The two girls found their friends sitting in a courtyard overlooking the ocean. It was further down than their rooms had been, so the sound of waves lapping against the cliff face was soothing.

  Though, over the sounds of battle, it was difficult to hear them.

  The dragon-like wings from Amara's armor spread behind her. Trillia could see the mana pulsing from them she wondered how much mana the wings used while active.

  Taz had flopped over on the smooth white stone.

  The creature's chest heaved and fell with heavy breaths. While the Gryphon had been faster than Amara, it didn't have nearly the amount of stamina she did.

  Simon sat next to his loyal companion with a waterskin tipped up to his mouth.

  Stas and Amara were playing tag in the air, and it was absolutely the most deadly game that Trillia had ever seen. Neither of them shied away from using magic and weapons to keep the other at bay.

  There was more than a little blood staining the stones beneath them. But both seemed to be laughing and having a blast.

  Trillia hoped that she and her friends never got to that level of insanity.

  Amelia and Layla were going over Maeve's sheet music, turned out that Layla had a lovely voice and knew how to sing. Apparently, the Church that she was raised in taught all of the children how to sing.

  Trillia was genuinely happy to lean against a pillar and watch it all. There was a soft nagging in the back of her mind that she should be training, but the serenity of the scene was what Trillia wanted out of life. No realm-ending threat looming, just her, her friends, and her family training and enjoying themselves.

  -=====-

  The days flew by, a week later, and the group was doing far less relaxing and far more training. Trillia knelt on the edge of the courtyard and was currently dry heaving over the edge, sweat poured from her head. She had thought Zymeth and his training was brutal. She had not realized how much the Professor's passive healing realm did to alleviate it.

  Cordaos kept snickering as he looked at the five young fighters. All of them were beyond exhausted. "Goodness, you asked us to not go easy on you, and we've already had to lower the difficulty several times. All bark, no bite, I guess."

  The group had no energy left to argue, which Trillia guessed proved his point. Amara walked by and set jugs of water near them. "Make sure you fill up on water, even if you don't want to. You can get some nasty debuffs if you pass out because you didn't drink enough."

  Brutus sat on the railing near them, cleaning his weapons. He had been the primary person that Trillia had been training with. The man was terrifying with a rapier in his hand.

  Trillia would almost rather stand before the Eldritch. They at least seemed mostly mindless.

  Brutus knew how terrifying he was.

  "By all the gods. How are none of you tired?" Layla whimpered as she slid down and lay on the semi-cool stones.

  Amara chuckled and softly pat Layla's back, gently running her hand on the girl's back. "I used about a tenth of my Stamina. We're old, little one."

  "Ha! Speak for yourself, hag." Alliyah's voice brought a deep sense of comfort and relief to the exhausted group.

  Stas snickered. "Aren't you the oldest he-" A loud explosion silenced the goblin. Trillia didn't see where the attack had originated from, but she could guess.

  Alliyah walked over, and Trillia felt a pulse of mana. Her exhaustion vanished, and her Stamina was full.

  "No...oh gods, please, no more." Layla whimpered and knew what was coming.

  Alliyah giggled. "It is easier for me to do area healing. It takes a lot more focus to do single-target healing. The only one who is getting more training right now is Trillia."

  Damnit.

  Trillia dragged herself to a standing position. Her Health, Mana, and Stamina were all full. But her muscles were still sore. "Why doesn't healing magic take away all the pain and soreness? It feels like it should."

  Alliyah raised a finger and waggled it at Trillia. Trillia had to pause as she saw the woman standing there dressed in a short leather skirt and a form-fitting blouse. The Staff hovered behind her, and a saber sat on her hip. "It's intentional. Muscle is built by being broken down over and over again as it grows back stronger each time. If Healing magic took all of it away, you'd see very, very little progress."

  Trillia took a deep breath that somehow hurt and trudged forward with her rapier in hand. Leaf and the Shield rattled and dragged themselves after her. Apparently, despite being an item, Leaf was also exhausted. Its own mana reserves had been emptied a dozen times over the course of the day.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  "No need for weapons. I brought mine just in case anyone wanted a non-magical sparring session. While you will eventually be a terrifying martial combatant, your primary place on the battlefield is going to be a caster."

  Trillia wanted to grumble as she was reminded of Storm's barb about playing at being a warrior. Alliyah appeared in front of her. A finger pushed against Trillia's nose. "Don't think of it as you are a weak warrior. I know how much pride you orcs have. Ask this group who the best martial fighter is in our group."

  Alliyah waited but pulled her finger away. Trillia looked over at Amara and Brutus. Both laughed and pointed to Alliyah. Brutus was the one to speak. "She has us beat by over a thousand levels, and that's just as a Divine Human. It's probably several times worse than that in reality."

  Trillia seemed puzzled at that and looked back at Alliyah. "Do levels really make that big of a difference?"

  Alliyah paused, one hand on her hip, the other cradling her chin. "What do you think my Presence is?"

  All of the younglings were leaning against the railing and looking at the Queen now. None of them answered.

  "Will all of my buffs active, it's about ninety-five thousand. If Kain's power can reach the realm, it gets boosted by a further seventy-five percent. With all of my traits, passives, and mastered abilities. It counts as nearly half a million against Dragons and Leviathans."

