- Mythical Evolution!
"Thank you for protecting me, your majesty. This time, I'll protect you while you evolve. After that, I have something I would like you to do."
"Thank you."
I walk onto the golden pile of leaves and lay down.
"Show me my modification options."
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[Upgrade Existing]
[Second Mana Heart - 50 Mod points]
[Enhanced arm muscles - 1 Mod point]
[Earth Magic - 10 Mod points]
[Flame gland - 10 Mod points]
[Venom gland - 10 Mod points]
[Acid gland - 10 Mod points]
[6th sense - 5 Mod points]
[Toxic claws - 10 mod points]
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"Jeez they're getting expensive huh?"
[As you level up you will gain access to more powerful modifications. As such, these modifications will cost more energy to create. As your guide, I recommend that you buy enhanced arm muscles and upgrade it to 2 before doing anything else.]
"Alright, I'll do just that."
[Enhanced Arm Muscles +2 aquired]
[Combining Enhanced Arm Muscles +2 with 8 other modifications…]
[Body Augmentation +2 Created!]
[Body Augmentation +2 - 5 Modification points]
"Ah! That was a good surprise! So, any time I get all the mods that go together they'll combine?"
[Well… Most of the time.]
"Good enough for me! Alright, what would the second mana heart give me?"
[Firstly, focus in on your heart.]
"Alrighty."
I start trying to focus and get an image of my heart in my mind! I see three rings floating around my heart, as well as a black one seemingly tattooed on it. I also notice how it seems a little… Deflated…
"THAT DOES NOT LOOK HEALTHY! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED! HOW AM I NOT DEAD?"
[C-Calm down! You're fine! That's not your actual heart! Your mana heart is located in your brain! You can't see your actual heart without ripping it out of your chest!]
"O-oh. Okay, I totally knew that. Why the hell is it called a "mana heart" if it's in your brain?"
[It's called a mana heart because the mana it takes in goes through your bloodstream. That and when you create one, you get a burning sensation in your heart as it's the place that takes in mana.]
"Oh. That makes sense. Kinda? Anyways, why did you want me to focus on it?"
[Because I wanted you to see that it's deflated. That means you're nearly out of mana. A second mana heart can be created, doubling your current mana capacity.]
"Okay, but why can't I just upgrade my original one?"
[Mana hearts are rare modifications and therefore cannot be upgraded. The same goes for magic rings. They have to be trained and fed mana in order to grow stronger. Well, in your case, mana was sent directly from Gaia and into your rings, nearly supercharging them.]
"Ah I see. What would happen if I were to feed my already glowing magic rings?"
[You would need to unlock the last mana rings and then get them to the same level before doing anything else.]
"Dammiiiiit. Well, how many other ones do I need?"
[That… I do not know. And Gaia will not tell me.]
"Probably because she wants me to grow on my own right?"
[N-no… I am no longer connected to Gaia… I can no longer speak with them…]
"W-What?!"
[It seems that after your main mission completed Gaia severed connection with me. This is both good and bad.]
"What's the bad…"
[This means we no longer will recieve missions from Gaia. However, this also means I can create your quests so long as they're not obviously twisted to where an easy mission has an insane payout.]
"You're talking more human now as well. Maybe this is her way of telling us to go our own way?"
[Most likely.]
"Well, anyways. Give me the second mana heart. I don't wanna run out of my only ranged option any time soon. It's expensive but I think it'll be worth it."
[Second Mana Heart unlocked.]
I feel a tingling sensation in my brain, as well as a slight headache. I feel pressure start to build up in my head.
"URRRRG FUCK! It wasn't nearly this bad with the first one!"
After nearly an hour the pain eventually subsides.
"Fuck, Ellie why was that so bad?"
[Try focusing in on your heart again.]
I look back at my mana heart and see a second one having grown next to it! But, the new one is nearly 3 times the size of the first!
"Holy shit, I'm not gonna be running out of mana any time soon! The next one I want is sixth sense, and upgrade body augmentation twice after that.
[6th sense acquired.]
After unlocking sixth sense, I get a feeling of just knowing what's around me. I shoot an icicle at a bush a few feet away from me.
[Rabbit killed.]
"Seems pretty useful!"
[Body Augmentation upgraded to +4.]
This one feels weird. I get a wriggling feeling all over my body and I see my scales start to change. Going from their once shiny luster to a more matte finish. My arms get more muscular, as well as my legs. I feel like I can outrun most supercars very easily now. My claws grow so sharp that the edge on them feels like it could easily cut through steel. They strengthened enough to match it as well, so I'm fairly confident in being able to cut through any beast or monster living right now! My teeth grow stronger, along with my bite force. I feel like I could chop through a solid chunk of metal. My eyesight starts to improve as well, with me being able to see miles ahead of me very clearly. My hearing grows along with this, as I focus in and hear the heartbeat of one of the small animals next to me. I can smell water, blood, and even fire from miles away now. Wait, fire? I'll have to check on that after evolving. Speaking of evolving,
"Show me my paths."
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[Choose your evolution path:]
[Mammalian]
[Reptilian]
[Amphibian]
[Avian]
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"Reptile again."
