Serenity had sat down to eat the core. He remembered that much.

Then he was surrounded by darkness. Darkness and a lack of pain. He hadn’t realized how painful his Aspect had become.

[Core connection complete. Tier 0 achieved]

[Please choose your Base Form]

All of that for Tier 0?

And wait. His Base Form? He was human! That should be his Base Form.

[Current body does not fall within parameters for ‘human’. Current Form not recognized. Please choose a Base Form]

This didn’t feel like talking to the Voice. It felt a lot more like talking to a computer.

The Voice always provided options. Maybe this could too?

[Retrieving options]

[Option retrieval complete]

[Opt-]

Serenity would have blinked if he’d had a body. He’d never seen the Voice stop itself.

[Discarding options that would result in imminent death]

[Evaluating available Paths for additional options]

[Review retained options?]

Is that you? Are you … more there now?

[Yes]

What was that before?

[Monsters and most chimerae fall under a different set of rules. You reached a Core threshold, which temporarily placed you in that category. You have been marked as falling under the Pathed rules.]

So you only oversee the Pathed?

[Guiding the Pathed is my responsibility]

What about monsters?

[Monsters are not guided. They are allowed to choose more freely. It is not usually an advantage]

Not usually?

[No guidance is perfect. The odds however strongly favor the Pathed. Few monsters are as powerful for their Tier as the Pathed are]

So you’re going to guide me?

There was a long pause.

[No guidance is perfect. I can allow additional options and information if you so choose. If you want to use the unguided system instead I will allow it]

[You have proven that you are resourceful and creative. It is possible that you will see something I do not]

It was the first time Serenity could remember the Voice ever saying “I”.

That’s. That’s a huge compliment. You still know more than I do. I’ll take the additional options and information, please.

There was another long pause.

[Suggested Base Forms]

[Early Lich (not recommended due to potential Path conflict)]

[Death-Eater (significant sub-options available) (not recommended due to potential for significant physical change)]

[Child of Time]

[Despair (not recommended due to Path conflict)]

[Exemplar (additional option)]

Serenity assumed Child of Time was the one he was expected to pick. Might as well look at that first.

Child of Time is a name given to those who have stepped into the rapids of the River of Time. Rare are those who try and rarer are those who succeed. As a Child, you have passed the first hurdle but many more shall follow.

Blind seer, Prophecy’s Child, or forger of a new path, your success can only be measured by yourself.

Subspecies options available

Note: Child of Time will remove all Affinities, Concepts, and Aspects other than Time*

* Due to Aspect Pathfinder, Essence will also not be removed

Additional information: If selected at a higher Tier, this Evolution will not count as an Exemplar Evolution and will not remove Affinities, Concepts, or Aspects.

It didn’t sound bad, but removing all magic other than Time and Essence wasn’t something Serenity was interested in. That did explain how he’d survive, at least; his Death Aspect wouldn’t be a problem because he wouldn’t have it anymore. He still didn’t like it. The Voice clearly wasn’t using the same criteria Serenity was.

Serenity made a mental note to check for it in the future. It did sound good.

If the recommended choice wasn’t going to work, maybe the one the Voice liked the least would?

Consummate mages and warriors, the Despair are bringers of loss and hopelessness. They live to bring ruin and the despair they are named after, for their power comes from it, and it brings them what little joy they can see.

This is a rare evolution that can apply to any form. The primary requirement is to have lost everything of value to the creature evolving.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Nope, the Voice was completely right about that one. Definite Path conflict. Serenity would take Child of Time over that in a moment.

He was pretty sure that Early Lich was also not one he wanted; it sounded too close to his old Path. It was worth looking at to get it out of the way, he supposed.

An early lich is a lich that has crossed to undeath without the ability to control their Death aura. They are often confused with other undead, as they can appear similar to many. The Early lich’s aura converts other affinities into Death affinity passively, even in nearby creatures. Creatures within its aura are slowly converted to undead or die.

Serenity could see how that one had ended up on the list, but he wasn’t sure why it was only a potential Path conflict. It was also an easy one to disregard.

Only Death-Eater and Exemplar left. Exemplar sounded good, but Death-Eater specifically said it had options. He’d want to look at both … Exemplar would be faster.

A creature can become an Exemplar of a form of magic if they gain its Aspect at a low enough Tier and do not have a conflicting nature. Many Exemplars resemble a Species or Evolution that has become identified with that magic.

Available Options: Death, Time, Essence

Selecting Time Exemplar will result in the Child of Time Evolution since it is a possible Exemplar at Tier 0.

Note: Selecting an Exemplar Evolution will remove all Affinities, Concepts, and Aspects other than the Exemplified magical type*

* Due to Aspect Pathfinder, Essence will also not be removed

Additional Information: Due to your conception of Death magic, selecting Death Exemplar will likely result in some form of Lich. Results of selecting Essence Exemplar are unknown.

Serenity definitely wasn’t selecting Death Exemplar, and there didn’t seem to be any reason to select Essence Exemplar over Child of Time. Yes, it was a new form of magic, but without knowing how to use it, and with knowing he wouldn’t lose it … he was starting to see why Child of Time was the recommended option.

