When Merownis had first woken up, his body felt distant and numb. Like he had been placed into unfamiliar fur and painted Merownis-coloured, squashed into a familiar shape then forced into the light. If he could, Merownis would go back to this blissfully desensitised time and stay there. Unfortunately, in his inspection of himself, Merownis had noticed a problem.
His mana core did not survive the transition, shattering to be reformed. To be refined.
Though he retained some whisper of the experiences from evolution, Merownis did not truly remember what had happened. One moment he had been kneeling before Grant and the dungeon strained around them, the next he was waking up with head splitting pain. Being wholly unable to control any of the loose mana inside was like being unable to breath.
It had been all he could do to get away from Grant and Naea before tearing through the forest like a wild beast. Without mana control, Merownis knew, there was little difference anyway. The beast wearing Merownis’ skin bounded viciously around the biome, knocking down trees and terrifying any creature unfortunate enough to end up in his way. While Grant was in the desert, the jungle had been filled with agonised roaring.
To his annoyance, despite having nearly no control over himself, Merownis’ lucidity was almost impressive. As his tortured physical self did as it wished, the intelligent Sundercat’s mind set to understanding. It was sluggish, forcing a brain which wanted to give up and become primal into action, but he came to some conclusions over his rampage.
First, he was recovering. More than that. With the suffocating, stagnant mana, it was hard to get a sense of himself. He seemed stronger. Faster. Was this a trade he had made willingly? To lose something precious for simple strength? No, he wouldn’t have given up his magic for anything, even Grant and the strange opportunity he offered. Not only was it precious to him, even if the memories he based that value on hadn’t happened, they were real to Merownis.
The loss of a mana core would be deadly, and once Merownis realised he wasn’t dead, something else must have been happening. Knowing objectively that he wasn’t dying was the only reason Merownis was finally able to stand still and calm down. The pain was real enough, but it wasn’t physical. His mana channels were trying to drink from the well of life, but their connection to the core had been severed. That left an acidic feeling in his muscles, but if he could just fix the problem…
The second thing Merownis noticed was glaring in retrospect. The silence in his mind, thoughts belonging only to himself. His existence to now had been governed by a voice in his head, and now that dominating presence was simply gone. The voice of the System, a set of thoughts which sat on top of his own and stopped him from planning ahead. It was as though he had only come into existence when Grant had met him.
Standing in the sunlight, like wet clay being dried, Merownis found his centre and tried to solidify around it. It was hard work. He began from the bottom, scratching the floor with sharp claws. After concentration, his calves and thighs stopped shaking. The pain in his stomach wasn’t real, so he ignored it. That was just an echo from the ravages in his core. The sensation in his chest clamped on his lungs and made him lightheaded.
With each revolution of this process, controlling his breathing and his thoughts as delicate internal workings brought his mana pathways together. Each time consciousness passed from the pads of his feet, past his stomach and over his core, another mana channel was collected. As Merownis gathered the scattered strands, from toes to eartip, the pain ebbed away bit by bit.
In place of the receding ache was room for thought.
Unable to govern where those thoughts lead, Merownis found himself in a dark, damp hut. The rain beating down outside was so vicious it was slashing through the old wicker bindings, and Merownis’ mother was combing the droplets out of his hair as he cried. The rain always made his sensory issues worse. It was just so loud. Out-of-body like he was, he could see how paper-thin everything was. The veneer of reality, but even the eyes of his mother, cooing in his ear to calm him from the thunder, were glassy and dull.
The Sundercat watched his life play out in a monochromatic dullness. Growing, not strong but wide. Knowing he was smart instead of brawny, so focusing on the wisp of mana he sensed within. Turning that control into something palpable and earning coin and respect in one of the desolate world’s arenas. Even if the resources had been squeezed dry, a planet of gladiators was cheap to cultivate, after all.
With a whiplash that threatened to knock him off his feet, Merownis returned to his body. He reminded himself those scenes were falsities. The anger which tingled over his fur was incredibly gratifying. As much as the System had bound his thinking up until now, it had created him in full. Now able to curse his creator, Merownis finally felt like a real creature. The memories which he held weren’t, or they had happened to someone else, but the person those desires and memories left behind was. The knowledge the System had placed into his mind, into all created minds, on the inner workings was his lifeline to understanding.
Merownis had never evolved before, but if it was always like this then he understood why most stayed at their level. To evolve was to break the limitations and the System did so by unravelling the whole and then adding more into the mix as it put the pieces back together. The evolved monster would be of a higher Grade, most likely able to use an Aspect or two to their fullest potential. That was how it was supposed to happen. Except, they had severed the System’s touch, leaving Merownis alone.
Almost alone.
A vast amount of Spirit had smashed into him like a meteor, with no finesse at all. Merownis couldn’t complain too much, as Grant was a novice. The energy had left its signature, though. A devilish grin came to his large face, as he tugged gently on the connection between himself and the human. Merownis’ evolution would not be like others. Slow, slower than it had taken him to amass his mana channels, he began to push them towards his unformed core. Like the probing tendrils of a massive jellyfish, the mana channels floated back and forth, no fine control possible.
