She quickly found herself back in the open cavern of the Cave, everything was so much more clear now, she could see it spanned for quite a while, a chasm dug through the center and she saw large endless pillars going upwards connecting with parts of the Cave ceiling that only seemed to climb and climb, all things considered she was in a very very small pocket on the side of what was a huge underground area. Maybe she was in a mountain? Based on how high it reached that must be it. Or maybe everything looked bigger because she was a bat.
Her vision wasn't perfect, things were blurry far away and she couldn't make out exact details. But she could see some greenery further in the cave, and some dim lights. Maybe one day she would find out what those were but for now she focused on how clear she could hear things. She heard the skittering of prey- prey? Yeah... that made sense. They were prey.
More importantly Alice could hear the sound of water, she needed water. She was coated in dried rat blood, she could feel the clumps of it in her fur and it made her feel disgusting. She took the skies, flying far more swiftly than she had before, she could sense plenty of creatures within the Cave but after her experience with the Adult Rat she didn't want anything to do with them. Maybe later but for now all she wanted was to be clean.
Alice landed near the water, it was... strange, everything told her this was her body, everything told her this was normal but actually seeing her reflection, however twisted by the flowing water was... uncomfortable. Although she had to admit she did look cute, poofy fluffs of red fur flowed off her head, and beady red eyes stared at herself, she giggled, and saw the rows of fangs. That was scary, but not? She surmised it must be because it was her own fangs.
After inspecting herself she began to wash off, which more or less equated to rolling around in the water hoping it got all the blood off of her. She was certain she had missed some, but she just couldn't get it all off no matter how hard she tried. It was annoying. Once she was done struggling to clean herself, it struck her that she should probably inspect herself properly as in check her
Name: Alice
Race: Baby Blood Bat (Tier 1)
HP: 15/15
Mana: 0/0
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 4
Intelligence: 1
Wisdom: 1
Charisma: 5
Luck: 1
Skills
Echolocation 1
Enhanced Sense > Supernatural Sense 1
Blood Drain 1
Pain Resistance 4
Skill Points: 2
[Pain Resistance], that made sense after what she had gone through... she shuddered once more, but it was something to note that she could gain skills without skill points, and more importantly her skills could evolve. She wasn't sure why [Enhanced Sense] had evolved but maybe because she had it when she became a Blood Bat? Pros and Cons to using skill points to buy skills if that's how it worked. Although testing that would be hard.
She had two Skill Points to work with, probably a reward for evolving, that was nice. It didn't make what she went through worth it but it was still nice. She focused in on the other new skill. [Blood Drain] doing so quickly filled her with knowledge of it, she was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable each time that had happened. Maybe because she had physically felt it being nailed into her mind in The Dark Place, a part of her chuckled at her own seriousness regarding it. Maybe someone smarter would've realized that was coping with the trauma.
[Blood Drain] was quite simple, and honestly the name was obvious, if she was biting down on something she could drain its blood, the wounds she caused instead of simply spilling blood would suction it towards her mouth where it would be magically absorbed and heal her for a minimal amount. Magic, she still didn't have Mana and her Intelligence and Wisdom were still at one, she wondered if Lily had figured out Magic yet. She was sure she had, Lily was a genius, a prodigy.
Alice sat there for some time, watching the water flow, thinking back to better times. It was in a way a waste of time but she took comfort in her memories, but then her ears twitched. She would've never noticed it with [Enhanced Sense] but with [Supernatural Sense] it was far easier to notice. The way the water was shifting as it flowed down deeper into the cave was unnatural. Ominous even.
Alice moved back right as a pair of fangs came flying at her, a snake twisting through the air as it shot out of the water, their eyes met and Alice was very acutely aware that the Snake was too dangerous for her. She jumped up and flapped her wings quickly flying away, only to feel more danger, trusting her senses she dropped and watched as shots of water shot over her head. The snake knew magic?! Of course the random water snake knew magic and not her!
Luckily the Snake had no way of keeping up with her flight, she could easily escape back to her little corner of the Cave, unfortunately she was met with... another unbeatable challenge.
"I come back and find traces of your blood everywhere! Broken bones laying around! And you're nowhere to be seen!" Phaelyn screeched at Alice, quite literally she was sure if she couldn't naturally understand her that it would just sound like screeching.
