Evolution

by A R Chen

  Any time now, Lord Mottor thought impatiently. They must have finished their second raid by now, right?

  The Crystal blinked. “Was the raid successful?” Lord Mottor didn’t waste any time. They had marched all day today and would need to march another half day tomorrow to get there. He needed to quickly confirm their status and set up a rendezvous.

  “Yes. We lost two more men today, they were prepared,” came Fom from the Crystal. “One fell to an ambush by regular militia, the ball of light took out the other. We think it may have been conjured by a four-star mage, it isn’t that strong. The mage has kept himself hidden, though.”

  Four stars, huh? Not good, but not too bad. Lord Mottor could overwhelm that mage with his ace. As for the ball of light he conjured, it would be too easy. Usually conjured images didn’t last too long in combat because of mana restrictions. There was usually only so much mana you could imbue into an object or summon.

  “Hold off on any further action until I give the command. Now, tell me, where should we meet up?” Lord Mottor was fine talking to Fom. He was somewhat mysterious and Mottor found himself curious about his origins, as he was a decent mage for his price. This was the most they have ever spoken.

  Tenk, on the other hand, was immensely greedy and would ask for bonuses in the form of Ekem village girls. The younger, the better. Lord Mottor didn’t have an issue with this on principle; however, it did lower morale substantially in the conquered village. Lower morale would eventually lead to lower productivity. Though, that was a matter to address another day.

  “As you approach, you will see a lake near the village. Next to the lake is a rocky area where we can meet up if you’re following the dirt path all the way,” Fom replied in his usual gruff voice. “Once you see the village, you might want to duck off of the path and stick to concealment as much as possible. They have sentries out now.”

  “Fine. Tomorrow afternoon I’ll contact you for the exact location, make sure you’re prepared,” Lord Mottor commanded. “Good work, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Father, is everything going according to plan?” It was his useless second son, Mottle. He was just checking in, for no good reason. It wasn’t like he would be much help in the upcoming battle. Lord Mottor didn’t have the time to—

  “Father, when do we conquer Niti? Is the plan on schedule?” This time it was Mithe, his first son. Mithe was a better fighter and had a better attitude about these things.

  “Tomorrow evening. The plan is on schedule. We’ll use the light of the two moons to raze Niti Village,” Lord Mottor declared.

  “But that doesn’t make sense, the moon…” Mottle went on to explain why one couldn’t use the moon to start fires.

  Absolutely useless, thought Lord Mottor as he ignored his rambling son. At least I have one decent son.

  ***

  Leffer paced back and forth in his residence, with his pointy hat still on. This was exciting news. When god Steve’s party arrived, they had told him that Deadly Fish Lake had been completely cleared out by Steve and the three young magicians.

  This opened up so many new opportunities for the village. They could expand to a second village, harvest the mana-water to make potions, or mana-infused alcohol even. Both of which could be sold for exorbitant prices. New Nitian businesses would flourish, with the addition of this free territory. The possibilities of this new area were endless! Leffer couldn’t contain his newfound excitement.

  The problem they’d faced when trying to claim that lake before, was that there was so much mana in the surroundings. It was harmful, possibly even deadly for anything living to go into it. Only the best warriors and mages could even attempt clearing it out.

  When they had set out on sturdy boats, they all almost died. It was only through sheer luck on Leffer’s part that they managed to survive. He had lost two old friends that day, pulled down into the lake by the fish. He had been sure that there was a treasure in the lake, just waiting for him to claim it.

  It was at this point he realized that everyone was staring at him. Who knew how long he had been slowly pacing, lost in his own thoughts? He had been rude to everyone, including god Steve.

  “Ahem, this is incredibly good news!” Leffer cleared his throat and recovered his bearing. He went on, “I'm jubilant to hear that our young heroes, along with god Steve, have cleared out a dangerous part of the village surroundings. You’ve done an incredible service to the village. Ash, you need to go sleep. Tomorrow is your big day!”

