Your core evolution is now complete.
Your Rank A Nascent Fiend core has advanced to become a Rank A Juvenile Blood Fiend core.
“Well that’s uh, pretty cool.” Zoe panted as she regained awareness of her surroundings—dark, cold, and gloomy surroundings. She was quite fortunate no ghouls had happened upon her while she was so—indisposed. Quite fortunate indeed, now that she thought about it.
After a few more moments to collect herself, Zoe sat up just to be in a better position to glare at Lilith. But that was mostly spoiled by her surprise at not being drenched in sweat. It had felt like she was on fire, after confirming the final option her evolution had given her.
…Which was exactly why she was mad at Lilith. “I think I could have used a little more warning, you know.” Turns out, the intense decision-making process was only the start of it. Just picking toppings from the menu while the chef prepares the grill for the omelet. A weird analogy, maybe—but Zoe certainly did feel thoroughly scrambled.
“Are you… not going to check our new status?” Hearing Lilith speak for the first time since completing the evolution made Zoe realize something. She still hadn’t caught sight of the Demon. Whipping her head around, Zoe couldn’t help but frown. Just where are you hiding?
“Your head. It’s pretty cozy in here.”
Zoe didn’t yelp, but she did jump. Shit! Even though the apparition’s voice had always been directed at her mentally—something about it coming purely from inside was even worse. And to make it even worse, not getting any external visual feedback was a new layer on top.
“I decided it would be better for us to get you used to this. We can’t form a habit of you reacting to things that aren’t there. It’s pretty obvious, you know.”
Okay, that might have been a good point. But still—“And that means zoning out randomly and talking to myself is better?”
A pause—though a short one. “Well yes, obviously. And we can fix the second half of that easily enough. Just use your mind-words. I’m fairly certain we’ve already established that using your flesh-ones is uncouth.”
“Fucking hell.” Zoe said that out loud just to be petty. But seriously, she thought privately to herself as she stepped back onto the cold and empty street—a literal Demon sharing my head is bad enough. I don’t think I can handle lessons on psychic etiquette.
No reaction—which Zoe hoped meant the other Demon couldn’t read her mind if she didn’t want it too. But now that she was prowling around the streets again, there was a different habit that would be important to build.
Lesser Disguise!
This was one particularly sneaky Demon who was not going to be caught lacking.
“Are you actually going to open our new status now? I don’t know about you, but most people who’ve gone through an evolution think it’s pretty important.”
Yeah, Zoe had been meaning to get around to it. Let there be no mistake, however—the delay wasn’t because she forgot. On the contrary—she was so excited and energized with anticipation that excitement transformed into anxiety. That had always been one of Zoe’s quirks. Her mother, for instance, had never understood how child-Zoe was easily willing to sit still for a shot but refused to open birthday presents.
Is a Demon-core evolution like a birthday present? Zoe hoped so. Status.
[ZOE BLACKWELL]
Level 12 | Rank F
Demagogue, Bloody Devotee
Higher Demon of Disdain
-Alignment-
> Infernal
> Disdain
> Blood
-Active Quests-
> Claim Your Right
> The First Harvest (68 / 250)
-Active Titles-
> Outsider
> Usurper
> Humanitizer
> No Love Among Fiends
-Stats and Bindings-
Power 80
Perception 100
Acuity 80
Durability 80
Vitality 164
-General Skills-
> Identify 4 (Rank C)
> Hallowed Touch (Tierless)
> Mana Channeling 2 (Rank F)
-Primary Class Skills-
> Acting 1 (Rank D)
> Persuasion 1 (Rank B)
> Mirage 3 (Rank E)
> Lesser Disguise 2 (Rank C)
> Cloak of Scorn 2 (Rank E)
System Display Privileges (Sys-Tier)
-Secondary Class Skills-
> Rejuvenate 1 (Rank F)
> Mending Touch 2 (Rank D)
> Rending Touch 2 (Rank D)
> Surgeon’s Eye 2 (Rank E)
> Blood Whip 2 (Rank E)
[JUVENILE BLOOD FIEND CORE]
3% Developed | Rank A
-Traits-
> Natural Weapons (Rank E)
> Arcane Antennae (Rank E)
> Bloodshaper (Rank C)
> Heart of Alchemy (Rank B)
> Personal Inventory (Rank B)
> Magic Resistance (Rank C)
-Effects-
> +60 Power, +60 Durability, +82 Vitality
> Infernal Alignment
> Disdain Alignment
> Blood Alignment
-Available-
> 83 stat points
Well, some things certainly had changed. There were the changes Zoe had already chosen before the full evolution, of course—but there were some other interesting changes as well.
