had meant the second option that was now present as a next evolution choice.
I stared at the blue square before me for a long time, and I noticed Cellestra watching me. She didn’t say a word. All she did was smile slightly as she shifted into a more comfortable sitting position next to me.
I was reminded that I should try to get home a bit earlier today as I was still planning to help her out with my spells. She hadn’t asked, but I could see she was anxious to learn more.
It was a bit harder to do it in our spare time, now that I couldn’t get inside her house anymore. We would have to do it outside while it was still light out.
I still stared at the evolution options and tried to process what each of them meant. Initially, before I knew what the options were, I’d been interested in the option that would give evolution points because I felt I was lacking them. If I looked at how things were going right now, though, I didn’t feel like I was lacking them as much anymore. I still had two evolutions to go, and it didn’t seem like the spell ranks would increase further. Thus, the value of that evolution had declined steadily.
However, this was something completely different from what I had expected. This evolution would also allow me to learn new skills, increasing my strength, even after reaching the final evolution.
It was far more interesting than I’d expected.
The other options looked incredibly strong too, though. I was currently staring at the first option, trying to figure out exactly how it worked.
Dominion?
Did this evolution revolve around controlling other creatures’ actions?
Affirmative. |
While it looked incredibly strong (I assumed it could be used on sapient creatures too) I had no intention of doing anything like that. Everything about this evolution went against my principles. I did not want to control other creatures’ actions. Strong as it may be, I would never forgive myself for choosing this.
The third option…
Spiderlings? As in… mine?
Affirmative. |
An army of minions that could grow ever stronger would be incredibly powerful, but I would run into much of the same issues. I didn’t recall myself thinking about whether I’d be able to reproduce in my current form… well, there was that one spider that had tried to court me… but I just wasn’t interested in finding out about it. The thought of breeding spiders was just…
Disturbing.
While the ability to hatch and command a small army of powerful spiders would, without a doubt, be incredibly powerful, the very idea of it creeped me out too much to even consider it.
It simply meant that I was left with one option.
I would have to continue killing, and even eating creatures in order to get evolution points and the new skills. It wasn’t quite what I had hoped for, but…
I would have to eat, either way, right?
I was currently starving, and there was no way I would be able to get myself properly fed without killing other creatures. If that was the case, it would at least mean that I killed with purpose. I had no objections to that. If anything, it made me feel somewhat comfortable, knowing that what I killed wasn’t just going to be left alone, seemingly killed for nothing but sport.
“Tough choices?” Cellestra asked all of a sudden.
I had to think for a moment before I started spelling out what was going on.
“Not tough. Was more of moral choice than anything else. Had to reflect.”
“Moral? Please explain?” Cellestra said as she cocked her head after she observed me spell.
“Next evolution is three choices. Two choices went against my morals. Last choice will still have me kill creatures after final evolution. Will need to eat them to grow stronger.”
“But that’s fine?” Cellestra replied with a question. “I mean… you’ve got to eat, right?”
“That is what I thought, too.”
“Heh,” The elf chuckled. “Getting stronger by eating. I wonder what Elysa was thinking when she made that… I assume she made that part of your blessing, or whatever. It truly makes me wonder…”
I didn’t know either. I didn’t know if the goddess had anything planned for me in particular, or how much she would be able to in the first place. This whole blessing thing… it was a tool. It made me powerful, but in the end, it felt shallow.
Elysa, what have you planned for me?
My mind was about to wander off to what my future would hold, but I quickly stopped it from overwhelming me. I had to take care of other things. My virtues compelled me to make sure no innocents would be killed in a few days’ time.
I had today, and then four more days before I would set out to scout the area where I’d seen the humans. I didn’t have any time to lose.
“Do not know,” I finally replied to Cellestra.
“I truly feel for you, you know?” She said. “The uncertainty and the gloomy outlook of your new life…” She shook her head. “I hope that speech ability will finally make you feel a bit more of your old self.”
