Adon ultimately decided to double down on his existing assets.
It should cost me 150 Evolution Points to get Telepathy II and III. Better to rip the bandaid off now and upgrade it twice, so I only have to endure the headache once. 100 for Color Change II. Hopefully that won’t take as much focus once I’ve upgraded. 24 for Spine Shot II, so I can get better control over my accuracy and more penetration. 12 Evolution Points for Ultraviolet Vision, so I’ll be able to see all the colors of the wind.
With all of those, he wouldn’t be able to afford an upgrade for Mana Manipulation, but he thought he should really experiment with the existing Skill first, before he thought about buying the higher tier.
Maybe I can spend some time doing that after I finalize my purchases and come out of my agonized coma. Or whatever’s going to happen to me this time.
Adon was under no illusions, after several rounds of upgrades to himself, that the process would ever be anything less than painful. He thought this time probably wouldn’t be as bad, because most of the improvements were isolated to his head and the outer layer of his skin. At least he wasn’t growing new spines or altering his innards this time, as Spine Thicket and Poison Resistance I had done.
Apposition Eyes III and IV would be another 60 Evolution Points and would, with Ultraviolet Vision, represent another big leap forward in the quality of his eyesight.
Maybe I’ll be able to see through camouflage perfectly after this.
Lastly, he thought he would improve his mandibles again with Bladed Mandibles III for 20 Evolution Points. It wasn’t so much that Adon thought he needed sharper mandibles, but more because he felt he’d learned a lesson about simply leaving Evolution Points lying idle. There was no point in saving up rather than spending, until he tried to make his big push to actually evolve. It wasn’t as if they were accruing interest.
Finally, Adon locked in his purchases and braced himself for the inevitable pain that would accompany them. He was as ready as he’d ever be. He was secured to the plant, hidden by the leaves, and he’d limited his purchase choices to things that should only affect a couple of select body parts.
And when the new Adaptations began to take effect, they were painful. His head swam with sudden intense pain, mostly inside of the brain itself.
It was not as bad as the last couple of times had been, though. Maybe it was because Adon had been more modest in choosing which Adaptations to purchase this time. They were things his body was fundamentally already doing. He already had some sort of Telepathy organ in his brain. It was simply a matter of further developing it. He already had Bladed Mandibles and skin that could change color. His eyes weren’t changing as much as they had before either. They were just getting better.
Or maybe I’m just getting tougher. His Health had repeatedly gone up along with his other Stats following his consumption of the birds’ eggs and the bat. Maybe that was the key to enduring Adaptations with more grace. Either that or Constitution.
In any case, it didn’t feel to Adon like nearly as much time had elapsed as on previous occasions. Before, he remembered being incapacitated and a little afraid that he could have been attacked while he was out of commission. That was why he’d stayed in the thornbush for the last Evolution Store purchases and secured himself to his plant this time.
He began cutting himself down from the plant stem. The sun was high in the sky now, though he estimated it was still morning. There was much to do today, and he was excited to get started. He’d decided to practice with Mana Manipulation before he went to see Goldie. He imagined that he would impress the spider if he built some new capabilities.
Before, she looked at me like I was an object of interest, he recalled. Now, with any luck, I’m going to be a talking magical caterpillar who can selectively blend into the environment. Basically the Most Interesting Caterpillar in the World.
Adon climbed down and set his feet solidly on the ground. He felt a bit like a sailor coming off a long voyage. His gait was unsteady, and he swayed side to side almost hypnotically for a few seconds until he got his land legs under him again.
How long was I up there again? Perhaps it had been longer than it seemed.
But the timeline wasn’t that important. It was not as if he had an important appointment with Goldie that he was running late for. The spider wasn’t expecting him, and she would be there whenever he arrived. Unless she abandoned her web—or something happened to her.
Adon brought his focus to bear on the challenge before him: learning how to manipulate his Mana.
The information had been downloaded into his brain just yesterday. It was easy enough to remember the details once he made it the center of his attention. Adon’s eyes glazed as he reached out and tried to feel where his Mana core was.
There was an instant response from the middle of his body, near where he imagined his heart might be, assuming he had one.
Ah yes, I feel it now. I can even sort of see it. Don’t know how that’s possible, but there it is… The image that presented itself to him was a warm orb of energy. A round orange light that floated suspended in a field of darkness.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
He reached out to it with his mind, and he felt a stirring as the energy responded to his probing. The light flickered and moved, a bit like a candle. Then a tiny fragment of the light pulled toward him. Adon felt just a little bit warmer. Wow. Even though he was just moving energy around inside his body right now, there was a real physical effect.
Adon’s body shook like a leaf as an uncontrollable excitement came over him. Wow! I can’t believe I’m really going to figure out how to use magic. It didn’t feel quite real. Even when he’d lived in fantasy worlds before, even when he’d been a dragon, he had never been magically skilled. Perhaps he was magically gifted as a dragon, but he’d never developed those gifts back then.
