Welcome everyone to another chapter of "Grimm's Evolution".

A bit earlier than the last one and maybe I will try to put the next one even faster.

For real though, thanks to releasing the rewrite of my first story, I again got into the mood to write. Don't know how long it will last, but for now, I will write as much as I can for you all.

Again I thank you all for following this story and giving me your opinions about it. There is nothing better for a writer than the feedback from readers saying that they enjoyed the story. I will try to keep up the level of this story and improve as it goes.

This would be all for this AN. Surprisingly short, but I just didn't have anything to tell you guys about.

Oh well, enjoy the chapter.

Beta: Eleventh Crow

Chapter 6. My life sucks

I'm telling you, this is one huge joke. Why the hell would I want to fight two powerful Grimm just after I finished a quest?! What the hell Game! I thought outraged. Those Grimm definitely didn't look like pushovers.

Of course 'Observe' only gave me a small bit of information about them. I mean, I was very thankful for the information that those two monsters had weak and reinforced armor, but what about those two question marks? I wanted to know what they meant too!

Really Game, why can't you be useful when I need you to.

[Hey! Don't blame me just because you're weak. You know very well how 'Observe' works. That's not my problem.]

It will be if I die!

[Meh... I guess I can make this situation a bit more fun. Here you go.]

[New quest obtained]

Survive your fight against the Reapers

Bonus objective 1:?

Bonus objective 2:?

Rewards: 2000 EXP, Random small Stat Crystal, 500 Lien,?

YES/NO

That wasn't what I wanted, but I'll still take it. The quest didn't want me to kill the Grimm, so I could just escape if things got out of control. I might be willing to fight against enemies that were stronger than me, but there was no way I would endanger life by fighting the Reapers until the end. Who knew if there was anything waiting for me after I died in this world. I was definitely not very eager to find out.

Still, with the quest accepted I could at least try and do some damage. Who knew, maybe they weren't as tough as they looked...

Yeah right.

My depressing thoughts aside, if I wanted to do anything to those Reapers, I would need to find their weak points. I was pretty sure that their mouth was one of them, but apart from that, I had no idea. I guess it was time for some good old fashioned experimentation.

I can't wait...

Thankfully, the two Grimm were courteous enough to only glare at me while I was lost in my thoughts, so I had that going for me. I could probably just fly away and be done with this, but even if things did go south, I was quite confident that I could escape, so I chose to stay. I could fly while they were stuck in the water. As long as I kept my distance I should be safe.

Finally ready to try a few things out, I flew a bit higher and prepared my first volley of 'Spike spears'. This was the longest distance that I'd ever used this skill at, so I wasn't too sure about my accuracy.

Not wasting another second I fired the spikes at one of the Reapers. The projectiles were aimed at the monster's head, and thankfully almost all of them hit their target. Though, that seemed to be the only thing I achieved, as all of the projectiles simply bounced off the Reaper's armor.

Well, at least now I knew where the reinforced armor was. Now I just needed to find the weak part. Hopefully that would happen sooner rather than later. My musings were interrupted by an interesting sight.

Why the hell is that Reaper drinking so much water?

After a few seconds, the aforementioned grimm resurfaced, and an answer to my question came in the form of it opening it's large maw in my direction. I was in the process of aiming another volley of spikes at its mouth when the Reaper decided to open it.

Now, this action might've provided a good opportunity to fire into its mouth, if it wasn't for the compressed ball of water the Grimm just fired at me. I barely had any time to activate my aura and force my body to fly to the right. The ball flew past me, but the Reaper didn't give me a chance to relax, releasing another projectile in my direction.

This time the ball grazed my left leg as I tried to evade it. I hissed, as even though the hit was light, it was still strong enough to mess with my flight. It only took me a few seconds to correct myself, and I was glad the Reaper chose to hold off shooting another ball at me.

Of course I jinxed myself, because even though the first Reaper finished his onslaught, the second one finally decided to join the fray and attack me with the same water bullets.

Thankfully my aura only went down by fifty from the small hit, but I couldn't let it hit me again. I might've been able to risk it on its last shot, as then I would have time to recover, but even then I still risked a direct hit. And I wasn't too keen on surviving that.

