[Due to the effects of Umbral Domination, your Familiar Veyren will undergo an Evolution.]
The message rippled across my vision, and my eyes snapped to Veyren.
His gaze—once silver and purple—darkened.
Not dimmed.
Not shadowed.
They turned completely black, like something had swallowed the light inside them.
His fur began to shift next, rippling as if Shadow Cloak had activated on its own—but thicker, heavier, more alive. Darkness bled from his body in slow waves until it swallowed him entirely, forming a hovering sphere of pitch-black mist.
It was like watching a cocoon knit itself together out of shadows.
[Evolution of Veyren will be completed in 10 minutes.]
A timer appeared beneath it: [9:59]
I couldn't look away.
A skill… could force a creature to evolve? Manipulating growth was one thing—but this?
I should've felt uneasy.
Instead, awe bloomed in my chest.
I caused this.
This kind of power existed—and somehow belonged to me.
I opened my status.
Stats
HP: 170
MP: 100
Strength: 12 (+1)
Agility: 12 (+1)
Endurance: 10 (+1)
Constitution: 9 (+1)
Vitality: 15 (+2)
Mind – Nether: 9 → 10
Free Stat: 1 → 0
Twenty-one points total—twenty from the evolution, one from hitting level 16, which I added to Mind… or rather, Nether now.
Mind usually changed to Mana upon evolution, but when one received a class, that Mana took on a suitable form.
Saints gained Halo—a refined form of Divina, the same golden radiance shared by all Priests.
Nether, though…
That belonged to Abyss Knights, Corpse Masters, Fallen Paladins.
It should have shocked me—that I would gain it from evolution alone.
But after finding out I was basically a vampire?
Shock had left the building.
Numbness felt more appropriate.
Genesis Spell
[Astral Shards]
Condense Astral Flame into a sharp, needle-like shard and launch it at a target. On impact, the shard bursts in a brief flare of pale fire, with a chance to inflict Astral Burn—a minor lingering damage-over-time effect. Burn chance increases in mana-rich environments.
Cost: 10 NP
Effect: Light impact damage; low chance to apply Astral Burn
Spell mastery ranks: Beginner → Proficient → Intermediate → Expert → Pinnacle
Spell tiers:
Tier 0 – Genesis
Tier 1 – Basic
Tier 2 – Advanced
Tier 3 – Master
Spell Points (SP):
Tier 0 → 1 SP (Pinnacle)
Tier 1 → 2 SP (Expert & Pinnacle)
Tier 2 → 3 SP (Intermediate, Expert, Pinnacle)
Tier 3 → 4 SP (Proficient → Pinnacle)
Costs:
Basic – 1 SP
Advanced – 2 SP
Master – 3 SP
Since Astral Flame was a Nether affinity, I doubted I'd ever find spellbooks for it.
SP generation was my only real path forward.
So I would need to reach Pinnacle mastery in it fast to get my first spell point.
The timer ticked down.
[2:45]
Almost done.
Ten minutes… had my own evolution taken this long? Hard to remember through the pain haze.
I shifted my thoughts to the next trial:
The Earth-Bound Sentinel
A spirit golem—magic engineering's attempt at eternal guardianship. A shell of stone and metal animated by a contained elemental. As long as its core spirit lived, the shell could repair itself forever.
To defeat it:
1. Destroy the shell
2. Kill the exposed spirit before it regenerated
Most people treated it as a two-phase boss.
But with Veyren?
Spirits were… trivial.
[Veyren's Evolution Has Been Completed]
[0:00]
The shadow orb collapsed silently.
The shroud peeled away like dissolving smoke, revealing him.
His old black-and-white coat was gone, replaced with a sleek obsidian-black fur that gleamed like liquid night. Silver streaks traced his paws and the lines framing his eyes.
Both eyes now burned a vivid purple, with a tiny silver ember swirling deep inside.
He looked sharper. Taller. More defined.
And the aura rolling off him made the hair on my arms rise.
I opened his status—then froze.
This wasn't an update.
It was a rebirth.
Veyren
Race: Spirit Fox (2 tails)
Rank: E — [5395 / 10000 Essence]
Affinity: Shadowglint
Skills:
• Glimmer Step – Flickers between shadow and light for burst movement
• Energy Drain – Absorbs aura/energy from subdued targets or through physical contact
• Dim-Flash – A microflash that stuns while preserving surrounding darkness
Condition: Peak
Bond Level: 100 / 100
I swallowed hard.
This… wasn't the creature I'd tamed.
Not even close.