"I- I'm sorry I" Alice attempted to speak up but was quickly silenced by a glare.
And then... Phaelyn sighed. "At least you're alive, and freshly evolved it seems."
Alice winced at the mention of evolving. She noticed however, that Phaelyn now had a proud smile across her snout.
"My daughter, gaining an evolution within a week! And a variant as well!"
Alice smiled a bit, hearing how proud Phaelyn was... or rather how proud her mother was, it felt nice. A new feeling. It softened how terrible the process had been.
"Um... will it always hurt that much when I evolve?"
Phaelyn tilted her head, her big eyes studying Alice. "Hurt? What do you mean?"
Alice paused, that was weird surely she understood? Right?
"Like when your body changes from evolution? Does it always hurt so much?"
Phaelyns snout tugged into a slight frown.
"Daughter I'm not sure what you mean, evolution is as simple as falling asleep and waking up."
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Alice's eyes widened, that... that didn't make sense. Then what had happened to her?
"O-Oh... maybe it's just cause of where I evolved then..."
A tuff of fur raised as Phaelyn stared down at her. Or up? It was hard to tell when they were both clinging to the ceiling of the little alcove of Cave they took residence in.
"Um... I kinda... evolved inside the body of an Adult Rat." Alice said putting her cutest squeak at the end.
Silence... Silence...
"YOU WHAT"
Phaelyn screeched out at her, flapping her wings wildly.
"Okay gotta go hunt byeee!"
Alice called out as she quickly released from the ceiling and flew off!
"YOU CAN'T RUN FROM THIS WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A DISCUSSION ABOUT SAFE EVOLUTION WHEN YOU GET BACK!"
Alice ignored her calls, if she wasn't thinking about it then it wasn't an issue!
She glided over the Cave, using her senses to monitor the floor below, searching for Prey. She was getting hungry, evolving had taken a lot out of her and then she had flown quite a bit to find water and then to get back. It didn't take long for her to find some Prey, below she stumbled across a fight between Four Rats and a Snake, luckily none of them quite as dangerous as the one she had found near the water.
She had gotten a degree bit stronger, this seemed like the perfect time to test it. She swooped down, aiming at one of the rats crashing into it with ferocity as she dug her wing hooks into it to pin it down and bit down. It began to sputter out blood that swirled towards Alices mouth as she drained it. It felt amazing, euphoria rushed through her body as she turned to look upon the rest of them. They had all stopped to stare at her, and she gave them a big smile, her snout raising up showing off rows of bloody sharp teeth.
So this is what it felt like to be strong, to be powerful! Alice ripped through the remaining rats with ease, her claws cleaved through their flesh like butter, her teeth drained them dry of blood. Only the snake remained, Alice was a little concerned she had never fought a Snake and this one wasn't a freshly born snake, it clearly had some maturity to it. The fight that ensued was far from pretty.
Alice and the Snakes bodies clashed against each other, as the snake tried to strike her with its body, and Alice attempted to cling to it and dig through its tough scales. They rolled around on the ground desperately attacking each other, Alice scratching the best she could as the Snake attempted to bite her. Eventually it managed to hit her good with the end of its body, sending her flying into a wall.
Alice felt a bit dizzy, probably from having her head smacked against a wall, her senses told her she needed to move but she didn't react fast enough. The Snake was on her, it wrapped its body around hers, beginning to squeeze down, Alice could feel her bones begin to crack, so she did the only thing she could do. She bit down hard, her fangs breaking through scale and sinking into flesh, she pulled causing the would to gush more blood, as she slurped it down. It quickly became a battle of attrition, would Alice be crushed before she drained the Snake of blood? That was the question, and luckily for Alice the more blood she drained the weaker the Snake got and the stronger she felt.
Alice felt... good when the snake dropped to the ground. Really good in fact! She giggled as she looked at the notifications that streamed in for her.
It was a dangerous addiction that much was clear, the rush she got from drinking that much blood, the rush from gaining XP and the rush from leveling up her skills all coalesced into Alice feeling amazing, she stumbled around, as her ears picked up more and more crea- no more Prey, more walking sacks of XP and Blood. She was giddy, she flew off once more in hopes of continuing this rush, this feeling, this... she paused in the air, flapping her wings as she floated there.
