Chapter 15: Evolution
~~~
An unknown amount of time had passed before Lilith finally made some movement. The faint sound of droplets hitting the windows fell into her ears, which were adjusting to the surroundings as she came to her senses.
She could feel her body perfectly fine; there was no pain; she felt rejuvenated and refreshed, as if she'd just stepped out of a fresh shower.
'Was this all a dream?' She slowly opened her eyes, giving her blurry vision a chance to adjust.
Unfortunately, she didn't need to open her eyes completely to realize that this wasn't a dream. If it were a dream, she wouldn't feel the weight on her chest or her silky hair brushing against her neck. Additionally, she would've been on a hard, old bed right now, but she could feel the soft bed hugging her body.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she opened her eyes and sat up, immediately noticing the changes to her body—she was much stronger than before. Her muscles, which didn't grow in size to keep her beauty, were stronger and packed with more strength, and she'd grown a bit taller, but not enough for anyone to notice.
"An overnight growth?"
She frowned. She recalled events that occurred up until she poured all her Eldritch Energy into Pomien and Skeletoul. Strangely, she wasn't in pain, nor did she see any wounds. Questions began to rise inside her head: 'Wasn't I in the undead catacombs? How did I wake up in my room? Did someone bring me here? Shouldn't I be dead? My wounds and the blood loss should have been fatal!'
Her mind hadn't entirely woken up, and she was still in her sleepy state, where her mind couldn't process anything; however, her inquiries were quickly answered.
[Precisely, you were brought here by me! I can't keep you unconscious in a dungeon after all! It's dangerous to be vulnerable inside one! As for your wounds being healed and surviving a fatal blood loss, it is due to your evolution.]
'Evolution? What evolution?'
[Congratulations. You've become a full-fledged demon]
[The first evolution has been successful. You are now a full-fledged demon, a spawn of the Original Demon, and have unlocked your true potential. Evil is both your fuel and your power, and through it, you shall find your legacy. You've chosen to embark on the path of evolution. More changes await. Kill and devour them all.]
[To commend this evolution, you have been bestowed with the D-Rank skill: Curse Mastery.]
[Curse Mastery I]
[Rank: D]
[Rank Tier: Basic]
[One can place a curse, a negative supernatural effect, on whomever one wishes, whether it be a person, place, object, etc. The curse could be anything one desires; however, the strength of the curse varies with the rank of the skill, the strength of the intended target, and the number of targets.]
'Not bad…' Lilith narrowed her eyes, and a smile couldn't help but spread across her face—she was ecstatic to see herself progress closer to accomplishing her revenge. She was now one step further...
'Don't be too impatient… I'll surely grant them a painful, slow death!'
Slowly, she scooted to the edge of her bed and rose to her feet. As soon as she did so, her status screen appeared before her eyes, as if to congratulate her.
[User: Lilith]
[Race: Demon]
[Level: 10]
[15/1100 EXP]
[HP: 200/200]
[EP: 105/105]
[Strength: 39]
[Agility: 36]
[Stamina: 33]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 8 -> 0]
When Lilith saw her new status screen, her eyes widened briefly. It wasn't because she'd evolved into a demon—rather, it was her increase in stats.
'Incredible! A 10 stat increase... to all stats?'
Normally, according to what she'd heard from others whose class evolved, which was equivalent to a demon evolving, they'd be rewarded with 10 stat points for one stat depending on the class they chose. A warrior, for example, would grant increases in strength. Lilith, a demon, appeared to be given a boost to all three stats. In the long term, this increase wouldn't amount to much, but this was certainly a decent bonus—not to mention, this wasn't going to be the last time she evolves.
Without further delay, Lilith was about to open the skill tab when a notification popped up.
[Devour—Rank Up!]
[I -> II]
[Increase in devoured energy from +5 to +10 EP (increased chance of getting innate benefits from special entities!)]
'Heh, so this is how I tier up the devour skill?' Lilith wondered as she made her way to the bathroom. 'Well, even though tiering up the skill isn't difficult, it still doesn't go into detail about what is considered a special entity nor what I'd obtain from devouring them.'
For now, putting her mind on this wouldn't bring her any closer to finding her answer, so instead, she'd focus on improving.
And soon, she entered the bathroom and took a glance at her figure in the large mirror, which took up two-thirds of the wall before the bathroom sink—her eyes widened briefly.
'It appears that a strength increase wasn't the only change... I grew more beautiful, flawlessly beautiful... With this, attracting the eyes of men and women would be effortless; however, I prefer women over men. It's a trait I'd inherited from being a man for most of my life!'
Looking away, she hurriedly undressed herself and stepped into the shower to wash away the lingering sweat and blood that hadn't fallen off her body.
~~~
After about 30 minutes, she stepped out of the shower, feeling refreshed and reborn with a clean body. Taking a white bathrobe from under the sink's counter, she slid her arms through the sleeves.
As she adjusted the robe on her body and put one side of the robe inward, around her waist, she left the bathroom, heading downstairs into the kitchen—she felt hungry, and she ought to devour the eldritch energy in the corpse of Pomien, which she found inside her inventory.
She arrived in the kitchen as she finished tying the outer sash of her bathrobe into a knot. 'Since I'm here... why don't I use the kitchen to make Pomien's flesh taste better? Mixing it with human flesh would do…'
Promptly, as her mind was made up, two distinct arms appeared in her hands, one of which belonged to a human, while the other belonged to Pomien; she placed both on a platter and cut them up into edible slices before mixing several slices of the Pomien's arms with the humans and slid them onto a glass plate and took a seat at the dining table.
'Hopefully, this will lessen the awfulness of the undead flesh.' With a fork, she dug into a slice and brought it up to her mouth. Hesitating, she took a bite.
"Mm!"
To her surprise, the human flesh complimented the undead flesh, giving it a flavor, a spicy taste. After taking her first bite, a familiar notification appeared before her eyes.
[Pomien, Skeletoul (Lv. 15)—Devoured!]
However, instead of the +10 increase in EP, an unexpected notification appeared.
[You've devoured the flesh of the special entity: Pomien, Skeletoul]
[Basic Dagger Mastery—Skill Obtained!]
'A skill?' Lilith's eyes widened as confusion rose on her face. 'Is this what is meant by benefits? But... what makes it different from the others? Is it because it was a dungeon boss? No, I'd doubt that would be the case; Ayin wouldn't make such things this easy. However, there's a chance. For now, I'll finish my meal and move on from there.'
Quickly finishing up her meal, she opened her inventory to check her supply of human flesh—she found only four arms left.
'I'll have to resupply.'
Additionally, she found demon crystals and two daggers, specifically the daggers Pomien used and nearly killed her with. She smiled, as she knew they'd fit with her newly obtained skill: Basic Dagger Mastery. Equipping them, she checked their stats.
[Devil's Fang]
[Rank: D]
[Rank Tier: Basic]
[Type: Daggers]
[Description: A drop from Pomien, Skeletoul. Inflicts the curses "Bleeding" and "Energy Leeching" and ignores 25% of their defense. Regeneration and healing abilities are reduced against attacks with these daggers.]
[+25 Damage]
'When against these daggers... it's formidable, but from now on it'll be a useful ally and my main weapon until I find daggers of a higher rank…'
Storing the daggers away, she placed her dishes and cleaned up before entering the main floor bathroom and changing into sweat pants, a T-shirt, and a rain jacket.
Leaving her house, she opened an umbrella to shield her from the heavy rain falling from the dark, cloudy skies; she then set off for the Hunter's Association.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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