...*Yaaawn*... When was the last time I slept so...horribly? It's difficult to breathe...
I looked around and found myself in my bedroom in the mansion. So I wasn't kidnapped while asleep. Then why am I feeling so uncomfortable...?
Geh!? This..., yeah, I did design them that way...
While trying to ignore the discomfort, I moved over to the large mirror that came with the room. Looking into it, I saw a jaw-dropping beauty of an albino lady. Obviously, it's me. And I'm not tooting my own horn here. The evolution has caused me to look more mature now compared to when I was a Stygian Executioner.
HOWEVER! There is one big problem with all this!! The latest evolution's growth spurt has hit more than just my height. Not enough to rival Mira though. Does she secretly have Succubus DNA? But I'm more worried about Noire. She didn't "gain" anything like this when she evolved, so she might have ended up with the [Envy] skill if Revi hadn't possessed it already.
Hmm? You're asking if Noire exploding is the problem here? No way. She does that every second day anyway. What I'm talking about is...I've grown out of my clothes. The top and shorts especially are kinda...tight...
---
Phew, I finally got to change. I made various outfits to train the Weaver class, meaning I had some more loose clothes to change into. However...
"Hmm, yup~. Master's body is too dynamite now for the Nightmare Outfit~." - Bloom
"Don't say that with such a happy face, you troll-fairy!!" - Garami
*Smack!*
Ignoring the fairy who crash-landed on the floor after receiving her well-deserved punishment, I started to think over my options here. Both the standard mode of the Nightmare Outfit, along with the Necromancer Dress, is too small for me to wear now. I could force myself into them, the clothes are indestructible after all, but there's no way I could move around as I like while forced to wear that kind of fancy straitjacket.
"Ouch... In that case, why do you not upgrade the Outfit's current forms, Master?" - Bloom
"Upgrade? Is that possible? And why have I never been told about this before no?" - Garami
"Yes, yes, and I did not know until recently. Back when Master started to become a bookworm in the Union's library, I took the opportunity to do some reading myself." - Bloom
Right, back when we returned to the city after the Tir na Nog fight. My memory is a little vague, but I remember seeing Bloom reading some books that had the mark of the Alchemists' Union. She never spoke up about what she had found until now, but I never considered upgrading the items so soon after I finished the skull earrings, so she must have waited for that time. Either that, or she forgot about it until now. Yup, that has to be it.
"Are you sure? There's nothing written about 'upgrades' in the items' descriptions." - Garami
"That is because these 'upgrades' are loophole moves, so to say. The Alchemists' research says that items such as Master's can use the 'slots' they obtain through their effects to enhance already-created abilities." - Bloom
"That's good news...except it feels kinda wasteful. Those slots don't grow on trees, you know." - Garami
"In addition, the upgrades can also be done through using high-ranking facilities aimed for item reinforcement without using any slots. Does that help?" - Bloom
"It will, once you get that cocky grin off your face. Great job, Bloom!" - Garami
This means that if I spice up my atelier-at-home then you can forget about only refitting my clothes, I can also super-duper-power-up my Nightmare Weapon's scythe and dagger mode! Ya-hoo!! And now that problem's out of the way, let's continue with inspecting the result of my evolution.
For one, those bloody tear-like tattoos have also disappeared, a trait that made all the kids I walked by, except for some real angels such as the Half-Flugel child on Plain Island, cry their eyes out whenever they saw me. Those events were traumatic. Both for the kids and me...
Speaking of eyes, they've turned from red to purple now. Did the [Albino] trait lose to the Kur Kigal's DNA? The [High Demon] trait? Because I evolved while possessing [Evil Eyed]? Who knows, but the color fits me, so I'm not complaining.
And now that we're on the subjects of "[Albino] losing" and "fitting colors", my previously pure white hair now has black streaks instead of the purple ones from before. Yeah, black fits way better. Also, my hair seems to have grown with the last evolution. Before, it just reached my shoulders, but now it goes down to my hips. It seems like a pain to take care of. Maybe I should consider getting it clipped?
Other than that, there are no big differences from when I was a Stygian Executioner. A pair of black demon horns and a slick demon tail. Nothing too crazy.
Yeah, how did this design go through the reviews? Kur Kigal is the first of the many monster designs I made back in Limbo, but now that I think back on it, it's sort of a miracle that it got accepted. It feels so...simple. Then again, the whole business in Limbo is one big miracle, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
Maybe the background info on the species I made, such as them being born assassins and that the race is made completely out of females, struck the heart of some chuuni male god?
Tossing away those foolish questions that will probably never be answered, I started to look through whatever status-related upgrades my new evolution had brought.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
Evolution is complete.
Due to your evolution, the following abilities are granted:
Your natural status values have increased.
Natural Aether Point gain has increased from 0.3 to 0.4.
You have obtained the following skills: [Ghost Chaser Lv.1]; [Enfeeblement Magic Lv.1].
Skill: [Ghost Chaser Lv.1] has been integrated into skill: [Ghost Chaser Lv.4].
Trait: [Lesser Demon] has evolved into trait: [High Demon].
Trait: [Empty Demon Vessel] has evolved into trait: [Darkness Demon Vessel].
----------------------------------------
Conditions cleared. Acquired title: [Primogenitor]
...? "Primogenitor"? What's that?