Her words hurt, but at the same time, filled me with warmth as I felt the compassion in her tone. It felt heartwarming to have someone talk to me in such a manner.
I let her words resonate in my mind while I asked my blessing to merge the skills that I could merge, one by one.
There was no pain when things seemed to change within my body. Rather, there was a pleasant warm feeling that I could get used to.
Minutes passed by as I felt skill after skill being combined with other skills, creating stronger versions of already existing skills. At the end of it all, I asked Elysa to show me a clear overview of what had changed.
Very Strong Exoskeleton Hardening has merged with Chitinous Plating to form “Layered Exoskeleton Plating”. Very Strong Leg and Pedipalp Strengthening has merged with Muscular Augmentation to form “Limb Augmentation”. The new skill also increases the strength of your fangs. Very Strong Mana Reserves has merged with Very Strong Mana Regeneration and Mana Manipulation to form “Mana Control.” |
Besides the second skill offering an addition, and the first one to form a more powerful skill, I wasn’t sure about the last one.
I checked my skill list, and had to ascertain that the least it did was shrink my list by a few items. That wasn’t so bad, I guessed.
I sighed mentally as I knew the time had come to head out again.
Why was my new life filled by a seemingly perpetual struggle between wanting to stay somewhere and being forced to kill in order to be able to stay somewhere in the first place?
I tapped Cellestra’s lap and spelled out more words. “Have to head out now. Hope to be back before evening. Still need to practice new spell.”
“You’re going to the dungeon, right?”
I nodded.
“Just be careful. I’ve read that nasty things tend to happen inside dungeons.”
I nodded again, smiling in my mind at her concern. “Will be fine.”
I still had to go through the achievements I needed, but the truth was that I was ravenous. I really needed to eat something, or I’d go crazy. I would hunt something first, and then look over my achievements while I was eating.
I wondered what I should hunt. Would raw deer taste good?
Cellestra stood up and I waved at her as I headed off in the direction of the dungeon. I saw her wave back and left her behind with pain in my heart.
These feelings just didn’t seem to go away…
Somehow, I was left thinking about how I would sound once I got a voice to speak. I hoped it would not be some gutter speak kind of voice. I felt like it was important to have a voice that Cellestra would like…
I emptied my mind and kept my eyes wide open (not that I could do otherwise) as I made my way towards the dungeon. This thermal vision was convenient, especially when hunting. The problem was that there wasn’t anything of real value in the area. Squirrels and rabbits were simply too small to fill my stomach. I would have to slaughter dozens of them, and that just wasn’t my style.
I would settle for a deer, or even a boar.
My legs felt much more powerful now with the new enhancement and skill merge. It served to add to my speed. I doubted there were many things in or outside of the forest that could even keep up when I ran at my top speed.
Thanks to my thermal vision, I soon spotted a deer behind nearby vegetation. I would have easily missed it if not for that skill. The deer in question had apparently spotted me too, which truly wasn’t hard anymore.
It started running away.
I gave chase.
You, my dear author, are a fiend. A truly evil monster that delights in torturing your audience. At this rate Kealyna might gain her final evolution in the next chapter drop...
And you're forcing us to wait.
I don't know if my heart can take much more of this...
@MaskedCritic
There is always Patreon.
@Faragi it feels like she becomes more and more like a predator. Best example would be the last few sentences this chapter.
Mildly concerning. Or that one time where she said Cellestra is feeding her 'other' spider
Eh... so the red evolution really was as barebones as I expected.... even with the ability to merge skills, it's exactly what I thought, tougher stronger, but so what, her magic arsenal has expanded exponentially by comparison once again...
Overall, I agree with that sentiment. However, if she is forced into close quarters, say, by going inside a cramped dungeon, the extra strength and durability have a higher chance of becoming important.
Don't get me wrong I love the story, but this chapter dump has kinda given me the impression that... if you don't have magic? You are prey, not a predator.
