POV Vesuvius:
The dragon rested on top of his tower, carefully waiting for the evolution options for his draconic vitality.
//Evolution options
[Empowered Draconic Vitality] —> [Superempowered Draconic Noble Vitality] (Natural Evolution):
Description: The vitality of a dragon that is unusually strong, even for a dragon. Increases the base vitality multiplier to 1.75 and additional increases from levels of the ability to 0.15.
[Negative Draconic Vitality] —> [Draconic Noble Vitality Void] (Special Evolution) :
Description: The vitality of noble dragons is exceptionally high: VIT scaling +1.6 base, +0.125 per ability level.
A technique of a dragon that has so powerful bound to the life energy that even after they die, they will still remain moving and thinking for a short period of time, 30 seconds. During that period, their body devoid of life energy will work as a vacuum, sucking all of the available life energy from their surroundings. If the collected life energy crosses a specific threshold, the dragon will heal and continue to live.
[Recouping Draconic Vitality] —> [Lifecycle Noble Draconic Vitality] (Special Evolution):
Description: The vitality of noble dragons is extremely high: VIT scaling +1.6 base, +0.125 per ability level.
The technique of a dragon that learned through observation of life energy and their great affinity with it to recoup a portion of their lost vitality. When suffering damage, the dragon will suck back a portion of the lost vitality to partially heal their injuries. 10% of all injuries will automatically heal.
Bonus option:
[Manaburning Draconic Vitality] —> [Manalife Noble Draconic Vitality] (Special Evolution):
Description: The vitality of noble dragons is exceptionally high: VIT scaling +1.6 base, +0.125 per ability level.
The technique of a dragon who learned due to their high attunement to both magical and life energy to convert these two energies between themselves. This allows a dragon to enter a deep mediation where they can freely transfer stat points between their VIT and MAG stats.
//
Vesuvius quickly read through all of the options before him. His eyes quickly moved as he processed the information.
‘If mana is the energy of the soul, then lifeforce is the energy of the body.’
Lifeforce was vital as beings with height enough lifeforce could easily survive shocking injuries like massive holes in their hearts, hours without breathing, or in extreme cases, their body would still move even with a missing head, albeit they would be mindless.
Some techniques even focused on using this energy to power abilities or to control it to increase one’s control over their body.
This made Vesuvius consider his choices extra carefully, as it was essential for his future growth.
‘The first option is not bad, just a generic improvement, making the scaling even stronger, and that is more than important. I will keep this one on the table.’
However, a frown grew on his face as he read through the second option, ‘Well, the extra time feels too short. With my life force already gone, my body will be likely too devastated to recover enough to continue my fight.’
His frown grew even deeper as he kept thinking more about it, ‘If I will ever be in a situation where I would need that, I am already likely much weaker than the enemy and basically already lost the battle. I should not focus on surviving such a situation but rather avoid it. So this one is definitely not for me.’
His frown didn’t disappear as he skimmed towards the third option as he felt that it was unnecessary for him, ‘Before my nanites, it would be powerful addition, but with me already having a superior option for regeneration, this one feels like a worthless one for me.’
Wanting to improve his mood, he immediately skipped to the last option, the glow in his eyes brightening with his frown vanishing as he read through its description, ‘This one, to freely transfer my points between vitality and magic, that would give me such a flexibility.’
The only drawback he saw was the need to enter meditation, making it impossible to do while in a fight. However, with his experience with the evolutions in LOMM, he was almost sure that this limitation would vanish likely with the next evolution, turning it into a potent ability, ‘This can be a game changer, its current bonuses might be likely less impactful than the first option, but in the future, it can give me so much. It could either save me when injured or give me more mana when needed. I could store my man in a life force to have extra padding against damage with the ability to transfer it back to mana when needed. ‘
Seeing the great potential of the skill, Vesuviuse’s excitement shot through the roof, his reverse-slitted eyes brightly shining with magical energy. Still, he felt conflicted, ‘But the first option is also great. Such a large increase in vitality would also be helpful. At this level, it would be almost like it had six extra levels of vitality ability.’
Not being sure about it, Vesuvius decided to leave such an important choice for later as he wasn’t in any rush.
‘I will rather take my time with it before making any rash decision.’
(AN: In paragraph comment here, you can vote for which of these you want. The poll will be open until 5. October. If it is not here, then look later. I will be setting a scheduled release for the chapter, and I don’t know when I will get home to manually write comments for the poll.)
POV MarcAntonius:
Marc was on the dark empty floor of the tower, slowly backing away from the monster before him. The bodies of his party members were sewn all over the ground, covered by a haze hiding the gory scene.
The pair of red reverse-slitted eyes were fixed upon him, the scratching of claws on the stone resounding through the room. The dim red light covered everything.
The monstrous wolf before him opened its mouth, a red light lit up, and magma leaked out.
The wolf suddenly bent its hind legs and jumped, crossing the distance in an instant.
Marc staggered back, his face twisting in horror as the gaping mouth filled with teeth closed towards him.