Currently, I was being dragged by Karin down a now familiar hallway.

Alark apparently has somewhere to be, so right now it's just the two of us.

"Wheeerre are we going? "

I couldn't help but voice my complaint from behind.

"To my home. You'll have to stay with me since you were never accounted for originally."

Accounted for originally? Then where are the others going?

I was curious as to what she meant, but I want to make my position known and take as much independence as I can get.

"I'll go there later; I want to look around this place first, please."

I let go of her hand, and we both stopped.

She turned to face me and mouthed a few words. It looks like she's not quite sure what to say.

"I get that the Founder has effectively offered you his protection, but... he made it known that you destroyed the sanctuary; that's why I took you out of there soon afterwards."

I looked at her for a moment in silence; it felt like she was trying to express something more.

"So, you think some might try to attack me? Even going against his words? "

I asked questioningly, trying to keenly read her facial expressions.

"I can already tell you will want to leave one day, but for those that stay... this place is our life, our entire world. If they see it as the greater good to sacrifice themselves, some will. He knows that."

She was biting her lip a little, and even her arms were folded.

He knows that.

Karin's words cycled through my mind a few times before it finally clicked.

Ah, of course—he looks at me like I'm a normal child.

Common sense gained or not, a child is a child, and I imagine whatever sense I gained is more than a little different from theirs.

So... he thinks he can incite hatred toward me, back me into a corner, and then act as my pillar of support.

I feel like I should have noticed that sooner, but it's the exact kind of thing that wouldn't work on me.

What an idiot! After hearing talk of nobles like they're some kind of alien, and after seeing the counterfeit armour and artistry, this place is obviously nothing more than some backwater village—barely anything worth mentioning on a grand scale—yet he thinks he can manipulate me?

Hmph, I'll launch a scale through his face before that happens...

"Ah, Syrin, calm down. "

The anger I began feeling had apparently overflowed, and Karin had to use her mana to fend off some stray vestiges of lightning in the air.

I coughed, feeling a little sheepish.

It wasn't the anger that made me feel embarrassed, but how surprising it was to be called by name—by another. It caught me by surprise.

I guess... Karin can be considered my friend.

"Are you alright? "

Apparently, I had been quiet for too long.

"Ah, yea, I get it. But I still want to look around; I'll be fine with or without his... 'help'... Plus, I'm good at hiding. "

I spoke confidently and with an equally confident smile.

Karin let out a relieved sigh.

"True. Well, fine. I'll see you later, just don't be an idiot and go in obviously restricted areas... "

"Sure, sure. "

I waved her off, but she looked at me like I couldn't be trusted, to which I only gave her a forced smile.

Shaking her head, she walked away, back to the spiral stairs. I guess she always has a busy work schedule...

Damn, I forgot to ask about the other imps—what do they even do?

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Well, whatever. I'll find out later.

First, I want to take a look at those growing rooms I saw earlier—I kind of want to test something important. Oh, and maybe I'll see the girl who liked my scales.

Walking through the hall, I opened the interface to take a quick look through the important changes.

This should be quite efficient.

I focused my attention on:

[ λ-Pride Demon:

A special variant of the Pride Demon bloodline, only seen within noble houses. Their main attributes are their powerful tail, wings, and horn. Although the latter two are useless at low tier evolutions of most bloodlines.

The variant guarantees variant skills and attribute principles.

The most common variant is Ɛ-Pride, but, due to existing user variations, a significant amount of energy was used to rectify the collision of the oppase manifolds; thus, λ-Pride, a special variant, was created.

User class, Emulser, would significantly reduce collision burden. ]

Wings!? I have wings now? Well, I guess they're unusable... I can't even feel them. Just how thin are they?

Besides that, I guess it was mainly my scales that made things difficult for the system—it's the only variation I can think of; but to think the emulser class would show its uses already...

I mean, I've only evolved once, and I'm already experiencing these 'collisions." What would I do if I lost my special scales?

