Flame Elemental

Lainie, Fay, and Alicia all needed materials that could be found pretty ubiquitously, but they'd be easier to find to the east and west. Meanwhile, Richie and Nero both needed materials that could only be found in the south. Practically, this meant it made the most sense to head south, but Lainie complained that she and Fay had been in the party longer and deserved to focus on their materials first.

The argument taught me more about the party. Apparently, Lainie, Fay, and Michael had been in a party with two others originally, and then a year later, Richie and another girl had joined them. Alicia and Nero joined another year after Richie joined and five months after the accident that killed three members of their party.

"If we evolve the cat, she can get better at healing," Richie pointed out. "All the rest of us are just gonna be more damage or, I guess, better scouting for Fay, maybe."

Alicia raised her hand. "What if we focus on quests that involve fighting the monsters we need for ours, but take the ones that are in the south, maybe? That way, all of us are getting something?"

Everyone looked at each other, and there was a great deal of grumbling, but they finally all nodded. It seemed to me like it was actually more annoying to have everyone at the same stage of things, since now everyone wanted to go their own way.

We spent another day procuring supplies and preparing for a longer trip than our last. Alicia helped Nero out with buying some new gear, and she was kind enough not to ask what happened to his money.

We got on our way, and it was the same as ever except for a low, simmering excitement at the possibility that some of us might manage to evolve by the time we finished our quests. I'm afraid I was the least excited, because I was still suffering from the disappointment of learning I'd remain in, essentially, the same form. It seemed distinctly unfair that a lizard could turn into a person while I had to stay a cat. Adding on a pair of bat wings wasn't exactly an impressive change. I could do the same in my first life with a quick stop at the local pet store around Halloween.

Fay spent a lot of time around me, picking me up and carrying me whenever Nero was busy. I allowed it in the interest of keeping the peace, but I didn't like it. She treated me like something lesser. They all did, really, except for Alicia and Nero. With the understanding that most summons couldn't think the way I could, I supposed that was fair enough... but that didn't make it less grating to be treated like anything less than human.

"I think we’ll be happy together," Fay said sometimes. "I’m glad you joined us."

Frankly, I found it weird, and I began to think longingly of the brand of creepiness that the guild assistant Mathew had shown. That was easier to deal with, since I could easily pinpoint why it bothered me.

Since we were completing quests along the way, it took us almost two weeks to reach the lands where Hellhounds began to appear.

"You want to go check them out?" Nero asked me one night as we took our shift keeping watch. I raised my right paw. Nero laughed. "Go ahead. Be careful, though. Come straight back if you think you can't do it."

He didn't need to tell me twice. I jumped out of his lap and headed further south. I activated Stealth, which drained Magic as quickly as I regained it. So long as I didn't need to maintain it while casting other spells, it was a pretty useful skill.

I didn't have any spells that would let me find the Hellhounds the way Storm could, so all I could do was wander about, hoping to run across some. Luckily, I didn't need nearly as much sleep, so I could spend just about as much time as I wanted in search of my desired materials.

It was nearing morning by the time I finally encountered a Hellhound. It sniffed the air and focused on my general position. Apparently, Stealth didn't cover my scent. The Hellhound snarled and opened its mouth. The red glow of flames broiled up from its throat. I waited until the flames were licking at its jaws before I jumped aside, dodging its attack nicely. Shadow Claw!

I'd more or less expected it, but my attack didn't affect it. Blessing!

This time, I did a little damage, but it wasn't enough to reasonably use to combat the Hellhound. It would take me forever to kill it like that. I backed away and broke into a run. The Hellhound followed me, and I was careful to go slowly enough that it remained right on my heels.

Nero was ready when I ran past him. The Hellhound skidded to a stop upon noticing the camp, but it was too late. Nero's form seemed to flicker, and a moment later, he was behind the Hellhound, stabbing through the base of its skull and destroying its brain. It fell over, immediately dead, and Nero grinned at me. "Good job, Luna," he said. "Think you can find another one tonight?"

I raised my left paw. Nero frowned, disappointed, but he quickly recovered. "Well, keep bringing them in when you get a chance. We've got plenty of damage here, so feel free to leave us during the day, too." As he spoke, Nero opened the Hellhound’s mouth so I could examine its teeth. While the evolutionary material I needed was called a Hellhound’s tooth, that didn’t mean any old tooth from a Hellhound would work. It had to be one of the canines, and it had to be infused with enough magic to act as a drop rather than a regular material. It was easier to tell the difference with the undead, which crumbled into dust when they died, save for their drops. For living creatures, one had to either get the materials Assessed, collect a lot of them and hope for the best, or be extremely experienced at hunting.

We were in luck. This Hellhound had one usable canine. Nero worked out all the canines, then got to work breaking down the rest of the monster.

There was another, rare method of determining the difference between drops and normal materials. If you had an Inventory, they would store themselves in different slots. It wouldn’t tell you which was which, but probability made that clear quickly enough. Richie was excited to tell us we’d found one.

“Mind if I hold onto it?” Nero asked.

Richie shrugged and handed the tooth over. It didn’t matter to him either way. Nero slipped me the drop when he got the chance. I needed three more teeth to evolve.

As we continued traveling south, we started to run into Hellhounds during the day while completing our quests. By the time we'd gone as far south as we planned on going, I was ready to evolve. I wasn't sure how evolution would work, but I guessed I'd be finding out soon. Nero and I discussed it, but we weren’t sure how to bring up the fact that I’d grabbed the Skeleton King’s bone, so we decided to put it off for the time being.

"Ha! Take that!" Richie suddenly exclaimed the day we were set to head back. We'd just run into a Melting Lily, a carnivorous cactus-like flowering plant. Their stamens were the last things Justice needed to evolve. Richie pulled out the stamen from the defeated Melting Lily and held it above his head, jumping about ridiculously. "Break time, everyone!"

Lainie groaned. "Seriously? You can't wait?"

"It's not every day someone gets to evolve," Fay said softly.

Nero and I paid close attention as Richie pulled out all the materials he needed to evolve Justice. "Evolve," he commanded.

I felt decidedly underwhelmed by the lack of ritual and fanfare.

Justice and the materials all started to glow, the light increasing until none of us could look in that direction. It was blinding, even with our eyes closed. When at last the light died down, we looked, blinking our watering eyes rapidly. Justice's evolution floated before us. She was clearly not human, with her body being primarily made of flames, but she had a basically human shape.

Richie was the first to speak. "You're a Flame Elemental now," he said with a grin.

Her form wavered, and we heard her voice as a soft exhale. I am.

Richie started babbling about what skills she had available to unlock. Evolving came with more bonuses than just a form change and the ability to continue leveling. What those bonuses were seemed to be different for everyone, but Justice had the opportunity to obtain or upgrade three skills. While Richie worked that out, Alicia asked Michael about Dragon's evolution.

Michael glanced at his summon, who sat staring into the distance. She rarely did anything without his command. "I got a skill and my choice of two stats to greatly increase at the expense of one other." He shrugged slightly. "I could've refused and gotten a second skill, but I decided to boost her STR and END at the cost of her MND. I think it was worth it. You've seen her. She's a fantastic tank."

She was, I agreed, but I wondered how much of her behavior was because she had such low Mind.