Chapter 645 The Game Plan

N0 v el Next. CoM

Keng shrugged and stepped past Manny. He flicked his finger and watched the AI screen pop-up.

Nove l B(in).C OM

[Evolution: Six Tails]

'I got a lot more stuff now…' Keng thought. He tapped on his Skills and skimmed over them.

Transcendent Tails (Dark Matter Eater) Lvl 10

- Gluttony, Passive

Altered Aura Form: Silver Sun (White Fox Cloak) Lvl. 10

- Silver Light, Passive

Tail Manipulation II Lvl. 10

Shapeshift III Lvl. 10

Savior's Flame (Fox Fire) Lvl. 10

Light Manipulation II, Lvl. 10

'They did all evolve.' Keng nodded. 'Fox Fire evolved into Savior's Flame. Incorporates more Light and Cosmos-based stuff into it…' Keng lifted his hand and ignited a Fox fire. To his surprise, a cosmic silver flame appeared. He waved it around, noticing the calming effect it had. 'The Silver Light is what makes it calming.' He expelled the flames and continued looking at his updated skills.

'Let's see what Runic Howler is…'

[Runic Howler], Level 10: The basics of Energy Trickster markings have grown ingrained into your body. The studying of runes has triggered an evolution causing the User to bend complex runes within their own magic to keep Balance.

'The following abilities now revolve around Runes with [Runic Trap]… [Energy Leech], [Vampirism], [Runic Blink], [Curse of Death], [Runeweaver]… [Seer]..?' Keng tilted his head. Ritsuka and Olivia casually glanced at him as the team took a minute to rest.

"What's he doing?" Olivia whispered to Ritsuka.

"Dunno. Lee Seng always spaced out like that, too." Ritsuka answered. "Maybe he's just taking some time to figure some things out." He shrugged and stretched. "Ugh, I can't wait to be done with this mission."

"You say that like we'll win, easily." Evan told him. Ritsuka smiled and nodded.

"We did pretty well working together earlier. I think we'll knock this out of the park, easy."

"We should be coming up with a plan." Manny told the group. He turned to call Keng, but the same spaced out face he saw with Lee Seng, was on Keng. "Keng."

[Seer], Passive: The AI has gathered enough energy and evolved with the addition of a new tail. The AI can be used to cast a string of Runes, allowing the User to trick their opponents and pull more complicated combos.

'You evolved? Wow. This'll be handy.' Keng thought.

[Indeed. With evolved parameters, I can now do much more than give you instructions.]

'Mmm, true.' Keng nodded, turning away.

"Hmm?" Keng looked at the group.

"C'mon. Let's think of a plan for the upcoming fight." Manny waved him over. Manny seemed a bit more calm than usual. Keng nodded and headed over.

'Everything's at a base level of ten with at least 10,000 XP… I get double XP for skills, so that shouldn't be a problem, but taking so much reduced soul XP for tail evolution is rough…'

"What were you doing?" Ritsuka asked. Keng stood next to Manny and sighed.

"Looking at my skills and abilities. What's up?" Keng asked.

"Skills and abilities?" Manny's interest was peaked. "You're telling me Lee Seng could do the same?"

"Yeah pretty much." Keng nodded.

"That explains why he spaced out so much." Olivia commented. The group nodded in agreement.

"Back to the plan… What's the best course of action here? That giant green king might have more allies with him. Should we kill the creeps and then focus on him?" Manny suggested. Liz found herself staring at Manny's new profound… body. He was less scrawny than before and had glimpses of that, but the muscles on his arms and chest were… Liz gulped and shook her head.

'Focus on the plan. Ask questions later.' Liz told herself.

? "If we do go with that plan, someone will have to entertain the green giant king, himself, until we kill the smalls." Evan commented. "Who would be willing to do that?"

"You want me to?" Keng asked. "I'm quick. I could handle him while you guys deal with the others."

"Mmm, I think your better off helping the rest of us take down the smalls." Manny disagreed. "I think Evan or I should deal with the boss until then."

"Y-you want to throw yourself up there?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, I mean I have this new power. I'd like to see what it could do."

"I can't tell if you're a Fighter or a Tank now." Olivia commented. "Based off what I saw, you look more like one of those two."

"Which is why I should deal with the boss while the rest of you kill the smalls." Manny moved back to his original point.

