Lia stepped through the portal with Rose, an extra bit of energy leaving her as she paid for Rose’s entry.
“Sorry to call you in on such short notice.” Connie said. “But we need to talk about Ira.”
“I figured as much.” Rose replied. “Please, go ahead.”
“I’m going to be frank with you.” Connie said. “Ira’s just too much of a problem to let slide. Were it any other time period, we would let him slide, but between you, him, the disappearance of Amelia, and the upcoming Lord of Monsters, there are too many things going on right now.”
“So…you’re going to help us?” Lia asked hopefully.
Connie smiled. “A little. Look, the item you want for is way out of your budget. But, given the circumstances, I’m willing to give you a discount. Let’s say…you keep working your hardest, and I’ll take all the Blood Money you earn before your showdown. Sound like a deal?”
“What if we earn more than it would cost?” Lia asked. “Seems like we could be cheated out of quite a bit.”
“You won’t.” Connie said flatly. “But, tell you what, I’ll sweeten the deal and let you have your pick of as many items worth five hundred or less Blood Money as you require, provided they have immediate benefits in taking down Ira. And, if by some miracle you do make more Blood Money than that would cost, you can keep the extra.”
“I…suppose I don’t have any reason to disagree, then.” Lia said. “Um…how is Amelia, since you mentioned her earlier?”
“We’ve been working on her in our spare time.” Connie said. “She’s stable, and our optimistic estimates put her as being healed within three months. Worst-case scenario, it takes a year. She won’t be a Hero anymore, but she should still remain more powerful than even the average soldier, and will be much more well-adjusted to boot.”
“That’s good to hear.” Lia said, relief filling her. She hadn’t ever doubted that the gods would be able to fix Amelia, but it was nice to know that it was going to be sooner rather than later.
“Since we’re asking…” Rose said slowly, “I was wondering if you know what happened to the soul of my ex-wife. I thought maybe she might, you know, be…” She trailed off, glancing at Lia, blushed, then turned to look back at Connie.
“No, sorry.” Connie said. “I actually did look into that, and unfortunately, she’s not Lia, nor is she any other member of the swarm. Or…perhaps that’s fortunate. I…look, how much do you remember of the afterlife?”
“Not much.” Rose admitted.
“You two didn’t exactly part on good terms.” Connie said. “And it wasn’t you, it was her. In my opinion, she was being way more entitled than she had any right to be, and after a long time of not getting exactly what she wanted at all times, she left after you told her to temper her expectations. Her soul is…”
Connie paused, frowning. “That’s interesting.” She said. “I was pretty sure her soul was alive and on the planet, at least from my cursory inspection, but now it’s registering as being up here, in the afterlife. She must have died again, but if that was the case, I should be able to get a clearer read on the soul. Yes, her memories were wiped and almost nothing remains of her old personality, but there are always the tiniest hints if you know what you’re looking for. I’ll have to…”
She trailed off, looked over at Rose and Lia, then shook her head as if to clear it. “Sorry. I got distracted and nearly forgot you were here. I’ll look into this a bit more, and I’m sure Jerry would be very interested in my findings, so he’ll probably intervene personally. He always likes these weird edge cases. Anyway, that’s all I had to say, why don’t you two head on back? You don’t exactly have all day.”
“Right.” Rose said. “Thank you, Connie.”
“I owed you one, so don’t mention it.” Connie said offhandedly. “If you want any future services like this, though, it’s gonna cost you. And by you, I mean Lia. Sorry, you don’t exactly have anything I want.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Rose replied. “Um…how do we leave?”
Lia grabbed her hand and towed her towards an exit portal. “This way.” They exited back into the dorms, and Rose gave Lia a quick hug before separating from her.
“Go get something to eat while I gather everyone.” She instructed. “Fair warning, most of them have evolved, so they’re going to look different than how you remember them.”
“What about you?” Lia asked. “Are you close?”
“Ready to evolve, actually.” Rose admitted. “I didn’t want to do so because leaving the swarm without either of us conscious didn’t seem advisable.”
“Then you go and evolve as soon as you grab everyone.” Lia instructed. “I’m sure we can handle things without you for…however long you’ll be evolving.”
“Analysis pins it as around a day, two at max. You were out for just over two, and I think your current evolution is a little stronger than what I’m about to evolve into.” Rose said. “But, before I evolve, I’ll write up some instructions for keeping up with the current regimen, just in case. There might be some edge cases where people finish their current task or something. Plus, I think it might be nice to have a reference.”