His growth would be slow, too. Unlike a traditional evolution, Merownis had not launched into the next Grade.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
As Merownis repaired the damage, he was grateful to see the System begin to take over. It hadn’t abandoned him completely. Merownis was disappointed by how relieved he felt even as deft fingers began to tie his mana channels together. He was sweating from the exertion of holding himself together. Opening his eyes, Merownis confirmed his location. At some point, he had stood in the centre of the arena and begun expelling vast amounts of mana. He hadn’t chosen this place, but it spoke to strength in a way which resonated with the Sundercat. Life was a battlefield. The air, the ground, everything around him was warped by the potent, intentless power he supplied, happy to absorb it and change at random.
Puffs of purple smoke appeared, carried by a breeze which whistled a sweet melody. Grass had begun to grow quickly between his toes and he marvelled at the manifestation of magic around him. This was far beyond his level of strength. At least, it had been. Any doubts over his evolution were banished, and Merownis continued cycling his energy over and over to connect every pathway possible to his new core with the System’s help.
He needed it, because his old core was still there, too. As he knew, to completely destroy or remove a mana core was impossible, and it was with utmost care that Merownis began to manipulate this damaged part of his soul. As he worked, the deftness of his spiritual actions increased massively, until he was spinning the core himself, weaving the threads of mana and Spirit around it tightly. The pieces of his old core were slotted into the new one without grace while Merownis did a final check of his memories.
He remembered walking, and making a choice. This wasn’t an implanted memory by the System, but something which had happened when he was evolving. He knew Grant had something to do with being given that choice, and looking at the incredibly pure and potent core which had torn through his old one, Merownis was unsure whether to thank the human or kill him. Grant had subjected him to a very uncomfortable process, after all.
It was unfair to cast blame, as Merownis had been the one to choose, but it was Grant’s amateur use of Spirit which had dislodged and dismantled the Sundercat Mage’s previous core. As the issue was alleviated, his body and mind more his own with each passing second, Merownis realised it would be impossible to hold a grudge. When the gains were so drastic…
Character Window
Name
Merownis Fereen
Race
Earth Sundercat
Title
None
Level
23
Health
75/75
Mana
200/200
Attribute Window
FP:0
Strength
14
Recovery
10
Resilience
11
Dexterity
19
Agility
22
Perception
23
Power
18
Regeneration
12
Command
40
Health
75/75
1 per minute
Mana
200/200
12 per minute
With a casual thought, no movement needed, a ball of mana appeared in the air before firing across the arena and taking out a chunk of the wall. All of his attributes had jumped a little, but his Command had doubled. Slightly more exertion brought three of the orbs into being, all three firing off in different but intentional directions. He could feel Grant approaching. His grin only got wider.
—————————————
“Perfect timing,” Merownis called out to me as I arrived. Even before he spoke, I could tell he was having a whole moment by his auspicious positioning and the ambient magic in the air. I flicked a small mote of light, which ran up my arm instead of moving away before popping in a flash in my face. If the energy in the air was inherently combative towards me…
“You alright, buddy?” I asked cautiously. It would be a shame if he had gone mad and wanted to actually kill me. Instead of an answer, five balls of mana appeared around Merownis’ head. Excitement started to rise within me as my mana cycled. I couldn’t do that yet. “You seriously want to fight magic with me?” Deep within, my draconic Aspect roared in delight at the challenge, ready to rip the Sundercat’s head off. I probably wouldn’t go that far, but it was hard to ignore the competition demanded by the arena’s atmosphere.
The caterwauling yowls of the crowd were already excited, and we hadn’t even started. Merownis’ orange colouration was deeper, the black of his fur had a laquered sheen. As we locked eyes, I felt the connection between us snap tight, pulling me down an arena step. Astonished at the audacity, I arrived at the arena floor quickly by continuing the momentum. Pulling me really was a step too far.
Especially when I wanted to test myself so badly.
“Let’s do this, then.”
I hadn’t sensed much of it before now, but Merownis and I were connected. A thin stream of Spirit ran between the two of us, supplied both ways. I could feel his readiness to stretch his new muscles, and I hadn’t been challenged in nearly two weeks. Sure, the scorpions were dangerous, but not in a one on one sense. Merownis held all the power of a giant scorpion swarm in his clawed paws.
My heart felt flighty. The collected intent of all creatures in attendance weighed on me. It demanded blood. The Jingu Bang was vibrating in my hand, itself excited. In an aggressively boastful decision, I calmly removed the Fan of Knives and threw it into the dirt near Merownis’ foot. He shook his head but picked up the weapon, flaring it into a pair of sharp blades. Magic bubbled through my mana channels as an invisible starting flag was dropped.
Then, the ground between us exploded.