PoV Luna:

  Luna stared at all the many choices.

  And stared!

  …Then stared some more.

  Checked her Status…

  ***

  Level: 10/10

  Race: Moon Wolf Pup (Tier 0)

  Gender: Female

  HP: 56/56

  SP: 56/58

  MP: 40/44

  Strength: 19

  Dexterity: 17

  Vitality: 18

  Intelligence: 17

  Willpower: 8

  Charisma: 7

  Luck: 3

  Active Skills:

  Swipe Lv13

  Bite Lv16

  Jump Lv14

  Momentum Claw Lv11

  Run Lv18

  Shadowmeld Lv12

  Shadow Step Lv13

  Lunar Form Lv5

  Devourer’s Maw Lv4

  Shadow Run Lv8

  Passive Skills:

  Beast Instincts (Lesser) Lv2

  Pain Resistance Lv2

  Poison Resistance (Minor) Lv2

  Devourer’s Right Lv.4

  Traits:

  Beast Constitution

  Gluttonous Soul – 12%

  Effects:

  Craving (Unknown)

  **

  Her ears tilted left.

  Then right.

  Her nose scrunched up so hard it almost hurt.

  “Hrm.”

  That… was easier the last time!

  Weird.

  Luna was smarter now, so why choices harder now!?

  Unfair!

  It was a very thoughtful Apex Predator decision to make!

  And Luna wanted to make it the very best!

  Syl’s fingers continued their slow path through Luna’s hair-fur, never rushing, never pressing. Just steady warmth at the back of her head.

  The cozy scritches made Luna feel like the whole world could wait.

  Outside, the plains were anything but calm.

  Steel rang sharp and bright. Ants shrieked in ugly, broken pulses. People yelled and chitin cracked with distant cracks and thuds. All while Ferric’s voice carried in clean commands.

  She could even hear how Mr. Bull was absolutely showing off again! His voice booming with exaggerated bravado.

  Luna could hear it even through the tent walls.

  Hehe!

  Very proper!

  And loud!

  Very Mr. Bull.

  But here…

  Here it was warm!

  Pleasant.

  Filled with soft canvas and faint stew smell and pack.

  Only her Second.

  Only the System.

  Only choice.

  Oh!

  Luna understands now!

  Rather than make big choice now, it’s better to bite the weird ones away!

  Luna was so smart!

  And NOT a Trickster!

  Silly System, trying to be a meanie again!

  Luna needs no more tricks, her Lunar Form tricked everybody since day 1!

  She mlemed at her hands, thinking how weird a silver tongue would look like.

  Nope!

  And the Little Speed Terror…

  Luna not little! Luna wants to be big.

  Biiiig!

  She kicked that one out too!

  And Moon Wolf meant big wolf, but it was boring!

  And Lunar Maw Stalker?

  It sounded so cool!

  No escape?

  Luna drooled.

  Just imagining how…

  All prey would be Luna’s!

  Yes, it would be a good choice. A tasty choice!

  But not the bestest choice!

  Luna already fast, prey cannot escape!

  She blinked and checked up on her Skills again.

  Lingered on them, thinking it all through.

  They were all amazing.

  But what made Luna grow the most was…

  Strong prey!

  And strong prey was hard to kill! Attacking it made her body hurt.

  That wasn’t nice!

  But what to pick…?

  Oh, right!

  “Second!”

  “Yes, Luna?”

  The scritches intensified! She wanted to awoo so much!

  “What makes higher Tier monsters different?”

  Maybe Luna could learn to pick better from that!

  “Hm, they are all tougher to kill. But also… typically more specialized. However, in your case…” Syliana paused.

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  And Luna waited!

  For about half a second.

  “In Luna case? What?”

  “Well… It’s not a System recognized designation, but Adventurers call Monsters that deviate from their expected skills and powers as ‘Variants’. And those are typically very very rare.”

  Luna’s eyes started zoning out, and ever-so-slightly crossing–

  “...I mean to say, that they are special, and don’t follow what the System says about them. And you… you are very special indeed.”

