The next morning.
I slowly awoke, opening my eyes before yawning and looking around. I was still inside the crater where I had 'defeated' an infestation inside of. The many corpses of the monsters that died during that complete wipe out were even still here - although quite a few of them didn't have their skin or flesh anymore.
'I forgot that I had been eating the monsters flesh last night...'
I thought, exhaling lightly.
The skin of the monsters on the other hand, were all placed inside my bag, in case they come in handy some time in the near future.
I then tried to remember what exactly I had been sleeping in the crater for. I was sure I beat the infestation and cleared it out around the middle of the day, but why did I stay in the crater afterwards?
I thought about it for a bit, before finally remembering.
I turned around, before looking at the Monster Heart that was still standing in the middle of the crater.
'Right... I was trying to figure out a way to destroy this..'
I thought. Like I had mentioned before, the Monster Heart can only be destroyed by specific means. Hell, it can only be damaged by specific means.
So the reason I had remained here overnight, is because I was trying to brainstorm ideas on how to destroy the fucking monster heart.
I once again began to brainstorm ideas, while staring at the heart.
And like you'd expect, this dragged on for a little while. Eventually however, I sighed in slight disappointment.
'I have NO idea what to do..'
I thought, before looking at the heart with a slightly depressed look. I really wanted the Magical Energy inside the monster heart, mainly because despite my slaughter of all monsters in this infestation, I didn't level up even once.
Which, was quite annoying, I have to say.
I continued to think, before coming up with an idea-
Maybe.. I can just ask [Sages' Wisdom] for help.?
I know this is ironic and that I should have probably thought of it faster..
But cut me some slack okay? I don't exactly have the greatest memory.
I then sighed before closing my eyes.
'Sages' Wisdom, can you analyse what I can do to destroy the heart?'
Understood.
Analysis in progress..
.
. .
. . .
. .
.
Analysis complete.
Using a weakened version of [Serpent's Wrath] will prove to be effective.
..A weakened version of arguably my STRONGEST skill? Was it even possible to use a weakened version of it?
Positive.
Well, I can't exactly argue against you... After all, technically you are the smarter one. After a bit, I began to charge my [Serpent's Wrath] skill.
I had heard of this before - the more or less charging I did of the skill, its power would scale accordingly.
I charged it for only a couple of moments, before opening my eyes widely, as they shined red.
Confirmed.
Using the Skill [Serpent's Wrath]..
The same red clouds and crimson lightning began to form from my body, before firing off a much smaller version of the Crimson red serpent that belonged to the skill.
In a moments notice, the serpent roared loudly before dashing at the Monster Heart and wiping it off the ground, destroying it completely - not leaving even a speck of dust behind.
Activating [Devourer]..
As [Devourer] activated, the monster hearts magical energy was absorbed into my body, as it returned.
Experience threshold has been reached.
You have risen to level 85.
Hell yeah!
It worked! Genuinely thank you [Sages' Wisdom], I freaking owe you one.
I was about to turn around and leave the crater, to resume my trip, however I was stopped in my tracks by a sudden menu window popping up with an voice announcer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attention:
All Requirements for Evolution have been met.
Please select an Evolutionary Path.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HELL NO- WHY AGAIN—
..wait- what does it mean by 'select evolutionary path'...?
Then, a second menu window popped up a moment later.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Available Evolutionary Paths.
Light Snake
Darkness Snake
Demon Snake
Please Select One.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
....Ookay- that's new.
I was fully expecting to just forcefully evolve and fall unconscious again, but I guess that's not the case?
I shook my head lightly, before examining the 'choices' I had been given for evolution.
Light Snake, Darkness Snake and Demon Snake... Surely the last two count as the same thing.. right?
It's basically a matter of-
Do I want to be Good, In-between or Evil.
I thought about it for a bit, thinking about which of the evolutionary paths would suit me the best or work out for me the best.
Light Snake was definitely intriguing, however so was Demon Snake.
