_________________

Name: Haell Zharignan

Species: Human

—Mutations—

Human Heart: Level 1

Human Brain: Level 1

Human Skin: Level 1

Human Eyes: Level 1

Human Flesh / Human Bones / Enduring Musculature(synced) : (All) Level 1

Dextrous Hands: Level 1

Flutter Feet: Level 1

Adrenaline Gland: Level 1

—Soul Feats—

Reincarnator

_________________

We were at our front porch as Mom rocked me in her arms. I looked down from the tall hill that our house was built on, watching the many sorts of people passing by. Their sizes didn’t vary nearly as much as our household, few of the species did really. From what I could see, only ogres had that much variety to them, and not many of them seemed to stay in this area, likely for a lack of accommodations.

Humans walked around town, working in a variety of fields. From managers to guards, and even as clerks and builders. Centaurs ran as messengers or pulled heavy wagons, meanwhile, ogres worked on construction or in more martial disciplines, if never as the leader. I saw a crustecar child who looked like a giant crab playing with humans, belfegors, and more; but the way they threw rocks at him certainly seemed like it was going way too far. A larger crustecar woman tried to shield her child and pull him away, only to be berated and shamed by the parents of the other children who were nearby.

The people here lived in houses that looked a lot worse than our own, albeit still decorated as was customary in the Angelore Empire. A lot of them were apartments, and I’d noticed that it was mainly one species or another that stayed in a particular building. Which made sense given the different body shapes and sizes, however it seemed like outside of work or some kids playing, people mostly hung out with those like them despite living together in such a congested space. Weird, but not unexpected I supposed. Maybe I was just overanalyzing things because I’d overheard some things in the times that I’d gone out with my parents.

A glance to the side showed that we were right at the edge of town, right next to the tree wall.

The tree wall was a maze of trees that covered the whole town like a wall. It was made by nature mages, and specifically rigged with modified plants meant to entrap and murder all would-be intruders. It had grown to be far bigger than initially anticipated and was now essentially a secondary town in itself just right next to ours. There were ramps, platforms, and whole houses up in the expansive canopy. They had everything they needed locally and had little need to come down to Latarus proper.

I watched the plenty of belfegors swinging around the branches of the tree wall. They were a species of people with skin that could change colors and even gain slight bumps, ridges, and changes in textures. The ones that I saw predominantly had brown skin and bark-like texture, although some instead had smooth brightly colored skin, but they were few and far between. They were roughly humanoid in shape, if all bald and entirely hairless.

I looked back at my Status Screen while nursing just a very small headache… except it wasn’t painful. It felt… good even, and the more I worked my mind over, the more the strange pressure grew. I didn’t even think it was new, just a sensation that I’d always felt, but only now that it had grown to such an extent that I felt it.

Deep breaths… I tried to relax, but I found it hard. It was as if my mind itself was drooling like a dog, rabid in its desire to think, think, think.

[Human Brain has reached Level 2!]

Instantly, the pressure abated, as I stared at the notification that popped up in front of myself, in all the sensations that I could understand. From a monotone voice suspiciously like my own, to text writ and suspended in mid-air.

I considered this for a moment, I tried to ascertain if I was thinking better, but I could not really tell. Maybe it was related to this Soul Feat that I got, which definitely wasn’t there a week ago.

[Reincarnator - You have retained the memories and the personality of a previous incarnation. Your Brain is upgraded to be able to hold the ego and intelligence of an adult human. This does not affect the Mutation's Level. Your brain will still develop at the same pace common to your species.]

I gathered that it was a one-time boost, making my brain a lot more advanced than it would otherwise be. I would’ve preferred a more multiplicative advantage, but it was a welcome one nonetheless.

The path to demonhood wasn’t easy. I shall pave it myself, with both my own blood and that of my enemies.

"Baby, baby cute baby!" Mom suddenly opened her mouth wide as if to eat me. I laughed and protested, pushing away at her face with my flabby arms.

The chair rocked as we played, and Mom eventually took me out to touch grass. We played around on our front lawn as the people beneath our hill toiled for their meager few pieces of bread. Those at the tree wall were probably suffering attacks right now, as was a constant for them who served to shield the rest of town.