He simply didn’t like it. He’d already done a single magical path to the end.

Commonly found on highly elemental worlds, Element Eaters are considered minor pests, and usually remain as animals. Some have been successfully raised in captivity, though the pet market is believed to be limited due to their low power ceiling and strict dietary requirements.

Element Eaters are magical animals that grow throughout their lives. If they grow large enough, they can develop a core and evolve. Once an Element Eater develops a core, it is a more serious concern, as it can directly drain the area of the element, allowing the Element Eater to gain some magical ability.

The preferred food of an Element Eater is elementals of their element. Death Eaters deserve special note, as they have a second preferred food: undead. Element Eaters cannot gain sustenance from food that does not contain their element, and therefore if an area has an elemental shift, a change in Elemental Eater abundance is often the first sign.

Note: Your Death Affinity will be locked into absorbing Death energy until your Death Aspect finishes healing.

That was worth investigating further. “Magical animal” wasn’t encouraging, but it wasn’t exactly a small category. Maybe.

More than that, ‘locked until your Aspect finishes healing’ sounded a lot less limiting than ‘removed’.

Why Death-Eater?

[Your Aspect needs Death-attributed energy. It will take it from you if you don’t get it from somewhere else. To survive, you need to lose the Aspect, create Death energy in your surroundings, become undead, or have some other way to fuel it.]

That explained the terrible choices.

Why are you helping so much?

The Voice responded quickly, but sounded almost hesitant, somehow.

[You gave up a great deal. You should have the opportunity to achieve your goal]

Thank you

[It is the least I can do]

There was no good response to that, so Serenity went back to looking over his options.

Can you show me the sub-options before I choose it?

The Voice didn’t directly answer, but Serenity’s vision was filled with an enormous list.

It didn’t seem to be in any particular order, with the first four items being ferrets, elephant shrews, vultures, and mosquitos. None of those would work, but there were thousands of possibilities. One other caught his eye before he asked for the list to be reduced. He supposed a phoenix was a magical animal, but it wasn’t one he expected to show up on the list.

A lot of odd things on this list. Why is a phoenix here?

[Only carnivores and manavores can become Death-Eaters. Phoenix are predominantly manavores]

No omnivores?

[No. To become a Death-Eater, the being must subsist only on heavy Death energy for its entire life. Most omnivores require some plant life in their diet]

No wonder he couldn’t find “human,” no matter how much he searched. It wasn’t an option.

Uh. Can you limit it to … warmblooded, two arms, two legs, nothing with four legs?

The list now started with Tarsier, Kultarr, and Dragon. Serenity had to ask for more information on the first two, but neither ‘arboreal’ nor ‘rodent-like marsupial’ was going to work. Maybe he should just have trusted the Voice and picked Child of Time?

Nah.

Dragon… no. However much he liked the idea of being a dragon, there was no way it could meet his requirements. Was there?

If he could get the general form right … he did know some mind magic. He wasn’t particularly good at illusions, and visual illusion would be better anyway … maybe an item. Serenity was willing to make a lot of compromises to keep his magic. He didn’t want to follow a Death-only Path again, but Time-only (or even Time and Essence, whatever that meant) didn’t seem much better.

Bipedal. I mean capable of walking distances, not just a few steps.

The new list only had two options: Frilled Lizard and Draconic (Heritage). It was interesting that Dragon had changed when he asked about walking - or had this been there all along and he’d just missed it?

It wasn’t a hard choice. Serenity finally felt hopeful about the options. If there weren’t any surprises, he was sold on this over Child of Time.

The frill would be hard to hide. And really, who wouldn’t choose Draconic, given those options?

[All Draconic bloodlines have certain magics they are best with. Your Affinities indicate that the best options are Death, Void, Time, Arcane, or Essence]

There are no surprises, like removing other Affinities?

[No]

What would Essence do?

[Unknown. If you choose something other than Essence, your Aspect Pathfinder may or may not grant some level of affinity to it, but it is unlikely to be as high as the one you select]

So multiple bloodline affinities is possible?

[No. Bloodlines that others see as multiple Affinities are usually a different conception of what the Affinity is. Both Fire dragons and Plasma dragons exist]

That was disappointing. Serenity would have liked a bloodline that enhanced multiple affinities. He was torn between Spacetime, Arcane, and Essence.

Only one of them was unique to him.

It won’t harm my current Affinities at all? I’ll still be able to use them just as well?

[It will not]

Essence, then.

[Unexpected choice]

[There is one more choice to make. Do you separate your Path selections from your Species, or do you use your Path to gain your Species abilities? The first will grant more abilities faster, but the second has more control over what you are and what abilities you gain. These are the two options available based on your selections so far:]

Species: Death-Eater Frilled Lizard (Draconic Bloodline(Essence))

Removes current Heritage and replaces it with Draconic.

Path: Open

Species Abilities: Eat Death (Additional abilities available at later Tiers)

Species: Essence Dragon Chimera

Retains current Heritage

Path: Death-Eater

Path Abilities: Loot Core, Basic Draconic Shapeshift, Deathstrike, Resilience of the Dead, Eat Death