We had a most enjoyable dinner. I couldn’t be happier at the time. Turned out that normal people’s food was far superior to eating random creatures that I’d killed, especially centipede.

For real, screw centipedes.

Cellestra quickly did the dishes after dinner before I cast the physical barrier several times while she used her spell to track my mana flows. She seemed to give up hope after having me cast it several times to observe. The elf didn’t even try to cast it on her own.

It took many tries, and some encouragement from my side to try to get her to attempt it. She didn’t get far, but there was a start she said. It was enough to keep her interested in trying to learn this odd way of casting spells.

We continued until my mana ran out after which she threw a glance at the window. The sun had set a while ago and it was completely dark outside.

“It’s late,” She said before yawning. “Don’t know about you, but I should get some sleep.”

I had to admit I was at least somewhat tired too. It was odd since I was positive I’d been out for a couple of hours when I evolved.

Cellestra extinguished the candles before making her way over to her bedroom, her small flame leading the way. I followed behind her as she kept the door open for me, indicating she expected me to go with her.

I wouldn’t object. At my new size, the table would probably be even more uncomfortable than it had been.

It was still interesting how she allowed a strange creature such as me to sleep in her room. Not that I wasn’t thankful for her kindness…

She wished me goodnight, to which I replied with a simple wave of one of my legs before the flame in her hand died down and she dove in her bed.

I spread my legs out on the pillow and decided to ask my blessing a few more questions before I would try to sleep.

Elysa, I noticed the evolution points I receive for completing achievements have gone up. Is that because of the fact they are supposed to be harder to complete, or because of me advancing to the next evolution?

Both.

That was it? Just one word? I guess it answered my question, though.

I should have asked this earlier. This information meant that technically, it would be better to wait until after evolutions to pick up easier to complete achievements as they would have higher rewards for the same amount of work.

However…

If I delayed getting evolution points too much, I would be sacrificing strength. That idea didn’t sit well with me.

I also have a question about this venom bolt ability. I haven’t tried it yet, but you said it was piercing, right? To what degree does it pierce? The spell itself doesn’t have any ranks.

The piercing effect, as well as the potency of the venom bolt, are both based on the rank of the venom that is used.

I see.

One of the reasons I had picked this green evolution over the rainbow one was because of the fact that I would be able to upgrade my spell ranks one additional level.

Come to think of it, wouldn’t it be better to just keep picking the green evolution path for as long as possible? It would continually increase the rank of each spell’s maximum by one level.

Warning.

Your next evolution will be the last chance to pick a Special Evolution path. If one isn’t taken, they will not be offered again.

Holy crap, Elysa. Thanks for the warning.

I had almost made a grave mistake.

Why did this warning show up anyway? I never asked this blessing a question regarding this. Was it because I was simply thinking about it?

In any case, I had to pick the rainbow evolution path.

Why, though? Was there a maximum number of evolutions I could go through?

Affirmative.

That was a bit of a shocker, but I imagined I couldn’t just grow endlessly.

Elysa, could you tell me more about this rainbow evolution path? How many evolutions could I go through within the special path that it unlocks?

Cannot confirm at this time.

Oof.

This wasn’t going to be easy, was it?

When can I know?

After selecting the evolution path itself, the options will become known through Elysa’s insight.

Okay. I wouldn’t lose anything there. I was going to select that evolution path either way.

If there was a maximum number of evolutions I could go through, that would also mean there was a maximum number of evolution points that I could easily observe from achievements that were bound to those evolutions.

That was a bummer.

Cannot confirm at this time.

What?

Why did that message pop up again? Elysa what the hell is going on?

Incorrect assumption. Cannot provide full information at this time.

I was left scratching my head, metaphorically, of course. I had the feeling this blessing was trying to tell me something. It was as if it was trying to reassure me…

I didn’t know how to put it…

It was definitely going to need checking again after hitting my next evolution. It appeared there was quite some information that would become available after selecting it, and I intended to find out what, and why.

I still wondered if it had been a good move for me to pick the green evolution this time around. Now that I had found out that this paralytic venom had a separate reserve from my normal venom, I was more confident of my decision. There was also the part that I’d gotten a new spell. Moreover, this would have been the last time that I could pick the green evolution option.

I decided to check what skills would have been available if I’d picked the purple evolution for the third time. I did receive extra spells when I selected it the second time, after all.

The evolution options for ‘Large Purple Resica’ were:

Improved Healing Light

Improved Magic Resistance

Advanced Magic Resistance

Strong Magic Resistance

Very Strong Magic Resistance

Strong Spider Thread

Very Strong Spider Thread

Advanced Physical Barrier

Advanced Magical Barrier

I felt relieved knowing that there were no new spells. It had been a bit of a gamble, but it had paid off in the end.

I think.

I had yet to see how effective this paralytic venom was. If I could combine it with venom bolt and do something as simple as slow down larger targets, it would already be invaluable. It would make for an easier time hitting with my other spells.

I would have some answers tomorrow when it was time to find new prey. I would probably start the day practicing some spells with Cellestra and have her throw a fireball at me so I could get that achievement. I would level up a bunch of skills and then take on a wolf.

I wanted to know how much experience they would give as well. I couldn’t imagine it would be a small amount.

For now, I would sleep.

At times like these, I wished I could close my eyes. It annoyed me slightly, but I found myself drifting off to sleep soon enough.

____________________________________________________________________________

I woke up in the middle of the night. At least I think it was the middle of the night, as I still saw Cellestra’s figure in the bed next to me.

But something was wrong.

She was moving restlessly, and I heard sounds coming from her pillow.

Despite the darkness, I could see well enough to stand up and skitter over to the bed. I then climbed on to see what the noise was. This type of noise sounded way too familiar to me…

It was as I had expected.

I could see the elf with her face down in the pillow, and from the sound of it, she was sobbing quietly.

Why?

My heart ached. She didn’t deserve to cry. What was wrong? Did she have a nightmare?

I slowly moved to her head. I didn’t think she noticed me, as she didn’t react. I did what my heart told me to do and cast healing light on her head, hoping it would help whatever ailed her.

Cellestra seemed to react with shock at first, but I then saw her relax her muscles once more. She turned her head to face me.

“Kealyna...” She whispered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Crap… How was I going to ask what was wrong?

I didn’t know… I simply cast another healing light to try to comfort her, my knightly instinct taking over.

“Thanks, Kealyna,” Cellestra whispered again. “I’ll be fine. I’m sorry about this…Don’t worry too much, okay?”

I didn’t know if she could see me properly, but I moved my pedipalps up and down as a nod.

The elf closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. I saw her rub her eyes and apologize once more.

I skittered back to the pillow and was left confused as to what happened. I thought about what had just happened, trying to understand. Despite all that, I fell back asleep quite quickly.