Marcus and the hooded guy completely lost their minds. They didn’t look like high-level criminals anymore; they looked like two shoppers fighting over the last loaf of bread during a storm.
"The door is moving!" Marcus yelled, his expensive fur coat flopping around as he scrambled over a wooden box. "You said we had ten minutes, you idiot!"
"The magic signature changed!" the hooded man shouted back, his dark robe flying open as he ran right behind the director. "Someone messed with the gear!"
I didn’t care about their panic. I had a stomach full of blue potion fluid that was currently digesting like a bunch of fizzy popping candies. It was the easiest inventory clearance I had ever done.
I moved fast. I just used my basic snake body to slide right through the narrowing gap between the wall and the big round door before it clicked into place.
The door locked tight. A faint, hissing noise started coming from the wall vents inside the room. The green poison gas was already starting to dump into the vault, and the two thieves were officially stuck in the back room with no way out.
[System: PING! Mission accomplished, Barry. You just cleared out thirty thousand gold pieces worth of government stock, trapped the regional manager, and exposed a terrorist plot. Your evaluation bar is practically crying for an update.]
[Biomass Progress: 49,000 / 50,000]
[Status: Extremely full. Walking—uh, slithering—speed reduced by 5%.]
"I need to get back to the office," I thought, keeping my body invisible as I moved down the quiet stone hallway. "If the guards find me looking like a bloated blue balloon, they’re going to use me for target practice."
I crept up the winding stairs, slipped past the guards at the main gate who were busy arguing about a lunch order, and made it back into the bright city streets. Ten minutes later, I was back on the roof of the Silver Crest Guild, dropping through the open window slot directly onto Bae Suzy’s desk.
Suzy was pacing around the floor, her fingers tapping against her armor as she waited. When she heard a soft thud on her desk blotter, she stopped in her tracks, her deep black eyes looking right at the empty space.
"Barry?" she whispered, leaning over the wood. "Did you make it? Where is Marcus?"
I turned off the camouflage, letting my matte-black scales appear next to her inkwell. My middle section was twice as wide as usual from all the liquid I had just swallowed.
[BARRY: Marcus and his hooded friend are currently locked inside the royal vault. The poison gas went off. You should probably send your guards down there to arrest them for corporate treason.]
Suzy read the text and let out a sharp laugh, her face lighting up with absolute satisfaction.. "You actually did it? You trapped him in his own vault?"
[BARRY: I also cleared the shelves, manager. The Dark Sect isn’t getting a single drop of that medicine.]
"Wait," Suzy blinked, looking down at my bloated, bulging body. "Where are the potions, Barry? Did you hide them in the woods?"
[BARRY: They’re in my stomach, Suzy. I’ll let you know what my next evolution options look like once the sugar rush wears off. Now, where is my office key? I need a nap.]
Suzy shook her head, a deep, beautiful smile spreading across her lips as she reached out a finger and gently tapped my nose. "You really are a piece of work, Barry. Come on. I’ll show you to your private quarters upstairs before the guard captain arrives to take my report."
Before we could even head upstairs to her private room, Suzy grabbed a silver bell off her desk and rang it twice. The door to the office flew open, and the tall Commander stepped inside, his hand resting on his belt.
"Lady Suzy?" the Commander asked, looking around the room. "Did Marcus leave?"
"Marcus is currently committing high treason down at the royal storage building," Suzy said, her voice completely firm and direct. "He and a member of the Dark Sect are trying to smuggle the entire stock of royal mana potions. They are locked inside the main vault right now."
The Commander’s face went totally pale. "The Dark Sect? Inside the royal vaults?"
"Yes," Suzy nodded, pointing toward the door. "Take a full squad of elite guards down there right now. Break the lock if you have to, but catch Marcus and his friend alive. I want them in chains before the sun goes down."
"Right away, Director!" the Commander yelled. He turned on his heel and sprinted down the hallway, shouting orders to the guards downstairs.
The moment the building went quiet again, Suzy looked back down at the desk where my bloated, matte-black body was resting. She picked up a small velvet cushion from her couch and held it out.
"Alright, Barry. Up you get. Let’s get you out of sight before the rest of the guild staff comes up here to ask questions."
I slid onto the soft cushion, and Suzy carried me down a hidden hallway behind her desk that led straight up a flight of stairs to her private penthouse suite.
The apartment was nice and quiet. It didn’t have any flashy magic items or massive golden statues; it just had a big comfortable couch, a soft rug, and a large bed with silk sheets. It smelled like fresh river mint, just like her.
Suzy set the cushion down on her bed and sat next to me, leaning her elbows on her knees as she watched me twitch. "Alright, you strange little creature. You swallowed fifty bottles of royal medicine. What happens now?"
’Now, we look at the results,’ I thought.
I squeezed the last bit of blue fluid sitting in my gut, letting the final drop of magic digest into my core.
[Biomass Gained: 1,000 / 50,000]
[Evolution Threshold Reached! Current Total: 50,100 / 50,000]
[System: You just drank enough royal fuel to power a small village for a month, Barry. The system is currently compiling a specialized elite path based on your ridiculous greed. Select your Tier 5 Form:]
1. Cosmic Void Leviathan (Grows to twenty feet, gains the ability to swim through solid objects, unlocks ’Asset Seizure’ bite)
2. Shadow-Silk Phantom (Stays small and thin, grants permanent flawless invisibility even while attacking, upgrades ’The Karen Protocol’ to cause permanent mental stress to enemies)
I looked at the options. A twenty-foot leviathan sounded cool, but how am I supposed to hide under a desk or sneak onto a food cart if I’m the size of a tree trunk?
"Option two, System," I thought. "Keep me small, fast, and completely hidden from the tax collectors."
[System: Choice confirmed. Commencing the Shadow-Silk upgrade. Try not to wiggle too much tamato.]
A warmth spread through my spine. It didn’t burn like the fire core, and it didn’t zap like the electricity. It felt like a cool, smooth layer of silk was wrapping around my scales from my nose to the tip of my tail. My body stretched out slightly, becoming thinner and more flexible, like a long piece of black ribbon.
When the light faded, my body completely disappeared from the velvet cushion. I was so invisible that even the tiny dust particles floating in the air didn’t stick to my skin.
[Evolution Complete!]
[Current Form: Shadow-Silk Phantom (Tier 4 - Elite Upgrade)]
Suzy blinked, reaching out her hand to pat the empty cushion. Her fingers brushed right against my cold, smooth back scales, and she let out a small gasp. "Barry? You’re completely gone. I can feel your body, but I can’t see a single shadow."
[BARRY: The upgrade was successful, manager. I am officially a ghost now. Marcus is in chains, the potions are gone, and our profit margins are looking fantastic.]
Suzy read the text, a beautiful, genuine smile spreading across her lips as she leaned back against her pillows. "You really are the best business partner I’ve ever had, Barry. Get some rest. Tomorrow morning, we find out what Marcus tells the guards, and then we figure out our next move."