As soon as the cores disappear, I can't help but wish I could see the look on her face. If only I had thought about it sooner, I could have asked Krenocia to go watch her reaction. It wouldn't be as good as seeing it, but I bet it would have still been entertaining.

  Seronia yells "Ash!!!"

  "I see you got my present."

  Seronia says "You call this just a present?! This is....this is.... I don't even know what to call this!! You are absolutely insane! How did you get so many angel cores?!"

  "By raiding Holos' domain, of course. I told you I was going to."

  Seronia says "I know that! What I want to know is how you killed so many angels without Holos killing you!"

  "Oh, he wasn't there. His pantheon had him locked up for questioning at the time."

  Seronia says "Did you know that beforehand?! If you did, why didn't you tell me? I wouldn't have gotten so mad!"

  "Nope! I had no idea. I just got lucky."

  Seronia says "Grrr! You! You are so frustrating!!"

  Seronia breaks the connection as soon as she finishes speaking, I guess she is mad at me again. Well, that didn't last long, but I guess it isn't all that surprising. However, just as I am thinking of working on my core, she reconnects with me.

  Seronia says "Thank you for all the angels!"

  Before I can reply, she breaks the connection again and I can't help but chuckle. The fact that she remembered her manners even though she is furious is cute as hell. I wish I could see her face right now, she really is adorable when she gets worked up.

  Not that I tried to piss her off intentionally, at least not this time. Oh well, time to get back to what I was going to work on, my core. My mana pool isn't completely full, but if I use the bath I should be able to make some decent progress.

  However, when I get to the bath I realize that it isn't exactly appropriate for what I want to do. So, I remove all of the lava and start altering the enchantments. I replace the enchantments for the lava with more lightning enchantments.

  It may not be as comfortable to soak in just lightning, but it should help my core more. The downside is that altering the enchantments use up even more of my mana. At this point it isn't really worth it to try and work on my core, but then I remember the crystals.

  As soon as I think of them, I turn and open up a gate to my cabin on the ship. The ship is still sitting in port at the island, but there is a lot more activity on board. The platform and the crystals are exactly where I left them, so I fly up and take a look.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Most of the crystals are completely full, so I grab one of them and return to the castle. I had left the gate open, so I didn't have to waste more mana to reopen it. Still, after gating my mana pool is almost empty, but with the crystal that won't matter.

  When I check it, I find that the crystal holds more mana than ten of my mana pools. When I open a channel between the crystal and myself, my mana pool is filled instantly. I put the crystal down, climb into the lightning bath, and start working on my core.

  Core Upgrade Progress: 70%

  The new bath is even more effective than I thought it would be. I quickly grab the crystal and use it to refill my mana again. Then, after putting it down, I start working on my core again.

  Core Upgrade Progress: 83%

  The fire in my core has faded to almost nothing, but the lightning surrounding it is much thicker. However, the physical core at the heart of the fire hasn't changed much. I am guessing that when the last of the fire fades the lightning will replace it.

  Hopefully, once that happens and I have advanced to the next rank, I will be able to evolve. If not, then I currently don't have any other ideas on what I am supposed to do. If this doesn't work and I can't come up with anything else, I will have to ask the dragon.

  Luckily, I got a few soul levels, so he should be willing to talk to me and help me out. Although, if it comes to that, I wouldn't mind getting another level first. Maybe if I impress the dragon a little he won't give me a hard time about it.

  Besides, I still haven't seen any of the benefits that he mentioned I would get from leveling my soul. I want to ask him about that as well, but I will need to do so carefully. For now, I use the crystal to refill my mana again and go back to working on my core.

  Core Upgrade Progress: 97%

  Almost there! I rush to refill my mana and instantly get back to work. I really want to get this done and see if I can evolve!

  Core Upgrade Progress: 100%

  Core Upgrade Complete!

  Core Rank: 16 -> 17! HP +1,000, MP +2,000, DP +750, +100 Stat Points, Evolution Points +50!

  'Great! Now, Evolution!'

  Evolution Points: 250/200 Evolution Level: 1/5

  Evolution Ready! Would you like to Evolve now? Y/N?

  Just as I am about to say yes, a thought stops me. Then I use the medallion to contact Lin and Myria. I let them know that I am about to attempt to evolve, just in case. That way, if it takes a while, they shouldn't worry about me too much.

  "Yes!"

  Evolution Beginning! Calculating Sources...

  Angel DNA: 43%

  Lightning: 32%

  Fire: 15%

  Demon DNA: 3%

  Miscellaneous: 7%

  Preparing Evolution...Complete! Evolution Starting!

  'Uh, did I go a little overboard with the angel cores? I hope this doesn't turn me into an angel!'

  As expected, once it starts everything goes dark and I feel like I am floating someplace warm. My consciousness fades and I just feel like I am drifting in warm water for a few minutes. Then everything slowly comes back and I can feel a painful itching sensation in my back.

  Stage 2 Evolution Completed! HP +1,000, DP +1,000, MP +1,000, All Stats +100, Flight Speed +150!

  New Ability Gained: Advanced Flight!

  'Advanced Flight? That sounds interesting! And useful! I wonder if that's why my flight speed doubled? If so, I'll take it!'

  I try to get out of the bath, but my body doesn't work as expected and I fall on my face. It looks like my body changed again, so I use some mana to alter a wall of the bathroom. I coat the wall in mana, convert it to water mana, and make the entire wall into a mirror.

  Before I even look at my reflection, I notice that my manipulation of mana was much smoother. Even converting it to water mana, which I rarely use, felt completely natural. I also used less mana than I was expecting to and my recovery seems faster.