"How long until the summoning, Zeus?" [ 12 hours. ]
The moment had finally arrived.
Almost eight months in the Oasis. Setting aside the battle against the Zhur'kai, life had been strangely calm — The Treebeards drove away any creature that tried to impose itself on the territory, and although I still didn't have a fixed food supplier at a stable price, a single exceptional stone had resolved the problem before it became urgent. Security guaranteed, supply on low priority. That had given me what no battle could: time to focus on what really mattered.
Temple evolution. And the construction I wanted most — though it wasn't the only one.
"Do you still think it will work?" — Morgana seemed worried, with the tone of someone who had asked the question more than once and knew the answer wouldn't change.
"Yes. Besides, I've spent too much to get here."
In front of me — two constructions.
The first had the form of a giant quadrangular stone that floated, held by four chains at each corner. No apparent door. No striking appearance, aside from the fact that it floated. Nothing that communicated what it cost before entering.
The first time I read about it, I found the name strange. Coliseum didn't match that structure — there was no visible arena, no gladiators on display. But the name didn't come from the function we all know. It was coliseum in the oldest sense of the word: a place of spectacle, where the Oasis and the most powerful races imposed tasks in exchange for something — whether the pleasure of watching blood, or something simpler like the pursuit of surpassing one's own race through challenges. Fights existed. Deaths too, with a frequency no manual softened. But opportunities existed as well — and one of them was access to what everyone sought in the Oasis: Status.
Status was the mirror the Oasis used to measure every living being. It existed from the moment you set foot there — but its full extent only became visible inside the Coliseum. It was the only place where it was possible to raise specific values in a guaranteed way. Outside it, there existed the slightly tested theory that certain creatures could elevate specific attributes when consuming their stones — but it was theory, subject to failure, subject to luck. Inside the Coliseum, no. There the system was direct: you entered, you faced, and what you earned was yours.
What to do with what was gained — that was the only point where the Coliseum became deliberately vague. As though the Oasis understood that the choice needed to belong to the individual, not the rule.
Nearly all the Nectar Stones had been spent to get there — not just on the Coliseum itself, but on all the structure that had made its use viable. Each Nectar represented a decision made with a simple premise: enter in the best possible condition.
"The moment has finally come."
I called Morgana and Livina. There was one last step before entering — and I needed both of them to understand what was about to happen.
"You know I kept this stone for an emergency." — I looked at Livina. — "But thanks to you, I didn't need to use it. The territory was firmly protected. Thank you very much."
I noticed that Morgana hadn't appreciated the compliment directed only at Livina.
"And thank you very much to you as well, Morgana. I would never have gotten here without you." — I paused. — "I called you both because the moment has come."
The second construction stood beside the Coliseum — as expensive as the first, but completely different in spirit. Twentieth century architecture in a medieval territory: clean lines, no ornament, no apparent magic. The kind of construction that would go unnoticed in any other context — were it not for the fact that it stood beside a floating stone and cost the equivalent of years of territory production. It was technological in the way technology sometimes appears — without announcing itself, simply being.
"DNA Alteration." — I said. — "This is what everything was for."
✦
In the Oasis, besides Nectar Stones, another great attraction was the DNA Modifier — for the simple fact of being the only construction capable of incorporating advantages into DNA using heroes as the source. The human entered one way and came out another. Sometimes more powerful. Sometimes more grotesque. Sometimes both at the same time.
It was what the most powerful people sought — at least those who managed to get where I had gotten. What for them would take a few good years, I had done in less than one.
The mechanics were simple in theory and brutal in practice. The hero's DNA was mapped, the capabilities listed — but the power acquired couldn't be chosen. Randomness was in charge of that choice, and when you let a non-human anomaly decide what you would become, the risk could be too great. That was why most nobles preferred to modify their DNA with the most humanoid creatures possible. Nobody wanted to become something instead of someone.
It was also why a vampiric summoning stone was worth more than that of another non-humanoid epic race — the vampire race preserved human appearance while delivering power. Aesthetics had a price in the Oasis, and that price was high.
Since most didn't have sufficient wealth — nor sufficient courage — they preferred to follow the standard path: hunt creatures, accumulate Status, arrive at the Coliseum with enough strength to survive the missions while saving up to acquire some hero who could offer something beyond what a common superhuman could have. Of course, it was the safest path. Slow. Constant. Predictable. It was the path that Livina and Morgana probably believed was the correct one.
But I remembered the tower leader. Wings. Claws. Modified eyes. Legs that no longer belonged to human anatomy. He had chosen power over aesthetics — and had gotten where he had gotten because of it.
The path I walked was not the simplest. Not the safest. But it was the most resolute.
Fortunately Morgana was close enough to human for the alteration not to be drastic. Livina was another matter. A hybrid creature — half human, half scorpion. Fifty percent chance of becoming an aberration to any human race I encountered afterward.
Entering the Coliseum required no mutation. But to bridge the gap of not having actively sought confrontation in the territory — and not having used the Nectar Stones to gain raw power — I had needed to find a path that wasn't the easiest, but was certainly the shortest.
"Aren't you going to do the summoning first?" — Morgana asked.
