Chương 111: Chapter 110

Evolution"What do you reckon, buddy? I think this might be the one," I said. I was lying on the ground, with Winterclaw at my side, peering down into the valley below. We were on something of a stealth mission, so the wolf was in his compact form. It was probably unnecessary, though. Even at his considerably larger normal size, he was still far more graceful and stealthier than I could ever hope to be. Winterclaw appeared thoughtful as he studied our potential target. Yes, wolves can look thoughtful.

His head was tilted slightly, and he was squinting. It wasn't the sort of squint I employed when using Aura; it was more the sort you might see on the face of somebody pondering issues most profound. Normally, it'd have been accompanied by a drawn-out "hmm" or perhaps a finger tapping thoughtfully against the chin. The first he couldn't do because we were being stealthy. The second he couldn't do because, well, he was a wolf. Our target was some kind of nature spirit and the objective of a Tier Five quest.

I'd always thought nature spirits were supposed to be the good guys, but this one had apparently never received the memo. It had spent the last week ambushing travellers and absorbing their life force. By the time it was done, all that remained were withered husks. I briefly considered the possibility that it was simply trying to protect the local environment and had developed some sort of warped sense of justice, but I quickly dismissed the idea.

The local orc population didn't seem particularly big on burning fossil fuels, and I'd never seen any of them driving SUVs. The spirit was currently in the form of a stag, but the quest description suggested it could assume the form of any forest animal at will. Nobody would ever mistake it for an ordinary stag, though. It was enormous, easily twice the size of any I'd seen on Earth. Its moss-coloured hair did little to disguise the dense, rippling muscle beneath.

It did, however, help it to blend in rather effectively among the grass and trees. Winterclaw finished deliberating and turned to face me, nodding and flashing me one of those doggy grins that gave me the overwhelming urge to scratch him behind the ears.

"Excellent," I said, grinning back.

"Let's do it then." I was just as excited as he was. Winterclaw Species: Wolf Evolution: Frost Rank: 4 Experience: 498/500 This was going to be the kill that tipped him over into Rank Five. It was a big deal, and we'd spent the last few days checking out a whole bunch of quests in search of an enemy worthy of such a momentous occasion. Our selectiveness wasn't just down to vanity.

We'd spoken to a Trialist who'd been experimenting with animal companions for some time, and she was convinced that future evolutions were influenced by the enemies they fought – particularly the ones that actually triggered the evolution. We had no way to verify the information. Apparently, it was the sort of thing GEC wanted Trialists to discover for themselves, so none of the employees were willing to say shit.

I'd even tried sweet-talking Auroria into spilling the beans, but she'd just scoffed at me and said, ' You still have a lot to learn from your sensei'. Still, we figured it'd be stupid to ignore the possibility, hence our diligent search for a suitable target. The shapeshifting ability was awesome, but it wasn't why we'd chosen this particular creature. According to the quest description, it could also command the land itself – an ability that I assumed was similar to Rel's Nature's Wrath or my Lurus's Command.

It sounded like the perfect skill for an apex predator like Winterclaw to have. He could make the ground shift beneath an enemy's feet, knocking them off balance. He could take a leaf out of Rel's book and command vines to strangle people. Or he could take a leaf out of mine and summon an enormous hand of earth to pin motherfuckers down. Basically, we figured it'd be incredibly versatile. We waited until the stag's back was to us. I activated Flight, scooped up Winterclaw, and rose into the air.

I climbed higher, making sure we were high enough that the spirit wouldn't catch sight of us out of the corner of its eye. Sure, I could've gone in for a long, drawn-out fight and tried to squeeze a few stat gains out of it. But this moment wasn't about me. It was about Winterclaw evolving and, hopefully, learning an awesome new ability. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Imagine this… An evil nature spirit, having taken on the form of a stag, travels the land.

It journeys through a valley, stopping occasionally to shoot up another dose of steroids or munch on a particularly appetising patch of grass. It may appear as if it's wandering aimlessly without a care in the world, but that is not at all the case. Through its mastery of nature magic, it's become aware of a nearby orc settlement. That's where it's heading now – at an admittedly leisurely pace – to suck the life force out of its inhabitants.

However, what this villainous ne'er-do-well does not realise is that it's being stalked by two brave heroes. Look up. There they are. Do you see them? Now, your first thought might be, "Good lord! Why on earth is that unreasonably handsome farmer carrying a wolf?" I'm glad you asked. What you're witnessing is an ancient, finely honed technique known as the Drop Wolf. You fly over an enemy and drop a wolf on them. Please note that you should not try this at home.

