Chương 84: An Interesting Specimen

The walls of the cavern glisten faintly beneath the ethereal silver light of my dahlia. Soft kaleidoscopic particles drift lazily from its petals, scattering across the rough stone in shimmering colors that transform the cave from "underground monster nest" into "suspiciously expensive fantasy art piece." The air itself feels strangely calm. A faint warm breeze rolls through the tunnels thanks to our resident fire mage, Zeke, balancing out the damp chill of the caves just enough to be comfortable. It's very…

peaceful. I take a slow breath. Then I remove all four limbs from a stone crawler using Astra Nocturne and a well-placed Starfall Sequence. The crawler screeches and collapses onto the cavern floor in a twitching heap, writhing helplessly for approximately three seconds before Avelyn and Sylrae immediately cooperate to erase its continued existence via radiant lance and gravity-infused bullet respectively. Yes. Very peaceful. Another crawler lunges toward Marek from the side.

A vine explodes outward from my shadow, accelerating far beyond what should realistically be possible from my current Dexterity stat before slamming directly into the creature's ribs. The impact detonates with a sharp crack. The crawler survives. Technically. But it is also violently launched across the cavern hard enough that the only remaining evidence of its continued existence is the distant sound of stone crunching somewhere deep in the darkness. … Avelyn's Blessing skill is absurdly overpowered.

Noted for future theft... I mean academic observation. Another crawler slips through an opening toward the frontline. I remove its front limbs before it can fully commit to the attack, right as Rin apparently decides the party has contributed enough to satisfy whatever hidden experience-sharing mechanics govern reality. He immediately transitions into what I have mentally labeled the kill phase.

Which is to say, weaving through the battlefield in a style vaguely reminiscent of my own—though admittedly lacking a certain degree of elegance—while his twin sabers carve pale arcs of Frostflame through the air. Every strike spreads more crystalline fractures through crawler armor, rapidly upgrading the monsters from "durable cave predator" to "one strong sneeze away from structural failure."

The fight continues for another minute or two before the crawlers become brittle enough that even Avelyn starts casually finishing them off. At that point, cleanup proceeds quickly. Once the final crawler dies, the system notifications that have been politely screaming for my attention immediately pop into view. They are promptly ignored. No level, therefore I do not care. This marks the third crawler group we've encountered in roughly twenty minutes of walking, and I have gained exactly zero levels from any of it.

Party grinding is catastrophically inefficient in so many ways. Tragic. Still… I will admit something mildly inconvenient. This is actually pretty fun. The fights themselves are not especially difficult with a full party involved. The challenge doesn't come from the crawlers. It comes from my teammates. Positioning. Timing. Judging exactly when to intervene and when not to.

Tracking movement patterns while simultaneously adjusting around five other people creates a surprisingly engaging amount of battlefield complexity. Especially from the support position I've chosen. Naturally, I am the most beautiful and talented prodigy in existence, so adapting to such a thing is trivial. But it does keep my brain properly occupied during combat. Which is nice. I flick my hair haughtily. Only slightly, of course. People are present.

And while dancing through hordes of enemies or dueling overwhelmingly powerful opponents remains extremely fun, diversifying my genres was undoubtedly the correct decision.

"Everyone…" A soft voice interrupts my internal monologue. I glance toward Avelyn and immediately notice that she is very nearly vibrating with excitement.

"I hit level fifty!" I blink once. Then smile. The rest of the group immediately offers congratulations as well, and Avelyn basks in the praise with visible delight before striking a slight pose atop the uneven stone floor. Conveniently, the light from my dahlia frames her silhouette in dramatic silver-white radiance. Naturally, I adjust the light source slightly to improve the composition. Avelyn's tail swishes smugly behind her with the faintest edge of appreciation mixed in. Hm.

I am getting better at reading that. … For another Foxkin, at least. I speak up.

"Shall we take a short break so Avelyn may undergo Evolution and Class Advancement?" I receive immediate agreement from the party alongside the rapid nodding of an extremely excited Foxkin. Avelyn looks down at the cavern floor. Then wrinkles her nose slightly before turning toward me. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"… Do you, by chance, have something softer in that ring? I don't particularly want to experience evolution while lying on cave rocks." I let out a quiet laugh, tone perfectly composed, before retrieving one of the sleeping bags I purchased from the Tutorial shop. Avelyn's ears perk instantly. She all but skips over before accepting the offering with visible delight, quickly spreading it across the stone floor before practically diving onto it face-first. Then her eyes close.

