Chapter 27: Evolution part 2

My face twists in disgust when I read the next option. I don’t know if it’s standard, but do all mandrakes always get evolutions that make us even more wanted?

Perfect panacea (Elite)

+15 HP +5 SP +1 Strength +5 Constitution +5 Endurance +6 Unallocated stat points per level.

Become the cure. Become perfect.

You have helped rid the world of poison, putting your life on the line. Take up the craft and improve it. This evolution grants the skill Healing Leaves (R). Your golden sap will also become a powerful healing agent. Adds +3 to all mandrake-related skills.

Woah. Just woah. Seventeen stats each level along with 20 resource points. It’s unbelievably strong and somehow only Elite rarity. It makes me wonder just how bad the downsides will be.

Will I pop up on the radars of beings with wealth detection skills?

I toss it into the ‘maybe’ pile and look at the next evolution.

Rotten mandrake (Epic)

+6 HP +6 SP +11 free stats per level.

Give up on value, become rotten. Take a step back and walk a new path.

This mandrake has changed paths. Unlike most mandrakes that walk the paths of nature and bloom, this one solely walks on the paths of decay and rot. All mandrake and nature-related skills will be changed for the better or for worse.

This evolution grants the following skills: Decay and I (Un), Scent of Rot (R), and Withering Touch (El).

WARNING: By choosing this evolution, no nature and bloom-related elements can be picked in future evolutions.

I wanted this too. It will make my life so much easier. No humans will hunt me. No parties scouring the world for me. I’ll just be rotten.

I open the evolution and read all the skill changes. As it implies, no one will ever come after me since I’ll be completely useless alchemy related.

The skills and the skill changes are terrifying. Everything, everyone, will constantly wither around me thanks to Withering Touch. And the skills that I have will also become…darker. Mandrake Screech will become Screech of Decay which will make everyone who hears it decay. Photosynthesis will become Absorb Life.

I don’t want this. It gives me freedom but forces me to change who I am. I’ll have to leave the forest and find somewhere else. I just can’t.

I look at the last evolution panel, this one is the strangest by far. Instead of having one colour, it has two colours swirling on it. It’s mainly green but it has purplish-blue swirls that stretch up the panel like vines growing on a wall.

Mandrake: Bindweed force (Epic)

+10 HP +15 SP +2 Strength +2 Agility +1 Perception +2 Constitution +2 Endurance +2 Mind +4 Unallocated stat points per level.

Defy all.

You are persistent like bindweed. Time after time you have survived the odds. You have always pulled through. You are stronger than roots. You are bindweed. The Mandrake: Bindweed force is not only a being of nature but a being of law too. You have faced beings that used this power and now it is time to claim it as your own.

Grants the skill Bindweed Manipulation (R) and Bindweed Conjuration (R).

WARNING: MORE EXPERIENCE IS NEEDED FOR EACH LEVEL.

The amount of stats and resources this evolution gives is mind-boggling. Everything is more than double what I get now. But why is the name so weird? All the evolutions have just been names but this one has a colon in it.

The only time I’ve seen some being have that, were the humans. Does that mean that this is a class? Can monsters even have classes?

Outside of the stats and resources this evolution gives, the changes it gives are amazing. First of all, my body will become bindweed instead of roots, making it denser and stronger. And then there are those manipulation skills too.

I’ll even become taller shooting up to almost 1.5 metres in height. That means a longer reach…

This is by far the best evolution. Sure it doesn’t have the greatest combat potential compared to the others, but this evolution doesn’t come with any new downsides or weak points.

I don’t have to compare them as I look over the maybe pile. With this, I can stay who I am, grow further, and become stronger. The only thing that it doesn’t give magic but the manipulation and conjuration skills that work off Stamina seem to be close enough.

*Mandrake: Bindweed force (Elite) chosen.

*Mandrake of nature lvl 10/10 (H) -> Mandrake: Bindweed force lvl 0/20 (G).

*Roots of nature (R) lvl 6/20 -> Bindweed of nature (R) lvl 6/20

*Bindweed manipulation (R) lvl 1/20 gained.

*Bindweed conjuration (R) lvl 1/20 gained.

Now where is that hammer?

*Pursua’s hammer has three offers. Pick one.

Offer one: Combine two skills.

Offer two: Gain one skill.

Offer three: Upgrade a skill.

Let’s see, this too is far easier than in my previous evolution. I don’t have any skills that fit together. I can fuse my two new skills but I want to get a feel for them first.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

The second option is just bad. My free skill slots are vanishing at an alarming rate. I don’t want to speed that up.

So offer three it is.

A list of my skills appears next to me In a blue window with a golden rim.

Bubbles rise from the depths of this space. Slowly, something rises out of the darkness. There is a glint of gold and the perfectly still mirror of blackness ripples.

A slot machine, sculpted from gold rises out of the black sea. Instead of having the usual casino label, it reads Pursua’s hammer. Below it, there are three slots, all of them having intelligible symbols on them. On the right of the machine, there is a golden handle shaped like a hammer that you are supposed to crank down for the slot machine to start.

In the back of my mind, I feel the system guide me on how to use it. First I need to choose a skill. I stare at my window and realise that I can choose every one of them.

I want to bang my head on a wall. Just when I thought I was done choosing things, I have to select a skill to upgrade.

Okay, process of elimination. Screw the Ordinary and Basic rank skills. I’ll upgrade those by levelling them further. I’m left with Photosynthesis, Mandrake Screech, Identify, Bindweed of Nature, Claw Infusion, Dance of Death, and the new additions.

what do I actually want to upgrade? I want something with more combat potential. I go over everything and end up settling on Mandrake Screech.

