The Malfae once again stared at the [Species: Insect] and read the description.

Ting.

[Species allows for different evolution pathways to manifest. Current evolution path: Insect.]

‘Current…’ The creature tilted its head. This word perplexed the creature. It had been repeatedly implied by the system that a change in species was possible. Even this notification had implied it so. But how to achieve this change had not been implied even once.

The creature cracked its neck and its eyes fell on the cocoon left behind after its evolution. It frowned. 'Don't I gain a Level after eating it?'

Ting.

[You have consumed The Gift.]

Ting.

[You have levelled Up! The level up bonus of +3 HP and +3 MP granted.]

The Malfae grinned and stretched its newfound body. The act caused a few joints to pop and the sound felt almost cathartic to the creature’s ears as the creature lost itself in sensation. ‘She had enjoyed this act, hadn’t she? I can see why.’

As it thought about her, it invariably thought about its own rebirth and as it tracked the time using its Status and its own lifespan as calendar, it surmised that more than an entire year had passed since its rebirth. ‘Should I wish myself a happy birthday?’

The creature thought for a moment. It knew of the concept of celebration from her memories and it knew that she had celebrated her birthdays. But the creature didn’t see any rhyme or reason for doing so itself, except for following in her footsteps. And the creature had no intention of doing that.

Hence, the creature dismissed the thought with the shake of its head. But, at that moment, its eyes to fall on the eggs that it had birthed. 'Hmm? Just what will come out of these things? Most likely another Malfae…’

The Malfae sighed. It had no interest in being a babysitter. After all, it had been barely surviving on its own. If it had to care for another creature too, the Malfoy wasn’t sure if the other being would survive. Thus, the Malfae dismissed this thought too. ‘If this creature becomes too bothersome, then it may as well give me some experience.’

The creature took a deep breath in and closed its eyes. Its mind wandered to the problem that had kept it inside its shelter since its evolution. Its evolution. Or the lack of it. 'So how do I go about solving it, when I do not know about it?'

This was the main issue for the creature. It had too little knowledge. And it wasn’t like it could just go and ask someone. For it was an immortal and immortals didn’t have the support of civilizations. Each immortal overcame their problems in their own way.

Thus, the thought of seeking guidance didn’t even arise in the creature’s mind. This thought was so alien to immortals that if immortals had a language, then that language would not even have a word for guide or guide. But immortals were immortals and languages were the need for civilizations. Thus, immortals could never develop a language of their own.

It was against their very nature. And this was another thing that the creature had sacrificed for its magic. In the long list of things that the creature had lost, this was just the third. Not that the creature would have minded it too much. As it was, the creature summoned its Status.

Name: Unnamed

Race: Immortal

Species: Insect

Vessel: Malfae

Level: 2

HP: 356/356 MP: 256/256

HPR: 21 HP/Day MPR: 11 MP/H

Lifespan: 7 Years

Titles

[Reincarnated] [Survivor]

Skills

[Crawl Lv.5] [Drone Eggs Lv.5] [Flight Lv.6] [Mana Manipulation Lv.1] [Malfae Shield Lv.1] [Moulting Lv.4] [Night Vision Lv.5] [Pain Resistance Lv.5] [Poison Resistance Lv.9] [Sense Lv.3] [Sense Essence Lv.2] [Survive Lv.3] [Venom Creation Lv.6]

The Malfae studied its Status again and called upon the description of its Species once again.

Ting.

[Species allows for different evolution pathways to manifest. Current evolution path: Insect.]

The creature thought for a moment before it focused on 'the current evolution path'.

Ting.

[Evolution paths are a result of Species. They are either granted by Titles or by Skills that turn a creature completely into another creature.]

'Aha! It worked!’ The creature almost jumped in excitement. ‘Hmm. As far as I know, Titles are granted by the Will of the World but I don't know what causes their generation.'

The creature’s hairless brows scrunched up in thought before it focused on Titles.

Ting.

[Title is a label awarded by the Will of the World to the living beings, for performing specific tasks or for meeting certain specifications.]

This information the creature already knew. Hence, it focused on the “Title” within the notification.

Ting.

[Titles either grant a Skill or affects the behaviour of the bearer. Titles need not always have a positive effect.]

The Malfae scowled. Even though there was extra information available to it now, it was nothing that it hadn’t already known. It had been through the effects by the Title [Hungry] after all. It was quite intimate with its effects. With the route through Titles busted, the creature summoned the window for the “Evolution path” again.

Ting.

[Evolution paths are a result of Species. They are either granted by Titles or by Skills that turn a creature completely into another creature.]

‘What does it mean by, “turn a creature completely into another creature”?' The Malfae frowned and turned to the list of its Skills. ‘Do I have any skill that could turn me completely into another being…?’

The creature’s eyes lit up.

‘Well, yes.’