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[Extinct]
[Mythical]
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"Oooooh new option. Mythical."
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[Basilisk]
[Cockatrice]
[Naga]
[Drake]
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"Explain each of them to me. I don't know what half of them are.
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[Basilisk: A mythical creature of European origin. It's known to cause death with a single glance. It's gaze is known to cause weaker creatures to turn into stone.]
"Nah, I'm good. I don't wanna have to eat stones."
[Cockatrice: A mythical creature of European origin. It is also known to cause death in a single glance. Similarly to the basilisk, its glance causes weaker creatures to turn into stone, differently however, their breath is also known to cause the same effect.]
"Nope. Neeeeext."
[Naga: A mythical creature of Asian origin. The traits of the naga are that so long as at least their head is alive, they will be able to regrow their bodies.]
"Not dying sounds good, but I'd rather have enough strength to not have to worry about it."
[Drake: A wingless, lesser form of dragon. It has the inherent ability of breathing fire as well as a strong affinity with it. As such, not much fire is capable of injuring a drake. The maximum temperature it can endure for long periods of time is around 755°F (~400°C).]
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"I think I know what I'm gonna pick. Go with Drake."
[Certainly.]
Hello darkness my old chum.
I fall asleep on the bed of golden leaves in the center of the world tree. I'm evolving very fast. It's only been about a week since I first became a beast. Well, a fish. Now that I think about it, my path of evolution doesn't make any sense, huh? A fish to a fox to a fucking velociraptor to a goddamn T-REX to a creature that doesn't even exist! This shit feels easy! A little too easy. I feel a warmth rush over my body as if I'm being covered by a blanket. Then I feel a heat start welling up in my throat, like a shot of whiskey is stuck in my throat. But, It's not exactly uncomfortable. Just… New. I feel my body getting stronger and stronger. Almost like when I upgraded my Body Augments, just on a smaller scale.
After a few hours of seemingly nothing, I feel my consciousness start to return to my body.
"U-ugh.''
I'm extremely drowsy. As I start getting up, I stretch out getting used to my new body.
"How long did that evolution take?"
[Approximately three weeks.]
"Kuh! Three weeks?! Holy fuck how much did I change?"
[I would recommend finding a body of water to see for yourself.]
"Yeah, that's a good idea."
I realize that I'm back to being quadrupedal, but I can stand on two legs. My body looks to be more tanky as the scales on my body are nearly ten times as big as my regular one, they also have gotten a dark red hue to them. My front legs/arms are nearly double the size of my arms before evolution. My back legs are twice to three times as thick as my front ones. I have spines going down my back and reaching the tip of my tail. My face seems more blocky and muscular. My top teeth come out of my mouth when it's closed, and they seem to have grown to be nearly as long as an adult mans arms. I feel like I'm much bigger than I was before.
[You are. You're nearly as big as a three story building. You are 30 feet tall and 60 feet long. And you are nearly ten feet wide.]
Well, there ya go! I'm a chonky boy. I stand up on two legs to get a good look at myself again. I'm pretty ripped! I've got like an 8 pack! Once I'm done admiring how much of a tank I've become, I decide to try out the fire breath I got from my evo.
I breathe in deeply and feel some of the air go into a different place. Under my chin, what feels like a little bag of air starts to warm up, glowing through my scales. After it fills up, I feel a slight pain in the area it's building. I lean back, then jut forward and release it towards the pond. A stream of blueish-green fire comes from underneath my tongue and shoots straight forward, going nearly 100 feet out before finally hitting the water. It comes out for nearly 30 seconds straight before my neck is empty. The water that's hit by the flames evaporates extremely quickly, releasing enormous amounts of steam everywhere that's touched. The fire seems to be kind of like napalm in a way because it seems to stick to wherever it hits, even water. After about ten minutes, the fire is still burning so I just decide to leave it. Just before I leave, the Earth around me starts rushing towards the fire, covering it and the pond in a thick layer.
"Your majesty, it's a little dangerous to leave a fire that can't be put out with water in a forest."
"I agree, but I don't have Earth magic just yet. Thank you for putting it out for me. Now, what was that mission you were wanting to give me?"
"Oh! Yes! I'd like for you to go see what's happening in the city that you previously visited. I can smell an immense amount of smoke coming from that direction."
[Quest!]
[Scout out the city: The dryad is a little worried about the city as there was an immense amount of smoke coming from it. She's worried that if it is a big fire it may end up spreading to her forest.]
[Reward: 10 Modification points.]
"Sounds simple enough! I'll go check it out. I smelled the smoke coming from there as well, and that was before my evolution. Now it's nearly overwhelming."
I start heading towards the direction of the smoke, the smell of it growing stronger as I get close. I think that because I'm a drake, the smell of the smoke is more pleasant than I thought it'd be. It makes me feel at home slightly. I start sprinting to get used to my new body again. I'm rather fast, but I'm a bit slower than I was previously. Maybe moving around 100 mph? I guess that's the effects of becoming a tank. It's still a ridiculous speed for a living creature though!
After about an hour of running, I reach the edge of the forest and look out at the city.
"What… The hell…"