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// Ch 53: Darwinism 
// Story: Level Up! 
// by RisuUmbra 
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Chapter 53: Darwinism

Arthur’s PoV:

I felt the disgusted expression that I had grown familiar with form on my face as I watched the pony beneath my claw writhe in agony. His screams and pleas for mercy went ignored while I watched the muscles under his skin squirm and snap underneath his skin. I lifted my claw and wiped the blood and other fluids on the clothes of the rapidly unraveling body. Another flash of annoyance at the screams popped up, he asked for this and yet he’s too weak to follow through on his boasts. I didn’t spare the corpse another glance as I turned to leave, this was the fifth one today that had utterly failed to make themselves useful. They didn’t even have the balls to become something useful like the others.

I stepped past one of the shambling piles of flesh and fang that used to be one of my bandits, at least beasts like this can be set on my enemies. I felt the mass of flesh brush past my feathers and with an easy flick of my tail I sent careening off the wooden walkway. I watched the damned creature give off an annoying shriek as it broke through the forest canopy and plummeted down into the abyss below. My glare swung up and pinned down anyone who had an issue with what I did, the hanging platforms were full of beings that couldn’t truly be called ponies anymore. Disgusting creatures mixed with a hodgepodge of other monsters, and that’s just what they all were now, monsters. I glared back into the defiant eyes of a diamond dog mixed with a giant spider, I could feel my [Dominance] skill turning on the longer the stare down went on. 

I was about to put the upstart in his place when movement from my left stole my attention, another diamond dog. This one I had improved with the scales of a lizard and wings of a bat, he rushed forward and grabbed his defiant upstart of a friend by the arm. He yanked his friend behind him before turning to me and quickly falling into a low bow and muttering his apologies for his friend. I felt my anger dissuade slightly when I saw the bowing and scraping from the lizard mutant, I'll let him go this time.  With a derisive snort I gestured for them to leave, which the two took as their chance to sprint away. I don’t want to waste any more time on these people when I have too little already. 

I pushed past all in my path and didn’t care if I was bumping them off into the abyss below. After a few twists and turns I took a staircase up to the trunks of the trees and entered the dark entrance into the stone roof. The sound of screeching and snarling drew almost deafening as I passed cage after cage of creature and abomination, I felt my steps pick up in speed. The sound of the snarling creatures grew quiet as more and more cages started to go empty and ahead I could see the moving cart being pulled by one of the only creatures here who’s opinion actually is useful to me. The cart wasn’t as full as usual, not as many useful parts this time around, I eyed a few half formed wings or claws. I felt my single wing twitch from annoyance as I remembered how angry I was at my stupid [Evolve] skill not being strong enough to give me two actually functioning wings, it’s always the same thing that’s stopping me from improving… magic. Unicorn magic, pegasus magic, hell even Earth pony magic had deserted me. 

A full body ache sparked up for a moment before I stamped it down, it took a lot of blood and a lot of pain to replace my strength and not all of it my own. I still don’t know what level I need my [Evolve] still at to be able to take magic but I will get it. I stepped past the cart and refocused on the one pulling it. When I first found them trapped in ice I thought they were just a normal unicorn, I was moments away from killing them and trying to steal their magic when I noticed the scales. A kirin, frozen in ice, the only reason why I hadn’t killed them and stolen their physical abilities is because they can apparently see the future. This ability of theirs is the reason why they were imprisoned in the first place.

“It’s almost time isn’t it” They got the first word, their bright orange eyes almost glowing in the dark. At first I didn’t believe their claims of being able to see the future, but every time they have given me a clue or hint of the future it has been right. Officially they are the most useful follower I have, but I'll never tell them that. I couldn’t help the ruthless smile that grew over my face as I spoke next.

“She’s on her way here, like you said” My sister, the previously useless deadweight that I had to get rid of before she dragged me down has now become a powerful warrior. Someone who is far from useless now, my feelings towards my sister Morgana are complicated. For once I'm actually proud of her for actually doing something with her life, but on the other hand I'm just as furious at her for daring to be doing so well when she’s the one who dragged us into this whole mess. 

“You said that I would finally get stronger if I faced my sister again, if you’re wrong about this… I will make you regret ever leaving that ice” My threat didn’t seem to even affect the Kirin as a mocking laugh spilled out of them.

