Chapter 70: Of Kin and Knuckers (Patreon)

Aby was excited, and incredibly so at that. It had expected plenty of windows appearing that night, as it did every night, miscellaneous windows informing it that some critter or another had reached a point to evolve, or a new template had become available. That was normal, constant, just a part of life. It was already well beyond needing to give these announcements more than a fraction of its attention, a small amount of focus reserved exclusively for these windows and the rest elsewhere. Unless something interesting happens.

Congratulations! Your creature “Frozen Waters Dragonkin” has received a Name from your partner Sela and will henceforth be known as Arctuross.

Something like that, in fact. While it was the second time now that Aby had seen this notice, the fact that it concerned Sela meant that it was immediately more important, and with but a thought Aby had focused its will on the subjects of this announcement, just outside a hidden entrance to the tenth floor. A bleached white dragonkin, frozen in more ways than one, a slightly spaced-out nereid, and an inexplicably hyperactive eel were present, most of the rest of the life around them either fleeing or hiding.

Congratulations! Your creature “Arctuross” has fulfilled a hidden condition(s), allowing it to undergo a special evolution!

Conditions fulfilled: Receive a Name, Be subjected an to unknown enhancement and survive

Creator titles: Randomizer, Invasive, Adaptive, Ambitious

Special Evolution Available:

Iceborn Dragonkin

Rulers of all things rime, Iceborn   Dragonkin have chiseled out a domain of their own, deep in the south, and   while their physical prowess is important, their ability to force water and   ice alike to play to their whims. An entire continent locked away by seas   frozen solid and marred with gelid wastes freed from the burden of life and   decorated with statues of those once living, said to be a direct result of  their progenitor’s burning wrath and frigid revenge.

There was no question to the core, and despite not knowing quite what the difference between a “Frozen Waters” and “Iceborn” dragonkin was, it was painfully apparent the latter was superior. Both were lauded as rulers in their descriptions, that much was certain, but this marked the first time that the System had ever mentioned feats performed by a specific example of an individual rather than simply singing praises of the entire race, and that alone spoke volumes to Aby despite how vague and uncertain those claims were.

It dwelled on this as it selected yes, already aware that it had no prior knowledge of a situation like this and so lacking any real idea of what to expect, if anything. So instead of trying to puzzle something together, it watched the snowy white dragonkin start shining that oh-so-familiar radiance, and change. 

And honestly, those changes where almost underwhelming to the core. Sure, bones stretched and warped, and flesh filled out, his already large figure only grew further, but there wasn’t much depth to it. His scales were seemingly reforged, shifting and cracking as a new layer burst forth. As the pale scales lost their luster and sloughed off, the new layer started shining through, almost literally. His new dermis was also white, but with a vivid pearlescent sheen that left his every movement seeming dreamlike and ethereal. 

The only other noticeable differences came in the form of Arctuross’ downy, feathery mane, or rather, what that became. The sky-blue fluff quickly shriveled and crackled, the edges growing brittle and shattering on their own, leaving nothing but a short layer of crisp, crackling fuzz that seemed to behave more in line with delicate, wavy, filament thin ice sculptures than any feathers ever would. After that, the skin and scales just above his brow ridge and at his temples started to warp and bulge, and it was not an unfamiliar sight, watching four small horns forcing their way out, growths of bone which quickly wrapped themselves in vividly blue skin, and then shrouded themselves in a constant haze of frozen moisture, as though shy and unwilling to be seen by the world.

Aby, of course, could still see them as they grew, stopping their hasty development when they reached roughly five centimeters in length; all four were pointed forwards, but angled up and ending with the slightest curve. The core waited for more to come after this, but aside from a few minor changes, that wish was left unfulfilled. Arctuross opened his eyes, looking around cautiously, as though he wasn’t exactly where he stood before his brief ‘nap.’

After confirming that no, nobody around was daring enough to abduct him, his focus was quickly on himself, observing the changes he’d undergone. Just like any other evolution, he was instinctively aware of everything his new body was capable with, as though he’d had it all his life, but that awareness was not truly complete, and he still looked at his arms, then his torso, tail, and legs, and finally freezing a patch of water with a wave of his hand, and staring at a reflection of his own face. Aby could tell that he seemed confused, almost a little disappointment with how minor the changes were, and very, very excited over those changes which were not visible.

Aby, too, was eager to see just what he was capable of now, if past experience was any indication then his newly formed ‘crown’ meant that he really was quite different than he was just moments earlier. This turned out to be accurate, scarce seconds after admiring his newer, more regal appearance in his mirror, he grinned, showing off a mouth full of the razor-sharp daggers he called teeth. He set off down the tunnel he was in front of then, eager to return to his domain and truly begin showing off. Right behind him was his ever-loyal partner, the moray, and Aby could tell that it, too, was very near its own evolution, although what it would be was uncertain.

Both were so eager, in fact, that they left Sela behind, the Neried still ruminating on some unknown thought, though she finally snapped out of it when Aby sent her a gentle nudge, somewhere between concern and reassurance. She thanked the core, then raced after the pair, eager to witness just what it was that Arctuross seemed so excited to try out. And witness she did, even before she emerged from the sunken tunnel, she knew that something was going on, there was a feeling in the water that she hadn’t felt since the last time she’d watched the wyvern show off, only exactly the opposite.

Then she heard it, heard him, an uproarious, booming laugh audible even over the rushing water and crackling of what turned out to be a tide of ice. It seemed that, just like the wyvern, the sudden addition of truly powerful magic to his arsenal was just too much not to give into, and as she watched, it felt like the entire floor’s worth of water started rioting and crackling, as fist and then even body sized chunks seemed to be forced into existence and then thrown around, slamming into other aquatic hailstones like somebody shaking a jar of pebbles, an unusual memory but one Aby found surprisingly fitting.

Where before the floor resembled a serene garden, snow gently falling towards the ceiling after it formed on the corals below, now it seemed like a furious blizzard intent on turning that very snow to razor sharp weapons or blunt rocks and turning that very coral to rubble. And then it stopped, not suddenly, but the thrum in the air simply disappeared as Arctuross’ dominion over the floor ceased to be. Aby and Sela both could see the visible exhaustion and near palpable satisfaction on the dragonkin’s face and body, and the core was acutely aware of just how glad he was to finally feel powerful, and even if he couldn’t keep his hold over that much mana for too long it was still plenty, especially if he chose to fight without turning cubic kilometers of water into a whirlpool of rampaging ice, even if most of that storm wasn’t his actual magic.

Still, what he had shown off was impressive enough. Despite not having the control nor the strength of will to really sustain pumping that much mana into his surroundings, when he was in control, he was wielding a surprising amount, both from draining his now vastly improved mana pool and using that to take control of the environmental mana. Aby quickly realized that Arctuross was playing around with about as much mana as the wyvern would use during his own fights, although he was much, much flashier with it. Most of the wyvern’s magic was focused entirely on strengthening and enhancing his body, after all, and it was barely under his control to begin with. Arctuross managed to be both vastly more in control, using that mana in a crude, spur-of-the-moment spell instead of an innate and unconscious ability, and much more wasteful, having used most of his mana either to show off, or oddly enough, to pump into his companion through the bond the two shared.

It seemed he knew what he was doing, though, as just moments before drifting into a light sleep from the mental strain, the second interesting message of the night came into being. 

Congratulations! Your creature “Greater Frosted Moray” has fulfilled a hidden condition(s), allowing it to undergo a special evolution!

Conditions fulfilled: Bound to a creature of moderately awakened draconic bloodline, Consume blood with a draconic bloodline

Creator titles: Randomizer, Invasive, Adaptive, Ambitious

Tame Titles: One-of-a-Kind Pairing

Special Evolution Available:

Hoarfrost Knucker

A  rarely seen creature, Knuckers are a degenerate descendant of an already  lesser known branch of dragons: The Wurm. Serpentine and physically weak,   Wurms frequently clash not only with any other member of the Draconic line,   but also with members of the Royal Serpentine line as well, despite having   vastly weaker bodies than either. Their true strength comes from their tremendous   innate skill with magic, often dwarfing other lineages of already talented   Dragons and Serpents. Knuckers, whilst not as gifted as their ancestors, nor   as intelligent, are a sizable threat in their own right.

Despite being longer than Arctuross’ own introduction, Aby couldn’t help but notice that the eel’s own was distinctly more vague, although what it did share was both interesting and valuable, although it only served to raise more questions about how wurms differed from the rest of their kin, and more importantly, why everything with a bloodline seemed to be so hostile to anything different.

Questions, however, were not enough to stop the core from taking an obvious increase to its strength, especially one which tied in so nicely with the dragonkin’s own boost in magical capability. Accepting the evolution, the restless eel finally grew still, bathing her surroundings in a vividly esoteric glow. Almost immediately, Aby realized that the eel’s transformation would be every bit as major as Arctuross’ wasn’t.

Almost immediately, her body started stretching longer, the three meters of blue scaled muscle stretching out like putty, becoming a healthy five. What didn’t happen, however, was any more growth of that muscle, and in fact, her body actively grew thinner, smaller, lither as it lengthened. The fin on her back faded away too, old battle scars becoming little more than a memory. The thin scales she had changed shape, instead of resembling a fishes’ scales they now started to look like a snake’s, and would almost certainly feel that way, too.

While that happened, the entire shape of her skull started changing, becoming more reptilian with much more definition to her features. Eyes that were once on either side of her head moved forward, and her second pair of jaws fused to the first, leaving two rows of dangerously sharp teeth. As all this was ongoing, her color began shifting, taking a light purple hue rather than blue, and even that swiftly began darkening. In the end, her sides and back were a bright violet, her belly a much more subdued lilac, with a few mottled patches of blue remaining. A few thin filaments sprouted like seaweed from either side of her snout, waving softly in the water as it settled down.

It was then that she, too, opened her eyes. However, unlike her partner, her first course of action wasn't to test the limits of her magic, or the floor's sturdiness. Instead, she looked around for a moment until she saw the limply drifting dragonkin, still sleeping off the exhaustion he'd brought on himself through the very liberal use of mana and the mental strain it entails.

Then, she made her way over, her five meter long form moving with much more grace than she'd ever had as a mere eel, and curled up beside him to wait, and to rest.