They're extremely conductive and seem to 'ride' the lightning like some kind of wave, and to think I almost had to throw them away... and that's only what I've noticed so far; something tells me there's more to it.

I s'pose these variants are more prone to collision, which means I could actually lose strength when evolving if I'm unlucky.

Hahh, I really need this class, especially if I keep racking up even more of them.

I'll have to figure out how to steal this crystal without causing too much damage... What a pain.

[ Special Class: [Contractor] (Active) ]

After zoning back in, the special class immediately caught my eye next, and I gave it a quick read through.

It seems that my soul now has the 'malleability' of a demon, allowing it to stretch a fine thread into the soul of whoever I'm contracting with.

So... I can be a contractor now? But I'm not really sure how to use it. Maybe I'm out of range for anyone who is willing, or maybe I need to be more powerful.

I can only wait and see... For now, I guess.

Alright, alright, onto the juicy stuff. The stat points, and perhaps even better, the principle, or whatever it is.

[Principle of pride (choose):

One stat can be your point of pride. This stat will gain stat points relative to the stat point gain of the previous evolution; however, this is subject to change upon future evolutions (or emulsions).

For now, the principle will gain 5 stat points per level.]

What?! That's insane! I can just throw that onto agility and spend this entire evolution becoming a beacon of pure—unrivalled talent, heh heh.

This is probably the greatest part of this evolution! Not a soul will be able to hit me in the future.

Hmm, it did mention emulsion again... I'm starting to be convinced this system has a mind of its own—it's like it's pushing me to go for the class.

That's not really enough for me to disregard it, though.

Finishing my thoughts, I didn't hesitate to distribute the stat points and the principle.

[[Agility: 18 --> 25 (Principle of Pride +5)]

[Exyin: 25 --> 28] ]

So I get to effectively add 50% more stat points this evolution... Do all the noble demons get these principles? Hopefully ones not as good, but I can't rule it out.

Actually, they don't have the system, so it has to work differently; maybe it's less effective, or they have no ability to accurately choose what gets stronger.

I don't really have any clue, but I feel it's probably not dissimilar to giving a person the choice to strengthen a specific muscle rather than exercising and strengthening a group of them to a lesser extent...

With that analogy in mind, maybe I should be more careful with how skewed the stats are. If I dump too many into the En stats, then later down the line it might end up being less efficient or lopsided.

It makes sense that they'll only end up being redundant if I reach the evolutionary limits...

Perhaps I should commit half the points to the main stats... but then, if I'm too careful, I won't have the talent to reach those limits in the first place.

What a pain in my scaly ass... wait—that doesn't work anymore, and it sounds too weird.

Pain in my... my... tail? No. Wing? Definitely not... my brain? It rhymes, but I don't find it secretly funny at all.

Well, I'm sure it will come to me later.

...

Looking around the interface, I skipped past dark magic; I can play around with that later as well...

Oh, now this one looks good!

[Martial Arts (Bloodletting Style) lvl2]

It seems there was only a little cross-over with the previous [scratch] skill, or at least that's what the system said. That, and it tried to find a style that best matched the previous skill.

They seem focused on puncturing but also on causing internal bleeding and rupturing of organs, which all sound gruesomely fanciful. I think I'd rather focus on the internal side, though... I don't particularly like the idea of swimming in a monster's organs again, even if it's just the blood.

Alright...

Finally, for the last high-potential addition:

[λ-Pride:

You intrinsically exude an aura of confidence and authority. This may manifest as the ability to make others feel more confident in themselves or to feel more confident in your judgment.]

Oh, the possibilities with this one...

I smiled.

...and it's very open to interpretation, so it might be less or more effective against different kinds of people. But it doesn't matter. This title can only benefit me, even against those with great self-control... It'll always be there, influencing people in my favour.

If the abilities are like this every time, then I'm already eager to evolve again.