The process of evolution took longer than Khan could maintain his increased size. His body almost fights the shrinkage, puffing back up every time his body diminishes. [Living Fortress] is out of Khan's system, but he's still longer than before. Before Khan evolved, he was essentially a dwarf shark. He was three feet long, but that didn't take away from his menacing looks. Now I'm half his size. Khan's new length is over twelve feet long, a significant increase considering that he has all his other bodies too.
The localized storm around Khan turns on him, striking him with lightning and scorching his placoid scales. Black scales start replacing the white while not touching the blue. His fins get slender and longer as his teeth fall out and regrow. Everything is sharper and deadlier. His fins have been honed to blades, and his teeth have grown even more jagged. I almost expect Khan's armor to change with him as he evolves, and I'm half right. Khan's physiology synergizes with the armor well, and I thought that since that's the case, a change in Khan would bring change in the armor. The aesthetics changed, also gaining the new black scales, but the stats don't change. Pity. Maybe when Khan gets to rank-A or above, something might happen.
Khan's scales are a mixture of black, blue, and white, with most of his scales now black. His eyes and mouth are still red, with that color bleeding into a few scales around said eyes and mouth. His fins cut through the air as he swims around.
[Evolution Complete!]
[Unique Servitude B lv2 (5/5) > Unique Servitude B lv3↑ (5/5)]
[Passive Increase to Servants: +12.5% > +15%]
No [Promote Piece] upgrade. Shame.
Name / Nickname
Khan the Exile
Species
Calamity Man-eater B (Unique)
Level
100 (0/250m)
Evolution Requirements
Not Met
~
Health Points
635/635
Mana Points
605/605
Armor Points
242 (124+118)
Might
276 (240 + 15%)
Agility
127 (110 + 15%)
Vigor
127 (110 + 15%)
Mind
121 (105 + 15%)
Spirit
121 (105 + 15%)
Perception
121 (105 + 15%)
[Gain the skills [Man Eater], [Unintentional Stealth], and [Calamity].]
[Man Eater F Lv1 (NEW)
The user can consume flesh and blood to heal wounds and regenerate stamina. During battles, the user's attacks heal the user as well.
Heal on Hit: 0%]
[Unintentional Stealth C (NEW)
The user has a specific kind of camouflage where they are hard to detect by all means but sight. Passively concealed: changes in atmospheric pressure, scent, sound, etc. Those with higher perceptions can still perceive the user with other means besides vision.]
[Stormy Weather and Cloud Affinity have influenced Calamity.]
[Catastrophic Control A (NEW)
The user can control and manipulate natural disasters. Level and affinity determine the potency of the skill.]
That sure is a rank-F level one skill. I'm sure that the potential will be revealed after some training. I'm glad that Khan got skills that don't directly increase his stats or damage since he has so many skills like that already. I'm assuming that once his [Man Eating] skill, the one his race is named after, levels up enough, he'll be nigh unkillable on the battlefield. I wonder what [Calamity] did before it was influenced, but it shouldn't have gotten worse. Being able to control the weather is something Khan was doing already, but it upgrading the 'natural disasters' is something else. I could get back into the semantics and see how the exact wording implies different effects, but right now, I'm glad my anger fish is alright.
I got Khan to come over to me, and I tended to his wounds. If I left Khan on his own, he would have eaten the body of old white, but I can't let that happen. As I heal him, twelve-foot-long sharks appear out of nowhere with a poof.
Master Giles approached old white's body with somber steps. He placed one hand on him and said a quiet prayer. I couldn't hear who he was praying to or if it was a general farewell, but this happened for a few minutes. Old white's body turns into light particles and disappears, seemingly to a skill. He says something to me while still turned away.
"I will oversee your beast's ritual, but after, I'll be gone for a while. I'll need to find an appropriate place for my friend to rest. I have a place in mind, but it will take a while for some affairs to be in order. Sometimes I wish life could go back to being simple. When the time comes for your other beasts to undergo the ritual, I'll be back."
"What about the-"
"Here, I didn't forget."
The horn of old white suddenly appears in front of me in the form of glowing particles. They solidify into one mass. It's definitely the [Faux Unicorn]'s horn. The horn starts to get smaller as the essences compress, like coal turning into diamonds.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Give it a few hours before you start messing with it."
Duchess slithers up the horn, inspecting it as it compresses and releases energy. We leave her, and I watch as the ritual for Khan to regress gets set up. It's still quite a pity that Flash Gordon and Khan evolved to be these brand new creatures but are getting regressed almost right after.