  Leffer doubted the young man would have an easy time falling asleep with all this excitement going around, but he had to. Not having enough energy for the Naming would be disastrous. One needed to be as rested as possible to proceed through the pain. The Naming ceremony would be the most agonizing thing that Ash would ever experience, or at least Leffer hoped so.

  Ash bid the group farewell, saying he would go meditate. Leffer approved, as it would help him collect his emotions and prepare his mind for tomorrow.

  Fom had spoken to Lord Mottor earlier, but for security reasons they needed to keep him in their sight, at all times. Azra, on the other hand, really had no reason to be there. She had taken a liking to standing beside Steve. Maybe the young girl still had delusions of grandeur. It was fine, for now at least. She would understand soon enough.

  “God Steve, we have a request.” Leffer had made up his mind. He would protect Ash and the village, even if it went against his values.

  Even if it cost him his only son.

  ***

  When Steve entered the residence, he suddenly felt euphoric. He checked the countdown as the feeling overcame him. It read:

  3 Days 2 Hours 59 Minutes 55 Seconds

  The feeling warmed his light body and flowed through his mind, sort of like an org…A what again? The memory block on his mind shifted, preventing him from remembering what he was about to think.

  That didn’t matter; he felt great, this was the best feeling he had experienced over the past two days. Steve saw that the group was talking as Leffer walked around. They were excited about something; Steve was excited about it, too.

  After a whole minute, Steve started to come down. Bit by bit, his joy diminished. What just happened? Steve wondered happily. This system is pretty good after all, heh.

  Then he noticed that the Elder was talking to him directly. “In short, we want to offer you full control of the Squad of Scoundrels and the prisoner squads,” Leffer was saying. He had apparently been talking this whole time. Only now did Steve really focus on what he was getting at. “Permanently.”

  Steve felt that this offer was okay, but not as high as it should be. He saw that he was regarded as a god or higher being everywhere he went, because of his power, so it wouldn’t be difficult to gather more people. Surely, he knew better than to lead with his best offer; he must be willing to go a little higher. So, Steve waited impassively for Leffer to sweeten the deal.

  “We’ll also give you a small portion of the village resources, in return for your help in this upcoming battle,” Leffer added. He knew people weren’t in high demand, at least not nearly so much as supplies were. If one had people but no supplies, then you were in worse condition than if you had no people at all.

  The deal sounded good. A portion of Niti’s resources, as well as his own force, to use as he saw fit after his evolution. The binding ritual, however, was a little sketchy. Steve didn’t feel that he was actually a god because he could transform into a Deity. That meant that he wasn’t a Deity now, right?

  “Sure,” Steve agreed. He couldn’t think of a reason not to. The power level of the humans in the village wasn’t great, save for their few older elites. Helping them out wasn’t a big deal at all, in Steve’s mind, especially since he still had a bit of time and energy to burn before evolving. Though, what he could accomplish would depend on the forces of the Mottor.

  Bonnie, any thoughts about this ritual? Steve asked. There was no reply. This was actually a little unnerving, how Bo
nnie’s commentary and even assistance was so erratic now. Over the last day, she had been especially quiet.

  Something felt off, but Steve couldn’t quite pin it down. He needed some advice, right about now. Also, as the ‘big moment’ was getting closer, he needed a direction to go in. His energy storage level should be fine in time, as he had been working to enhance it. The only issue was that Steve wanted the best evolution, since it would probably help him get home. He was a bit interested in Vampire, but Ash had said the other races would seek to kill him.

  Steve wanted a powerful, mobile evolution. This was only so that he could go and find more information about his predicament. The only goal was to get back to his girlfriend, wherever she was.

  “I’m going to go practice some more magic now,” Steve told the three that were still gathered. “We can talk about details, later.”

  He then opened up his list again, after he left the residence. Steve planned to practice his Large Anti-Gravity spell. Perhaps if he grew more proficient in it, the list would change to his benefit. Right now, it looked like this.

  1) ??? - ???

  2) Deity – Cost: 125,000 Energy. End evolution is Undetermined. Evolution starts out extremely high-powered. Will be hunted by all Celestial beings.

