The journey to Count Edward's estate took two days. Elena insisted on carrying me in a leather sling across her chest—"So you don't exhaust yourself, Vritra"—which I tolerated because it gave me time to think.
And to hunt.
At night, while the humans slept, I slipped into the forest. My bronze scales blended with the shadows. My mana perception painted the world in glowing threads. I found a nest of blind cave lizards near a stream and devoured them whole.
[Blind Cave Lizard (x3) consumed - Obtained 1.5 Gene Points.]
A fat toad, slow and stupid, became my midnight snack.
[Swamp Toad consumed - Obtained 0.9 Gene Points.]
By the time we reached the Count's manor, my panel read:
[Available Gene Points: 79.6]
Twenty point four to go, I thought. Then evolution.
The manor was a sprawling stone building surrounded by cultivated gardens—a sharp contrast to the wild forest. Elena led me past guards in polished armor, who stared at the bronze lizard on her chest with open curiosity.
"Is that a pet, Lady Elena?" one asked.
"Familiar," she corrected. "And he's smarter than you."
The guard wisely said nothing.
Count Edward awaited us in his study—a large room lined with maps, taxidermy heads, and glowing crystals that hummed with stored mana. He was a broad-shouldered man in his fifties, with gray-streaked hair and the tired eyes of someone who had seen too much.
"Elena," he said, rising from his desk. "Your message was cryptic. Something about an intelligent lizard and an iron mantis?"
"Both, my lord." Elena set me on the desk. I sat on my haunches, tail curled, and met the Count's gaze.
He raised an eyebrow. "It's large for a forest lizard. And it's not trying to bite me. That's unusual."
"Watch." Elena extended her hand toward me. "Vritra, raise your right claw."
I did.
The Count's other eyebrow joined the first. "Trained?"
"No. Understood." Elena smiled. "He understands common speech. He responds to commands. He even has a name he gave himself."
«Tell him I'm not a circus act,» I thought through the link.
Elena snorted. "He says he's not a circus act."
The Count leaned forward, his tired eyes suddenly sharp. "May I?"
Elena nodded.
The Count reached out slowly. I let him touch my scales. His fingers were warm, calloused. "Mana residue," he murmured. "Faint, but present. How?"
"We don't know yet," Elena said. "But Vritra is why I'm here. He's been living in the forest. He's seen the iron mantis."
The Count's expression darkened. "The mantis. Yes. Three livestock deaths last week. One of my gamekeepers was injured trying to track it." He returned to his seat, gesturing for Elena to sit. "Tell me everything."
Elena recounted our encounter: the iron mantis standing over the Thornspike Boar, its unnatural size, its scythe-like forelimbs dripping crimson. I added details through the mental link—the boar's tusks cracking the mantis's chitin, the green snake waiting in the bushes, the centipede I had killed.
The Count listened in silence. When Elena finished, he stood and walked to a large map on the wall. It showed the forest divided into hunting sectors, with notes scrawled in the margins.
"The mantis was first spotted near the old quarry," he said, tapping a location. "Six months ago. A normal iron mantis—maybe twenty centimeters. Nothing remarkable."
"And now?" Elena asked.
"Now it's a meter tall. And it's not alone." The Count turned to face us. "I've received reports of oversized spiders near the eastern marsh. A boar with iron-tipped tusks that gored two hunters. Even the wolves have started hunting in packs of thirty instead of ten."
Something is feeding them, I thought.
Elena relayed my thought aloud.
The Count nodded slowly. "That's my suspicion. But what? This forest has been in my family for three generations. We've never seen mutations like this."
I crawled to the edge of the desk and stared at the map. The old quarry. The eastern marsh. The places the Count had marked—they formed a rough circle around a single point: a small, unnamed creek.
«That creek,» I thought. «What's there?»
Elena pointed. "Vritra wants to know about this creek."
The Count's face went pale. "That's... that's where we executed a rogue mage twenty years ago. He was experimenting with mana cores—trying to create chimera beasts. We stopped him, but we buried his lab rather than excavate it."
Buried a lab full of mana cores.
My heart raced. A mana core, if left to decay, could leak raw energy into the soil and water for decades. Creatures that drank from that creek, ate plants grown in that soil, would absorb that energy.
And if the iron mantis found a partially intact core...
"Elena," the Count said slowly, "you and your... familiar. I'm authorizing you to investigate the old quarry and that creek. Find the source of this corruption. Kill the mantis if you can. But bring me proof—a sample of the soil, a fragment of the mantis's chitin, anything."
He reached into his desk and pulled out a small leather pouch. "This is a temporary hunting license for your lizard. It's not a pet—it's a sanctioned agent of my household. That means no one can legally harm him."
Elena took the pouch. "Thank you, my lord."
The Count looked at me, his tired eyes holding a strange respect. "I don't know what you are, little creature. But you're smarter than most men I've met. Keep Elena alive. And find me answers."
I nodded.
That night, in the guest quarters Elena had been given, I lay on a cushion by the fireplace and opened my panel.
[Available Gene Points: 79.6]
[Next Evolution Threshold: 100 GP.]
[Suggested evolution paths: Venomous Skink, Spike-Tailed Gecko, Draconic Newt, ???]
Twenty point four, I calculated. One good hunt.
The Count's rogue mage, I realized. His buried lab is leaking. The mantis didn't just eat a core—it's been living above a corrupted ley line for months.
That was why it had grown so fast. The core gave it a spark. The ley line fueled the fire.
And if I stayed here too long, the same corruption might affect me.
«Elena,» I thought through the link.
She was already half-asleep, but stirred. «Vritra? What is it?»
«We need to go to the creek tomorrow. Not the next day. Tomorrow.»
«Why the hurry?»
«The corruption is spreading. If we wait, the mantis might grow even stronger. And so might other things.»
She sat up, her face serious in the firelight. "Alright. Tomorrow at dawn."
«One more thing,» I added. «I need something. Reptilian meat. But not ordinary meat—something with dragon blood in its veins. Fire lizard. Earth Drake. Wyvern. Even a small piece.»
Elena frowned. «Dragon-blooded creatures? Those are rare and dangerous. Why?»
I paused, choosing my words carefully. I couldn't tell her about the panel or Gene Points. Those were my secrets.
«I have awakened dragon blood,» I thought. «It's why I'm larger than other forest lizards. Why I'm intelligent. If I consume enough draconic creatures, I might evolve into something more... dragon-like.»
Her eyes widened. «You're telling me you have dragon lineage?»
«Something like that. The blood is thin now. But eating creatures with stronger draconic heritage could awaken it further.»
It wasn't entirely a lie. The panel had shown me the Draconic Newt path. I needed genetic material from dragon-blooded creatures to unlock it. But Elena didn't need to know about the panel.
She was quiet for a long moment. Then she nodded slowly. «The Count has a private menagerie. He keeps trophies from his younger days—preserved specimens, bones, even some preserved meat in stasis crystals. I can ask him for a sample. No promises, but I'll try.»
«Thank you.»
She lay back down, but I could feel her mind turning, already planning. «Dragon blood,» she murmured through the link. «You really think you can become something like that?»
«I have to,» I thought. «The mantis is just the beginning. Whatever is corrupting this forest... it's going to get worse. I need to be ready.»
Elena didn't answer. But I felt her resolve harden through the bond.
Tomorrow, we would hunt.
I curled my tail around my body and closed my eyes.
One hundred Gene Points, I thought. And then evolution.
And then the mantis.