Chapter Forty Three - A Discussion on Evolutions

Chapter Forty Three - A Discussion on Evolutions

Cadence Lee (as Hewka) POV:

So what are my options for Juvenile Evolutions anyway? I asked, having realized that just following Ylmas advice - as well meaning as I believed it to be - might not be the best idea. Presuming only a single horizontal Evolution beforehand in the Young stage.

I was, currently, sprawled out on the roof of the inn as Rauvin, Chaurl, Tamlin and Karlin were handling a quest inside of town. In what was certainly the most egregious oversight ever to occur in any world, the buildings in the town werent built Wyvern sized, and so I was sunning myself while I waited for my teammates to handle the quest.

I was joined by Ylma and Ray because Ylma was about as subtle as lighting someones hair on fire and Ray stood out in the purely human population. We were talking about monsters and Evolutions, and I decided to ask about my own. I had been swept up before, but really this requires more thought.

Oh there are quite a few, Ylma answered. If you choose one of the three basic elements for your horizontal Young Evolution you have a ton of options. Although I do think the Lake Wyvern Evolution is far better than the others.

I agree with Ylma, Ray spoke up from where she lay with her eyes closed, enjoying the warm sun despite the cool air. Plus, the Lake Wyvern requirements were pretty easy to meet, whereas a lot of the others would require a bunch of work.

Im not really arguing about whether it is the best choice, but I am curious on what my other choices are. I do admit that I suspected that they were hiding something from me, but Ray just started giggling when she felt it through the bond so I dont think it was that much of an issue. I mean, I can guess what you mean by an elemental Evolution, but I am still just guessing.

It is pretty self-explanatory, Ylma agreed. An elemental Evolution is simply an Evolution associated with one of the primary mana elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. So you, as a Gale Wyvern, are associated with Air and a Lake Wyvern would be associated with Water.

And presumably an Ocean Wyvern would also be associated with Water?

If they existed, yes. Ylma nodded before explaining that strictly speaking there were no Ocean Wyverns, but there were Coastal Wyverns and Deep Wyverns.

Wouldnt a Deep Wyvern be stronger than a Lake Wyvern? I mean, Deep sounds more powerful than Lake to me. Admittedly, a Deep Wyvern would probably lose to a Lake Wyvern if they fought in the air, but that isnt really saying anything about their power but instead about their adaptation.

Yes and no? Ray felt thoughtful, although she looked rather serene; Elves seemed to be Talented at Meditation. It depends on what you mean by power.

A Deep Wyvern has a more powerful [Hydrokinesis] ability, Ylma pulled out the information we had purchased and was reviewing it. They have different racial hide Abilities, but the key difference for you - and for us - is that the Lake Wyvern still has a Talent for Flight.

Makes sense, I suppose. A Deep Wyvern, by the sounds of it, didnt exactly need to fly much. That said, a more powerful [Hydrokinesis] did sound nice

More importantly, Ylma continued on as she read. Becoming a Deep Wyvern would have a significant impact on your Juvenile Evolutions. Options like the Cloud Wyvern would be off the table, which would prevent you from becoming a Storm Wyvern as an Adult without taking another horizontal Evolution somewhere.

Hmmmm, I distracted myself as I noticed that when I, presumably out of human habits, used hmmm as an interjection it sounded like I was growling. No, Cadence, stay on topic! What about the other elements?

I have to admit I have a personal bias towards Fire, Ylma unnecessarily admitted. I knew she was a pyromaniac, so that didnt surprise me at all. But becoming something like a Blaze Wyvern would be problematic anywhere near flammable objects. Unfortunately, I know from experience that pretty much everything burns if you try hard enough, so that would be very inconvenient for you.

Why did Ray just poke my nose!? I suppose she could feel my emotions through the bond, but why poke my nose? I am a biological death machine wielding magic and poison death, not a cute baby!

I have my reasons, Ylma. I huff and settle down. And honestly, I cant say that I dont enjoy fighting to some degree. I hate getting hurt and I hate being in danger, but I absolutely love winning.

That got a laugh from both Ray and Ylma.

So, I try to get us back on topic. The strongest Wyvern is?

Again, it is really dependent on what you want to do. The Storm Wyvern is probably the one with the single most direct strength, Ylma idly held her hands out and let electricity spark between them. But controlling lightning is difficult even for dedicated [Lightning Mages], and Storm Wyverns dont so much bother to control their attacks as just try to blast away everything in front of them. A smart adventurer will just jam a long iron pike into the ground and let it absorb most of the attack, a dumb one will show up in metal armor and get fried.

There really isnt much point to an attack if I cant aim it, although I could see it pairing well with Rays arrows Her arrows would guide my lightning to the target, which would solve the main problem that a Storm Wyvern had. Admittedly, I would be somewhat dependent on Ray, but given what I had learned about Elves it was unlikely that I would have to worry about her dying on me.

It would, Ray agreed. But I think I prefer the Fog or Mist Wyverns. Using your toxins with their abilities you would be practically unstoppable by most foes.

Hewka would also poison us though, Ylma pointed out. If she used her abilities to their fullest extent and managed to spread mist or fog throughout an entire battlefield, we would be in it too.

She can control her toxins, so we can choose one that we can make an antidote for, Ray countered. Plus, it would make scouting incredibly easy and she would be nigh unkillable on top of that.

Unkillable sounds good, I agree readily. Although why would a Mist or Fog Wyvern be any more or less killable than a Storm one?

They are two of the more famous - or rather, infamous - species of Wyvern because of their racial Abilities: [Fog Body] and [Mist Body]. Ylma showed me the page, which I did my best to read. Seeing an explanation for those racial Abilities, I could see why they were a prefered option.

[Fog Body] and [Mist Body] did essentially the same thing: if I had one of them, I could generate fog or mist from my body in addition to breathing it out. More importantly, my body would become partially intangible and damage I took would be split between my health and my Mana. So many attacks would do less damage to me - especially if I saw them coming - and the damage I did take would be reduced.

The third effect of the Abilities was that my Mana would drain to restore my lost health and my Stamina would convert into Mana as my mana dropped. This also worked in reverse for Stamina; if my percentage of Mana was higher than my percentage of Stamina, Mana would be drained to fill my Stamina.

The Ability sounded amazing, but I wasnt as young as my body was - I could see the problems with it. The numbers were slightly different between the two, but somewhere between fifteen percent and twenty five percent of the damage I took would be taken from my Mana instead, but my Mana was significantly less than my Health.

My Stamina would be drained to refill my Mana, which looked nice on paper, until you realized that in any prolonged fight my Stamina would drop far faster then it would have otherwise.

Frankly, I wasnt sure I liked the look of any of those options, Storm, Mist, or Fog. If I had to choose from those three, I think I would choose Fog - it only redirected fifteen percent of the damage I took to my Mana - but I would need to explore my other options. Maybe there just wasnt a good option at all? Hard to say.

I sighed, wishing I was good enough with Air Magic and [Aerokinesis] to flip the pages like I would have with hands. Hopefully, I thought to myself, the boys are having an easier time than I am.