A few more days had gone by and it was time for everyone to evolve to the next tier. Shaman also assigned all of her stat points just before evolving.
[Attributes]
Unused: 2100 -> 0
Vitality: 700 -> 1050
Agility: 750 -> 1100
Intelligence: 810 -> 1160
Strength: 800 -> 1150
Dexterity: 760 -> 1110
Defence: 700 -> 1050
As they all sat in the living room Shaman looked over everyone's stats and was happy they reached level 200.
As usual, the next tier upgrade required tier 6 leader cores, which they had plenty of.
"Alright everyone, grab 2 cores and we can begin entering the next tier." Nothing was stopping them from evolving and Shaman wanted to start on the next dungeon floor quickly.
"Enjoy this while it lasts, this is one of the final tiers where you can easily evolve. It is especially hard when trying to get to tier 8 and up." Kiruya, who was stuck at tier 8, struggled to find tier 9 monsters to kill which stunted her growth. This was also in part because of her work with Freja which didn't leave her much time to find the right creatures to kill.
"There aren't any tier 9 or 10 dungeons?" Shaman was rather curious as she assumed there would be a dungeon for every tier.
"Nope! tier 8 is the highest a dungeon can go, well at least from what has been discovered." Kiruya assumed there were higher-tier dungeons, but they had yet to be found.
"Oh, they might be deep underground or something." Clara figured they would be in some sort of extreme terrain that even high-tier people would find hard to traverse.
"Wait, how did Freja reach tier 10?" Elysia realised that people still managed to reach such a monstrous tier so there had to be some way.
"Oh, she killed a creature years ago which was a threat to the entire continent." Kiruya was surprised they hadn't been told the story, but it happened quite a while ago before the current pope came into power which fractured a lot of the friendly relationships.
"Eh? Is it like some massive squid creature that was going to destroy everything?" Silver's imagination went a bit crazy as he remembered some of the horror stories Shaman recalled from her old world.
"Haha no, it wasn't that big, probably about the size of a few houses." Kiruya didn't know too much about what it looked like as she wasn't around at the time and therefore found it hard to describe.
"So it was an extremely strong monster and Freja was able to kill it?" Clara figured it was as simple as that.
"As far as I know, yes, it was a fire type monster and that is actually how she obtained her hell special flame element." Kiruya panicked for a moment after speaking as she wasn't sure if she was allowed to discuss this subject.
"Oh that's cool, but there is one thing that doesn't seem to add up. Why does nobody talk about it? I haven't seen any information relating to this event." Shaman thought it would be a much more known event, especially since it involved saving the continent from destruction.
"I-I can't answer that." Kiruya knew why, but she was worried that if she told the girls and silver the full truth behind the event, they would end up disliking Freja.
"Hmm, I see." Shaman became suspicious, entertaining the thought that maybe Freja summoned the creature in the first place, but that sounded way too insane.
"We should probably get this evolution over with." Elysia was losing interest in the topic and wanted to get to tier 6 already.
"Yes, you're right, we can talk after. Kiruya, make sure to look over us!" Shaman knew they were safe in the hideout, but getting Kiruya's confirmation made it reassuring.
"Don't worry, I will keep the place safe." Kiruya nodded her head and stood back to watch them begin the process.
"Everyone ready?" Shaman looked around and saw that the group were nodding their heads.
"Alright go!" Shaman gave the signal and they all pressed yes in their system menu. Shortly after, they each got engulfed in an egg.
Kiruya was a bit confused as the way she evolved was a lot different than how they did.
'Maybe it's a system thing.' Remembering that she was under some different type of system, Kiruya suspected it may have affected how she evolves.
'Doesn't matter now, I just need to wait for them to wake up. Hopefully, they don't take too long.' Kiruya hoped to be entering the Elf palace soon as Freja was urging them to finish.
***
<Next day>
Kiruya found herself asleep on one of the wooden chairs while looking over the eggs in the living room. Even though she could have gone to bed, she wanted to make sure she was close by just in case.
