With Nymph’s outburst, Catori practically jumped on the node. It was reckless but she knew it would work going by what Fio had done. Direct contact was the best way to rush through vis enrichment. She did not even check her changed status menu. Instead, she only focused on absorbing as much vis as possible.
The next few minutes were a haze. Or hours? Probably hours. Vis pushed into her tiny body and rushed to her inner gate, the place where her soul connected to this body. What she now knew was a node. The streams ravaged her muscles and she blacked out once or twice… or more… But it was worth it.
~ding~ Congratulations! You reached vis enriched (major) during adulthood. You can now adapt an Affinity or create a Core to evolve.
Only for the system to chime again.
~ding~ Vis enriched (major) has been reset to vis enriched (medium). Lacking sufficient information to evolve. Please evolve soon!
“What the… fuck?”, Catori mumbled.
“What is going on, Catori? Speak to me.”
Nymph sounded concerned.
“The system reset my vis enriched to medium. It says it doesn’t have enough information to evolve.”
“That seems… absurd. Is evolution not something that happens… when… someone grows strong enough. I see. It normally involves a lot of time to get there. The system likely does not know what you should evolve into.”
“You’re making an awful lot of sense… So I have to just… live?”
“Yes. I believe that will be the correct option. At least you did not harm my node in the process…”
“Right. I’ll… check my status.”
Species: Starling (mature)
Age: 2
Name: Catori
Gender: female
Status: sapient, healthy, vis enrichment (medium), twin soul (Fio)
Level: 23
Class: -
Strength: 9+39
Constitution: 8+36
Dexterity: 20+44
Perception: 12+45
Intelligence: 8+114
Wisdom: 8+114
AP: 0
Skills: [Bird’s Eye lvl 6], [Preening lvl 4], [Solid Grip lvl 4], [Bird’s Song lvl 7], [Aerial Manoeuvring lvl 4], [Hidden Identify lvl 7]
That was… not what she had expected. If she remembered correctly those additions to her Attributes were the exact numbers Fio had. And the [Identify] Skill had also been taken straight from her. The only explanation could come from the new Status ‘twin soul (Fio)’. She took a closer look.
Twin Soul (Fio): This individual shares a soul (and body) with Fio. They are one and the same. Attributes are applied based on level of activity. The [Identify] Skill or any variants are shared. Make sure to get along!
So she did not get all the Attributes? Or what? She decided to add her other self to the conversation.
“Hey, Fio”, Catori said, “You got a moment?”
“Yeah. I’m just getting some rest right now. What’s up?”
“Check your status, real quick. Do you have twin soul?”
There was a moment of silence.
“I do. This seems… strange. What does it mean by ‘Attributes are applied based on level of activity?”
“So, I got a whole bunch of strange notifications when I got the starling body to be recognized as sapient. I’m pretty confident the system is sapient and gave me some exceptions to… stuff. And it made some new things as well. This is probably one of them.”
Nymph mentally cleared her throat.
“Ahem. Would you be willing to share what is happening? Or should I let you have some privacy?”
“Fio?”
“I’m good.”
Catori decided to explain the newest changes which made the mantis fall into deep silence.
“It also reset my vis enrichment so I wouldn’t evolve. We believe it doesn’t have enough information to give me a body I would like. Or something like that.”
“Right. Technically the system just found out that body has a new owner. It probably deleted all the data it had on it.”
“Why are you making so much sense?”
“It’s just a guess… What I’m wondering is… where is the system? If it’s sapient, it has to have a soul. It probably has a body as well. Even if it’s just some piece of rock. Right?”
“Makes sense to me.”
“So where would it be?”
“It has to have a huge soul. A node large enough to affect… the entire planet.”
“Nope. Definitely not the hungry node. Doesn’t have a body.”
“Unless the planet is the body?”
“What are you two talking about?”, Nymph asked all of a sudden. They had forgotten she was there.
“Wondering where the system is, or where it connects to our reality”, Catori said.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Yeah, and it’s not the planet itself. [Identify] gives nothing.”
“It would be simple for something that made the Skill to prevent its usage”, Nymph said, “But I do believe it is not the planet. It would have prevented the hungry node from destroying it.”
“The sun?”, Fio mumbles, “Would make sense, right? Maybe even something larger… Some force permeating all of the universe. Hard to prove unless we fly into space and find locations where it doesn’t exist.”
Nymph sighed.
“You are speaking of things far above our heads. Please come back down to the ground. I have a hypothesis how your Attributes work together.”
“Oh?”, both of the birds asked.