That was why I dived, using my superior speed to dodge every projectile fired at me. Sometime during my dodging, I chose the best moment to regain some altitude. Exactly one second after this decision, the first Reaper jumped out of the water with its claws whipping through the air towards me.

I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that it almost grabbed my tail. The thought that I should just fly away and be done with this shitshow was growing stronger with every passing moment. Still, I grit my teeth and endured. I still had a few more things that I needed to try. Just a few more minutes, and if nothing worked after that? I was high tailing my ass out of there.

I flew much higher than I did previously, so I would have more time to dodge in case of another attack. This also gave me time to quickly check what the hell the Game thought was so important. The notification sound has been constantly playing in my head. It was getting annoying.

[You have discovered another attribute of Reaper. Use 'observe' to find out more.]

Surprised, I did just that.

Additional Info: weak and reinforced armor, can fire water projectiles (Maximum 2 shots per minute),?

So the ability had a limit, that was good to know. I could only imagine how utterly fucked I would be if those Grimm could fire more. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to my fights against stronger Reapers in the future.

I still had some time before the first Reaper would be able to use his attack, so I should probably begin with my other tests.

First, I deactivated my aura, letting it recover before the next onslaught, and then I began to fly above one of the Reapers currently circling the area under me. The second Reaper swam underwater so I wasn't sure where it was, but I knew that there was no chance of it catching on me when I was that high in the air.

Finally, when I was directly above the Grimm, I carefully aimed another volley, firing it at one of the Grimm fins.

Not every projectile hit its target, but those that did went right through the fin. The Grimm screeched in pain, letting me know that I'd finally found one of its weak points.

The Grimm didn't give me any time to celebrate, taking another large gulp of water and turning its head towards me. Knowing what was coming I quickly activated my aura, and flew away from it as fast as I could.

I managed to dodge the two projectiles without much hassle. I waited for the second Grimm to attack me with its projectiles, but nothing ever came my way. This fact confused me a bit, but I was pretty sure that the Grimm finally figured out that there was no sense attacking me when I was so far away.

Bad news for me, but I couldn't expect an adult Grimm to be as stupid as the ones I'd fought on Patch. Still, this small fact made all of my next moves much more dangerous. I could really only attack them with my spikes, as I doubt I would survive using my charge. Others would probably try, and maybe even succeed, but not me.

Call me a coward, but I wanted to live, and melee fighting those things would only bring me closer to death. I would rather use my range abilities and survive, I could always come back later when close-quarter fight wouldn't kill me.

Now, my next and last test probably had a small chance of success, but I thought that I could do it. I only needed to dodge the water attacks and I should be fine.

With that, I lowered my flight a bit and went up to max speed. I wasn't sure of the exact speed of the water projectiles, but I was sure that my current speed would be able to dodge them even at close range.

Finally, as I got closer I mentally prepared a very large amount of 'spike spears', and waited for the right moment.

The Grimm whose fin was still bleeding after my attack opened its mouth and prepared to fire. I used this exact moment to throw my own spears from my tail.

This maneuver made me lost a bit of my speed, and even though I managed to dodge the first projectile – and witness my spears hit the Grimm in its open mouth – I was hit right in the middle of my underside by the second Grimm, who used my moment of distraction to aim its shot perfectly.

The hit completely destroyed my aura and knocked me off course. Thankfully, I was flying next to the shore, so I crash-landed right onto the sand. It still hurt, but a quick check of my health bar let me know that I still had more than fifty percent HP.

All in all, I thought my last action was worth it. From what I saw, my spikes impacted the Grimm right at the moment it wanted to release its second projectile at me. I heard it cry out in pain, and if I was seeing things right, then the monster was retreating.

Yep, definitely worth it. Although I couldn't see its health, I was pretty sure it was heavily wounded if it decided to retreat. Though, there was no way for me to follow it with my almost empty aura. And quite frankly, I've had enough of this 'fight'.

I quickly gathered myself from the sand and took off into the sky once more. The second Reaper could still attack me, and I would rather get far away from here and recover.

I took one last look at the lone Grimm that remained and shook my head. Nope, it was too early for me to fight those things. Maybe in a few levels, or when I gained better-ranged attacks. But right now I would need to risk an attack like the previous one too many times for it to be safe.

