194: Evolutions

Chapter 194: Evolutions

—

The girls were confused at first, so Neji gave them a short summary.

"So, you mean, once we go through a sort of magical surgery, will we be able to do magic?"

Neji nodded at Rumi's question.

"Then what are we waiting for?!"

Rumi seemed to be the most enthusiastic among all the girls, and Neji could guess why. She wanted to become stronger the most here. However, from the gaze of the other girls, it seemed Rumi had matches this time, and even some whose desires towered over hers.

All of them wanted to grow stronger.

Neji smiled, turning to the Vampire. "Darling, do you need any special equipment, environment, or tool before you do this?" He asked. "Or can you start right away?"

"I can start right away." The Loli nodded. "Though I would prefer if I am allowed to do this in private, so please clear the room, except for the person who wants to start first."

"Oh, me, me!" Kimi raised her hand in the air. "I love being a test subject."

The Loli Vamp looked at her with a slightly bewildered expression but she didn't question it.

"Alright," Neji clapped his hands. "If that's the care, girls, don't come inside before you stop hearing Kimi's screams." His statement confused the girls, but before they could question him his body blitzed for a moment and he disappeared with the girls, before he alone reappeared. 

The Loli looked at him. "...My statement included you too."

"Wow, no way." He said with heavy sarcasm. "But no, that wouldn't do. I have to watch over my overgrown cat, you know. You'd be in danger otherwise, she's a Pedo."

"..."

"Don't trust him!" Kimi said from the side.

—★—

[You have levelled up!]

[You have levelled up!]

[You have…]

Neji kindly asked the system to ignore these level-up messages because he had to focus on what was in front of him first.

The world outside was at a war, with Kim-Jong-Un having fired the first nuke earlier than planned because America dared to send Star and Stripes which enraged Kim.

These level up notifications were the effect of Neji's worldwide thunderstorm, created by «Thunder God - Level 51» and enhanced by «Upgrade - Level 51».

Neji actually had to hold back a lot to not destroy Earth. Using «Future Sight», he saw a future where he had destroyed the planet using this same quirk combination, and so he had to spend some time in Luck to allow his future to change.

In any case, this meant every minute, and sometimes even every few seconds, he received a notification of levelling up. Though it was slowing down as his level-up requirement of Exp kept increasing.

Neji ignored these thoughts and focused on the scene in front of him, watching as the Loli Vampire did a "surgery" on Kimi.

The cat-woman had volunteered to participate in this surgery before anyone else could. As the oldest amongst the girls, she wanted to make sure the procedure was safe. 

Neji didn't like it, making this process seem like a test subject. It was absolutely safe, he knew because he saw about the "procedure" using [Observe].

[Spell- "Mana Core Creation" - Legendary Rank

Details: A legendary rank magic spell that needs Divinity to cast. This allows the caster to create a Mana Core within a target's body. Either the brain, heart, or lower-dantian can be used as the core.]

'The thing is, a Mana-core can be destroyed by certain techniques or spells. So it's better to create the core in the Dantain, instead of heart or brain as that'd make the Core a spot where the enemy can kill two birds with one stone.' Neji thought in silence, watching Yue casting magic circles above Kimi's laid down body as the woman kept chatting with the Vamp in a cheerful tone.

'That's the reason why people, at least the ones who get the chance to choose a spot anyway, choose the lower-Dantian as the Core's focus.'

Contrary to popular belief, the Dantain wasn't a fictional term. It's quite frequently mentioned in old Chinese medicines and surgeries. In truth, the head is called the Upper Dantian, and the heart is called the Middle. At last, the Lower Dantian existed below the navel area.

That's where Kimi, and the other four girls were going to get their Mana Core made.

"Is everything going smoothly?" Neji asked the Vamp, standing with the wall against his back as he watched the process happening. He had a Health Potion in his hand in case of an emergency, because even though he trusted the Vamp to not betray him, not after she Vowed, there can always be accidents.

"You worry too much, young master, she is trying her best." Kimi giggled, defending the Vamp. "How could you have thought of killing such a cute creature?"

"Well as you said, she's a creature-"

"Then let me rephrase myself, how could you think of killing such a cute little girl?"

Neji shrugged, not planning to give in to her twisted trap, but the Loli didn't seem so amused.

"I am actually older than you, despite my looks." The Vamp said, continuing with her magic.

"Age doesn't matter, baby, it's just a number." Kimi said, suddenly patting the Loli, making her freeze. "Look at the cute Kuudere expression you are making."

"..." The Vamp was silent. "You… shouldn't move while I am doing this, or it might hurt you."