Master Giles told me they'd evolve back into these beasts when the time comes. Changing that fact would require way more effort and resources. It'll also harm the future of the beast. I'm content with the choices I selected. I'm happy with how my beasts turned out.
All I need to do is play the waiting game. I don't know if Rob's evolution is more tedious or Duchess's evolution is. We might not even be making progress to Rob's because I don't know if an "artificial" graveyard would work...
Aren't all graveyards artificial? What am I talking about? Dylan better gets a move on then, or it'll be back to the dungeon for him.
~
Master Wang's training never stopped once I returned from Khan's evolution. He forced me to the point of passing out from exhaustion, even with my resistance, then woke me up with a smelling salt. Then we'd continue training. Weight lifting and traditional exercising aren't good enough. I was striking until my fists break, running until my shins splintered, moving boulders until my back broke, and even more strenuous body-breaking activities. That was what the next week consisted of. Master Wang decided that I had too much to do, so he'd get out some of the things I needed to do for him right away. It was hell, but I couldn't give in.
On the rare occasion, I was allowed to take a breath, it was in a solution that burned my skin like acid. It was unbearably hot and cold. I'd get frostbite on the same fingers that got blisters from the heat. The bathwater looked like it was perpetually in a vacuum chamber.
Master Wang claimed that this was a medicinal bath to help me recover in ways healing cannot accomplish. This massive increase in training brought the 10% increase in the might and agility stats we were looking for, but I feel like I can go further. The week was also kind to my resistance stats.
[Resistance: Exhaustion 75 > 150 (250)]
[Resistance: Blunt 715 > 730 (830)]
[Resistance: Acid 125 > 200 (300)]
[Resistance: Fire 500 > 540 (640)]
[Resistance: Ice 100 > 250 (350)]
[Resistance: Mind 184 > 190]
I'm concerned that my mental resistance increased from my training as well. The assistant, or should I say, my assistant, has been working through this week too. I've gained some great press. News outlets had a field day with the story, most likely as a smoke screen, but I don't care since I'm benefiting from it. A single frame from my workout was deemed appropriate and was posted to my account. Same with pictures of my beast. I don't know why we are doing this since I'm not trying to push a product or influence people. The assistant said these images were to prove that this account belongs to me and get people interested further than the surface coverage the news brings. I guess it worked since I got an offer.
It was a movie offer. The director wanted an authentic look for someone engulfed in flames, and they figured I was adequate. The director saw the clips and thought I'd be the best person for the stunt they had difficulty getting right. Using context clues, this was one of the last scenes shot for the movie slotted to be put at the beginning. I didn't ask for too many details, but it's a drama or something. I don't know why they need a guy to be on fire for a drama, but I digress. The shooting was quick and easy. I had to say a few lines to give a little emotion, and I was out. I was blown up in a propane explosion, but it didn't help me grow my resistance.
They paid me for lunch and in "contact information." It was mostly a waste of time, but taking a break was nice while it lasted. I asked master Wang to come with me to watch me utilize his martial arts for the big screen as a ruse for protection. If the Stricklands wanted me dead, I'd assume master Wang would have some disagreements. He was disappointed that this wasn't an action movie, but he also got a free lunch, so he wasn't complaining that much. When we got back, my mind started to stray.
My [Lexicon] can become tangible and take the forms of the different books it consumed, so I wondered if I could turn it into that electronic reader and download information straight from the internet. I tried it out, and it worked. Not as well as I wished, unfortunately.
The [Lexicon] needed something to consume, and that kept me from directly transferring information. I can't "consume" the entire internet. Even if I could, I would die from the following aneurysm. I had to turn what I wanted to be stored away into pdfs. I went on torrenting websites and just started mass-migrating the information into my Lexicon at a rate that wouldn't kill me. The information I picked is pirated material since the shift to credits killed paying for things electronically. Internet businesses suffered, meaning that buying digital books has become unfeasible. I couldn't buy anything even if I wanted to.
I had Rob download books onto the Lexicon while waiting for the 'miasma' to hold and the graveyard to be completed. Duchess is also close to increasing her affinity to life, so it looks like all my beasts will evolve soon. I didn't forget about Prometheus. He's growing steadily, but he's still a child. The horn became a mana organ, increasing my number of mana organs to two. It doesn't seem to have a direct effect like my water organ, but it "brightens" up the room.
Master Wang gave me a week of rest after the week of training. He wants to change the schedule to that now that master Giles will be out of town. I decided to use that time doing nothing but trying to gain journeymen skills. I only want a leadership-related one, but I wouldn't turn down something useful. During my hunt on the internet, I put a specific post off to the side to look over it later. This user was answering a question on a forum. The context isn't needed.
