Chapter 27

I groggily shook myself from my evolutionary state and, as before, stretched myself as my spine from skull to tip of the tail popped pleasantly. It was glorious that my ribs no longer screamed with agony, instead now aching with what could only barely be called pain. I could still function with that, but my right thumb… was not miraculously healed. With an agonizing twinge, I was able to get it to move a little, so I now had hope that someday I would be able to regain true movement, but for now, I was left handed.

With my ribs mostly healthy, I could walk over to the sand bath and luxuriate in the feeling of the grime of the hunt being cleansed from me, as well as the scrubbing off of the shed skin under my scales. I'd enjoyed bathing as a human. Of course I'd loved water, I'd been a true Wavespeaker before I'd hit 15 summers. But the need to be cleansed was different as a keelish–it was so much more deeply pleasant to take care of myself this way, and there was no heating of the water necessary. The cool sand was just preferable in every way. 

As I enjoyed my bath, I finally brought myself to bring up my [Status].

[Status:

Name: Ashlani

Race: Young Keelish Bloodletter Alpha

Current quest: Hunt and consume 1 new creature with innate magical capabilities. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +1.

Titles: none

Stats:

-Constitution: 7+1+4+2=14

-Strength: 9+1+4+3=17

-Agility: 11+1+3+2=17

-Intelligence: 8+2+2=12

-Magic: 0

Skills:

Bloodlust

Exceptional Individual

Innate Leadership

Pack Tactics

Evolutionary Foresight

-Adult Keelish Bloodletter Alpha: Survive 60 days. Progress: 7/60

-Young Bloodletter Brood Alpha: Gain the loyalty of all surviving members of the brood. Progress: 12/51

Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.]

For a moment, I basked in my new stats before descending further down the list. The "1's" in the columns were from the Quest, the next over from the bonus for killing the Martanimis Python, and the final was the bonus from evolution into an Alpha. As the System had somewhat suggested, this evolution wasn't anything so marked as that to a Bloodletter, and the Stats bonus differential showed it. I got the sense that my Alpha evolution was also helped by my previous evolution, and that were I still a Bloodseeker, the growth would have been even lesser.

Thinking on it, though, I was still so much weaker than a human. A trained human, not even a Speaker, could probably pretty easily dispatch me. The thought sobered and frustrated me. I was fighting for my life, and a random guy wouldn't feel much of a threat from me. For now, at least. I gathered myself and set to understanding what was new in my [Status].

[Skill: Innate Leadership; a passive skill granted to all leaders whose position comes with a physiological change and/or evolution, such as Alphas. This Skill grants that those of the same species will more easily engender a greater fondness and subservience towards the Skill's holder.]

[Skill: Pack Tactics; a passive skill granted to some leaders whose position comes with a physiological change and/or evolution, especially if their evolution is tied to combat and military guidance. This Skill blesses the holder with an innate understanding of command, allowing for clearer communication on the battlefield, as well as a rudimentary understanding of tactical advantage.]

Both of those [Skills] seemed that they would be of great use to me moving forward, especially taking note of the new evolutionary option. It seemed that the [System] would always provide two options for evolution to me, a basic one of aging, and the other an improved version of what I had now. Looking at the requirement for the Brood Alpha, I noted that there were only 51 of the brood yet living. I knew that there had been over 60 just seven days ago, and I'd killed three, but where had the other seven gone? The other packs might have encountered some danger while hunting, I supposed. 

Regardless of the Brood Alpha option, there had to be some different evolutionary path to evolve into something that could use magic. The newest [Quest] required that I hunt something magical, whatever that meant, and stated that I would gain the Magic stat in response. Would that mean that I would be able to invoke Callings after that? 

[Note from the Administrative Body: the Words of Power vary from one race to another, so the "Callings" with which you are familiar will not function in the way that you desire.]

With this prompt response from the Administrative Body, it seemed like they really had been holding out on me for the last 7 days. So how would I use magic? I waited, but after a moment, I realized that there wasn't going to be a response for this. I couldn't tell what the difference was, why this didn't merit a response while the other would. I shook my head in a moment of frustration and instead looked at my [Skills]. Was there any way to evolve them, or were they static and new ones would come?

After my thought, the words [Cannot Evolve] appeared behind Exceptional Individual, Innate Leadership, and Evolutionary Foresight, but behind Bloodlust and Pack Tactics, though apparently they weren't unable to evolve, I received no information about how to evolve them. Another problem to sort out at a later time, I supposed.

But with Magic soon to be in the equation, was there going to be a new evolution to do with that?

[There will be greater information provided after the User gains any amount of Magic Stats.]

This new and improved [System] sure was great. I sighed, finally forced to acknowledge that it was time for me to get moving. The pains of my ribs still bothered me, but it was leaps better than before I'd evolved, while my thumb still shot with agony with every step and heartbeat.

I stepped out of my room and into the communal space of my pack, a changed keelish, and ready to embrace the path of the Keel, for whatever that was now.