One would like to imagine that getting used to waking up half dead was not something that could happen. For Ellena, the tiny Mushling, it was starting to become routine.
She grimaced as she sat up in the middle of the forest, her head ached as did most of her body, but she was at least awake. She took a look at her surroundings as her vision returned to her. Still at the base of the cliff, which seemed to be a crescent moon shape. A small light peaked through the canopy, the angle implied it was in fact morning, but Ellena found herself worried that it was not the same morning.
It seemed as though the young Mushman got quite lucky, as this appeared to be a popular spot for the herbivorous beasts of the forest. A lot of rabbit holes and other such traces. If not for that she may have been eaten whilst she slept.
The small Monster sat herself up, a little sore and a little sticky from dried blood, but alive. She checked her stats quickly, as she was curious on her current health situation.
Name: Ellena
Age: 49 days
Species: Forest Mushling, Mushman
Height: 1.5”
Sex: N/A
Level: 48
Health: 11/14
Mana: 3/3
Stamina: 20/26
Energy:01/26
Attack: 12
Defence: 29
Magic Attack:
Magic Defence: 13
Titles: Kin of Ellephwen
Skills: [Pain Resistance lvl 3] [Night vision lvl 2] [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 5}] +1
[Tough Stomach lvl 1] [Unarmed Combat Novice lvl 2] [Swiftfoot lvl 2] +1 [Warriors Heart lvl 3 ] [Warriors Will lvl 2] [Lesser Regeneration lvl 1] Gained!
Her health certainly looked in a better place as did her stamina, and it was obvious to see why. She had gained a new skill whilst sleeping, [Lesser Regeneration]. It may have been lesser, but regeneration seems like a powerful skill regardless. After a long while the cuts and bruises that covered her body were all but gone, far faster than normal.
Luckily, it seemed to still be the same day. Ellena assumed morning, but she had no visual on the sun so that was purely a guess. The more likely answer was afternoon, she had to have slept at least a few hours for her body to be almost fully recovered.
“Growwwwl.”
Ellena jumped up and looked around. A deep growl seemed to grow out of nowhere, she couldn’t see a single thing.
“Growwwl!”
A second growl, they seemed almost on top of her, almost as if…
“Growwwwwl!”
Ellena looked down at her stomach, and only just noticed the feeling of emptiness that filled it. Ah, how embarrassing, she thought to herself. It seemed as though it was her stomach that was the dark beast this time. It had been a while since she last ate. Her energy was damn near drained. She needed food, sustenance.
Lucky for the little mushroom, the number one food in her diet was all around her. Moss, on every tree near every rock, food was something she never had to worry about living in the forest.
She sat next to a nearby tree, and took a bite of the green natural goodness that lay at its base. The taste was not comparable to the stuff that Ellephwen always got her, but she had been quite spoiled at this point.
That reminded her of her surrogate family. The Dryad was likely worried sick for Ellena. She had to find her way home soon and be prepared for a well deserved scolding. Her curiosity landed her in this situation, so she had only herself to blame.
Of course, no doubt Ellephwen was looking for her and would no doubt eventually find her, this was her home after all, but the Mushling could not risk waiting around. Even if she had been safe thus far, a predatory Monster could wander by at any point. Also the quicker she found her way home, the less trouble she would be in… Surely?
As she watched her hunger refill and felt a little energy return to her, Ellena looked around, deciding on the best course of action. The only thing she could think of, would be to seek a pathway up on the cliffside, though she feared running into another den of Wolves or something. So this time, the small mushroom would stick a little further from the cliff and perhaps move more cautiously.
So, once she had eaten all the moss around that particular tree and her strength had been returned to her, Ellena stood to her full height, which wasn’t very tall. She started another quest along a cliff wall. The journey back to comfort!
Or, that was her plan, until she almost immediately ran into another problem, a loud familiar squeaking. Ellena stopped in her tracks and ran to the shade of a few trees. Ahead of her, a harrowing sight could be seen. Half a dozen Mushmen, the same subspecies as her, being chased by two wolves.
Not the quite substantial Black Wolves that she had been chased by shortly before, no these were Grey Wolves, about the most common and weak of the wolf genus. It looked to be a mother teaching her pup to hunt.
Even then, even if they were the weakest of the wolves, they were still beyond Ellena. If she got involved, no doubt it would mean death. Besides, the injuries on the Mushmen was severe and she had not been blessed with any sort of healing magic.
Ellena knew that. She knew she couldn’t do anything, that she would die if she got involved, but even then, even then it did nothing alleviate her guilt. All she could do was watch them die, or turn away.
