Chapter 55

After grabbing lunch with JJ, which did include the deliciously soft sugar cookies, they made their way towards the old Laser Tag building that sat nearby. They’d had a few different parties there through the years, but it was mostly forgotten, and almost always empty. This was no different, and it provided a perfect place for some secrecy.

“Alright, I’ll give you the quick and easy on this.” JJ said, indicating for Henry to pull out his phone. The Demon Hunter motioned towards the D.E.D. behind Henry as he continued.

“D.E.D. have different requirements when it comes to their evolution. Some, require just a certain level to be reached. Others, require a special time of day, or a bond with whoever they’ve pacted with, and so on.”

“Yeah, I’m not stupid.” Henry said. “My Drakeling just required level 25. The Storm Crow, was something else.”

“Level 25 and a certain degree of a bond with their person. They’re, uh, temperamental usually, so won’t evolve until they actually feel confident in whoever they’re with. So, go you.” At JJ’s statement Henry glanced back to his Storm Crow, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. The bird looked away.

“Anyways. Once those parameters have been met, you can choose to evolve them.” JJ said, a wry look on his face at the exchange.

“I was thinking it would be instant.”

“Nah. D.E.D. actually have different evolution paths, as well as certain level requirements when it comes to fusion. Their evolution has to be triggered. Authorized, so to say, by the person they’ve pacted.”

Hurry up with this. Henry’s Bladed Drakeling barked in his mind. You know my goal. Put me one step closer to it. Ever since he’d bonded with the Bladed Drakeling, its goal had been to become a Greater Drake. Which, after some looking into, he knew was the third evolution of the Drakelings.

“So, in theory, if I don’t evolve them now, they could evolve into something stronger later on?” Henry asked, doing his best to ignore the Drakeling for now, even though his question caused it to growl loudly in his mind.

“Depends on the D.E.D. But, considering your organization always rushes power, there’s not as many notes on such things.” He chuckled as he flipped through the app on his own phone. “It’s so convenient of them to provide this database for free, you know.”

Henry was well aware the Demon Hunters and the Exorcists had no love for each other. And if he had to guess, that meant their data wasn’t ever shared either. Still, Henry knew he had access to more detailed information thanks to his status as an Exorcist than normal players did. But, he wouldn’t put it past JJ to find some way to circumnavigate that.

“Alright then. Any reason not to evolve these two right now?” Jewel had been pushing him to reach level 25 and evolve his Drakeling, and the D.E.D. wanted that as well, so it was a given. But he didn’t want to screw up on his Storm Crow.

“I mean. If you want to keep your power level low. Sure. After all, evolving them is going to up their rarity. Which means they will take more essence to keep out. But they’ll be a helluva lot stronger man. That is, if you can spare the D.E.D. points.”

“I can definitely spare the points.” Henry said without thinking. At that, JJ’s eyebrow rose a bit. It dropped quickly, but it was apparent his best friend was rather interested in how powerful Henry was. Considering how quickly he’d okayed jumping from two level 25 Uncommons, to two level 25 Rares, it was probably pretty clear he had a decent pool of D.E.D. points.

“Okie dokie then.” JJ leaned against one of the light posts in the parking lot. “Go ahead and select their evolution process and let’s kick this party off.”

“Here goes nothing.” Henry selected the option as he spoke for his Bladed Drakeling.

Evolve Bladed Drakeling (Earth Type) Level 25 Y/N?

Evolution will lead to Blade Drake (Earth Type) Level 25

Henry confirmed by scanning his thumb on the appropriate option. Immediately after, his screen shifted to that strange, green pentagram, and a high pitched, albeit he knew silent sound to those without resonation, erupted from it. The Bladed Drakeling’s form began to glow, and Henry saw essence swirling around himself, flowing into the creature.

Finally. The Drakeling growled as its form became pure energy. More and more essence flowed from Henry into it, the other D.E.D. around it moving further away from the Drakeling as it continued to grow. What used to be the size of a small dog, swirled and shifted.

The glowing energy began to move outwards from the Drakelings original form, its limbs thickening, its frame widening, and all of it, just overall, growing much larger. After what had to be at least of a minute of this, the glowing began to subside, giving way to flesh and bone, revealing the new form of his D.E.D. The Blade Drake, as the system had denoted it, stood roughly the size of a horse, though its length, from tail to head, had to be at least 10 feet.

All over the Blade Drake’s body, deep emerald scales glistened, and Henry could tell they were thicker and harder than the ones that had covered the Drakeling’s body. Atop its face, a blade like horn had grown from atop its scaley nose, and two additional horns had elongated from the back of its head. Down the creature’s back, large spikes protruded, growing smaller in size as they made their way down its powerful frame, all the way towards its tail. There, what had been a simple, scorpion like tail with a blade, now rested a massive, double-bladed appendage, more akin to a battle axe. And yet, the tip of the tail was a roughly foot long spike, meaning the creature could now not only stab, but also chop and slice.