But it was not the Skill per se. It was just a skill. But that skill was not the creature’s own skill. It had been hers. She had been a Curse Mage, after all. A manipulator of the essence of one and all. And even though she hadn’t been a particularly strong one, she had had to develop this skill to successfully walk down this path. After all, this was the first thing that every Curse Mage learnt.

This skill was the transformation of the essence.

The essence was something that pervaded everything, every creature and every being. It was formed through the condensation of mana as it passed through an object or creature, called a vessel. This condensed mana was different from the MP generated by the creatures, for its state was different and could not be used by the living beings directly. For it had become Essence and was no longer Mana.

The essence was an interesting phenomenon. When it condensed, the essence took the shape of the vessel that it had manifested in. This shape was not only a perfect replica but it also represented the vessel in its entirety; magical and physical properties included.

But that was not all. Any change in the vessel changed the form of the Essence and any change in the Essence, changed the vessel. This effect of one, on the other, was not only mutual but also in real-time. As a result, Essence was something vastly personal and at the same time an extreme vulnerability against those that could manipulate it.

These properties of Essence led to the creation of an entire branch of magic based on it, interestingly, called the Curse Magic and not Essence Magic. Curse Mages used this Essence for their magic. They did not use Essence as a fuel for magic, for Essence could not be used so. They used their magic to work on Essence to mould it and shape it.

And as Essence was the essence of its vessel, any change in it affected the vessel itself. As a result, a Curse Mage could change a person’s Essence and cripple them beyond any healing. And if a Curse Mage was powerful enough, they could change a mortal into a beast, a woman into a man and a mountain into a tree.

However, how could manipulating Essence be an easy feat?

For the mortals that wished to pursue this path had to have [Wisdom], [Will] and [Spirit], at the very least, along with an extremely high level of [Mana Manipulation] to be able to do so. For even though Essence was formed from mana, it was not mana. Thus, to be able to manipulate the Essence of the world, one must first be able to manipulate their own Essence. And this was where Essence transformation came in.

Essence transformation allowed an acolyte, who was on the Curse path, to learn Essence manipulation, somewhat safely. It required the acolyte to transform their own Essence into an animal and then turn it back into their own. Though, this animal could not be just any animal that an acolyte would choose on their own. This animal had to be the one that manifested within their ego and the one that represented the acolyte’s true self, lest they be stuck as the animal forever.

This animal form was called the Ego form. And at this moment of need, it was this transformation of the essence and this Ego form that had given the creature hope. If the Malfae could manage Essence transformation, then the creature should reasonably be granted another Species.

‘‘Should’ being the keyword.’ The creature sighed. The creature did not know if this method would succeed. And if this method failed to give the Malfae a second Species, then the creature feared it wouldn’t have enough time to even try for another method.

After all, even she had taken a decade to achieve Essence transformation, while the Malfae was still stuck on the beginning stages of [Mana Manipulation]. And if not for her, the creature feared it wouldn’t even have received the Skill, given its own less than stellar aptitude. Thus, even if the hope was slim for the Malfae, it was still better than utter hopelessness.

The creature sighed somewhat in relief. Finally, it had an idea about how to achieve what it was looking for. It had finally found something that might lead it back to the road of evolution. Thus, with a small smile, it closed its eyes and began to meditate.

Small bits and pieces of recollections came floating back to the creature, as it dug deeper and deeper into her memories. The pieces remained suspended as the Malfae searched her memories, however, the memories it had received were not an exact copy of hers. They were frayed, unstructured and had lost quite a bit of fragment in the war between the two Egos.

Thus, it was no surprise that it took the blue creature, quite some time, to finally condense its search into one packet of knowledge. When it did achieve though, the creature emerged with a gleeful smile. However, all was not done yet and the winged creature began going through the information that it had collected.

From what it had found about the process, the method required the Malfae to immerse itself within itself. It asked the Malfae to be in touch with its own mana, as being in touch with mana removed any outward binding, any worldly attachments and allowed the creature to view itself in its most primal forms of instincts and memories.

After all, these were what constituted an Ego.

Ego.

What an interesting thing it was, with even more interesting components.

Its first component was instincts. Instincts were something that every being reacted based on. It was because of these instincts that different people reacted differently. They were the reason why no two people were the same. It was because no two sets of instincts were the same.

And these instincts originated from one’s Vessels.

Memories on the other hand were at work when people made decisions, for decisions are based on experiences, which are retained in memories. These memories are, in turn, are a domain of souls; one of the most mysterious and forbidden things to ever have existed.

Thus, an Ego was the interaction between instincts and memories. Or better to say, an Ego was the result of interaction between a Soul and a Vessel. As a result, both instincts and memories were represented in the Ego, through different means. Mana formed an entire realm to soothe the memories and the instincts and the individual as a whole.

In this serene realm, memories formed a semi-corporeal shape of the Ego’s body, to represent the bearer and its desires. While instincts, on the other hand, condensed to manifest as the primal animal that represented bearer and its reactions.

