So I had a really awful shift last night, but I really wanted to get this chapter finished so here haha.
Also I did a little experiment with this chapter. I have never used ai to help write or even edit before, I wanted to see how it was with an ai editing a chapter, so this is that chapter and this will be the only chapter. The main reason being that I want to fix my grammar, I want to improve at writing, using ai to fix any mistakes wont improve my writing, but i may use it to help improve.
One thing that's been pointed out to me is that I make a lot of run-on sentences, I am very poor at noticing these things. I've been doing research and trying to figure out how to catch these sorts of things better. Anyway, that's the first thing I want to fix and when I've gotten better with that I'll move on to something else i struggle with. Anyway, I'm really tired, hope you all enjoy the chapter!
“Oh my God’s Ellie, you’re so big now!”
It’s probably not a surprising fact that overnight evolution leaves one a bit groggy, which is why Samora's high pitched shout of surprise shot straight through Ellena’s half awake brain.
The ex-Human groaned. “Shush Shamora lemme shleep a little more.”
“Huh?” Samora exclaimed.
“Ah?” A certain nearby Dryad joined her in surprise.
“...Wait,” Ellena muttered, opening her eyes wide. She slowly turned to look at the Elf lying next to her, who watched her mouth agape.
“Ellie… You can talk?”
Ellena had now been forcefully dragged out of her half-asleep state. She could not stop a huge grin from spreading across her cheeks. “I can talk!” She squeaked loudly. She may have a voice now, but it still had the telltale embellishments of her fungal based species.
There was something else too; instinctively, she had used something to prop her body up, a pair of arms. She glanced down at them. The usual darkened cream flesh that made up her body slowly turned to a mix of bark and flesh the further down her arm it reached. Not that they were long arms; she was still a Mushman after all. They were two stubby arms that could barely meet in the middle, but they were arms.
“Ellena, I suppose you have achieved your wish, no?” Ellephwen smiled, sitting up in her own bed.
The newly limbed Mushman looked up at her kin, then back down at her hands. She wiggled each chubby finger individually—only four including thumbs, but they were still there. She’s right. I can talk. I have hands. It feels like I’ve been waiting for this my whole life.
“Well aren’t you going to say anything, Ellie?” Samora asked, sporting a wide grin.
Ellena smiled back. “This is fwantastic.”
As soon as the words escaped her lips, Ellena’s new hands rose up to cover them. She looked around at the other two women. Samora snorted and Ellephwen looked away.
“It- It’s alright Ell-.” The Dryad, who was facing away from Ellena, was clearly stifling a laugh. Her body shook with every word she tried to force out. She took a deep breath and turned to face the Mushman. “It’s alright Ellena, you’re still young after all.”
Young or not, Ellena was entirely amused with her apparent speech impediment, but it was nice to have a voice after so long. “Maybe I’ll only talk to tell Shamora off,” she mumbled.
“Whose Shamora?” The Elf asked with a cheeky smirk.
Ellena jumped up and slapped Samora, knocking her off the bed mid-laugh. She pulled the covers with her and continued to cry out in joy. Ellephwen, who had just managed to suppress her amusement, did her best not to join the chorus.
As much as she understood why the two adult women found her voice amusing, Ellena was genuinely feeling a bit frustrated. This was a big day for her, and all they could do was make fun of something she couldn’t even help. She pouted and began to scan her new arms, looking at the intricate patterns that lay upon the bark.
The laughter began to subside as the other two noticed the young Mushman's discomfort at their actions. Samora and Ellephwen both looked at each other, sharing a conversation with glances alone. Samora stood up and patted Ellena’s shoulder.
“Seriously though, congratulations Ellie. All joking aside, I’m happy for you,” she smiled, waiting for the pouting Ellena to turn her head. “I’m going to make some breakfast. Why don’t you get oriented with your new body? Have a run around outside or something.”
The Elf tilted her head, then turned for the kitchen. She walked past Ellephwen, who still sat smiling at Ellena. “You should also have a look at your skills, Ellena. You may have a new one that came with this evolution. Oh, but no dungeon today, yes? You don’t want to risk it in a body you’re not used to.”
Ellena looked to the door, then wiggled to the edge of the bed. “Awlright, I’ll go punch a twee or something,” she declared, hopping off the bed.
As she waddled towards the door, Ellena could tell she was clearly taller. She was still not quite on the level of a human, but at least at dwarf level now, and with a width to match. The strides of her steps had also improved, which hopefully meant even greater speed in combat.
Before attacking any trees or running around, Ellena wanted to check her stats. They would have improved, obviously, but by how much she didn’t know. Hopefully, it was enough to take on the other two bosses on the dungeon's first floor.
Name: Ellena
Age: 71 days
Species: Mushman Guardian Knight, Mushman/Dryad
Height: 4’2”
Sex: N/A
Level: 01 + 8
Health: 239/239 +135
Mana: 114/114 +82
Stamina: 284/284 +161
Energy: 162/284 +161
Attack: 186 +96
Defence: 411 +207
Magic Attack: 86 +52
Magic Defence: 153 +89
Titles: Kin of Ellephwen
Skills: [Pain Resistance lvl 10(Max)] +2 [Poison Resistance lvl ] New! [Mind Resistance lvl 1] New! [Night vision lvl 10(Max)] [Amplified Vision lvl 3] +2 [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 22}] +3 [Tough Stomach lvl 5] +1 [Unarmed Combat Journeyman lvl 8] +2 [Swiftfoot lvl 10] +2 [Warriors Heart lvl 12] +3 [Warriors Will lvl 8] +2 [Warriors Strength lvl 1] New! [Lesser Regeneration lvl 9] +2 [Guardian lvl 9] +2
There was a lot to unpack, and it was all more or less amazing; or at least, it was to the ex-farm girl. To begin with, many of her stats had almost doubled. She was now four times as tough as a normal human. Did that mean her skin was already the equivalent of iron armour or something?
