NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6
Chapter: 6
The first life form that emerged onto the water’s surface was a fish resembling a mudskipper, using its pectoral fins as front legs.
They were creatures that fled to the surface due to fierce competition for survival in the water.
Initially, they evolved to escape to the water’s surface in emergencies.
Then, perhaps realizing that living above water was better than expected, they began to evolve lungs instead of gills, transforming the fins behind their gills into front legs.
Honestly, I had made them capable of mutation and evolution, but witnessing them develop front legs in such a short time truly shocked me.
These evolved creatures began to grow by munching on various plants and slimes, increasing their numbers, evolving, mutating, and, with some time passing, they even began to develop hind legs. Some evolved into lizard-like forms, and oddly enough, some appeared to resemble amphibians…
The chaotic melting pot of evolution was pure chaos in itself.
Anyway. Those that emerged onto land started evolving and changing in increasingly diverse ways…
And for some reason, they began to grow in size.
At first, I was clueless about why, but after looking around a bit, I discovered the reason…
Most of the issue stemmed from magical power.
Magical power, that strange force, had the property to bring about changes according to others’ will, and when this property combined with a living being’s will, bizarre phenomena occurred!
Changes that were physically impossible happened, truly unexpected stuff.
A tiny lizard grew rapidly, turning into a massive dinosaur, and a lizard that was gazing at the sky saw its front legs transform into tiny wings that flapped!
Well, it’s nice to see various evolutions… but isn’t this a bit too fast?
It’s way quicker than the evolution speed I had in mind! I thought such evolution would easily take thousands of years, but here we are, completed in merely a few decades!
Dinosaurs have already popped up! Dinosaurs!
I was originally expecting to watch legged fish transform into small creatures, but suddenly there are dinosaurs. This was unimaginable!
“But it’s fun to watch.”
“That’s true, but…”
Watching the big dinosaurs rampaging and fighting is amusing, indeed.
Moreover, because they all evolved in different directions, there’s also a thrill in seeing them battle with unique weapons.
Some fight with massive jaws and sharp teeth, others use claws and agility as their weapon, and others endure with horns or tough skin.
Thanks to that, these days, I’ve been living for the thrill of watching fights.
“If I look at them fighting so fiercely, I start wanting a physical body too.”
“A physical body… I have no idea how you, beings of natural phenomena, would acquire one.”
“The others are troubled by the same thing. Especially Erebus. He says he needs a physical body to become Mom’s partner or something like that.”
“Is that child still unable to let go? Sigh.”
As I sighed, Sylphid chuckled lightly and added,
“Don’t be too harsh. We would have wanted to be Mom’s partner if we were male too.”
“Ifrit is male, isn’t he?”
“He’s just a little kid. Decades have passed, and he still seems like a toddler.”
I nodded in agreement with Sylphid. That child really doesn’t appear to grow up at all.
I had scolded him in the past for burning lives… Not only because those lives were precious, but also to educate Ifrit not to recklessly obliterate beings.
If it was only about the preciousness of life, I could have simply reversed time and brought them back.
No, maybe I should have just turned back time to before he burned them and scolded him then? But that would diminish the point of the scolding!
Well, let’s just say it’s unavoidable. Yup.
“Would we genuinely live as fiercely as them if we possessed bodies like that?”
“Hard to say. Even if you had bodies, I don’t think you’d live in that manner…”
After all, you children are colossal natural phenomena and reside in a completely different realm from those large lizards.
Even Sylphid alone has the ability to carve mountains with great winds.
If these kiddos gain physical bodies… they’d probably become something spectacular in many ways.
Well, not as magnificent as me!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
After some time had passed.
“Mom! Erebus discovered a way to create a physical body!”
“So, that child finally figured out how to do it, huh?”
“Yes! But he said he needs Mom’s help, so can we go together?”
“My help?”
The kids need my assistance for creating a body. What sort of help could that possibly be?
Curious, I followed Sylphid to where Erebus was, in the cave.
A long cave stretching deep into the earth. A space that was pure darkness, not a glimmer of light in sight.
There, Erebus, an intelligent form of darkness, was present.
“You’ve arrived, Mother.”
“Just recently, you called me Mom, and now it’s Mother. You can keep calling me Mom, really.”
“I won’t always be a child, you know.”
“I’m here too! Erebus! I brought Mom with me, so praise me!”
“Hm. Good job, Sylphid.”
