The sight that greeted Michael and Hazel was, for one thing, very much not child friendly. It is important to note that the souls influence on evolution is paramount. When a skill evolves it takes its cue from the soul, evolving in a direction matches the desires of the soul. When undergoing a racial evolution the soul gives its influence as well, meaning that evolution to an entirely different race is highly unlikely. In Jellys case the influence of the Soul bond and the origins of its nascent Soul led it to evolve in a massively different direction to the norm.

Without the guidance of a Soul evolution of a normal Gelidreynard would follow the path of least resistance and evolve into either an Elite Gelidreynard or the rarer Elnigelid, depending on the strength and purity of the Natural Treasures it had eaten.

A normal Gelidreynard evolving from a treasure as pure and powerful as the Source of Frost would skip over the Elite Gelidreynard option, snub the pitiful Elnigelid evolution and proceed directly to the Fuyu Kitsune, the ultimate in ice attributed fox type racial evolution. The Fuyu Kitsune has near limitless magical abilities that only grow over time. For a Fuyu Kitsune, all that is needed to become a Tier 6 powerhouse is time.

As previously stated, however, Jelly is not a normal Gelidreynard. The presence of a soul, and more importantly the origins of said soul, took the expected evolution and went sideways. When Jelly emerged from the cocoon of ice he took three steps, an impressive amount all considering, before stumbling and crashing to the ground. When Michael and Hazel arrived they found the former Gelidreynard trying and failing to get the hang of its new bipedal body.

In a real life parallel of the classic Pinocchio story Jelly had become a ‘real’ boy, a Demi-Human of the Gelidreynard persuasion. Jelly stood, or will stand once he gets he hang of it, at 5 foot 9 with distinct icy blue eyes and sharp angular features. Despite being ‘born’ on American soil the newly evolved demi-human had a decidedly Japanese look about him, pale skin bordering on anemic with large eyes that had a slight downwards slant. His hair was a mess of snowy white fur with two fox ears poking up from the top of his head. That, along with the fluffy white fox tail poking out behind him, gave evidence of his unique origins. His physique was lean and, rather unfortunately, on full display.

Michael could tell that the naked man in the center of the cocoon shards was Jelly due to the bond between them but the sudden and quite explicit of a naked man threw him for a loop. Michael froze for a second before leaping on top of Hazel and covering her innocent eyes.

“Umm, Jelly?” The naked man turned at the sound of Michaels voice.

“Mecklell?” Jelly tried to speak but the words were garbled by the unfamiliar mouth. Unable to communicate phonetically, Jelly used the bond. [Human! What have you done to me?]

“Me? You’re the one flashing your goods at my sort of daughter.” Michael said bemusedly.

[What goods? Never mind that, why am I a human? What did you do?!] Jelly asked, confusion and anger mixing with the strange feelings originating from his new body into a massive whirlwind of emotions that threatened to overwhelm the normally indifferent man-fox

“Okay, calm down. First let’s get you some clothes. Hazels not even a year old and you’ve already flashed her. If you don’t put something on people will talk.” Michael walked over to the newly minted Demi-Human and pulled some spare clothes out of his inventory, after making sure Hazel had first turned. Getting the former Gelidreynard to put on clothes was frustrating and embarrassing, for the both of them, but eventually a fully clothed Jelly stood in front of Michael.

“Now that I have put on these ‘clothes’, will you please tell me what has happened?” Jelly asked, having gotten used to the shape of his new mouth.

Michael sighed. “After you took in the Source of Frost you got wrapped up in a cocoon of ice.” He gestured to the chunks of frigid ice that Hooters was steadily working its way through. “When we left the room Hel’s representative found us an offered us a quest to protect the giant egg you’d become from a hoard of monsters. After we finished killing the hordes we came back only to find that you’d somehow become an exhibitionist in the brief time you were alone.” Michael feigned a disapproving look. “I’m afraid I have no idea why you’ve become a Demi-Human. To be honest, I was betting you’d become something like a Kitsune or a Fenrir.”

“I believe that I can clear up the confusion.” Hel’s angel said, from right behind Michael.

Despite the suddenness of the angels appearance Michael failed to jump or react in any other way other than calmly turning around to face it. The angel raised an eyebrow at his lack of reaction and Michael shrugged and said “Yeah, you played that trick twice now, you really thin it would work a third time? So, what happened?”

A flash of annoyance passed through the angel but it paid no more attention to the human, instead it turned to Jelly. “Greetings. I have been informed by this paltry annoyance” “____ you too” “that the name given to you is Jelly. Is there another name you wish to be known by?”