  3) Vampire – Cost: 5,000 Energy. End evolutions are the Legendary Vampire or Undetermined. Evolution starts out extremely low-powered. Will receive help from the current Vampire clan.

  4) Dragon – Cost: 55,000 Energy. End evolution is the Dragon God. Evolution starts out medium-powered but gaining energy and consolidating it is difficult. Will receive help from the current Dragon race.

  5) ??? - ???

  6) Undead – Cost: 45,000 Energy. End evolution is the Undead Emperor. Evolution starts out low-powered, however amassing undead is easy. Gaining power is easy, however keeping it might prove difficult. Almost all other races will join forces against you if your nature is discovered.

  7) Elf – Cost: 25,000 Energy. End evolution is the Greater Elven Magister. Evolution starts out low-powered. Gaining energy is medium difficulty while keeping energy is easy. Races will tend to trust you, making interacting with most of them easy.

  The upper few evolutions had become cheaper in terms of energy cost. It wasn’t bad news at all. Gaining an affinity for water hadn’t really changed his evolution paths that much. Deity’s cost had been lowered, though. Steve wasn’t sure when it had happened, however.

  I should have been watching, Steve thought. If I kept track of when the cost of these evolutions changed, I would already have a better idea of what influences it.

  Steve wasn’t sure whether the water affinity or gravity spell mattered more. So, he was now going to focus on training his gravity spell, while he observed changes to his list.

  He went to a grass field with some gray rocks lying around. Steve focused on bringing those rocks up with his spell, but this time he focused on speed. A spell needed power, speed, and utility. If it was too slow, it would be useless in a lot of situations. It only took Steve ten seconds this time, but it was a far smaller body than the lake he had previously lifted. Energy cost was minimal as well.

  After a few hours, Bonnie spoke to him again. Only, it wasn’t the cheerful Bonnie that spoke. It was the forced voice that he had heard only two times before.

  “Greater Mind consequence lifted,” Bonnie deadpanned. “Due to two days of Greater Mind consequence, some information will be released.”

  Steve blacked out.

  Chapter 14

  “Steve! Wake up!” Bonnie shouted into his mind. “You really shouldn’t have broken that rule!”

  Steve’s omnidirectional vision returned. He found that he was a lot more clear-headed than before. On top of that, he found that he didn’t have any new information or memories unlocked.

  Where is my information? Steve asked.

  “I have your information,” Bonnie replied, still sounding peeved. “Greater Mind blocked me out. I could resist it a little bit, but as your mind gained in power I couldn’t keep up. I could barely speak at the end. Good thing it was lifted.”

  It sounded like Bonnie had wanted to tell him that for a while now.

  “But we gained a lot from it, Steve!” Bonnie was enthusiastic as ever again. “I know how to unlock the two question-mark evolutions!”

  Steve’s interest was piqued. He had wanted to figure out that mystery for a while now. What would the top evolution be like?

  “You have to-—” Bonnie tried. “Have to—uh. Hmm, it seems like I can’t directly tell you! Let’s just say the opportunity will come up very soon. I think?”

  It didn’t seem like much information, but it was immensely useful. Bonnie had been suppressed by the consequence of breaking a rule. It made sense for there to be upsides and downsides to it; on the one hand, he couldn’t be controlled or influenced by enemies. On the other hand, he couldn’t be influenced by his helper.

  It was an interesting situation that Steve found himself in, at least he now knew that the opportunity would come soon.

  It’s fine, you’ve helped plenty already. Steve had become accustomed to life without Bonnie’s assistance, but wanted to make use of his newly freed helper. Thanks for the information. Also, can you watch what happens to the evolution list values when I practice my spells? Let me know if there are any noticeable changes.

  Steve kept on practicing the Gravity spell on different objects, trying to get a feel for it. He knew that this spell would be important in the upcoming fight. As of right now, if he focused extremely hard, he could cast the Gravity spell in around five seconds and maintain it while he fired Shocks, though not rapidly.

