So why do some people get better evolutions than others, and why did I get offered an evolution into a dragon that skips straight to A grade?

Evolutions are offered to people based on their accomplishments, abilities and a bunch of other things. I'm still asking about dragons but it seems like you had enough accomplishments and experience to warrant the option.

So why were you pushing so hard for the Wanderer race?

That's how my universe works. You want power, you manually upgrade yourself by working out or practicing or whatever. What that race gives you though is something everyone in my universe dreamed of having. More control over your own body.

Really? Doesn't seem that special.

Some people got there, through time, effort and luck, but it was something everyone wanted. It will let you force things to happen. You workout and tear your muscles, they regrow stronger, simple enough. With high levels of awareness and control though, you can multiply the results and make your cells denser at the same time.

Wouldn't the system do all that for me with most of the other races?

Yup. I'm hoping you can beat what the system can. Let's assume D grade is twice as long as E grade, so 150 levels and ends at 250, I just posted the question so we will know for sure soon. To match the lich race, all you have to do is manually find 24k stat points by level 250, the end of D grade.

That's a lot of stats, how the hell am I gonna do that?

Is it? It's less than 4000 stat points per stat. I think that is very doable, especially considering what your starting with.

Hey, that's not very nice. I get what you mean though, my body isn't even close to what it could be.

Yeah, you are still an E grade race right now. By the 250th level, most people will reach about 4000 in one stat, if they focus on it. All you have to do is replicate or beat whatever happens to their bodies.

Oh, I guess it isn't that bad at all then. I can just look at things like the panther and replicate whatever it does to have a high agility.

Exactly, and you are already fighting high rarity and level enemies so you have tons of examples to use for inspiration. The other huge advantage is that the system gives up it's control, so now you don't rely on it.

What do you mean?

I asked the question but I'm starting to suspect no one knows the answer for certain. You know how I have imposed convictions?

Yeah.

I think the system is a giant mana computer essentially with a soul. It's creators then imposed rules on it through convictions.

Possibly… I guess? What the hell makes you think that?

The system was doing weird things that didn't seem to make sense otherwise. Let's just assume that theory is true, that means there are some upgrades, skill and spells that the system can never offer.

I still could have gotten them myself, couldn't I?

Possibly, it's also possible the system has imposed convictions to stop you from doing certain things.

I guess, all that is a gamble though. What if none of it is true?

If none of it is true, what did you really lose by taking the race?

24k stats.

Potentially, you could also beat the lich race.

I guess. What does all this have to do with the sprite?

Oh right, got distracted. I find this universe and the system fascinating if you couldn't tell.

I can tell, and honestly, me too.

The ways of leveling the sprite, first you can go grind out levels yourself and your soul seed will grow and push it's soul to grow. In simple terms, it will gain experience without stealing your experience when you level. Easy and safe way of leveling it up.

But the experiences are lower quality so it's slower?

Yes they are, that also means it's evolution and skill options are worse. The other option, is to let it fight for itself. You also can't just be waiting to save it, you need to let it fight on it's own. Otherwise, there is no danger and the experience is worth less. Apparently this is what high grade people in the multiverse do with their children. They have a bunch of them then throw them into a dungeon and see which one comes out. That one has the highest quality experiences and is worth the time and wealth to invest in.

That is barbaric.

Some of them make all the children fight each-other for dominance, so it get's worse. That was mostly a metaphor though, from the answer I got, it sounds like it's more along the lines of sending them off to boarding school. They support them but don't baby them.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Oh, I guess that's not that bad then. So how do I let it kill things? It's a rock.

For now. I'm hoping it will be able to adopt a different form soon. What I want from you is to create a weapon for it to use.

Won't that dull the experiences?

Yes and no. I want a weapon and no armor. Make the weapon able to one shot anything up to level 50 then take a handful of shots for something at level 99 or so. So it takes on the danger, but it's still possible for it to kill things. It's going to fight on the knife's edge where everything it fights is faster, stronger and smarter than it is, but it can kill them if it plays it right. That's pretty much what you did, isn't it? You had spells that could one shot things but you could also be one shot yourself.

Yeah I guess. How do I make a weapon for it if I don't know what form it will be?

You do though. You gave it a cat corpse, a vuloxator corpse and some others. It's going to be one of those for now.

So a melee weapon is probably ideal then? Force it to get up close and personal?

If you want it to fight melee in the future it is. You should probably wait till it figures out it's form though so you know how big it will be and all that.

Alright so I just wait on it for now. Can I stick it in my soul space while I wait?

Uh no. You're the one soul bonded to it, not me. It could try and eat me.

You can just fly around me instead.

I could, might get hurt or stolen though.

I guess… Wait, will you evolve too when I do, because we're bonded?

Sort of, your soul seed will grow very fast for a bit and it will encourage mine to grow as well. So it will accelerate my growth and increase our bond's strength. I'm hoping that will let me organize your brain, instead of just indexing and reading it.

