Which one I should choose?

I did not consider the two obvious Imp paths as better alternatives were available. However, the problem was both the better alternatives were just too good to pass up. Dream Weaver and Two-Tailed Kitsune, no matter how I look at it, both were rare evolution paths. I fell into a serious dilemma.

The Two-Tailed Kitsune held a better allure to me with its ‘Shapeshift’ skill. I longed to be a human again and this “Shapeshift” was the key to it. At the same time, I couldn’t ignore the benefits of being a Dream Weaver, especially the Nightmarish body passive. That thing could make me immune to all physical and magical attacks while a target was under my spell, no doubt one of the best escaping tools. Although I am not sure about how far this nightmare was effective to the orcs and goblins.

Second thing I noticed was the path laid out before me if I chose the Kitsune. Although it was subtle, I noticed the description of race hinted that the ultimate evolution of this path was a ‘nine-tailed demon fox’, which was a mythical animal. I have had a few impressions of this animal, which was very famous in the land of the rising sun.

After thinking for a long while, I thought of choosing the Dream Weaver path. There were a few things that compelled me to do so, not only it was a hidden race of Imps, but also its abilities, passive and active, and status buffs would be great for the future. Since I’ve decided to follow the path of magic, forgoing the fox, for now, wasn’t a bad choice. Besides, now that I understood the mechanism behind the Evolution Tree, I wasn’t afraid of not getting a better option in the future.

‘I chose Infant Dream Weaver’ I thought in my head while concentrating on the third option. The option blinked golden suddenly.

You have chosen Infant Dream Weaver as your Evolution Path. The following changes will occur…

INT +10 and WIS +5 Learn skill Nightmare Manifest Learn passive Nightmarish Body Since the race you have chosen is a hidden race of Imps, all your pre-existing skills gained a level.

Please find a secluded place to rest. You will be forced to sleep for five hours as you evolve. The time starts now…

That’s all the warning I got before my mind went blank as I hit with a sudden sense of drowsiness, which I couldn’t fight against.

…

I woke up exactly after five hours and noticed the countdown timer hit zero the moment I opened my eyes. No change happened to my vision; I could still see the red and yellow as an effect of Infrared Vision. When I lifted my hands to observe my body, that’s when I noticed the change. My skin had gone from brown filled with creases to pitch black, resembling tar. I also had longer nails than I remembered having.

I also lost the beer belly and gained a flat stomach. My legs become longer than what I remembered with only three toes on each foot. The skin, however, had become slippery with a leather-like exterior. Oh yeah, there was another change occurred, I gained a tail. It was thin but long and leathery with a pointy end. Looking at it, I remembered all the images of the so-called devils I had seen on books. They too possess a similar pointy tail.

A sign perhaps!?

Shaking my head and smiling bitterly, I opened the status menu hovering to the corner of my eye and looked at the changes.

Name: Alex Race: Infant Dream Weaver

HP: 40/40 MP: 50/50 (Regen: 0.5 MP/min)

STR: 3 AGI: 2 INT: 20 WIS: 10

Evolution Points: 10/100 (?)

Passive 1: Nightmarish Body (!)

Skills: Infrared Vision (Lv 2), Cast Illusion (Lv 3.03), Nightmare Manifest (Lv 0)

Now this made my day. The improvements were fully visible. Something about seeing them in numbers was just too good to describe in words. Nonetheless, I was very happy with my progress. A few seconds after this, I noticed my blunder, which I have overlooked before. The skill I gained evolving to a Dream Weaver costs 50 MP and my full MP was also 50… it was a rookie mistake. In my excitement, I overlooked this little hitch.

Yet… what’s done can’t be undone. I will have to make do with what I have for now. At least until I increase my MP. Good thing was that I know the way to do just that. Having experimented on different things, I discovered everything about how the system works. Increasing MP wouldn’t be as hard with a skill that consumes my whole MP pool at once.

I tried to stand up and discovered my head touching the roof of the hole. This means my size was bigger than when I was a mere Imp. I cleared my throat and formed a few words but sadly, I couldn’t talk still. Although the scratchy voice became smoother, the volume increased by several decibels. I came out of the hole and saw the woman and Logier sitting at two opposite sides and having a staring contest among each other.

“You are… what? You evolved?” Logier wanted to say something but stopped when he noticed my change. I was surprised to be honest; he didn’t show much of a reaction other than his initial outburst, which led me to think that perhaps evolving is very common among monsterdom. The human woman too didn’t show much of a reaction other than her eyes widening a bit. Probably she knew a lot more about my current species and seen them before.

“I did thanks to your help” indeed it’s because of Logier I was able to achieve this feat faster than my expectations. And I was sure my next evolution will be faster than before. For now, all I have to do was to accumulate enough EPs. I had 10 and I need a total of 100 points, 90 more points before clearing the criteria of next evolution.