“Child, everything will change after you face your sister. I swear upon my name as Pythia~” 






Markus PoV:

In hindsight, I probably should have asked Spike what he meant by ‘Greenlands’ when he mentioned it instead of letting him gloss over it. I wasn’t alone as I stared up agog at the building sized blade of grass then back down at the distant horizon where what I could only call a forest of grass stood. I… don’t even know what to say about this, it was like I walked onto the set of ‘honey, I shrunk the kids!’ All of us, even the soldiers, were currently taking a break after marching for hours after waking up. 

I felt my face heat up as I thought about last night, Lucky had kissed me! I’m still having… so many emotions over that. The first and foremost is that the same aversion that I usually had from forward flirting and the like is concerningly absent when it comes to Lucky Harvest. It doesn’t help that after the kiss Lucky just went right back to business as usual, she was just as casual with me as she was before except for the fact that she wants to train with me more and maybe pick my brain about fire magic for her spear work. The teasing from everyone else didn’t help either, it seemed that seeing me flustered broke the dam between me and the other players that traveled here with Lucky. 

First Jesus (Slipstream) kept teasing me about how I blue screened after Lucky kissed me, then Mason (Hollow Root) kept giving me these smug looks that pretty much says it all. Calcifer has started to refer to Lucky as ‘Mom’ jokingly but it still turned me red either way and it really doesn't help that Falling is so supportive of Lucky Harvest and I getting together. He’s known her pretty much his whole life and has even been babysat by her a few times in the past, with all the glowing stories about her and all the teasing. It's no wonder I become a blushing mess around her now. Then the worst happened, Laura, River Creek, the most reasonable person in the group… tried to give me the shovel talk.

“We need to talk” It was only a few hours after the whole… kiss debacle that Laura approached me. Almost everyone had fallen asleep by now except for Laura and I… for obvious reasons. I stepped away from Falling and my two summons and quickly reassured Calcifer that nothing was wrong when he woke up briefly. We stepped away from everyone, far enough that we wouldn’t wake them up with our words. I was honestly expecting something serious if it couldn’t wait until tomorrow. 

“Is something wro-”

“If you hurt Lucky, I swear to whatever being up there that people won’t not stop finding your body” The sudden threat caught me so off guard that the first thing to pop into my head was

“Isn’t it phrased ‘won’t find’ my bod-”

“I know what I said, if you hurt Lucky after she’s come this far to try and be with you. People will not stop finding parts of your body, I will make sure that pieces of you will be found all over the world for years to come. Do you understand me?” My frantic nod was quick to follow the expanded threat and just as quickly did Laura go from threatening to smiling and cheery.

“Good! Now you better invite me to the wedding, I always wanted to be a bridesmaid” and with those parting words Laura stepped around me and went back to bed… it was safe to say that I didn’t get much sleep that night. 

I shook myself out of the memory as I could hear every pony around me starting to pack up and get ready for our first foray into the Greenlands. Well… the players first foray, the thestrals have done this already probably many times in the past. I made sure to fix my armor and bag securely before I turned to Falling Star and Calcifer. My lion was currently in the lantern as I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t going to wander off. I was actually able to convince a thestral soldier to lend me a dagger that I gave, hesitantly, to Falling Star. He’s still not in good enough shape to be walking alone but just in case I had him strap it to his side. I’m going to have to get used to giving this child weapons aren’t I? Calcifer was ready for anything and was simply preening while he waited. 

Lucky Harvest was nearby and once I was able to get over myself for a moment around her, I re-enchanted her spear so it didn’t have a chance of exploding every time she used it. The heartfelt thanks I got from her set my blushing off all over again and left my face feeling like it was on fire while I ran inventory over my bag. I had my two flasks filled with healing tincture and water respectively, the book of rituals, the obvious food supplies, my small cauldron, that book on alchemy by Pinkie Pie’s sister Maud, and Ozymandias’ mask. Which is a lot for one person to be carrying, which is why I made my first real enchanted item besides Lucky’s spear. 


Enchanting Complete!


Enchanted Bag of Holding: Enchanted with Space magic to both be slightly bigger on the inside and weigh less, this beginner enchantment was created by Arcane Hope using pure spell work and no assisting materials. 


Rarity: 3/10 (A step in the right direction)


All of us were ready, the Greenlands are the largest hurtle between all of us and the Lunar Dukedom. With a deep breath I took the first step into the towering undergrowth, trotting past towering flowers and titanic grass blades. I started to wonder what would come our way next.