Excuse me? Not sure I want you ‘organizing' my brain.

The library. I want to organize the library.

Oh… fair enough. In the meantime I guess I can go collect more natural treasures, not much else to do if I can't evolve yet.

I've got something that I suspect will take a little while.

I'm open to suggestions.

Open your map and zoom out sout-west of Atalus.

Felix did so, zooming all the way out and panning his eyes south-west on the map.

The desert?.

No closer.

The lake?

Yes. What's around the lake?

Lots of mountains?

Yeah, but where are the mountains located, are they all around the lake? Look at the shape of the lake.

They are only around the bottom of the lake, where it's the widest. I'm not sure I'm seeing your point.

If you had to guess, what created that lake? Look at where the mountains are tallest.

What created the lake? Natural rock formations? The mountains are tallest on the south end. I have no idea what you're getting at here.

Is it possible for anything else to have created that lake?

Yeah I guess, plates shifting… Oh shit, I'm an idiot. I should have seen that sooner. You are totally right.

Well, it might not be, but…

It totally is. Guess I should teleport to Atalus then, do I bring the sprite with me?

You should yes, but before that, how are you going to get it out?

Oh shit, this is why you said it might take a little while. I'll probably need Henry too then.

Felix spent a dozen hours in his lab experimenting with designs for the tools he was going to need. Once it was around two in the afternoon he went outside to collect his rock familiar. Felix had found, one time when fooling around, that the tutorial screen was replaced with a convenient clock screen. He found his familiar exactly where he had left it, on the ground in the shape of a black igneous rock. He picked it up and activated his teleport back to Atalus.

Felix landed on the steps of the city hall building as expected, except now it was surrounded by a city, or the beginnings of one at least. Farms were spread out among the plains and roads had been set up between the buildings. On Felix's side of the river that fed the waterfall, there were houses and on the other side lay shops and forges. There was also now a bridge connecting the two sides.

Felix referred to his map and found Henry's forge. He made his way over to it, passing through the hustle and bustle of the city that was still settling down and finding it's groove. Felix approached the forge, placed his sprite on the ground, and knocked on the door, this time with a normal strength knock. The door swung open after a few moments revealing Henry.

[E - Common] Human (Lvl 56)

[E - Common] Fighter (Lvl 45)

[E - Common] Blacksmith (Lvl 67)

"Ah, Felix. I'd been meaning to come find you. I still owe you for that enchanting work and I uh… I have a favor to ask."

"What a coincidence, I need something from you too."

"Alright, come on in." Henry opened the door wide and stepped aside with an inviting gesture.

Felix, bent down and picked up his sprite, then walked into the forge and Henry closed the door behind him.

"First, let me get you your creds."

"Don't worry about it, I don't need em."

"Well, I want to be on good terms, and I don't want any handouts." Henry held out his hand rather forcefully. He clearly wasn't going to budge on this so he took Henry's hand and accepted the transfer. It turned out, his enchanting work was worth almost ten thousand credits.

"Alright, what do you need from me?" Henry asked.

He's trying to butter you up for whatever favor he wants to ask.

Yup, I noticed. Any ideas what it might be?

Pretty sure I know what it is. Won't be more than a few hours of work, you won't mind I suspect.

"I need to drill into some hard rock, possibly high grade rock. I'm planning on blast mining into it."

"I take it your planning on enchanting the drill head and spinning it with a spell of some kind?"

"That's the plan."

"I have some experience with mining, you'll probably need a few drill heads just in case. I can make you a few out of Carbon Steel. If you enchant it like you did the armor, it should hold up just fine."

"Sounds good to me. What do you need from me?"

"Let's get this done, then we can worry about that after."

You sure I won't mind? He's really trying to butter me up.

Yeah, he's just timid.

Felix waited and watched as Henry quickly made a handful of drill heads that would make a hole about the width of his palm out of high carbon steel. The drill heads had handles on them that freely spun but were no bigger than the handle of a sword. He then quickly enchanted them, making them as durable as he could and inscribed a spell on the base of the drill head that would spin them quickly. Felix thanked Henry and started walking out the door.

"Wait, what's with the rock? Why'd you carry it into my forge and why are you leaving it here?"

"Oh that… Actually, do you mind watching that for me for a bit? Pretty sure it's sleeping right now but when it wakes up, make sure to keep it away from anything you value."

Henry paled as he looked down at the stone, "What the hell is it?"

"My familiar. Thanks, I appreciate it." Felix said as he walked out and closed the forge door behind him.

That was kind of mean. You knew he wouldn't protest much because he still really wants that favor.

Yeah, but it shouldn't be much trouble. Best case he feeds it or it sleeps the whole time. Worst case it eats him I guess. No, it wouldn't do that… I don't think. It's only level 27. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .