I’m disappointed.

My first audition. I did my best and executed everything I learned from my instructors, but the scouts weren’t perfectly happy about me.

The other contestants were better. They moved much smoother and their voices carried a powerful impact during their performances.

“It’s ok to cry, honey. Failure is all part of becoming the best, so learn from the ones who were better and become better yourself.”

“*sniff* Ja, Papa.”

My Papa is right! There are more chances! If Papa believes in me, then I will become an Idol!

I’m sad.

Three more auditions. Three more rejections.

I’m losing my trust in myself. Am I doing something wrong? I’m working hard and, and I’m listening to everybody! I’m taking their criticism well! That’s a good part, right?!

Everything went exactly how I planned it. I know nothing went wrong.

“Oh, how about we write a song together, honey? Traditional singers write their own songs, so let’s do it together!”

“That might work, Mama! I’ll sit on the piano!”

But…all the other contestants did their own cover of songs. Will an original song really be the deciding part?

I must invent the choreography myself, and from what the heard, my dancing isn’t anything special. It’s average.

Shouldn’t I choose a song with an easier but proven choreography, so I can concentrate on singing?

I…I’m frustrated…

Nein. Nein. Nein.

Why…Why?!

“*sobbing* Mama, why?! Why can’t I do it?!”

“I-It’s ok, honey. It’s ok, you’re doing well. Mama and Papa will always be proud of your effort.”

“You are doing your best to make your dream come true. That is enough to make us proud, honey. We believe in you.”

“*sob* But…b-but I’m not good…”

“Hush my little baby…It will be alright.”

Mama. Papa. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. Please don’t be worried. Please don’t be sad. I don’t want to see you sad. I don’t want to keep disappointing you. I don’t want to be a failure!

I’m…I-I’m…I’m alright.

There is always a next time. I just have to get better.

“Are you alright, honey?”

“Yup, I am, Mama. I just have to get better next time. Anyways, how about we cook something good for Papa tonight?”

…Why does it feel so hazy. Why can’t I see her face? Was she sad? Angry? Disappointed? What was she feeling back then?!

Urgh, why can’t I remember?

“Honey, are you sad?”

“What? Nein! Look at this smile, Mama. Does this look like something I can do, when I’m sad about it? Another failure won’t disturb me anymore.”

I want to cry. I just want to cry again.

But I couldn’t.

Mama and Papa. They worry about me too much. Crying makes them sad. Crying reminds me that I still haven’t achieved anything yet.

Crying makes me remember that I’m not good enough.

Mama and Papa have become successful. We are rich ‘cause both of them were talented, awesome and cool enough to make it to something.

We are all living so well, ‘cause they were good enough to impress people. Good enough to be famous. Good enough to earn all this…money.

Tell me.

What have I achieved?

********************

…

Urgh…

Dazed. Groggy. Huuuuungry.

Why did I have to dream about that?

Talk about a terrible morning. Well, I suppose it is morning, but it could also be nighttime. Everything is pitch black.

How long did I sleep?

I wonder how I can see at all in this cave. Oh, wait I remember, this is [Night Vision]. I did it whimsically, but I’m glad I bought it when System Voice advertised it. It makes being in this cave a bit bearable.

I also…remember that I left the choice of what I evolve into to System Voice, or more like, was in the middle of the choice. Uhh, I didn’t say yes, so did I just waste the time needed to evolve by being asleep?

It can’t be helped.

Choosing an evolution, when I’m not clearheaded, sounds like a bad idea. Those garms showed me that my current strength isn’t enough to survive. Bottom of the food chain, heh.

Pure luck brought me into that precarious situation, but it also helped me out of it. I don’t know what to say, but I really shouldn’t rely on it being generous to me again. Murphy’s Law spits on my good luck.

Let’s first look at my current status, before choosing an evolution.

Profile.

Spoiler: Spoiler Profile: Name: * Level: 0 Race: Young Spark Fire Dragon Age: 1 Month Status: Health: 245/245 (+65) Mana: 687/687 (+137) Strength: 155 (+40) Intelligence: 141 (+54) Vitality: 106 (+37) Wisdom: 111 (+28) Agility: 303 (+58) Stamina: 163/163 (+49) Effects: [Hunger (Moderate)] Skill Points: 1700 (+50) Unique SKill:

[Spark Fire Dragon Lv. 1] (New)

Skill:

[Mana Control Lv. 4]

[Holy Magic Lv. 6]

[Fire Magic Lv. 3]

[Earth Magic Lv. 3]

[Space-Time Magic Lv. 2]

[Primal Magics]

[Stealth Lv. 5]

[Identify Lv. 6] (+2)

[Prediction Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 7] (+1)

[Enhanced Olfactory Sense Lv. 1]

[Night Vision Lv. 1] (New)

[Evasion Lv. 3]

[Acrobatic Lv. 1] (New)

[Mana Strike Lv. 3]

[Enhanced Claws Lv. 4] (+1)

[Enhanced Fangs Lv. 3] (+1)

[Cooking Lv. 5]

[Dismantle Lv. 4]

[Parallel Thoughts Lv. 1] (New)

[Physical Resistance Lv. 4] (+1)

[Pain Resistance Lv. 4] (+1)

[Holy Resistance Lv. 3]

[Fire Resistance Lv. 3]

[Earth Resistance Lv. 3]

[Wind Resistance Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Health Growth Lv. 2] (+1)

[Enhanced Mana Growth Lv. 3] (+1)

[Enhanced Strength Growth Lv. 2] (+1)

[Enhanced Intelligence Growth Lv. 3] (+1)

[Enhanced Vitality Growth Lv. 1] (New)

[Enhanced Wisdom Growth Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 3] (+1)

[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 1]

Ability List:

[Flame Blast]

Spell List:

[Minor Heal] [Cure] [Modest Heal] [Smite] [Light] [Holy Protection]

[Fire] [Firebolt] [Imbue Fire]

[Earth Wall] [Rock Blast] [Earth Strike]

[Haste] [Storage Magic]

[Shine]

Titles: [The Light] [Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] [Otherworldly Reincarnator]

…What?

Hold on, I evolved!? When did I do that!? Was I that delirious, that I forgot choosing it?! This is…urgh, whatever. I just got a headache from overreacting like that, probably a side effect from the mana stress. Or maybe it’s ‘cause I just woke up? Sigh, I can’t deal with this shit when it’s so early.

Is this what a hangover feels like?

Let’s make sure to manage our mana a bit better in the future. Nothing good will come from exhausting my most powerful resource. It would leave me too vulnerable and I don’t want to experience that headache anytime soon again.

Well, back to the whole evolving situation. I don’t think fretting about making the choice to evolve is that bad anyways, especially the amount of change this evolution has given me regarding my status and skills.

My stats are now all over 100 and my mana is creeping towards the 1000 point. I guess choosing to train and expand my mana capacity is gonna pay off. This power-up is amazing. [Young Spark Fire Dragon], I don’t remember this option when I saw the evolution list, so is this a secret evolution choice that I unlocked somehow?

Young Spark Fire Dragon An immature, mutant fire dragon that specializes in explosive fire attacks. Focusing on attack and speed enables it to take down higher ranked monsters due to its high offensive focused status balance. Defensive growths are mediocre to compensate. Rank E

Sounds like a glass cannon. Come to think of it, how do I look?

I hesitated for a bit but ended up casting [Light] to produce a source of light. My body still remembered the pain when I casted under the effects of [Mana Stress], so it can’t be helped.

Looking at myself, I’m now a dragon about the size of a medium-sized dog. Color, shape, and form are exactly the same from the last evolution.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t have any changes. Besides my size, the most prominent parts that have changed would be my scales and feet.

My scales felt hard but smooth before evolving, but they seem to be rough now. Scutes, similar to the ones from crocodiles, are growing over my whole body. I guess this can be considered protective armor?

My feet, on the other hand, are now incredibly rough, covered with something like a shell or carapace. Even my claws evolved into a more sickle-like form, that I would describe as sharp, dangerous and rough.

What do I mean with rough? Well, if I slowly push my claws against each other, it feels like I’m scratching stone. It even began heating up after scratching it enough. Something tells me that claw maintenance will be an issue.

The last change is inside my mouth. My teeth and fangs have grown incredibly stronger and larger. Looks like biting and slashing stuff will be even easier now.

I still don’t have any spikes or bone plates, so my coolness level isn’t up there yet. I still feel satisfied with my new body, mind you.

With my appearance description done, let’s go back to the abilities of this body. A mutant version of the normal evolution tree must be overpowered for the effort it took to unlock it, even if I don’t have the slightest clue how.

The speed from this evolution is exactly what I need to escape from things at the level of those garms. High power is needed to take control over a battle by making your opponent wary of you. Speed is needed to react to your opponent’s attacks.

It is the perfect evolution for an underdog, like me, to fight with. Besides, even without being an underdog, blasting things away with oppressive firepower sounds exciting~

Anyways, besides the evolution, there seems to be a bunch of other new stuff in my profile. I'll look over all of it while making some breakfast.

I don’t think I can figure this out with an empty stomach.

Spark Fire Dragon A skill that unleashes the power of the Spark Fire Dragon. Compared to a normal Fire Dragon; the abilities of a Spark Fire Dragon are focused around high powered but mana intensive fire breaths Spark Fire Dragon breakpoint Level 3 breakthrough requirement: Expend a certain amount of stamina and mana by using [Spark Fire Dragon] abilities. Next Level Upgrade Cost: 50 SP

********************

Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Spark Fire Dragon Lv. 1] evolved into [Spark Fire Dragon Lv. 2]. 1650 SP remaining Ability gained: [Spark Claws]

So, I'm planning to make some steak again. This meat, however, is kobold. In my past life, I would have been reluctant to eat meat from dogs. Seeing as kobolds are two-legged dogs, it takes a bit of self-persuading to start cooking it. I mean, I did promise I wouldn’t be wasteful with the meat.

Turning the kobold furs into a campfire, grilling the meat with a pinch of [Belzac Herb Seed] is all I needed to transform the slightly smelly meat, into an aroma filled delicacy. Yup, if it weren’t kobold meat, I would be craving for even more than one piece.

While that is cooking, I could review everything one more time.

The biggest difference before my evolution compared to now would be the fact that my skills and status have changed drastically. The skill most worth talking about would be [Identify]. Leveling up twice, once through usage and once through evolving, has given the ability to reveal a new secret behind System Voice. That would be these:

Upgrade Cost The cost needed to level up a skill Breakpoint The power “Wall” that will appear, when the skill reaches that specific level. It cannot be overcome without fulfilling the requirement or by a different method Break Requirement The requirement needed to overcome the breakpoint

There appears to be a [Skill Upgrade System] using Skill Points as a cost. If we go back to the unique skill, I’ve gotten by evolving into a [Young Spark Fire Dragon].

Unique Skill Rare or powerful skills not commonly found Spark Fire Dragon A skill that unleashes the power of the Spark Fire Dragon. Compared to a normal Fire Dragon; the abilities of a Spark Fire Dragon are focused around high powered but mana intensive fire breaths Spark Fire Dragon breakpoint Level 3 breakthrough requirement: Expend a certain amount of stamina and mana by using [Spark Fire Dragon] abilities. Next Level Upgrade Cost: 50 SP

And try to upgrade it.

Do you wish to upgrade [Spark Fire Dragon Lv. 2] for 50 SP?

Ja.

Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Spark Fire Dragon Lv. 2] evolved into [Spark Fire Dragon Lv. 3]. 1600 SP remaining Ability gained: [Spark Flames]

“Holy crap” was what I thought when I tried it for the first time. You thought my hidden evolution choice was OP?

Think again!

Isn’t it more obvious to call the ability to upgrade skills, absolutely overpowered? I liked to remind you that some of my skills, specifically my magic and resistance skills, were not able to grow after reaching level three.

The explanation for this is that every skill has a [Breakpoint] and [Breakpoint Requirement] that prevents you from advancing. However, by using a few SP, you can overcome this without any problems, especially convenient considering all of these requirements are tedious, making the [Skill Upgrade System] a literal time saver.

Take [Spark Fire Dragon] for an example. Why does it not tell me how much mana and stamina I need to spend to break through the limiter? Not only is it vague but it seems like such a chore, compared to spending a few SP.

Watch.

Do you wish to upgrade [Fire Magic Lv. 3] for 100 SP?

Ja~

Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Fire Magic Lv. 3] evolved into [Fire Magic Lv. 4]. 1500 SP remaining Magic gained: [Fire Ball]>

By paying one level worth of SP, I would have avoided wasting all that time back then.

Also, there is another reason why this should be deemed cheat-like. That is the issue of exclusivity.

What is needed to upgrade skills? Skill Points. How do you get the [Skill Upgrade System] to appear in your Profile?

With [Otherworldly Reincarnator].

Otherworldly Reincarnator A title granted to a soul who has reincarnated with memories from its previous life. Enables the Skill Point function

It is not freely available. ‘Cause it’s exclusive, I have a huge advantage. Gaining skills and leveling them up is far too easy for me with the [Skill Shop] and [Skill Upgrade System]. Getting rare skills, like the status growth skills, and being able to level them up freely without a time investment, besides leveling up, makes it easy peasy to become stronger.

Now, due to this revelation, I needed to reflect on my previous usage of SP.

I decided to prioritize the effort to gain and upgrade skills without using SP. Regarding the SP, they are now reserved for bypassing the [Breakpoint Requirement]. Of course, I’m also willing to spend the SP on buying rare skills, like [Humanize], and leveling up useful but hard to level up skills.

-sizzle-

Mhmm, it’s finished.

Let’s eat.

-chomp, chew, chew, gulp-

Tastes a bit like…beef?

On that day, I ate most of the kobolds without realizing it.

_____________________________________________________