"Agh..." At the time Aurus woke up, the first thing he felt was that his soul hurt immensely. It was as if his soul was shredded into multiple pieces, but as Aurus took a closer look, that was indeed the case. All of the cells on his body were now infused with a part of his soul, allowing him to feel a sense of oneness with his body.
If Aurus were to compare his feeling of being one with his body back then, it would be like comparing someone who had just used the sword the first time to someone who had trained with the sword for many years. That was what he felt.
Afterwards, he looked at his new body, the body of a Spiritas.
"Eh? Why the heck do I still look like a branch?" Aurus could spot the differences between his previous body and his current body with just one glance. The first difference was the cells on his body. If the cells on his body back then were like cardboard boxes, then the cells on his body right now were like non-newtonian fluid. If Aurus wanted to, he could change his body into any shape he liked.
But for some reason, the instincts built into his body seemed to agree that his normal form would be that of a stick, rather than that of a human. He had the body of a stick but the soul of a human, not the body and soul of a stick.
After pondering it for a bit, he just sighed to himself. "Whatever, I can change into different shapes whenever I like so that's always a plus."
He also noticed that the walnuts he used to have in his previous evolution were now gone, making him look like a normal branch, except for the fact that his body was always glowing green.
As he was wondering about the changes that took place in his body and what kind of skills the Rare classes offer...the bombardment of notification sounds came.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
'Your stats shall now be changed to conform to your new form.'
'[Toughness] has been changed to [Tenacity].'
'[Thickness] has been changed to [Vitality].'
'[Shell Hardness] has been changed to [Spirit].'
Looking at this, Aurus easily understood why his stats were changed. "Since I'm not a branch anymore but instead another thing altogether, the names of my stats have been changed. I don't know if that's just for aesthetic or if it serves any purpose at all."
Of course, the notifications didn't stop there. After getting the notification screen about his stats being changed, he got another notification screen regarding...skill changes.
'As some of your skills have become obsolete due to your current form, the system has adjusted these skills to conform to your new form.'
"Eh? The changes even go that far?" Aurus felt that these changes may have some significance to it.
'Your movement skill [Tempest Roll] has been changed to [Tempestuous Spiritas Glide].'
'Your offensive skill [Nut Trident Triad] has been changed to [Spirit Lance of Three Worlds].'
'Your passive skill [Purified SP Storage] has been changed to [Purified Spiritas SP Vessel].'
'Your passive skill [Revitalising Fruit Creation] has been changed to [Revitalising Anima Creation].'
"Hm. By the looks of it, [Wind Affinity] and [Soul Perception I] hasn't been affected by changes at all," Aurus said to himself. "Ah, [Tempest Burst] as well."
Of course, he wouldn't forget about his godly passive skill being unaffected as well, but that was probably a given since it was given to him by Kurohana, a goddess capable of wielding powers unimaginable by Aurus.
He didn't bother checking the details of his skills since for the most part it would remain unchanged, save for the flavor text contained in each skill.
"Now that I think about it...what is a Spiritas anyway?" Aurus tried to accept his current body but he still couldn't wrap his head around it since it was on the extreme opposite of a branch. A branch was hard and stiff, while his body, which was said to be the body of a Spiritas according to the system, could be comparable to non-newtonian fluid or slime that can hold its own shape.
Wanting to know the answers, Aurus asked.
And the system answered.
Ding!
'A Spiritas is a being that is said to only exist in an incorporeal form, yet it can create a corporeal form if need be. It absorbs energy from its surroundings to sustain its form. As for the user, the Spiritas formed was from the fusion of two different paths, the Branch Formosus path focusing on the Spirit, and the Sapling path, focusing on Life. With this fusion, the user attained a body of a Spiritas variant of its previous branch form, having a small part of sentience and spirit. Of course, being a Spiritas, it is able to manipulate and wield energy to a great extent as its normal Spiritas counterpart.'
After hearing the answer the system gave to him, Aurus' eyes gleamed as he said, "So that's how it was. Since I came from a branch, my Spiritas form is that of a branch. And wait..."
"Did it just say that a Spiritas has some sentience and spirit within them? At this grade?" Aurus tried to deny it at first, but it seemed that that was the case. Since he could move his body more flexibly compared to when he was just a branch, and even think faster than before thanks to his evolution, it only meant one possibility.
"A False Animate being!"
A False Animate, in other words, an Inanimate showing the characteristics of an Animate being like using their brains to strategize. In this case, a False Animate would be equivalent to those Inanimates at the S-grade or X-grade, yet Aurus was able to obtain this form at the A-grade! How could Aurus not be excited?
"If I evolve to the X-grade, I might obtain a Pseudo-Animate form, allowing me to speed my leveling up by manifolds!"
Although a Pseudo-Animate and a False Animate sound similar, they were vastly different, with a Pseudo-Animate having a form that was more humanlike in shape, even allowing them to converse with Animates, albeit with limited vocabulary.
Nonetheless, Aurus had something to look forward to in the future. He noticed that there were notification screens to look at so he focused on seeing what features or possible skills were added thanks to him becoming an A-grade.
'The Ally system has been enabled.'
"Hm, the Ally system," Aurus said to himself. He almost forgot about the system since it had become useless to him, who used to play alone in ISE back then. "I wonder if I could grab some allies who would help me out in the long run."
'Thanks to the Ally system being enabled, the [Ally Appraisal] skill has been obtained, allowing the user to see the stats of their ally.'
'Seeing that the [Ally Appraisal] skill is similar to the effects the system's identification holds, the two skills have fused together into a better skill, named the [Species Analysis] skill.'
"A better identification skill?" Aurus was surprised to see this. "I've never seen one before. I wonder what benefit it brings."
'Thanks to the Ally system being enabled, the [Befriend] skill has been obtained, allowing the user to obtain allies by befriending them in the world of Erudinia rather than rely on the Ally's gacha system.'
Seeing that this one was the final notification screen, Aurus could finally let out a sigh of relief. All of a sudden, another notification screen popped up, in which Aurus read it...only to end up gasping in shock.
Ding!
'1 OS Point has been obtained.'