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TMLoCL - Chapter 43
🕑 Added 2020-12-06 07:35:46 +0000 UTCYou know what? I type slower when I am typing something I previously wrote on paper than when I am just typing for the first time. You'd think it would be faster when all I have to do is type up what I already wrote and edit a bit, but nope.
Side note: The reason RR gets indents and Patreon doesn't is because whenever I hit the 'tab' key on the Patreon site it goes down to the next field. Patreon, despite its ubiquity, is actually an extremely poor place for a lot of different creations.
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Cadence Lee (as Hewka) POV:
“So what are my options for Juvenile Evolutions anyway?” I asked, having realized that just following Ylma’s 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 weren’t 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 someone’s 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.”
“I’m 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 don’t 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.
“Wouldn’t 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 isn’t 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, didn’t 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 didn’t 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.”
“Blaze Wyvern’s hide can hit high enough temperatures to set paper on fire,” Ray noted. “It would make riding you pretty dangerous for me. Ylma would have to pick up the [Wyvern Rider] Class.”
“Can you imagine?” Ylma smiled and laughed, “throwing fire down on our enemies from on high?”
It would be pretty amazing… What monster would be able to stop that? Of course, the only difference between Ylma’s fire and Ray’s arrows is that Ray doesn't cause collateral damage. It did sound fun though - wait, was her pyromania contagious!? It doesn’t matter anyway, I liked Ray and I wouldn’t throw her away so quickly.
“Pretty much all the Fire element Evolutions have the same problem,” Ray smoothly ignored Ylma’s slightly crazy smile. “You would be able to control the temperature, but if you ever stopped paying attention it would rise again.”
“And having Ylma for a rider would end up with the world burning to ash,” I tried to imitate a sigh, with mixed results. “So I suppose that really isn’t an option.”
“Hey! For the record, I can put out my own fires very easily!” Ylma said in mock anger, “I am better than those [Fire Mages] that let their fires burn uncontrollably! By mixing my understanding of curses with my Fire Magic I can put it out at will!”
“Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way,” I suddenly had an idea while I also ignored Ylma. “Instead of looking at my next Evolution, I should choose the best Adult Evolution and work backward from there. What is the strongest Wyvern species?”
“There isn’t one?” Ylma was serious again, “Wyverns are so adaptable that you could say that there are many ‘bests,’ because each species is adapted so well to living in one particular environment.”
Fair enough, that was the whole point of our discussion about the difference between the Lake and Deep Wyverns earlier.
“If you want my advice,” she continued, still quite seriously. “You shouldn’t worry so much about ‘power.’ It took me a long time to realize that being the best doesn’t necessarily mean being the strongest or having the most power, but that you have to do the best for your life. You can be better than others just by having fun with your job, considering how many people just unhappily plod through their own. Have you ever just considered, not fighting? You still get experience over time, you don’t actually have to adventure.”
I had considered that actually, but there were a couple of problems with it. First, society was designed with certain body types in mind. I couldn’t, for example, pick up a job waitressing at a tavern because I didn’t have hands to carry food nor a body that could weave through tables without smashing them. Opening a door without breaking it would be a challenge for me, and that was presuming that even if I could open it, I would also be able to fit through the door frame.
So what could I do? Or, more practically, what could I do that someone with thumbs couldn’t do better?
Well, I could fly things from A to B, which would essentially reduce me down to a beast of burden. Staying with the party over the past few days, I have come to realize that I would never have been able to keep up my original idea of acting dumb. Sure, I can put on an embarrassing show to raise my Acting Skill, but to be treated like that all day, every day?
No, it would simply be too degrading. With Ray and her party I can talk and act like a person, albeit one with a scattered mind.
On the other hand, I did understand what she meant. If I close my eyes and think back to before all of this started - I was just a regular girl, wasn’t I? But this is one of those things I should never think about, isn’t it? Because as soon as I do, I remember just how badly I want to go home.
Except, is Earth even my home anymore? If I could go back, it would only be to visit, because if I could I would go back to my son and my husband.
I think that I am more Cadence than I am Hemere, though… I have to think that, because if I don’t keep myself separate from the lives I lead I think I might just collapse. Hell, I can admit that half my erratic nature this life is probably partially caused by my desire not to dwell on anything too much.
I am flighty and excitable and erratic because I want to be; need to be. Just thinking about all of this is making me feel-
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 can’t say that I don’t 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 don’t 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 isn’t much point to an attack if I can’t aim it, although I could see it pairing well with Ray’s 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 wasn’t 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 wasn’t 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 wasn’t 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.
Comments
DraconianGreed
Uh so Hewka can have the effect of the MokuMoku Devil Fruit? That sounds beyond useful unless there’s a skill like Haki.
