Shiz's Evolution

As always, the [Evolution Available] mark had appeared. For the first time in a long while I pulled out the Book of Summoning and the Book of Combination.

They looked like ordinary books, utterly unresponsive—until I wrapped them both in shadow and seized them. The pages flipped open at once, as if they had been waiting, and began to write. I forced them shut again with the shadows.

The childish voice—neither clearly male nor female—flowed straight into my head through the Link. I sighed. There was no need to wonder who it belonged to.

It had even evolved in that brief moment, doing whatever it pleased.

On the bright side I no longer had to worry about Lee Se-rin’s eyes, but the thought of having to keep listening to that bizarre thing’s chatter forever was already making me sick of it.

Cooperate. You don’t want to get stolen again, do you?

Once the Link was established things became much easier. The Book of Summoning grasped what I wanted from a simple thought and flipped its pages rapidly.

It stopped at Shiz’s evolution list. Even without me selecting anything, the book had read my will and displayed it.

I examined the list carefully.

After such a sharp level-up I had expected two or three options at most. Four choices appeared instead.

Probably thanks to absorbing something from the previous dungeon’s boss and the very structures that formed the dungeon’s gimmick.

I had created her purely for experiment, without any thought of efficiency or synergy, so nothing immediately jumped out. If I had to pick one that felt close to Keres yet opposite in nature, the third option seemed best.

Besides, filling the encyclopedia meant I would have to check each of them eventually.

First, the grudge-specialized [Wraith].

This was less a skill evolution and more a straight upgrade of the Spirit Body race itself. She would become closer to an undead, able to drain the life force of the living and turn it into her own power.

Lacking a physical form, ordinary weapons could not harm her—much like a spirit—yet only holy power and light-based magic could truly wound her.

Useful in its own way, but I passed for now.

Next, the possession-specialized ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠[Living Phantom].

Think of it as the pre-evolution stage of the Living Armor and Living Weapon I had seen before. If she stayed fused with a single object long enough, she would transform into something like a Living Whatever.

Her performance would swing wildly depending on the object she possessed. Interesting, but not the evolution I wanted right now. Pass.

Then, the mystification path: [Will-o’-the-Wisp].

A name I had seen at least once across every fictional medium in my previous life. Strip away the folklore and legends and it was simply a kind of ghost fire.

The hellfire spark carried by a soul that could reach neither heaven nor hell and was left to wander the nine heavens—that was the true nature of a Will-o’-the-Wisp.

The reason I had called this evolution the closest to Keres was precisely that hellfire.

Hell was the underworld, the gathering place of the dead. Its fire, by mere existence, drew souls and lingering thoughts toward it.

Where Keres imitated hellfire in order to devour souls as a Soul Eater, a Will-o’-the-Wisp possessed and wielded the real thing.

In other words, Keres could stop luring souls if she chose; a Will-o’-the-Wisp could not control it.

By nature a Will-o’-the-Wisp was both wanderer and guide. Using the hellfire as a torch, she led others who, like herself, drifted through the nine heavens.

That was her essence—similar to Keres yet fundamentally opposite. Personally, my choice was already made.

Finally, the archaization path: [Out-of-Place Artifact].

Not much different from the Living Phantom above. She would possess a tool and wield its power in a more primal, raw form.

Not bad. Depending on how you used her, a single summon could cover a wide range of abilities.

But that kind of versatility was easier and simpler to achieve by just summoning other beasts, so it held no appeal.

My mind was already set. Further deliberation was a waste of time. I pointed straight at the [Will-o’-the-Wisp] entry.

Fwoooosh!!

Green flames erupted around Shiz’s body. They reminded me of the hellhounds I had seen before—paler than Keres’s brilliant blue fire, almost gentle.

Still bright enough to serve as a lantern at my feet. I intended to add a variation.

“Hive.”

“Caw!”

At my call Hive emerged from the shadows, a pure-white branch clenched in its beak.

A reward from clearing the unicorn dungeon One Horn of Purple Blue. The item’s name was [Dream Paradise]. Infuse it with mana and the surrounding area instantly became a “paradise.”

The range was limited, but anyone inside naturally forgot the will to fight, all wounds healed, and impure things were purified in an instant.

The effect was identical to drinking a decoction of unicorn horn—top-tier recovery and status-ailment removal at once.

It was not single-use, yet after each activation it needed 180 days to recharge, so I had never found a good moment to use it and had left it gathering dust.