I am a step closer to achieve my revenge.

Setting aside the far away goal, I looked at the green-haired person and signalled her with my hands on mouth, if she ate anything. Having made this clear, she understood my meaning and showed a little surprised expression. Then she smiled and nodded while pointing towards a bag tied on her waist.

So she had something in there, after all, no need for me to worry about her for the time being.

Logier looked sluggish and lazy, perhaps he just returned from his hunt. He also looked ready to fall asleep any minute. Initially, I wanted to take him to hunt but looking at such an orc, I gave up. I will let him sleep I guess. In the meantime, I could use this chance to hone my escaping and fighting skills solo.

Walking through the hallway, I arrived at the corner that acted as the gateway to the goblin territory. My leathery dark body was an excellent absorber of light. Due to it, I was able to fully meld with the darkness of the hallway. A large heap of green bodies gathered in heap to a corner, that Logier he really had his time while I was undergoing the evolution.

However, I was even more surprised about the goblins’ silence. This didn’t make sense even more. Form what I saw before Logier’s arrival, the goblins were a very vindictive bunch. Just because I killed one of them, they searched for me everywhere for a few days. But, logier had already killed so many of their brethren, why are they still keeping quite?

Something seriously not right here.

I quickly spotted a lone goblin moving around. My first instinct upon discovering it was to use my newly learned Nightmare Manifest. I barely suppressed the desire. Although I couldn’t wait to use the skill and learn its secrets, my full MP was only 50 and the skill costs 50 MP to cast… not the best thing to do when in enemy territory.

Therefore, I used Cast illusion on it.

It seems I have forgotten to mention it, let me tell you then, after the skill reached level 3, though not much of a change occurred to it or any new features unlocked, all the existing ones upgraded to another level. For example, I can cast the skill for 1.5 MP now instead of 2 MP. Please don’t look down on this 0.5 reduction. I could now cast 4 times at the same price as three casts of before.

My control over the ‘illusion realm’ the place a target’s consciousness seemingly goes when affected by the skill increased to another level. Now I could synchronize it with the real world a little, making the illusion even more realistic. This way, it gave me the ability to control the target remotely for a short period.

[For the next 11 minutes it will be under the effect of Cast Illusion]

[-1.5 MP]

Eleven minutes huh! Looks like I discovered another thing about the skill. Earlier I thought this might be the case but now I confirmed it. The duration of the skill is directly proportional to the WIS difference between the target and me. When I was just a mere baby Imp, my WIS used to be 1, the same time the juvenile goblin’s WIS was also 1. Therefore, I was able to cast the skill and keep it in effect for two minutes only. Later when I met with those buffed up tattooed goblins, the effect decreased to 1 minute and 45 seconds, meaning the time reduced by 15 seconds.

Why?

Why did this happen?

After thinking about it a lot, I theorized that perhaps it was dependent on the WIS or INT. I crossed out INT soon as my own surpassed ten. My only suspicion left was WIS and now I confirmed it. With each digit difference between our WIS, an extra minute added to the initial two. My WIS was ten whereas the goblin’s WIS was 1… a whole 9 points of deference. When added to the two initial minutes, no doubt the skill will effect last for 11 minutes.

The goblin instantly fell into the ‘illusion realm’ where I appeared before it. It was startled at first then screeched at me and ran towards me with its pole. It then started to beat me with it. In the real world, the goblin was actually beating a dead corpse on the ground while screeching and screaming. I noted that this skill was absolutely lethal to those who have a lesser WIS and INT than me.

I sneaked behind it, then penetrated my nailed fingers into its greenish soft neck, and was then surprised to feel no resistance from the goblin even though a sharp pain was inflicted upon it. Since I already know even if they die, creatures with lower WIS than I, couldn’t break out of the illusion, no surprise there when the goblin didn’t even flinch. What surprised me however was the feeling of ‘zero resistance’ when I penetrated my nail… it was as if I am inserting my finger into a well-kneaded dough rather than a flesh and bone skin.

How come?

[You have killed a Juvenile Goblin and gained 2 EP]

It died a few seconds after my finger went into its neck. I looked at my leathery nails dripping with bluish-green goblin blood, trying to make sense of what happened just now. Was it the power of 3 STR I wondered. Or was there something else at play that I wasn’t aware of?

As surprised as I was since I achieved what I set out for, I hastily made a retreat before other goblins noticed me. Giving the green-haired woman who was sleeping to the corner and Logier a look each, I went into the hole.

Taking a deep breath, I started…

[You have cast Nightmare Manifest]

[-50 MP]

That’s all I was able to see before my vision swam as I fell down face-first to the ground.