Intelligent Design: A Monster Evolution LitRPG

As the first light of dawn began to streak across the sky, David carefully extracted himself from his makeshift roost. His newly healed wing flexed experimentally, feeling as good as new. The cool morning air ruffled his fur as he glided down towards the makeshift shelter where Claire slept, his eyes constantly scanning the surrounding area for any sign of the Nightseer.

The Observatory compound was quiet, the abandoned vehicles and equipment casting long shadows in the early morning light. David landed softly near the lean-to Claire had claimed as her own, the patchwork of tarps and scavenged materials rustling gently in the breeze.

"Okay, little guys," David whispered to the Cuddlebugs clinging to his fur, "go wake up Auntie Claire. Gently!"

The Cuddlebugs swarmed over to Claire's massive form, their tiny bodies swarming over her massive snout and dangling from her horns and frill as they chirped softly. Claire stirred slowly, her eyes blinking open with typical reptilian lethargy. A low rumble emanated from her throat as awareness dawned, her expression shifting from confusion to delight.

"Well, aren't you just the sweetest little alarm clocks," she cooed, her voice still thick with sleep. She stretched, her armored hide scraping against the makeshift shelter.

David bounced on his feet, unable to contain his excitement. "Claire! You're not going to believe what happened!"

Claire's gaze shifted to David, a mixture of amusement and resignation in her eyes. "What kind of trouble did you get into this time?"

"Okay, first, I'm sorry," David began, words tumbling out in a rush. "I know I promised not to get up to any 'David stuff,' but hear me out. I kind of got attacked by an insane magical owl, and then I talked to Omega, and then I figured out how to use magic, and-"

"Whoa, slow down," Claire interrupted, now fully awake. She shifted her bulk, creating a large bulge in the canvas as she sat up straighter. "Start from the beginning."

David took a deep breath, then launched into an abbreviated version of the night's events. As he finished, he spread his wings dramatically. "And that's how I confirmed the existence of magic in the System!"

He waited for Claire's reaction, expecting shock, disbelief, or at least a little awe. Instead, he was met with a blank stare.

"Um, yeah," Claire said slowly, her tail twitching slightly. "I kind of figured that out a while ago. You know, around the time I first saw how Glare worked? I thought you knew too. By the way, don't think you're off the hook for almost dying again. We'll talk about that later."

David's jaw dropped. "Wait, what? You knew? This whole time?"

Claire shrugged, an impressive feat for her massive form. "I mean, yeah. We can do things that clearly defy the laws of physics. I just assumed it was some kind of energy manipulation or alien tech bullshit. Magic, Wildsoul, whatever you want to call it."

"But... but..." David sputtered, his wings drooping. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I thought it was obvious," Claire replied, amusement glinting in her eyes. "You're telling me you honestly didn't realize?"

Man, I should've played those nerdy tabletop games. Claire's got an unfair advantage here. Bet she's been LARPing as a wizard this whole time.

With a dramatic sigh, David flopped onto the ground, his wings splaying out comically. "I can't believe I never even thought about it. Not once. I am a master of observation."

"Don't beat yourself up," Claire chuckled. "So, want to show me this Wildsoul technique you ‘discovered’?"

David perked up. "Oh, yeah! It feels a lot like the Mutagen process, but weaker. Here, let me show you..."

For the next few minutes, David guided Claire through the basics of feeling and manipulating her Wildsoul. To his dismay, she picked it up with frustrating ease.

"This is amazing!" Claire exclaimed, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "You know what? I bet I could cast Arcane Missile like in Bumblefuq!"

Before David could protest, Claire closed her eyes in concentration. Her form began to glow faintly, then suddenly...nothing. With a startled hiss, she began to collapse, her massive body tipping sideways.

David’s eyes widened as he realized he was directly in the path of her fall, and reacted on instinct to avoid becoming a bat-shaped pancake. He was still 'holding' his Wildsoul from their earlier practice, and without thinking, he activated Nocturnal Strike to dodge Claire's falling bulk.

The effect was immediate and startling. Instead of the usual momentum shift, David felt as if an invisible hand had grabbed him and yanked him aside. He sailed through the air, covering far more distance than he'd intended, coming to a stop several feet away.

What the–

But there was no time to process what had just happened. Claire smote the ground heavily on her side, making distressed gurgling noises. "Urghh... shouldn't have... done that...think I'm gonna barf..."

Concern for his friend overrode his surprise. Hurriedly, his grip on the Wildsoul all but forgotten, David began to sing a Moonsong. As the melody flowed from him, he felt something different, a surge of power infusing the song.

The first familiar soothing notes took on a new quality, charged with raw energy. It was as if two streams had suddenly merged, creating something new and unexpectedly powerful.

Oh wow, that's... that's not normal. Damn, I forgot I still had a grip on the magic That's dangerous, what if I'd passed out too? Flat bat, that's what.

