Assassin Crow Evolution

It only took a minute for that single inch wide slice of the Flesh Core to knock Vorin out cold. He expected pain, he expected to get knocked out, and he practically expected everything else to go wrong, but that didn’t bother him.

The pain nearly paralyzed him. It felt as if his kidneys were being twisted by a psychopathic doctor on experimental surgery, but he didn’t mind.

Before he fainted, he tried to assure himself, "It feels bad, but I shouldn’t die. Jimmy ate plenty of cores, but he didn’t die."

Jimmy nodded along. For one thing, he knew from experience that that tiny slice wasn’t enough to kill his brother, but other than that, he wanted to restore whatever peace he could get. He liked his brother, but after everything that happened within the past twelve hours, he wasn’t willing to handle a crow who always followed him around, and asked a thousand questions.

"Okay... now where was I?" He muttered.

Jimmy already knew what two of his Flesh Cores did, or what they could give him.

Now, he was curious to try out the third, and so he did. One peck at a time.

The pain that came from the core as soon as he took a mouthful, was manageable. He barely even noticed it, which is to say that such minor pain did not prevent him from digging into the core further.

After the fourth mouthful, the system flashed a notification. The system tab, blue and white, was rather simplistic.

MQ: 125 points >>> 145 points]

[Mana Realm: No change]

[Mana Quality: Level 4 >>> Level 6]

[Mana Absorption: No change]

[Mana Quantity: 2,400 points >>> 2,800 points]

[New magic-based skill absorbed: Violet Fireball]

Jimmy smiled for once after a long time. To say that he was happy was an understatement. He even managed to calm down a little bit.

"This is a damn fat core," He said, "I wonder how the Chief managed to kill this fucker. Damn... either the Chief got some help, or his core was a really really tasty one."

"It’s a shame I couldn’t steal it..." He sighed, "Happy thoughts... happy thoughts. This core did me well too. Getting a twenty point MQ upgrade is no joke."

Jimmy kept munching on the core, as he was greedily adamant to get another upgrade in his MQ, but then, he remembered that he got a new magic-based skill. One that the system didn’t give him any more details on.

"What’s this violet color thing about, system?" He didn’t mention the fireball’s name directly, so as to not summon it. "It sounds weak."

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

[The Violet Fireball is not weak. Based on your current Arcane Comprehension, it is your hottest burning fireball yet.]

[At its lowest, its heat guarantees a minimum of 2,600 °C (4,712 °F)]

[At most, its heat reaches up to 2,900°C (5,252 °F)]

[Since your mana quality has upgraded, as well as your Arcane Comprehension, the Violet Fireball costs 300 mana points to cast.]

Jimmy read through the system tab. He was essentially impressed with himself, because not every crow, and not even every human could say that they can shoot a fireball that’s more than half as hot as the surface of the sun!

It was quite the achievement, but of course, he found something wrong with it. His mind refused to sit still.

"So, everything got more expensive... mana wise?" He asked, "Don’t tell me a red one costs 200 mana points to cast now? If it costs that much, I expect it to burn a fucking hole through solid stone."

[No.]

[Your types of fireballs, based on required mana to cast, and maximum achievable heat, are like this...]

[Red Fireball: 100 MP to cast, 1,700 °C (3,092 °F) maximum achievable heat.]

[Yellow Fireball: 150 MP to cast, 2,000 °C (3,632 °F) maximum achievable heat.]

[White Fireball: 200 MP to cast, 2,300 °C (4,172 °F) maximum achievable heat.]

[Blue Fireball: 250 MP to cast, 2,600 °C (4,712 °F) maximum achievable heat.]

[Violet Fireball: 300 MP to cast, 2,900 °C (5,252 °F) maximum achievable heat.]

[As you can see, even your weakest fireball, being the red one, can be absolutely deadly.]

"It costs a hundred points to cast, it might as well be deadly. I can only cast 28 of them before I run out of mana. I don’t think that’ll get me far in a real battle." He sighed, and then, he said, "So every fireball is hotter than the other by 300°C? I don’t remember them like that in the beginning."

[When you gained your first couple of fireball skills, the maximum achievable heat was more varied, yes, but as your Mana Comprehension improves, your magic-based skills improve with it. In this case, even your weakest fireball guarantees a certain deadlyness, even if technically expensive.]

"Yeah, I get that part," He said, "I was hoping they would be a little bit less expensive."

[If your MQ didn’t increase, the fireballs would’ve been significantly more expensive. I believe I mentioned this before.]

"Yeah... you did." He shook his head, "Thanks for catching me up, I suppose."

While he conversed with the system, slightly more disappointed after every sentence he read through the system tab, he was also pushed to anxiously eat more of the core that was in front of him. He ate almost the whole thing, up until he felt sick again, but to his dismay, the same core that he called fatty, powerful a moment ago, wasn’t as fatty now.

"Did I already eat the richest part?" He waffled through a mouthful. "Fuck, these cores are getting annoying to deal with."

The statistics that hit him a minute later, made him feel a little bit more sick.

MQ: 145 points >>> 150 points]

[Mana Realm: No change]

[Mana Quality: Level 6 >>> Level 7]

[Mana Absorption: No change]

[Mana Quantity: 2,800 points >>> 2,900 points]

[New magic-based skill absorbed: Elemental Abruption.]

"Elemental Abruption..." He parroted, "That sounds different. Tell me more, system."