Chapter 9: New Partner

Cecilia summoned another magic glove, this time it covered her right arm up to her shoulder. She took a deep breath and thrust her hand at the barrier. She pushed and pushed, eventually her arm left the barrier. I could see her face scrunched up as sweat poured down her face from the exertion. When she got her hand through, she snapped her fingers and the barrier blew her back.

However, when she snapped her fingers a blue ball appeared. The blue ball hovered for a moment before splitting into four and they flew off in different directions. Moments laters I saw blue trails appearing from the surrounding forests.

“These lead to the sealing crystals, destroy them and I am free…” Cecilia said as she stood back up.

“You’ve been preparing…” I say as I look at the trials.

“Of course, what else is a girl to do when she is locked in a cage if not to plan her escape…” Cecilia said with a sly smile.

“You expected to have someone help you escape?” I asked as I turned to face her.

“It is one of the many possibilities, I prepared for them all. Now go friend, these crystals should be a nice snack for you. Consider them a gift for the start of a fruitful partnership.” Cecilia said.

“I don’t think I can eat rocks.” I replied with a laugh.

“My friend, you are a devourer, you can eat anything…” Cecilia said with a smile.

“Let’s see if that’s true.” I replied with a smile of my own as I began following one of the trails.

The first trail didn’t go far, it led to an unassuming shrub. My senses didn’t pick up anything from the bush. My senses could usually pick up almost anything, I could see that magic dome even through all the trees. It glowed like the sun as far as my senses are concerned. Strangely in the back of my mind, something was telling me that there was nothing here. That I had been lied to, and I should leave this place never to return…

Odd, why would I think that? Could it perhaps be some form of magic protecting the crystal.

I reached forward and the moment I touched the shrub it seemed to flicker like an image. Then the shrub disappeared revealing a glowing blue crystal that shone like the sun in my eyes. It shone brighter than any heart I have ever seen.

My mind was immediately assaulted with thoughts of leaving and never returning. Honestly it was an extremely smart defence mechanism, just hide it in plain sight and make the crystal tell people to leave through mental suggestion. There was only one problem with this system: it didn’t account for me or more accurately my hunger…

The thought of eating this crystal and my hunger for it completely drowned out the mental suggestions. As I looked at the crystal I instinctively knew what to do, I opened my maw and I felt something inside me awaken. I took a deep breath and inhaled. I felt the power drain out of the crystal. I saw blue trails of energy drain out of the crystal into my waiting jaws. I felt the power flood in, this was easily several times more power than the gold ranked team I just ate. As I looked back at the crystal I saw it was now just a dull white sitting silently on its pedestal.

When the crystal was empty I felt the familiar feeling of my body changing.

Core Evolution Achieved Stage: 3

[Information Assimilation] acquired

Essence obtained can now transfer memories

[Regeneration] acquired

Wounds will now heal at a greatly increased rate

Now this is very interesting… so it looks like I can now steal the memories of those I eat and my wounds now heal rapidly. I just got a lot more dangerous…

I laughed as I turned back around and returned to the dome. When I got back I saw Cecilia staring at the dome which was now much dimmer.

“You did it…” Cecilia said in disbelief.

“Three more…” I replied with a smile.

“There’s one more in here, a control crystal, there's a barrier around it to stop me from tampering with it. But I think if you destroy the other three that barrier will fail as well. Then you can devour that one as well.” Cecilia said as her eyes filled with a happiness that bordered on madness.

“Sounds good, hang tight…” I say as I turn away and head off the deal with the other crystals.

Each crystal was more or less the same story, each time I felt my power swell. Those fools from Averlon have no idea what they have done…

Unfortunately there were no more evolutions, but maybe with the big one inside the mansion, it would be a different story. When I got back to the mansion I saw that the barrier was gone. Cecilia was just standing there looking around her as if in shock. Without the barrier I could now examine her far more clearly and I realised this woman was rather powerful. If I met her before I ate those crystals she might have been able to kill me easily. But now it’s an even fight… that was rather dangerous all things considered. The barrier left me blind, I need to take now that my senses may not always be accurate.

Still our deal stands, I need to think of the long term. I can’t just roam around eating anything that crosses my path forever. If what she said was true then I need to power up before heaven finds me...

I can basically assume that as far as any of the races are concerned, my race is killed on sight… so yeah an ally is going to be hard to find, not really wise to turn one down at this stage…

When I got close to her I saw she had walked over to a nearby table and chair that was sitting out in the open. She picked up what looked to be a clock that was sitting on the table. I could see her smile widen as she gazed down at the clock…

“Right on schedule, fate is truly never tardy… so this is the moment I was born… I always wondered at what minute of the hour I would be free.” Cecilia said as she looked up at me with a wide smile on her face.

“Thank you friend… I will repay this kindness tenfold…” Cecilia said as she looked at where the barrier used to be.

“For years I remained a caged bird. Now at last I’m free…” Cecilia said in a tone that implied she could barely believe it.

“What now?” I asked as my words snapped her back to reality.

“Yes of course, first I need to pack up my possessions.” Cecilia said.

“Won't that take a while?” I asked, slightly surprised at that statement.

“That’s what magic is for friend, do not worry it won’t take long, in the meantime let me show you the control crystal. You can enjoy your prize while I pack.” Cecilia said as she beckoned me to follow.

“And your wounds? I assume you have means to heal them?” I ask as I look down at Cecilia, I remember burns can get horribly infected from my experience back in my past life. I don’t want her getting an infection and dying, the last thing I need is for the death of a princess to be pinned on me. Well... they will pin it on me at first regardless but without her there would be no one to correct that fact. If she dies there goes my safe haven...