In my more recent battles, I find myself falling back onto it. With that Cave crawler queen, I used to make the smallest opening for me to end the fight in.

What could I have done if the skill was stronger? Scream her to death? If I upgrade it, can I make the pestilential birds that keep eyeing me up high in the trees explode with my voice? Probably not. But I kind of want to work towards that.

The Weatherman created a storm that flooded a large part of the forest. Will it really be out of the question for me to make the earth tremble with my voice?

I reach into the window of skill and come back with the physical manifestation of the skill; a simple grey coin.

I put it into the slot machine and a new screen flickers on in front of the slots. There are a few options listed how I can upgrade the skill. There is all the basic stuff such as a longer range or a more powerful scream. Then there are the stranger options like making anyone that hears my scream nauseous.

As fun, as that might be, my battles with monsters are already messy. I don’t want things barfing out their stomach contents while I murder them. That would simply be one step too far.

I scroll through the options, making ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ sounds. There is even an option to tear someone’s eardrums if their Mind in combination with their Constitution is low enough. I skip the option that makes someone bleed from their eyes and find something that I like.

It falls in the category of making my screech more powerful, focusing on ensuring the stun effect with a bit more damage thrown into the mix.

I add it and see the skill shift to a new description.

Mandrake Scream (Un)

A mandrake’s scream is one of its methods to defend itself. Damages enemies slightly and has a large chance to stun opponents the closer they are to the user's level.

I smile as I read the description. It isn’t just my only method of attack but one of them. It feels strangely good to see how my skills are growing along with me.

I select the upgrade and crank on the handle of the slot machine. Instead of making the standard noise, it’s a rhythmic clanging of a hammer as my skill is improved. The slots roll also showing hammers of different kinds. The system might have overdone it with this machine.

*Mandrake Screech (C) lvl 10/20 -> Mandrake Scream (Un) lvl 4/20.

Once again my consciousness floats towards the aurora that seems to thrum a bit brighter than before. The green light washes over me and I wake up in my home.

The first thing I do is look over my body. It’s strange like I’m a different creature now suddenly. There are no brownish roots anymore, instead, there are tiny green vines that keep me together.

Gently, I pull on them, seeing how much more tight-knit they have become.

Outside it is day, early evening I think. So that would mean I spent an entire day evolving?

The next thing I do is pull up my status page.

Mandrake: Bindweed force (G) lvl 0/20

HP: 85/85

SP: 45/45

Strength: 26

Agility: 10

Perception: 7

Constitution: 29

Endurance: 7

Mind: 5

Unallocated stat points: 0

Skill points: 10

Skills: 11/17 skill slots in use

Photosynthesis (C) lvl 18/20: Stand still in the light of the sun to catch its energy and make it yours. Increases Stamina and Health regeneration slightly.

Mandrake Scream (Un) lvl 4/20: A mandrake’s scream is one of its methods to defend itself. Damages enemies slightly and has a large chance to stun opponents the closer they are to the user's level.

Identify (C) lvl 9/20: See through opponents and enemies alike. Allows the user to see basic information and gives access to the most commonly known knowledge.

Bindweed of Nature (R) lvl 6/20: You are nature and you are bindweed. Allows the user to make small changes to their root body. Allows the user to manipulate the roots in their immediate surroundings slightly at a great expenditure of Stamina.

Claw Infusion (C) lvl 1/20: Infuse your claws with stamina, increasing their efficacy and manipulation. Expending more Stamina increases efficacy.

Hide (B) lvl 6/20: Blend in with the surroundings to stand out less at the expense of stamina.

Dance of death (C) lvl 1/20: Enter a special kind of meditation, increasing your focus to a pinpoint while making things such as pain and emotional distress fade into the background at a small expense of stamina and health.

Warning: This skill can only be activated when the being is in large-scale fights.

Fire resistance (B) lvl 10/20: Basic resistance against fire.

Depth Sense (O) lvl 16/20: Grants a sense of the depths and a vague awareness of where the surface is.

Bindweed Manipulation (R) lvl 1/20: Allows the being to manipulate bindweed at the expenditure of Stamina. Expenditure scales with range.

Bindweed Conjuration (R) lvl 1/20: Allows the being to conjure bindweed at the expenditure of stamina. Expenditure scales with range.

*Notice. You have two skills that grant the same perk. External bindweed manipulation will be removed from Bindweed of nature. The amassed experience will be transferred over to Bindweed manipulation (R).

*Bindweed manipulation (R) lvl 1/20 -> Bindweed manipulation (R) lvl 2/20.

That was weird. I pull up Bindweed of Nature again.

Bindweed of nature (R) lvl 6/20: You are nature and you are bindweed. Allows the user to make small changes to their root body at the expenditure of Stamina.

Well, that’s a change. I feel a bit betrayed by the system that it just does that without asking for permission. But it did give me one free level so I guess it works out.

I shrug and head outside, hoping that Sairal has returned. It is always fun to show off a new evolution, especially another Epic rarity one.

The two mushroom guardians laze at the base of three, playing rock, paper scissors again.

“Has Sairal returned?” I ask them.

Both stare up at me for a long minute before one shakes their head.

I sigh and one of the mushroom guardians tries to comfort me by pulling out some food that it hid under the carpet of moss.

He stands up and hands me an arm. A human arm with three missing fingers.

With a forced smile, I give it back, “No thanks. You should enjoy that yourself.”

Quickly I make my way back home, having had enough of this day already.

It seems that the humans are back in the forest too. Fucking fantastic.