"You said your name was Yue, right-"

"Kimi, shut. Don't annoy your surgeon." Neji shut Kimi up, making the older woman show him her tongue.

Yue sighed, avoiding eye contact from both people in the room and continuing with her magic.

It took her just one more minute to finish casting the magic circles, proving that it was Kimi's mouth that was slowing the process.

"Hold still, this is supposed to hurt a lot."

Kimi nodded with a smile, seemingly uncaring as the Loli cast the spell. Immediately, all the magic circles floating above Kimi clashed together, forming a single magic circle that duplicated, with each going towards Kimi and Yue and wrapping around them.

Then a great amount of blue Mana got sucked out of Yue's body, enough for it to be visible to Neji's naked eye, and leapt at Kimi like a tidal wave, all focusing on her navel area.

At first, Kimi looked prepared for a painful experience, before she blinked in confusion, feeling nothing–

Her eyes widened, twisting in pain abruptly as her throat let out a terrible screech.

The yell shook the whole building.

Kimi's body moved, almost moving like a fish out of water if not for the magic circle keeping her down.

She turned into her hybrid form, even entering her full four-legged White Tiger form for a moment, before returning to normal. The phases continued changing every few seconds, her painful screeches filling the air as blue Mana kept entering her lower Dantian.

After almost five minutes, the process stopped and so did her screams as Kimi's muscles relaxed, her head fell down on the table she was lying down upon as she stared at the feeling.

"We are coming in!" A yell came from outside as the door burst open and the other four girls, including Kurai, ran inside and gasped at the scene.

Kimi was sweating, her face pale as she looked at the girls, forming a small reassuring smile.

"Yeah no… I wouldn't suggest that." She said, closing her eyes. "But honestly, the pain is worth it, I feel stronger… much stronger."

Then she lost consciousness.

"Mama!"

Kurai ran to Kimi, while Neji just checked her state using Observe.

[Name: Kimi Sugihara

Tier: Peak-Tier 7

MP: 100,000/100,000

State: Happy to finally be someone who can help her young master, Looking forward to her new strength, Relieved from pain, Relaxed…]

Truthfully, 100k MP was a lot. Neji was just a useless shit, even with 10 Million MP because he lacked good Spells, but with just 100k MP, one should be very strong, though Neji wasn't sure how strong.

"She absorbed quite a bit." The Vamp suddenly said, making the girls look at her. "I haven't done this… 'surgery' to many people before, but the ones I did on didn't suck that much Mana. It seems the part of Directional Beast blood within her helped with that."

"That makes sense." Neji looked, looking at Momo. "That means Momo will have an easy time too."

Momo blinked at that, recalling that she herself was quarter a Phoenix, before smiling slightly at the chance to finally grow stronger than her peers.

"Ryukyu too, I guess." Neji said, yanking out the Dragon Evolution Stone from within his inventory. "Here, catch."

He tossed it over to her, even as the girl barely caught it, curious. "What's this?"

"Put it in your mouth, you'll see what's that."

Ryukyu blinked twice but didn't question it and threw it in her mouth.

Truthfully, Neji wasn't sure how this would end up since the Stone was dropped from a Chinese Dragon while Ryukyu's power was that of a western one. 

What route will evolution take?

Turns out: neither.

As gold dust left her body, spreading to the room and clearing soon when Neji released a gust of wind, Ryukyu came out with four golden horns on her head, two of them coming out of her head and going upwards straight, and two of them rounding around her head. Her nails sharpened, two sharp bones leaving her elbows, as her body was covered in different shades of pristine golden scales, coupled with a long tail.

"A gold dragon…" Neji gasped. "It's a gold dragon!"

"It really is!" Nejire cheered, jumping forward and hugging a surprised Ryukyu. "Ryukyu, you look like a sculpture!"

Nejire was back to her cheerful self again, for the most part, as the monsters in this place treated her quite nicely. Neji knew she was forcing herself for his sake, now that he was preparing to fight the Gods, but at least even that forcing was helping her a little.

"And onee-sama, I have something for you too." Neji pulled out a fruit and gently handed it over to her.

That was the loot the Boss of Floor-5 dropped, the tree spirit of the World Tree.

[•Fruit of the World Tree (highest-rank): A fruit ripened in the World Tree worshipped by Elves.

Being at the highest rank, this has many aptitudes it can grant! Currently, it can boost the eater's life essence, expand their mana pool, and heighten their general senses. There is a high chance for the eater to follow an evolution based on their race!]

This was an item similar to the one Kurai ate to become Nergal back in the day, though it was of the lowest rank.

Neji observed the fruit for a moment before looking at Neji. "What's this?"

