Everyone went outside to do their normal routine of gathering breakfast.  Conk was continuously trying to use her wings to fly now and although she didn't succeed, she was notably faster than everyone else as she moved around.  Once breakfast had been gather and they all began eating, Conk let her complaints be known.

<I still can't fly!>

<I know.  It was only a small evolution, though.  There was another one that you have to get before you can fly.  You just had to get this one first for it to work.  You can get off the ground for a moment and you're faster now, right?  It's because you weigh less.  The downsides are that it will be a little easier to knock you away and you might have trouble trying to push or pull heavy things.  Upsides are that getting knocked away will probably hurt less, you probably won't get tired as easily, you won't get as hurt from falling, you can actually go higher in the air than the rest of us, and you're quite a bit faster.>

<Hmm.  So...am I stronger?>

<In many ways, yes.  Just not by a lot.  How soon do you think until you evolve again?>

<Hmm...maybe...two days?  Huh?>

All the girls including Conk suddenly showed confusion on their faces and sent the same kinds of thoughts through the link.

<Like I said.  It was a small evolution.  That means you can evolve again really soon.  So...we should start trying to get you to learn magic healing as soon as possible.  This next time you should definitely pick one of the plant types but either the next one or the one after you're going to want something with healing magic.  Hopefully.>

Conk seemed satisfied with the explanation while everyone else was still struck in amazement at how soon she would be able to evolve again.  Even Scar started to seem more approving of the evolution that barely seemed stronger now that she knew how quickly it went.

<Alright, ladies.  I'm going to be spending as much time trying to help Conk out as I can for now.  If things work out right then her getting stronger first could mean you all get even stronger.>

Once everyone gave their assent and started moving off to their normal daily routines, Jelin walked with Conk while trying to explain how to feel mana in her core.  He paused after awhile to let her check on some new plants, most of which ended up poisonous, and then tried a new approach.  After having her direct him to about where her core was in her mantis part he tried to carefully and gently use his mana control to stir up the mana there just a little.  Apparently she found it just as uncomfortable and painful as he had when he first tried it on himself.

After she recovered from that he let her run and float around for a bit to shake it off and then had her try and feel her own mana.  He continued the same routine with her for the rest of the day, pausing only for them to check out new plants or for the lunch at noon.  As the sky began to darken, he realized they had actually gone quite far since lunch and decided they should hurry back.  That night, instead of his normal teaching, he moved the mana at everyone's core the smallest amount he could before letting them recover and then settle in for the night.

The next day was practically a repeat with the only real difference being the direction they walked in.  Lunch was some more of the hyena things and Jelin told Conk to go ahead and eat one of the cores.  As he expected, she felt like she was ready to evolve again almost immediately after.  Everyone else decided to keep working so he walked her inside by himself and let Queenie know that she was in charge of watching over the evolution.

<So this time you should get the green, plant, herb or leaf.  That's my advice.  The choice is still yours.>

As she once again started resting for her new evolution he saw the choices pop up just like last time.  He skimmed through some of the later ones this time just to see what was there but didn't feel and particular interest in any of it yet.  There were two new ones in the lower stage that he did take note of, however.

{Lesser Child Poison Mantea}

{Child Magic Mantea}

If she ended up choosing one of the child options instead of a lesser option then she would lose the poison option, which was a bit of a bummer.  The magic option proved that there was actually a chance to get her some magic healing and that they were headed in the right direction.  He would advise her not to pick that particular choice since he was sure they could do better but just that it was there was a confirmation of their efforts.

Conk finally woke up again around noon, just after everyone had eaten lunch.  Hearing the cracking sounds, Jelin decided to rush over to her while carrying the food he had suggested they set aside for her with him.  When he entered he saw her standing up and stretching, letting even her wings fully out, which allowed him to get a good look at her.  The visual differences were more noticeable this time as she had what looked like dull sparkles in her wings and an almost camouflage pattern across her mantis half.  Her hair, which was once the same brown as everyone else's, was now slightly lighter and had some slight waves to it.  She also seemed to be just a little bit bigger.

[Child Herb Mantea]

With her passing the lesser stage, she likely was actually bigger now.  He smiled at her as he walked up to hand her the bloody bits still in his hands.

<Hi.  I brought you some food.>

She looked over at him and smiled back as she took the food from his hands and started eating.

<So why did you pick herb?>

She paused her eating and showed a slightly worried look.

<Did I pick wrong?>

<Hm?  No.  I was just curious why you chose herb.>

<Um.  It felt more...helpful?  I guess?>

<Good enough for me.  Your new appearance is pretty, too, so that's a bonus.>

She smiled again and continued eating while he calmly waited and looked her over some more.  Once she was done eating he ushered her outside so that everyone else could get a good look at her.  The rest of the girls were even more amazed this time since she not only looked a little different but felt a little stronger, too.  Once the excitement died back down, Jelin decided to break the unfortunate news that they would have to continue the uncomfortable magic training again.  He did let her know that according to the evolutions he saw that he thought they were close in order to try and keep her spirits up.

During their first little break to check out some of the plants, he noticed that the fingernails on her thumbs and forefingers were now tinted green as if they had fingernail polish and slightly pointed.  When he asked her if it meant anything she admitted she didn't know and so they spent to the rest of the day trying things out.  By the time they returned in the evening they had learned that she could use her nails to cut even skin, although with only the forefinger and thumb it made it unlikely to be useful in combat, and when it came to plants the pointed tips could easily pierce most of them.  Piercing a plant with both her thumb and finger at the same time allowed her to get just a little insight on some of the plant's properties.

It was a useful enough ability.  Combined with what she already knew about many of the plants it allowed her to gain a much better understanding.  Jelin suggested she even use her new ability on all the plants she'd already tested and see if she could find anything useful.  That night, during teaching time, he decided to let everyone know what they'd found out about Conk's new abilities.  He then turned it into advice to all of them to try new things and explore the things they seemed to enjoy.  He also suggested Conk try to start using her mantis claws for more things since a healer with four arms to take care of injuries would probably be better than one with only two.  

For the rest he just gave some minor suggestions based on things about them he'd observed.  Some new ways to attack or deal with prey for Claw, some minor crafting advice for Scratches, some ideas for combat training for Scar, and he wasn't entirely sure what to do about Legs.  Queenie had only recently healed enough to be active and couldn't even move around much because of the lost limbs.  The skeleton rat just existed there.  Some day he would find a way for the rat to be useful.

Right before everyone started to fall asleep, he let them know that he would be doing his teaching thing before lunch for the next few days and invited Queenie as well.  He figured it was time to start learning some biology and the best way he could think of was to have monsters and creatures to dissect.  They would be eating them afterwards regardless, so nothing would be wasted.