"Meh, I'll get you sooner or later. For now, hasta la vista, or something like that." I said, completely drained.

With my half-assed goodbyes complete, I flew deeper into the forest. After flying some distance away from the shore a notification appeared before me.

[You are leaving the quest zone. Are you sure you want to cancel your battle?]

Yes, I'm quite sure. I need to finally go over my rewards…

After the game finally let me out from the battle area, I made my way towards the same cave that I evolved in. I felt like it was a good place to finally relax for a bit and do some things that I should have done before my fight.

First, my mind went back to the fight. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Yes, I was still heavily outclassed and I only damaged one of the Reapers because I managed to land a shot while it was charging its attack. Taking under consideration that the Reapers adapted quite quickly during the battle, I was quite sure that this tactic wouldn't work again.

Well maybe once, but after that, I doubted that they would fall for this trick again. Without this method, I would have to stick to my 'Spike spears' and even though they were powerful after gaining some levels, they still had only five percent to pierce reinforced armor. It would take my hours before the Reapers would fall and even then I was under risk of getting hit by one of those water attacks again.

Yeah, my retreat was a good decision. Without more powerful ranged attacks or bigger body for close quarters, my chance to defeat those Reapers was very small. The territory could wait, I had the time.

I won't die, not again.

Next, I wanted to see what the hell did I get from the last quest. Hopefully, I didn't risk my ass for nothing. I knew that with the two additional objectives one would be to kill both of the creatures, but I had no clue what the second one would want from me.

[Quest Completed]

Survive your fight against the Reapers

Bonus objective 1: Make one of the Reaper withdraw or kill it [Completed]

Bonus objective 2: Kill both of the Reapers [Failed]

Rewards: 2000 EXP, Random small Stat Crystal, 500 Lien, Empty dust crystal

Bonus reward: 500 EXP, Random Stat Crystal, Skill book, 2 EP

[You leveled up.]

Not bad. I hoped for more EXP, but stat crystal and skill book was also nice. Thankfully it was enough to give me another level. Surprisingly I even felt myself grow a bit when the notification appeared.

Weird it didn't happen before. Maybe it only happened every few levels? Who knew.

Still, I was really curious about what the skill book would give me. It had been a while since I got one and even then it wasn't as useful as I would have thought. Don't get me wrong, I was glad for another ability that let me hide better, but I really wanted more offensive skills.

"Let's see then," I murmured as I pulled the skill book out of the inventory. I tried to use the book only to be met with another irritating notification.

[You don't meet the following requirements to learn this skill: Aura level 10.]

"You are fucking joking right?" I groaned in annoyance. Last I checked my aura was almost level nine and the logs didn't show anything about it leveling up. It was fucked up that I would need to wait before finding out what the skill was.

I really hoped that it was something worth it if it needed me to get my aura to level ten. This skill leveled up so slowly even when I constantly used it.

Okay, I will just ignore the skill book, for now, I can grind the level later. Now show me those stat crystals.

I again pulled them out from my inventory. There was nothing special about them, just small red crystals that radiated a small amount of power. To be sure how I was supposed to use them I 'observed' the bigger crystal.

[Random Stat Crystal (Rare)

Crystal full of magical power. Grants the user 5 points to a random statistic. To use, crush the crystal in your hand.]

Simple enough.

Five points were quite a generous amount, but I doubt that the small crystals gave anything near the number. Oh well, it would be better if I used it now, I was curious how it would feel anyway.

I put the two small crystals under my left leg and the bigger one under my left. Then with surprising ease, I crushed them.

The power from the crystals quickly went into me and I could feel it coursing through my body, dazing me a bit, before it disappeared completely. Thankfully the sound of another notification brought me out from the daze so I checked what I got.

You have gained the following stats:

+7 DEX

+2 STR

Huh, so the small crystals only gave two points each. Still, I was thankful for the addition. Especially the dexterity, maybe with them my agility would be back to the level from before the evolution.

You know what, I have sixty free SP so I might as well use a few of them.

Of course, I wouldn't use them for any stat that I could train, no it was too early for that. But luck was something that I should have raised a long time ago. Maybe if I was luckier then the quest rewards would have been better or the battle with Reapers might have been easier.