  Steve wanted to get to the point where he could cast his upgraded Area Energy Drain spell while maintaining the Large Anti-Gravity spell. It was a necessity if he wanted a way to affect his opponents en masse once he got them in the air. If he just kept them there, they would find a way to strike back.

  He had never been seriously hit before. The Blink spell was too effective a means of escape to allow for mistakes like that. Though, he still wasn’t entirely sure what would happen if he did get hit by something.

  Thinking of all these spells, Steve had a sudden question.

  Will I get to keep these spells and abilities after my evolution? Steve asked Bonnie. He was sure that she was able to help, now that Greater Mind had been lifted.

  “Yes and no. If the evolution you choose is unsuitable, or the spells are too powerful to transfer, then you can’t. If it is suitable and the spell isn’t too powerful, then you can.” Bonnie was very direct in this.

  Steve figured that would be the case, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. If he evolved into a Rock Being, then he probably wouldn’t be able to cast many spells. Steve imagined himself as a Rock Being. He felt a tingle in his mind and immediately stopped. One of the rules had said no evolving until the countdown was finished. Steve wasn’t willing to risk breaking another rule so soon; the consequences might severely hurt him this time. For all he knew, they already had. It was impossible to say what he may have learned if Bonnie had been free to speak to him all this time.

  He checked the countdown again, it read:

  2 Days 19 Hours 10 Minutes 23 Seconds

  This meant that he had a bit more than two hours until the next memory.

  He focused on the two moons up above. On his planet, there had only been one moon. It was just known as the Moon. Steve still didn’t know what these two moons were called. He would try to remember to ask Ash tomorrow.

  The large Crystals he hadn’t yet consumed were still sitting in the wagon they brought to the lake. The other wagon was still mostly full, though some of the Crystals had already been consumed. Steve wondered if he would need to pay another visit to the Lake before tomorrow’s battle. The energy in the Lake was so dense, even though the humongous Water Crystal was located so far down in the depths of the water. It was a purer and stronger type of Water Elemental energy even compared to the large
st Crystal inside his wagon.

  Steve assumed that all the creatures and ‘fish’ that had lived in the water had been feeding off the Crystal for a long time. Right up until he smashed them with their own lake, that is. He doubted there would be any survivors of such an attack, but anything was possible.

  I might have to go down into the structures to check for any surviving fish, Steve thought to himself. He hadn’t considered this before. If I don’t make sure, then Niti Village won’t be able to flourish under the threat of any hostile fish survivors.

  The vivid red sun interrupted his thought processes. The massive ball of fire in the sky appeared several times larger than his own sun back home. Steve remembered that temperature was related to the color that stars appeared but couldn’t remember any of the details. This one was nothing like his own yellow sun back home.

  As he thought, he kept on practicing his Gravity magic. It was getting tiresome, even for Steve, practicing magic for days on end. Is there any other way? Steve thought. How could he practice smarter, not harder?

  Then, he felt yet another improvement. This time, noticeably larger. This was unusual; it was usually a slow, gradual improvement, rather than a sudden larger one.

  “Turtle has moved up to the #6 spot and Slime has taken the #7 spot,” Bonnie reported in, as promised. She had been diligently keeping track of and updating him about any changes to his evolution paths this entire time. Though, Steve had only wanted notifications for the more drastic changes. The sixth and seventh places on his list didn’t really matter to him. “Energy costs have changed as well.”

  Nonetheless, it was good to know.

  1) ??? - ???

  2) Deity – Cost: 120,000 Energy. End evolution is Undetermined. Evolution starts out extremely high-powered. Will be hunted by all Celestial beings.

  3) Vampire – Cost: 8,000 Energy. End evolutions are the Legendary Vampire or Undetermined. Evolution starts out extremely low-powered. Will receive help from the current Vampire clan.

  4) Dragon – Cost: 50,000 Energy. End evolution is the Dragon God. Evolution starts out medium-powered but gaining energy and consolidating it is difficult. Will receive help from the current Dragon race.