“Okay. I’m going first, Keep an eye out and hopefully it won’t take long.” Thozronnath informed his congregated minions. “Gods I hope it doesn’t hurt as bad this time.” he muttered, before mentally nudging his connection to the world system. Thankfully his evolutions were no longer forced upon him by some unstoppable compulsion and he could wait and choose them. That first unwilling evolution had been the most painful by far. Plus, with the current pattern considered, it was entirely likely that his next evolution would also level [Progenitor of Sin] and grant the troop a new summoned minion.

An increase in quality and an increase in quality all at once. Win-Win again.

Evolution Confirmed!

Physical restructuring commencing.

It was disappointing that he’d not qualified for a variant evolution this time round, but not everything could be perfect. Though Thoz did secretly make a wish to stay in a humanoid form. It would be a lot more difficult to enjoy Prisaela’s company if he didn’t have the requisite hardware like this earliest form.

The energy of the evolution itself crashed over the anxious devil like a tidal wave, threatening to knock him off his feet as the process began. Far more painful this time than any memories Thoz had in his ancient life. Torture in the hells, both physical and psychological, did not compare. Every inch of his body, every nerve and muscle, simultaneously cried out in anguish and torment. His very perception of himself seemed to be lit ablaze, it was all he could manage to soften and stifle the screams. Hopefully no one would come checking in a city of thieves.

From the outside observation all his minions received, Thoz’s change was the most drastic he’d undergone so far. His body stretched dozens of extra centimeters until he stood just under three meters total. Easily nine foot four or greater. This was accompanied by only a minor change in weight, not nearly enough to compensate for the dramatic increase in volume. Instead Thozronnaths muscles, bones, blood and sinew were stretched and broken to fit a much larger frame now only moderately above two hundred kilograms. This made his new body uncanny and ganguly in it’s lithe form.

His hands and feet, already clawed, elongated even further now into talons and fingers that resemble tiny broken blades more than living appendages. His limbs that held these extremities were even more disgustingly warped. Each of them having an additional joint beyond the assumed three for humanoids, in some cases the extra folding in the opposite direction.

The skin that was stretched across his body became more thin and desiccated, now like a bleached paper. It was pale beyond death and incredibly fragile, at times making the contours of his muscle and bone visible on the surface.

Thankfully he kept a mostly humanoid face and humanity that wouldn’t change his mannerism too drastically. However perhaps the most jarring visible differences for anyone familiar with devils where relatively minor.

Thoz no longer had any cartilage for his nose, instead a broken opening as if it had been torn off. And his spine continued a few feet past his tail bone in a newly formed bone-only tail. The tail lacked any flesh, or an obvious barb or weapon, so it was more like an extra limb.

A flurry of system notifications accompanied this change, and the infernal creature could feel his stats shifting into place. It was hard to keep track of all the skills that had leveled up once or twice, but Thoz paid special attention to the notification of new skills.

Proficiency Gained!

Mundane Resistance is now level 1.

Natural Weapons is now level 1.

Fear Aura is now level 1.

Pestilent Breath is now level 1.

Congratulations! You are now a level 3 Plague Devil.

The flurry of new skills could be explored at a later date. Thoz quickly applied his [Shapeshifter] skill and found it could compensate for his additional size as he shrunk down to only slightly larger than average. His human male form had seen some minor changes as well, it now had far paler skin, less muscular definition, and had grown about six inches taller. It would be hard to recognize him as the same person, but he could make the argument surely. The face was still the same after all.

Thankfully he’d been wise enough to take off his newly acquired armor before undergoing the evolution. The set would only fit him while shapeshifted now, and even then it was a bit tight. Thoz might have to pay for some minor alterations, if that was possible at this point. Reverting to form would likely either cause him to bust out of his armor, or break several bones. Probably both.

Proficiency Gained!

Progenitor of Sin is now level 5.

Please choose a minion from the primordial sins:

Pride

Sloth

Wrath

Greed

Lust

Gluttony

Envy

That could be handled later.

“Alright. That was terrible. Zild you’re up next.” He commanded the slime. If Zildoxoxi understood, he had no way of communicating that, and merely wiggled in response. Unbeknownst to everyone else in the room, Zildoxoxi had qualified for not just a variant evolution, but two variations that had combined themselves via the system. If the gelatinous idiot was capable of reading, he likely would have been ecstatic over “Intelligent Black ooze - Regenerative”

The already purple slime didn’t see much change physically. In fact his fluid volume didn’t change at all. Instead, like a drop of ink into a body of water, his coloration began to darken and swirl outwards in tendrils of thick inky black. Presumably the change occurred immediately around his core and began spreading out. It took several minutes to change his entire body, perhaps due to compression not actually changing his internals? Either way, when he was finished the slime got a flurry of notifications just as his ‘father’ had. However, now he had far more understanding of them than before.