[Xtinctin: It depends on what flavor you are going for. Leadership skills for charisma-based classes will be different than spirit-related ones. They both start at blank slates at their lowest level, but what they grow into differs. I can't say much about spirit-related ones, but my leadership skills help me as a manager. I don't have the traditional class managers typically have (I'm a brute), so it's a clutch.
(Edit) For those asking what my skill does, it's an aoe of productivity. Fatigue comes slower, and getting into the zone is way easier. It boosts the mind and spirit stats of others even though it's charisma based.]
Most of what they say with other information in my [Lexicon], but I need to know what kind of leader I'm going to be before I start this journey. It doesn't matter at the beginning, but having an end goal to visualize would keep me on the right track. I think the easiest would be a "king" since I'm already a designated king if [Promote Piece] is accurate. But that would be a charisma skill and not a spirit one.
I want the latter since those skills are synonymous with tamers and summoners. My tamer buff skill [Empower] is spirit based, even though it doesn't get empowered or weakened by my spirit stat. I think it'll be fine. I'm taking a gamble by wasting my time on getting and training up a new skill, so I might as well gamble further and try to get a synergy with my other skills.
~
I had difficulties gaining the skill. There isn't much more I can do than what I do to train my beasts. I'm recognized as a leader by others and command them. I think my confusion about charisma is affecting me more than I think. My [Lexicon] doesn't have any information, and when I asked master Wang, he said, "Why would I know anything." There isn't any public information, and the sages on the internet haven't brought it into discussion.
I pull out my flip phone and call Charlie. I want to ask him what charisma is regarding the system. If it's a measurement of how well I can manipulate people, how is that being measured or utilized? I can understand the other stats since they can be measured and recorded, but something as inconsistent and vague as "speaking skills" concerns me. I'm not sure if a higher charisma stat matters in day-to-day conversations. I know it's the target stat in some classes, and their skills are based on it, but it wouldn't make sense if that's it. Bodily strength, movement, lifeforce, mana, soul, and communication skills? That doesn't sound right. Charlie picks up.
"Hey, Ellis. I heard about you winning that tournament. My family is worried about you now. Hehe.
"How did you hear?"
"They messed up, and I overheard some conversations. They think you will use nontraditional means to get me out of here. So what's up?"
"Can you explain the charisma stat?"
"Random question, but sure. Hmm... I would say influence."
"Why?"
"This is from my business partner, if you know what I mean, don't say her name on the phone. They know who she is but don't conjure her attention. We conversed for a while, and I learned many things from her. I can't say too much since the leaches definitely tapped this line, and I'd rather starve than let them get a single drop from me."
"Has your captivity gotten any better? It seems like your family is still keeping fruitless tabs on you."
"I'm fine, if not in mind. I'll get out when the time comes, so don't worry about me, friend. I might need a place to crash when I become a fugitive in my own household, so keep a couch handy. Back to what I was saying. It's 'your influence on the world.'"
"So if I have a higher charisma, people will listen to me more? That sounds basic."
"Yeah. There are a few definitions of charisma. One is 'compelling attractiveness/inspire devotion.' But there is another, more obscured version. 'A divinely conferred power to influence.' 'Divine' leaning towards supernatural rather than divinity. With charisma that's sufficiently high enough, you can influence reality. Or something. The stat is magic, so it's closer to mind and spirit than might and agility. You'll need the right kind of charisma too.
"Right kind?"
"I won't say more. Remember, there are voyeurs on the line. I got to go, for now, don't die."
*Click*
Does he get paid by Merita to be ominous? With this new context, I can understand how charisma correlates to the rest of the stats. If I think of this like a video game, I get into a loop of merchant discounts and wooing partners, but if I think of these skills based on reality, it makes sense. All the skills measure something my body can do, and my body has been hardwired to keep me alive ever since we crawled out of the muck. Communication is as crucial to human survival as might or agility. We are not solitary creatures but animals with tribal instincts. Being able to communicate is an evolutionary trait that keeps our species alive. I'm still on the fence about how the system documents this skill, but my soul has been given a numerical value, and I never complained. I still feel that it doesn't do much for me since, by all technicalities with my stats, I'm 10x more charismatic than the average systemless human. Would I take ten of them to match my verbal skills? Maybe thinking too hard about this is causing me issues.
It took a while, but with my new mindset and a few tips on a forum post for sad salary workers, I managed to get my rank-F level one skill.
[Leader F Lv1
The user is an aspiring leader.]
It fucking doesn't do anything yet! Shit.