At least the test of our bootleg guild cards worked. They even ranked up Shraaizar! "Shraaizar, Kochurearc, we are returning now. Everything is fine and we have a new guest."

"We need to figure out what to do with Cloude," points Marcy.

"I don't think he will wake up so soon. Let's put him in an empty house. He won't be able to get out of this roll anyway. I called the goblins, they will keep watch over him. But gather everyone. I have something big to talk about."

I put Cloude in a room of an empty house. The goblins soon arrive and I set them on guard duty, "Do not poke or hurt the human. Call me if he wakes up."

After some time, everyone is gathered. Zahariel, Kochurearc, Shraaizar, Helen, Marcy and me.

"What is the problem, Grendel?" Asks Zahariel.

"I have everyone here because I need your help deciding one thing. I have hit the level cap and now there are several paths of evolution available. I need your help in deciding it.

Shraaizar leans on me and says, "How many choicesss are there, Grendel? I have evolved twice, I might be able to help." I see. This is why she is a tier 4 naga.

Let me open the list again.

Evolution Options [tier 3] Accounting Troll [tier 4] Troll Berserker [tier 3] Aquatic Troll [tier 4] Ice Troll [tier 3] Jungle Troll [tier 4] Jotun [tier 3] Ettin Mage [tier 4] Troll Shaman [tier 3] Rock Troll [tier 4] Gemstone Troll [tier 3] Love Troll [tier 4] Troll Colossus [tier 3] Swamp Troll [tier 4] Shadow Troll [tier 3] Half-Troll Half-Elf [tier 4] Chaos Troll [tier 4] Cave Troll [tier 5] Troll King [tier 4] High Troll [tier 5] Half-Dragon Half-Troll [tier 4] Night Troll [tier 5] Qliphoth Dimensional Troll [tier 4] Troll Knight [tier 6] Troll Demigod

I count and answer, "Twenty-four." The naga flinches.

"Forget overseeing each choice. Jussst pick the highest tier one and be done with it. I've never heard of someone with twenty-four evolution choicesss. It is preposterous. I know evolution pathsss dependsss on one's achievementsss and abilitiesss, but even for someone asss absurd as Grendel, it isss too much."

Shraaizar fun facts. The more flustered she is, the more she hisses in her speech.

"If I pick one evolution, do I get locked out of the others? Is there something like an evolution tree?"

"You cannot go down a tier, but you can change racesss as you sssee fit. You are only locked out if you lose sssome requirement."

Zahariel joins in, "Excuse me, but what is the highest tier one?"

"Troll Demigod." the seraph's eyes sparkle. Literally.

He answers with a badly hidden mischievous smile, "Shraaizar is right, pick the highest tier one and be done with it."

"No way. To begin with, is this evolution thing instantaneous?"

Again the experienced Naga answers, "No. It takes some time, depending on how deep are the changesss. Mine took sixteen days to evolve into a tier four."

I face the teenage angel and ask, "And an evolution into demigod would take how long, smart ass?"

"No idea. But it shouldn't be longer than a century or two..." He looks away. This brat!

"Impossible. And I know why you want me to take it. I won't rebuild a pantheon for this world. This one is gone. twenty-three to go. Here, let me write them down."

I knew this last entry was a honeypot. Yeah, becoming a demigod in this messed up world. Shouldering the burdens of everything and the complaints of everyone. Not for me. Between my musings, I finish transcribing the list into a parchment. With the 24th option already struck out.

"This looks like an index entry for a bestiary on trolls. Half of these I've never even heard about," says Marcy.

"I will strike out all the thematic choices. Aquatic, Jungle, Rock, Cave, Night, Ice, Gemstone, Shadow, Chaos. Ettin mage is also out. I don't want to have two heads. Jotun, berserker, and knight are also out. Colossus sounds too big, every 'king' type monster is also bigger than normal, almost twice or more. I don't want to get bigger right now. Six.

Helen seems interested in an entry, "What is a 'love troll'?"

Marcy thinks for a while and answers, "They are small trolls, a little bigger than a person, they have rocky hides covered with moss and can disguise as boulders. Legends say that when someone with a love issue visits a love troll grove, the love trolls gather around the person, sing, dance for a whole night to summon their loved one and then throw the person and their lover in a soup cauldron."

"I can take out the other jokes about Earth media out then. Four serious choices to go."

[tier 3] Half-Troll Half-Elf [tier 4] Troll Shaman [tier 4] High Troll [tier 5] Half-Dragon Half-Troll

Zahariel looks at the options and says, "Half-elf sounds nice. But it is the lowest tier of the ones left. And you would still be shunned in society. Not an upgrade. Remove?"

Why do I have a half-elf evolution available? Was it because I ate Gronkirion the red-haired half-elf orc prince?

"Maybe not. There is no evolution tree, and we already determined that skipping tiers is bad. So maybe picking a lower tier to build up is a good choice. Shraaizar, do we get skills for the new evolution?"

"Yesss. After working at the guild for these few days and reading the material Marcy gave me, I don't see much difference between Monssster Races and Jobs."

It is like monsters were made to go on a serial path and people on a branching one. I get three times and half the amount of Exp people normally do, and the titles only pile up. If I go against a hundred foes, it triples once again. If they are human there is another 50% bonus. If I bump up tiers now, I will miss out on some nice skills and probably can find myself down a funnel where there won't be much choice. So it is a bad choice to skip the lower tiers so fast. At least for me.