Although... If I evolved into a Demon Snake, there could be a chance of me becoming somekind of 'Great Evil' down the line, so maybe not Demon.
So after eliminating the Demon Snake option, I was left between the choice of Light or Darkness.
And as aforementioned - it was a tough choice. Both paths I could see a clearly see be useful to me in terms of future events, however which one did I want more?
...Maybe I can ask [Sages' Wisdom] for advice? Or even to explain a bit about the two left over options?
It would probably be helpful for me to get an idea of the pros and cons of both paths.
..But then again... Do I have to choose an evolution?
Answer;
You have hit the current Level cap of 85 and thus won't be able to level up anymore or gain new skills before Evolving.
Well shoot me in the tail and call me a beaver - Of course there is a cap.
I sighed - looks like I had to pick an evolution path, or else I'd be stuck at my current level with my current skills.
I spend a much longer time than I'd like to admit debating between the two paths, however eventually I decided to pick the evolution path of 'Darkness Snake' - considering that I have quite a few skills to do with 'dark' elements — mainly, [Abyss Magic] and [Shadow Manipulation].
As soon as I selected the 'Darkness Snake' option, I was met with what seemed like an explanation of the evolution and its benefits and drawbacks.
'..This would have came in useful just moments ago..'
I thought, sighing, before reading through the explanation.
Allow me to summarise it for you:
The 'Darkness Snake' Evolutionary Path would increase my connection to the Abyss by 10%, while decreasing my connection to the Light by 10%.
It would also cause me to be unable to gain any skills that focused on 'Light' element things, excluding Resistance and Immunity skills.
There was some extra information, but that wasn't all that important.
After reading through the explanation, I looked down below it, only to see a simple, yet kinda frightening menu.
Are you Certain of your choice?
Yes • No
Yeahh.. not nerve racking at all.
Only makes me worry that I might be making a huge mistake, that's all.
However, after a bit of hesitation, I selected the yes option, confirming the evolution.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evolutionary Path accepted.
Commencing evolution from
' Superior Serpentine ' to ' Darkness Snake '
Immediately.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, I was fully expecting and prepared to fall unconscious for the evolution to go through, however to my shock, instead of that, my whole body simply lit up in a bright, blinding light, before I was engulfed in a sphere of the same light.
Then I heard the same voice announce things that were part of my evolution process.
The Individuals ' Faofa Shin ' body will be reconstructed to fit the new evolution.
Successful.
Stats will be increased to match the new evolution.
Successful.
Creating new skills to gift to the individual.
Successful.
Rare Skill [Dark Destiny] acquired.
Individual Skill [Darkness's Will] acquired.
New titles shall be bestowed upon the Individual.
Successful.
Title <Child of Darkness> bestowed.
Level cap will be increased.
Successful.
Level cap has gone up from 85 to 150.
This completes the evolution.
The spherical light around me began to slowly disappear, as I was lowered to the ground, before being placed down onto it softly.
I breathed out heavily as soon as I landed, before opening my eyes, as they shined in a red colour for a second. Then, I shook my head, before my eyes reverted back to the same Golden Colour.
'Well... That was way more pleasant than the previous evolutions..'
I thought, sighing to myself. There was a LOT happening during that evolution - I mean, did you hear all those things that were announced?
I gained two new skills, a new title, MY BODY WAS FUCKING RECONSTRUCTED.
Crazy stuff... And then of course, my Level cap was increased to.. level 150 I think?
I looked around for a second, before looking down.
May as well take a look at the Status window.
"Open Status."