BramBora
In case of needing some ridiculus evolutions I can help ;) . Void Wyvern, Spacial Wyrm, Chaos drake , FateGuard(ian), Deathwing, Star Dragon, ... I have more ;)
GingerClanger
With her previous life as an example.. she could try relearning her 'Muse Class' for emotional/ mind control.. it wouldn't be a huge learning curve either.. Plus the earlier comments on mirrage and the pitch perfect skill if she had it.. Now you get complete audio and visual.. and going by how she managed to kill over 100 humans with 1 attack as a weak princess.. I don't think lower intelligence monsters are gonna fair better..
David Giles
It's weird, this is the first time I've genuinely been looking forwards to Candace dying, not because I hate this life, it's great. I just can't wait to see what her gains are, imagine they're huge.
Termac
The real question we need to be asking is, "What kind of ridiculously rare class did Ray unlock by booping a wyvern's snoot?"
Termac
The title names and contents of the chapters are correct and in order, but the numbering for chapters 41 and 42 is off by one. They're just misnumbered in the titles there, is all.
A B
FYI - RR doesn't seem to have a chapter titled "Forty One -". It's throwing the numbering off on there.
Leeland
I hope she get some evolution that helps with her scattered thoughts. Some kind of mental wyvern/mind-dragon maybe? Is knowledge a skill in this system? If it is, she should try to unlock as much of em as possible with a high meditation-skill as well and try to "heal" her mind.
Mai0e
I hope for that to, the reaction of her party members would be also the great to pass up. The key difference between wyvern and dragons is not just their physical appearance but there supposedly intelligence. I think Cadence is the first wyvern learning how to speak and how to write besides all those other crazy human skills. So maybe it will be already in the next evolution stage possible for her to choose something complete new and unexpected. Also, because of her intellect maybe the path to a real dragon evolution might be open. I'm very excited for the next chapters and how the story will develop.
Termac
Vladerag just misnumbered 41 as 42 and 42 as 43 in the chapter titles on RR. The content and title names all seem correct, though. Just the numbers are wrong.
Termac
Oooh. Good point. Becoming a dragon would be *super* neat, but I bet she'll unlock some interesting evolutions that aren't even in the book. I also bet that it won't even occur to them until her next evolution that the book is only based on what adventurers and researchers have witnessed, rather than a prescriptive and exhaustive document handed down by the gods. The book is also only on *wyverns* AFAIK. So it probably doesn't include other dragonoids she could potentially evolve into in one or two later evolutions. Including, of course, dragons and possibly even the half-elven dragonkin "Dre the Massacre" mentioned in the blurb at the start of chapter 36.
Keifru
Hrm, things to leverage her large knowledge/ability... Illusion is usually one of those 'low skill floor, high skill ceiling' especially if its the type that is specifically rooted in the manipulation of Light and is limited only by the user's creativity. -Ack, stupid enter submitting when I ment to go carriage return x_x- Keeping with water/air, something like a Radiant Wyvern? Hrm, a lot of terms tend to feel more light oriented rather than a blending like what Storm evokes. Luminous? Resplendent? Shimmering? Mirage...Mirage definitely I think strikes the tone of "Light + Water" at the very least. And gosh, with her being able to make toxins, she'd be deadly if she could make a large area illusion. Think you're sitting down and eating some travel rations but actually you grabbed something she's slathered in toxin aaaand yer dead. With her Aerokinesis to mimic sound, perhaps it could be something that ends up being a True Mirage or however fancy you want to dress it up. Like, a normal Mirage is just visual, but with Aerokinesis she can mimic sounds. And she just keeps getting better until she can fool all five senses and it becomes very existentially-terrifying 'what is reality, am I real, are you real, do I exist' tier of fuckery. Or just being able to make the illusions manifest as actual things. Depending on where things fall on the gritty scale, I suppose :P Hard not to have the mind runaway brainstorming when someone breaks away from the very rigid [Colour] Draconic and/or [Metallic] Draconic typings that D&D has suffused Fantasy with and plays with more environmental/flexible definitions/attributes. Oooh, another one comes to mind- often, Toxin and Antidote is merely a matter of dosage. With her mastery of Toxin she could perhaps get some kind of healing ability. Maedica Wyvern? Spreader and curer of plagues, pestilence, and panacea. Reviled as much as she is revered!
Call0013
I hope she Gets a Better Evolution offered to her that is not in the book when it come time for her to Evolve again. something to help her start working toward being a Dragon. (Do Dragon hoard in things in this world? and If so would her Current party and Funds be enough to meet the Requirements of having a Hoard?) Greater Lake Wyvern Is still a good back up plan encase she doesn't get anything better.
IV08004
I call the first type through word vomit. When writing the second time you as a writer have to keep in mind every you just vomited our onto your page and make it understand able will continuing your plan for the story. Thus it take more effort making the first writing through seem more put together and ledgable than just getting all your ideas for how you want the scenes to play out on paper. That’s just me and how I view this problem.
Alex I
So the chapter numbers are not lining up correctly when you compare RR and Patreon. Might want to make sure you aren't skipping things or uploading in the wrong order.
Gabriel
I hope she makes the choice for herself and doesn't let herself get peer pressured!
