Zylara stood before him, naked as the day she was born, and smiling at Aurelian with eyes as red as freshly spilled blood. His gaze automatically swept her from head to toe, and he felt his cheeks inflame at the visage of feminine beauty he withheld.
Before he could say anything, or even apologise for the instinctive up and down; she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him. Aurelian felt her, with agonising awareness, pressing her generous chest against his body, and pulling him into an embrace that applied pressure to his very bones.
Zylara definitely seemed stronger than before, as well.
“Thank you,” she said in the same elegant tone as before, though it was tempered by the waver of pure emotion. “This transformation is more than I ever could have hoped. The System listened, Aurelian. It listened to me for the first time in my life, and it gave me the option of what to do—of what to become. It allowed me to redesign myself, Aurelian. That’s a thing heard of only in tales… or, I suppose, among Nephilim.”
Zylara’s words were thick with raw emotion, and Aurelian instinctively wrapped his arms around her in kind—placing his already-scarred-over palm atop the crown of her thick, silky-smooth black hair. “I… you’re welcome, Zylara.”
“You don’t understand the gravity of the gift you’ve given me,” she insisted while tightening her grip on him enough to make it measurably more difficult to breathe. “You don’t understand what it means to have true self-determination for the first time in my decades of miserable life, always hating what I saw in the mirror, and lamenting the lack of what I wished was there. You freed me from my own self-loathing, Aurelian.”
Zylara’s voice wavered while she spoke, and seemed to be dancing between relief and the cumulative shedding of long-held emotional trauma. Aurelian had the distinct impression interrupting her would be in poor taste, and so he simply let her speak.
“You have no idea what it’s like to see other women, and wish to have what they have,” she continued against his chest. “You freed me from that pain. You freed me from hating myself for something I could never control; from the resemblance to the body of a father I’ve despised for my entire life.”
Zylara let out a ragged sigh when she finished, as if purging herself of something she’d kept locked deep within her soul for a very long time.
“You’ve given me the right to choose my most perfect self,” she continued in a distinctly happier tone. “I finally look like my mother’s daughter, instead of his. I may not have… appreciated what she did, Aurelian, but she’s my ma-ma. I looked at her, and I looked at myself, and I knew I reminded her of a love that had cursed her. You…” she took a steadying breath before continuing, “you gave me the chance to save her from that reminder, and to see me as hers alone. You gave me a chance to see her look at me without seeing him. Thank you. Thank you.”
“If you’re happy, I’m happy,” Aurelian responded after several moments, and with an awkward attempt at a cheerful smile, though not due to her clear emotion. His point of uncertainty was something far less profound than that.
“Hey Zylara?”
“Mm?”
“You know you’re, um, naked… right?”
“I know,” she said with a musical laugh, and a markedly more amused voice. “At least when I’m hugging you, you can’t stare at my tits.”
“Ah,” Aurelian responded lamely when that logic clicked into place.
“It’s not like I mind you staring,” Zylara clarified in a lower voice. “And they did get bigger, by the way,” she demurred with what he recognised, even in her ‘new’ voice, as on-brand Zylara-style teasing. “A full brassiere size or two larger, I think. The System was very accommodating to my wants.”
“Jesus Christ, Zylara!” he half-groaned, and half-laughed in response.
It was just like the elven woman to turn a sweet, vulnerable, and personal moment into a chance to fluster and off-put him with a few quick sentences. The fact he had noticed she’d jumped a notable amount of proverbial cup sizes, and that she then pointed it out, did not help matters. The fact that the Prime Material apparently not only had bras, but that they were common was also surprising, though he filed that away as ‘Nephilim shenanigans’. He had no doubt someone had been summoned that had invented lingerie.
Whether it was a male or female, however, was anybody’s guess.
More than that, Zylara’s joy at her ‘customization’ freedom did make sense, he conceded after a moment of thought.
Aurelian was by no means an expert on psychological conditions, nor on the nature of anatomical disconnect—but dysmorphia was a well-understood phenomenon on Earth, and given what Zylara had confessed about her father’s true nature, he could imagine her feeling a sense of disgust and self-repudiation for what she might have assumed was any kind of resemblance to the unknown elf.
