As a hunter, Katniss was used to wander this forest. She knew what areas were filled with monster lairs, what bushes were infested by snakes or other predators, she even knew the location of some lesser gryphon's nests.
But she never saw anything like the monster in front of her. It was at least 3 metres tall, and its skin was pale grey. It had 18 ribs that almost pierced through its own flesh, as if it hadn't eaten in years. Its arms and legs were long and thin and the digits of its hands seemed like long sharp claws.
It had long silver hair that covered most of its face. Next to the monster, the corpse of a grey wolf.
Since it hasn’t eaten the wolf, I assume it has just evolved, which gives me a chance to escape. Katness knew that monsters were much more vulnerable while they were evolving, but she didn’t want to test her luck, after all, she knew that attacking it might wake it up.
Suddenly, the head of the monster rose. It had a big mouth filled with sharp teeth, its nose was short and its ears sharp. But Katniss couldn’t pay attention to anything but the deep cavities that hosted its eyes.
Its eyes were blue, like the mana circuit that covered its body, but it had a purple reptilian pupil. The monster let out a loud roar, and Katniss rapidly fled from the cave.
I have to tell everyone in the village, we must ask for some imperial knights, maybe even a noble, we can’t let that… creature grow stronger. She rushed through the woods as fast as she could, her head flooded with questions without answer.
She suddenly tripped and fell to the ground, she felt a huge pain in her neck, it wasn't like anything she had ever felt before. Her gaze reached the floor, where a puddle of red blood, her blood, was forming. She then saw one of the paws of a red alpha wolf, and she understood her situation.
I forgot… to keep my guard up. The wolf moved his head backwards, taking out a chunk of her neck. Someone… must tell them… the monster… Katniss, the hunter that witnessed the birth of a predator, was lost forever in the depths of the forest.
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“Awwwwwwww” Liz yawned as she woke up. Her head hurted like hell, and she felt really dizzy. “What happened?”
Her memories were blurry, she remembered her battle with the wolf, that she levelled up… “Wait, have I evolved already!?!?” She looked at her body.
Her skin was now grey and she was taller, she also seemed much more malnourished than before. Her limbs were longer and her hands were now shaped like claws. “I guess I have evolved into a monster or something.”
She felt that in this form it was much more natural to her to crawl instead of walk. I guess my body is finally aligned with my soul. She joked, remembering how many times she was called a monster.
“System, I want an updated summary.” She ordered the system to present her with a summary of every change that she underwent during her evolution.
Notice: Evolution completed, your body and soul suffered the following changes:
Species: Ч̴͚̯̓͋͋̇̄͗̀͝у̴͉̎͋̐̊͌͝ж̵̧̠̅̀̋̀̅̊а̷͇͖̰̥̤̫̀̐͊̀̇͊̍̀͜ͅͅк̷̠̰̜̟͔̈́͑͊̈́̿̄̉̑͠ —> lvl 10 evolves to Х̵̢̙̦̓̅и̷͍̙̔̎͌͆̀щ̵̝͓̮̱͇̐̆̒н̵̖͍̑̿̄и̶̞̝͈̦̣̤͝к̸̞͚͕̯̺̭͋̍̏͛̐͠ —> lvl 1
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New skills acquired:
Racial skills:
Shape swap —> lvl 1
Predator’s strength / prey’s intelligence (passive) —> lvl 1
Feed —> lvl 1
Evolved skills:
Identification —> lvl 5 evolved to soul glimpse —> lvl 1
Evolved subskills:
Predator —> lvl 1 evolved to Thrill of the hunt / backstab (passive) —> lvl 1
Subskill adaptability has levelled up lvl 1 —> lvl 2
Eternal will (passive) effectiveness has been increased.
She inspected her skills a bit more, trying to understand what had changed. Apparently, her evolution granted her the ability to swap between two forms, “Predator” and “Prey”.