Yeah, ten points into luck wouldn't hurt me and it just might save me one day. With the luck now sitting at fifteen I glanced back at the reward log and saw the two last things that I almost forgot about.

The empty dust crystal and title... What the hell was I supposed to do with an empty dust crystal? Wasn't it completely useless? Oh well, I should see for myself before I threw it out.

[Empty Dust Crystal (common)

Not much explanation needed. It is an empty dust crystal that can still be used in a few ways. Find them out on your own.]

That isn't helpful, at all...

At least it told me that I could still somehow use it. I let my mind wander for a bit in hopes that maybe I would think of something. Thankfully I did and after I brought the crystal out of my inventory I put one of my wings on it. Then I activated my aura and directed it into the crystal.

The process was slow and draining on my reserves but after a few minutes, the empty white crystal changed color to black – the color of my aura. Curious I used 'observe' once more.

[Small Aura Crystal (uncommon)

A small crystal full of aura. Crush to replenish some of your MP.

Effect: Instantly gain 100 MP back]

Huh, I don't think that this should be possible. Game, is it your doing?

[Yes. Those crystals will work like MP potions in normal games. You are welcome.]

Yeah, thanks. To be honest I didn't expect you to put something like that in the system.

With this little mystery figured out, I still wanted to see if I could do more with this thing. I again put my wing on it and channeled more aura. It was definitely the worst idea of my life as in the next moment the crystal exploded throwing me a few feets away.

Note to myself: Overcharging Aura crystals make them go boom...

Well, here went my mana potion. Hopefully, I would get more of those later on as they could be really useful. Okay then, I still got one more reward to check out. The title I gained before the fight with Reapers.

While its name was nothing special – really Young Grimm? – when I clicked on it to find more out what bonuses it gave me, my jaw almost fell on the floor.

[Young Grimm (Major title)

Maybe it doesn't sound glorious or scary, but with this title, you are truly on your way to become the strongest. After all who wouldn't want his own Grimm subordinate.

Equip the title to gain more information about the subordinate system.]

Picking my jaw off the floor I equipped the title, instantly another notification appeared.

[Welcome to the subordinate system.

This new addition to the gamer system gives you an opportunity to have your own, single subordinate. It might not be strong, intelligent, or even useful, but at least you will have almost full control of its actions.

But you don't need to fear as with time your subordinate can get stronger. You will also be able to use your own Evolution Points to give it more abilities.

Be careful as your subordinate can die permanently and you will lose everything that you sacrificed for its growth.

To gain a subordinate you need to find a Grimm around your strength and subdue it. The system will take care of the rest. Good luck in your hunt.]

So long story short I can get my own lap dog? Nice.

I didn't know if I liked the option to give the subordinate my own evolution points, but an ally would be pretty useful anyway. I needed those points for myself to become stronger.

Now where I could find a Grimm good enough for me to make him my subordinate. It definitely needed to be a Grimm that could fly as I couldn't just leave it behind so the ability of flight was a must. Besides that, it would be nice if it was at least strong enough to kill newborn Grimm.

When I was in the Land of Darkness I saw a lot of Grimm that matched this description, but now it would be much harder to find them. I doubt that I would find anything better than a Nevermore on Patch so my search would need to wait for a bit.

Oh well, aural level ten here I come.

Thankfully the grind to get my aura to level ten only took me a few hours. I mostly flew around the coast in search of some Grimm and then spammed charge at them. It also gave me a level in meditation so I was happy with that.

Finally, when aura leveled to level ten I saw what was so special about this milestone.

[Aura (Passive/Active) lvl: 10 (0%)

The manifestation of your soul. Aura can be used for a wide range of abilities. When active, it creates a force field to protect you from harm.

-Passively increases all stats expect LUC by 20%

-When active your stats are increased by an additional 15% and your MP can be used as a health bar

-Cost: MP regeneration disabled until deactivation

Special Effects:

-Level 10 bonus: You gain the ability to use aura/magic outside your body. You can now create attacks or barriers made purely of MP. With a higher level of 'Aura" the amount of MP used will be lower, the control of aura will get better and damage will increase. Current damage or defense depends on the amount of MP used and your INTx 1. (Enemy armor can reduce the damage dealt.)]