He pulled himself out of his own head and back to the present before he could wallow in regret over those lost opportunities.
He checked his Status to see how much Mana he had left to play with: 135/215.
Close enough to full, he thought. And his Biomass was also almost completely topped up.
Adon would have the whole day to experiment, since he didn’t need to worry about food anytime soon. He rubbed his forelimbs together.
Let’s get started!
—
Rosslyn sat across from Sir Carol Weiss, Baronet of Couzens, and she sipped her tea calmly with a smile.
It didn’t bother her that Sir Carol’s first name sounded like a girl’s name—an impression that she had to imagine was a relic of a previous life, since she was aware that the lower Claustrian nobility were often very creative in naming their children. It didn’t bother her that he slurped his tea, that he had mentioned his mother several times in their conversation without being asked for more details about his family, or that he told long stories about the farm animals he’d grown up with.
In truth, she found that last conversational quality rather charming. She had not grown up on a farm, but she remembered having a similar affection for animals as a girl. Even if the only animals she had encountered for most of her childhood were those that lived in the palace garden.
But though Sir Carol had some positive qualities, of which she was taking note, Rosslyn was looking forward to the end of the tea session.
She had laid out the rules at the beginning, and Sir Carol had agreed to them. That alone would have inclined her favorably toward the young man. He didn’t even hesitate. Admirable boldness.
“These cakes are splendid,” Sir Carol was saying enthusiastically. “My mother found a cook who makes glorious tea cakes! I imagine you would love them too.”
That was mention number six of the mother in just under two hours.
“My own mother was never very fond of tea cakes, or tried not to be,” Rosslyn said, trying to match Sir Carol’s energy. “She thought that if we ate them often, we would all end up fat.”
“And why should you not?” Sir Carol asked. “A young woman needs some meat on her bones, no? Otherwise, how will you grow a baby?”
“Hm. Indeed, I expect you have a point,” Rosslyn said, forcibly holding her smile in place. “Thank you for a very pleasant conversation, Sir Carol. Would you like to proceed to the training room?”
Sir Carol inclined his head in polite acceptance.
He did have good manners in some ways. Rosslyn had to give him that much.
When Rosslyn and Sir Carol arrived at the training room, there were a dozen young nobles milling about. Obviously waiting for them. Clearly just there to watch. These individuals would never be caught doing something as unfashionable as training.
Not very many servants standing around. They had done their job already, quietly spreading the message that Rosslyn wanted them to circulate.
Celeste and the others did their part incredibly well, Rosslyn thought. It was impressive. She didn’t think she could have gotten so many courtiers in one place with a more direct method even if she had offered a cash reward.
All heads snapped to face her and Sir Carol as they walked toward the center of the space.
“Is it true, Princess?” one of the courtiers asked as Rosslyn passed.
Lady Courtenay something, Rosslyn thought.
“Is what true?” she replied immediately, face carefully blank.
“Your Highness, we, uh, heard that you were coming to have a friendly spar,” another courtier, Sir Harys Bruckner, said, “with the suitor who is here to see you?” The rising intonation of his voice turned the sentence into a question.
Sir Carol nodded amiably from beside Rosslyn, but she wasn’t satisfied with a simple affirmation. The courtiers had to know why she was sparring with one of her suitors.
“Today, we initiate a new courting policy,” Rosslyn said, speaking loudly so that everyone could hear her. “In these dangerous times, combat power is extraordinarily valuable. It is particularly important for leaders to cultivate. Whichever man I marry will be thrust into a position of leadership instantly, whatever his origins. Therefore, the palace has made the decision that only a man who can defeat me in single combat will be considered as a prospective husband.”
The spar was quick. And it was indeed friendly. Rosslyn tried to strike a careful balance. On the one hand, she needed to win a forceful and convincing victory, to show that she was serious about this new policy and to make sure that the witnesses would spread the word of what they had seen. On the other hand, above all else, she did not want to injure the innocent Sir Carol, who had been truly sporting in entertaining her seemingly arbitrary request.
And she thought the two of them brought it off perfectly. Sir Carol saluted her at the end. Like everything else she had observed of him, his salute was slightly eccentric, with loops and zigzags.
“I know when I have been bested, Your Highness,” he said with great seriousness.
“You fight with great honor, Sir Carol,” Rosslyn replied sincerely. She found that she meant it. He had been nothing but a class act, despite some rather odd quirks.
Honorable men like him brought out the best in her, and she found that on the whole, she had enjoyed their time together. Not solely because he had been instrumental to her as she announced her new courtship policy.
Hopefully the next man will be just as honorable—and more of a fighter.
He would need to be. This new standard that Rosslyn had come up with would be, by design, difficult for either her or Lord Baranack to walk back later.