Buyer's Remorse

Alesha woke with a start, sweating profusely and feeling incredibly invigorated. Unlike the other dreams that had been similar to it, she found that she could remember this one with crystal clarity. They seemed to be getting clearer and clearer every time. What could it mean?

[+23 Chaos Energy]

[Warning! Chaos Energy beyond maximum capacity. It is recommended you expend the excess energy as soon as possible. Has not yet reached dangerous levels.]

"Huh?" Alesha reflexively muttered. How had she gotten so much Chaos Energy at once -- and while sleeping, at that?! Shoot! She needed to use it up quickly!

Rogork, pull up the Chaos Energy Shop right now!

A system notification window with a saluting emoticon appeared, shortly followed by the Chaos Energy Shop.

[Chaos Energy "Shop":

<Create bottles of Mystery Potion (5)>

<Evolve >

<Learn Chaos Spell>

<Summon a 'Chaos Protean'>

<Open Chaos Realm>

<Create 'Chaos Minion'>]

When Alesha thought about it, the amount of CE required for each option appeared next to it. The most suitable option seemed to be to learn two Chaos Spells. They could be 15-20 each, and she currently held 30 CE; so if she chose 2 that were 15 each, that would bring her down to 0 remaining CE.

That was exactly what she wanted right now. At the moment, overfilled on CE, instincts amplified under the effects of the cursed earring, Alesha was finding it difficult to stay still. She wanted to run, to jump, to tear and bite and rend! To hear screams, whether of joy or pain she didn't care. The feeling was both exhilarating and terrifying. Whatever the case, she needed to get rid of this Chaos Energy, and fast, in order to return to normal.

She quickly selected two spells of 15 CE each at random, not caring about what they did, only wanting the unsatisfied yearning for Chaos to be quelled. 

The feeling diminished immensely as soon as the CE was spent. Unexpectedly, however, a shadow of the yearning lingered. She could easily ignore it now, but the instinct to create Chaos seemed to be a deeper part of her than she had predicted. Recalling how the Racial Trait "Child of Chaos" had updated following her evolution, she sighed. 

There was a phrase added onto it that hadn't been there before, and seeing it in action made her worry. "The instinct for creating chaos will grow the longer it is suppressed, whether or not Chaos Energy is being retained."

Apparently, it would no longer be enough to simply spend Chaos Energy as it was accumulated. Should she be grateful Iritia had been destroyed, and her body changed too much to fit in with human society? She was now so different from how she had been before that she wondered if her family would even recognize her as being "Alesha" anymore. No longer human, with instincts that didn't exist before and core beliefs having evolved from what they had once been.

Not to mention… that had happened. She shuddered at the memory and quickly tried to distract herself with other thoughts.

What thoughts should she distract herself with, though? She'd mentioned the proverbial white horse, and now she could think of nothing but the white horse.

Ah, the Chaos Spells she'd purchased just now, she could see what those were about! Figuring those out would be a great way to forget what that bastard Flynn had done to her.

Right. 

Chaos Spells.

They were categorized under "Skills, Spells, Etc.," at the very bottom. The list was as follows:

 - (Hidden Innate Skill) Chaos Embryo's Camouflage (passive) -- DEACTIVATED

 - (Hidden Innate Skill) Chaos Sight (passive), level 1

 - Pink Panther form

 - Chaos Snipe

 - Feral Bite

She recalled that "Chaos Embryo's Camouflage" had automatically deactivated once she hit level 10 and evolved for the second time. "Well of course it stops working as soon as it would require actual effort to make me seem like a human," she grumbled. Skipping past the others, she expanded the descriptions of her two new spells, curious about what they would do.

[Chaos Snipe -- By expending 1 Chaos Energy, host can hit anything she can see, either sending projectiles/objects hurtling through the air at incredible speeds or teleporting them there with the same force as if they had.

Feral Bite -- Bite automatically inflicts a random form of Lycanthropy: wolf, tiger, bear, rat, frog, snake, lizard, boar, ox, rhinoceros, elephant, crocodile, whale, shark, rabbit, giraffe, eagle, raven, lion, panda. Cannot be deactivated.]

"Ahk!" Alesha yelped reflexively when she read the description for the second spell. "Shit, you're kidding me! Anyone I bite will become a random lycanthrope, and it can't be deactivated?!" The first spell was amazing, but the second was garbage! 

The System was laughing at her. [Seriously, this is why you look before you buy!! You're having a serious case of Buyer's Remorse now, huh? That's completely on you! Ahahhaha!]

Alesha grimaced. Well… it wasn't like she was planning on biting anyone she liked anyways… It could be worse.

-----

A/N ~~ It didn't fit into the story flow, so I had Alesha check her 2nd evolution special stuff "off camera" before. She has forgotten about the additional doses of Korak she drank just recently, though, so I'm leaving out what those were. For those who are curious, here are the behind-the-scenes 2nd evolution changes to Alesha's skills, racial traits etc. -- note that changes in all caps:

(Hidden Innate Skill) Chaos Embryo's Camouflage (passive) -- DEACTIVATED

(Hidden Innate Skill) Chaos Sight (passive), level 1 -- Host cannot be deceived by MID-level illusion magic. Added: ABLE TO SEE MUCH BETTER THAN A HUMAN AT NIGHT, BUT ONLY WHEN THERE'S ENOUGH LIGHT. PUPILS BECAME SLIT.

Racial Traits:

Carnivorous --> PREDATOR -- (Added:) HOST'S PREDATORY INSTINCTS MUST BE REGULARLY SATISFIED.

Child of Chaos -- (Added:) CAN SAFELY HOLD UP TO TWICE THE HOST'S MAXIMUM CAPACITY FOR CHAOS ENERGY AT A TIME. THE INSTINCT FOR CREATING CHAOS WILL GROW THE LONGER IT IS SUPPRESSED, WHETHER OR NOT CHAOS ENERGY IS BEING RETAINED.

Chaos Dragon's Dominion (Partially Unlocked --> PARTIALLY LOCKED) -- Chaos Dragons are apex predators in the universe, meant to utterly dominate the battlefield. The Host, as a descendent of Chaos Dragons, emanates a fraction of their aura that naturally intimidates lesser beings and cows them into submission. Even beings close to equal in power will find themselves rattled by the Host's aura 

Mana Core -- HOST'S MANA CORE IS NOW SAFELY LODGED BEHIND THE STERNUM 

ADDED: Chaos Fire Breath -- Expend 3 Chaos Energy to be able to use this special fire breath for a total of 10 seconds today (does not have to be all at once). You are immune to this fire.