You can't fly, and if you try to pick up a wolf, it'll most likely bite your face off. After completing several complex mathematical equations involving velocity, gravity, and the aerodynamic properties of wolves, I let go of Winterclaw. As he fell, I activated Resize Companion. His body was enveloped in blue arcane energy as he returned to his normal size. Fortunately, the system seemed to understand the importance of stealth, and the light was far more subdued than usual.

The nature spirit never suspected a thing. Winterclaw slammed into the creature's back, the sudden, unexpected impact sending it crashing to the ground. Before it even had time to think, What the fuck! A flying wolf!?, the wolf's enormous teeth closed around its neck. Then Winterclaw began thrashing his head from side to side, sending flesh, blood, muscle and what I was fairly sure was part of its spine flying through the air. I breathed a sigh of relief.

As confident as I'd been in the Drop Wolf strategy, a small part of me had been worried that a nature spirit might turn out to be something like a ghost, and that Winterclaw would've passed straight through it. Once the stag stopped moving, Winterclaw rose to his feet, blood matting his muzzle and dripping onto the grass. Then he whined. It wasn't the sound of an animal in pain. It was the sound of an animal thinking, Hang on... something real funky is going on inside my body.

Fortunately, it wasn't because Winterclaw had some sort of nature spirit intolerance and was about to be sick. He was evolving. He began to glow again, but the light was green this time. It was nothing like the green of Caxir's spells. That had been sickly and twisted, screaming corruption and unholy magic. This felt more natural – both wild and raw. It took ages. I'd thought it'd be over in a few seconds, like Resize Companion, but apparently evolving was serious business and took a while.

When the first minute passed with no sign of it finishing anytime soon, I shrugged and lay down on the grass, staring up at the clouds. There was one that looked a little like a wizard hat, and I thought it was a shame Rel wasn't there to see it. Oh, and when I squinted hard enough, there was one that looked remarkably like a pair of… never mind. My cloud-gazing was interrupted when a shadow fell over me. Winterclaw!

I leaped to my feet and paced around the wolf, who waited patiently while I carried out my inspection. He still looked exactly the same. He was still enormous, his fur was still grey with flecks of icy blue, and his eyes were still dark and intelligent. Had it not worked? I opened the Animal Companion system interface.

Winterclaw Species: Wolf Evolution: Verdant Frost Rank: 5 Experience: 17/625 Abilities: Call of the Pack Frozen Fang Nature's Dominion Nature's Dominion Grants the ability to exert control over the natural environment. The user can manipulate earth and plant life within their surroundings, shaping and directing them according to their will. Duration: 1 minute Cooldown: 1 hour It'd definitely worked then.

I'd always assumed that the blue flecks in his fur represented the frost aspect, so I'd expected green ones to be thrown into the mix after the evolution. In hindsight, it was probably for the best they hadn't, though. A grey wolf with blue flecks in his fur looks graceful, like some sort of winter guardian. A grey wolf with blue and green flecks in his fur? He'd look more like a teenager rebelling against his parents' authority.

"So, buddy... do you feel any different?" He grinned at me, and a pinprick of green appeared in the centre of each pupil. It expanded rapidly, blazing with wild, untamed power until none of the black remained. With a stomp of one front paw, the ground beneath my feet gave way, turning into something resembling green and brown sludge. I squealed as I began to sink. I imagined it was what falling into quicksand would feel like if someone had sped the whole process up with arcane voodoo.

Within seconds, I was buried to the waist. The ground solidified once more, and I found myself a prisoner in some sort of earthen jail cell.

"Not bad. But I'm afraid there's no prison capable of holding someone as powerful and handsome as me." I punched the ground. The result was incredibly underwhelming. Admittedly, it had been a very lazy and restrained punch, but even so... I'd only carved a chunk out of the ground, sending dirt raining down around us. That might sound pretty impactful, but I'd expected to obliterate it completely and find myself standing in a nice little Pete-deep crater.

I scratched the back of my head as I studied the little hole my fist had dug. Huh... impressive. Not only had Winterclaw liquefied the ground and then returned it to its previous state, he'd reinforced it with enchanted frost. The dirt shimmered with an almost crystal-like quality.

"That's fucking awesome." He threw back his head and howled his agreement. I activated Flight and exploded from the ground.

"But it's not awesome enough to hold good ol' Peter Brookes." All we needed now was to make sure his next evolution was fire-based, then he'd basically be super effective against every other type of... opponent.