At one point, Elanor had come out and was shocked to see all the eggs laying around. Her first thought when seeing them was that they were food the group found while hunting. However, before she could touch the eggs Kiruya stopped her, freaking out that she might take them to the kitchen.
It was around the afternoon when the eggs finally started to crack, waking Kiruya up.
"It's time." Getting up still in a daze, Kiruya quickly tidied herself up and went to go get Elanor.
As Kiruya walked back out with Elanor, the group was already out of their eggs, but there was a glaring difference in their demeanour. Each and every one of them looked older and even Silver looked more mature now, seemingly in his late teens.
Surprisingly, Shaman had the most development with her now looking as if she was in her early 20s. Her body gained a lot more curves, becoming almost unrecognisable if it wasn't for her familiar face and unique hair.
Elysia also followed this same path, but she did not look too different from how she usually is.
The one with the least changes was Clara as she was already quite older than the others, so she already had a developed body. With the evolution though, she gained a more refined look which she couldn't complain about.
"Woah." Elanor was stunned by this as it felt like she suddenly time travelled to the future.
*Yawn* "Damn, I hate how it always makes me hungry." Shaman felt her stomach rumble and just like the previous times ate her eggshell. Elysia, Clara and Silver also did the same thing, enjoying the surprisingly sweet taste.
Kiruya was concerned seeing this as she would have thought the eggshell would just cut their mouth.
"Ohhh Shaaamaann, you look so much more…. Sexier." Elysia looked over to Shaman after finishing the eggshell and was pleasantly surprised by the new looks.
"Oh wow, you're not wrong Elysia." Clara looked over from behind Elysia and couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"Hehe~ finally." Shaman felt extremely happy. Although she hadn't yet looked in the mirror, hearing Clara and Elysia's reactions made Shaman confident.
"Wait, are we ignoring the fact you just ate an eggshell?!" Elanor did not want to let this point fly by as it was extremely weird.
"Hmm? Did you want to try them? They are sweet." Shaman still had some pieces left she was about to finish, but she didn't mind sharing them with Elanor.
"I d-don't know if that's safe." Elanor was sceptical, but it was a tempting offer as the expressions everyone made while eating said otherwise.
"Here, come try." Shaman lifted up a piece towards Elanor while gesturing for her to come over.
"F-fine." Walking up to Shaman, Elanor took the piece from her and took a small bite.
Expecting it to be fragile, Elanor found the shell surprisingly gummy and a sweet taste invaded her mouth. However, she suddenly felt mana flow through her and got a sense of newfound strength.
"What?" Elanor was still trying to understand this new feeling when suddenly a little bit of wind swirled around her body, shocking everyone.
"I knew the eggshell gave a little boost, but I didn't expect them to have such an effect on other people." What Shaman didn't realise was that the eggshell was infused with tier 6 mana, so for someone like Elanor who is at tier 3 it will have a major effect.
"Still though, this is great." Elysia gathered up the small pieces she had left and passed them to Shaman.
"The eggs you guys were in are imbued with mana?" Kiruya rubbed her head trying to make sense of the situation as it seemed way too ridiculous.
"This is a first for me, but I don't feel much from eating it. It just tastes nice." Clara having this be her first evolution found it odd Elanor was having such a response.
[Well it's because she is much weaker, so she got a power boost from absorbing some of your mana which was infused with the cores.] Rea came in with an explanation that answered all of Shaman's questions.
"Ohhh that makes sense." Shaman, now understanding what happened, recited what Rea said which put Elanor at ease as she was panicking about what was going on.
"If that's the case should you give her more?" Kiruya wrapped her head around what was going on and, seeing how it had such a positive effect, figured they should give her the rest.
"That's the plan." Shaman gathered the remaining pieces from Silver and Clara. Placing them on the table, she turned to Elanor who's swirling winds finally calmed down.
"Alright Elanor, I want you to slowly eat these." Shaman had an idea and hoped that what they had remaining was enough to give a significant boost to Elanor's power.