I rarely got hurt in the first place, and minor injuries were cheaper to treat at the academy infirmary.

Selling it felt wasteful. Only first-clear parties received this item. Anyone who failed even once and then cleared the dungeon received a crystal called Unicorn’s Grace instead—similar effect, but consumable and limited to the user alone. A clear downgrade.

While I was fretting over what to do with it, the Keres problem had exploded, and this item had immediately come to mind. Keres had created a [Branch Point] by overcoming a racial difference.

Could I force a similar situation and generate another Branch Point?

Opposites did not have to sit at perfect poles. If two things were similar yet produced fundamentally different results, that still counted as opposition.

The artifact’s essence was the realization of a wish.

It carried the unicorns’—and the Unicorn’s—desire to recreate even a fragment of the paradise they had protected. That was why it healed and purified.

It was a “destination” for those who still had a place to return to. Even if only a fleeting dream, the goal had been achieved.

But the root of the Will-o’-the-Wisp Shiz was about to become lay in “wandering.” The desperate thrashing of the dead who had reached neither heaven nor hell, given form.

In pure outcome the two were perfect opposites. Would it take? Or would it simply pass?

Time to find out.

I raised the pure-white branch toward the burning Shiz.

“Possess it.”

“Kyuuuu!”

Even mid-evolution she did not lose consciousness. I had confirmed that through the Link many times. She obeyed the order faithfully.

Shwaaaaak!!!

The green flames were sucked into the white branch. The instant they vanished, a vision flooded my mind.

Inside a lantern of pitch-black deadwood, a green light flickered. The figure holding it was too blurred to see, yet the lantern floated clearly in mid-air as if gripped by someone.

Jingle, jingle.

The bell hanging from the lantern rang, and the light swam through the darkness—true ghost fire. Behind it, something cold formed ranks and followed.

A heavy mass of yin energy advanced, slowly, steadily, only after the flame. The eerie aura turned dawn dew into frost. Until the rising sun hid the hellfire, the wandering of the dead never ceased.

Crackle!

A sensation like electricity sparking through my skull hit me at the same moment the previously silent Book of Combination stirred.

Clack!

It swallowed the system message announcing the evolution’s completion and used the text as ink to write upon itself.

“Get ready.”

As if answering me, the Book of Summoning began flipping its covers wildly, guarding the still-burning Shiz. It looked exactly like a beast with every hair standing on end before an enemy.

The same phrase I had seen before. I felt both joy that my hypothesis was correct and tension. The real part started now.

Shrrraaak!!

Letters rose from the open book. I activated even Combat Focus and seized them with slowed vision.

Another binary choice. Cleaner than last time, yet my brow still furrowed. I did not like it. So I would change it.

Crack!!

I was not speaking to anyone else. I seized the Book of Combination hard and forced control. With mana I pinned the freely moving letters and dismantled them one by one.

Crackle, crackle...!

Sparks flew from the book’s surface in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rejection. The arm holding it cooked with real pain, yet I endured and refined my mana further.

It still lacked the self-awareness of the Book of Summoning, which was why these reckless options appeared. I had half-confirmed that through the Summoning Book.

In time this one would probably gain a similar ego. Talking things out then would be one solution.

But waiting is too late.

I had no option of waiting. This was my power. My skill. If I could not use it right now it was meaningless.

Promise the future? An uncertain future? That was the choice I hated most. Wait and wait and wait, then when the same situation crashed down again, just accept it helplessly?

Absolutely not.

If I could handle it later, I could handle it now. In fact, if I could not master it at this stage it was worthless.

One hellish experience like last time was enough.

Shwaaaak!!

I drew out a shadow and shaped it into a fountain pen. The method was the same as when I had written in the Book of Summoning.

“A third option.”

I had no intention of harming it. I was simply proposing different terms. This had to be a fair transaction, balanced on the scales with a reasonable price.

3. Accept the change without sacrifice.

That was all I wanted. Now a price would be required to make it real.

“Name the price.”

Whoooosh!!!

The one that reacted was the Book of Summoning. Its pages rippled and spat out letters. In tandem, letters burst from the Book of Combination and gathered opposite them.

Clack, clack!

They formed a set of scales—half black, half white—already heavily tilted toward the white side.

I needed a price heavy enough to bring them level. Intuitive and satisfying. Probably a direct reflection of the thought I had just had.

I began placing items from within my shadows onto the high black pan. The largest share by far was the vampire corpses.

