Learning How to Evolve

Kantan was happy to figure out some direction at the very least when it came to ranking up in some way. If he could evolve his body through his demonic traits, than Veri could store more chi. Not only would that let them fight for longer, but it would also improve her capabilities since her higher functionalities were locked behind their high chi costs. "Based on your knowledge of demons, what rank would you put us at?"

Demons differed in rank based on the number of times they evolved and what abilities they had, starting at rank 0 for your average erthi. Since they were the base form for most demons, they were used as the baseline for strength. Each rank of demon could fight on somewhat equal footing when paired with a human of similar rank. Unawoken were considered equal to rank 0 demons, awoken equal to rank 1, and stone for rank 2. The difference in strength between the ranks mirrors human cultivation as well. Starting at rank 2 and ever other rank after, humans rebirth their bodies. Since demons undergo body evolution every rank, theirs is replaced with some type of natural ability.

Using the prowler as an example, they gain the ability to fly through the air and a minor form of camouflage in darkness. Their first evolution was like a chrysalis that has spikes all around it. Once they managed to collect enough of the right types of essence, they would evolve again into their new form. Many demonic bestiaries likened them to butterflies, but hellish in nature.

"Based on the amount of strength you are able to generate and how fast you have moved and reacted, I would put us around rank 1 in our passive state. Our defense is a little low, but you also haven't collected much genetic material to fortify yourself with." When Veri brought up genetic material, it reminded Kantan of just how demons actually obtained their evolutions. All of a sudden the gory mess of an erthi seemed to be eyeing him, and his stomach contracted in protest at the thought.

Kantan quickly sent a nauseous thought through their connection, "There is no way you can convince me to eat that thing. Even if I never evolve my demonic body again, I am completely fine with that."

Veri laughed at his squimishness, "Here I thought you wanted to make it out of here alive. Don't tell me the big brave warrior is afraid of a little food. You never know if you'll like it if you've never tried it." As she poked fun at him, she sent along mental images of a baby sucking its thumb with his face.

"Where have you even seen what a baby looks like in the first place! You know what, nevermind. You are a dungeon core, so I know that you have some other method of absorbing creatures." Kantan simply put his foot down in opposition, making sure to not empower it with his chi this time.

Veri seemed to get a kick out of his actions, "Okay, okay, I just wanted to see if I could convince you to eat it. If you can get up close with it and send some of the chi toward it, I should be able to manipulate it to break the remains down. Once its broken down, we pull the chi back in as well as the remains, and your body should take care of the rest. Assuming that we are right in our theory, that is." He couldn't get the thought of absorbing dead demons out of his head, so he shook it and walked over to the red skid mark that remained of his enemy.

He reached his hand out, and began to cycle his chi toward the limb, a small portion of it escaping his channels and into the flesh around them. He quickly stopped what he was doing, and sent the sensation through to Veri to see what she thought. Her mental eyes seemed to widen in confusion, before she responded. "Its almost like its being attracted to your cells as it passes by. I could stop it, but I don't sense our chi composition dropping at all. If anything it is probably part of how humans reach stone rank, which would make sense."

Kantan pondered her words and found that her reasoning was sound. Humans needed to go through body rebirth to reach the stone rank, but since he hadn��t undergone rebirth while having sufficient amounts of energy, he knew there must have been more too it. Now that he could see his body absorbing some of the chi that moved through his channels, it seemed to follow that maybe rebirthing required time cycling that energy to be absorbed. "That would explain why people with common elements don't rank up after awakening. It requires time to disperse enough energy to prime the body."

"As far as I can tell, that should be the case. If you can get a hold of some people at different stages of their journey to stone rank, I should be able to analyze their bodies and come up with a solid conclusion." The cockiness in Veri's voice caused him to roll his eyes. "Anyways, we should get on to the next room before another guardian is summoned to attack you. The longer you stay in one room, the more the dungeon tries to… provide incentive… for you to die. Can't have you draining my dungeon dry of energy and all."

By now Kantan was getting used to her chaotic temperament, recognizing that anyone with near infinite time alone would likely go crazy. Kantan sent a mental nod, and then began to walk through the nearby hallway leading to the next room. He sent a mental question about absorbing the erthi, but Veri responded with what she believed to be obvious. "In order for you to evolve again, you'll need to absorb creatures of the same rank or higher. While the erthi you fought was near evolving, and thus its hide was denser, it was still a rank 0 demon. Thus even if I absorbed it for you, you're body is technically already stronger than it is able to enhance."

At first he thought that he would need to go through the small tunnel, but Veri had told him that those tunnels were for the roaming demons, who moved throughout the dungeon's rooms at random times. As he walked down the hallway, keeping an eye out for the next room Veri interrupted his thoughts.

With that trademarked, bubbly voice of hers she said, "I would have thought that you'd know about the never ending hallway trap by now." He could feel pity and smugness from her, forcing a sigh out of him.

"Whats the point of a trap like this anyways, its not even dangerous!" Kantan couldn't think of why she wouldn't just do something more direct, like a pit trap.

She seemed offended by his comment, "I'll have you know that this was one of the first of many glorious traps I hand designed. It is very scary, especially if you are being chased. Speaking of, there is an imp behind you."

Kantan quickly turned while assuming a defensive posture, only to find that there was nothing behind him. Veri's melodious laughter rang through his mind, but his heart was racing too much for his liking. "Thats not funny! if you do that too much, I am going to ignore you one day when it really matters."

Kantan could feel the pouting core like a rock in the back of his head. "You're no fun, I see people say stuff like that all the time to each other. It's supposed to be a joke, ya know, something funny. There is humor in your clan right?"

"There is plenty of humor in my clan, but normally you don't do it while someone is in actual danger." Kantan wanted to be mad at her, but again the thought of her isolation helped to simmer his nerves. "Maybe once we aren't crawling through the amazingly dangerous dungeon you built, there will be time for humor."

Veri blushed in his mind, "Do you really think its dangerous? I did work really hard on it. Not to strong, but not too weak."

Kantan suppressed another sigh before placating her some more, all the while walking backwards to progress through the endless hall. "Yes, it is super hardcore, and the demons are very intimidating. I truly thought I was going to die when I first came in here."

"If I didn't know that you were pining hard for Lyra, I'd almost think you were hitting on little old me." Now it was Kantan's turn to blush, as he quickened his pace toward the next room. Again laughter rang in the recesses of his mind as Veri seemed to enjoy teasing him.

After a few minutes of walking backwards Kantan could feel his back bump into the other side, prompting him to turn around to enter the next room. As he did so, he noticed an imp with small wings and granite skin. From his position, he could get a general feel for the power residing in the small demon, and felt it was not much stronger than a typical erthi when it came to reserves. It did have a certain presence to it though, leading him to observe it cautiously.

It hadn't seemed to notice him yet, as it was sleeping across its throne haphazardly. Soft snoring sounded from the granite imp, leaving Kantan surprised. It was supposedly uncommon for dungeon mobs to sleep, as they weren't technically alive in the same way normal demons were. They survived off the dungeon's chi, providing them all of the things their bodies need to continue functioning.

Kantan wasn't one to squander opportunity though, so he began to take a few slow steps toward the unconscious demon. This time, he wanted to test his body more without relying on using their chi.