"I'm drunk, I'm drunk off of murder?!"
Alice couldn't help but to speak aloud as it dawned on her, she had consumed so much blood that she had become buzzed! That was not a good thing! She sighed inwardly realizing she should probably go back and rest before she went blood crazy. That was a sure way to get herself killed. She however didn't realize she was being watched...
Xana watched carefully from within the thin crevice. She had been curious to see how scouting party of the Rat Kingdom would fare sneaking into the domain of Tyra The Viper, it would be useful for her research. She traced a scar along her scales, the Rats were a dangerous bunch. Although this scouting party looked rather weak Xana knew they had powerful members.
"Hmm, they will probably win, Tyra has been stagnated in growth as of late. Too focused on copying the Serpent of the North."
Xana mused to herself as she watched, and then it began, no sooner than the first attack did one of the Rats simply disappear... no that wasn't right, a Red Bat had swooped down and torn into a rat, the cries of pain were haunting as it ripped open its back with its claws. That was odd, Bats did not have claws on their wings but this one did and she had not observed this one before.
Xana shook her head, foolish Bat, even if it could kill one in surprise it would surely die from the rest. But then... it sunk its many teeth into the Rat, and Xana watched as the blood flowed out, her [Blinded Eye of the Dragon] allowed her to see as the life force was transferred. What a terrible ability Xana thought, it was vicious and crude and caused further pain to the victim the way it was done.
She grimaced as she watched the Bat rip through the rats, biting one's throat out before tearing out the stomach of another, what's worse is how happy it looked. Xana fought for survival, but she did not enjoy it, most creatures of The Cave did not enjoy it. Only the most dangerous did. The fight against the Snake was not as one sided, but the end was just as bad watching Tyra slowly grow weaker and weaker as her lifeforce was absorbed.
Only when the Bat had flown off and been gone for some time did Xana dare move out, she was powerful sure and her [Fire Magic] was feared among this sector of the Cave but she was not foolish, this Red Bat was new and could very easily upset the power balance.
Alice flew back to her mother. A stern look still on her face as Alice landed and clung to the ceiling.
"Alice daughter of mine, you cannot escape this so listen well."
Alice sulked but nodded and then Phaelyn began explaining.
"When you Evolve you must do so somewhere safe, Evolution is a lengthy and draining process, while the body of the Rat hid you, if another had come and decided to eat the Rat then you would have died! You are lucky it was your first evolution, it takes longer the further you go. Never ever evolve when you are not safe, the full restoration of your body is not worth becoming an easy target. And do not get cocky because you were fully healed! Lose a limb and no evolution will bring it back!"
Phaelyn explained in detail, but never once did she mention The Dark Place, mention the woman, or the Needle. That was unsettling but there wasn't much she could do, she couldn't very well try to explain it to her mother, after all she might think she was crazy! So Alice kept her mouth shut and listened, all in all she did learn quite useful information, it was good to know how dangerous evolution was beyond the... feeling. Alice was still doing her best to not think about it too much even with the Systems... corrections. She still felt just a little off in this new body.
After a long talk Phaelyn brought Alice into her embrace and the two slept as they did when Alice first came into this world. It hadn't been that long, a mere three days but her old life felt so far away, she wondered how much she'd change going forward. By the end of it... would she even be someone Lily could love?
Deep within the Rat Tunnels chittering and yelling echoed.
"Another scouting party dead! And we've lost Bishop as well! You should have seen his corpse! It was hollowed out!"
"My daughter's entire body was drained of blood! Her arms were torn off! This cannot stand!"
"We've all heard the rumors! When are we going to put an end to this upstart Bat!"
Arguing continued as a massive rat stared down at it, he breathed and then The Rat King spoke. His voice was even and calm and it silenced the entire tunnel system.
"My Children, we have suffered greatly, but do not worry for I have sent The Plaguemaster out."
Hushed murmurs flowed throughout the tunnels, questions and words of fear.
"The Bat will suffer, and we shall feast! Do not waver in our plans, within time we will expand outward and the [Earth Dragon] shall be slain!"
Cheers erupted within the tunnels as an impromptu celebration began, heralding the return of The Plaguemaster they were certain that Bat had no chance against him!