Evolution Paths

I looked at the gorgeous woman depiction at the system window, ''Who's that?'' I asked.

The fox climbed to my shoulder, ''She is the mother, Lilith,'' It said. ''You have to respect her.''

I looked at the portrait more carefully, it was a symbolic painting, not a photograph. The first thing that caught my eye in the painting was not Lilith, but a man's back. The back of a man with wings. White, large, feather wings. ''Damn. Is he an angel?'' I said. The fox nodded.

The man's back was depicted in the portrait and his face was on a woman's neck, the woman had her legs wrapped around the man's waist and the man was standing in the middle of the portrait. The painting was still, but I could imagine the woman's hands running across the man's hair and back.

The woman's hands were not human hands. They looked like bird claws and she had horns. Her horns were shiny black and stood out in her red-copper hair. Her scaly tail, like that of a snake, was wrapped around one of the man's legs. Lilith was staring at me with nonhuman eyes over the winged man's head.

When my gaze met with Lilith's eyes in the portrait, I couldn't bear the pressure and looked away immediately. ''This is only a portrait. How can her gaze be that powerful?'' I said.

''She's the mother of a whole breed, not someone you can weakly depict,'' The fox said. I took another short glance into the woman's eyes, her pupils were rectangular, not circular like human's.

''Why are you showing me this painting?'' I said.

''For you to see several different lineages. Lilith left our plane hundreds of thousands of years ago, but the lamias who claim to have a blood relationship with her are one of the succubus lineages,'' The fox said.

''Lamia don't have legs, do they? Lilith has legs in the portrait,'' I said.

''They don't. They have snake tails and venom. However, their most powerful weapons are illusions and their servants whom they enslaved with their illusions,'' The fox said.

As it spoke, pictures of bare-breasted women with snake lower bodies appeared in the system window. ''Most of the Succubus lineages are weaker in strength than other demons, only slightly stronger than humans. They specialize in using their magic and others as weapons in battles.''

''Are lamias considered succubus? I hadn't heard that they were feeding on lust,'' I said.

''Well, that is a little complicated. Just as the races of humans mixed to give birth to hybrid races, so the descendants of demons were mixed their bloodlines through marriage, more often through forbidden loves. Like sirens and yuki-onnas, they have blood ties with succubus but they are not exactly lust demons,'' The fox said.

After hesitating a few seconds it added, ''You will remain a lust demon because of the core you inherited, no matter whatever you evolve into,'' It said.

''I see,'' I said. ''So what am I going to evolve into?''

''It varies depending on the previous owners of the core passed to you, your personal talents, and luck. If you stay as Malice's subordinate, maybe you will evolve into a fox-girl or some kind of cat-girl,'' The fox said.

I looked at the pictures of women who have fluffy tails and ears, ''I have no intention of staying as a subordinate of anyone else,'' I said. ''What is her lineage?'' I asked pointing to a woman's photo who has bat-like wings.

The fox looked at the woman, ''Probably someone with blood ties to a vampire lineage or maybe a dragon lineage. Look at her horns, she must have a relationship with the dragons,'' It said.

''But dragons are neutral creatures and... they are huge,'' I said. ''How can a humanoid have sex with a dragon?''

''Fertility rates decrease as bloodlines diverge but it's not impossible,'' The fox said. ''As for the other question, I'll let you imagine. Now, don't mind details,'' It appeared in front of me, blocking the system window. ''Have you heard rumors that Succubus are both male and female?''

I nodded, ''I heard,'' I said.

''Well, this isn't the norm, still possible. You can even evolve into an incubus if you feel like a male, or into a hermaphrodite. But before evolution, we need to prepare for this. How do you feel about evolving into another gender?''

I frowned, ''I don't want to. I am glad to live as a female,'' I said. Honestly, it was strange and disgusting to imagine myself in another gender. ''When will I evolve?'' I asked.

''Evolution penetrates your cells with every passing second, but there is a cocoon phase once for every thirty levels for extra horns, wings and stuff like that,'' the fox said. ''So you'll have a main evolution at level thirty, if you can't find anything valuable to exchange your soul or suppress Malice enough to get it back by force, I guess you will inherit the fox lineage.''

I nodded and started to untie my boots to sleep. Today I completed two missions and leveled up, 'I can start practicing martial arts now,' I thought and smiled. ''Being weak makes me disgusted,'' I said out loud and saw the fox nodding before I close my eyes to sleep.

My dream that night was a memory of the past. I don't know which thought brought to the surface a forgotten memory from my subconscious, which secret desire reminded me of this.