Serenity found himself a comfortable place to sit before pulling up the notifications. It seemed like this particular dungeon gave out XP after each of the groups on the challenge floor, even though it normally only gave XP after a floor boss.

That actually seemed to make sense, since each challenge group was essentially a floor boss from the dungeon’s previously lowest floor with some smaller similar creatures added. For Serenity, they didn’t add much difficulty - but that wouldn’t have been true before he took Zonal Evocation Mage as a Path.

Serenity knew that he needed to upgrade his Core before he could take a Tier Four Path, so his next choice was obvious. It would probably also railroad him into a related Path; almost every Core upgrade pushed him into the Species Path for whatever Species he picked, so it was almost like he was choosing both at once.

He’d had a vague idea that he might take something related to magitech for his next evolution; Aide was tremendously helpful and he was finding himself using the tech more and more. It was like his smartphone, only more.

Actually, most of the features he used regularly were derived from his smartphone. It was almost like a smartphone contained a lot of miniaturized things designed to be regularly used.

Serenity laughed at his own joke. It wasn’t really much of a joke, but he knew Rissa would have laughed politely but the people here wouldn’t even understand. It was strange; so much of his current life was a warped, improved version of Vengeance’s life, but Vengeance hadn’t had technology worth much for all that long. Even on Earth, things fell apart as people died; cell service was never restored in New York City after the explosion and even power was questionable most places after that.

However good a magitech evolution sounded, Serenity was definitely not confident it was the best choice right now. He was pushing for Tier Four specifically to improve his chances in the trip to Marnmot, where he would hopefully find a City Core that would let him portal to Lyka and Rissa. Magitech seemed like quality-of-life improvements, and while they were useful, he already had the ones he could immediately think of. More importantly, he wasn’t certain they would really help him get to the City Core.

The attributes he’d be able to get in Tier Four would help. That was a given, and he already had enough Ev to simply be able to max them. It would take a few days to fully take effect, but that was normal and fine.

Other than that, he either needed to be able to fight his way through to the City Core or somehow get through without fighting. Duke Lowpeak didn’t think much of the idea that demons might cooperate, but Serenity wasn’t about to discount the possibility; he was the one heading in, after all.

The best way to get through would be some sort of Skill that let him look like he belonged. Of course, that assumed that the demons didn’t fight with each other, which was probably a bad assumption; he simply didn’t know enough about the situation and Kalo couldn’t help. Still, if he could look like he belonged, there would be a better chance to not have a fight trigger other fights the way it probably would for an obvious non-demon.

Having his chimera form pass as a demon would be helpful, but Serenity couldn’t count on it. Sure, he had horns and claws and scales and wings, but he didn’t look like any demon subtype Serenity was familiar with. If he had no better option, he’d try, but he didn’t really expect it to work.

Beyond that, the only Heritage he had that could even remotely be called demonic was Asura; the problem was that he didn’t know what it meant. The word generally referred to the power-hungry or passionate version of daevas; depending on who used the word and how, the descriptions could be demonic, but most of the time they didn’t fit the mold any better than Serenity’s chimera form did. Often they seemed even less demonic.

The second best option would be to sneak through. Of course, Serenity sucked at sneaking; his only real option for it was Sovereign form, which was slow but might work.

For his next evolution, Serenity needed something that would either let him pass as a demon, something that would let him sneak better, or both. That was a tall order since he wasn’t great at either, but evolutions seemed less limited than Paths to what he’d already done.

With all of that in mind, it was finally time to Tier up his Core.

This time, the choice went smoothly; he was simply met with a familiar set of options.

[Please choose your evolution]

[Suggested Evolution Categories]

Anachronistic

Animal

Angel (some sub-options are not recommended due to potential Path conflict)

Asura (not recommended due to potential Path conflict)

Basilisk

Collective

Cyborg (Magitech)

Daeva

Demon (not recommended due to potential Path conflict)

Devil (some sub-options not recommended due to potential Path conflict)

Djinn (some sub-options not recommended due to potential Path conflict)

Doppelganger

Elemental

Fey

Gargoyle

Gryphon

Hope’s Hands (not recommended due to Path conflict)

Incorporeal

Lacuna

Living Spell

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Phoenix

Potential

Primeval

Primordial

Shifter

Temporal

Therianthrope

Void

Yokai (not recommended due to potential Path conflict)

Ziz (not recommended due to potential Path conflict)

Zduhać

Note: All suggestions listed have sub-choices or variants

Serenity examined the list. It seemed very familiar, but there were definitely some new items and some missing items. The number of items marked as “not recommended” had sharply decreased.

There weren’t any evolutions that immediately struck Serenity as innately stealthy, but there was definitely one that would help him pass as a demon. It was right there in the name.

Tell me about Demon, please.

[Demon is a major category of its own. Please choose a subcategory of demon]

[None are recommended]

Temptation

Murder

Pain

Greed

Rage

Hatred

Fear

Corruption

Despair

Obsession

The list was awful. Some were worse than others, but Serenity wanted nothing to do with any of them.

At the same time, taking one of them might help him get through the “demons” occupying Marnmot if they were the same thing.

It was a choice of permanent versus temporary. Was it worth it?