Cecilia paused at those words and she looked down at her burnt and blistered hands. She seemed a little shaken by my words and her hands glowed for a moment. Her wounds were then covered in a gold light as the wounds faded.

“Thank you… friend…” Cecilia replied softly as she turned around to face me, her eyes soft.

I am confused… What's with this reaction? If I was some dashing knight of at least roughly the same type of creature like an elf or something you could say there was some romantic intention there. But… I’m a giant man eating, serpent… thing, so it can’t be that...

Ughh whatever, I’ll deal with this later, it’ll probably make sense if I let things play out…

As I got the door, I shrunk my body down to the smallest I could make it which is now about three metres. Still pretty big considering my full body length is about double my standing height thanks to my snake lower half. Still my body was rather slender and I still managed to slip through the narrow doorway although I did break the door hinge…

I followed Cecilia through the mansion, breaking half the things I came across by accident, vases, statues, paintings…

Cecilia didn’t seem to care, I guess this is just a very well furnished prison to her. Considering she is a princess her captors probably tried their best to make her life as comfortable as possible here.

Eventually we arrived at a large room and I could see the same type of crystal sitting in the middle. This one was almost double the size and it looked absolutely delicious…

“I was right, the barrier is gone… this crystal is just the command crystal it has no barrier runes…” Cecilia said as she stared at the crystal.

“Do you want to study it first? Or can I just go ahead?” I asked, I may really want to eat it but if Cecilia can get some insight from it, then I could wait.

“No, it's exactly what I expected, I just never got the chance to confirm my suspicions…” Cecilia said dismissively as she turned away from the crystal.

“Suspicions?” I asked as I looked down at her.

“Why yes dear friend, I deduced a single crystal of this size cannot sustain such a barrier. So there must be external crystals powering it. The other crystals you ate gave it power, this crystal gave that power form and function. It is just a storage of information, commanding the ether into a usable form.

A clever system all things considered. The biggest threat for my release is myself. So by keeping the power sources outside the barrier it basically made the only path out to be through the barrier.” Cecilia explained.

“Hmm you are quite good at magic.” I replied.

“I can teach you when we have the time. I can only imagine the kind of spells your body can weave. There were spell casting Devourers in the old legends, they could use spells that could raze cities to ash. I look forward to seeing how powerful you can be.” Cecilia said.

“Why would you help me learn magic?” I ask, confused, why would someone give up a source of their power. It would only serve to weaken your position of power, now it would be an even fight if she taught me magic I would win easily.

“Because I know you will one day be more powerful than anything I could ever hope to be, a little magic not going to tip the scales in my favour. That and you are now my only friend and ally. For years I stayed here, all I received from those of my own kind was fear, condescending speech and mock courtesy. No one truly cared for what I wanted, you are the second living thing in my whole life who doesn’t see me as a monster once you know what I truly am.

It’s tragic isn’t it? That I can only find companionship in a monster?” Cecilia said, her voice cracking slightly.

“The second?” I asked.

“The first is dead… she was hung, framed for killing me…” Cecilia said as her eyes narrowed and watered.

“Well I don’t plan on dying anytime soon. So let’s give this life our best shot shall we?” I say as I lean down to look at her.

“Are you comforting me?” Cecilia asked with a small smile.

“Just some advice, one monster to another.” I replied with a smile.

“I suppose you are right, if my kind see me as a monster then a monster I shall be. I shall wear their scorn as a badge of honour.” Cecilia said as she reached her hand up and placed a gentle hand on the smooth front of my face.

“Go get packed friend, we have much to do.” I say and she removes her hand.

“Yes we do, enjoy your meal.” Cecilia said, now sounding much more determined.

After Cecilia left the room I looked at the crystal and I felt my mouth water. I opened my maw and I started draining the power from the crystal. I felt the ether within flow into me and I felt my power surge. After this I again felt my body change…

Core Evolution Achieved Stage: 4

[Metabolic Boost] acquired

Movement and attack speed are now increased

[Keratin Plating] acquired

Armoured plates now available to provide improved defensive capabilities

Augmenting…

[Keratin Plating] has improved [Bone Blades] material strength

[Greater Bone Blades] now available

I looked down at my body and saw it was now covered in a layer of armoured plates. The plates left small gaps so as not to restrict movement. I could see the places that weren't armoured were what my body used to be. Those parts were still pretty tough, your average human wouldn’t be able to cut through my hide. Those adventurers though could definitely do so, I just somehow knew by looking at them. Now however, let’s see how effective their attacks are.

I transformed one of my hands into a bone blade and saw the blades now had darker colour and looked slightly different. The shape was also different, it now had a longer and curved edge…

After I finished examining my new body, I walked out the door to see Cecilia walking down a set of stairs.

“I thought you were packing?” I asked, as far as I could tell she had only changed clothes and put on a small backpack.

“I did.” Cecilia said as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a cube. Her hands glowed for a moment and blue light shot out from the cube. The light hit a spot of the ground and there materialised an entire bookshelf filled with books.

“Hmm, that’s handy…” I say as Cecilia smiled and returned the bookshelf into the cube.

“It’s my own invention, I made it in preparation for the day that I would leave.” Cecilia said with a smile.

“Now I suppose we should find a place to stay. I don’t mind if you are currently staying at a cave or some similar form of residence. As long as it is hidden and has shelter I will be fine.” Cecilia said.

“Oh I know where to go, I think it'll be better than a cave…” I say with a smile as I think back to the tomb where I was born…

“Oh?” Cecilia asked as she tilted her head slightly at my statement.

I laughed and I began moving towards the door as I did so I turned to look at her…

You’ll see what I mean

I think you’ll like it seeing as you seem to like magic so much…