Enough material that selling it on the market would have made me a fortune vanished onto the scales—enough, by volume, to create roughly four new summons.

Still not enough for balance.

Brute-forcing with quantity was not terrible, but if this kept happening it would eventually trip me up at a critical moment. I needed a more fundamental solution.

After a moment’s thought I recalled the difference between the two books and reached a conclusion.

“...It’s me.”

The Book of Summoning began the creation of familiars by tearing off a piece of my soul. It shaped that fragment into a summon while simultaneously filling the empty place in my soul with something new.

Because the summons occupied the space left by the carved-out soul, the backlash was never too severe. A moment of instability, then the whole was restored and recovery came quickly.

The same principle applied to the Book of Combination. In pure result, what it demanded was a piece of my soul.

Yet it was also different. There was no filling-in like the Summoning Book. Only loss remained.

Demanding that of me was, in a sense, worse than shaving years off my lifespan. Even if the body stayed intact, an incomplete soul was meaningless.

I could end up with a semi-permanent disability, or a disease no method could cure. Soul-related deals usually worked that way.

So the Book of Combination had offered, as a second-best option, something already paid for—something with less backlash. That result had been the erasure of a summon.

Only after seeing it directly did I finally understand. Even before it had developed an ego, this thing had been trying to offer me a solution of its own.

How was I supposed to know that?

If it does not speak, no one knows. If we had been able to communicate even a little and exchange information, I might not have lost Bihos. The realization cut deep into my bones.

“Haa...”

Still, better late than never. Once I understood the problem, devising a solution was simple. The core issue was the absence of soul as a currency.

Just as one could offer someone else’s soul in a devil’s bargain instead of grinding up one’s own, I only needed to adopt the same method.

Fortunately I had a creature that had already swallowed large quantities of things close to souls. The thought brought a bitter smile.

Everything has cause and effect, huh.

Even summoning Shiz had only been possible because Bihos had been erased. I could not simply be glad it had been cheap; my arm still bent inward, after all.

“Shiz.”

At my call the branch in my hand twitched. That was the end of our conversation. At the tip of the wood a round, soft thing formed like a fruit and dropped with a soft plop.

The scales that had refused to tip no matter how much material I added suddenly lurched hard the other way.

They balanced. In fact, our side was heavier.

“No need to force a perfect match. Split whatever’s left however you like.”

Tremble...

Both books quivered in acknowledgment. That should settle the balance on this side as well. I was tired of always having to arrange these annoying deals myself. The sooner they established proper egos, the easier my life would become.

Fwoosh

The scales burned away like flame, and everything placed upon them turned to light that sank into the two books. Letters re-formed at once.

No need to say it. I accepted the newly proposed option with satisfaction. The branch in my hand slipped free of its own accord and floated into the air.

Flames washed over it once, and what emerged resembled the Will-o’-the-Wisp I had seen in the vision—yet differed in many ways.

Chime!

The once-black wood of the lantern turned pure white. Even this close, the ringing of the bells sounded both near and somehow distant.

Instead of one bell, many seemed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to ring at once. The pale green flames took on a soft violet hue.

The previously faint silhouette now wore something like a black robe, fully unfurled rather than draped—exactly like a reaper in a dark cloak.

At the same time the Book of Summoning wrote in place of the system messages.

The changes were immediately reflected in Shiz’s status window inside the Book of Summoning. I checked them and smiled in satisfaction.

Two new traits and the fresh possibilities they opened for Shiz were pleasing, but what truly made me happy was finally understanding how to use the Book of Combination.

“You’re going to be busy from now on.”

From this point every soul I needed would have to be gathered by her. Keres’s food supply, and the souls for the Book of Combination—all of it would only work if she handled it. So do your best.

I had created her as a simple experiment at first, but that was no longer true. Shiz had become another card I could not throw away. She had proven herself. I would have to answer that in kind.

“...I’m counting on you.”

“Hoooooo...”

As I spoke I lightly tapped her lantern. Shiz answered with a single ripple of the violet-tinged green flame.

Who would have thought a ghost could sound so eerie? I liked it. Honestly, she finally felt like a proper spirit. Her old voice had been more cute than scary.

“Let’s go.”

As a test run I ordered Shiz to sweep up every soul fragment lingering in this city, then rose to prepare for the vampires who would soon arrive.

My gaze turned toward the most splendid building in the city—the place where the dungeon’s boss was almost certainly waiting.