It’s claws and teeth had also grown larger and sharper, and from each of its limbs, the start of blade like fins seemed to have grown. Or, that’s all Henry could really link them to. The were like tail fins on a plane, jutting out and upwards, giving the Drake even more ways to inflict damage on its enemies.

Behold, my new glory. The Blade Drake said in Henry’s mind. The voice hadn’t changed much, but it seemed to reverberate a little more within Henry’s mind, the extra power present. Henry glanced at his phone, eager to check its stats, and found a few screens waiting for him.

Congratulations, your Bladed Drakeling has Evolved into a Blade Drake.

Compare stats? Y/N

Henry selected yes.

Previous

Bladed Drakeling (Uncommon)

Earth Type

Level 25

HP: 150

MP: 66

D.E.D. Cost: 92

Current

Blade Drake (Rare)

Earth Type

Level 25

HP: 310

MP: 136

D.E.D.: Cost: 150

Skills Upgraded

Skills Gained

Passive Acquired

Henry blinked a few times as he read over the changes. By evolving, his Blade Drake had just over doubled its health and mana. Sure, it now cost a decent chunk more with regards to his D.E.D. points, but still, it was a great trade off. Even more importantly, the skill upgrades, skills gained, and passive, whatever that was, were likely to increase its abilities even more. He’d not realized how great a difference evolving his Drakeling would actually cause. And yet, he would be lying if he wasn’t ecstatic about it. Additionally, it made him even more eager to level it up, and see what the stat changes would be like for the next evolution. As it stood, his Blade Drake actually had more HP than his Chimera, though the Chimera still had more MP than his Blade Drake. Likely to do with their capabilities and types.

“What’s a passive?” He asked JJ, who was eyeing his Blade Drake appraisingly. While he asked, he doubled checked his D.E.D. points in use, to confirm he could, indeed, evolve his Storm Crow.

“Same as they are in most games and such. D.E.D. have the ability to unlock latent abilities each time they evolve. It’s a toss up whether or not it happens, but since you’re asking, I’m going to assume this big boy here just unlocked one, yeah?” JJ’s eyes flashed with interest.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Which one?” JJ pressed.

He looked through the data, skimming past the upgraded and new skills, to the passive. All it had under that tab, was a name. Nothing else.

“Reactive Scales?” You would have thought he’d slapped JJ by the look on his best friend’s face. JJ stepped back instantly from the Blade Drake, the D.E.D. grinning smugly in his direction.

“Seriously?”

“No, I pulled it out of my ass.” Henry said dryly. “I don’t know what these are. How would I make one up?”

“Right, right.” JJ licked his lips. “Man, you’ve no idea how jealous I am. I’ve only seen mention of that passive, once. And it was with regards to a freaking Acid Dragon.”

“Putting the mention of Acid Dragons aside,” Henry said, considering he’d never heard of that as a D.E.D. option, “what’s it do?”

“It means every time something physically strikes your Blade Drake, it’s scales will release a toxic mist around it. A mist that will weaken the D.E.D. attacking it and has a chance to inflict a rather nasty poison on them as well.”

“Oh.” Alright, that did sound pretty badass. “Well then.”

“You uh, wanna trade him to me?” JJ said, only half joking. “I promise I won’t rip you off.”

Henry shook his head. There was no way he was letting go of his Blade Drake. Sure, it was abrasive to him at times, but it had been the first wild D.E.D. to pact with him. No way was he letting him go.

“Worth a shot.” JJ said, deflating. “Alright, next one.” He pointed towards the Storm Crow. “Show me what your thunder chicken there turns into.”

Henry chuckled at the indignant sound that came from his Storm Crow at that statement, as well as the electrical blast that shot towards JJ. Of course, the Demon Hunter didn’t even flinch, and the electricity was stopped by some invisible force before it reached JJ, further highlighting JJ’s hidden power. He selected the option, though as he did, he frowned.

Evolve Storm Crow (Lightning Type) Level 25 Y/N?

Evolution will lead to ??? Level 25

“The system doesn’t have a name for what it will evolve into.” Henry said, staring at the screen blankly.

“Yup. Criteria linked D.E.D. Evolve based on their own kind of parameters. Meaning it’s a toss-up. Storm Crows have two or three different possibilities for their low-level evolution, if I remember correctly.” He shrugged. “It’s been a while.”

“Oh, well then, here goes nothing.” He selected the option and held his breath. Just what, exactly, would it become?