As she ate the last core, she yawned as she began to glow brighter. Luin said she was sleepy before rolling over on top of her sleeping roll. I walked over and placed a hand on her body and could feel her heating up. She would finally evolve once while we weren’t in a life-and-death situation.
I went back over to my bed and looked over the cores. I grabbed six of the mid-ranked cores and tossed them in my bag for emergency Mana in the future. Then I began tossing the rest into my mouth and grinned at the amount of Energy that was accumulating in the window. We should stay out here for a few days.
[ System Notification ]
Twenty Four Rank D Azure Cores has given 768 Energy
Eighteen Rank C AzureCores has given 720 Energy
Nine Rank A Azure Cores has given 504 Energy
5% Bonus: 99
142 Energy converted to 1417 Mana
Cardiovascular System: 300/300
I selected Respiratory, it instantly filled the three hundred required energy before I leveled up.
[ System Notification ]
Congratulations!
You have reached Level 5
Obtained a perk point
I had a thousand, four hundred and forty-seven Energy left, so I decided to focus on my Mana pool. I leveled up my Nervous System to five and six, costing me eleven hundred. I finished off Muscular, continuing to finish off the Systems still at Rank 2. The last forty-seven points went into Skeletal
[ Skeletal System: 47/300 ]
I looked through the perks list but found nothing for the two points I had. It was interesting to see Leatherworking perks joining the list of my Systems, though. The perk cost six points and allowed me to stitch using threads of Mana. I would have probably bought it if I had the points. The skill sounded like it would be hugely beneficial in the creation of the final product.
I looked over to the sleeping Luin and went over and sat at the foot of her bed. She was still burning up, but her body didn’t seem to be in distress like it did the last two times I had watched this happen.
As I lay my head against the wall, the room filled with a flash of light, forcing me to cover my eyelids. After a few moments, I felt her feet pushing their way onto my lap, and I blinked my eyes and looked at an adult version of Luin. As she stopped glowing, I felt the right side of my chest burn from her rune, changing to a six, I figured.
Luin was probably up to my upper chest now. I couldn’t get over the shock. She had grown twice as tall. She no longer had the posture of a dog but that of the grown Kobolds back at Ray’tha Rise. Her back was straight, her arms now much longer, and ended in four smaller fingers instead of three. Her tail was twice as long, but instead of being thin and short, it was now almost a meter and a half long and much thicker.
She began to stir, and I got up from the bed, grabbed two of my energy cores from my bag, and handed them to her. She gladly ate them down, giving her some extra energy from the transformation.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Head to big. Too many thoughts up here. Too much thinking.” she said as she tapped her forehead.
“What about the rest of you? You’re much larger now.”
She blinked a few more times before raising her hand to her face. Instead of the three fat stubby clawed paws, she now had four slender fingers ending in fingernails as most other races had. Luin kept turning her hands over and wiggling her fingers.
When she got bored of her new digits, she tried to sit up and tumbled out of bed and onto the floor. She grunted out a sound of annoyance and sat up. I helped her to stand, and she shook back and forth some before she found her balance.
“Why have I grown so quickly? It is tough to move around on only two legs. I liked running on all four.”
“You’re Rank 6 now. It’s possible you're now in the adult stages.”
“I don’t like it. Nope, nope.”
“You said, I, not Luin.”
Luin turned her head to the side for a moment before speaking. “You’re correct. ‘I’ is the right thing to say, is it not?”
“Yes, it is. Maybe your mind or mentality has expanded as well. You said you’re having a hard time with your thoughts?”
“Yes. Before, it was images and thoughts. Now there is a voice in my head. My voice, but without sound? It’s bizarre.”
“I have that as well. We call it your inner voice.”
“My inner voice is annoying,” Luin said.
I couldn’t help myself. I began to laugh. I didn’t mean to, and she got mad and pushed me. I flew backward into the stone wall, hitting my head. I heard Luin scream “Papa!” before coming to my side.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t think I would push you so far.”
I stared at the floor, my head pounding. I raised my hand and felt blood. I pushed myself to my feet and sat on my bed, pulling the backpack closer and pulling out a roll of bandages.
“It’s alright, Luin. You’ll have to get used to your new strength and body overall. Here, help me wrap this around my head so I don’t get blood all over.”
She kept apologizing as she wrapped my head. It felt like a waste, as my wound would heal quickly, but it gave her something to do with her hands. After finishing, I told her to walk around the small room for a bit to get used to walking on just two legs. Just ten minutes of walking around seemed to tire her out, and we went to bed. I was glad I had bought two full bedrolls. I had no idea she would grow so fast.
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The following day I awoke to find Luin missing from inside our camp. I left, walking up the spiral stairs to find Luin running laps around the inside of the stone walls. Seeing me, she stopped and came over to me, hugged me, and lifted me off the ground.
“I’m so much faster than before. I can only speak two words before I grow tired. I will need a weapon like you and Lastaf used if I am to help protect you, Papa.”
“Set me down. I can’t breathe,” I wheezed out.
“Oh, sorry.”
She sat me on the ground and let go. She had grown incredibly strong from that latest evolution.
“How long have you been running laps?”
“For a while. I wanted to get used to my body before we left today. I believe I’ll be fine, but I don’t know how to fight.”
