I selected the Magma Ape and the Dragonling and received a more detailed overview of their stats.

The Strength and Toughness attributes of the Magma Apes were quite high, so that explained why they’d been so difficult to take down. The Dragonling’s attributes were, on the whole, much lower than those of the Magma Apes, which made sense since it was a base creature at Level 1. Their Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma rolls were much higher, however, and that made me wonder if they were capable of some minimal level of interspecies communication.

One of the most interesting components of the creature statistics was not their attributes; it was their evolutionary paths. I held my hand up and flicked the windows to one side, dismissing them. They vanished.

I turned to Kyrine, a question on my mind. She was still reclining in the tub, the steaming water just half-covering her pink nipples, her wet hair hanging down over the side as she watched me.

I reached for one of the white fluffy towels from the stool by the tub and began to dry myself off as I spoke.

“Before now,” I said to Kyrine, “I’d always thought animals could only evolve into magical creatures by osmosis. You know, by absorbing residual mana from the environment and ending up being able to cultivate. It always seems like it was an accidental process, something that just kind of happened as an unintended consequence of magic use. I never thought that the process was something that could be done intentionally.”

“It requires significant effort, but it can certainly be done. Indeed, it’s the main way of creating new kinds of monsters in dungeons. My Magma Apes. . . excuse me, your Magma Apes… are simply one example.”

“How did you get the ape? Did you always have it?”