We have clearly established through this chapter that creatures have skills, or else devour would be entirely pointless (outside of dungeon creatures I guess?), but what skills have all creatures displayed up until this point? (Excluding the lizard that sniped Kealyna with an ice spike and we never saw again, and the Tree) Toughness, and strength. And they all died. To magic, or venom (specifically magic venom projectiles).
So far, up until this point, there have been exactly 0 physical skills established beyond strengthening physical aspects, no litrpg staples like a bite or slash or claw skill, period. So that makes me then wonder.
Do all groups of humans/elves/other sentient races require a mage to avoid getting their lives ended by some shitter like the guardian tree? It seems like you'd need an army of axe wielding fodder going all lumberjack to maybe stand a chance of hacking all its roots off, getting at the core, disabling its barrier, and turning it into woodchips, with massive loss of life in the process like some kind of raid boss..... or one or two semi-competent mages and a guy or two to draw aggro...
I understand Kealyna is very much outside the norm, but magic seems to quite literally be the only actual survival option at this point, for ANYONE AND ANYTHING, since strength alone only goes so far.
@fox6s I can see what you mean, but just like the tree fight, she now has magical reactive armor, and with Mana control, I'm assuming a buff to cost-efficiency, capacity, and regen on mana... also check out my other comment.
@RaelDeer oh I get what you were going for now. No 'Hero Slash' or Sword proficiency/mastery skills. Not that she has an opposable thumb to use something like that at the moment. Nor bite/claw mastery.
I'm not sure those types of skills are necessary. I guess the magic equivalent would be magic/mana detection/control/shaping without getting any actual concrete spells.
There are a few settings that kind of fall into what you are describing. Magic being very interesting or required for survivial compared to physical skills. Some make extra effort for there to be some kind of tradeoff when it comes to choosing whether to use magic or not.
All that said, our MC has been noted as being extra weird for getting those perfect spells. I've been enjoying the story so far as well and wonder what hardships or weirdness may be caused by all of this.
@fox6s I do agree that something like sword mastery or 'flying slash' or other more fantastical rpg skills aren't exactly *necessary*, however it sets up a picture of a world dominated by magic in combat and those that can use it, as, if you don't have it, you are effectively a caveman facing down the barrel of a gun.
I can only assume that humans get the standard "win by numbers" strategy in that case, as, no matter the gun, it will run out of bullets and need to be reloaded *eventually*, and if you have more bodies than there are bullets, even cavemen can beat a modern soldier... *eventually*...
Though this is purely based on the presumption that physical skills *don't* exist, which they might in fact, but Kealyna has been restricted from them somehow due to her monstrous nature, they may be "biped only", and maybe she landed in a forest with only underdeveloped creatures that do not HAVE skills due to level or magic or whatnot, or skills are relegated entirely to dungeon creatures, who knows. Faragi, and no one else... yet.
@RaelDeer you also have to consider that her spells are most likely several times stronger and more efficient than normal so normal people wouldnt be nearly as strong when using magic
@DomiKing I did make note of that, but the stealth ice lizard nearly killed Kealyna with a single shot, even if it missed center-mass it was still strong enough to rip a leg off, and Cellestra is a mage and lives alone in the same forest Kealyna has been terrorising, so clearly she is strong enough to hold her own against the curse-crazed wildlife.
That *also* means that normal humans, ones without magic, would be worth even *less* in combat than ones WITH magic.
@RaelDeer im pretty sure it was said the monsters never attack Cellestra
at the point she almost got killed Kealyna wasnt nearly as sturdy as now either
she pretty much had a normal exoskeleton which can be easily pierced by stuff like a ice shard
@DomiKing that's not the point I was trying to make, and Cellestra defended Kealyna from a wolf I believe, with a single fireball.
The point I made, way back up there somewhere, is thus: if you don't have magic, you are not a predator, you are prey.
That lizard nearly killed Kealyna, who did not have magic, before the bird swooped her.
And Kealyna beat the Tree only *because* she had magic, along with nearly everything since she was still catching beetles.