David almost fumbled the melody as he felt the Ability manifest in a way he'd never experienced before. But he didn't stop singing, instinctively knowing that whatever was happening, it would help Claire.

As David sang, he felt the familiar tingle surging through him. This time, however, the sensation concentrated in his back, spreading outward into his wings.

The leathery membranes of his wings began to shimmer faintly, as if catching starlight that wasn't there. The crescent moon patterns, starkly visible against his dark coloration, started to glow with a soft, silvery light. Around these crescents, pinpricks of luminescence appeared, resembling a scattering of stars against the dark canvas of his wings.

As the song reached its peak, the effect intensified. The ‘stars’ on his wings pulsed gently, their light waxing and waning in time with the music. A mist of twilight energy, a mixture of deep purple and crimson, began to wisp off the edges of his wings, reaching out towards Claire.

Where the energies touched Claire's scales, they left behind a subtle, shimmering residue, like dew catching the first light of dawn. The air around them vibrated with a faint power, carrying the notes of the Moonsong further than they should have traveled.

As the song faded, the magical effects slowly receded. The starry points on David's wings dimmed, the crescent moons returning to their usual appearance. He slumped slightly, feeling the extra drain on his stamina. It wasn't as intense as he'd feared, but it was very noticeable. The magic had been there, undeniably real, but raw and unrefined.

Claire, looking significantly better, struggled to sit up, her eyes wide with amazement. "David...that was...different. What did you just do?"

David, still catching his breath, shook his head in disbelief. "I'm not entirely sure. It was like Moonsong, but...way cooler. Was still practicing moving magic around when you went down. I could feel the tingles through my wings that time."

Claire nodded, her gaze fixed on David's wings as if expecting them to light up again. "It looked like you were carrying a piece of the night sky on your wings. And it felt...it felt good. Like a breath of fresh air or something."

"Yeah," David agreed, flexing his wings experimentally. "It was stronger than usual, but I think I need a lot more practice before I can do anything really impressive."

David and Claire stared at each other for a moment before breaking into nervous laughter. The absurdity of the situation hit them both at once.

"I can't believe you tried to cast Arcane Missile," David choked out between giggles. "What were you expecting, glowing purple arrows?"

Claire snorted, a sound that was both hilarious and slightly terrifying coming from her massive form. "Hey, it worked in the game! How was I supposed to know real magic doesn't come with a user manual?"

"Well, at least now we know what happens when a dinosaur swoons," David teased, his wings shaking with mirth.

Claire grumbled good-naturedly. "Like anyone could catch me if I did. I'd flatten them like a pancake."

David cackled at the mental image. "True. But you'd make one hell of a fainting couch."

As their laughter subsided, they exchanged a look of mutual understanding. "Maybe we should hold off on inventing new stuff for now," Claire suggested.

David nodded, flexing his wings. "Agreed. But we could test out our existing Abilities with the Wildsoul. See what happens?"

What followed was an hour of magical experimentation that would have made any scientist proud, and possibly a little terrified.

David's Nocturnal Strike, infused with Wildsoul, became a sight to behold. His talons and wing spikes glowed with a faint crimson light, and the ability's speed was amplified. However, it now drained a small amount of stamina, despite its usual lack of cost.

"Huh, trade-offs," David mused, examining his glowing talons.

Moonsong, already tested, was noted to have a more potent and longer-lasting regeneration effect.

Screech, initially seeming unchanged, revealed its true potential when David targeted a large piece of rocky debris. The sound waves, charged with Wildsoul energy, caused the rock to vibrate violently, cracks spider-webbing across its surface.

"Whoa!" David exclaimed, stumbling slightly from the unexpected stamina drain. "That's... intense."

Claire, observing closely, suggested, "Maybe it's because you focused it on just the rock? More power, but more drain?"

David nodded thoughtfully. "Could be. Let's try Gloom next." He quickly hopped into the air, gliding a dozen yards away to land in a more open area. Leaving his wings extended upon landing, he focused briefly, concentrating energy in them before flapping once.

The result was both spectacular and slightly alarming. Instead of the usual cloud, David's wings exploded with a massive smokescreen of Gloom, completely obscuring him from view.

"David?" Claire called out, a note of concern in her voice.

"I'm okay!" came his muffled reply. "Just... very, very hidden."

Damn. I can't even see out of it. Echolocation can solve that though, thankfully. That's really useful, actually. I won't lie, I've only really used…I dunno, four or five abilities and I'm already wiped out. Gloom is a passive for fucks sake, and it still made me tired somehow to use it with the Wildsoul.