Marcy points out, "A high version of a monster is usually improved and stronger. Basically the same monster with higher specs. I've never heard of a troll shaman, but it probably has access to some racial magic. Some other 'mage' versions of monsters do have them. I've seen goblin mages and kobold mages on a trip I made to the west with Master."

Kochurearc asks Helen to translate the remaining options and says, "Lord Grendel, of course, you should go and harness the power of dragons. Or become a King. Become a mighty ruler that can bring the world under your iron fist."

No iron fists for me. Either on the giving or the receiving sides, please. Back to the point. "Shraaizar, what happens during an evolution? I just sleep?"

"You should go through physical changes. It will take more time the more radical the changes are. When you wake up, you won't be in the same body as before. It takes nine days for a tier 3 evolution, sixteen for a tier 4 and twenty-five for a tier 5."

It is the square of the tier then. This might affect the harvesting of troll materials for crafting. I might have to stockpile nails and horns in large quantities now. I tried harvesting the dragon wings' leather, but has the same problem as troll hide: they burn too easily. The wing's bones are also no good. They are not a real appendage, so they don't take the other skill's bonuses.

"And when you evolved into a crested naga you changed. How was the Shraaizar before evolution?"

"Just a normal, non-crested naga. my scales were a duller color too."

"And the options you had were?"

"Crested naga or venom-spitting naga."

"And you also didn't choose the one that spits venom..." I think somewhere in another fantasy world a pink bird cries for this lack of choice.

"But the choice might be there again next evolution. Maybe an even more gloriousss more venomousss naga type."

"But you have to cap the race again. Level sixty of a 4th tier is hard to obtain."

Marcy interrupts our conversation, "Why sixty? The cap for a 4th tier is seventy."

"I beg your pardon?" Isn't this just like World of War-cr... before the first expansion when the level cap was sixty across the board???

"The level cap depends on the tier. A 4th cap is seventy, a 5th's cap is eighty, and so on."

"Hold it. the cap for a 1st tier job is..."

"Level forty."

"Do you mean I was all this time 4 levels away from the villager cap?"

"Yes, but why would you want to hit the cap on Villager?"

"I got a new skill that becomes stronger when several jobs hit their caps. I gotta test it out. I will stockpile on troll materials for crafting during a few days and grind the levels of the lower tier jobs to the cap."

Helen frowns and enters scolding wife mode.

"That is not necessary. Just evolve. Honestly, how many hundreds of troll nails do you want to collect? And the horns that you almost never use? Even bleeding yourself out into jars to stockpile blood. I don't like you doing that to yourself. Tell me, how many of these do you have?"

"Hundreds of horns and probably ten thousand nails."

"Stop horsing around and evolve fast. If you take too long you will be asleep during the festival."

I made up my mind. Let me inspect the evolution I want in depth.

[tier 3] Half-Troll Half-Elf

An evolution where a troll awakens the latent elven blood in his veins, becoming a cross between an between an ordinary troll and elf. It gains the agility, magic affinity, night vision and nature bond the elves have.

"Fine. I'll go with the Half-Elf. It is a nine-day evolution and I won't lose any other choices. Grinding Exp for another evolution won't be harder than it is now."

Shraaizar comes and shares her insight, "Your statusss will take a dive, be warned."

We add a basement to one of the houses to work as an evolution chamber. And now, my first ever evolution. We set one straw mattress on the ground. I said it would not be necessary, but they insisted.

"Evolution, activate - Half-Elf Half-Troll!"

Initiating evolution into Half-Elf Half-Troll... Requirements met. 60 Agility. Stealth, Bow, two magic schools and Max MP Increase skill.

My body becomes heavy right after completing the command. It is hard to even keep the eyes open as my consciousness fades.

Evolution complete. Grendel has become a Half-Elf Half-Troll. Skill Woodland Stride awakened.

Allows full movement rate in natural forested or undergrowth areas. Increases stealth effectiveness by x 10% in these environments.

Skill Elven Grace awakened.

Increases Agility by x2% per level.

Skill Nature Sense awakened.

Increases detection rate by x 10% in natural forested or undergrowth areas. Allows presence detection to locate plants and non-monstrous animals.

Skill Magic Affinity awakened.

Increases MP multiplier by x 0.2

Skill Elven Senses awakened.

Increases vision and hearing accuracy by x 20%. Reduces penalties for sight under low light conditions by x 9%

Is it already over? Wouldn't it take nine days? I just blinked but boy how hungry I am. Wait. There is dust gathered around me. It seems they came to clean the room but didn't want to disturb me.

Title Elf Blood awarded. Those not of a purebred elven race that claim elven heritage. Grants a positive bonus to friendly social interaction with those of elven blood.

It seems the elves of this world don't discriminate against mixed-bloods. But I am hungry. Boy am I hungry. I am so hungry that my belly is gone and my limbs are thinner. Wow. Wish I had a mirror. I have some meat and stew in storage. Down it goes.

And this hunger is endless. I can swear I ate enough for ten meals. Coming up next System update: hunger bar. Mine should be negative.

Did I get elven ears? Seems so. They are longer and sharper. Also upright. I'd hate those sideways and droopy ears of anime elves. The horns are here, and so are the claws. But the tusks are gone. The teeth feel less jagged and more humanoid, and the skin is smoother. I think I am about a foot and half shorter too.

Nice. Now let's get out.

There are people outside waiting for me. Helen, Marcy, and Shraaizar.

"Wow, looking handsome! But these clothes are too baggy. You need new clothes, lover boy," Marcy seems to like this new form.

"Yes, and I need to get some levels. Fast."