She did neither, stepping out into the light, breathing ragged. The fear filled her even with her skills holding it back, neither wolf had noticed her yet, until the mother paused and began sniffing the air. Then after a bark, her son joined her.
They both began growling and turned to Ellena. The only reason they would stop hunting the other Mushmen was because they believed they found an easier target, which meant they probably smelt her blood and assumed her weakened. Which she was a little, but underestimating her as a normal Mushling could prove fatal for them. If it didn’t, this encounter would surely be fatal to her.
Adrenaline kicked in as she locked eyes with the two wolves, the family of Mushmen behind stopping to stare, unsure of what they were looking at. Mother Wolf began stalking towards her, body lowered, preparing to attack. Ellena matched the stride, approaching her with the same caution.
A small smile crawled onto her face as the world around them dissolved. She barely noticed the fact that she was enjoying this, the danger, the risk. The small Mushling was starting to become a bit of a battle junky.
Suddenly, her senses caught up to her as the Mushling dodged backwards, the young wolf narrowly avoiding her face as it lunged out of nowhere. No matter how high her defense may have been, it certainly would have hurt to be bitten by a wolfs sharp fangs.
The pup immediately skidded and jumped for Ellena again, this time she was even more prepared, using her small body to drop below the jumps arch and launch herself upwards to headbutt the pup straight in the belly knocking it a foot into the air, more than her small body should have allowed. Still, even that impact hurt her just a little, it was a poor decision with her current strength.
A howl of anger alerted her to a rather upset mother wolf behind her, but the Mushling turned just a little too late, she tried to duck again, but still had a solid chuck on flesh ripped from her helmet.
“SQUUUUUUEE!” She cried out in pain. Even with her pain resistance, it wasn’t enough. That hurt more than any pain she had felt, more than dying. Even then, she fought through it, through teared eyes and headbutted the wolfs chin knocking it backwards as blood shot from its snout.
“Skill [Pain Resistance lvl 3] has increased to [Pain Resistance lvl 4]!”
“Skill [Lesser Regeneration lvl 1] has increased to [Lesser Regeneration lvl 2]!”
“Skill [Unarmed Combat Novice lvl 3] has increased to [Unarmed Combat Novice lvl 4]!”
“Unique Skill [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 5}] has increased to [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 6}]!”
That was more levels than she had received for a while, and all it took was almost being bit in half and suffering the most pain in both of her lives. She panted as blood poured out the wound and dribbled onto the floor. She could definitely feel the difference in pain, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t hurt real bad.
Ellena observed the battle through tear soaked eyes, the young wolf cowering in the corner, limping. It must have been the first blow the beast had ever taken, it would likely be out of the fight for a few seconds at least and every second counted. She needed to try and take care of mother wolf first, as quickly as possible.
Said mumma wolf had already begun charging at the small Mushling again. She was fast, very fast. Ellena tried to run as a head on approach would probably not work again, but the wolf was certainly closer, she dived behind a tree causing the mother wolf to have to slow down to dart after her. Even as she jumped around the tree, the wolf managed to scratch her back with an extended leg, it hurt, but was nothing compared to the bite she suffered earlier.
Thanks to that desperate attack the Mushling had a small window of opportunity, she dug her tiny legs in and launched her slowly healing head at the wolves as she fumbled around the tree. Before she could lift her head fully, Ellena had collided with it, sending saliva and blood flying. The beast fell back a little, but this time Ellena did not give her a chance to recover.
She used the corner of the tree to push herself off once again, using all of her strength to smack into the beasts neck. For a brief moment, Ellena looked beyond the wolf and realised the rocky wall of the cliff stood in front of them.
The small mushling charged again, meeting mother wolfs body with hers and pushing her towards the cliff, digging her tiny feet into the soft ground. The larger wolf fought back, unable to comprehend the tiny creature's unnatural strength. Even then the strength wasn’t quite enough to overpower the wolf no matter how hard Ellena tried.
“Skill [Swiftfoot lvl 2] has increased to [Swiftfoot lvl 3]!”
A sudden burst of speed hit the tiny Mushman, launching her and the beast forward. Mother wolf tried to bite at Ellena, but her body was so small that she could not reach at the angle they fought. Finally, with all of her remaining power Ellena rammed the Grey Wolf against the cliff wolf hearing her yelp in pain as the stone cracked under the impact.
