Chapter 77: Veronica's New Evolution

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Veronica decided to see her available evolution options, as she saw Aqua and Shade play around.

[Available Evolutions]

[Dark Tartarus Living Armor Knightess], [Death Acheron Living Armor Warrior]

"…Eh? What with these evolutions?"

Veronica had assumed that her evolutions would be related to her shapeshifting, or something related to 'liquid metal'… but these two was way different than what she thought they would be.

"Tartarus… that's… That is a place from Greek mythology if I am not mistaken… a deep abyss was the wicked were sealed, alongside the Titans," Veronica thought.

Tartarus was the deep abyss of Greek mythology, it was used by the Gods to imprison the Titans, it was also said to be filled with suffering and wickedness. The souls of mortals were judged in such a place and punished if they were to have committed too many sins…

But there is also the deity Tartarus, a primordial deity of Greek Mythology alongside Chaos and Gaia. It was often normal in Greek Mythology to name places alongside the gods that governed them or lived in them.

Though Veronica was not a Greek mythology scholar, so what she knew was something she had seen in gacha games that had such deities as summonable characters, after reading their descriptions and lore and then remembering them in exact detail by using 'Memory Retention'.

"And Acheron… Was it the river of pain in Greek mythology underworld? I think that is where the Ferryman, Charon, who works for hades and leads the souls to the underworld. Though sometimes it was also the river of Styx or both… Well, I do not know anything more than this… I remember pulling Charon in Legendary Heroes Blasters, that gacha game was absorbing my entire life back then…"

Acheron was one of the rivers that led to the underworld where Hades reigned, alongside the river of Styx, they served as gateways for the souls of the fallen. There were also tales about certain mortal heroes that desired to travel to the underworld while still being alive.

"I don't remember getting such evolutions in my previous life, but these are welcomed…"

Veronica then decided to check both through 'Appraisal'.

[Dark Tartarus Living Armor Knightess]

An evolution unlocked by a Spiritual Arachne Living Armor Knightess whose soul and phantom had become an abyssal being shrouded in shadows while bringing judgment and destruction to the souls of the unfortunate.

This evolution strengthens the 'Soul Break', 'Phantom Form', 'Phantom Materialization', and 'Soul Materialization' while awakening the inner abyss of the user's soul.

This evolution specializes in strength, magic, mana, and speed.

[Death Acheron Living Armor Warrior]

An evolution unlocked by a Spiritual Arachne Living Armor Knightess whose soul has brought the death of many others, leading them through the River of Acheron towards the underworld.

This evolution strengthens the 'Spirit Magic', 'Soul Break', 'Shadow Manipulation', 'Strengthen Followers', 'Commanding' and other Skills while awakening the user's ability to lead others through the path of death or those that had already walked into it.

This evolution specializes in strength, defense, magic, and mana.

In front of Veronica, both options seemed too good, but she could only choose one.

"Awakening the abyss of my soul or… leading people to the path of death? Wait, the last one seems a bit frightening. Hopefully, it doesn't mean leading them to literal death…"

Veronica pondered the thought for a few minutes. If her assumptions were right, the second evolution might give her some kind of Guider ability, although she has not changed to a Guider Job, so it was ambiguous.

Guiders were people that well, guided others. A special job was only born between highly influential people that also had a unique way of thinking and 'path', which led and enticed others to follow them. They were exceedingly rare, but Veronica and all of her reincarnated coworkers had acquired one, and it was also said that the previous Hero of Light and her previous life father also had one, which led their respective armies to fight against each other by their ideals and 'paths'.

Veronica, when she was Anastacia, possessed the 'Spiritual Guider' Job and the 'Demon Guider' Job.

The 'Spiritual Guider' Job was because she was a prodigy in spirit magic, and made a great bond with the spirits of all attributes, while also using the knowledge of Earth to create unique spells and use the combination of all the spirits of the magic attributes to improve her entire Nation.

The 'Demon Guider' Job was a result of her being the new Demon Queen while leading thousands of demons through her own path, she guided them and used her knowledge to change their lives for the better, becoming a revolutionary amongst demons even when she was considered 'talentless'.

But Veronica had never acquired a Guiding skill through evolution. Evolutions were about strengthening one's body, not about such things as guiding… but perhaps, even if she were to not get a guider skill, it might lead to that in the future.

Veronica was unaware that she was already influencing many, her tamed monsters, Ervas, Jason, and even the squirrel-kin that she had just met for a few hours.

"It could be better… but the abyss inside of my soul… it is also tempting," thought Veronica.

If she were to unlock the 'abyss inside her soul', could she get something similar to Ervas's massive Mana pool, which was constantly increasing?

Or perhaps, a different power, capable of giving her a certain advantage against Oggoth.

Considering this, Veronica decided for the Tartarus evolution and thought that if she were to have the capabilities of a guider again in this third life, she would naturally acquire the Job one day. However, awakening the abyss of her soul might be a one-time opportunity for her.

Ding!

[You have ranked up to Rank 6 [Dark Tartarus Living Armor Knightess]!]

[The [Soul Form; Level 4] and [Shadow Manipulation; Level 3] Skills have converged into the [Abyssal Soul; Level 1] Skill!]