“Just slip it under my door when you’re done, then.” Lia said.
“Will do.” Rose replied. She leaned in and gave Lia a quick kiss on the forehead. “Love you, I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
Lia grabbed Rose, pulled her in for a kiss on the lips, let the kiss linger for a few moments, then let Rose go. “Love you too, see you then.”
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Rose sat down on her bed, then opened up the evolution menu, looking over her options one last time before evolving.
Lesser Rose Exile:
The Rose Exile is a unique Disaster race for the former Ruby Emperor. A former monarch, she has rejected her old life, and found a new family and a new purpose. The Rose Exile maintains all benefits from the Swarm Rose Empress, but has an additional focus on individual combat strength. The effectiveness of rose magic is improved, granting new spells Additionally, the user gains access to nature magic, and martial Skills also become easier to obtain. Compared to Lesser Swarm Rose Empress, Lesser Rose Exile provides a large boost to all stats.
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Lesser Rose Sage:
The Rose Sage is a unique Champion race for the former Ruby Emperor. The Rose Sage forgoes further growth in the martial areas to hone her magic even more, gaining increased access to rose magic, and access to nature, earth, and water magic. Compared to Lesser Swarm Rose Empress, Lesser Rose Sage provides a major boost to Mana, Magic, Magic Defense, and Mental Fortitude and a moderate boost to HP, but only miniscule increases to the other stats.
Lesser Rose Martial Paragon:
The Rose Martial Paragon is a unique Champion race for the former Ruby Emperor. The Rose Martial Paragon forgoes further growth in magic to sharpen her skills with weapons, making martial skills much easier to obtain. The weapons made with rose magic receive moderate buffs to effectiveness and no longer cost Mana to summon or change shape, and the number that can be summoned at once doubles. Compared to Lesser Swarm Rose Empress, Lesser Rose Martial Paragon provides a major boost to HP, Stamina, Strength, Defense, and Dexterity, but only miniscule increases to the other stats.
Lesser Rose General:
The Rose General is a unique Disaster race for the former Ruby Emperor. The Rose General maintains all benefits from the Swarm Rose Empress, but has an additional focus on strengthening those under her command. Those under her direct command gain a moderate boost to all their stats, and it becomes easier for the user to gain Skills that strengthen those under her command. Compared to Lesser Swarm Rose Empress, Lesser Rose general provides a moderate increase to all stats.
She was able to discount the sage and martial paragon lines immediately. Not only were they lower rarity, but they just weren’t her style. In both her previous life and her current life, she relied heavily on both her magic and her weapons, and giving one up would simply decrease her overall effectiveness, even if her maximum strength in either area weren’t as great as it could be.
Fortunately, both of the Disaster options remained generalist, she just had to decide whether to focus on herself or others first. She imagined that, later on down the line, she would be able to merge the two, but she didn’t necessarily have the luxury of worrying about later.
Come to think of it, she could probably also merge the sage and martial paragon lines too, but the exile line seemed to do that now, albeit at reduced effectiveness to a theoretical fusion later on down the line.
She paused, then shook her head. She didn’t need to be speculating like this, she had Analysis to give her information. So, she took some time to make a few queries and get some more results. Yes, both sets of options could almost certainly be merged later, and no, such a thing was not liable to occur within three evolutions. And, yes, the exile line was similar to a fusion of sage and martial paragon, with only slightly reduced effectiveness compared to a theoretical fusion of the same level.
Which meant that, once again, it was down to exile or general. And, as enticing as the general line sounded, she didn’t think it was a good idea. Yes, it would prove useful when they inevitably went to war with the countries of this age, but her current plan for dealing with Ira relied on her not helping her troops out.
Even were that not the case, though, she would pick the exile line. The swarm lacked a particularly decisive fighter, someone who could deal with their enemies’ elites in single combat. And, as indispensable as regular troops were, the truly high level battles were often won or lost by the small group of elites. High level mages in particular had the ability to warp the battlefield around their presence, but even an exemplary martial fighter was enough to turn the tides of a fight.
And, as a bonus, personal strength allowed her to be a more effective bodyguard for Lia. As much as Lia didn’t want to admit it, she was the only truly irreplaceable member of the swarm – Rose was confident that, given enough Blood Money, she could deal with Connie to get the souls of important swarm members back. Lia herself, however, did not have that luxury. Amelia’s ability to tamper with souls had been transferred to Lia, and as such she had become far more…mortal than before.