A spray of blood from the wolf's mouth splattered against the brown rock, but she still lived. There was no time to waste unfortunately as a different wolf's loud barking drew her attention behind her. The pup was not as clever as her mother it seemed.
Ellena turned to the small beast who recklessly charged forwards, not realising the position he put himself in. Ellena grinned, and launched her tiny body forwards. Her new speed startled the smaller beast who tried to slow down, but it was too late. Ellena went straight for his head, knocking into the tree it foolishly ran by.
There was a loud crack as the beast's jaw broke and more blood splattered against the now splintered bark. The baby wolf simply slumped to the ground, which did ping the Mushlings conscience.
“Overall level has increased from [Level 48] to [level 68]!”
“Unique skill [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 6}] has increased to [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 7}]!”
“Skill [Unarmed Combat Novice lvl 4] has increased to [Unarmed Combat Novice lvl 5]!”
Before she could celebrate an unexpected amount of levels, another chunk of her helmet was stolen by the wolf that knew how to sneak. Ellena cried out in pain once again and jumped away, watching her health tick away. The only thing saving her was her regeneration. She spotted the mother Wolf, flesh in her jaws, standing over her dead child.
“Skill [Lesser Regeneration lvl 2] has increased to [Lesser Regeneration lvl 3]!”
Her wounds were healing even a little faster, but it wasn’t as if two chunks out of her head weren't going to affect her. Luckily, the mother wolf was also in bad shape and more importantly, had turned her attention away from Ellena, albeit briefly.
She stared down at the pup, then began to whimper, dropping the chunk of Ellena's head before the child's mouth. Then she nudged it, gently, its body falling limp. Ellena did not feel good. The adrenaline and lust for battle began to leave her. Before her may have been a deadly beast that wanted to eat her, but for now all she saw was a mother mourning her child. A child she had killed.
Ellena was excited to face her before, especially considering the number of levels she had received from that wolf pup that was somehow double that of the human hunter all those weeks ago. Now though, even with the mother being so defenseless, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything.
Even as the beast finally turned to face her, Ellena felt no urge to fight. Neither did the Wolf it seemed. She was wobbly on her feet, and looked… Defeated. In fact, she appeared to be begging Ellena with her eyes, though the Mushling wasn’t entirely sure how she knew that, she did. A Monster's intuition maybe?
Mother Wolf blinked, then lay next to her child and closed her eyes, accepting her defeat and her death, blood leaking out of her mouth. It was clear the Mushling had done more damage than she had expected and now, now she had to put the beast out of her misery.
It didn’t feel good, she wasn’t proud of herself, but walked over and granted the mother wolf the most painless death she could, though with only a head for a weapon, it perhaps wasn’t as painless as it could have been.
“Overall level has increased from [Level 68] to [Level 100]!”
“Skill [Unarmed Combat lvl 5] has increased to [Unarmed Combat lvl 6]!”
“Skill [Warriors Heart] lvl 3 has increased to [Warriors Heart lvl 4]!”
“Skill [Warriors Will lvl 2] has increased to [Warriors Will lvl 3]!”
“Level 100 has been reached. Evolution has been triggered!”
“Evolution now available: [Forest Mushman]!”
“ Variant Evolution now available: [Lesser Mushman Guardian]!”
“Evolution now available: [Treechild]!”
“Evolution now available: [Cission]!”
So this is what it’s like to reach evolution, huh? Ellena thought to herself, barely keeping her mind together as it slowly repaired itself. And I’ve also got a variant evolution, huh? Those are pretty rare!
Sometimes, though rarely, a monster evolves differently to the rest of their species around them. It could be because they had a penchant for eating rocks, or running a lot, but something triggers them to change differently, and now Ellena had the same option. Though she had not heard of a Mushman Guardian before.
Suddenly, she felt unsteady, falling to her back, right near the two dead wolves. Even with her self repair, she had lost too much blood, taken too much damage. I’d better choose soon, no? Something I can’t take back, so let’s choose right…
“Evolution chosen! Evolution variant: [Lesser Mushman Guardian] has been chosen!”
“Evolution has begun.”
As if being forced to sleep, Ellena's vision darkened at an accelerated rate. Perhaps this was what always happened. Though, as excited as she was, there was something bothering her as the light disappeared. Ellephwen still didn’t know where she was…
Wow, finally she evolves no? Chapter four was her first evolution in the original version. I think I mentioned it once back then, but I have thought of a few 'what if's' if she chose differently. Dunno if I'll ever write em down, but if I ever get back into art I might draw em. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Curious what you all would have chosen for your evolution?