*THUMP*
'I missed?!' Eurydice thought, shocked as he saw the chick transform into a yellow blur and run away. He ran forwards and picked his knife off the floor, scaling a tree and jumping from branch to branch while watching the chick from afar.
' That is no normal beast... it should be impossible for anything that hasn't evolved yet to even have a fraction of that speed! Could it be strengthening it's body with soul power? No way... it takes years for someone to develop that sort of control and by the looks of it that chick is barely a month old, not to mention the low soul power beasts possess to start with! '
Eurydice reasoned with himself and tried to find an answer to how his initial knife throw was missed, eventually he gave up and resorted to chasing down the chick again. This chick had too many mysteries surrounding it, Eurydice could've dived down and sliced it's legs off at any moment in time but knowing it hid it's true speed, he argued to himself that there may be more the chick was capable of than running away, he wanted to watch and fully understand this creature's behaviour before doing any reckless actions.
Needless to say, his training in the military had made him a very cautious man.
Eurydice watched the chick for many minutes, soul power concentrated at his eyes to enhance his vision, there was nothing else the chick was doing that made him wary enough to let it go and so he made his plans for contact. While jumping from branch to branch and matching the chick's speed exactly, Eurydice held the scroll he had taken out earlier in both his hands, he moved until he was directly above the chick and ripped the scroll, releasing the formation that was held within.
Immediately, a circle of light with a radius of 10 metres surrounded both beings, encasing them inside an invisible forcefield.
'Got you now, my golden goose!' Eurydice couldn't hide his joy, his smile was wide with a tinge of wickedness beneath it; he felt apologetic towards the chick but he knew that with the sacrifice of this creature's freedom, his future would be set! Maybe he could even send some money down to the village and transform his hut into the largest one there!
'That'll show those old coots!' he thought.
'Best we wait though... see if this child has any last tricks up their sleeves...'
He perched on a branch and observed the chick, it was frantically moving about, at one point even attempting to dig under the formation!
'Smart bugger aren't ya? Too bad, maybe you could've evolved a lot further... I'll save any Ignison Chick's I see in the future in your honour hahaha...'
Eurydice already considered the chick's freedom as good as gone, he waited some more.
'Alright then... it seems to have sat down and given up, time for me to meet this mysterious beast!'
The 28 year old Dryad grabbed his knife which missed the chick's leg previously and peered down, the moment he touched his weapon, the chick turned it's head up and looked right at him. Eurydice quickly moved back into his hiding position.
'How in the hell did he find me? Can this chick sense intent perhaps?...' Eurydice's mind stopped in it's tracks.
'PFFTT! Sometimes I crack myself up haha, must've got lucky...maybe...'
Eurydice joked around, intent was something only battle-hardened veterans could detect, if this chick could sense intent, all the veteran soldiers would've transitioned to a chicken only diet for revenge. Even with his jokes, the chick noticing him made him grow wary, so he decided to stay up there some more and watch.
-----
[ Hostile intent detected ]
Of course, it is.
'Ugh, where is he Mr.S?'
[ 38 metres directly above Owner ]
Instinctively I jerked my head up and saw a pair of glowing green eyes locked onto me, as quickly as I saw them, the eyes disappeared and were replaced by the darkness which surrounded the forest.
He must've been watching me... I need to get my things in order quick.
'Alright, I need to call the mother hen, how do I activate that buff?'
[ Mother Hen has sensed your distress, she will arrive shortly or never ]
'Wait what do you mean never??'
[ The world is a big place, things can happen which would prevent her from reaching you ]
Gotcha.
Basically, Mr.S was telling me not to rely on her, I had learned the hard way that my 'mother hen' was not reliable at all! Abandoning me after feeding me one meal and taking the rest of the family with her, despicable! If we were creatures like ants I'm sure this wouldn't have happened... then again I might have my mind become insect like while screeching 'FOR THE COLONY' or something.
Huh, that was a weird thought.
I quickly dismissed it and tried to come up with a plan... what could I do to change the tide of this battle? My mutation might help me defend against a few attacks but what if he went for my legs? Those things were unprotected, flimsy and basically begging a knife to imbed itself in it. It would help I'm sure, but I needed more!
Wait a second...
There's one path left.
One way to increase my chances of survival.
'Oh my god... I have to do *that* don't I?'
What's one way to drastically increase strength in a short time when you're a magical beast?
There really is only one way.
'System just checking... evolutions are instant right?'
[ Correct, they often happen mid-battle when a creature pushes past their limits ]
'Aaannndd I won't pass out right?'
[ All energy needed to evolve are absorbed from the environment, chances are formations or other magical devices will be unable to work during this time, be wary of this ]
Jackpot.
I don't know exactly what this pale blue circle is, but it definitely isn't something from Earth, that leaves one option, magic! If evolving gives me a chance to escape while making me stronger in the process, I need to use it right now, before the green eyes reappear!'
'Mr.S- uh I mean system... open up the evolution tab right now!'
The dreaded long rectangle opened up once again, every evolution option could be seen; the bad taste in my mouth returned when I saw the "Caelestin Chick" option arrive once I scrolled to the bottom of the page.
I guess I need to do this.
Please let this be some godly MC-like evolution where I have lots of future growth available, please if I have any positive karmic points from my past life built up, use it all now to make this a good evolution!
'ALRIGHT... I'VE MADE UP MY MIND SYSTEM!'
[ ? ]
'LOCK IN CAELES- '
'actually...'
No.
The system was basically forcing me into choosing this option right? If someone were to see this, then they would most definitely see me giving into a choice the system strong-armed me into. There's no way I'm going to spend my last few minutes of life being manipulated by an unkown force... I was going to defy it one last time.
I need to at least put up a fight!
I'll select Pallidi Chick instead! When the pop-up forcing me to go to Caelestin Chick arrives, I'll swerve it! That way I can keep my dignity and show Mr.S I have my own thoughts and opinions when it comes to my evolution pathway.
'LOCK IN PALLIDI CHICK!!!'
[ Request Assessing... ]
'Huh? This is new...'
[ You have chosen Pallidi/Caelestin Chick hybrid, commence evolution? ]
'Wha-'
'Y-yes! Commence away!'