Chapter 58: "I Need You Right Now" Was an Understatement
Evolution Skill: [Forbidden Fruit Summon]
You spit out a golden apple, ice cold, launch it like a cannonball, and whoever it hits gets hit with the sudden overwhelming urge to do something they know they shouldn’t.
Evolution Skill: [Silver Tongue of the Fall]
Your hiss picks up this smooth, oily undertone, the kind of voice that makes bad decisions sound like great ideas.
Not bad, honestly. Kind of fits the whole snake thing.
I lean in a bit closer to the preview; it feels like the me right there could actually con someone into anything with just a look and a smile.
[System: Classic bad influence energy, you’d basically be Satan but smaller and with less real estate.]
The screen flickers one more time, and this last preview practically glows.
[System Notice: EVOLUTION OPTION 3]
[Cupid’s Ballistic Succubus Cobra]
And there it is. The absolute mess of an option. In the preview, my scales have shifted to a deep crimson with a hard, metallic sheen like polished bullet casings. Two ridiculous little bat-like wings sprout from my back, and inside my mouth, when the preview flexes it open, I see a glowing pink chamber where my fangs should be, with what looks like a rounded revolver cylinder loaded with six distinct venom sacs sitting ready to rotate and fire.
Evolution Bonus skill: (Lust Surge)
Hit someone and it floods them with heat, arousal, knees turning to jelly on the spot.
Evolution Bonus skill : (Cupid’s Arrow)
Target locks eyes with whatever they see next and falls stupidly, obsessively in love with it.
I just stare at it for a second.
Old Mate, what is this.
[System: What do you get when you mix a king cobra, a 9mm pistol, a demon prince, and a severe lack of personal boundaries? This, mate. This is what you get.]
I look at the tiny flapping wings again. They genuinely look like they’d struggle to lift a chip packet, let alone me.
Can it even fly?
[System: Yeah nah yeah they can its more of a glide or a hover than flying but its helpful and look at the venom kit. That’s a proper weapon system, that is.]
I glance between the three previews floating in front of me, rainbow disco noodle, forbidden fruit devil, and unhinged love-god pistol snake, and honestly none of them feel like a safe choice, but then again nothing about my life since waking up as a tiny crimson jam has been safe, so maybe that’s not really the measuring system I should be using anymore.
Lyra’s out there right now, probably sitting on that bed still in uniform, still staring at doors like she’s waiting for me to come back and explain what the hell just happened to her life.
Old Mate, if I go with the last one, does that mean I could actually do that to her? Make her fall in love?
[System: Reckon she’s already most of the way there without any venom involved, mate, but yeah. Cupid’s Arrow’d lock that in permanent. Not that I’m saying you should, just saying the tool’s there if you want it, also the other one is just a instant horny bite that sounds fun.]
Give me a second
staring at the three glowing rectangles hovering over the bathroom sink.
[System: Take your time, mate. Not like Lyra is legit waiting for you or anything...]
Screw it give me cupid’s Ballistic Succubus Cobra.
The word barely finishes forming in my head before the change hits, and it hits hard. My whole body lights up from the inside like someone flipped a switch on every nerve I own, and I feel myself stretching, growing, my spine popping and reforming into something new. My tail, my knife tail, the one I’ve had to survive the pit, just kind of dissolves into something rounder and thicker, and I feel my scales rippling as they shift color, darkening into deep crimson, hardening into something with actual weight to it.
I keep growing. Two meters at least, maybe more, and I’ve got some proper girth to me now, not the skinny little sentient extension cord I used to be. My back tingles and I feel two new things pop out, folding neat against my body, and when I flex whatever muscle controls them they snap open into a pair of wings, crimson red, thin like paper but strong, veined with something dark underneath the surface.
I slither in a slow circle around the bathroom, and holy hell, the way I move now feels completely different. Smooth and powerful. My new scales catch the light and throw it back all dark and shiny, like wet paint that never dries, and when I press my body against the tile I can feel how hard they are, tough as any armor plate, but soft too.
I flare my hood out just to see what it feels like, and something in my chest swells with a stupid amount of pride watching the shadow of it stretch across the wall.
Wow, i love it.
I flick my tongue out, tasting the air out of habit more than anything, and there’s something different about it, something sweet threading through the usual bathroom smell of steam and soap, honey. Thick and warm, like it’s coming off my own skin.
Evolution Skill: [Forbidden Fruit Summon]
You spit out a golden apple, ice cold, launch it like a cannonball, and whoever it hits gets hit with the sudden, overwhelming urge to do something they know they shouldn’t.
Evolution Skill: [Silver Tongue of the Fall]
Your hiss picks up this smooth, oily undertone, the kind of voice that makes bad decisions sound like great ideas.
