The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Evelyn's heart jumped, and she quickly covered herself in spirit power to grab her back, away from the tentacle, but managed to stop herself just in time when she noticed that instead of looking hurt, there was a sense of invigoration coming from the puppy instead!

"Y-YES!!!"

If not for the almost perfect sound insulation in the bedrooms, Amara and Vivian would surely have been startled awake by now, because being silent had completely left Evelyn's mind as she cried her heart out.

Only she knew how much relief was coursing through her being at this moment, because she had been dreading it ever since she had managed to acquire the tentacles from the centipede.

She really put Bree's life at risk today, knowing full well what she was doing. If something bad really happened, Evelyn didn't know what she would have done.

Thankfully, the protective glow around Bree's body seemed to be getting stronger with time, and the arcs of lightning kept intensifying, vaporizing more and more of the tentacle with each strike.

She tried using her probe skill in an attempt to keep track of her changes, but her spirit power was obliterated by Bree's aura as soon as it got close. 

Shortly after, the seemingly huge tentacle that had been almost half a meter wide and three meters long was almost completely obliterated, and the rate at which it was dissolving seemed to only be getting higher.

"It looks like I'll need more than one…?"

Each of these tentacles was a part of one of the strongest beings on the continent, and their value was, of course, indisputably high.

Not to mention anything else, even if it was merely sold as a grade 9 poison, it would still be something capable of killing almost anyone.

Of course, no matter how precious a grade nine material was, how could it compare to Bree's life?

Evelyn didn't hesitate at all as she took out another tentacle from her inventory, and once that one too was almost gone, she replaced it with another.

It didn't take long for all eight of them to be completely vaporized, and a few seconds after nothing was left for them to purify, the auras around Bree's body finally faded, and the previously glowing eyes of the little puppy briefly turned clear before she fainted once more.

Evelyn hurriedly picked her up as she examined the little puppy closely. On the surface, she didn't notice any abnormalities. And when she tried, her probe skill finally worked too, although Bree's stats looked a little strange.

[Checking status…]

- Bree Devaughn: Level 82 [ Exp: 114,650 / 967,230 ]

Hybrid Special Physique: Blessed Thunder Qilin

[ Anomalous state, currently unable to determine. ]

—Physique: 214 / 1156

—Spirit Power: 491 / 786

—Soul Value: 62 / 779

—Vitality: 1581

[ Enhancement (available): Raijuu's Blessing ]

[ Affection: Max ]

[ Unable to view skills until the anomalous state is removed. ]

The only stat that had been completely restored was vitality. No, not only was it completely restored, it had even been boosted up from around 1200 to almost 1600!

'I think… this might be because of her change in physique, right? A regular person would have an abysmal amount of vitality, while a spirit physique would have almost five times or more. This means that the change of her physique is at least to a better one, right?'

Except for her soul value, which was still quite low, everything else had recovered to a decent amount, greatly relieving Evelyn.

And the next most prominent thing was, of course, her affection.

During their time together as a master and a low intelligence pet, Bree's affection had been firmly stuck at 'stable'. For it to skip directly past 'strong' and go to a new level she had never seen before, Evelyn found it a little mind-boggling.

After all, stable affection was already very high. It was what her parents had for her during her early childhood, and what Amara and Vivian had for her now.

A puppy's pure loyalty to its master was also in that same range. So it was nothing strange at that time, and there were far more worrying things concerning Bree for Evelyn to even care about it.

But she had always believed affection to go from budding, to stable and finally strong. At the last stage, she could already obtain the other person's enhancement.

This was the first time she saw a 'max' affection.

Evelyn curiously opened up her yellow missions tab. For her to still not get Bree's enhancement… perhaps the mission window would have a hint.

If it had been completed, it would have already popped out, but Evelyn had collected simply far too many incomplete missions at this point. Almost every person she met who had a decent amount of strength, skill, or just a special physique meant a yellow mission would be issued.

It would've been wonderful if they had been easy to complete, but unfortunately, they weren't. Evelyn didn't have the time to waste years building random people's affection, and she couldn't simply murder them either. 

The only viable option was to 'completely defeat' them, but she would have to get stronger first. Moreover, the term looked deceptively simple, but the condition was harder to fulfill than just killing the opponent. 

For example, she already had that moron Rufus at her mercy earlier, but he wasn't considered completely defeated. Maybe only once she had wiped out even the most remote possibility of him ever mustering up resistance against her would that condition be fulfilled. But at that point, wasn't it easier to just kill him?

Shaking her head to clear that thought, Evelyn kept sifting through the clutter of yellow missions. After a while, she finally managed to find Bree's.

[ Yellow Mission, Target: Bree Devaughn ] [Claim!]

-Source: Calamity

-Clear Condition: Fulfill any one of the following:

—Kill (or) Completely defeat Bree

—Raise Bree's affection to the maximum level [Fulfilled!] [Exceeded!]

-Rewards:

—Experience: 1,000 points + 1,000 points

—Acquire the [Raijuu's Blessing]: Effect unknown until unlocked.

—Spirit Power permanently raised by +25 points

—Vitality permanently raised by +50 points

"There's a claim button?! Then why the heck did this buggy little thing not come up as a completed mission… ugh, whatever…"

But as she tried to claim the reward, however, she could only stare blankly.

[ Unable to claim reward, target in an anomalous state. ]

It was as if someone had brought a piece of cake close to her lips, only to snatch it away at the last moment just as she wanted to take a bite.

'For a yellow mission, the reward is so much better than any other I've ever gotten, and to not be able to claim it even when it has been completed is just…'

But even though she was frustrated, she felt more confused than anything else.

'It seems to be somehow all linked to her soul value, but I can't be sure… I can't think of anything else, though. Maybe if I had a few more of these tentacles…'

Evelyn shook her head with some regret. Too bad the 'Thousand Eyed God' was such a scaredy-cat, and ran away so quickly.

Another major change she noticed was Bree's physique.

She remembered previously that it was that of a Blessed Spirit, just like herself, even though it wasn't pure but hybrid. But it seems like stimulating her had actually ended up changing it to something else entirely.

Evelyn didn't even know that was possible.

Perhaps Bree was just a special case. Anyhow, she was now supposedly this 'Blessed Thunder Qilin', whatever that was supposed to be. 

Both Raijuu and Qilin were known spirit beasts of great power, though they were hard to find. There were only two areas in the Old World where they had been previously spotted – the fairy spirit land and Urz forest. 

Sadly, neither of these places were anywhere close to either the academy or the Lavinian Empire. As for the 'Wonderland of Doom', though it was full of other powerful spirit beasts, the Qilin and Raijuu weren't included.

"But now that her physique changed and she's still in this puppy form, does that mean she can't ever turn back into a humanoid form?!"

Just as Evelyn was about to panic, however, the little puppy stirred. Shortly after, she was enveloped in a gentle glow, and slowly but surely turned into a humanoid form.

It's just…

"NO WAY?!"