/--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
Name; Faofa Shin
Species; Darkness Snake
Level; 85
Rank; B
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stats:
•
HP; 106,890 — ATK; 20,090
MAGEN {MAGICAL ENERGY}; 45,780
STAMINA; 23,670 — INTELLIGENCE; 775
OVERALL POWER; 55,780
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Titles:
•
<Reincarnated> ; <Ally of Abyss> ;
<Guardian of The South> ; <Dragon Slayer> ;
<Ally of Fire> ; <Bringer of Hope> ;
<Child of Darkness> ;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Common Skills
•
[Trickster], [Harden]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rare Skills
•
[Fractured], [Magic Nullification Barrier],
[Magic Resistance], [Thread Manipulation],
[Crimson Lightning], [Heat Regulation],
[Dark Destiny]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Epic Skills
•
[Venom Control], [Overworld Detection],
[Holy Magic Nullification],
[Greater Physical Resistance], [Undetectable], [Abyss Magic], [Soul Appraisal], [Second Life],
[Dragon Arts]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Individual Skills
•
[Sages' Wisdom](2), [Devourer],
[Shadow Manipulation], [Beasts Will],
[Serpents Wrath], [Vitriolic Befall],
[Darkness's Will]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legendary Skills
•
[Warlock], [Jester]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arc Skills
•
[Ifrit {Lord of Flames}], [Odale {Prince of Fire}]
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
...Holy shit.
LOOK, AT MY STATS.
What THE HELL happened?! They've practically sky rocketed! I mean seriously! My magical energy has practically DOUBLED, my HP has shot up to unseen levels and my attack has rose by a shit ton!
All of that growth in one Evolution?!
Also, the menu looks different again... It must be because I evolved. Gotta say, the main difference is that the skills are all now presented much neater.
Kinda hard to believe that I had evolved only once.. those stats scream of something that has undergone like 6 evolutions at once.
I sighed, before closing my Status window. There was one last bit of business left for me to do.
'Sages' Wisdom, create that thing you can make so I can look at myself.'
Understood.
Creating reflector..
As the same strange dark smoke came from my body, it formed a small 'mirror' which I looked into to see how I had changed.
And wow — I was basically unrecognisable.
My green scales had taken a dark grey look, with this really cool black line pattern which resembled veins a lot.
I also had gained what looked like two... Feathers..? I think? That came from from the top of my eyes.
Other than that, another notable thing was that I had gotten so much bigger - I was probably around the size of an Anaconda from my previous life.
Actually... I think I was even bigger than that..
Well, it was kinda hard to tell, however the one thing that had practically no changes, were my golden eyes, which remained the same.
'Even though they remind me of Rimurus eyes, I prefer my golden eyes to stay the same.'
I thought, before making the smoke 'mirror' disappear. I then leaped into the air, activating my skill [Jester] before being engulfed in the dark mist.
A few moments later, it dissipated as I landed onto the ground in my human form.
Once again, I had grown a bit taller and seemingly more mature thanks to my evolution. The pattern of the black 'veins' also was retained, only it was in a very specific, moderate way.
There wasn't too much of it.
And another notable thing, was my hair had turned from green to a bit longer, light grey with gold accents in it.
'I gotta say- I look quite good.'
I thought before noticing that the clothes that were part of my human form had also changed.
I was now wearing what looked to be a grey shirt, some long black trousers, with some pretty intricate boots.
Then I also had a sleeveless jacked on, which was coloured in a dark grey colour and had some 'fur' or something around it's neck area. At my lower arms and hands, I had bandages that wrapped around both parts, before being finished off by a pair or black, fingerless gloves.
Overall, I'd say my outfit was quite sweet. Oh yeah, I also had a hood - which was way bigger than needed.
'Well this evolution has certainly been fruitful.'
I thought, exhaling at my own kind of cringe joke - if you want to consider it that.
I shook my head lightly, before beginning to move back in the direction of where the path I was supposed to take towards the 'Deadmans Graveyard' was located at.
Now that this had been taken care of, I had to return to my journey.
As I walked off, off into the distance, among the shadows of the trees, a figure lurked, watching me for a bit before chucking, disappearing into an orange flame.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, hey, hey!
That's right, evolution time!
On a serious note, it has been a WHILE since he last evolved, so I decided that he deserved a new evolution.
Anyways, I'd like to thank you for reading up until now - it has been an honor to write a story that you can enjoy reading.
See ya in the Next Chapter:
54. -
'A Journey, that is Too Long.'