Now, even though the beast was the representation of the Vessel’s instincts, it also contained within itself the aspects of the memories and the mana. This beast was thus the Ego form. It was a magical being's Ego laid bare.

It was due to this fact that the traversal of Ego was limited to only the high-level magical creatures, both mortals and immortals. Those that didn’t have enough Mana weren’t even capable of manifesting this serene realm.

As the creature continued to process the memories, it frowned at the next bit.

For a beast to represent the Ego, it would have to have its own magic. It had to be so because the magical being that it represented had magic. Such was also the case because the beast formed within the Ego, contained within it, the mana of the magical being.

It couldn't, not be magical in nature.

This, in general, caused a problem. The beast's magic needed to be merged with the Ego's inherent magic. This was a risk as it may lead to the beast's primal magic overwhelming the Ego’s magic, causing a creature to be lost in its own mind, leaving it comatose.

It was this risk, besides the incredible requirements, that had always deterred the masses from following the path of the Curse Mage.

The memory ended and the creature returned to reality. It pondered over what it had gained and it was still lost in thought when it tried to move. The keyword here being ‘tried’ as the creature’s body refused. Its joints were stiff and muscles cramped.

The creature frowned and tried to stand up-

Thud. 'Ouch!'

-but its head hid the roof of the hideout. It seemed that while the creature had considered its size and had expanded the hideout just before evolution, it hadn't been enough.

The creature’s body protested as it steadied itself to stand again. Its legs were assaulted by the sensation of pins and needles and a strange weakness had breached its fingers. This weakness was akin to the weakness that affects the body when one wakes up. The creature struggled to control its body for quite a few moments. This struggle was a testament of the time that the creature had remained within the tree hollow since it had broken out of its cocoon.

The creature was finally able to control its body and make its way out of the tree hollow and when it did, it was the azure moon that had greeted the Malfae. Apparently, it was still a nocturnal creature.

The night startled the creature a bit but it was nothing next to the surprise that the temperature gave to the creature. For even though the Malfae had known that its evolution would take 4 months, it was the act of leaving its hideout that finally drove the point home.

When the creature had last been out, it had still been a moth and the temperature had been decreasing slowly but steadily. The trees had shed their leaves and the land had been painted in various colours of the leaves scattered all about. A chill had overcome the land that had instilled within the creature a sense of lethargy and exhaustion.

But now that it was once again out and about, it felt the distinct lack of cold. The weather was warm and the passing breeze left behind a sense of freshness and coolness, while the trees now sported fresh leaves that were either bright like the fire or the softest green.

The creature stood and stared. Knowing that the past 4 months had just gone by and watching the change with its own eyes proved to be 2 very different experiences to the creature and it left it disoriented. The Malfae felt like it had lost an entire portion of its life.

But that was not true of course. The creature had just been sleeping and had missed the end of fall and the entire winter.

The disorientation gradually wore off and the Malfae smiled bitterly. It knew the truth of course. That it had been merely sleeping. And it knew this sleep would haunt it often if it lived long enough. Thus, the creature could do nothing but make peace with it.

‘Tch. This is but a part of me now.’ It sighed and flew off. It had a new home to search for. As it flew, it realised that it didn’t feel hungry even though the creature hadn’t eaten anything but its own cocoon. The Malfae thought for a moment but decided against hunting. ‘That cocoon was oddly filling.’

Thus, the search for a new home continued but the creature couldn’t find anything that it liked. Any tree that it liked was too young to contain its new form comfortably while anything that could house its new form was already crowded.

As it discarded another tree, it frowned. ‘Now that I have hands, why don’t I make a home for myself? It would have to be made out of mud or wood but it still would be something that would resemble a house.’

As the Malfae pondered more and more on the idea, it liked it even more. That is until a thought crossed its mind and grimaced. ‘Tch. It would only last until the next evolution. If my size increased again, I would have to abandon it.’

The creature was right of course.

Once the creature evolved, its size could wary from anything to its current size to double or triple the present form. This would mean that it would have to consider some unknown size when it made its house if it wanted to live there for a long period of time. ‘How would I even do that?’

Malfae grimaced, again. Even if it decided to ignore the possible changes in size, it would have to put a lot of work to make something that it would have to leave behind sooner or later. The creature scowled. ‘What a waste.’

With the scowl still plastered in its creepy hairless face, the creature kept on searching for natural burrows or cavities in trees to live. But by the end of the night, it had nothing to show for all its hard work.

The creature returned to the tree hollow, that it had earlier abandoned, without so much as a second thought. If it had been a mortal, it would have been ashamed of coming back to the same place, despite no one there to observe, and would have searched for another place to rest for the day.

But the creature was not a mortal. It was an immortal. It had no sense of shame. This was just another sacrifice the creature had made for its magic.

The Malfae crawled back in the tree hollow and called up its Status as it used Survive to try and level it more. Immediately its HP of 356 decreased by 190 points and the creature blinked before it laughed. ‘This…I still can’t believe it!’

With that thought, the creature fell asleep.

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-