“If one of you sleeps, the other has all Attributes. If both of you are awake, you have your normal ones. Anything else does not make sense to me.”
“You don’t think with me resting Catori would get access to like… 80% of my Attributes if she gets into a fight?”, Fio asked.
“We could easily test that. Try to escape.”
With that, vines and roots rapidly wrapped around Catori’s body. Her mind took a moment to catch up but when the plants started to squeeze the air out of her lungs, she struggled as hard as she could. It did not amount to much…
“You are resting, Fio, correct?”, the mantis asked.
“Yes, why?”
“Because Catori seems to be just as flimsy as before.”
The pressure let off as suddenly as it came and the roots untangle from her feathers. Catori took a few deep breaths now that her lungs worked again.
“Yeah. Fuck. That was way too hard, Nymph.”
“What happened?”, Fio asked.
“She squeezed me. Hard. I couldn’t even budge.”
“Most of my Attributes are Wisdom and Intelligence so… Not the best test?”
“Your Strength is more than four times of mine. Pretty good test, I’d say.”
“When Fio is sleeping we will repeat this”, Nymph said, “That way we can compare easily.”
“O-okay”, Catori stammered, “But don’t kill me?”
“I would never, my friend.”
“We could just…”, Fio began before trailing off, “Yeah, never mind. Stupid idea. I’m gonna get some proper rest now. This place is freaky but I’ll learn about silverwood cultivation tomorrow.”
“Great! Have a good night.”
“Good night.”
With that, Fio’s mind grew distant. And it was truly her mind now, not just her part of their soul. With Catori finally owning a body, she felt much better. Even if evolution would still take a while. She hoped it would give her hands and a mouth to speak. As close to human as possible. Though flight was still tempting… Maybe something similar to that harpy? Or an angel? Catori snorted. She was no angel. She was curious and a little naive. More like a cat. She did not want to end up becoming a cat.
“Let’s go up?”, Nymph suggested.
She nodded and they started moving.
How did the system even decide on what she would evolve into? It had to have something to do with her wishes and interests. Fio had become a bigger owl, after all. About the size she would need to fit in with the closest nearby people, the dwarves, and growing stronger through exploration and making friends. So… would she just become a human? Maybe a dwarf because she lived in dwarven city? That would not be horrible but it did not feel right. It also seemed to take into account the aspects one had access to, though not as much. With aer and herba… No. She did not want to become a tree. Maybe a list would help the system decide more quickly. Catori hoped it would tell her when she could evolve.
A plate formed of leaves move in front of her and she felt her body twitch at the insects trapped on top of it. With a few pecks, the insects were making the journey into her stomach. She blinked. Then flapped her wings.
“I’m going for a flight”, she said.
Nymph just nodded as she took off.
After getting some fresh air and distance from everything, Catori felt much better. Flying was just that liberating. Still, she could probably just borrow Fio’s body from time to time. Giving up fingers when she had the chance to get them was not worth wings. Or tasting normal food. Not that insects tasted bad with this body. She just did not like them as much as her memories of chocolate cake. Or muffins. Or… No. Enough reminiscing.
“Welcome back”, Nymph said, “Is Fio sleeping, yet?”
Catori felt inwards. It was difficult to tell but it was possible. Which it was not before. She would have had to leave this body and take a look from inside their soul. Now, she could sense Fio sleeping on the other end.
“Yes. Um…”
Before she could tell Nymph to go easy, vines and roots had wrapped around her again. Though this time, her struggle paid off. She managed to free up her head a tiny bit and poke her beak into one of the vines. Her feet also moved a little and she was soon cutting through the foliage. Her mind felt no different but her Strength had apparently skyrocketed. As had her Constitution since she could still breathe a little.
Soon, the roots let off.
“So it does work how I thought it would”, Nymph said.
“But why? The system could just do a gradual change, right?”
“If it did, what would happen with both of you in life-or-death situations? Would Fio suddenly lose much of the strength she is used to and get hurt not expecting the change? The system is not malicious. It would not be detrimental without telling you.”
“Then what if I’m in danger and Fio wakes up?”
“I admit there are edge cases where it might not happen to work like this. That is why I looked for a different way it could work. But this made the most sense to me. You will just have to hope it will not harm you in such circumstances.”
“Right… So, what now?”
“Why, you get to live, of course! After we get a good night’s rest I will take you to meet our friends. I don't not know if doing something specific will help the system figure out your evolution but it can not be harmful to have you interact with others than just me.”
Catori sighed. Inwardly, though, she was smiling.
“Okay. Then… Good night.”
“Good night”, Nymph said, “May your sleep be restful.”