Choose your next (EVOLUTION)

Pharaoh Dog (D+)

Although this monster is hardly any larger than your normal dog, it can be a dangerous foe to tamper with. Formerly known as the Pharaoh Beast, these loyal creatures have been domesticated as of recent to serve as both conversation pieces and as strong bodyguards.

White Death (C+)

This powerful, combat-oriented insect is known to reap the lives of any creature it encounters. Although it usually inhabits misty marches, there are some reports of this bear-sized creature escaping its native lands to prey upon the nearby lands, be it humans or monsters.

Masquerade Moth (C)

The natural evolution of the Ballgown Butterfly, this nocturnal insect has the stunning ability to transform into a child of any humanoid species, and, strangely enough, an adult Elf. It is reported that these curious creatures wander the earth at night and emerge during the day as a humanoid of some sort. The design of the wings and mask of this moth are determined by what humanoid race it shapeshifted into last.

Luring Tarantula (C-)

If you hear a voice in the night, calling your name from the woods, you must not answer. This creature, as beautiful and small as it is, being roughly the size of a fist, has the ability to speak the human language, and if one hears its soft voice calling, no one can resist the allure of following it.

Moonlight Faerie (C+)

This insect may be small, but with an impressive storage of mana and a penchant for magic, it is hardly to be overlooked. Some may view its rank as a bit high for what it is, but what truly makes this creature a foe to be feared is its ability to take on a half-human form, that of a small pixie, albeit temporarily. It is known that Faeries can trade skills with humans, and this half-faerie is no different.

Wassup. I am, uh, admittedly quite tired-? The reason is that, uh, okay, so, writing close to 8000 words in a single day might not have been the best idea. Fun? Yes. Exhausting? Hghebdhvz, yes. But! Even so, I somehow pulled it together and wrote that chapter earlier today, and this thing also, but this one is mostly cuz I really wanted to do this, y'know?

Quick confession time. This entire fic I just one big boiling stew of self-indulgence. Quick evolutions that go high fast? Indulgence. Morally sound main character? Indulgence. Things all working out in the end? Indulgence. And, well, as a writer I absolutely love putting my main character in terrible situations and making them suffer, but...

This evolution was indulgence. I said to myself, he deserves it. Should the Faerie really have a ranking of C+? Yes. He deserved it. Should it really be magic focused? Yes. Even the skill trading thing? Y e s. For once, for fuckn once, I just wanna be a bit nice to him. Some indulgence.

Anyhoo, onto the fuckn dog!

Pharaoh Dog

Why did I have a dog among a bunch of insects? Very good question! Onto the skills.

You have gained the following skills due to (EVOLUTION):

Intermediate Light Magic, Bite, Lesser Telepathy, Damage Transference, Strength of the Sun, Stilleben, Frightening Howl

Yes, sadly, our guy simply wouldn't get the advanced fire magic if he picked this guy. Sad times, sad times. But, he would get bite, so, uh, this makes up for that, right-?

So, now you're looking at telepathy, and you're thinking "if our guy only knew", and, well, yeah and nah. Y'see, telepathy is damn cool and a damn good skill, don't even get me started on Greater Telepathy! But, Lesser Telepathy... it's basically just a transference of feelings. In the case of a normal Pharaoh Dog, this would allow them to alert their master, like... "Danger! Scared! Fight!", but it wouldn't be very useful for actual conversation.

Damage Transference is, however, a really good skill for a bodyguard, which the dog is. It only works on a single target, but, as the name implies, it lets the user take on the damage that the target would otherwise sustain. Very useful. As you might understand, the Pharaoh Dog is a tank.

Together with Stilleben, a skill that grants the user higher defence is they sit still, the Pharaoh Dog can take a damn lot of damage just by sitting.

Strength of the Sun allows the user to gain higher strength the sunnier it is. So, they get weaker on cloudy days or at night (I know the moon is reflective sHUt iT). All about sun.

Frightening Howl induces fear in any enemies that hear it.

Choose your next (EVOLUTION)

Guardian Sphynx (C+)

A ferocious beast often found protecting the entrances to temples of long-forgotten gods and goddesses, the Guardian Sphynx, the more passive one of the two (as compared to the Roaming Sphynx (B-)) is known to attack in wildly varied ways, utilizing devastating Light Magic in one moment only to swipe with its claws the next. Despite their humanoid upper half, they are hardly human. 