Jelly thought for a moment but ultimately shook his head. “No, Jelly is fine.”

The angel frowned for a second but accepted it. “Very well then, Jelly. My purpose here is twofold, to provide an explanation as to your current circumstances and to offer you an opportunity. As to your current situation, it is both simple and astoundingly unusual. Through the intervention of this foolish and unkempt human you gained a nascent soul. When you underwent the transformation from the pure Source of Frost that nascent soul steered the direction of your evolution towards that of a Demi-Human. Do you have any questions?”

Jelly blinked, trying to get his head around the revelation but it was Michael that asked a question. “You're saying that I somehow gave Jelly a soul? How? Also, unkempt? Really?”

The angel flashed him a look of annoyance before speaking to Jelly. “Monsters such as Gelidreynards are created from pure Mana with some guidance from the System. At the moment of creation they lack a soul and so the System gives them a simulacrum of a soul, forever designating them as Monsters. Somehow, this human took that simulacrum and transformed it into an actual soul, albeit a nascent soul usually only found in infants still in the womb. When you underwent the transformation that nascent soul not only grew into a fully-fledged soul, it also transformed you into a Demi-Human capable of utilizing the System.”

“Now we come to the offer. My goddess Hel is a goddess of both Ice and Death and, due to my presence within this Dungeon, has taken note of your unique circumstances. As a creature of Pure Ice Hel would like to offer you training within the Isaz Sect, a sect under Hels domain specializing in Ice. At the end of the 6 months of training you will undergo a trial and, if you pass, you will become a full disciple under Estrungar, who is himself a disciple of Hel herself. This is an opportunity that you may never receive again, I urge you to take it. I will give you until the Einvaldskonungrs demise to decide. For now I must leave, my presence here has already reached its limit and I must not dally here any longer.” With that, the ice cold angel vanished, as if she was never there in the first place.

“You know what?” Michael said. “I think she likes me.”

His attempt to lighten the mood fell flat, though Hazel did find some enjoyment in smacking him round the head.

Seeing Jelly still with a distant look on his face, Michael pressed on. “So, a sect under a goddess and the grand disciple of said goddess, not bad. You going to take it?”

The question seemed to finally reach Jelly as he looked up and into Michaels eyes. “I do not know. With everything that has happened I am finding it difficult to process. The new body is one thing, but to discover that I am now free of the Systems restraint, that I have an actual soul, is another. Before I had no real understanding of what I was lacking, yet now that I have it …”

“I would like to thank you. Even though it was not your purpose, you have given me something that I had been unknowingly craving since my birth. For that you have my deepest gratitude.”

Michael brushed off Jellys thanks with a wave. “As far as I know I did literally nothing and even if I did, that’s what teammates are for.”

Rather than continuing on with the dungeon the trio decided to take a break and prepare themselves. Both Michael and Hazel had received rewards from the quests and Jelly, as a newly systemized Demi-Human, had quite a lot of information to look through. Hooters on the other hand, left the group as soon as it had finished the remains of the cocoon. Despite initiating the partnership it was not in the habit of befriending others and preferred to remain alone.

For Michael the rewards of the first quest had been nice but the increase affinities and resistances were not particularly interesting. The Hel’s approval patches however, were somewhat interesting.

Hel’s Approval

Tier 3, Rare Quality, Patch

An armor patch capable of being affixed to any piece of armor and granting the following effects:

Effect 1: 1% increased Ice Resistance.

Effect 2: 1% increased Mana Regen.

Effect 3: When three or more patches are attached to the same piece of armor, passively regenerate 1 durability an hour.

The patches were really nice additions, increasing Ice resistance and Mana Regen without having to wear another piece of equipment. The third effect was the real breadwinner though, a passive repair was absolutely perfect, and certainly worthy of adding a goddesses name to the item. Michael immediately added three patches to his Jazerant. The jacket was an excellent piece of equipment and was already missing a few points of durability from the fight.

Moving on, Michael searched through his menus to find the reward from the last quest, Hel’s Blessing. Since it wasn’t in his inventory, he had of assume it was an effect of some sort. After a bit of searching he found it by pulling up a Blessings sheet, in the same manner as he pulled up his Status. It somewhat annoyed him, he knew that men were famed for not reading instructions, but he would still have liked some. Especially since Hel’s blessing was, surprisingly, not the only one currently listed.