Not that it would be proper to ask that and clarify.
“That’s not all,” Zylara said and drew back his full attention, “look at these!”
A System message populated his view before he could respond, and before his eyes betrayed him.
Zylara Lyse Bloodstorm has invited you to view her Character Sheet (Hidden).
Do you accept?
Y / N
It wasn’t a hard choice. Aurelian accepted immediately.
He had only really seen Bahamut’s character sheet as a point of reference, and had never bothered to really dig into Karsys and Zylara’s own. Partially due to not knowing them all that well, and partially because he figured they wouldn’t be as exciting as Bahamut’s. It had been a foolish thought, of course, given he’d shared his—but Aurelian likely had very different views on the ‘privacy’ of that sort of thing than they did, as denizens.
The fact Zylara’s sheet was also classified as ‘Hidden’ interested him, though he would need to see if the Skills, Traits, or Titles revealed the reason prior to interrogating her. He had his own version of veiling his true power, but he wasn’t sure what Zylara’s would be. While he read, his eyebrows rose steadily, and his eyes started to widen in shock. Not only was Zylara’s character sheet impressive, he could also see what he assumed were new and very important changes.
Changes clearly wrought by his hand.
Name: Zylara Lyse Bloodstorm
Temper: Initiate
Infusions: Mind 1/2 | Body 1/2 | Spirit 1/2
Core: Bloodstorm Core (Purification Stage)
Chakras: 1/7
Level: 36 | Race: Sanguine Elysean (E) | Origin: Storm Elf (E) | Gender: Female | Zodiac: Owl (R)
Health: 675 | Mana: 376 | Stamina: 420 | Anima: 0
STR: (42) 46 | AGI: 68 (85) | DEX: 115 (132) | VIT: (45) 49 | END: 77 | INT: 85 | PER: 92 | WIL: 46 | CHA: 77
Mind Skills: Revelate (E) 26 | Precision Aim (E) 51 | Persuasion (UC) 38 | Deception (UC) 22 | Exploration (UC) 62 | Tracking (R) 48 | Iron Will (R) 48 | Cryptography (R) 31 | Investigation (UC) 29
Body Skills: Running (C) 66 | Acrobatics (UC) 59 | Evasion (R) 48 | Environmental Adaptation (E) 52 | Poison Resistance (UC) 49 | Ranged Mastery (R) 56 | Shortsword Mastery (C) 32 | Stormsurge Momentum (E) 42 | Pain Tolerance (UC) 59 | Durable (UC) 30 | Elemental Resistance (E) 37 | Piercing Shot (R) 38 | Heavy Shot (UC) 42 | Rapid Shot (UC) 39 | Lightning Shot (E) 46
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Spirit Skills: Mana Control (R) 48 | Soul Sense (UC) 32 | Shadowmeld (E) 57 | Lightning Bolt (R) 34 | Lightning Infusion (R) 22 | Mend (UC) 22 | Purify Air (E) 36 | Gale Force (R) 28 | Wind Blade (R) 27 | Anima Conversion (E) 1 | Anima Syphon (E) 1 | Anima Infusion (E) 1 | Anima Diffusion (E) 1 | Force Control (L) 1
Traits: Elven Alacrity (UC) | Keen Mind (R) | Fast Learner (E) | Stormblooded (L) | Hunter’s Senses (R) | Natural Predator (R) | Sanguinated (L) | Force-Bound (M)
Titles: Survivor (R) | Outrider (R) | Defender of the Innocent (E) | Markswoman (UC) | Spellbow (E) | Walking Arsenal (R) | Adaptive (UC) | Death Defying (E) | First Scion (L) | Nephilim Blooded (L)
Languages: Common | Elven
33% to Level 37
You have 4 Skill Points Available!
You have 1 Skill Upgrade Point Available!
“Holy shit, Z!” Aurelian exclaimed with bewilderment. “Your abilities are insane!”
Zylara laughed into his chest at his words, and the new enhancements to her voice made it sound akin to an ethereal chime. Goosebumps erupted on his skin at the sound, though they weren’t from displeasure.
“Now you know how Karsys and I felt,” she teased him warmly. “Would you like to see the new abilities?”
