A bright screen appeared in front of me and everything else seemed to have gone dark. I could now see myself from a third person point of view with options off to the side. The system needed no explanation for me but I will explain the features. I could upgrade any of my physical aspects or I could buy new ones. The great thing was that all of it was for half of the normal price.
‘FInaly!!! I can have wings!!!’. I quickly went and bought small wings for myself, they seemed to be discounted further though with it only costing me twenty biomass to get them. Suddenly it asked me where I would like to place my wings. I chose right behind my front legs on the top of my back. They looked pretty nice but was too small for me to use. The width of these wings were only four feet in total at the moment. The good thing about these wings were that I could fold them up and either lay them at my side.
That left me with twenty biomass to play with and it only cost me five biomass to upgrade. ‘First order of business, upgrade my scales and hopefully evolve them’. That was two upgrades and I got another separate screen for picking the additional trait my scales would get. In the end, I chose smaller scales. They were small and tightknit together, instead of large plates that would break and expose my weak hide. [Would you like to remove your hide and replace it with scales? It costs zero biomass to replace]. ‘Well my scales are stronger and this gives me one less aspect to manage with my biomass so yes’.
My 3D model on the screen changed, now I had a bunch of small scales, making me look like a proper dragon instead of a lizard like a rip-off. [Due to losing your Hide 5 biomass will be rewarded]. This was a dream come true. I was going to be a true killing machine once I got out of here. Now with 15 biomass I had a choice to make, what to spend the rest of it on. I chose to spend it on claws, leveling it up to 5 and you know what happens now.
The list of things that I could turn my claws into was very large. But I already had an idea of what I wanted. It was nice of the system to have the option I had in mind there. I got heated claws. My claws would naturally heat themselves up at my will but at the cost of mana. That was the downside though because it would take my own mana. I figured that eventually, it would of with me either needing an extra bit of power to my hits or something like that.
Either way, I had a single upgrade left. Looking at all of my aspects I noticed that my poor poor horn was only level one. Sighing I spent the last point in my horn, it turns out that on my new body it was relatively small.
I am now finished with my upgrades so I guess that I should describe my current appearance after this. I was three feet tall, still about two or six feet shorter than the deer I fought. I was six feet long, my tail being one foot. With my wings out fully my width is five feet. I would need about ten or fifteen feet if I hoped to ever get myself off the ground. But I guess that this would be a start to block out the sky.
Either way, I was done evolving ‘System, wake me up’. [You have not chosen your species yet]. This was a bit of a shock, was I going to be forced to change into a new species? ‘System show me my options’. There were several options that appeared ranging from awful to useful. I narrowed down my choices to three. These were [Teenage Crystal Dragoon], [Blue Scaled Lizard] and lastly [Unbound Dragoon]. All of the choices would benefit me. Continuing on my crystal dragoon evolution line but giving me no benefits. Blue Scaled Lizard would give me a decently powerful poison that would help me in combat.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Lastly I could become a Teenage Unbound Dragoon. This gave me the benefit of not being bound as easily. Specifically it gave me the title of Unbound. This would make binding skills less effective on me, but I could buy this one my own without needing to change my race.
In the end my choice landed on Teenage Crystal Dragoon. There was little change to my appearance other than some of my blue skills becoming much darker than before and the patch of red scales (formerly just one big red scale) keeping this darkness and forming a pattern of sorts. This pattern were lines that went from my mouth down to my chest in spirals.
‘Ok system, for real this time I am done evolving’. [Understood, note you have completed a side quest and gained the title, Royal. A mutation has caused your genes to scramble and made you a sub-variant of the Crystal Dragoon. This title improves your relationship with all other Dragoon races and your subjects will find it easier to like you].
‘What the hell just happened?’. The world suddenly became bright as I woke up. I was no longer laying inside of the nest, instead, I was moved outside of it. ‘I wonder how long I was evolving, maybe Yarm is still around so I can gloat’. I peered around and saw Yarm looking at me like I just eat her friends. Well ok, maybe not in shock that much but she was at least surprised.
“Like my new look Yarm? I am further on my way to becoming the ruler of this forest”. Yarm was speechless, maybe she was sad that it would be much harder for her to kill me now. She spoke, stuttering a little “w-wait, what just happened to you?”. I screeched and said “I became royalty… oh god I wonder what my mother is going to think”. I saw Yarm slap her forehead and I looked around for my mother.
When I saw her my fear came true. I was now the same size as her, maybe my mother wasn’t even an adult but a teenager by our races standards, but she seemed abnormally angry right now. My Mom had her mouth open and roared at me. For a second I flinched, before realizing that we were on equal footing now. My first idea was to fight, the go to option but I couldn’t. ‘I owe this boy's mother my new life. So I will not hurt her, it looks like I am getting kicked out of the nest already’.
“Yarm, get on my back we are leaving”. The little Kobolt did as I commanded and got on my back. I passed the eggs, taking a look at them. I knew that they couldn't hear me but still, I moved my head down and spoke to the eggs. "Hi siblings, I will be back eventually don't worry, just try not to kill your big brother when I do come back". After that it was time to leave, I overstayed my welcome.
The walk through the forest was quiet. "Hey Yarm, why are you so quite right now?". I heard her sigh heavily "so where are we going now, we had a good amount of protection from your Mom but now we are by ourselves. Well, that is if you keep me around... you are going to keep me around right?". 'I guess Yarm is worried that I am going to no longer need her'. "Well little Yarm, I am infact not going to eat you.what kind of forest king would I be if I killed those who have helped me? just keep helping me like you have, even if its not needed much".I hoped that Yarm felt better after hearing my promise of keeping her around. But as she was on my back I had no way to check.
It took me until sunrise to find my new home. The area was a small clearing that led into a cave. Once I went inside the cave I found it nice and spacious. The cave had a roughly ten feet entrance hole with a large circular room at the end of the tunnel. It all looked almost unreal with how smooth the walls were, almost as if in prestine condition. Setting Yarm down at one end of the room I went to the other end and laid down. 'This place seems strange, but for once I am going to ignore something this strange. Well, goodnight world, tomorrow the hellfire starts burning'.