She was right that I could summon the third hero before mutating. But I still hoped I wouldn't need to use Tauros's stone so soon — it remained the highest value item I possessed. If Morgana's and Livina's powers were sufficient, I would enter the Coliseum without touching the stone. Besides, there were things in the Coliseum that could interfere with the luck percentage in hero extraction — I wasn't optimistic enough to place all my hope in that, and that was why I had evolved the temple before anything else. But if a probability existed, I wanted to try.
"I'm going to take the risk, ladies."
"Honestly…" — Livina said with the smile that appeared when she had decided the situation deserved provocation — "I really hope you get my scorpion half. You know I haven't had sex in a very long time, and I would accept a male like you."
"Livina, why don't you shut up." — Morgana turned. — "Let's go in."
I simply pretended I hadn't heard.
It was the only intelligent response available.
The interior was simple. White empty walls. At the far end, a capsule — similar to the one that had brought me to the Oasis — stood upright, giving the space a technological and clean feel.
"I see you wish to mutate your genes." — Zeus cut through the silence.
[ Identifying mutation objects… ]
[ AQRABUAMELU — adult female | Powers available: ]
[ • Fortified Body (Common - 90%) — severe mutation. Transformation into Aqrabuamelu. High power and resistance. ]
[ • Fatal Venom (Rare - 8%) — light mutation. Semi-Aqrabuamelu with metasoma and bulb. ]
[ • Nature Taming (Epic - 1.9%) — light mutation. Control of small nature creatures. ]
[ • Summoning (Legendary - 0.99%) — no mutation. Summon 6 Barbavores in defense. ]
[ • Extraordinary Summoning (Unique - 0.001%) — no mutation. Summon the primordial Zaetar. ]
I read the list slowly.
Most options required physical mutation — the standard price of absorbing DNA from a creature so different from human.
The probability followed a logic similar to hero summoning, which made sense — the rarer and more powerful the source, the greater the chance of a superior result. Another interesting detail: Livina, being legendary-Unique, made available more options than most heroes could. The book was clear — common heroes delivered two or three powers for selection. I had five.
The bad news was that three of them would modify my body irreversibly. More than ninety-nine percent chance of becoming something that would no longer be classified as human by any system I knew.
I wasn't concerned.
It was the path I would walk regardless of what happened.
"And Morgana's, Zeus."
[ ARCHONS — adult female | Powers available: ]
[ • Fortified Body (Common - 90%) — severe mutation. Transformation into Aven. Flight and high power. ]
[ • Eagle Vision (Rare - 8%) — light Aven mutation. Long range, nocturnal and multiple focus vision. ]
[ • Minor Healing (Epic - 1.9%) — no mutation. Small self or target heal. ]
[ • Superior Healing (Legendary - 0.99%) — no mutation. Extreme healing — bone recomposition and restoration. ]
[ • Supreme Healing (Unique - 0.001%) — no mutation. Revive small creatures and summon the primordial Eir to heal allies. ]
"Morgana… what is an Aven?"
The system said transforming into an Aven caused severe mutation — which didn't make immediate sense. Morgana clearly appeared human. Extraordinary, yes. But human. Nothing in her appearance suggested her race had characteristics that were something else entirely.
She seemed shocked for a second.
"The males of my race are very different from us. They…"
"Have bird faces. With beaks and everything." — Livina completed, since Morgana was clearly avoiding saying it.
Morgana looked visibly irritated.
"So I would become half bird?"
I had calculated that Morgana's mutation would be simpler — she was close enough to human that I expected something manageable. I was surprised. More than ninety percent chance of non-human mutation, with the face as the primary focus. It was exactly what I least wanted.
"Only the face, Lord… Honestly I would find it beautiful, but I understand it is a mutation. You would stop being human."
It was true. One thing was having an arm modified or a lower half transformed — Livina existed as proof that this was manageable. The face was another category. It was what others saw first. It was what communicated who you were before any word was spoken. Now I understood why vampiric mutation was paid for so dearly — it preserved exactly that while delivering power. Just thinking about losing my humanity made me strangely unsettled.
I was handsome. It would be a shame to lose that.
But after the investment I had made, retreating wasn't an option. It never had been.
"Very well, ladies. Wish me luck."
I walked to the capsule and entered.
The system book didn't hide what was coming. DNA change meant destroying the current DNA and rebuilding it — and the Oasis made no effort to soften the experience. The capsule wasn't different from the one that had brought me to the Oasis, but what surprised me was a screen blinking in front of me.
[ There are two modification objects. Which would you like to begin with? • Archons female | • Aqrabuamelu female | ]
"Begin with the Aqrabuamelu."
I could have started with Morgana. But I wanted to start with the more acceptable one — if I was going to become half scorpion, it was better to rip the bandage off while the body still had the tolerance to absorb the blow.
[ Initiating procedure… This will hurt. ]
Yes.
It would.
Some people died in this process. Heroes sufficiently different from humans were practically a death sentence for Lords who tried to absorb the DNA without preparation. That was also why most preferred to wait until the end of the first year — accumulate strength, accumulate Status, arrive at the procedure with enough margin to survive what was coming.
I hadn't waited.
I had calculated that I had sufficient margin.
And bet on it.