Looking down to inspect himself, Richard couldn't help but notice how drastically his body shape had changed.

  His normally lithe body had become more heavyset, and he felt sluggish.

  Likely the halving of stats.

  His body had become covered in this thick armor, the amor was overying one another, like tiles on a roof, or the overy of shell on a millipede, rather than a beetle.

  A side effect of this design was that his form had taken on a more rounded shape, his angur form repced by the immense bulkd.

  The adornments of his head had all been covered in this dense armor, which covered nearly every inch of his body.

  Inspecting his wings, he noticed that they too were pted, and adorned with two... cannons?

  Were those cannons?

  That was the closest thing he could compare them too, because otherwise, he did not believe he had ever seen such a design before.

  Pulling out a mirror, Richard inspected his face. The overpping ptes ended in a gss like pte which covered his eyes, as a sort of visor.

  The crimson red visor contrasted starkly with the sky blue eyes he had.

  Richard had to admit it was easy to appreciate.

  His sharp cws had been covered with a round, dull set of adornments, like gloves, as the closes Richard could compare them.

  Would his feet also be considered gloves, or shoes? Would his forepaws be considered shoes?

  While Richard pondered it, the voice continued to bther on.

  I'm sure you're having a little difficulty adjusting to your new body. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to just generate extra strength out of nowhere, without a few trades...

  ... Nah I'm just screwing with you. This was a self imposed trade. In an effort to give the user multiple options in combat, the beetle line grants speed and strength forms, as do most other bug forms. If you had wished for something more standard, the bloodtick was not for you!

  Oh Well!

  Anyway, have you gotten enough of a look at this new form?

  No.

  Great! Lets move on.

  Ugh. Please let there be no more.

  For the speed baron form, all you have to do is say, "Cast Off!"

  Richard, resigned that nothing could convince the mysterious voice otherwise, began to say the words. "Cast-"

  WAIT!

  Pause.

  I forgot to mention that the scattershot can damage all nearby comrades, so its important to focus your intention. Last thing you want to happen is to hit allies in the crossfire.

  Richard had to admit that sounded important.

  All right, focus... and...

  "CAST OFF!"

  BOOOOSH! An explosion of steam happened, as the armored ptes extended, and Richard felt the bance of his body shift once more.

  [Cast off]

  BOOM! The pieces of armor flew off his body, exploding in all directions, the milky white armor giving way to a wicked dark blue armor.

  [Baron: Ats] As the words came out Richard could feel his strength sap, yet his body also lightened, as he felt freer than ever before.

  Whistle "The sounds were stupid, but I won't lie, that looks pretty damn sweet" Panda commented as he gave Richard a quick lookover.

  The giant visor as it was had been thrown off, repced by a smaller, sharper, visor.

  The rounded helmet had been blown off, revealing a sharp four-pronged helmet, reminiscent of that of the Ats beetle, .

  His wings frame was reinforced with the hard carapace like armor, and his wing's webbing shielded by a thin glowing white webbing.

  While the upper half of his body was covered in the azure armor, his legs were covered in a mix of the silver armor and a bck, spandex-like substance.

  Fascinating.

  Moving his arm, unlike before, his arm felt light, and moved like he had never seen before.

  His cws pierced through the spandex, covered in a yer of silver that gleamed softly.

  Richard had to admit that this new form was rather satisfactory.

  Would the item begin talking again?

  Richard turned to look at the device again... only to find it had disappeared.

  When had it disappeared?

  Sister Alexandria's eyes were furrowed as she stared at the previous location of the phone while Panda snorted. "Rude" he commented.

  The wyrm had something else to say.

  "Terrifying," she murmured as she looked at the pces where the tool had been shortly before.

  Richard could understand where sister Alexandria was going with this thought. The person had procimed himself the creator of a form implemented into the system, which the system itself was no small feat of existence, so for this man to be the one behind it, made him impressive.

  But terrifying?

  Seeing his confusion, sister Alexandria expined. "I could not sense their appearance, nor their disappearance," admitted sister Alexandria, much to his surprise.

  "Child, you do not quite understand how difficult creation is, but I do. I have barely even seen the tip of the iceberg, and I can tell you it is complicated in ways you cannot begin to fathom. That form there" she indicated at Ats on his chest. "Is no small feat, is no basic creation, but rather an intricate and complex design beyond what I can even begin to comprehend."

  Richard had to admit that he didn't understand. He understood the sentence, but the actual depth to the statement rung hollow to him, and sister saw as much.