Anubis (B-)

Although many would describe this 9-foot tall hound-man as a humanoid, its strength proves otherwise, as well as its rarity. The few existing ones can usually be found roaming the desert, trading goods and services with humanoids, but at times, a single member of their pseudo-race can decide to attack a village or city, often destroying it completely. 

Three-Headed Hound of the Sands (C)

The natural evolution of the Pharaoh Dog, this hound is anything but human-friendly. No, despite many excited owners of Pharaoh Dogs deciding to evolve it to see what they might become, a Three-Headed Hound will not stay as a pet or a guardian, but will instead, if given the chance, escape, often dragging their fellow Pharaoh Dogs with it. There are reported to be large packs of wild Pharaoh dogs lead by Three-Headed Hounds straying about the deserts.

So, yeah, lot of cool evolutions there, especially the Anubis. Oh, right! Appearance! 

Almost forgot about it... Okay, so, when sitting, the dog can be between the size of a great dane and, well, an entire damn human. Sitting. These guys are big, yeh? Size aside, they are very cool. Thick, robust hairs like a shiba, and with a sandy yellow colour. Long, bird-like feathered tail connecting to a fair of small wings on the lower back of the dog. 

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

They have three eyes, and long, long ears, like a dachshund but even longer, pointing straight up. They don't connect or anything, but an orb of light hangs between them perpetually, looking very very cool. 

By the bye, no "what will happen in the future?" for this part. Maybe in like ten chapters, when the village part of the story is over with? We'll see.

White Death

Oh. Oh yeah. This one. O h  bo y,,,

You have gained the following skills due to (EVOLUTION):

Dragon Scales, Bite, Razor Claws, Paralyzing Claws, Fear, Acid Spit, Intermediate Life Magic, Intermediate Shadow Magic, Novice Ice Magic, Master Flight, Dragon's Breath (Fungi), Spore Miasma, Perpetual Fog, Night Vision, Reaper's Scythe

Oho, ohohoho, here we are again with the way too many skills. I told you, the C rank is where shit starts going down, and this is... Yeah. 

The first couple I've already explained or are self-explanatory, so... You might be wondering, "what's the Life magic for?" well, as I wrote somewhere sometime (I think?) Life and Death magic are the very same thing, only applied differently. Life magic is just the power over life, and therefore, death. So, this guy would only know death-y skills. Icky.

The second thing you might be wondering, what's up with the dragon's breath and spore miasma? What's up with that? Well, I thought to myself... you see a bear-sized snow-white praying mantis out in the woods, what do you do? You run. But, what you don't know, is that he had Perpetual Fog and Spore Miasma running on high. Your lungs are already home to a million tiny fungi, ready to burrow their mycorrhizal into your alveoli. You run and you run but your breath keeps getting caught in your throat and your strength is leaving your bones.

Long story short, you're absolutely fucked. Much like if you see a polar bear, if you see the White Death, you are already dead. 

The only skill left explaining is the Reaper's Scythe, but, well, it's kind of simple. It's kind of like a fatality skill. If it kills you in one hit using it, it gets bonus Exp for it :) 

Choose your next (EVOLUTION)

Black Death (A-)

The surest sign of death known to all of mankind. This creature has only ever been seen once, but it spelt the doom of an entire nation, laying it to waste with a plague travelling in mists. The few witness reports known of the creature, single pictures drawn in the throes of death, depict the creature as being the size of a castle, a thousand scythe-like protrusions reaping the souls of any unlucky survivors near it. 

White Orchid Nun (B+)

Dying men report a white-clad woman appearing in their delusional fever-dreams, cradling their heads and whispering the secrets of the world to them. When they awaken, they find themselves mysteriously healed of all injury and disease, an natural calm coming over them. 

So, yeah! Our first look at a monster in the A range!! Don't tell our guy since he isn't supposed to know how strong he is yet, but... B is on the level where the monster can take out a city. A is where they can decimate a nation. 

Nasty creature, really, but knowing our guy, I bet he'd become a White Orchin Nun cuz like, cuz he don't wanna be a walkin' talkin' disaster. Lel. 

Masquerade Moth

Yeh, uh, I was kind of thinking of skipping this one, but... Just a quickie, yeh?