Obviously, I gained another five percent of additional boost to my stats when I activate aura, but the level ten bonus was something that really surprised me. The ability to manifest aura outside your body apart from just the passive defense was sometimes shown in the show. Still, I never saw it used for anything other than forming barriers or strengthening your melee attacks. And from what I already tried I could do much more.

Apart from creating barriers, I could also use aura to shot projectiles made out of MP or even push my aura outwards to knock things away from me. Very useful abilities that would help me in my future fights. Their damage wasn't too big and the MP cost was pretty high, but it was expected. Fortunately, the skill already said that it would get better with the level so I wasn't worried.

Finally, the skill book gave me a very interesting skill.

[Dragon Punch (Active) lvl: 1 (0%)

Use one of your limbs and aura to deliver a devastating blow to your enemies. This skill deals damage even through armor, but the effect can be heavily weakened if the user is too weak.

-Cost: 50 MP per attack

-Minimum damage based on STR x1.5 + INT x1.5

-Effect: Depending on the blow you have a small chance to crack enemy armor.]

If I had to use one word to describe this skill it would be weird. Like really at first I thought that the skill would be completely useless for me as I didn't have my front limbs.

The Game quickly proved me wrong and told me that 'Dragon Punch' could be used with any part of the body. And when I said any, I meant it.

I could use it with my hind legs – even if it was almost impossible –, tail -–easier, but still pretty inconvenient – and finally with my wings. The last option, for now, was the best. Unfortunately sometimes when I used the attack with wings against something stronger I could take some damage.

The received damage wasn't too big, but I really couldn't wait to finally evolve and gain front limbs. Everything would become much easier. Fighting, walking, interacting with the system, you name it.

Apart from that, I tried to create a skill that would work with my claws or jaws. While the attack worked, I never gained a skill for it. Quite unfortunate, but Game just told me that not everything could be made into a skill.

When I finally finished all of my tests I waited for night and flew away from Patch. I stayed there long enough and if I wanted to find a subordinate then I needed to move to more infested zones. I didn't want a normal Nevermore and they were the only flying type Grimm on the island.

So here I was, finally entering another territory after flying for a few hours.

[You are entering major territory number 2.]

If I was right then I should be somewhere near Vale so I was really curious what were the requirements for this territory.

'Territory number 2.'

[Number 2: Vale + Forever Fall Forest

-Take control over the City of Vale

-Destroy the facility of Merlot Industries]

Yeahhhhh, not touching that one for a long time. And what the hell is Merlot Industries!? I can't remember anything about this company. Is it some original addition to this world or am I just dumb?

Hopefully, it wasn't anything important and I would just find out later. Now to begin my search for the perfect Grimm. I would lie if I said that I wasn't even a bit excited.

It was official, I was not excited, not even a bit. I was bored, annoyed, and angry at the same time. My every attempt to find a good subordinate ended with a failure. Not even once was I close to getting it.

After hours of not finding even one flying Grimm that wasn't a small Nevermore, I decided that maybe I would just try to find a stronger one and be done with it. Like always my luck showed me that it wouldn't work. I managed to subdue a Nevermore two times bigger than me and the Game told me that it was too strong.

Disappointed I killed the Grimm and started my search once more.

After another few hours, I found a Griffon, pretty strong Grimm that would be a fine companion during my travels. Of course like previously the game told me that no, I couldn't take that Grimm as a subordinate.

At this point, I was already highly annoyed so when I saw a Lancer, large hornet-like Grimm, I was ready to subdue it and take it for myself. It wasn't a companion that I wanted, but after wasting so much time I just didn't care anymore.

Of course, I wasn't the only one that didn't care as the Game again told me that I couldn't capture the Grimm as it was a higher level than me.

This brought me to this exact moment in which I encountered my first temporary territory.

[You entered Temporary territory of Major territory number 2.

Objectives to clear the territory: Defeat the special Grimm residing in the area.]

Finally, something to take my mind off this shitty day.

I was currently in Forever Fall Forest so hopefully, the Grimm wouldn't be hard to spot with their usual coloring. I still had an hour or two before it would be dark so I should be fine.

I spent the first few minutes flying a bit above the trees to scout the area but didn't find anything. Whatever the Grimm was, it either as good in hiding or I was really bad at spotting Grimm.

