Chapter 71: Whole is more than a sum of its parts
Chapter 71: Whole is more than a sum of its parts
My wings were whole again. They were also smaller than before… and shimmered. Like a rainbow. I could glimpse it if I turned my head around (and I could turn my head almost one hundred and eighty degrees around thanks to ‘Malleability’). They shimmered and sparkled in the light that came from the mouth of the cave I holed myself in, and were so damn pretty I wasn’t sure what to do with them.
I couldn’t remember ever having a part that was so pretty in this whimsical way that belonged with butterflies and flowers, not with a predator like me. Even my face, which was, if you believe Rosha, handsome, didn’t last for long. I was ugly all over right now, except for these wings.
I shook my head and moved on. If I didn’t care about lack of beauty, I could not care about having it. On the more practical side, ‘Mystic Flight’ turned out to be worth it EXP.
As soon as I flapped my wings, I felt a weightless feeling enveloping me for a fraction of a second. With it, flying was as easy as swimming in air. My wings, I found out, weren’t a vital part of it anymore, or at least beating them hard and fast. I only had to flap them fast enough to keep myself weightless, and then I could just fly freely.
It was beyond just hovering now. I could literally fly upside-down, or assume a laying position mid air without discomfort. As a bonus, since I didn’t need to flap my wings as fast as before, my fright grew quieter than it was.
Then, I put a level into ‘Malleability’ again, raising it to level 15 once more… And bringing me back to the choice between the two upgrades it had. Now, though, I picked ‘Fluid Transformation’, and my ‘Malleability’ transformed into ‘Fluid Malleability’.
The evolution scorched my body with pain for a moment, and when it was over, I fell to floor. My knees suddenly couldn’t hold me anymore. I laid on the floor like a puddle, feeling myself spreading across the floor like a liquid.
“Get yourself together, Voren…” I mumbled. Even talking required more effort than before.
It was just like when I picked up ‘Malleability’, but five times worse. I needed to force my muscles into holding me up, because if I didn’t, my body acted like a liquid. Very viscous one, but still a liquid. When I gathered myself enough to stand again, I then had to force my body back into my clothes.
My initial reaction was to regret picking this upgrade. I almost asked Pest to suck it out again, but then stopped. Yes, I had to work hard again to get used to this state, but I didn’t even try to use it for anything good yet.
And some possibilities appeared in my mind by then. For example… Until then, I always had to take care to not crush my wings with whatever clothes I wore, so they had to have holes in the back. Then I could put a cloak on top, but I couldn’t fly in a cloak.
Now I took off my tunic, then tried to flatten my wings against my back as much as it was possible, and found that they could be merged until I could barely feel by touch where they ended and the rest of my skin started. All this without a hint of discomfort. After this, I just put my tunic on top and, for a test, tried to pull my wings out of the holes in it without taking it off.
I could do that, too. Tucking my wings back again was harder, and required me to help with my hands, but since I could easily reach my back with them, it wasn’t a problem.
So I decided to keep this upgrade and train up my muscles on my way to Glesk. Meanwhile, I still had one more ability I wanted to buy. ‘Frost Wind Blades’. I bought a single level at first, but before the pain of evolution could even start, the System threw a notification at me.
[A possibility for merging had been detected. ‘Frost Wind Blades’ could merge with ‘Hidden Claws’. Due to the difference in levels of the abilities, you are required to pay 653920 EXP. Proceed?]
Hell yes! I didn’t know what was that about, but when a merging opportunity appeared, paying was always the best option. The resulting ability was always better than the both previous ones, even if it had base equal of the sum of the costs of both of the merged abilities.
[‘Frost Wind Blades’ and ‘Hidden Claws’ had been successfully merged into ‘Frost Wind Claws’.]
Then, then I felt the pain. It burned my fingertips with enough force that I couldn’t stop myself from hissing. Before my eyes, the claws that were hidden, but still visible through my half-transparent skin and flesh, turned back into nails, and these grew icy-blue, long and pointed in a claw-like fashion. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to finish.
These new claws of mine didn’t look like they were good at cutting at all. They were pointed and sharp, but also flat. It was weird, because this made them worse than before. My confusion, though, lasted only until I made a test swat with them in the air.
It looked like I had palm-long blades growing out of each finger, expect that these blades were made of transparent to the point of almost invisibility white mist. There was no doubt in me, though, that this substance was solid, not with how it swished as it cut the air. They cut through the stone walls of the cave with about as much resistance as my old claws cut through flesh.
At first, the misty substance only appeared when I slashed with my claws, but after some trial and effort I got how to make these magic claws appear at will. This… this was a real weapon. Much better than even my stinger. Now, for my full happiness… I only had to get something useful from Pest.