You have gained the following skills due to (EVOLUTION):

Master Flight, Greater Shapeshift(Humanoid), Nightvision, Fear, Lesser Telepathy, Telekinesis, Camouflage, Disguise(Humanoid), Illusion

Yeah, not much, is it? That is because, as much of a monster as the moth is, it is really very human. It only has this high of a ranking because it can deceive humanoids so damn well. If this guy tried, he could probably topple a kingdom. 

Now, what the heck is Greater Shapeshift? Well, it lets the moth transform into any humanoid at all with minor restrictions. They gain a bunch of race-specific skills including language, and unlike the Ballgown Butterfly, the only proof that they are not a human is the tattoo on their back, looking like a pair of wings. The only other restriction is the whole "only daytime" thing but I mean, fair price. 

The next one would be telekinesis, but, I mean, lift things with mind. We know that. Camoflage, in order to blend in, Disguise(humanoid)... Oh yeah, this is the real kicker! Using this skill, they can look however they please in their humanoid form. In other words, they can look at a kind, assume his form, and by using the Illusion skill, which lets them cause auditory or visual hallucinations and illusions, simply usurp the throne. 

Most moths don't do shit like this though, but if they did... Y'know. Dangerous. 

And here we come to the first dead-end. Sort of. The Masquerade Moth can evolve, but only into a humanoid. Which humanoid? Any humanoid! If the system recognized Anubis as a humanoid, the Masquerade Moth would be able to permanently evolve into it. 

Appearence? Fluffy and big like face of man. mm. fluff. 

Luring Tarantula

And now, the very last one! I feel very tired and I am surrounded by candes feeling very booky and I wish I had a hand-written letter to write to someone about some current events or how the plague has affected me but I ruehivkjn

Onto skills!

You have gained the following skills due to (EVOLUTION):

Language (Humanoid), Soothing Voice, Mesmerizing Light, Intermediate Light Magic, Advanced Fire Magic, Novice Lightning Magic, Novice Shadow Magic, Illusion, Calm, Advanced Thread, Venom Bite, Acid Bite

It might be because I wrote it, but I feel like this entire creature is just, very self-explanatory as a species. It's like the Will 'o Whisperer, but evolved! Language lets it speak any humanoid language, Soothing Voice makes the voice tempting, calming and alluring all at once, people can't help but investigate it, mesmerizing light makes the luminous bulb at the end of the spider look very very interesting and I just have to get closer, all the magics are magic, Illusion strengthens the previous skills, Calm causes all who see the spider to feel calm (aka the cooler Fear), and thread, venom and acid are all just capture-and-kill methods. 

A charming creature, wouldn't you say?

Okay, so, before we go onto the whole evolutions part, I just want to describe the looks of this guy cuz, heh, I'm kind of proud.

So, there's this spider, right? Has a chrome, mirror-like sheen on his abdomen, looking all cracked. I've seen it a thousand times, but only now have I thought of a use for it.

This spider is about the size of a man's head, so a bowling ball. Its entire body is black with some dark blue details, but that isn't important. No, the abdomen, which it always has sticking right up so as to be seen from all directions, is holey. It has holes in it. Uneven, like a basket. Inside this holey abdomen floats a ball of mana. Normal, yes, but... despite the outside of the abdomen being black, the inside seems mirrored, causing the light of the mana to bounce and rebound like a disco-ball, looking very very cool.

Onto evolutions!

Choose your next (EVOLUTION)

Arachne (C)

A half-human half-spider, magically inclined creature. They are often muted, but there are known cases of them learning humanoid languages. In cases such as these, the Arachne will exhibit modest intelligence. Other than this, they are rather strong foes. 

Grand Weaver (C+)

A rare but dangerous foe, the Grand Weaver is a large, white spider, known to absorb entire forests into their nest, covering trees with great amounts of webbing until the entire area is white and sticky. They are known to not only have great combat strength, but also many underlings in the form of spawns. 

Wandering Wizard (C+)

Despite the name, this creature is no humanoid. Rather, it is a lanky spider, thin both in terms of legs and body. Even so, it is considered exceptionally magically gifted due to the great quantity of Mana it harbours in a ball just behind its perpendicular body. It is considered highly intelligent, walking on four legs with its back straight much like a man, and is known to exhibit great politeness when shown the same. 

-Right, that's it for this time! I'll see you all tomorrow, and then, I'll hopefully have a more permanent cover compared to this one. As before, sorry. It isn't very good. 

See ya! I'm off to write on my wildly successful side-chick!