  Oh!

  Her tail wagged at the praise.

  Yes! Luna is awoomazing!

  And her friend’s answer made things clearer too!

  “Thank you Second!”

  “Ah, it is just my conjecture, based on what I know of and–”

  Luna pushed her head into her Second’s hands.

  Making her stance very clear!

  No worrying, more scritches!

  Syl sighed, but delivered.

  Ehehe!

  That meant things! Important things.

  And indeed, Luna already did many things her Skills didn’t tell her should be possible. There was no reason she wouldn’t be able to do so again!

  In fact…

  Luna stared very very hard at the options present.

  Even if she would not pick them today–

  –She could still try to do the same things herself!

  Control the moonlight? Make everything sparkly!

  Or–

  Keep the tasty prey from escaping!

  She drooled at the very idea!

  Luna leaned her head slightly into Syl’s hand without even realizing she was doing it.

  It really was nice, being cozy and safe… and having a packfriend by Luna’s side.

  The bestest packfriend!

  Mhm.

  From the other options, Luna now knew that Shadowstep Predator was also out!

  It did what Luna already did, just better!

  So Luna just had to do better!

  The same for Nightphase Ravager!

  It sounded nice, yes.

  But Luna could just do better too!

  Warhound Devourer sounded smart!

  Apex Predator smart!

  Kill, eat, grow, repeat!

  Yes, very smart indeed!

  But Luna already did that too.

  Which left… Luna counted out the fingers–

  Three options! Yes!

  Umbral Moon Pup, Velocity Reaper, and Gluttonous Abomination.

  Shadow and Moon, Speed Force, and Eat!

  …Eat sounded dangerous.

  Luna liked to eat a lot already!

  Eating was nice.

  Eating was great!

  Eating made Luna grow strong and big!

  But this…

  This promised the ugly hungry.

  Not enough food hungry!

  Bleh!

  Luna shook her head. Not having enough food to fill the hungry… that would make Luna hangry!

  Her tail flicked once.

  The other two were–

  Tempting.

  Very tempting!

  But…

  Which one Luna should pick?

  Moonlight and shadow have been with Luna furever now!

  And yet… She didn’t know how to control the silvery light of the moon.

  It made her skill work, it made her transform into a Human!

  Could Luna learn how to use it alone, without the help of her Race?

  It sounded…

  Like a fun challenge!

  And that left only the thing–

  The thing Luna started doing just recently!

  The super speedy zoomies!

  She really loved them too. Getting fast everywhere – it was great!

  But this?

  Luna’s zooms were of shadow, jump and run!

  This was even more.

  It spoke of strange ‘forces’!

  Luna didn’t know how to copy those.

  Didn’t even know what were those!

  She grinned, hard!

  Then shifted her focus upward again.

  “Second, Luna made her choice!”

  “Oh? That’s very nice,” a hug followed.

  Ehehe!

  She remembered that feeling.

  That surge of power.

  Inevitable!

  Space breaking!

  Power!

  Distance disappearing with her every stride.

  And enemies falling with her speedy strikes!

  Luna’s lips curled ever so slightly more.

  Her golden eyes brightened.

  Velocity Reaper.

  Here Luna comes!

  ***

  The world did not change.

  Did not move.

  Instead–

  It folded inward.

  A soft pull beneath her ribs.

  A tightening in her bones.

  And then she could no longer tell where her body even belonged.

  Syl’s hand pressed more firmly against her head as Luna’s breathing slowed.

  Yet Luna did not notice.

  She could no longer even hear the sounds from outside.

  All sensations felt so… muted.

  Thin.

  Far away.

  Luna smiled.

  And let herself fall into the pull of change.

  Into more speed!

  The System accepted.

  Luna felt the now familiar inward pull grow stronger.

  And then–

  She felt almost nothing at all.

  Only the weird falling sensation remained.

  Syl’s hand in her hair was the last solid thing she remembered.

  Warm.

  Real.

  Anchoring.

