Lotus approached cautiously, sheathing her swords. She was still processing the fact that the little cute creature now radiated such refined killing intent.
"Congratulations on the evolution, Pip. You really do seem like a much more powerful fairy now. If you keep this up, Jay and Kai are going to have to work really hard to keep from falling behind." She laughed, her voice soft as she spoke to the little boy.
Jay and Kai, the common base members of the group, scratched the backs of their necks in embarrassment, but weren’t too bothered by it. At this point it was pretty much common knowledge that it was possible to obtain higher rarity classes in Elysium, so even though they only had a common base for now, they still held out hope that in the future they could get an Uncommon or Rare class.
And considering they’d be joining Astralis, the chances of figuring out how to achieve those changes grew even bigger, since now they’d have a powerful information network to help them find that out.
Lohan was pleased to feel the group’s morale rise from Pip’s evolution.
Even though they’d only met each other today, having fought side by side had brought them much closer together.
"Alright, everyone, we can get moving again, we’ve got a little boy here dying to try out his new strength." Lohan sent over the chat, while directing the clone to land on Pip’s shoulder again, merging with him to keep the support link active. "We still have a long way to go to the tree headquarters, and the forest of Mythlorien isn’t going to get any calmer just because our guide now has sharp wings. Keep formation."
The group resumed marching, but the pace was now noticeably higher.
Pip flew ahead, pulling off acrobatic maneuvers that would have once demanded every bit of his stamina, but that now seemed like child’s play, while Lohan watched Pip test out his new magic control.
With the new level of his Natural Energy, his control over it was several times greater than before, with him now able to control plants on his own at a level higher than when Lohan had been injecting Sacred Light into him.
This happened because although Sacred Light was a higher form of energy capable of amplifying the effects of a host’s abilities when Lohan injected it, the improvement the host received was still limited to a scale the host’s body could handle.
In other words, it was as if Lohan was limited to being able to evolve a host’s skills by 1 Level. If a Skill was at Level 2, Lohan could temporarily help raise it to Level 3, even with Sacred Light being more powerful, going from Level 2 straight to Level 4 would be very hard. On the other hand, Pip’s evolution had naturally raised that level to Level 5, which also meant Lohan could now push it up to Level 6!
The Silver Lotus group advanced through Mythlorien under Pip’s spirited lead, who now looked like a comet of emerald light cutting through the forest canopy.
Pip’s Mana reserves had expanded in a way that defied the logic of an Uncommon race, resembling more the density of a pseudo Superior Magic Core.
His physical stamina, once limited to short flights, needing to land roughly every 20 minutes to avoid burning out, now overflowed with vitality, no longer needing such frequent breaks.
It didn’t take long for the first test to come up. Surprisingly, the monsters that showed up were old acquaintances of Lohan and Pip’s, ones that brought a huge smile to Pip’s face at the chance for revenge.
These monsters were a swarm of Level 10 Glass Beetles, the same ones that had captured Pip under the Glass Queen’s command over a month ago and had caused him so much pain and agony, monsters that had once required a coordinated effort from Lohan and Lisa, emerged from a crack in a nearby fossilized tree.
Before Zach could raise his shield or Lotus could draw her swords, Pip shot forward.
"Guys, leave this group to Pip!!" he shouted excitedly, but his voice also carried a trace of resentment the group hadn’t seen from him before.
His movement was so fast the Silver Lotus Players saw nothing but a blur.
Pip simply dove straight through the swarm, his new serrated wings acting as blades in sync with his small sword, surprisingly slicing through the beetles’ metallic shells as if they were made of paper. In under two minutes, five beetles lay on the ground, reduced to pieces, without Pip even losing his breath.
’The difference between Level 10 and Level 11 is already big, and for a Double Uncommon Base against monsters with Common Bases, that difference is even bigger...’ Even Lohan thought, surprised.
The shock on Kai and Jay’s faces was enormous.
They knew Pip was strong with Lohan’s armor, but seeing the little fairy wipe out Level 10 monsters on her own, without any external help from the slime, was a display of strength they hadn’t expected yet.
"Halon... looks like you made yourself a pocket monster," Vonde remarked, adjusting his staff while watching Pip pull off a victory maneuver in the air, with Lotus adding as she watched closely. "His reaction speed has gone up by at least 50% compared to before... even my senses are struggling to keep track of him."
Coming from a girl with an Epic Base, that carried a lot of weight.
Lohan vibrated his membrane with satisfaction. "Pip has always shown us great potential. The evolution just removed the biological limiters the system had placed on him, but even we didn’t imagine it would be this big."
The march continued, and the forest seemed to send heavier challenges to test Astralis’s new tier. A Level 11 Copper Fang Wolf, a creature known for its agility and piercing damage, leapt out from a bush aiming for Jenny’s flank.
Pip reacted the instant the wolf started its leap. He didn’t fall back to the rear the way he used to, focusing on positioning himself better to make the best use of Halon’s magic.
Instead, Pip channeled his Mana into his wings and executed a move Lohan recognized as an aerial version of Explosive Steps, shocking the Slime even more.
’Wait, what?!’ Lohan wondered, shocked.
The sonic crack of the detonation launched Pip at the wolf with the force of an artillery shell.
The midair impact generated a shockwave that pulverized the undergrowth. Pip drove his small sword, now wrapped in a greenish aura, straight into the beast’s skull. The Level 11 wolf didn’t even manage a whimper before being converted into experience.
Skye stopped, looking at the wolf’s corpse and then at Pip, who was wiping his blade clean with an unsettling naturalness. "Hayes, if he keeps this up, we’re going to be his scouts, not the other way around. That level of magic control and physical strength... he’s operating on a scale I’ve only seen in Apex veterans."
Lohan kept his parallel processing focused on analyzing everything about Pip. After the subtle reveal Pip had just shown, Lohan was left speechless, not knowing now whether that skill had really come from his biomass injections somehow inducing the formation of a new skill based on his Explosive Steps...
He noticed that, despite the high intensity attacks, Pip’s Mana reserve had barely dropped 30%, which he’d initially thought was just because of the evolution, but after seeing that skill used moments ago, Lohan couldn’t stop wondering whether his own Superior Magic Core had affected Pip too.
The group’s confidence was at its peak, with no idea how many thoughts and doubts were orbiting through Lohan’s mind.
Since there wasn’t much for him to do anymore, with Pip no longer needing his help to deal with every small monster, Lohan had plenty of time to think.
It was only when the group ran into a pack of monsters with Level 12 enemies that Pip needed help handling it.
If it had been just one monster, Pip probably could have handled it alone even at only Level 11, but since it was a pack with several monsters, the difficulty became much greater and he had to ask for help.
Lohan avoided helping too much in the battle as much as possible, using this moment both to let Pip build up combat experience, and to let Silver Lotus get more used to fighting together and develop a stronger bond with Pip, who up until then had been the only guild member they knew.
Lohan just made sure to deal a little damage to each of the monsters, to secure the kill experience so that Pip could also receive it, since if Lohan didn’t do anything, the system wouldn’t recognize Pip’s contribution and wouldn’t grant experience.
After several hours, the group finally arrived close to the Guild’s Base, being greeted by a beautiful view of the imposing Astralis tree for the first time.