"The World Tree's fruit." It was the Vamp who replied. "It allows the consumer to gain many physical boosts, gain a mana pool just by eating it, and even go through a racial evolution."

"Ah, I see."

"Say, I have a proposal." The Vamp turned to Neji, knowing it's better to ask the leader about this. "Would you mind if… If I intertwined my Vampire blood with the fruit? Otherwise, she will become a simple High Human, that might be a strong race, but they don't have many special perks. However, with my Pure Breed Vampire God bloodline, mixed with the fruit, she would gain a powerful Noble Vampire race. Do you mind?"

Neji considered her words for a moment before speaking. 

"Yes,” he said. “I do mind.”

The Vamp went silent.

“If we are using someone’s blood for Nejire, it’s gonna be mine. I didn’t know you could do that, darling.” Neji said to Yue. “Anyway, you see Nejire is my older sister, and I would hate for her to be of a difference race than me,” Even though that’s been the case for a while now. “So if you can do this blood thing anyways, it’s better to do it with mine.”

The little girl didn’t take offence in his rejection and instead thought over his words, nodding. “Indeed, it's also better because you are a 50%… wait, no, you are a 100% High Human?!” The indifferent girl was suddenly surprised, her eyes focusing on Neji. “What… What’s this? There is a 100% pure high human blood within you, but at the same time, you are also a pure dragon… How does this work?”

“Don’t think too much about it. Continue where you left.”

The Loli, still shocked, tried to ask him more about it, but stopped after seeing Neji’s gaze. “…Fine. Anyway, since you two are siblings, the blood will be more effective, and since your blood will have the essence of a High Human already, the Fruit will rather try to absorb the Dragon part of the blood entirely,”

“Hey, what about my consent in all this?!” Nejire interrupted suddenly. “I don’t want to keep being your shadow, Neji! Let me become a Vampire!”

“You aren’t my shadow anymore, our powers are already different, even though they are similar.” Neji said, shrugging. Her Surge became Potential Energy and his became Kinetic, two sides of the same coin, but different sides nonetheless. “Just stay with the sinking theme, Nejire. It’s a must.”

Nejire didn’t protest after he said the last line, making Neji immediately regret it. That must have been a blow to her wound, implying that they were the only blood-related family left in the world, so they should at least stay like that.

“I… I understand. It’s fine then.” Nejire nodded.

In the end, Neji sighed in relief and went with the process.

—

Nejire’s transformation was similar to his. No change in normal form, except for slitted eyes that he didn’t have. The heavier change was in her hybrid form and full dragon form. Instead of white scales, she had deep blue, glossy and beautiful.

Ryukyu also tested out her full dragon form when Nejire did, revealing that she was a western dragon except for she had a outer-spine-like structure above her spine like that of a Chinese dragon. 

“Whew, three dragons,” Kimi said, watching the scene now that she was awake. “Tch, I am jealous.”

“It’s rare for you to be jealous.” Neji said, leaning over and squeezing her butt once, away from Kurai’s gaze.

“Mmhm~ W-well, Ryukyu told us about the sound of your heartbeat. It seems only a dragon can feel something interesting from that sound,” Kimi said, containing another moan as her soft ass was spanked. “After all, I wanna enjoy my young master’s everything in every way,”

Neji laughed at that, though it did sound touching.

In any case, Neji focused on the two dragons again, not before squeezing Kimi once more.

Nejire and Ryukyu were of similar sizes, even when they increased their size to the Limit. Though he knew Nejire had more powers. But that was natural, his sister deserved more. Still, he will give Ryukyu some other quirk to make up for it.

[Nejire Hado - Draconic High Human - Peak Tier 8]

[Ryuko Tatsuma - Amalgam Dragon - Mid Tier 7]

On top of that, Nejire had Potential Energy manipulation, she surely was stronger. Though Ryukyu will close the gap a bit after getting Mana herself. Nejire had it already, as Yue had said.

Yue casted a spell while the race change happened, to help Nejire get as much as possible, and so she did.

150,000 thousand mana points. That’s how much she gained.

“Dang…” Rumi was mesmerised by the sight. “Hey, Neji! Can I go next?”

“Nope, bunny. The gold dragon is yet to do it, you know? First her, then you. And then….” He glanced at Momo, who looked away, embarrassed about her previous outburst. “Momo will do it, if she’s in the mood.”

“I… I am.” Momo nodded slowly.

Neji smiled back before releasing a sigh under his breath that only Kimi noticed, giving him an apologetic look.

Everything will go back to normal, he knew, but a part of their life had still been snatched from them. Neji… Neji didn’t have anyone to blame because the killer was already dead. In that case, he would just destroy the world along with the Gods.

Neji simply needed someone to release his anger upon.

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