  She sighed. "Never mind, why don't you two try out the new abilities?" She said as she went back to recording observations. It would be up to her to have the necessary caution when it came to dealing with this mysterious entity, and the system behind all of these occurrences.

  Ding

  Grant put down the telephone as he finished the call.

  Pregenerated? Lol, no.

  A lie of course.

  Had it been up to him, he would've pestered the child more, but the system had been pestering him to hurry up and get out of there. A shame, really. He was going to start urging the child off the mountain, or deeper into the mountain.

  Stroking the mask he wore, he mused to himself.

  "Pyer 15. Has potential, too overly cautious though." he chuckled as he recalled the embarrassment on the boy's face. " Reserved too. A bit of a prude."

  "Boring"

  Nonetheless, he would still keep a close eye on the child, given he was one of the ones with potential.

  "System, inform me when the boy finally gets the stones to leave the mountain."

  [Understood]

  The boy had potential, but he was just too hesitant, too careful. The pyer Earl had managed to halt an assassination, and pyer 75 had risen to a position of prominence amongst his tribe of kobolds. Richard was stronger than most pyers currently, but he was also less active.

  That just wouldn't stand.

  Hopefully, they could talk about it.

  And if that doesn't work, a little push was fine too.

  Those padins were about to arrive, weren't they?

  Richard learned quickly that the transformation did not require actual voice based commands when shifting back to the knight form.

  So that was a lie.

  He only had to mentally say the words and the transformation still occurred.

  [Henshin]

  ... Why couldn't that have been silent too?

  [The system does not make that noise, but rather, the Ats arms beetle does] dinged the system.

  Pardon? Why though? Is it just for aesthetic purposes?

  [Not quite]

  [Like bards, the Ats arms beetle utilizes the magic of music, in its case, to generate the craft of armor that surrounds you, made by the mana forged by the music and the intrinsic engram within the beetle's mind. ]

  [It should also be noted, vocally saying the words "henshin" and "Break out" provide a 10 percent boost to your power]

  ...

  [It is recommended you say the words]

  I refuse.

  The system said that evolutions can be altered because one's course of actions, so by not using the vocal commands at all, perhaps the next evolution will not rely upon the vocal commands.

  [Perhaps]

  The system didn't sound convinced, but that didn't matter to Richard.

  Trying out his new knight form was how he distracted himself.

  Running into a snapping moss turtle, he recalled how difficult it had been to pierce through it's shell.

  The creature rose up, snapping at him threateningly.

  The beast had a strong mouth too.

  Perhaps...

  With confidence, Richard walked forth without hesitation.

  Upon seeing the giant glimmering silver beast walk within range, the turtle's head immediately snapped forward, lunging at Richard's neck.

  Richard was afraid for a second.

  Cnk!

  The risk yielded the expected results, with the bite barely leaving a dent on his new armor. The turtle continued to relentlessly bite down, but Richard had other pns. First, he rose his paw, and smmed it down hard on the shell, to test which was greater.

  The shell crumbled beneath the strength of his cwed hand, causing the turtle to flinch and bite down even harder, as its moss reached out to strangle Richard with greater fervor.

  Feeling satisfied with the test, Richard decided to finish it.

  Crack

  Richard simply snapped the turtle's neck without much effort, finishing the fight effortlessly. All right, that was a rather satisfying result.

  Richard, deciding that the knight form was satisfactory enough at first gnce, decided to test the Baron Ats form.

  [Cast off]

  [Baron: Ats]

  Raven sages are a mysterious sect that exists within the Romanan empire, and little is known about the group as a whole. They have existed for centuries, with some specuting they predate the empire itself.

  The government denies this fervently, as does the organization itself, yet this does not stop others from specuting.

  The raven sages are paragons of wisdom, who wander the empire, learning as well as sharing as they go, often helping to deal with pgues or infestations when they arrive.

  Officially, they hold no position in the government, but that has not stopped them from being welcomed into the homes of many.

  The very idea of them committing evil is near impossible, at least as long as they wear the raven masks.

  It is well known that the mask is bound with a covenant, and that those who break it are punished without question.

  Of course, if they take off the mask, then they can do what they wish, but they do so without the support of the organization, but instead as themselves, a singur person.

  It is believed there are only 1,000 ravensages that serve within the group, which calls itself the "Thoughts and Memories of the West", with the 1,000 having remained the same since the time of the great pgue, where they had showed up mysteriously, providing guidance on how to deal with the pgue. Though once looked upon with suspicion, as the centuries had passed, they have proven trustworthy, and well maintained.

  Rumors say their leader is known as Gautr

  -The Pheme Nyx intelligence guild