Re: Butterfly (Reincarnated as a Butterfly)

Nice, was the first thought that came to mind as Adon reviewed his Status screen.

It exceeded his expectations, especially in the all-important area of mana.

That's quite a lot of Evolution Points, Adon noted next.

He had stopped looking at his Status for a time in part because he had been preoccupied with other things that were more important to him. Couple that with the facts that he was learning more ways to use the Mana Manipulation Skill—developing his magical competencies and learning new affinities—and that his Evolution Points had been too few to afford anything valuable last time he checked, and the hard numbers had ended up being a bit beneath his notice for a while.

But not now.

With 21,800 Evolution Points, he was certain that he could afford something that would be valuable. Perhaps something that would even make this dungeon experience more survivable.

Adon opened the Evolution Store.

After a quick once-over, mainly to verify there was no new Evolution available—the text was grayed out, as expected—he went straight for the Adaptations.

All of the same Adaptation options that had been available last time he checked were still in place, including Extended Antenna I, Poison Generation I, and Stench Defense I. Lame stuff, from Adon's point of view.

But a number of other Adaptations were affordable, too. There was Beguiling Pheromone Production, Extrasensory Perception Organs, Primitive Vocal Cords, Regeneration I, Size Enhancement I, Telekinesis II, Sleep Spores I, Paralytic Venom Spores I, Amnesic Venom Spores I, and Transformation IV.

I've clearly made a lot of progress upgrading Transformation on my own, Adon thought. Maybe I should consider paying for the next upgrade. The brute force approach to strengthening it was more than a little painful…

Transformation IV was a whopping 8000 Evolution Points, which would eat up a huge chunk of the gains from the last month. But it might be worth it. Adon's magic was making up for most of the weaknesses of his physical form, but ultimately, it was sometimes very inconvenient to be a butterfly. Such as when he needed to drag a lordling away from a collapsing tunnel.

Adon already knew the value of making himself into a form convenient to whatever situation he was in. If he could make that process smoother and more reliable, he had to at least strongly consider doing that.

Assume I spend 8000 Evolution Points that way, what else can I afford? he questioned.

As it turned out, most of the other items that had caught his eye were significantly cheaper than Transformation IV.

The low quality Adaptations that Adon had not wanted when he had first revisited the Evolution Store post-Evolution—Extended Antenna I, Poison Generation I, Stench Defense I—still only cost 100 Evolution Points each.

Size Enhancement I was available for 200 Evolution Points, Beguiling Pheromone Production for 2000 Evolution Points, Regeneration I for 750 Evolution Points, Primitive Vocal Cords for 600 Evolution Points, Sleep Spores I for 500 Evolution Points, Paralytic Venom Spores I 900 Evolution Points, and Amnesic Venom Spores I for 1000 Evolution Points. Telekinesis II was 2000 Evolution Points, and it would make Adon's magic more potent, since he could use it to move his mana further from his body more quickly and guide it more precisely for more effective magical attacks. Extrasensory Perception Organs was 4000 Evolution Points.

Ruling out Size Enhancement I; I still don't need that. Everything else, though, is kind of tempting.

Before he considered finalizing anything, Adon went to look and see if there were any Skills he might be willing to purchase.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

There were a number of tantalizing options, though they leaned more expensive than the Adaptations: Teleportation I for 10,000 Evolution Points, Rapid Movement I for 1000 Evolution Points, Mystic Aura I for 12,000 Evolution Points, After-Image Technique for 2000 Evolution Points, and Observational Magical Learning for 15,000 Evolution Points.

Something called the Butterfly Effect was also available, but it was grayed out, indicating that Adon somehow did not have enough Evolution Points to purchase it.

That also meant that he could not read the description for what the Skill did. Adon somehow had a feeling that the Butterfly Effect Skill was a part of what had made previous mystic butterflies so special and important.

But he could not be sure, and he did not feel he had the leisure of simply leaving points sitting unused, given how the dungeon's levels seemed to be continuously increasing in difficulty.

He reviewed the descriptions for the items that he could afford, and several of the choices appeared even better than they had at first seemed. Rapid Movement I offered the ability to briefly multiply his typical movement speed in exchange for an expenditure of mana and Biomass. After-Image Technique allowed him to move his body at a certain frequency that left behind illusionary clones, which was exciting because it would seem to bring Adon closer to figuring out illusion magic. Mystic Aura I, though exorbitantly expensive, would allow Adon to more closely live up to the ideas that everyone seemed to have about mystic beasts by emitting an aura that would boost the effects of any and all other abilities Adon used as well as those of his allies, albeit to a lesser degree.

Perhaps the most interesting option was Observational Magical Learning, however. This would create a Skill for something that Adon had already been trying to do de facto, though with very limited success. He would be able to observe someone else using magic and, with enough observation, imitate their demonstrated ability or affinity.

The sheer degree to which this was overpowered would be hard to overstate. As applied to his personal combat capabilities and long term growth, it was obviously the best.