It was clear that she was built to be durable, which was helpful given her fighting style was a tad reckless. Even then, her mana was reaching a usable degree, perhaps due to being half Dryad. Dryads were considered great spellcasters generally.
There were also a few new skills. Two of them appeared to come from maxing out Pain Resistance: Poison and Mind Resistance, respectively. Both were pretty self-explanatory, which helped out, though she was yet to run into any beasts that required either. She also had a brand new skill in Warrior's Strength—likely another dormant skill that she imagined improved her strength. She was excited to find out just how much.
Which brought her to a tree on the edge of Ellephwen's home. It was just one random tree with a decently thick trunk—something to test out her punching power. Ellena looked down at her hand and flexed it into a fist a few times. The branching bark that appeared periodically and at her joints tightened like muscles every time she squeezed. It was oddly mesmerising.
The Mushman grinned. If she had something akin to muscle, she had a way of improving her strength outside of skills and levels. It was something so many took for granted, something she realised even as a human. Ellena was a farmer who used her muscles daily; so, despite being relatively low level, she had strength comparable to the strongest village guards. Of course, she had no idea how to fight, so that didn’t help her much back then.
She found herself reminiscing far too much lately when she should have been punching trees. Ellena looked up, took a small breath, and launched her balled-up fist at the thick trunk.
She felt the impact, but she saw it far more clearly. A crater formed in the bark at the point of impact, scattering more bark all around Ellena. There was a small blast of air and then silence.
The tree cracked and groaned, but it did not fall or break. Ellena slowly pulled her fist from the tree and looked at it, completely undamaged, unlike the bark. She was definitely strong, stronger than her past for sure; she had now surpassed her old humanity. It was a strange feeling.
Ellena wanted to test out a few more things before she ate breakfast: her speed, her lifting strength, and her mana. Though she still had no magic outside of her mushroom shield, unfortunately, she had been lost in thought so long that breakfast was already ready.
“Ellie! Come and get some food. We’ve left out cutlery for you!”
Even something as small as cutlery filled the Mushman's heart with joy. Hands that could punch and eat—is there anything more one could wish for? “Coming!” she shouted back, barely able to hide her giddiness.
The three sat down to their meal, the two women watching Ellena with great joy. The ex-Human now struggled to hold the knife and fork; her hands were far stouter than she was used to.
“So, Ellena, now that you can talk back, we have something to discuss,” Ellephwen started.
Ellena nodded and mumbled with a mouth full of food.
“I am recovering. It’s been slow, but I should be back to full strength soon. However, my arm will take much longer to regenerate; in fact, it may never regenerate at all. Samora and I have been talking, and we both think it's best if she stays here, at least for a while. With only one arm, I may not be able to take care of you properly for a while.”
Ellena narrowed her eyes and nodded, forcing the food she was currently chewing down her throat. “That’s fwine? I mean, I have arms now. I can moswy take care of myself.”
“Don’t be silly, Ellie, you’re still a child. And I’m not just talking about your current body. You were only a teen in your last life, no?”
“Well yeah, bu—”
Ellephwen's remaining hand reached out and took Ellena’s. “Ellena, you have so much pressure on your shoulders. It may have been your choice, but you shouldn’t pretend you can’t feel the weight.”
Somehow, that actually made it feel like some of said weight dropped. Ellena hadn’t even noticed it before. Ellephwen wasn’t wrong, of course. Yes, her original goal was just to gain arms and a voice, but she now had a much more difficult goal, and perhaps she was trying to rush to it with a little too much steam.
“Don’t wear yourself out, Ellie,” Samora smiled at her and squeezed her other arm.
Ellena looked down at her hands, then at both of the women. Her cheeks turned a little red before she looked back down at her plate. “Yeah, uh, thwank you. Both of you. I’m happy for Shamora to stay regardwess, though.”
The Mushman chose to ignore the Elf in question stifling another laugh. Instead, she thought of a problem with Samora staying. There would definitely not be enough room for both of them to sleep in her bed, and there was no way Ellephwen would let her sleep in hers.
“Where is Shamora going to sleep?”
“Ah, yeah, was about to bring that up,” Samora replied. “Ellie, you’ve gotten decently strong now, right? Think you can come to the village with me and help bring my bed back?”
Ellena tilted her head. “One of the great warriors that fought Levias can’t carry a bed?”
Samora sighed and flopped onto the table. “Well, yeah, I could probably carry it, but it wouldn’t be easy. I’m not really that strong, Ellie; I’m a healer through and through. I can throw up an impossible-to-penetrate barrier, but if you somehow got through it, I wouldn’t stand much of a chance.”
A flurry of memories flooded through Ellena’s brain as she tried to remember any times that Samora seemed in any way physically strong. She could not recall a single one. “Yeah, I’m happy to help. When did you wanna go?”
The Elf smiled. “Right after breakfast. Ellie, you wanna visit a human village with me?”