[The Levels of the [Abyssal Soul; Level 1], [Soul Break; Level 2], [Phantom Form; Level 3], [Phantom Materialization; Level 3], and [Soul Materialization; Level 3] Skills have increased!]

Veronica's body was shrouded in darkness, as it slowly changed its shape.

Demonic goat-like horns grew at each side of her helmet. Her armor became sleek and slim, but also sharper. Her waist seemed to have widened a bit, and her torso tightened, her armor had become a bit thinner, resembling the armor that a slim damsel would wear, even her gloves became slim and sharp like claws, and her armor was completely dark, covered in purple lines and crimson jewels.

"Well… this appearance is… fine? Ah, so it was this Abyssal soul Skill the awakening of my abyss?"

Veronica checked the new skill with Appraisal.

[Abyssal Soul; Level 2/10]

A Skill that represents the abyssal soul of the user. A soul shrouded in eternal darkness and shadows, vast like the abyss and almost unreachable.

Those that stare at the abyss for too long, might end up being stared back by it…

Grants the user the ability to bounce back certain skills effects directed to it as long as the user notices such effect taking place on itself.

It also lets the user shape its soul with greater liberty, to manipulate shadows and to absorb them.

It might have the smaller side effect of making the user highly attractive to beings that lurk in the abyss of the world.

Level up this skill to enhance the efficacy of its effect.

"This is… perfect…"

After finding out the great effects of Veronica's new and awakened soul, she went with Aqua and Shade to eliminate nearby monsters to level up her 'Apprentice Warrior' Job.

It seems that no effects such as Ervas's large mana increase happened with her stats.

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[Name: Veronica (New!)

[Race: Dark Tartarus Living Armor Knightess.

[Age: 0 years, 1 Month, and 1 week old.

[Titles: Monster Tamer, Mysterious Demon Knightess (New!)

[Type: Undead/Ethereal/Material

[Rank: 6 (Rank Up!)

[Level: 001/100

[Job: Apprentice Warrior.

[Job History: Armored Unarmed Fighter, Soul User, Shadow Soul Fighter, Spectral Soul Knight, Apprentice Spirit Caster, Apprentice No-Attribute Mage, Armored Shapeshifter Fighter, Slime User.

[Level: 001/100

[Health Points: 725/725 > 2660/2660

[Mana Points: 1202/1202 > 1947/1947

[Strength: 660 > 925

[Defense: 728 > 1020

[Magic: 795 > 925

[Resistance: 330 > 530

[Agility: 447 > 653

[Passive Skills]

[Memory Retention; Level 4]

[Special Five Senses; Level 6]

[Superhuman Strength; Level 2]

[Abyssal Soul; Level 2]

[Phantom Form; level 4]

[Mana Enlargement; Level 5]

[Magic Enlargement; Level 5]

[Abnormal Status Immunity]

[Strengthened Physical Power; Level 3]

[Physical Damage Resistance; Level 3]

[Armor Rearrangement; Level 3]

[Absorption Healing (Mineral, Materials, Armor); Level 3]

[Shadow Manipulation; Level 3]

[Chant Revocation; Level 2]

[Strengthen Followers; Level 2]

[Commanding; Level 2]

[Coordination; Level 2]

[Self-Enhancement; Following (Ervas); Level 2]

[Slime Binding Technique; Level 1]

[Active Skills]

[Hardworking; Level 7]

[Appraisal; Level 6]

[Charge; Level 3]

[Coordination; Level 3]

[Unarmed Fighting Technique; Level 5]

[Javelin Technique; Level 2]

[Shield Technique; Level 3]

[Armor Technique; Level 3]

[Thread Reeling Technique; Level 2]

[Artillery Technique; Level 2]

[No-Attribute Magic; Level 3]

[Mana Control; Level 3]

[Spirit Magic; Level 3]

[Cursed Wounds; Level 3]

[Soul Materialization; Level 4]

[Phantom Materialization; Level 4]

[Tame; Level 3]

[Body Form Manipulation; Level 3]

[Long-Distance Control; Level 2]

[Digestion; Level 3]

[Grow; Level 2]

[Shrink; Level 2]

[Cooking; Level 1]

[Butcher; Level 1]

[Alchemy; Level 1]

[Crafting; Level 1]

[Unique Skills]

[Armory; Level 3]

[Soul Break; Level 3]

[Current Armory Slots: 4]

[Slot 1: [Obsidian Semi-Liquid Crimson Dusk Living Armor] > [Grand Scarlet Spider Queen's Dusk Living Armor] [Armor]

[Slot 2: [Medium-Sized Iron-Silver Crab Soldier Exoskeleton Shield] > [Medium-Sized Flexible Iron-Silver Snake Exoskeleton Shield] [Shield]

[Slot 3: [Silver Metallic Slime Soldier Exoskeleton Living Armor] [Armor]

[Slot 4: [Generic Copper Long Spear] [Weapon]

[Bonded Spirits]

[Shade, Spirit of Shadows and Darkness (Light-Attribute)]

[Tamed Monsters]

[Slot 1: [Rank 6: Deep Lake Water Slime, Aqua]

[Slot 2: [Rank 4: Dark Armored Spider, Charlotte]

[Slot 3 Empty. (New!)