Not bad, honestly. Kind of fits the whole snake thing.
I lean in a bit closer to the preview; it feels like the me right there could actually con someone into anything with just a look and a smile.
[System: Classic bad influence energy, you’d basically be Satan but smaller and with less real estate.]
The screen flickers one more time, and this last preview practically glows.
[System Notice: EVOLUTION OPTION 3]
[Cupid’s Ballistic Succubus Cobra]
And there it is. The absolute mess of an option. In the preview, my scales have shifted to a deep crimson with a hard, metallic sheen like polished bullet casings. Two ridiculous little bat-like wings sprout from my back, and inside my mouth, when the preview flexes it open, I see a glowing pink chamber where my fangs should be, with what looks like a rounded revolver cylinder loaded with six distinct venom sacs sitting ready to rotate and fire.
Evolution Bonus skill: (Lust Surge)
Hit someone, and it floods them with heat, arousal, knees turning to jelly on the spot.
Evolution Bonus skill : (Cupid’s Arrow)
Target locks eyes with whatever they see next and falls stupidly, obsessively in love with it.
I just stare at it for a second.
Old Mate, what is this?
[System: What do you get when you mix a king cobra, a 9mm pistol, a demon prince, and a severe lack of personal boundaries? This, mate. This is what you get.]
I look at the tiny flapping wings again. They genuinely look like they’d struggle to lift a chip packet, let alone me.
Can it even fly?
[System: Yeah nah yeah they can, it’s more of a glide or a hover than flying, but it’s helpful and look at the venom kit. That’s a proper weapon system, that is.]
I glance between the three previews floating in front of me, rainbow disco noodle, forbidden fruit devil, and unhinged love-god pistol snake, and honestly none of them feels like a safe choice, but then again nothing about my life since waking up as a tiny crimson jam has been safe, so maybe that’s not really the measuring system I should be using anymore.
Lyra’s out there right now, probably sitting on that bed still in uniform, still staring at doors like she’s waiting for me to come back and explain what the hell just happened to her life.
Old Mate, if I go with the last one, does that mean I could actually do that to her? Make her fall in love?
[System: Reckon she’s already most of the way there without any venom involved, mate, but yeah. Cupid’s Arrow’d lock that in permanently. Not that I’m saying you should, just saying the tool’s there if you want it; also the other one is just an instant horny bite that sounds fun.]
Give me a second
Staring at the three glowing rectangles hovering over the bathroom sink.
[System: Take your time, mate. Not like Lyra is legit waiting for you or anything...]
Screw it, give me Cupid’s Ballistic Succubus Cobra.
The word barely finishes forming in my head before the change hits, and it hits hard. My whole body lights up from the inside like someone flipped a switch on every nerve I own, and I feel myself stretching, growing, my spine popping and reforming into something new. My tail, my knife tail, the one I’ve had to survive the pit, just kind of dissolves into something rounder and thicker, and I feel my scales rippling as they shift colour, darkening into deep crimson, hardening into something with actual weight to it.
I keep growing. Two meters at least, maybe more, and I’ve got some proper girth to me now, not the skinny little sentient extension cord I used to be. My back tingles and I feel two new things pop out, folding neat against my body, and when I flex whatever muscle controls them they snap open into a pair of wings, crimson red, thin like paper but strong, veined with something dark underneath the surface.
I slither in a slow circle around the bathroom, and holy hell, the way I move now feels completely different. Smooth and powerful. My new scales catch the light and throw it back all dark and shiny, like wet paint that never dries, and when I press my body against the tile I can feel how hard they are, tough as any armour plate, but soft too.
I flare my hood out just to see what it feels like, and something in my chest swells with a stupid amount of pride watching the shadow of it stretch across the wall.
Wow, I love it.
I flick my tongue out, tasting the air out of habit more than anything, and there’s something different about it, something sweet threading through the usual bathroom smell of steam and soap, honey. Thick and warm, like it’s coming off my own skin.
Old Mate, why do I smell like dessert?
[System: Ah, that’s your body doing its thing, mate. One of your women’s nearby, that’s them pheromones you’re kicking off, proper aphrodisiac stuff. Comes standard with the new build.]
Before I can ask literally anything else, there’s a knock on the door, soft, hesitant, followed by Lyra’s voice muffled through the wood.
"Hey um... I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I need to see you right now."
The door creaks open before I even answer, and there she is, still in her uniform, legs pressed together like she’s trying to hold something in, biting down on her lip so hard I’m half worried she’ll draw blood. Her hands are clasped together in front of her, twisting slightly, and her cheeks are flushed a deep, obvious red. She looks so cute standing there it almost hurts, and also, not gonna lie, really damn sexy.