Proficiency Gained!

Adhesive is now level 1.

Enhanced Regeneration is now level 1.

Telepathy is now level 1.

Congratulations! You are now a level 2 Intelligent Black Ooze - Regenerative.

“Father? What does ‘Tele - pathee” mean?” Zildoxoxi thought up towards his master. He usually directed thoughts up towards dad, but very rarely did he get any answers since no one could hear him. It was okay though, Zildy was used to it and didn’t get upset.

This time though, Thozronnath Could hear him. Prompting a groan from the infernal leader at the question.

“Why the fuck does he think I’m his father?” Thozronnath silently questioned, skilled enough in his own [Telepathy] skill to avoid broadcasting the thought.

“It’s a good skill Zild, it lets me hear what you want me to hear when you use it. Maybe now we can actually have discussions some times” The devil lied. He had no intention of communicating with a barely sentient creature any more than he had to. It gave him flashbacks to being an imp.

“We can talk about it later though, okay? Prisaela is about to do her evolutions.” Thozronnath gave a signal to Prisaela as he spoke, hoping to put an end to the current matter until he was better prepared for the headaches.

“Good luck momma!” Zild offered, prompting a confused blush from the shapeshifter.

“Th-Thanks?” she murmured, now a bit on edge as she activated her own transformation.

Prisaela’s evolution in fact was significantly different to the other two. She was in the habit of keeping her [shapeshift] skill constantly on, and as soon as she’d accepted to evolve, the skill maxed. What followed was less like her body violently changing, and more like a very slow application of the skill in question. Her horrific doppelganger appearance slowly changed into that of a perfectly normal human woman. Her skin took on the warmth of a deep amber honey, long black hair cascading down from her head. Fingers and toes took on a subtle slender grace, and her limbs themselves with delicate yet ample curves. The shapeshifter's chest and hips strained slightly against an outfit now half a size too small, and as she took stock of herself it was almost impossible to distinguish her from a human. The only subtle difference was the presence of faintly slitted reptilian eyes. She did not have long to savor the change though.

Proficiency Gained!

Shifted Sight is now level 1.

Natural Illusionist is now level 3.

Draining Kiss is now level 1.

Charming Sway is now level 1.

Congratulations! You are now a level 20 Miragian.

Error. Level cap reached, secondary evolution commencing.

From there, her body’s proportions shifted to an almost unbelievable ratio, accentuating the idea of lustful perfection. Her dark hair lit up into a fiery red as her pale skin returned, and two small horns sprouted from the front of her forehead. Prisaela did retain the reptilian eyes, and the skin breaking as she grew new appendages only hurt slightly. As fingers extended into very faint claws, a faint ripping sound echoed around her. A stereotypical devilish tail tore its way out the back of her pants, the feeling of her nerves and spine extending into it tingled their way through her brain.

The most exciting party by far was the large leathery wings that unfolded their way out of her back. They did not hurt, in fact quite the opposite, the sudden rush of sensation almost made her moan.

Proficiency Gained!

Fire resistance is now level 1.

Telepathy is now level 2.

Charming voice is now level 1.

Draining love is now level 1

Congratulations! You are now a level 12 Succubus..

The change came to an end and the surge of experience from the previous night's combat seemingly not enough to hurl the woman through two evolutions. Though being closer to Zild in total levels did make her feel less useless.

Quickly shifting back into her previously established disguise, Prisaela let out a sigh. Her amber skin and dark hair in this form strangely similar to a miragian, provided her with a clear distinction as an outsider while in the city of Rovale. The pale humanoids had an infuriating habit of getting drunk and rambling about how “exotic” she looked. From the point of view of a shapeshifter, their hang ups on skin color seemed infantile at best. The skin wasn’t that different, and required frighteningly little adjustment when compared to muscle tissue.

“Prisaela, you and I are going to have a detailed investigation of your new form later. Congratulations on ranking up twice though.” Thoz offered, his lustful look blatantly burning in his eyes prompted Prisaela to let loose a sigh again.

“Uzdaax?” Thoz called into the empty room, shifting the focus back to rank ups. “Get out here, you’re next and then I’m summoning a new minion.”