Moving from the top, it looked like she was no longer a lesser Demon. Lesser higher Demon. Now she was just a higher Demon. That was definitely good, because it was probably better to be the default than to be lesser. Also, ‘Lesser higher Demon’ was just plain confusing to think about.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Moving on, she’d also gained a new alignment. Blood. That was a pretty obvious one, considering how many of her skills were thematically related to it in some way. But why did she gain it now specifically?
“It’s not infrequent to gain new skills, traits, or so on when you go through a major advancement. Remember how we gained cold resistance during the evolution? We’d basically already unlocked it—so to speak. The evolution, and other major advancements, are often just the final catalyst needed to push a bunch of other stuff over the edge.”
Well, that did make at least some sense. But what were the other major advancements?
“Those would be class evolutions—which are the equivalent of core evolutions for non-monsters—and advancing to the next rank, which is for everyone.”
That was simple enough.
Wandering through the chilly streets with no particular direction in mind, Zoe tore her attention away from her new status just to be sure there wasn’t something else she needed to be aware of.
The answer looked like it was ‘no.’ There weren’t many ghouls at all now—Zoe was only able to spot two shuffling around in the darkness of what might have been an inn of some sort—and another one trying to climb a dumpster in a nearby alley.
It was a far cry from the numbers they’d had to deal with upon entering the dead city. Was this area just less populated? Zoe couldn’t remember if they’d passed through here on the way in. She was lost in the sense that she didn’t know exactly where she was, but she wasn’t lost in that she knew which way to take to get to the beach.
Or maybe they were less active at night? That seemed wrong, for fairly obvious reasons.
Keeping herself quite still, Zoe watched as the dumpster ghoul gave up and began lumbering off. Well, lumbering towards her. Had it seen her? She hadn’t been using mirage.
Zoe tensed up slightly as the ghoul stepped out of the alley and into the street. But then the putrid creature seemed to go through a moment of surprise itself—before lurching forward, rotten arms raised to strike.
Shit. Stepping to the side, Zoe called on one of the more fun skills she’d gained.
Blood Whip!
The conjured weapon formed in an instant, lashing out to entangle the lumbering ghoul almost on reflex. The result was the monster slamming to the ground face-first, and Zoe being very surprised.
It hadn’t been that easy to use the first time. It also didn’t feel like just the result of it leveling up once. That was a day ago, after all. Could it have been her core evolution?
Lilith was silent—which was okay with Zoe. For now. She opened her status back up as the monster thrashed at her feet.
[JUVENILE BLOOD FIEND CORE]
3% Developed | Rank A
-Traits-
> Natural Weapons (Rank E)
> Arcane Antennae (Rank E)
> Bloodshaper (Rank C)
> Heart of Alchemy (Rank B)
> Personal Inventory (Rank B)
> Magic Resistance (Rank C)
-Effects-
> +60 Power, +60 Durability, +82 Vitality
> Infernal Alignment
> Disdain Alignment
> Blood Alignment
Skipping all the way down to the core section, Zoe landed on the line that might have something to do with it. Bloodshaper. The last choice she’d gone with, and one that had been a big risk.
Blood Whip was made out of blood—shaped out of it. Did this Bloodshaper trait have something to do with improving it? That seemed—rather likely. It was unfortunate, then, that Zoe couldn’t get any additional description on her traits like she could with skills. Even if the skill descriptions were never particularly helpful.
There was another thing to think about here, though, which Lilith so helpfully brought to attention a moment later. “It looked like the ghoul was surprised to see you before it attacked. Which means…”
“—that it wasn’t me that got its attention in the first place.” Zoe looked down at the pitiful, blight-infested monster struggling still at her feet. You know, something tells me I’m not going to get very far with interrogation tactics here. The ghoul grunted. “Yeah, that’s enough.”
Zoe raised her foot to mash its skull in—and then she realized she still didn’t have proper boots. Her feet were still wrapped up in little more than fantasy duct-tape. This, in turn, meant that mashing the ghoul’s skull in would get her even more wet and filthy. Well, shit.
This—left things at a little bit of an impasse. Zoe didn’t want to just leave the thing. It would be irresponsible to leave a bloodthirsty undead monster around just for it to kill someone else later—certainly not when she already had it restrained. Also, a supplementary reason was that it would be a waste of progression towards the next level and all that.
A trickle of amusement brushed against her consciousness from—wherever it was that Lilith’s mind existed. “Yes, I’m sure that’s the ‘supplementary’ reason and most definitely not the main one.”
“Shut up.” Zoe didn’t have time for this. She could do the same thing she did with the other ghouls right before her evolution. If she remembered correctly, it seemed to be a combination of unarmed combat and rending touch that made them all sort of explode. But she didn’t want to get more gore on herself—not to mention she didn’t technically have unarmed combat anymore. She’d merged it to form natural weapons.