Voice? Why are these the categories for demons?

[While it is often used for other things, the word Demon for an Evolution is similar to the word Elemental. Instead of the Affinity that an Elemental represents, a Demon represents an emotion taken to its most extreme form. The expression varies from demon to demon, but all demonic types have a link to one or more category; most are found in more than one]

That didn’t sound any better than the list; Serenity wouldn’t have been happy with that explanation if one of the options were happiness; having them be things like temptation, fear, and obsession was not better. It made him wonder why “murder” made the list; murder wasn’t an emotion, was it? Wasn’t that covered by Rage or Hatred?

Why is it not recommended?

[Taking any demonic evolution is projected to change your future actions in accordance with the evolution chosen. While you have demonstrated many of these on an occasional basis, none of them is your primary concern at all times]

Not even Obsession?

Serenity knew he’d put Rissa’s health and safety above his own many times. He’d definitely overreacted in the Wasp Dungeon, as well; a simple spell would have been enough.

[Obsession demons can think about nothing other than their obsession]

That sounded unpleasant. It also put the entire category into perspective: a murder demon wouldn’t just kill sometimes, it would want to kill all the time. Serenity wasn’t sure if a pain demon wanted to be in pain or wanted to cause others pain, but either way it was something he didn’t want.

On the other hand, devils might well look a lot like demons. It probably wouldn’t be any better but Serenity didn’t want to regret not asking.

Definitely not demon. Tell me about devils next.

[There are two major categories of devil available to you: Commanders and Paragons]

[The Commander category is not recommended]

Serenity waited for more explanation. Just as he was about to decide it wasn’t forthcoming without a question, the Voice continued.

[Devils are best known for their command of souls]

[Devil Commanders rule those under their command; they bind others to their will and act through them instead of acting themselves. This is normally done through the use of a soul tether, but this is not the only means. The majority of Devil Commanders are affected by their soulbound]

[Devil Paragons are almost the opposite; they do not bind others to control them, and when they fight it is not in a group of soulbound. Instead, they take pieces of the souls they bind to empower themselves. For you, this would likely build on your River of Souls ability]

That was enough information for Serenity to know the answer: No. He wasn’t going to soulbind other people, whether that was to fight for him or steal from them. The Voice was almost certainly correct that Paragon was the better choice for him, but it was still one that he wasn’t willing to take.

To some extent he was already doing that, but he was fairly confident that River of Souls meant he was taking an impression rather than actually stealing from the soul itself when he killed someone in his Sovereign form. Actually stealing part of the soul for power was abhorrent.

That meant he couldn’t approach it directly, but perhaps he could still achieve the same goal. Serenity looked through the top level list again; there were a number that stood out to him as better choices. He was the most interested in Cyborg (Magitech), Living Spell, Potential, and Temporal. Unfortunately, those didn’t seem like the best ones to get him through a dangerous area undetected, so he should probably plan to pick them up later. It wasn’t like he planned to stop increasing in Tier any time soon, and he’d need an evolution every Tier.

The better ones for the immediate future were probably Doppelganger, Incorporeal, Lacuna, or Shifter.

Doppelganger would be imitating something or someone specific; that was clear from the name. Shifter was probably the better option if he simply wanted to look generally like a type of creature.

Incorporeal was probably the best defensively, but on second thought didn’t he already basically have that in his Sovereign form? There was also the chance that it would make him less substantial in his chimera form, and that would be a negative. It wasn’t worth the risk.

Lacuna was the only item on the list that made Serenity think it would be good specifically at hiding. A lacuna was, after all, something missing. If he could become something that just wasn’t there when he wanted to be, he’d be very hard to find. Of course, there was probably some large downside as well.

Shifter really seemed like the best option if it worked the way he hoped it did.

Would Shifter let me look like whatever I want to?

[There are many different types of shifter. As a dragon with a shapeshifting ability, you are a type of shifter. Most shifters have a limited range of forms; some are defined by their type while others are like you and have a method of learning new forms. A few do permit or require direct control. In all cases, those that allow direct control require practice and skill to adequately gain another form]

Serenity stared at the answer. He’d somehow forgotten he could learn new forms, even though he knew he could. No, it wasn’t that he’d forgotten that he could, he simply hadn’t thought to apply it to his current circumstances.

Sure, he didn’t like thinking about it, but he also didn’t like being a fool and ignoring an ability because he didn’t like it was foolish. He didn’t need another shapeshifting Evolution; the one he had was already perfect for the situation. He might temporarily be able to steal the shape of another, but it would quickly become his shape. Either way, it would be a fine disguise.

More than that, they weren’t human. Serenity hoped he’d be able to find a nonsapient one to kill or simply take out one he had to kill anyway, but he’d do what was necessary.

For a moment, he felt regret for the time he’d spent trying to get to Tier Four when it wasn’t necessary, but at the same time he knew it was still a good idea. Higher attributes alone would help immensely; a new Path on its own wouldn’t be useful until he unlocked its abilities, but the abilities of Zonal Evocation Mage were definitely worthwhile to have available. On top of that, he would still pick up an Evolution, and it might be much more useful than just looking like the enemy.