Rydel observed the changes that his new race had brought him. [Astral Elf (E): Spirit +30%, Perception +20%] Rydel was surprised, this didn’t make sense. He had gone from having less strength in exchange of perception, to having a staggering bonus on his two top stats. In fact, he had the same percentages as Neena, who was a royal from her species. Evolving your race usually came with an increased attributes bonus, for example, Forest Elf at E-Grade would look like this: [Forest Elf (E): Perception +15%, Strength -5%] It was five percent more in both perception and strength compared to the F-grade version. He didn’t know what the bonuses for High Elves were, however, considering Neena’s bonus, it shouldn’t be too far off from her. Rydel was fundamentally an elf as his species hadn’t changed, he still conserved their bloodline ability of genetic adaptability. Which in fact was probably the reason for his change of race. After being soaked into so many materials with moon-related affinities and having a related Daodrop, the system’s gift for him doing so well in the Trial was accelerating the time it’d have taken him to become an Astral Elf. It wasn’t unheard of for elves to change their races under extreme circumstances. However, as this change usually happened during long periods of acclimatization, if the elf didn’t want the mutation to occur their willpower would subconsciously prevent it. This was how the different races of elves in the Efrain Peninsula came to be. For example, when different clans of elves went to inhabit the icy plains in the south, they eventually became frost elves after a couple of generations. This came with the advantage of learning Dao’s related to their race more easily. For frost elves, learning Water-related affinity was the norm. They were in an environment that helped them and had a biology prepared for it. Forest elves usually learned Wood-related Daos. There were exceptions of course, each elf had diverse personal affinities, their races were just a springboard to get enlightenment. His parents were great examples of this, as Thalia formed an artistic Daodrop after painting for her whole life. His father was unfortunate to witness the strong gales of Vesroos. They are giant winged-fish that live near the coast of the Leoheim Forest, they swim by being propelled by the gales that are born with each flap of their wings. When large schools of these fish gathered, they needed to be culled down before they caused disasters to the environment. Edyrm was assigned to this particular mission when he was young, he formed his Daodrop after being thrown back and forth by the wind in the fight that ensued. Rydel thought about the ramifications that his new race brought. His parents hadn’t asked about his new appearance, as his only notable changes were his hair and eyes. As people somewhat changed when evolving, they probably thought that it was just some weird coloring that happened because of his Daodrop. They probably thought that he could develop a complex, so they just shrugged it off as something normal. He’d discuss his new race with his parents and the Elders soon, to see what they recommend him to do in the future. Forest elves were pretty mundane when it came to elven races, apart from being slightly more perceptive, they didn’t have any notable inborn abilities, at least in the E-grade. Rydel hadn’t really lost anything as he didn’t practice any Wood-related Daos, in fact, he felt closer than ever to the moon. That was something that’d make him progress faster than any other advantages could ever give him. He hadn’t heard of astral elves before. However, considering the grand quantity of rough attribute points that they got, being similar to royal variants of beasts species, they were pretty strong. He wondered if he’d find more of his new race somewhere. Rydel inspected the inside of his body and felt around for his wings. After checking for a while, he instinctively knew how to summon them. He directed a good chunk of his spiritual energy to his shoulder blades, about a quartet of his total reserves. Motes of black energy coalesced in the air until forming feathered black wings. The wingspan was 4m, they were flexible enough to encase Rydel’s whole body. Due to not being made of flesh and bones, they had an ethereal quality to them. Rydel was delighted and flapped them with excitement. Nothing happened. ‘You look like a hungry chick.’ Neena couldn’t contain her laugh at his display. Rydel was embarrassed, but he didn’t give up, he made little jumps to gain some impulse. He had an expression of utmost effort, he even got the veins of his forehead protruding. ‘Not bad, I quite like your new mating call. You’ll leave any elven girl speechless.’ Neena continued her teasing. “You little fox!!!” Rydel had enough, he lunged at Neena to catch her. She was expecting retaliation, she used her three tails to hold his arms still. Rydel was surprised when he couldn’t move an inch. Of course, he wasn’t being serious and didn’t use any spiritual energy, but still. “How do you have so much strength?” Rydel asked with some effort. ‘Hmph, it’s normal for my royal self to have more strength than a random mage.’ Neena's voice cracked with smugness, even as her tails lightly shook. “It’s that so?” Rydel felt challenged. He stopped applying force for a second, Neena faltered because of the sudden lack of opposing strength. Rydel didn’t miss his chance and used his newfound wings to bash the little fennec. “Did you want to see my wings closer? It seemed that you were having a great time before.” Rydel smugly said. ‘M-mercy, I was just joking! You are the coolest astral elf that I know!!’ “Brat! I’m the only astral elf that you know!” Rydel now tickled her with enthusiasm. ‘How would you know? You haven’t asked me yet!’ Neena said with an angry pout, trying to evade her best friend's teasing. “Because you wouldn’t have let the chance to be magnanimous enough to ‘give some knowledge to my uneducated self’” Rydel snorted. Neena's tails swashed on the air in embarrassment. Rydel and Neena hadn’t been able to talk that much, as she had only been able to freely communicate since last month, a period where he was busy training for The Trial. However, they still had been great companions while only being able to lightly convey their feelings since they first met. Now that they could talk, it was like a dam getting opened. Rydel was able to discover the talkative and naughty fox that hid behind her proud visage. ‘You weigh too much to be able to biologically fly.’ Rydel thought about it and directed spiritual energy into his wings. Rydel immediately noticed the change, he flapped his wings again and gently floated above the ground. “Woah, I can fly!” Rydel cheerfully said. He floated a couple of meters up, flying around their backyard. He did some flips and played around doing normally impossible martial poses. “I can’t fly much longer, five minutes is my limit.” Ryder dropped down with regret, his wings dematerialized soon after. ‘It makes sense, flying is reserved for C-grade beings, with D-grades being able to float for small distances. In your case, your wings helped you lower the threshold an entire grade.’ “I can try flying to a high height, conserving some energy by gliding. Flying is very energy-consuming though, I can’t do it forever.” ‘It’s still a better means of travel than running.’ Neena shrugged. Rydel nodded. He still had to practice the new skills that came with his class. He was dead tired though, he had calmed down a little after playing for a while with Neena, and he now needed to recuperate his energy reserves. He decided to do both by taking a nap. As an E-grade, his consumption of food has drastically decreased, the same with his need for sleep. As long as he did any of them once a week, it was enough. He functioned with spiritual energy for the rest. However, sleeping can help to calm down the mind and eating was a commonly seen hobby, that’s why Thalia had always prepared two meals a day for them, even if his parents didn’t need them. “You are coming with me, I need a fluffy pillow.” ‘What? Do you only see me as a cushion?’ Neena said with indignation. “Of course, that’s your only purpose, it’s why your mother quickly gifted you after seeing me.” Rydel said with mirth. ‘That’s not true.’ Neena timidly responded. “You know that I’m joking. Your mother loves you a lot, she wants you to grow in a safe environment without pressure from your clan.” Rydel patted her head. ‘But… what if that is just her excuse to get rid of me?’ “Then, she is blind and doesn’t know what she is losing.” Rydel gently replied. Neena didn’t respond. “As I said before, your mother adores you, even I could notice it in the little time that I met her. She will contact you before you even notice, until that moment, we are still partners.” ‘Hm.’ *** Rydel slept for three whole days. When he woke up, he felt refreshed and ready to conquer the world. It was night-time, he decided to have his first cultivation session with ‘Lunar Apotheosis’. He had never stopped meditating in all these years, he was in the doors of breaking through the bottleneck of his Daodrop of the Moonlight. Only a little bit more of insights and he’d be able to cross it. Rydel let himself be bathed by the moon, he circulated the energy through his pathways in a complex motion. As more rotations happened, Rydel noticed that a little bit of the energy was left on his head. He was confused, as this wasn’t supposed to be happening. He thought about stopping, but something inside him told him to continue, he’d regret it otherwise. He slowly rotated his cultivation manual as he decided what to do. Rydel gritted his teeth and decided to trust his instincts. More and more energy was left behind, as Rydel experienced a light headache, he started having doubts. He strengthened his will, he’d see it to the end. When half of the night had already passed, Rydel noted that he wouldn't make it in time. His cultivation method could only be used during night-time, he had the feeling that if he stopped, he'd lose his opportunity. Rydel threw caution to the wind and willed energy to enter above his body's natural endurance. A strong cyclone of energy forced its way inside him, his meridians’ pathways suffered from the abuse, pores of his body ruptured after being enlarged beyond their size. Rydel got soaked in blood. He concentrated on the task for a couple more hours, his body was on the verge of collapse, until something snapped. A little white ball shone inside his head. It was interconnected with his meridian’s pathways, located on the center of his forehead. Rydel sent a tendril of energy, and his vision shifted. He looked in shock at the void that surrounded him. Apart from him, there was only a white pebble floating in the center of the space.