Title Name: Primogenitor Acquisition condition:
* Be the first of any species.
Effects:
* Grants a positive correction to the affinity gained from other similar races.
Rewards:
* None.
Description:
A title gifted to the first of any species. Now, get out there and make more!!!
Oh, alright. Positive likeability...so demons are more likely to be my buds now? Can't say that's anything different from the present. Filyn and Blot were quite eager to recruit me. A little too eager for someone as cautious as Blot, but maybe Filyn's adventurish spirit rubbed off him at some point. That's not too important right now.
One of the skills I obtained is the same [Ghost Chaser] skill given as a reward for obtaining [Undead Genocider]. It's simply damn useful, so I'm not against getting another copy of it. As for the second skill...
Skill: Enfeeblement Magic Skill Type: Magic Skill Tier: 2 Attribute: --- Effect:
* Grants the user the ability to learn any magic spell related to status reduction.
Not bad. It is an evolved skill from stuff that unlocks magic spells to reduce STR, VIT, and so on individually, meaning this one skill can be seen as 9 different Magic Skills in one.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
There are two major flaws with this skill though. The first is that you won't obtain spells through level-ups. That is a privilege for the 1st tier skills, making it a little troublesome to obtain the higher-tier skills, and even then, they can only obtain low-ranked spells. High-ranked ones can only be obtained by studying the magic connected to the skill. When am I supposed to have the time to hit the books just for this one skill? I'm not made out of time, folks!
Higher-tier magic skills do have the advantage of being able to store more magic spells. Skill levels and skill tiers dedicate how many spells one can record into each skill, but since I don't need a giant library of magic spells, I've never been bothered by this.
The real second flaw with this skill...is that my Magic Eyes can easily replace whatever spells this skill can provide me with.
Though in hindsight, [Enfeeblement Magic] could become a good component for a Nightmare Item form related to reducing the enemy's stats. Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll write it down somewhere.
The traits, on the other hand...
Trait: High Demon Abilities:
* Increased stats when exposed to moonlight: [Small]
* Gloom-category attribute enhancement: [Normal]
* Received Holy- and Gold attribute damage increase: *2
* Received Gloom-category attribute damage decrease: *2
* Negative Karma Value increase: [Max]
* Positive Karma Value decrease: [Max]
* Increased effect of "Automatic MP Recovery" abilities: [Huge]
* Increased effect of mental-category status ailment abilities: [Normal]
* Positive correction to transformation abilities: [Normal]
* Positive correction to "Dark Arts"-family magic: [Small]
* Reduces the LP costs for Demon-type targets by 10 points (cannot be lower than 5 points).
* Nightvision.
Oho~? Being a [High Demon] ain't that bad. The penalty for being outside in the sun is gone now, which is a big help for me! Then again, the decrease in stats wasn't that bad, and I still have [Albino] to bully me out in the sun. *Sigh*...
Other than that, the Darkness/Gloom-related effects seem to have been replaced with Gloom-category stuff. Both Darkness and Curse are part of said category, so it's not that bad, but it's not like I can get more of those now... And are my eyes betraying me, or do my weakness to Holy and Gold have decreased~? YES! Take that, Noire! Don't think I didn't notice how you were messing around with those gold-coated arrowheads recently! The damage is still doubled though...
The improved MP-recovery thing is helpful, but what's the deal about making me the worst girl in the city when restricted to Karma Values only? Too bad for you, trait, but I'm already [True Chaos]~. The mental-type status ailment thing is also good, but I'm a little terrified of its effect since it's going to be stacked upon [Arachnid]'s Fear-related effects too...
"Transformation" and "Dark Arts" are completely new. I get the former, but the latter? Let's see...ah, right, here it is. "Dark Arts refers to Book of Tradition spells that are considered vile by the public. Classes related to them require negative Karma Value to be obtained", or so says the Kigal-Note. From the wording, it's safe to say necromancy is part of that category, so woohoo~!
And hold onto your hats, folks, for this isn't the only trait that's been improved. Or rather, since [Empty Demon Vessel] has zero effects. You could say it's still better than that [Demon Vessel] trait I had back when I was a Grey Demon. If my memories are correct, it had way more negatives than positives to its name. But whatever. Let's see what the current "vessel" has to say.
Trait: Dark Demon Vessel Abilities:
* Increases proficiency with Darkness attribute: [High]
* Positive correction to affinity gained from those with Darkness as a racial attribute: [Small]
* Passive recovery of HP, MP, and SP in locations rich with Darkness Aether: [Small]
* Increased resistance against Darkness-type attacks: [Nomal]
Mmm...dark. Very dark. And yet another affinity boost? I hope it's not something like brainwashing. Even I would be turned off by that...
Well, this should be enough confirmation for now. As to how much stronger I've become, I'll try to rent a space in the Union's training grounds and do some tests. I've got some new ideas on how to use that overflowing AP of mine. Maybe the forced beauty sleep due to this evolution worked some wonders on my imagination. Not to mention I have to ask Armveil if he has any of those facilities for upgrading the Nightmare clothes.
But before any of that...
*Groooooooowl*...
I need...fooooooood...
Name: Garami | [Dungeon Raider] Race: Kur Kigal Gender: Female Level: 1/65 Traits: 5 Karma Value: -200
Curse your excessive SP consumption, evolutiooooooon!!