“Of course I would!” he affirmed without hesitation.
With another laugh, she complied.
Name: Bloodstorm Core
Type: Mana Core
Quality: Mythic
Tier: Initiate
Requirement: Calamity Essence, Storm Elf Origin
Description: A fusion of your natural Swiftbolt Core and the latent energies of your Nephilim Sire’s Calamity Core Soulforce has resulted in the formation of a Bloodstorm Core, hearkening to an Infusion upon your Sire’s Body. This Core allows you to harness your Lightning attunement with greater potency, and wield it by the authority of your blood, absent the permission of the Eternals or Divine.
Effects: All Arisen you command may inherit an echo of your Lightning abilities.
Special Effects: You are immune to any Lightning-based abilities inferior to your current level.
Name: Sanguinated Elysean
Type: Race
Rarity: Epic
Description: Your Elysean heritage has been fully awakened and brought to the fore, and has been shaped by the Sanguination of your Sire. As a result, you have gained all the bonuses afforded to members of the Nephilim-descended Elysean race.
Effects: +3 Willpower per Level, +1 Charisma per Level.
Special Effects: All other Elysean-blooded individuals will instinctively recognise you as a pureblooded existence, and if your Charisma is higher than theirs, automatically defer to you.
Name: Sanguinated
Type: Trait
Rarity: Legendary
Description: You are Sanguinated. Your Sire was the first of his kind, and you are the first to inherit such power directly. Yours is the legacy of the Blood Lords of Eld, and hearkens back to a power even gods have failed to attain.
Effects: +3 Vitality per Level, +2 Charisma per Level, +15% Mind Skill XP.
Special Effects: You have gained access to the Anima Resource as a result of this trait, allowing you to manipulate and wield it to whatever extent your Skills allow.
Name: Force-Bound
Type: Trait
Rarity: Mythic
Description: You are the bound companion of a being that has been granted a Dominion, and as such benefit from the power that dwells now within your blood in kind. An echo of divine power is now yours to wield in service of the Lord of Force.
Effects: +2 Willpower per Level, -50% Mana Cost for all Force Skills.
Special Effects: You have gained access to Force Control, a lesser incarnation of your Sire’s Force Dominion.
Name: First Scion
Type: Title
Rarity: Legendary
Description: You are the first Blood Scion of a new bloodline, and the first such existence in untold millennia. Yours is the inheritance of Eld, and the grace and power of the Blood Lord lineage stretching out into time beyond memory.
Effects: +10% Strength, +10% Vitality, +100% Anima Syphoned, +2 Charisma per Level.
Special Effects: As First Scion, you alone have Command Authority over the Arisen Legion of your Sire, second only to your Sire’s own, and will be recognised as the de facto leader and inheritor of the Arisen Legion should your Sire die a True Death.
Name: Nephilim Blooded
Type: Title
Rarity: Legendary
Description: You have, through an ancient and sacred ritual, been Sired by the blood of a Primogenitor that is also a Nephilim. Such a thing has never occurred in the history of the Realms, and as such, you are the first of a unique line of Sanguinated Elyseans.
Effects: Skill Limit Penalty Nullification, +2 Attribute Points per Level
Special Effects: You are able to sense Soul Tethers upon those of your current Temper or lower.
“So. What do you think?”
“I think you’re an absolute monster now, Z,” Aurelian answered with a shake of his head. “I also think that your First Scion title is going to prove very useful, if normal isekai tropes are anything to go by.”
“What do you mean?” she prompted curiously.
“Well, let’s just say that I might be rendered mysteriously unconscious for random lengths of time, and having someone to control my Arisen Legion while I’m as awake as a brick will be very reassuring.”
“You shouldn’t speak of such things,” she murmured. “It’s inviting bad luck.”
“Trust me, it’s just how it goes.” he assured her with a sage certainty he felt in his bones. “As for the rest… whew! You have some crazy Attribute bonuses too. What are those from?”
“Oh!” she said with a laugh. “Here, I’ll pinpoint them for you.”
Zylara was as good as her word, and the skills in question ‘lit up’ for his attention.
When he read them, he very nearly felt himself growing envious.