  Then even that slipped away.

  And Luna was gone.

  ***

  The darkness met her again.

  So unfamiliar.

  Yet already known.

  She had experienced it once already.

  Felt how it wrapped around her.

  Heavy, and waiting.

  Luna blinked.

  Or thought she did.

  Her eyes were open!

  Should be open.

  Maybe.

  She squinted anyway.

  “Woo…” she muttered under her breath.

  But the sound did not carry.

  Rude!

  She lifted a paw.

  But there was no paw!

  She twisted her shoulders.

  There were no shoulders.

  Luna tried to wiggle her tail.

  She felt it!

  But not where it should be.

  Very weird!

  She sniffed.

  And smelled nothing.

  No pack, stew, ants, nothing.

  Wrong.

  “System meanie,” she accused quietly.

  The darkness did not answer her.

  But–

  It wasn’t empty.

  She felt that.

  And her eyes sparkled!

  Underneath the stillness, something was… stretched.

  Luna crouched instinctively.

  But there was no ground.

  She pushed against the stretched feeling anyway.

  It was empty here, the dark everywhere.

  And where there was darkness, there were shadows.

  How would the empty Nothing taste?

  Luna tried to bite.

  And found no purchase.

  But–

  Shadows stretched across her pearly teeth.

  She bit again–

  And something gave.

  Just a little bit.

  Her ears shot up.

  There!

  She lunged!

  But her jaws snapped shut on nothing.

  The give slid sideways!

  Folded away from her!

  She twisted mid-air-that-wasn’t-air, then tried again.

  She reached further out–

  And the darkness responded.

  Elastic, and slippery.

  She pulled!

  It stretched, just slightly.

  She let go.

  It snapped back without sound.

  Her golden eyes narrowed.

  “Ohhh.”

  Distance.

  That was what she was feeling.

  The space between here and there.

  Only there was no here.

  And no there.

  It felt so strange!

  Luna pushed forward.

  There was resistance.

  She leaned harder!

  The resistance thinned.

  Her awareness stretched.

  The darkness did not move.

  But the stretched gap did.

  It shrank.

  Her chest tightened, and she felt the need to–

  Run!

  The need to close the distance.

  To reduce, and erase the in-between!

  If she could just bite one more time–

  Her whole being coiled, just like before the Queen strike.

  Tight, and focused.

  Her mind and body snapped forward–

  –And everything went blank.

  ***

  Her muted awareness returned, bit by bit.

  And she felt how the System messages cascaded in silence around her.

  【Evolution Complete. You have become: Velocity Reaper (Tier 1)】

  【Legendary Path Achieved – Your speed begets belief. Your body adjusts.】

  【New Skill Acquired: Reaper’s Pass (Lv.1) – The path you take shortens with speed(-10%). Distance consumed feeds your strikes. The force of your reaping affects you less(-5%).】

  【Dexterity +4】

  【Strength +2】

  【Vitality +2】

  【Willpower +1】

  Luna felt–

  Faster.

  Sharper.

  More… dangerous!

  Yet it felt like she could have been more, tasted more!

  The void just… couldn’t keep up?

  Luna frowned.

  That didn’t feel right.

  But the give was gone, and she felt her Second brushing fingers through her fur again.

  …Fur?

  Oh, Luna shifted back.

  Hehe!

  That was weirdly silly!

  Sound crashed back into her next.

  Distant voices.

  And tiny droplets of rain dripping off canvas.

  Then the weight of her body, and fur!

  Now with streaks of white silver. Sleeker, fluffier!

  And ready to flow.

  To move.

  Her breath dragged into lungs that suddenly felt too small, yet bigger than before.

  Syl’s hand resting on the back of her head.

  A little tighter now.

  Her golden eyes flew open!

  Sharp and bright!

  The tent seemed… closer.

  The outside noise… nearer.

  The space between her and the world felt thinner.

  And if she just pushed–

  She would be there.

  Before anyone could blink.

  Welcome, Moon-and-Star, to this place where your destiny is made~