But she didn’t have time to worry more. She had to evolve as many times as possible before her confrontation, and every second wasted worrying was a second that could be spent preparing. So, she laid down on her bed, and began her evolution.
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“I’m back, Queenie!” Chrys said, walking into the room and waving.
Lia looked up from her book, and nearly dropped it in shock. Chrys had been a kobold before, but now she was…well, something more akin to a slightly smaller Rose. She had grown in height, to a more normal five or so feet, and had shed all of her fur and rat-like features. Like Rose, she was tinted green, and was clothed in vines and leaves, forming the appearance of an easy to move in shirt and trousers.
“Surprised?” Chrys said smugly. “I got a race like Mom’s! It’s called “Chrysanthemum Crown Princess”, and it’s…well, basically her but worse. It’s good at nature magic and I can use it to conjure up a spear to fight with. I’m stealthier than Mom is, though, so she said I could make a really good assassin eventually.”
“Glad to hear it.” Lia said, smiling. “And…you don’t really need to call me Queenie if you don’t want to. Just Lia works fine.”
“I’ll think about it.” Chrys said. “But I kinda like Queenie, you know? If you really want me to, I’ll just call you Lia, but…”
“Whatever you prefer is fine.” Lia confirmed. “Just wanted you to know the option was available.”
“Thanks.” Chrys said, walking over and collapsing into a chair next to Lia. “Anyone else make it back, yet?”
“Just Rose.” Lia said. “How have these last few days been?”
“Pretty stressful, not going to lie.” Chrys admitted. “But kind of exciting at the same time. We’ve all been training, and when we weren’t doing that, we were brainstorming ideas while we ate. It’s weird to have that immediate threat on all our lives looming over us, but I’ve never been a part of something like this before. If we make it out, I think I might look back on this time with some nostalgia. I know that’s kind of a weird thing to say, but it really does feel like it, I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”
“I think I see what you mean.” Lia said. “So…how has the leveling been going?”
“Good, I think.” Chrys said. “I don’t exactly know how power leveling should progress, but I feel like we’re making rapid progress. At the very least, it feels like most of us have evolved once or twice, so…yeah, I think that’s pretty good for half a week or however long we’ve been doing this.”
The door opened once again, and in walked a semi-transparent woman in a maid’s outfit. “I am glad to see you up and about again, my Queen.” Violet said. “As you must have surmised, I have evolved into a form that better suits serving the young mistress.”
“Glad to hear it.” Lia replied. “And…you’re not whispering anymore.”
“Along with allowing me to physically interact with the world, my evolution has granted me greater control of my voice.” Violet explained. “But…I feel the need to inform you that I am no longer as focused on stealth as I used to be. I have traded that for more combat and support capability. Rose said it would be fine, but…”
“Yeah, that’s totally fine.” Lia said. “You’re your own person, I’m not going to micromanage your choices too much. I’m assuming that, by ‘the young mistress’, you mean Chrys?”
“Correct.” Violet said. “I did not wish to leave her service when she transferred roles.”
“Perfectly acceptable.” Lia said. “How are the others?”
“Camellia and Dahlia have spent most of their time in the Spine, and, unlike the others, are away even now. They have grown the most out of all of us, and will likely more than make up for the hit to our scouting that we will take from moving the young mistress and myself to different tasks.”
“Good. On an unrelated note, how are you feeling personally, you know, being…undead and all. Is it too much to bear?”
“No. I would be lying if I said I missed some of the smaller comforts, such as eating and sleeping, but I find the upsides worth it. If, some day in the future, I could evolve into a form that would allow me to eat or sleep but not require me to do so, that would be ideal, but for now I am content.”
“Good, good.” Lia replied. There was silence for a moment, then she spoke up again. “Um, do you know where the others that are…here are?”
“The young mistress rushed here as fast as possible, and I followed close behind. The rest are finishing what they are doing and will get here as soon as they can, but it will likely be a while longer.”
“I was between monsters and wanted to show off my new evolution.” Chrys admitted. “Sorry if I got your hopes up.”
“Nah, it’s fine, we can just chill here for a bit.” Lia said. “A few extra minutes spent waiting never hurt anyone, right?”