With a swipe of my hand, I brushed the drying blood from my snout as I tried to gather myself. Nievtala’s words damaged me more than I expected every time I heard them, and I was grateful that she only spoke so often. The pain of her presence belied by the overwhelming ecstasy of her approval flooded me, and I forced myself to move, to distance myself from all the emotions that artificially filled me. Rolling my shoulders, flicking my tail, and flaring my scales grounded me enough to regain myself and I looked over the assembled keelish, my swarm. Every face was turned towards me, every eye and ear awaiting my next word.

I raised a hand, and the already quiet murmurs went silent. “Everyone return to your dens. I will send word to your Alphas when the time comes for our next instruction. For now, fill your bellies and rest!” My command was eagerly followed, and the waves of keelish surrounding me began to descend back to the nearest den entrance. I watched as the keelish, those creatures inferior to me and the other khatif, scrambled to obey my every command, and I knew it was right that they bowed before me. They could become khatif, and I would work to guide them there, but they were not yet on my level. For now, however, I finally acknowledged the [System]’s notifications.

[Status updated. Title acquired. Evolutionary progress: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha: Become the undisputed leader of a swarm of at least 250 keelish. Progress: 942/250, undisputed. Evolution unlocked.]

[The user has discovered the True iteration of the Fourth of the Words of Power of Nievtala. The user has been blessed with the greater blessing of supremacy. The user has been granted an evolution to the Skill: Evolutionary Guide. Evolutionary Guide has evolved to: Evolutionary Exemplar.]

Nothing there truly surprised me, but it still was heartening to have a solid notification reminding me of what exactly had happened. I’d never expected to so simply and easily dispatch Redael, and without the [System] telling me as much, I would have had to wrestle with myself to truly believe that I’d killed him. Then again… I consulted my stats, and tried to remember where they had been when I’d last fought with Redael and landed a hit on him. All of my stats were now around 100, and back then they’d been… around 40? Or maybe 50? That immense difference settled over me, and I sat in it for a moment. Why would I have been so nervous to face him? There had been no reason for it, looking back. As I shook my head, I realized that I had missed something in the first notification.

Title acquired.

I looked into my [Status], and there at the top, looking me in the face, was my new [Title]: Killer of Redael.

[Effects of Title Killer of Redael are: +2 to Strength, Constitution, +4 to Agility, +3 to Intelligence, and every Skill, Title, Occupation, Race, and any other ability that the Skill holder has that influences others is heightened in power, scope, and proficiency against keelish. This Title cannot evolve.]

That… didn’t seem to be as impactful as even the Chosen of Nievtala, much less Disciple. A total of 11 stats compared to Chosen’s 25, and it couldn’t evolve. I supposed that that didn’t mean much, since I’d had plenty of [Skills] that had said that they couldn’t evolve, but did. As the thought crossed my mind, I asked the Administrator as much.

[The Administrator sighs and responds: It is more complicated than you know. The System is… I wouldn’t say fair, but evenhanded. In other words, there is information that is reserved and is not shared with users of as low an evolutionary level as you are. In those cases, a lack of qualification for information is equivalent with the absolute absence of said information, so the System says that said information does not exist. Whether or not an evolution of a Skill exists or if the user is currently too low of an evolutionary level to qualify to receive the information is difficult to tell, beyond evolving to a higher level of existence.]

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Though I somewhat struggled to understand the specifics of what the Administrator was telling me, I did understand that she was calling me underdeveloped for certain levels of information, and that immediately set my attitude on the edge of rage.

[The Administrator chuckles: Little fang, calm yourself. We will speak soon.]

After that, the Administrator went silent, though I sent several demanding thoughts her way. As my mind cooled and calmed, I disregarded what she had said. I could be nearly positive that she had been speaking the truth, given that the Administrator seemed to have some amount of vested interest in my continued survival and success, and she had no history of deceiving me… at least, in any way that I could recall or prove. Again, I shook my head and refocused instead on the evolution of [Evolutionary Guide] that I’d gained from speaking the true Fourth of the Words of Power.

[Previous Skill: Evolutionary Guide; a passive Skill granted to those who have demonstrated their ability to guide others onto a possible path of evolution. This Skill blesses the holder with an innate understanding of the evolutionary state of those who trust the holder for advice. In addition to the understanding of others’ evolutionary state, the Skill gives subtle hints and guidance to the holder that they may give advice that pushes the listener to greater evolutions. Finally, those who follow the guidance of the holder are granted a 10% reduction in evolutionary and Skill acquisition requirements.]

[Evolved Skill: Evolutionary Exemplar; a passive Skill granted to those who have become a paragon of continued evolution and serve as an example to those around them of how to progress further. This Skill blesses the holder with an innate understanding of the evolutionary state of those who trust the holder for advice, and by their mere presence, they can guide those who trust them to greater evolutionary prowess. In addition to the understanding of others’ evolutionary state, the Skill gives more obvious hints and guidance to the holder that they may give advice that pushes the listener to greater evolutions. Note that this advice serves as an addition to the passive guidance given by the Skill holder’s presence. Finally, those who follow the guidance of the holder are granted a 20% reduction in evolutionary and Skill acquisition requirements.

For the first time, I was given a [Skill] evolution that didn’t seem to change much. Sure, there were more words, and one notable change, but only one change wasn’t particularly notable to me. Other than an additional reduction in requirements for evolution, it seemed like now I wouldn’t need to give specific advice for the [Skill] to function. Which was amazing, of course. Just… underwhelming.

I stopped trying to justify my feelings to myself, and instead focused on my immediate future. As my steps led me into my personal quarters. Sybil wasn’t here at the moment, off taking care of something I hadn’t thought of, I was sure, and I settled into a comfortable position on the furs. I was about to evolve, and, apparently, the Administrator had something she wanted to talk with me about. Looking at the bottom of my [Status], I noted the unlocked evolution before selecting it.

[Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha: Become the undisputed leader of a swarm of at least 250 keelish. Progress: 942/250, undisputed. Evolution unlocked.]

[Evolution commenced. Evolution typically requires a basic restructuring of your body. You will fall unconscious as the reconstruction takes place. Evolution to: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha from your current physiology will take place over the duration of 7 hours. Evolution will provide a marked bonus to your stats, as well as certain obvious physiological changes.]

My mind slipped to darkness as I allowed the evolution to begin.