Thanks to her racial skill, the predator form was physically enhanced and was overall stronger, but the prey greatly increased her intelligence and agility, so it was more suited to her current strategy.
Apart from that, it seemed that her level would be reseted to 1 each time she evolved, and according to the system, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Fortunately, her identification skill evolved, and now she could “glimpse” anyone's soul, as long as they weren't much stronger than her.
Adaptability now granted her two groups of 4 stat points to assign, but the cooldown wasn’t reduced. And predator, her other subskill now granted her a bonus in her “surprise attacks” it worked a bit different depending on which form she was in, but that was mostly it.
She sat down and entered her soul, even if she saw a summary, she wanted to know, to feel, exactly how much she had grown with her evolution.
Name —> Liz
Х̵̢̙̦̓̅и̷͍̙̔̎͌͆̀щ̵̝͓̮̱͇̐̆̒н̵̖͍̑̿̄и̶̞̝͈̦̣̤͝к̸̞͚͕̯̺̭͋̍̏͛̐͠—> lvl 1
Stats:
Strength —> 14.13 (13 + 10%)
Agility —> 25.3 (23 + 10%)
Vitality —> 16.5 (15 + 10%)
Endurance —> 18
Intelligence —> 32.55 ((23 + 8) + 5%)
Power —> 29.12 (26 + (2% + 10%))
Available stat points: 6
Racial skills:
Shape swap —> lvl 1
Predator’s strength/prey’s intelligence (passive) —> lvl 1
Feed —> lvl 1
General skills:
Advanced magic affinity (passive) —> lvl 3
Advanced mana system (passive) —> lvl 3
Magic sense (passive) —> lvl 2
Soul awareness (passive) —> lvl 4
Stalk soul—> lvl 1
Eternal will (passive) —> lvl 1 (blocked)
Р̵̳̥͓̭͈̆͛̍͗̆ͅͅе̵̨̻̮͙̓͑͒̒͜͠а̸̧̨͕͕͖̿̀͋̉̐͘л̴̢̙̱̺̬̟̾͋̏̿͋̓͜͜и̷͚̠̼͑̿̄̕т̶̼̒͑͌̆͌̎и̵̝͇́̚-̶̧̟̩͈̥͕̞͉̅͛͊̿̂п̶̏̑̚͜р̶̠͔̜͔͕̠̰́͝ы̴̛̥̠͈̹͐͗̓г̵̻̼̀̓̈̇̈́у̴̧̘͕͓͓̗͇͊̉н̷̋̃͐́͜ —> lvl 1
Subskills:
Adaptability —> lvl 2
thrill of the hunt/backstab (passive) —> lvl 1
Soul energy 168.069 units
WARNING, remnants are decaying and can not be used.
“Wow…” Liz muttered once she saw her stats, she didn’t expect to become this powerful so fast. “Well, to be fair, I haven’t fought a single enemy that was weaker than me, not even my level.
To say she was surprised was an understatement, she was still unbelievably weak, compared to how she was back in her world, and even by this world standards. But she was growing fast.
When she thought about where to assign her stat points, the answer was simple, she needed more power.
She left her soul and crawled towards the dead wolf that was still on the floor. She felt the need to eat, even if she didn’t have to for months, now her body was craving for food. She opened her maws wide and started devouring its flesh.
Notice: Your food supplies have been replenished to 30%
Liz, who had just finished eating the wolf, was slightly confused. “Food supplies?”
Notice: your skill, feed, allows you to store food inside your body, this food can then be consumed to rapidly heal wounds or refill mana supplies.
“That’s quite convenient” Liz said, but then she realised that the whole wolf was just 30%. “Fck, I guess I should go hunt some more, that way I can also test my power.”
She created a mana orb in front of her and then used its mana to cover her right claw. “Mana, I order you in my name. Make your presence invisible even to those blessed by the world.” Swiftly, the vibrations in the mana particles stopped.
She waited a couple minutes to make sure her mana was as invisible as possible, then, the predator left her cave.