I reiterate, again, that I am not spoiled! This is all perfectly normal!

I looked up at my mom, until she noticed my gaze and looked back. Her blonde hair blew slightly into her face, but her smile was still more than visible. It might look unhinged to the untrained eye, like she was plotting something nefarious or insane, but I knew that there was only kindness in her expression. She was so much more than any family I ever had in my past life, and she was not the only one. My dad was very gentle, and my grandfather utterly cool!

It was crazy. How am I so lucky!?

I couldn't help but hug my mom, and I could almost hear her heart melt as she hugged me back.

It was nice to see her so happy, and for such a simple gesture at that. I will make them all proud. I'll be the best demon I can be!

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

~~~

I contemplated my status and my build as mom patted me softly on the head. Some of the Mutations were very self-explanatory, but most were just labeled as that of a "Human."

I was never quite sure what that meant, to be a human. I always seemed to be failing at it, somehow. But now that I could view my descriptions, I may finally be able to solve the lifelong mystery!

Then I could make sure to do the opposite.

[Human Heart: The Human Heart strives even in the face of hardship. Significantly increases stamina regeneration.]

The description popped up, after I imagined the sensation of pressing a button, but with my mind. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that I could do that.

The Human Heart was an organ that increased my stamina regeneration, which was nice.

More stamina meant I could function for longer. Being able to function for longer meant more training. And more training would surely lead to more levels!

Those levels might give me the option to change my species, not that I had any basis to think that was even possible. But even if that weren’t true, more levels would still give me power, and power was something I gravely wanted. The true freedom that I desired may only be obtained through one of two ways, after all. Either through extreme luck, or extreme power.

Only one of those was reliable.

The Human Heart strives even in the face of hardship.

There were some pleasantries attached to the description of the Human Heart, which I did not care for. But I still considered it for a moment, because they might not be mere empty words. To strive in the face of hardship… Could that perhaps be an effect to increase my willpower?

It was an interesting question, but one that would have to wait to be asked until I could properly vomit out words.

[Human Brain: The Human Brain has advanced pattern recognition capabilities.]

“I want everyone to know that this Mutation has already leveled up, which naturally means that I am very very very smart. A genius, even. Thank you.”

That entire sentence and more came out as an incoherent string of baby noises, and Mom squished me because of it.

I accepted my punishment.

The enhanced pattern recognition given by my brain should aid a lot with repetition, which would in turn allow me to train even more efficiently. The skills and the knowledge that I learn would be more easily retained, and it synergized very nicely with the Human Heart. Having more stamina would allow me to truly take advantage of what this Mutation brings to the table.

The Human Brain had terrifying long-term potential, and mine was even better than normal because of my Reincarnator Soul Feat.

[Human Skin: The Human Skin produces advanced sweat, that is capable of cooling down the body, and restoring stamina.]

Wow. The whole point was to sweat. That's a smelly offer!

Okay. I shouldn't say that.

I giggled to myself, and my mom was just happy that I was happy.

Supportive parents were amazing.

[Human Eyes: Eyes that are equally capable of seeing at short and long distances.]

This one did not seem all that special. It seemed very generic even, like it was only describing what human eyes were already capable of doing. But I was sure that something being a Mutation was better than not.

I wondered briefly what even decided which of my body parts were a Mutation, and which weren't, because clearly not all organs were Mutations.

I shrugged and moved to open up the next one. But something was different about them.

Human Flesh / Human Bones / Enduring Musculature(synced) : (All) Level 1

Why are they ‘synced’? What does that mean??

I metaphorically clicked on the label.

[Warning! De-syncing the following Mutations may cause severe injuries.]

[Do you wish to de-sync the Mutations: Human Flesh, Human Bones, and Enduring Musculature?]

[Yes / No]

No! Definitely not.

I closed away the window, happy to get that question answered. It made sense, too strong a muscle could break bone, bones could pierce through flesh if they grew too big, and I was sure there were plenty of other concerns too. It was good that there was a safeguard for that kind of thing.