“Once we get to the next town, I’ll pay for lessons at The Guild. See what kind of weapon you’re best with first. I was hoping you would get a bigger Mana pool, but I guess that isn’t how it works with you. Save your two words of power or spells until we truly need them. I wanted to kill more Mongacuda today, but I think it is best if we get to a town and get you situated first. If we encounter any threats today, stay back like you’ve always done, and let me take care of the threat.”
“As you wish, Papa.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about her continuing to call me papa, but I shrugged it off. I lowered all the walls back into the ground but kept the underground camp where it was. Maybe someone would be able to use it in the future.
Packed and ready to go, we continued south for a few hours before we found a well-worn road going more west by southwest and decided to travel along with it. It should eventually bring us towards some kind of civilization.
Not even thirty minutes had passed when we spotted the first carriage on the horizon. Twenty minutes later, an older man was sitting at the front of the carriage, two horses at the front pulling. He eyed us as we walked by, Luin giving a huge wave to the little girl hanging out of the back of the carriage. Her mother or older sister quickly pulled her inside.
An hour later, two more carriages came heading towards us. This time a younger couple at the front. The man seeing us stopped the horses before they came to us and drew out a crossbow, the woman climbing in the back.
“Please don’t come closer. I won’t hesitate,” said the man.
I raised my hands in the air and walked off to the side of the road. When we were even with the carriage, I called out to him. “Why, the crossbow? Where heading to Meckingmoor, are we going in the right direction?”
He kept the crossbow pointed in our direction as he spoke. “You’re two days travel away, but I wouldn’t chance it. The Akhusite Kingdom is pushing south, and they are wiping out any city harboring nonhumans and taking over the human settlements. If their army sees you with her, then you better run.”
“Thank you for the news. We won’t take up any more of your time.”
The man nodded at us but kept the crossbow aimed in our direction. When we were thirty-some meters away, we heard the crack of the reins, and the two carriages began to move away from us.
“Why do they hate people like us, Papa?”
“I don’t know, Luin. I don’t know much about these Humans or why the Akhusite Kingdom hates the Beastskin.”
“Makes no sense. We are the same. We just have different features.”
“I agree, I agree,” I said.
We walked in silence for most of the day as carriages passed us. In the evening, we saw black smoke in the distance and the sounds of shouts and screaming coming from the location. I shouted for Luin to stay back, and I went into my Speed Aura and tore down the packed dirt road towards the screams.
As I got close, I could see a handful of men in deep red armor, encircling four carriages, one of them on fire, producing the thick black smoke. In the center of the wagons were a handful of men and women. At their center were three Beastkin and what I looked like miniature people, just like the shopkeeper at the Enchanter’s shop. They were Gnomes and Beastkin, being protected by a group of humans.
Among them were a few dead bodies, both humans and Beastkin, and the men in dark red armor were yelling for them to give up the beasts and abominations so they could walk away. The group had many things to say to the armored man. None sounded like an agreement.
I summed a blue Fireball and launched it into the air. The thundering explosion gained everyone’s attention.
“What in the world is going on here?!” I shouted.
“These Akhusite soldiers want our friend’s heads!” shouted a woman from the center of the wagons.
“You killed these people because they’re Beastkin and Gnomes?!” I shouted at the soldier who had spoken before.
“Our king demands these lands be cleansed of these abominations! Anyone who harbors them will receive the same fate!”
That was all I needed to hear, to piss me off. My vision went red, and I summoned my two-handed crimson sword. I summoned an Ice Lance with my other hand, tossing it at the soldier to the left, surprising him. It impaled into his lower abdomen, and I charged the soldier who had spoken on my right. The man barely had time to block my attack, but it didn't matter, as the second Ice Lance was thrust into his leg, causing him to shout in pain and drop his sword.
I spun around and decapitated him before rushing the third soldier, who blocked my attack and returned the attack cutting my left arm. I pushed him again and jumped backward right before my attack. His surprise face gave me glee as the orange Fireball met his chest piece, throwing him backward and setting the cloth parts of his armor on fire.
An arrow slammed into my back before I spun around and hissed in pain. My vision tinted a bit redder, and I let out a giggle. Pushing my Speed Aura to the max, I rushed, ducked under the next volley, and cut the archer’s hands, holding the bow off with a single swipe before rolling away before the fifth soldier could attack.
The screams of the archer seemed to be blissful music to my ears. The last standing Akhusite soldier looked down at the screaming archer, then back up at me before turning and running away.
I was about to give chase when one of the humans at the center of the wagons let an arrow fly and took the fleeing solder in the neck, dropping him. I spun around to the man who had taken the joy of killing the man away and began to stalk towards him.
Luin caught up at this time and pushed herself between the now worried-looking group and myself before shouting at me. “Papa! Stop! You stink of rage!”
I looked at the blue-colored Kobold and blinked a few times before dropping the crimson sword and shaking my head. It took a few minutes to calm myself down, and when I did, I looked up at Luin, who patted me on the head.
“All better.”
“All better?! He’s a berserker! He’s a danger to everyone here!”
“Nope, nope. Papa just gets angry when people are mistreated.”
“Papa?” a few of them mumbled, clearly confused by the horrific use.
“Sorry, everyone. Is everyone alright?”
“No! My husband, they killed him, and the others,” a Human woman yelled before pushing her head back into the dead Beastkin’s shoulder and sobbing.
I knew I was going to regret what I was about to do.