And just like that, her mind vanishes from reality entirely, presumably entering whatever strange metaphysical space the System uses for her Evolutions. … Adorable. I drift the dahlia closer before seating myself atop a conveniently placed rock. After my tail sweeps away the dust first, naturally. Civilization matters. The others settle nearby as well, with Sylrae notably choosing not to carve herself a ceiling nest this time. Progress.

We sit quietly for a while, silver light spilling softly across the cavern while distant drips of water echo somewhere deep within the tunnels. Eventually, Marek breaks the silence.

"You really are incredible, little miss. I've never seen someone adapt to party combat that quickly before." … I have told this man my name three separate times at this point. And yet, for reasons beyond mortal understanding, he continues insisting on calling me "little miss." Annoying. Vengeance will be mine. …Eventually. I smile politely.

"I adapt quickly." He snorts.

"Understatement of the year." True. The theory behind coordinated combat is fairly straightforward when analyzed properly, but the execution speed required to integrate into an unfamiliar team mid-dungeon is not something most people could replicate. Not even Elizabeth. She is undoubtedly my equal. Just in an entirely separate category of terrifying. Although perhaps there are people in this world capable of rivaling us. The thought is… interesting. As for surpassing us? Completely impossible. Obviously.

I smile faintly at the thought of my only friend. She is probably somewhere orchestrating plans for events ten years in the future just in case reality becomes inconvenient later. I cannot wait to find her and unravel the horrifying sequence of steps involved. My ears twitch suddenly. Movement. Avelyn bolts upright so fast the sleeping bag crumples beneath her, face glowing with excitement while her tail rapidly swishes behind her.

"Everyone! I got—" She stops. Completely. Her entire body locks rigid. Then convulses violently. A shrill scream tears from her throat—sharp enough to stab through the cavern air like broken glass—as she collapses sideways. I vanish from my seat instantly. One moment I am across the tunnel. The next, I am by her, catching her before she can strike the stone floor, and lowering her carefully into my arms as another scream rips out of her hard enough to make my ears flatten instinctively.

Her body shakes uncontrollably. Back arching, breathing ragged. Tears stream freely down her face while her hands claw desperately at my arm hard enough for her nails to break skin and draw blood. I ignore the pain.

"Avelyn." No response. Only another strangled cry as her body spasms again. The others are already moving, panic dashing towards us, but I inspect her first. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Radiant Evoker [Rare] (Level 50 | Tier 1) Race: Hallowed Foxkin ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ My eyes widen. Her race changed. She just underwent—"Aspect Alignment," Marek says, interrupting my thoughts. I tilt my head slightly at the terminology. Alignment instead of mutation. Interesting.

I file that away for later analysis, because right now I have significantly more important concerns. Namely the violently convulsing Foxkin currently attempting to excavate my arm with her fingernails. She just became significantly more interesting, after all. It would be deeply irresponsible not to capitalize on the perfect opportunity to earn a bit of admiration here.

I adjust my grip carefully, keeping Avelyn's back elevated and her head off the rough stone floor even as another scream tears out of her hard enough to make my ears flatten again. Her entire body shakes uncontrollably. Fingers digging deeper. Tears streaming freely down her cheeks. The pain only worsens as time passes. I know exactly how this feels, unfortunately. Around the one-minute mark, the first visible changes begin appearing.

Thin glowing strands of gold spread slowly through Avelyn's auburn hair like liquid sunlight weaving between the strands, mirrored by luminous markings forming along her ears and tail. By the second minute, faint tattoos begin surfacing across her skin. Soft golden lines. Barely visible at first. Then brighter. Elegant patterns spread slowly along her stomach, arms, and legs in interconnected flowing shapes that pulse gently beneath the silver-white glow of my dahlia.

By the third minute, her eyes begin changing too. Hazel melts away completely. Molten gold floods into its place. Radiant liquid light staring unfocused into the cavern ceiling while another cry shudders through her body. Then— Roughly three and a half minutes after it began— It stops. Avelyn collapses limply against me, molten eyes sliding shut as the glowing tattoos slowly fade back beneath her skin. Silence returns to the cavern.