The only problem is, it's the most expensive option. Also, if it's learning by observing over time, doesn't that mean I have to see a magical ability used over and over again? If that's a requirement, it's unlikely to be useful against any enemy's magical abilities. They wouldn't be likely to let me see them use their magic again and again and also survive. Rosslyn would be all right with it, but she already taught me half of the magic she knows, at least at a basic level. Really, the only places I'm likely to use this in the medium term are on Rosslyn, to get that light magic she uses, or on William and Frederick, to steal their lightning affinity. It's pretty objectively better than Rosslyn's fire affinity, since lightning is hotter than almost any fire… but is it worth spending almost three-quarters of my Evolution Points? The brothers might teach me the affinity for free if they grow to trust me enough. Well, probably not William. But Goldie and Frederick are close.

Adon went back to the Adaptations for a moment.

He reviewed the options there.

Extrasensory Perception Organs would give me some limited, intuitive sense for incoming threats—extremely limited precognition. It sounds really useful, but I'm guessing it's even more limited than the description suggests. Probably something that you have to practice with for it to even be usable. But it's not like I won't have a lot of situations with incoming threats in the dungeon. Maybe it's a good Skill for the coming war.

The different spore options were all pretty good. Spores still worked the same way they had the previous time he had considered them: his body would produce the particles, and they would have to be carried through the air to the enemy. Sleep was, of course, weaker than paralysis or amnesia as an effect.

If I picked one, probably Paralytic Venom Spores I, he thought.

Other options made him shake his head at himself for even having looked at them in the first place.

Why would I need Primitive Vocal Cords? Just so I can try to break in a new body part? Telepathy has literally never failed me once. Beguiling Pheromone Production… ugh. The effect is creepier than what I was expecting. No, I do not need to produce special pheromones to "bewitch" females. I'm not that desperate. Goddess… why would that even be an option…?

Then he looked at Regeneration I. That one appeared modest in scope—it only extended the capacity of the body to heal naturally to every part of the body except for the most vital organs. But given what Rosslyn and others had told him about healing magic—that it could only heal the body parts that could naturally be healed—this Adaptation could literally be a lifesaver. At the very least, it would make it impossible for Adon to be crippled by having a wing punctured or ripped clean off, which he knew was otherwise a big danger for a butterfly.

I'm starting to have a pretty good idea about which items I want to purchase. Darn it, there's never enough Evolution Points to go around. But what I have is pretty generous. The choices I have to make now aren't nearly as tough as they have been at other times.

He quickly narrowed down his short list of possible options.

All right, I'm choosing between Transformation IV for 8000 Evolution Points, Extrasensory Perception Organs for 4000 Evolution Points, Regeneration I for 750 Evolution Points, Telekinesis II for 2000 Evolution Points, Paralytic Venom Spores I for 900 Evolution Points, Rapid Movement I for 1000 Evolution Points, and Mystic Aura I for 12,000 Evolution Points. Of course, I can't afford to buy more than a few of these together. Wait. Actually, I can afford almost all of them, as long as I choose between Transformation IV and Mystic Aura I… If I don't choose, I can only afford those two, plus one or two more.

Of course the two options that he had to choose between were two of the most enticing ones.

Adon paused in his process, pulled out of his focused state of mind by stimulation to his senses. Goldie had dragged them considerably nearer to the entrance by this point. He could see the light now, as a tiny white dot in an ocean of black.

And in the distance, Adon could hear the clamor of fighting. Bodies were moving quickly back and forth against the backdrop of the tiny dot of light in the distance. Steel clashed against what Adon guessed was the metal surfaces of the Gold-Digging Ants' exoskeletons. The distant pinging sounds of gold being struck against other metals—surely the steel of the knights' weapons and armor—seemed to confirm this.

Need to lock in my choices and get over there, Adon thought. He did not doubt that the knights would win the fight with or without him, but he also didn't want to miss any skirmishes and potentially allow someone to die who might otherwise survive.

Adon made his final selections, not allowing himself to dwell on the choices before him any longer. He finalized his purchases, and he did his best to ignore the splitting pain throughout his head and the burning pain across the rest of his body as it altered to conform to the new Adaptations.

He shook like an autumn leaf for a solid minute as he endured it.

Then he spread his wings. Now that he had increased his pool of powers, it was time to put them to good use.

I'm going to go and join the fighting going on near the entrance, you guys, he quickly transmitted. Unless either of you two needs me here—

No, do what you have to do, replied Samson instantly, interrupting him.

I will kill anything that threatens Sammy or William while you are gone, Goldie added.

Adon had confidence in that. The only creatures that could possibly show up would be more of those Quugaarpaks, and the only advantage they were likely to have over Goldie was size.

Perfect.

Adon straightened, flapped his wings once, then paused again.

William was beginning to stir beneath his feet. It was slow. His mind was clearly not fully awake yet. The stirrings were weak.

Yet the butterfly hesitated. He knew that William was physically stronger and faster than himself, as well as being a gifted magic user. Maybe Adon should wait for him to wake up, quickly explain the situation, and they could all rush over. That would certainly be much more of a cavalry-riding-in moment than Adon flying over alone.

Go. A voice in the back of Adon's mind, one that he barely recognized as his own, suddenly spoke up. He didn't know where it was from, but it sounded ominous as it gave him the simple command in its deep, firm, almost hissing tone.

He hesitated, and the voice repeated itself, this time in a near yell.

Go now!

Adon took off.