  Trillia squinted her eyes at the petite woman standing before her. She hadn't wanted to say anything, but the Queen was the same height as Trillia. "Is Presence your highest stat?"

  Alliyah nodded. "Not by much. It's probably twenty thousand higher than my other stats. Keeping balanced stats is how I prefer to do things. Cordaos doesn't actively raise his Agility. Amara doesn't actively raise her Presence or her Intuition. Stas doesn't actively raise his Strength or Vitality."

  Trillia looked at each of them in turn, realizing she was done. It meant that Brutus probably kept an even stat spread. "Can I ask a question?"

  Alliyah nodded.

  "A lot of people have said humans don't really have a lot of racial abilities. Is that true for you?"

  "That is a very, very good question." Alliyah smiled. "Go ahead and sit down. We'll do some magic training soon. But perhaps explaining how evolution works might be beneficial. You've already undergone a few of them."

  Trillia was happy to sit back down. Stas motioned to the door leading further in. "I'll go and whip up some food while you educate. I think of everyone here, I least need this discussion."

  Alliyah smiled and nodded. "You probably know more about evolution and how species work than I do, Stas. But I'd love some food bring some wine as well."

  The goblin nodded and skittered away.

  "So the most troublesome part of evolution, from a combat standpoint, is that you register as a fresh Level Zero to anyone scanning you. Also, if you have any traits or skills that utilize your Species level, they will be significantly weaker. As some of you may have figured out by now, a new evolution can also lead to new racial skills."

  Amelia and Trillia both nodded. The others did not. Alliyah took note and continued. "I am a Divine Human, in addition to the normal human racial abilities that give me more experience, a lower experience penalty for mastered classes, and having more slots to Mentor from. I also receive a seventy-five percent boost from my divine pact instead of the usual fifty. Any creature that is pact-bound to me also receives that boost. I am immune to any deific debuff that does not come from a creature with a higher divine rank than my patron."

  Layla raised a hand, Alliyah motioned to her. "Wouldn't that mean you're immune to everyone? Isn't your patron an axle?"

  "Yes and no. It's true that Kain is an axle. But I still suffer from the same debuff the rest of the realm does. There are several entities that exist that are stronger than he is or that outrank him. It does mean that I don't have to worry about most issues, though." Alliyah looked to her own group. "Anyone else care to share?"

  Amara stood and walked over to stand in front of the group. "First. Scan me with my defensive magic in place."

  Trillia happily did so.

  [Orc - Grand Chieftain - 773] Fire Mana Manipulation

  Notable Traits:

  Pact-Bonded [2nd Axle]

  Demon Blood [Lord of Rage]

  Divine Spark [2nd Axle]

  Rage of Mortality

  Vengeance of Mortality

  ...

  The group seemed puzzled. "You're just a normal orc?" Trillia spoke the question. Amara smirked.

  "Now, let me lower my defensive magic. Try again."

  [Infernal Orc - Grand Chieftain - 1227] Infernal Mana Manipulation

  Notable Traits:

  Pact-Bonded [2nd Axle]

  Demon Blood [Lord of Rage]

  Divine Spark [2nd Axle]

  Rage of Mortality

  Vengeance of Mortality

  Dragon Eater

  Primordial Mind

  ...

  "How can you block our scanning abilities so easily? I understand the level difference, but you changed so much."

  Brutus was the one to speak up about that. "It's part of our pact. We can make our status say anything we want when anything other than a deity scans us. It's good for fitting in and not terrifying people more than we already do."

  "Right. As an Infernal Orc, my racial abilities have evolved. Instead of the usual double boost to Brawn, I get that as well as my Agility and Wisdom added to it. My Health and Stamina are multiplied by a hundred instead of ten. I am immune to both Fire and Dark mana, and I deal triple damage to any creature that hails from the bands of Celestia."

  Trillia tried to do some mental math and was quickly realizing just how durable her Mother was. Cordaos spoke but didn't stand. "My Charisma is derived from all of my stats. I have another derived stat on my status page called Endurance. It is a combination of all of my stats minus my Agility. It's why I avoid raising my Agility if I can at all help it. My Health and Stamina are equal to my Endurance multiplied by fifty."

  Amelia seemed most surprised by that. Trillia raised a hand, Alliyah motioned. "I didn't know there were things that could actively use a stat against you. Is that common?"

  Alliyah nodded. "It is, yes. At least as you get to higher levels. One of the traits I have makes it so that my mana regen takes into account the lowest of all of my base stats. It's why I try to keep them so close to one another. Usually, these traits have really good upsides to help offset the downside. You can also Master your Species."

  That got the group's attention once again. "If you hit level one-thousand, you can forcefully evolve one of your racial traits. It's not easy to do with the base traits. I've never chosen one of my species evolutions. They have all been forced on me."

  The others nodded. Stas returned with Thea, who put a bunch of food out on a table. The poor elven girl seemed utterly terrified. Alliyah walked over with a smile. "Thank you, Thea. We're talking about evolution and may do some magic training. You're free to stay and learn if you'd like."

  That seemed to terrify her even more. The girl's eyes scanned the group and lingered on Simon. Determination was etched into her face. "I would be honored, Your Majesty."