A chilly wind blows through the mountain as the elf girl struggles to speak, the situation too different from her expectations to put things into words. “The [Greater Basilisk]... it’s… already dead.” Nadia’s face twisted with worry. A beast like that was a Rank C threat. If something managed to kill it, and cause so much gory damage, then they had much bigger problems than cleaning out a snake den.

  “What? How? You think the scout managed to kill it before dying themselves?” Lupis was reeling at the news, hoping against hope that their troubles ended there. He was a bit of a wuss when it came to unexpected situations. Though, he still pulled his weight when the time came.

  “No, the monster died recently.” Nadia began to explain the state of the monster as she took in the sight with her enhanced vision. It seems to have exploded from the inside, but the amount of blood is far more than what the creature should have. Perhaps the creature that fought the snake is heavily wounded… but there was no blood trail away from the body.

  “Any signs of the thing that did it nearby?” Dahlia gripped her sword’s grip tighter, her hand quickly turning white from the pressure. Her party was not strong enough to fight anything that could eviscerate a Rank C monster so thoroughly. If anything, they should be running back for the Guild immediately.

  However, despite their desire to leave, they had a job to do. If they left now then it would be marked against their record. Naturally, there were allowances for situations a party could not handle, but this group was rather stubborn.

  The elven scout put all of her skills to work, but could only determine that the powerful source of Ether was coming from further up the mountain. The group quickly moved in formation. Greg with his shield switching from its normal flashy paint job, to a more subdued one along with his armor. [Stealth] skills going full tilt all around, they all made it to the basilisk’s corpse.

  Nothing gave away what had done this or how it was done. It looked like the creature simply ate a bomb crafted by a Rank C artificer. Nasty things. Though, no bomb residue could be seen. And the excessive amount of blood told a story of a fight between large monsters, not a human.

  As the party moved, they followed the flow of Ether. It was subtle, barely noticeable, that is if only the Ether was not giving off a rather ominous feeling. Within a few minutes they arrived at a large cliff face. Tall grey rocks covered in moss and roots spread across their vision. A fifty foot wall of stone leading up to the next layer of the mountainous terrain.

  “It’s coming from here.” Nadia stared at the rock wall with a tense expression. The Ether was running chills down her spine and she honestly wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

  “Yeah, even I can feel it now.” The vulpid woman’s fox ears flicked, her tail twitching ever so subtly as she tried to keep herself under control. Physical types like her were less perceptive when it comes to Ether, but even she was getting creeped out by the tension in the air.

  “The wall… I think it is coming from the other side. Should I go check it out?” The young dwarf, being far denser than any of the others, showed no fear in the face of this strange Etheric energy.

  Dahlia and Nadia share a wry and exasperated look for a moment before they turn back to Greg simultaneously. “Go for it. It is probably an illusion.” Dahlia, as the team leader, tensely gave the go ahead.

  Pulling his shield to cover the team behind him, the dwarf presses forwards into the rock wall. “Someone set up a pretty advanced spell just to mask this location, but whatever is going on in there… it’s clearly not the work of a human.” The ulfr man scrunches up his nose as he voices his thoughts. In the worst case, we could be dealing with an Old One.

  Following behind the dwarf, the party advances through the stone surface. “The hell-?” Lupis can’t help but mutter in shock as he sees a half dissolved baulder powering a large complex magic circle. A circle that is drawn in blood.

  Nadia holds her fingers to her lips to stop the ulrf from making any more noise, but stops when she notices the Etheric flow is getting stronger and stronger. She motions for them all to move forward until they reach the back of the massive cave.

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  “What is that…?” Greg looks on at the object sitting in the back of the cave. Blood red and perfectly spherical, tendrils stinging the object up to several parts of the cave walls. A soft crimson glow suffuses the room as the object emits more and more Ether.

  The scale of the blood orb is enough to fit their whole party inside and still have room to spare, and it is beating like a heart.

  “I think it’s an egg.” Dahlia horsley whispers as she draws her sword.

  Crack!

  I pant in exhaustion as I see the notification appear in my vision.

  [You have defeated a monster!]

  [Vorpal: You have sacrificed 50% of your Ether capacity for 50% of your enemies.]

  [Your maximum Ether has gone up!]

  Hahahaha! I finally did it! It took sooooo long to get this stupid giant snake to go down. I had to keep creating new blood armor to keep the stomach acid from dissolving me. Even my upgraded [Lightning Magic (Mid Rank)] barely did any damage!

  Squelch.

  I climb out of the stupid snake’s mouth and kick it in the head. Fucker just had to be resistant to lightning. I hit you with like a hundred bolts!

  Well, now I can upgrade my [Lightning Magic] to High Rank with all this Ether. I was gonna upgrade [Blood Magic], but clearly my damage output is lacking if I want to take on things of this level.

  I had to create what amounts to a bomb by packing layer and layer of lightning infused blood into a dense sphere for hours to finally take the thing out. Why was its insides so durable?! Movies lied to me!

  Whatever, I will just upgrade my lightning magic and go clean off in the river. I am tired and need to log out for the day.

  Just as I am about to start the process of upgrading my [Lightning Magic], an increasingly familiar pane of frosted glass appears in my vision.

  [Conditions Met!]

  [You may now evolve from [Lesser Drake] to [Blood Drake]!]

  [Proceed?]

  [Y/N]

  [Warning: You will be vulnerable while evolving so it is best to be in a safe place during the process.]

  Huh.

  …

  ..

  .

  I am an egg…

  Everything is dark around me, and I can feel my body dissolving, morphing, rebuilding. I ran back to my cave immediately after the battle and activated the evolution. I was just far too excited! I mean, I am already getting a unique evolution! And a cool one at that. I became an egg the second I hit the “yes” button. A crimson cocoon wrapping around me and stringing me up. It feels weird, but also comforting.

  I kind of wish I could watch my transformation from third person, but the game sadly does not have such a convenient option. My egg is still pretty cool though from the short glimpse I had before fully being wrapped up. Humpty Dumpty ain’t got shit on me!

  I am so giddy that if I weren’t a puddle of goo right now, I would be bouncing off the walls. [Blood Drake], that is an interesting evolution option. I have never heard of such a creature in the game before so it might be one unique to me. Did my near constant weird uses of [Blood Magic] cause it? Or maybe the slightly vampiric nature of [Vorpal] had an effect?

  Whatever, I am finally evolving! One step closer to becoming a dragon!

  I wonder if-

  My new eyes narrow as I sense something enter my cave. Their Ether is strong, but poorly controlled.

  Four of them.

  Humans.

  I swear if they kill me before I can finish my evolution!!

  Crack!

  Heh, looks like I made it just in time.

  I feel sensation return to my newly formed limbs, my eyes taking in the dark cave, lit only by the Etheric glow of my ritual circle. I can see four figures standing around my egg, all prepared for battle.

  What a kind group, coming to celebrate my birthday! This’ll be fun.