While the nestlings trained their skills, I went off on my own to look at mine.

Since evolving, there were a lot of new things that popped up, some I was already familiar with and others, not so much. My focus was to level up my older skills and to get familiar with the new ones, in particular [Area of Authority] and [Obsidian Horn] which had saved me from quite a few tricky situations.

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[Area of Authority] – Increases the likelihood of successful attacks within a given area. Applicable for targets of similar level or lower, anything more will deduct 50% of MP.

[Instantaneous Sprint] – Improves movement speed by 25% for 60 seconds.

[Obsidian] - A dense material that nullifies the effect of magical forces in high concentrations. It is naturally found where water meets molten rock, and in some species of magical beasts.

Rarity B-

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Hm…weren't they a little dangerous?

If the little obsidian in my horns could repel magical forces, what if I was covered with [Obsidian Scales]? Wouldn't that make me invulnerable to magic attacks?

Hehe, that sounds awesome.

Maybe, I could get it if I ate more bunnies..?

But then, wouldn't it work both ways and also nullify my own magic?

And for [Area of Authority], just how far was its range? When I activated it, there didn't seem to be any noticeable changes.

As for my magic skills, [Shadow Magic] and [Poison Magic]. They both seemed to work through their proxy skills [Shadow Shroud] and [Poison Synthesis]. I couldn't use them directly yet and I suspected it was because their levels were too low.

I activated my [Shadow Shroud] and it creepily covered my body in shadow, but that was the extent of it. And much like the system, my skills were only limited to me.

Also, my shadows only seemed to work in darkness, and fire and natural light seemed to easily dispel them!

I scowled.

Shouldn't [Shadow Magic] be stronger than that?

But what if I wanted to cover something other than myself?

I thought of a crazy idea and looked towards the nestlings – what if I tried to envelop a snake within?

Might as well try.

And I know a perfect victim - I mean guinea pig - guinea snake?

I called my guard, Typhon over and when he arrived, I tried to stretch the shadows towards him.

Nothing happened immediately, but when I persisted, a tiny tendril of shadow extended past my body to reach him. I was thrilled and continued to test it, pushing further until the shadow fully extended to cover him.

And the system dinged in encouragement.

〚Skill Aptitude increase: [Shadow Shroud: LV2] has become [Shadow Shroud: LV3]〛

Yes! We were finally getting somewhere.

If I continued trying, soon enough I should be able to shroud all of the nestlings!

I released Typhon and returned to training as I continued to practice other skills. With a stamina potion to replenish my energy, I could train nonstop, so I focused on perfecting my poison attacks.

[Poison Synthesis] could combine both [Pain Toxin] and [Deadly Poison Attack] to improve the effect of my poison, so was it possible to combine other skills?

I was interested in finding out what more I could do with it.

Surely if I could generate poison, and even change its form, then creating more types had to be possible. [Paralysis Venom] in the system store seemed very attractive now. If I combined the three, it would make an excellent poison!

However, I couldn't continue my tests as the display of my fancy skills had attracted the nestlings attention and disrupted their training. And now, most of them were watching me instead.

So I brought my session to an end – perhaps I should find a bigger cave first?

In the brief moments when the cave was quiet, and exhausted nestling bodies sprawled everywhere, I took out the core of the Hestehoria Queen. A cleanly cut cube of raw flesh materialised, and once outside of stasis, it began oozing purple blood over the cave floor.

I wanted to analyse her core, but sadly, I couldn't go about this unseen.

The scent of fresh blood attracted the attention of my two guards and the nestlings around my invisible barrier, and they all stared at me like ravenous wolves. I guarded my quarry preciously, glaring at each of them in turn to assert my dominance and let them know it was mine. And after some reluctance, they all turned away.

Phew. That was close.

Hidden in the centre of that chunk meat, there was something small and hard like a stone, surrounded by a membranous sack with a liquid inside.

Unlike what I was expecting, it was small, rather… fleshy, and unmistakably solid.

I wanted to jump with joy! I was seeing a solid core for the first time!

With [Mana Sense], I peered inwards to see my own core that had since condensed into a ball of liquid the size of a tiny gem and I wondered how long it would take for it to condense to solid like that of the queen's.

However, lurking sinisterly in the corner, was a larger core steadily orbiting around mine.

If this was scientific, his core would be like a moon orbiting mine, the planet – except the size was all wrong. His core was the larger one!

I didn't pay much attention last time, but wasn't his core completely solid? Where mine was shrouded in hazy mist and only clearly visible in its liquid centre – his was clearly defined in high definition.

I was more like the moon in comparison to his in size, yet he was orbiting me.

Isn't this all in reverse? Surely his core had to be affecting mine in some unseen way?

In reality, if a planet had a moon bigger than it, the two would smash together in a catastrophic chain reaction.

«Why are you staring at me so intently.» Sensei squirmed uncomfortably. «Close your eyes, you perv. Where is your sense of decency?»

"MY sense of decency?" I wanted to cough blood.

The nerve of him to say something like that. He was the one illegally occupying my body. How dare he turn this around on me?

«Stop looking like you want to eat me...» Sensei nonchalantly said.

I let out a helpless sigh and closed my eyes as I quietly consumed the Queen's core.

And soon, the system dinged.

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〚You have consumed medium grade core〛

〚Status: Complete〛

〚Magic: +45〛

〚Agility: +45〛

〚Attack: +55〛

〚Defence: +55〛

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Oh yes! Now this was a reward!

"Is evolving the fastest way to get a solid core?" I asked Sensei.

«Creating a core is an exercise in sensing the natural energies within the body and gathering that energy until it condenses to form a centre of power.» Sensei explained.

«Evolution is one way to simplify the process, as it occurs unconsciously, but it isn't necessarily the fastest. A body simply evolves when it reaches the level of energy required to progress to the next stage. If you gather that energy beforehand and meet the skill requirements, it's possible to expedite the process.»

"And how would I do that?"

«By continuously consuming higher level cores.»

Ah. So to get a solid core, I would need a steady supply of monster cores to help me build up a solid base faster. That would mean eating more creatures and gaining more attributes, the thought of which made me shiver.

My scales had become like a wasp's shell, not because I got an exoskeleton, but because I got the [Stinger] attribute that needed the added hardness as reinforcement.

[Devour] was collecting skills just as much as it was moulding them to fit me, and vice versa. It was terrifyingly efficient!

But this wasn't what I was most afraid of.

Considering I'd been alive for less than a month. I predicted it would take ten times that to get a solid core. So, about a year.

If I kept collecting attributes like this – what would I look like at the end of it?

Should I say farewell to the memories of my adolescent girl body and open the doors to some monstrosity in the shape of a snake? It was annoying having small boobs before, but at this rate I don't think I would ever have boobs again!

What the heck?

This wasn't even counting my original body's capabilities. Being a natural slacker didn't leave me wanting much aside from turning the labyrinth into a safe haven to achieve a life of relaxation. Even if it was something most people couldn't get, I would usually get it one way or another through barter or sheer persistence.

But, do I have to sacrifice my body to get what I want?

Surely I, being a natural strategist could figure out a way to get both!

At least that was what I hoped. I was going to die eventually, if I didn't at least try that, death would come much sooner. Life itself was like a tough opponent. If It didn't give me a way, I would make one. I was better off not wasting time contemplating the what and the why.

First, I should get a solid core. Once I gained the proper use of magic, the rest would follow. But for now, it was continuous practice and luck.