Reborn As An Evolving Monster

'It's been pretty boring here ever since we've been assigned our Candidates...'

Arani skipped down the castle's corridors.

'My quarters are opposite Nia's...'

With each step, her luscious white hair danced.

'Guess I'll stop by and check on the others...' Arani smiled maliciously.

A golden strapless dress covered Arani's body.

A dress she had made by herself, for herself.

'Let's see... First is...' Arani thought after having walked a bit more.

She peeked through large steel doors.

A room completely different from Draconia's.

No bookshelves, no books.

Not even a desk.

Instead, dark boulders lay next to every wall.

The boulders differed from one another in size.

Some even had strange and peculiar shapes.

'Oho.'

They differed in size but, the biggest was, without a doubt, the one being slowly brought down.

"Hey you!" Arani shouted cheerfully.

A single person was inside the room. At its center.

Their hands and feet were on the ground.

"Training hard, I see. As per usual, huh? Cy."

The man's ears twitched.

Ears that seemed to be a tiger's.

His hair was orange. Vibrant.

The man's bare chest was slowly being lowered to the ground while, on his back, lay the boulder.

Drops of sweat were barely hanging onto his dimpled face and chiseled body.

Focused, he hadn't the time to answer. Nor the desire to do so.

Arani watched, as the man's chest lightly kissed the ground.

The next instant, every stretched muscle fiber contracted, allowing him to go back into his starting position, with extended arms against the floor.

Cy took a couple of deep breaths.

"Fuck off." He bluntly said, before slowly lowering his body once more.

Despite the hostile reaction, Arani watched for a bit more.

On every boulder inside the room, were purple inscriptions.

'Gravitational Magic, huh?' She thought to herself.

The Magical Inscriptions, therefore, made guessing the boulder's weight close to impossible.

With a skip in her step, Aran continued her stroll through the castle.

Unfortunately, two additional Generals gave her the same welcome as Cy.

'Couldn't even ask about their Candidates. Tsk. They're like this even though we meet so rarely…'

Arani stopped and looked through one of the many windows that allowed light to enter the corridor.

She brought a finger to her cheek

'I hate Draconia the most, yet she's the one who gave me the warmest welcome…'

Her eyes glanced over the many tents set up outside the castle.

Warriors and Soldiers of all Races and Species could be seen.

Arani shook her head and kept going.

She was on her way to her quarters. Which made talking to her "fellow" Generals on the way nothing more than an attempt to pass time.

'Let's hope it goes better with…'

Knock-

No answer.

Arani knocked twice more on the shut doors made of a greyish material.

'Is he not in…?' She slowly and discreetly grabbed the door handle.

Ever so slightly, Arani pushed the door.

Absolute darkness would have ruled inside the room, if it wasn't for the glass vial that shined neon green.

Put on display in the middle of the room, the glass vial proudly stood as the only object in there.

Someone was in front of that vial.

They were obviously tall, as the person had to bend down quite a bit to be at eye level with the vial.

Enchanted by its contents, Arani hadn't been noticed at all.

She knocked once more.

Only then, did the person slowly turn their head away from the vial, reluctantly taking their attention away from said vial.

"Hope I'm not interrupting..." Arani said with a smile.

The unknown General straightened up, revealing his impressive height of about 5 meters.

"Al."

That was his name.

An impressive height, but extremely narrow shoulders.

Al's limbs were long and slender. Very much so, as his hands fell way beyond his waist.

He stared silently.

"Was I…? Interrupting?"

Al quietly raised a hand and extended it towards Arani.

He unclenched his fist, revealing a mouth on his large palm.

The mouth moved.

"Not at all. I found it and just had to get it. An Abyssal Kraken's Core. Can't find them in these parts. I got really lucky. Want to check it out?"

"Oh. Cool… No, I'm fine."

The mouth moved once more.

"Suit yourself."

The next second, Al snapped his fingers and, in response, lamps on each wall of the room lit up, revealing the man's appearance and the room's state.

'Did he put all those up just to check the Core properly?'

On the room's two windows, dozens of wooden plates had been placed hurriedly to keep the light out.

They hadn't been arranged properly, but their numbers were more than enough to do the job.

The mouth on Al's hand moved once more.

"Anything on your mind?"

Arani looked him up and down.

"You have terrible fashion sense." Arani commented.

"Do I?" Al seemed surprised.

His body was covered by a black full body and skin-tight suit that went up to his nose.

Additionally, he wore red boots, a pair of leather pants, and a purple cloak.

Arani thought it was a shame. She was rather fond of the color purple.

"Your greasy long hair doesn't help." Arani added.

Al lowered his gaze for a bit, looking at each piece of clothing that covered his body.

He couldn't find what was wrong with it.

Arani brought her index fingers together.

Once she pulled them away, a golden stripe of silk was stretched between those fingers.

"Want me to sew you something up?" Arani offered.

Al stared for a bit.

"If you have the time." He said as he turned his gaze away.

Silence-

'Oh. I lost him already.'

Al had gone back to staring at the valuable Item he had recently obtained.

"How's your Candidate doing?"

"Good. He's thorough, curious, and taking his time. I couldn't have asked for better." Al answered without turning to face Arani.

She waited for a bit.

'He's not even going to ask about mine?'

Arani waited a couple more seconds before taking a step.

"If that's all, please close the door behind you." Al said before snapping his fingers, plunging the room back into darkness.

She obliged the request.

'Quirky weirdos, all of them.' Arani thought as she walked away.

Minutes later, she arrived at her quarters.

"Well then, let's see how Neid is doing." Arani whispered, sparks in her eyes.