[Alright then, who’s going next?] I ask the gang.

Invidia watches the others, and the second Tiny’s arm goes up, his does too.

[Me,] Tiny says simply.

[Meeeeee,] Invidia hisses. [I wantssss it.]

I wish I could roll my eyes.

[You only want it because he wants it,] I point at Tiny with one leg. [Don’t try and trick me, you waited until somebody else put their hand up before you nominated yourself.]

[It isssss my nature,] Invidia says, and I can’t really argue with that.

It is his nature. He’s an envy demon, he wants what others have, or others want. If nobody wanted to go next, then he wouldn’t either. The moment someone expressed a desire for it, he wanted it too.

Man, what a tiring way to live, but the little flapping demon seems content enough, most of the time.

[Alright, fine. You can go next, Invidia. I said Sarah could go, because she’d waited the longest to evolve, and you are the next on that list.]

Tiny slumps, frowning at me.

[It won’t take long, big guy. Besides, I’ve got to do a little modification to your core anyways. Get ready to lose some muscle! You’re going to 30 Cunning, and you aren’t allowed to take it lower, you hear me!]

Tiny slumps even further, gently flexing his biceps, a sad expression on his face, as Invidia flutters up, his eye gleaming with green light, and makes his way into the chamber.

~~~

[It’s not easy dealing with demons around these issues, so I appreciate your patience, Invidia.]

Granin nods towards the little demon, who is perched on the back of a regular chair, his two spindly arms holding him up.

[We’ve looked at your core, and I have to say, it’s a finely engineered piece of work. The shapers who created it did an excellent job maximising the strengths and mitigating the weaknesses of the Envy Demon archetype. There are several efficiencies in there that I’d never thought of myself.]

Invidia was quite pleased to hear it, though it was difficult for him to truly value that which he had. Granin held up a hand.

[I know, you don’t especially care, but it's important that we discuss the strengths you possess before we talk about what you might be offered and give advice as to how you should proceed. You do want advice, don’t you?]

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[I wantsssss,] Invidia agreed, his eye lighting up.

Granin smiled to himself. In many ways, demons were like children, they had strong, easily manipulatable impulses. On the other hand, they were intelligent, in Invidia’s case, highly intelligent, and extremely dangerous. Invidia knew he was being manipulated, was fully aware that Granin was playing on his obsession, but because it led to an outcome he desired, he didn’t mind it.

[You were essentially designed as a mage archetype, with extremely high mana manipulation and sensing capacity built into your organ setup. Mana-manipulation cortex, Grand Mana sensory organ, Mana Filament finder, combined with your Omni-Divergent Thought Brain and Layered Neural Adaptor making your ability to use mind-constructs top-notch. With your capacity to pull in so much mana via your wings and mouth, you’ve got quite the magical firepower.]

[Not to mention the eye-beam!] Corun enthused. When the others looked at him oddly he returned a wounded expression. [What? The eye-beam is really neat.]

[In order to pack all of those expensive mana organs in, they had to forgo something, and you’ve had no resets at the sixth tier, which is a slight issue,] Torrina said, looking down at her notes. [Something you’ll have to consider is what you want to reset, and how many things. I strongly recommend your brain and neural adaptor be reforged, at the minimum.]

[You may wish to include your Mana Manipulation Cortex and Mana Sensory Organ as well,] Corun advised.

This was all interesting to Invidia. Born of an engineered core, he had never evolved under his own power, perhaps only his Master would be so strange as to allow it. A tier six pet, making its own choices as it ascended to tier seven? Invidia doubted such a thing was common. Although he already possessed that freedom, it was something he cherished.

[The big decision you’ll have to make is more inherent to your nature as a demon,] Granin said finally. [This goes right at the heart of your obsession. Currently, you’re a Lesser Envy Demon, and naturally, one of your options will be to evolve into a Greater Envy Demon, and there will likely be other Envy-based evolutions as well. However, if you so desire, you have the option to change that, and shift your species, and your obsession, in a different direction.]

Invidia looked at his status once again, his mind drawn to the Skill that only his kind, in all of the Dungeon, possessed: Demonic Convergence.

Currently it read: Demonic Convergence of Envy (IV) Level 40.

It had been there for a long time, but he hadn’t wanted to increase its rank. Every time it levelled, and every time it ranked up, the obsession grew stronger, more concentrated, more potent. More difficult to change. The issue Invidia had was, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to change or not. His Envy was part of his fundamental nature, as much a part of him as his wings and hands. Yet his envy demanded that he prize what he didn’t have, and so he wanted it to change, he wanted to have every obsession, but that simply wasn’t possible.

Granin somewhat understood what the little eyeball was going through.

[Demons usually grow to a point naturally, their obsession and nature being honed along the way, but you were forced down this path. Envy demons are excellent pets, since they’re so trainable. They want to get stronger and learn. Your basic nature is locked in place, you’ll always be envious to some extent, but as demons evolve, they can refine that obsession, hone it. Rather than being envious of everything, you could narrow and intensify that focus. Well, to an extent. The options presented will be the options presented, and you will have to choose from them.]

Invidia nodded and revealed his enormous mouth in a wide smile, the toothy grin appearing in mid air beneath his body.

[I thankssss you for the advice. I willsssss consider your wordssssss.]

The real question was, what sort of demon did Invidia want to be?