I exhale slowly, only then realizing my body had apparently decided to stop breathing at some point during the process. Highly unprofessional behavior. Carefully, I shift position slightly and lower Avelyn's head onto my lap. Her ears tickle faintly against my thighs. This is… oddly nostalgic. Elizabeth ended up in this position occasionally. Especially after that one incident where I won seven chess matches in a row and had to spend the next hour consoling her deeply wounded pride. I almost smirk at the memory.

Almost. Instead, I look toward the rest of the party, all of whom are staring at me with varying degrees of concern. I tilt my head.

"It appears to be over now. Why the looks?" They immediately look even more concerned. Interesting. Sylrae finally gestures vaguely toward me.

"…Your arm? Are you okay?" I blink once. Then glance downward. Ah. That would explain it. Avelyn apparently committed to the excavation process with admirable dedication. Blood runs down my arm in long rivulets, dripping steadily from my fingertips onto the cavern floor while several deep gouges expose torn muscle beneath. Hm. That is admittedly a little worse than expected. I quickly check my health, then shrug lightly.

"Not an issue. I barely took any damage. It will heal naturally." Sylrae stares at me. Then at my arm. Then back at me again.

"Does it not… hurt?" she asks slowly.

"Also, if that heals improperly, it could scar." I wave my free hand dismissively.

"The pain is manageable, and I possess a trait that prevents scarring entirely, so there is no real problem." She continues looking unconvinced. Reasonable, perhaps. Still, I redirect before this devolves into an intervention regarding my apparently questionable relationship with bodily harm. I turn toward Marek instead.

"You referred to what Avelyn underwent as Aspect Alignment. Would you mind elaborating?" He blinks slowly.

"You don't know?" Then his brow furrows slightly.

"Wait. Didn't you undergo the same thing?" Now it is my turn to blink.

"You noticed?" He nods immediately.

"Your hair and fur make it pretty obvious," he says.

"I just assumed you were hiding your actual race with an item or something." … Ah. Embarrassing. I glance slightly to the side, ears angling back just a fraction. So despite changing my Inspect race to "Foxkin," literally everyone could apparently tell I had an Aspect-Aligned race anyway. Excellent. Fantastic stealth. Truly unparalleled infiltration capabilities. I quietly open my status and change the displayed race to Prismborne Foxkin instead. There. Problem solved. Probably.

The group is now looking at me with the exact same patient warmth people use when watching a child successfully ride a bicycle for the first time without immediately crashing into a tree. My cheek puffs out slightly without permission. I am being patronized. Unacceptable. Still, I am also the most magnanimous fox on the planet, so I graciously decide to overlook this offense. For now. The cavern settles into relative quiet afterward.

Conversations remain hushed so as not to disturb Avelyn while she sleeps, silver light drifting softly across the stone around us. Eventually—roughly thirty minutes later, enough time for my arm to finish scarring over—Avelyn's molten gold eyes flutter open. Then she immediately attempts to sit upright in a startled panic. I do not allow this. Her going into full panic mode would be mildly annoying.

With a gentle pull, I guide her directly back down onto my lap before she can fully escape and calmly pat her ears for a few seconds using the hand not covered in dried blood until the frantic tension finally bleeds out of her body. Only then do I release her. She immediately turns and throws herself into me instead, arms wrapping tightly around my waist while tears instantly reform in her eyes. … Ah. This was not the outcome I anticipated. Still. Adaptation is the hallmark of genius.

So I simply rest one hand against the back of her head and gently pat her hair while she cries quietly against me. I understand the feeling. The pain from Aspect Alignment is genuinely, absurdly catastrophic. When she finally speaks, her voice comes out weak and shaky.

"That… hurt… so much…"

"I know," I reply softly.

"Take all the time you need." She remains there for several more minutes before finally pulling herself together enough to sit upright and wipe at her glowing golden eyes. Then she notices my arm. Fresh tears immediately begin forming again.

"Lyn—" I raise a hand calmly before the emotional disaster escalates further.

"Calm. I possess a trait that will remove the scars within a few hours. If you inspect closely, it is already healing." She pauses immediately before visibly inspecting my arm. The panic drains from her posture a second later as she releases a shaky sigh of relief. Crisis successfully avoided. Excellent. With that resolved, I immediately pivot toward the objectively more important topic.

"So," I say smoothly, "I cannot help my curiosity. Would you mind explaining what you gained?" Her entire expression brightens instantly. I can't help but be extremely interested. She is, after all, the first person I have met with an Aspect-Aligned race like mine. My tail swishes slowly behind me in anticipation. Finally. Academic research.