“Are you still talking to me with your mouth just because I told you not to?” Rather than smug and amused, Lilith sounded a bit more, perhaps—vaguely incredulous now.
Zoe shrugged as she unraveled the blood whip a little to be able to take a few steps back. “Yes. I am. Now be quiet, I need to concentrate.” Ignoring the resulting indignant whining being sent her way, Zoe focused on the feeling of her own magic extending out of her hand, through the whip, and all the way to the squirming ghoul. Let’s see if this works.
Rending Touch!
There was the smallest delay as the activated skill transferred down the length of blood. Then the ghoul twitched, bits of softened flesh and congealed fluids spraying outwards as if a dozen crooked blades had sundered its flesh. “Huh.”
Releasing her whip entirely, Zoe stepped forward to get a better look. The ‘explosion’ hadn’t been as dramatic this time—was that because she’d forced the skill to activate through another one at a distance?
Lilith reappeared beside her in a flash of crimson light and bent down. “Yes, that’s a likely explanation.”
They both peered at the mutilated corpse for a few seconds. Corpse—does it count as a corpse now, or was it already a corpse before? How does the whole ‘corpse’ concept work when it comes to undead creatures? Zoe felt like that was a fascinating line of linguistic exploration to be pursued later. Actually…
Identify!
[BLIGHTED Human CORPSE]
Most corpses do not retain prior system-maintained effects while dead. This one did, and it’s still Blighted.
Huh. It was interesting to see how the system expanded on the normal corpse description in such a smooth way. It was almost like the ‘normal’ description was actually a truncated version of this one, and served as a sort of hint or warning. Pretty neat.
What was also neat was what rending touch had done to it. Zoe’s first interpretation of it had been something along the lines of ‘explosion.’ But it was really much closer to being hacked away at with some sort of blade—several times at the very least—from the inside out—and also all at once.
Lilith seemed to agree, as the specter commented on the resulting damage while being very careful not to ever touch it herself. Which was a bit weird, Zoe thought, since the Demonic creature was currently only a projection of her own imagination. Which is still weird by the way.
“So?” Zoe felt like it was time to get moving and investigate the source of the larger disturbance that was drawing away all the ghouls. Even if studying mutilated corpses was also pretty interesting. “What’s the verdict?”
Rising to her feet, the apparition gestured around at the unmoving corpse, as if they hadn’t both gotten as good a look as they could without touching it. “That’s a pretty nasty skill. Especially for us still only being Rank F.”
Zoe nodded. “Oh yeah, no doubt about that. It sure is pretty gnarly.” A drawn out pause followed. “What?”
Then Lilith just shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s go find out what’s gotten all these ghouls so riled up. It has to be something interesting.”
“Yeah.”
Part of Zoe wanted to take more time to investigate all of the changes to her status, now that she’d finally gone and opened it all up. But also, she could do that along the way. The entire reason for sneaking out in the first place was to test a bunch of her abilities out on the shambling, foul monsters.
So she set off in the direction she’d last seen a ghoul headed, all while looking at the stats part of her status.
-Stats and Bindings-
Power 100
Perception 80
Acuity 80
Durability 80
Vitality 164
There had certainly been a big change to one of them in specific. Her vitality had obviously doubled itself. And Zoe was pretty sure that it had been doubled specifically—because eighty-two was a bit of a weird number, at least compared to how the system had been doing things so far.
[JUVENILE BLOOD FIEND CORE]
3% Developed | Rank A
…
-Effects-
> +60 Power, +60 Durability, +82 Vitality
The same bonuses to power and durability had been there before. Sixty was also pretty reasonable, considering how she now gained fifteen points with each level. But eighty-two? Yeah, that’s a flat increase that came from doubling what I already had at the time. Definitely something to note, as well as the fact that vitality was the one it picked. It made sense though, what with the whole blood magic theme.
Also, she had eighty-three free stat points. It might be a good idea to start planning how to distribute those.
And also, she could now awaken an element for vitality like she could with perception. That was something to think about too, as she activated mirage and cloak of scorn to sneak after the departed ghouls. But there was an even more interesting question to settle first.
Zoe turned to the side, where her imaginary—acquaintance was following beside her. Hey Lilith? And she even asked it in her mind this time. But that was mainly just because she was trying to be stealthy anyway.
“Yeah? What’s up?”
Zoe pursed her lips in thought. How to approach this…
“So I’ve been thinking, since I killed that last ghoul. How does the concept of a corpse—or being dead—work when it comes to undead?”