Thankfully the territory was quite small so sooner or later I would spot it. I didn't need to wait long as the moment I landed a small black blur passed by me and I felt that my HP took a very small hit.

Confused I quickly turned around and finally saw my target. To say I was surprised would be putting it mildly. I never saw this type of Grimm neither in the show nor wiki.

It was a bit smaller than me and was completely black colored with glaring red eyes. It would look like a small black panther cub if it wasn't for the scales that covered its body in some places and the wings attached to its front limbs. It also had a dragonish tail, but it looked pretty harmless if you ignored its length.

All in all, if someone asked me to describe it in a few words then I would say that it was a panther wyvern. Special Grimm indeed.

Using 'observe', I read.

Young Swift Wyvern lvl: 7

HP: 650

Additional Info: Partial weak armor, Very fast, Quite stupid

You know what? You, my friend, will be my new subordinate. I don't care anymore and you don't look like a completely useless creature.

With the decision made I activated charge and rushed at the new Grimm. The wyvern proved that the additional info was right and dodged my attack easily before it ran away while using its wings to hop between the branches.

It was a really weird sight to see as it was the first time that a Grimm was running from me without a reason. Maybe that was why the system created a temporary territory, so I needed to catch it before I could kill it. It made sense as the small Grimm had no chance with me in a straight fight.

Oh well, time to hunt.

It took me another few minutes before I even caught up to the Wyvern. It was really fast and the landscape wasn't really helping me with moving around. Still, I managed to hit the Grimma a few times with my spikes after I sent volley after volley at it.

It slowed a bit with every hit it took and in time it was only left with eighty HP. With the Grimm weakened I wasted no time in subduing it with my limbs. Finally, I asked the Game if it could make this Grimm my subordinate.

[Creature meets every requirement of the subordinate system. Initializing the bonding process.]

After the notification appeared, a small bit of black energy left my body and went into the Wyvern. I quickly jumped away from it as the energy again appeared and consumed the Grimm. All that was left was a small black cocoon.

After almost an hour of nothing happening, annoyed at the lack of progress I asked, "Game, just how long will this process take?"

[Give or take a few hours.]

"Great. Fucking great," I murmured dryly. It was time to take a nap.

END

Took me longer than I thought it would, but it is finally finished.

The Grimm that will be Umbra's subordinate was inspired by Nargacuga from MHW. I can tell you that it won't be the last monster from this series that will appear in this story.

Here it the stat sheet and a few skills that got some major changes int eh last few chapters.

Name: Umbra

Race: Soul Grimm

Title: Young Grimm

Level: 9 (1820/3000)

Evolution Stage: Draconic 2 (79%)

HP: 838

MP: 782

STR: 16 + (25%) = 20

VIT: 17 + (25%) = 21.25

DEX: 23 + (25%) = 28.25

INT: 16 + (45%) = 23.2

WIS: 18 + (45%) = 26.1

LUC: 15

Elemental Affinity:

SP: 50 | EP: 4

Lien: 4220

Updated skills:

[Negativity absorption (Passive/Active) lvl: 5 (0%)

As the creature of Grimm, you are drawn to negative emotions. Thanks to the system you can now feed off them to gain experience. The more negativity the more EXP you get.

Passively absorbs negative emotions. Radius: 90 feet | EXP gained: 10 to 100 per hour

Active: Sense negative emotions around you. Radius: 1.5 mile | Cost: 10 MP/min]

[Flight Mastery (Passive) lvl: 20 (0%)

Let you move in the air more easily. Your speed increases, every maneuver becomes easier and maybe, just maybe you won't fail the landing.

40% increase to movement speed when in the air

20% increase to DEX when in the air]

[Spike Spears (Active) lvl: 10 (53%)

Fire your spikes at your enemies. This ability evolved from [Feather Spears] and became much stronger.

-Cost: 25 HP per projectile (10% chance to not consume HP)

-Damage based on your STR x3

-Effect: 30% chance to inflict bleeding (25 DMG/sec for 10 seconds)

-Effect: 80% chance to penetrate weak armor, 5% chance to penetrate reinforced armor]

That's all when it comes to the major ones. I will put the next ones in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading this chapter. R&R if you liked the story and see yon in the next chapter.

Have a good day/night.