Erebus, with a strangely dignified voice, welcomed us in that dark cave.
“So, how do you create a body?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s not about creating a body. It’s more akin to borrowing one.”
“Borrowing a body?”
At that moment.
Thud.
A small footstep echoed from the darkness.
“Hm? Footsteps? Erebus. It seems like a lizard has come in.”
“It’s not a lizard.”
Something is approaching. In the pitch-black darkness where not even a hint in front can be seen, something walks towards us.
“Erebus. I’m sorry, but I think I need to turn on some light.”
I gathered magical power and conjured light. As I did, something walked toward us from the far end of the dark cave, coming into view.
It was a small dinosaur with a black skin, unlike others.
However, the aura emanating from that dinosaur was… an infinitely deep darkness, identical to Erebus’s.
“Erebus?”
“Indeed, Mother. You recognized me at a glance.”
“Wait? What? How did you do that? Did you steal a body?? Amazing! How did that happen???”
“Stealing? I wouldn’t be so barbaric. I simply borrowed the body of a creature that wandered into the cave and died of starvation.”
Borrowing the body of one that starved… Isn’t that like necromancy?
“Of course, since it’s already dead, I can’t prevent the body from decaying, and it can’t withstand my power for long… But it was sufficient as a temporary body.”
“Decaying… Now that you mention it, there does seem to be a vaguely rotten smell.”
The skin being a deep black… Is that due to Erebus residing in it?
“Anyway, thanks to this experience of borrowing a body, I’ve grasped a bit of a clue. In the process of compensating for the body’s loss with my power, I discovered how to create a desired form of a body.”
Since most of their power is magical, crafting a body using magic… shouldn’t be impossible.
Magic possesses the nature to realize one’s will. It might be acting upon their will to acquire bodies.
“However, our powers are too strong, so an average body wouldn’t last long. Thus, I believe special materials are required.”
“Hmm… Ah, so when you said you needed my help… you meant borrowing my body?”
I already have loads on my plate maintaining the balance of various life forms around the world. Lending my body to the kids might prove difficult.
“If it involves borrowing Mother’s body, I refuse! I want to fly with Mother, not become Mother and fly!”
“I never intended it in the first place.”
“It’s not my body you’re borrowing?”
The black dinosaur possessed by Erebus nodded slightly and said.
“We don’t need all of Mother’s body. Just one of Mother’s scales should suffice.”
“One of my scales?”
“Yes. If we use one of Mother’s scales as a core and channel our powers to shape it, we believe we can obtain a body similar to Mother’s.”
A body resembling mine… Are they perhaps referring to a dragon’s body, different from dinosaurs?
“Handing over a scale isn’t a big deal, but will that alone suffice?”
“Yes. One of Mother’s scales should be sufficient to contain all our power.”
Hmm. Handing over a scale is no hardship. They’ll grow back anyway.
I plucked one scale from beneath my neck and handed it to Erebus, who was in the form of a black dinosaur.
“Will this be enough?”
“Yes. That should be ample.”
“Mom! Give me one too! Me too!”
I plucked another scale and handed it to Sylphid as well.
“But how do we go about it? Do we just infuse it with power?”
“Rather than infusing, imagine you’re residing within it. Feel as though you’re putting all of yourself into it and wishing for a body to be created.”
Erebus said this while holding the scale. Then a black energy began to seep out, gradually inhabiting the scale.
As this occurred, the black color of the dinosaur’s body began to lighten, while my silver scale morphed into black.
Once the dinosaur’s black completely vanished and my scale fully darkened, the dinosaur fell to the ground with a thud.
“Hmm… Mother’s scale contains way more than all of me. But this seems entirely doable.”
As Erebus spoke, a black mist began oozing out from the black scale, slowly forming a body that very much resembled mine.
A long neck and skin covered in scales. A lengthy mouth with sharp teeth. And horns protruding in various places on the head.
Slightly short front limbs and large wings. Along with sturdy hind legs and a long tail.
“Wow! Incredible! It’s an Erebus that looks like Mom!”
“Though it’s much smaller.”
The overall shape resembled me, a dragon… Though it was considerably smaller and while there were minor differences in detail…
Erebus had successfully manifested a black dragon’s body.
“It’s a success, Mother. Now, I have obtained a body just like yours.”
Beneath the neck of the black dragon that Erebus had become, my scale had returned to silver and attached itself upside down.