As the wind carried the Gloom away, they watched the Cuddlebugs zip through the dissipating cloud, leaving trails of mist in their wake. They happily played in the silvery, off-color dust, chasing each other through the cloud until finally returning to perch nearby. Every so often one would shake itself violently, and a puff of Gloom would drift down from their perch. David felt an idea forming as he watched them through the fading cloud of Gloom before finally speaking.

"Well," David said, emerging from the fading Gloom, "I think we can safely say that magic makes everything more interesting. And potentially more destructive."

Claire nodded, her eyes wide with a mixture of awe and concern. "No kidding. We're going to need to be careful with this at first. Could be pretty bad if we push too far in an actual fight."

"So," David said, breaking the contemplative silence after a few seconds, "want to see what happens when you infuse your abilities?"

Claire's answering rumble was both excited and slightly nervous. "Oh, absolutely. Just...maybe we should move a little further away from anything breakable first."

David nodded with amusement as Claire almost bounced with excitement past the area he occupied, eyeing the now silvery dirt with distrust. She came to a stop a few yards away, stretching her neck out slightly before shaking herself a bit and straightening up with a clack of her enormous jaws.

Claire took a deep breath, focusing on her Wildsoul as David had shown her. To David's mixture of pride and annoyance, she seemed to grasp the concept effortlessly. He suspected that the damage done by the Owl had made things much more difficult than they should have been, but was still a bit ruffled about it.

"Alright, let's start with something simple," Claire said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. She shifted her weight, then launched into a series of empowered Kicks.

Each strike was accompanied by a golden glow that traced the path of her leg, leaving a faint glow in the air. The impacts were noticeably more powerful, small craters forming where her feet connected with the ground.

"Nice!" David cheered. "Now try something else!"

Claire grinned, then opened her jaws wide. What followed was a rapid series of bites and snaps, each punctuated by flashes of golden light. The air itself seemed to ripple with each strike.

"Whoa, what was that?" David asked, impressed.

"I fused Rend with a new ability," Claire explained. "Picked it up after our last boss fight. Pretty neat, huh?"

David nodded rapidly in agreement, his ears flopping comically with the motion of his head as the Cuddlebugs seemed to cheer along with him. They had been watching avidly since Claire began her round of testing, lined up in an adorably perfect row where they sat perched on a nearby vehicle.

God, they almost look like they're taking notes…wait! What happens if I use my Wildsoul with Nightshade Swarm? Oooooh, I don't want anything to happen to the little guys, but I definitely want to see how that works.

Next, she turned to a large boulder. The knot of bone at the end of her tail, now glowing with that same warm golden energy, whipped around with devastating force. The boulder didn't just crack, but exploded into fragments, dust billowing outward from the impact.

David chittered appreciatively. "Remind me never to get on your bad side." Claire shot him an appreciative look before taking a stance that made David suck in a breath of surprise.

No way...no way! Is she gonna do the thing from-

For her finale, Claire took a deep breath. David could see the golden light welling up in her throat, visible through the thick skin of her neck. Then she Roared.

The sound was deafening, far beyond her usual impressive volume. Waves of visible golden energy pulsed outward with the sound, flattening the sparse grass and kicking up a cloud of dust that expanded in a perfect circle around her. David felt a surge of power fill his body, and he briefly felt as though he could lift an entire truck above his head and throw it into the horizon before the amplifying effect quickly dissipated after only a handful of seconds.

As the echo faded, David couldn't help but grin. "I feel like I should be running away screaming in badly dubbed English. You're giving off some serious ‘Queen of the monsters' vibes right now."

Claire preened a bit at the compliment, looking quite pleased with herself. "I have to admit, this magic stuff is pretty cool."

As they stood there, catching their breath and marveling at their newfound abilities, movement caught David's eye. He turned to see Kozlov, Wally, Adam, and Gideon standing at the entry of the Observatory, their jaws collectively on the floor. Gideon actually had his hand outstretched, a tiny clawed finger pointing accusing as if to say, 'thats not how that works'.

David burst into laughter at their dumbfounded expressions. "Oh, hey guys! Don't mind us, just figured out how to use magic overnight. No big deal." He looked up at the sky and scratched at his neck with a hind claw as he spoke, the very picture of nonchalance.

Claire rolled her eyes and thumped David lightly with her tail. "Don't be a shit about it," she chided, but there was amusement in her voice.

"Ow! Okay, okay," David chuckled, rubbing his side dramatically. "I guess we've got some explaining to do, huh?"

As their friends continued to stare in shocked silence, David and Claire exchanged a glance. This was going to be an interesting conversation.

"So," David said, clapping his wings together, "who wants to learn some magic?"

The stunned silence that continued to stretch out was broken only by Claire's exasperated sigh and the soft thump of her tail hitting the ground as she let it go limp. It was going to be a long day of explanations and demonstrations, but as David looked at the mix of shock and excitement on his friends' faces, he couldn't help but feel a thrill of anticipation.