"You should at least take another person with you." Ritsuka commented. "We don't necessarily know what you're capable of now…"

"But I feel more powerful." Manny looked at his hands. "Way powerful. It's almost… Addicting."

"Yeah, someone should definitely help you out." Liz agreed. "I could."

"No, you shouldn't. You're one of our ranged damage dealers." Ritsuka disagreed. "I think it'd be better for you to handle the ranged the melee's can't reach."

"You have Keng." Liz motioned. "It seems like he's gotten some kind of breakthrough, too." All eyes went to Keng as he simply nodded.

"I got a lot more DM now from that evolution." Keng spoke up. "I can replenish it with hits and kills. It'll let me experiment with my new evolved abilities, too."

"Evolved? Y-you got some cooler abilities or something?" Ritsuka asked. His eyes lit up like coals on fire.

"Mmm, what do you mean by that?" Olivia asked.

"Well… Basically, each tail opens up more possibilities for me. At first I could choose which way I wanted to strengthen myself with each tail, but this tail automatically chose to evolve everything." Keng shrugged.

"Evolve? What do you mean by that? Is something like that even doable?" Manny asked.

"It is." Keng nodded. "I can't tell you exactly how but when the times comes, you'll know. For now, my abilities and skills evolved so I have more toys to play with now that I'm a Runic Howler."

"Runic Howler? What's that?" Evan asked. "Is it some kind of rune wolf?"

"It's more like a Glass-Fighter class." Keng replied. "Create runes…" Keng flicked his hand and created a Cosmos rune. "And then add to it…" Smaller runes grew around it. He pushed it together, creating a Gravitum rune. "And viola! I have a combo rune to use."

"What's that one?" Evan pointed as Keng dismissed it.

"A gravity move." Keng answered.

"So you have gravity still? What's with the whole cosmic space theme?" Manny asked.

"Gravity evolved into Cosmos. I still can use gravity but it just has more of a starry theme to it now." Keng replied. He stuck up two fingers and wiggled them. "Thus creating two different sub-types of moves: Gravitum and Solarium. Gravitum focuses on Area of Effect (AOE) and gravity manipulation-based attacks through myself or the space around me. Solarium is the opposite. It focuses more on damage and changes. Autumnal Fall is a damage skill ability while Dance of the Fire Fox is a flexible ability."

"Dance of the Fire Fox? What's that?" Ritsuka asked.

"He used it with me." Manny told them. "He summoned foxes that did what he wanted based on an order."

"So you do pay attention." Keng smiled. "Solarium takes a lot of DM to pull anything off. I could barely use it when I had five tails, but I have enough to cast a Solarium ability three times before I'm out." Keng wiggled three fingers.

"But I'm pretty sure you can fight way longer than that…" Evan rubbed his chin.

"Mmm, I have a Rune I can cast that gives leeches energy back to me if I hit them. It's effects strengthen if I were to kill enemies." Keng motioned around them.

"So you cast runes… Like those rune mages?" Liz asked. "Does that make you a Runeweaver?"

"Yes and no…?" Keng answered, unsure. "I only know Fox Runes. Well, I know Terran Runes but…"

"Terra-what?" Manny asked.

"Earth Runes." Keng replied. "That's what Earth Runes are called. Terran Runes."

"You learned it? How?" Ritsuka asked.

"The monster inside Manny." Keng motioned. "Enough about that, do we wanna go with the plan Manny concoted? I'll happily deal with the small guys if Manny and someone else can handle the boss for awhile."

"What if the smalls continue to come out? What then?" Olivia asked. The group thought for a moment before Manny snapped his fingers.

"We'll thin it out but try to kill the boss then." Manny answered, plainly.

"I guess that body change doesn't change how smart you are, either…" Liz whispered.

"I'm serious. We have ways to deal with the smalls, so once they thin out we'll switch all of our melees — Ritsuka, Evan and Olivia — and have Liz and Keng alternate if they have to."

"What about the two Glasses? Will they be fine?" Olivia asked. "One wrong move and there's an opening for Liz."

"Leave that to me!" Keng patted his chest. "I have some utility that'll keep them off of her. Trust me."

"So, who's going with Manny then?" Ritsuka asked. "Liz?"

"If Liz can whittle down the enemy, it'll help." Manny nodded. "Besides, I have a whole new power to try out. I'm curious to see what will happen. Sound like a plan?"