Chrishers Blessing (A/N Crisher is based off Saint Christopher, the patron saint of Adventure)

As one who walks the path of Adventure, you are a child after Crisher’s own heart. You will find interesting events with a far greater frequency than ever before. May your adventure be ever entertaining.

Hels Blessing

You have saved one favored by Hel and proven yourself a steadfast ally. The ice you create will be as steadfast as you are. May you continue to defend those under Hel’s domain.

That explained a lot, Michael thought, he’d certainly had an interesting journey so far. He assumed he had gotten Crishers blessing when he was first Systemized and simply hadn’t received a notification. Hel’s blessing was as nice as it was obscure. He assumed it would make defensive spells like Glacial Wall stronger, but he had no idea if it would affect any of his other ice spells. Still, he’d have a fun time experimenting.

Michael took a quick peek at Hazels Status. For Michael, the increase in ice affinity didn’t mean much. His ice spells came stronger and quicker but the effects were basically negligible. His Wizard Arrows ice aspect didn’t count as the base spell was neutral and Chilling Touch didn’t benefit as he almost never used outside of Spell Arsenal, at which point he was technically casting Spell Arsenal, not Chilling Touch.

Hazel on the other hand, benefitted massively from the increase in affinity. The quest rewards boosted her affinity to 30% and netted her a brand-new spell, Swirling Snowstorm. The spell covered a ten meter circle up to 50 meters away in a swirling mini-blizzard that dealt constant ice damage to everything inside for a whole minute. When Michael had seen the swirling snowfall during their ‘keep Jelly safe’ fight he had at first thought it was the helpful Hooters busting out another spell until Hazel informed him otherwise.

Compared to Michael and Hazel, Jelly had the biggest changes. As a sapient, sentient Demi-Human he immediately gained access to the system, at which point everything changed for him. Despite his Tier 3 race, dozens of Tier1,2 and 3 spells and the sort of attributes that would easily place him at the apex of Tier 3, he was still considered a Tier 1 being by the system. As a Monster all his considerable attributes and skills could be considered to be ones he gained through ‘training’.

As this was the case, Jelly was quite possibly the most terrifying T1L1 (Tier 1 Level 1) being on the planet and possibly the galaxy. He might have gained achievements such as Chosen One or Godly Beginner if it wasn’t for annoyingly powerful beings giving birth to annoyingly powerful babies who start life with dozens in each attribute and innate abilities that could kill the average human with distressing ease. Jelly still gained several achievements though.

It took Jelly a while to get accustomed to everything, at least to the point he could continue. He’d managed to learn the basics, walking and talking, pretty quickly but it would still take him months to fully get used to the new boy, and that was only thanks to his high Perception. Perception allowed not only external senses to increase but also internal senses. Those with a high Perception would have a better understanding of their bodies and, to a small extent, their minds.

Once Jelly felt able to continue the group moved on. They didn’t talk about Jelly’s offer but the elephant was very much in the room, and it was pink. The elephant, not the room. No hypothetical elephant would be caught dead in a pink room, even if they were pink themselves. Metaphorical elephants have a very refined sense of taste and hated pink wallpaper.

The first fight was, unfortunately, against a Dreki. Against Hazel and Michaels advice Jelly joined them. It was in no way prepared to fight the ambush monster but believed that the danger would jolt him into action, sink or swim style. To be fair, his idea did work, just not well enough. The first, and only, arrow that the Dreki managed to fire caught Jelly in the gut three tenths of a second before his Glacial Wall sprang into existence. It was fortunate that with Michael and Hazel both having injury solving healing spells a giant arrow to the gut was barely an inconvenience.

The trio went through four more rooms, Jelly getting quicker and more fluid, before they emptied the 100th room. As they left the room and returned to the hallway they were shocked to find that all the doors lining the hallway had disappeared and that, for the first time since they entered the dungeon, the hallway had an end, two of them in fact. Rather than a seemingly endless stretch of doors the hallway now stretched for a mere twenty meters. At one end lay the entrance door, still marked by the X Michael carved, and at the other end of the hallway lay a gleaming pair of double doors with enough embedded jewels, gold filigree and elegant flourishes to make the Queen of England jealous.

Michael walked up to the double doors and noticed that, despite their ornate finery, the doors lacked handles. Shrugging, he put a hand on one of the doors, ready to push it open, when a notification popped up asking if they were ready to face the Vitr Einvaldskonungr. After a quick glance at the eager Hazel and the stoic Jelly, Michael said yes.