I proceeded to check out the synced Mutations individually.

[Human Flesh: The Flesh of a Human is highly adaptive to their environment. You have gained a resistance to poison and disease due to the environment of your birth.]

I saw great potential in the Human Flesh… for the species as a whole. It’d allow them to cover a large stretch of territory as differing groups of humans could adapt to a variety of different conditions. It put into perspective Grandpa’s boasts of his personal conquests, and the very small and sparse mentions of how instrumental humanity was to settling the conquered lands.

Yay! We're winning!

I suspected that such takeovers involved a lot of violence, death, and worse.

Yay! We're winning even harder!

"Oh? What is Haell so happy about?" I heard my dad ask, and I looked up to see him arrive.

There was a severe look on his face.

Severely sweet that was! But that was certainly not how most people would interpret it.

I quickly crawled up to his leg, and hugged it.

"Hey! Careful there!" He shouted, but it was with mirth. The giant of a man stopped at the edge of our lawn, looking pleadingly at Mom, and with two whole baskets of food carried in his arms.

I pondered the next mutation, without letting go of my dad's leg.

[Human Bones: A skeletal structure that is sturdy, yet flexible.]

Eh. A tad unexciting, not gonna lie. But I was sure that it would be a strong and versatile foundation.

Not that I'd keep it for long, because I intended to evolve all of my body parts into demonic ones instead. I just needed to figure out how I could possibly do that first.

[Enduring Musculature: Muscles with high endurance. Can be forced to function, even when torn and broken.]

Another Mutation that allowed me more endurance. I was beginning to see a pattern here…

"Alright Haell. Let's go. Leave you poor father alone." Mom finally took pity on dad, and pulled me off his legs.

He sighed in relief, and placed the baskets of food in front of our house. My mom released me, and I immediately rushed towards the offered bounty.

I smelled it from afar. Fruit, sandwiches, barbecue, and even a pizza-like loaf of bread.

I started eating right there and then, getting sauce and crumbs all over myself.

[Dextrous Hands: Hands that are dextrous.]

Yeah. No shit.

Are you sure that’s even true? I wondered as I kept making a mess of myself while grabbing any and all morsels nearby. Ew! That was a bug!

I moved on to the next thing.

[Flutter Feet: Feet that can shift positions gracefully and with minimal loss of speed and momentum.]

I looked at my feet, and immediately tried it, but I could not even stand. Instead, I just fell on my butt. This Mutation was a scam.

I ate even harder in retaliation.

Mom and Dad happily watched me work on the food, but the latter gradually grew worried until he pulled me away from my prize.

"Bap!" I made my displeasure known by smearing my dirty hands all over his arm. I also bit him for good measure.

"Haell." Mom said, both exasperated and laughing uncontrolably. "I'm glad… …appetite. But… …don't overeat."

Those were some big words and long sentences, but I managed to decipher them with my Level 2 Human Brain.

"Sowwy…" I said.

Both of my parents froze.

"Rallem…" My mother addressed dad slowly.

"Yes, Mahka…" He returned the searching look. "HAELL JUST SPOKE HER FIRST WORD! WITH MEANING! AND INTENTION!"

"YES! I KNEW IT!"

"YEEAHHH!!!"

"WOOOOO!!!"

They both crowded and hugged around me, crushing my poor baby body in between their enormous bulk. I flailed and struggled to breath, but I still endeavored to return the embrace as best I could, stuck within their arms as I was.

From their melting expressions, it seemed that I at least managed to well and fully convey my love.

"Luv!"

Me saying that also helped, and my parents freaked out once again.

Such fucking goofs.

I loved them.

[Adrenaline Gland: A gland that is activated when certain conditions are met. Enhances raw muscular strength and perception speed. Consumes a great amount of stamina.]

I did not expect that from how all my previous Mutations were designed. A lot of them were based on endurance most of all, but this one was the exact opposite of that. This gave a situational boost, for when the time truly called for it. To burn away our generous stamina reserves, for a truly worthy final surprise.

I was growing to like this basic Human package.

Not that I was at all tempted away from my demon path!

Begone! Begone, all that is good and holy! BEGONE!

I was eventually put down on the ground by my very huggable parents. Dad tried to get me to stay still, to wipe the grime off my face. I eventually magnanimously allowed him to do so.

I crawled up to his lap and fell asleep.