Golden sentences flashed one after the other. Evolution. If that could save my life, then—
…I would choose—
[Yes]
The moment I thought of my answer, a searing pain erupted through my body. It was unbearable—I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. My vision faded.
I lost consciousness. The world went dark—and then, from the outside, the changes began.
***
Evolution.
Every monster possessed this right. It was a Universal Law. One of many. Immutable. Absolute.
All That Evolves Must Choose:
Remain or Change.
And now, with all conditions met, Jack's first evolution had begun.
His magical energy core thumped like a heartbeat, expanding with each pulse.
His broken, shattered body began to mend itself. Every missing piece returned to its former state.
From his head, long strands of blonde hair started to grow, slowly, surely. A massive hole opened in his chest—within it swirled what looked like a miniature galaxy. A smaller one formed in his stomach.
Then—silence.
The beating of the magical core stopped.
A wave of magical energy burst from Jack's body, shaking the house faintly. Even the winged beast outside stirred from the force—
Then the energy was sucked back into its rightful place.
Jack slowly regained consciousness.
***
The moment I awoke, I felt… different.
My senses were sharper, clearer, more vivid.
"…Huh? Hair…? And my arm… This is because of the evolution, isn't it?"
Golden hair now fell over my shoulders—definitely mine. Holes sat in my chest and stomach, swirling like starry skies. I was still porcelain. I was still a doll.
"…What else changed?"
To find out, I needed a mirror. But first, I activated [Syphon] on the skeleton, absorbing its magical energy. The quantity was massive. It took some time, but afterward—my body felt even stronger.
I headed upstairs to the mirror in the master bedroom
And what I saw—was extraordinary.
I looked completely different. My mask now had hollow, glassy eyes. My height had increased drastically—I now stood around 7'5"—2.26 meters of porcelain and magic. I couldn't even fit under the doorframe without bending my back. A living statue.
Then I checked my status.
———
Status]
Name: Jack Jackerjack
Race: Soulless Marionette
Age: None
Title: None
Skills:
[Blood Puppeteer], [Soulstess],
[Night Vision], [Sound Manipulation], [Venom Pulse], [Damage Zero], [Syphon],
[Electric Companion], [Fire Companion], [Poisonous Release], [Extra Dimension], [Teleportation],
[Argus Sight], [Revert], [Puppet Strings]
Traits:
[Oblivious], [Unique]
Origin Skill:
[[Law Of Death]]
———
Five new skills.
Four came from the skeleton. One, from evolution.
"A Soulless Marionette, huh…"
That was the next step above a Death Doll.
The conditions were strict—A Death Doll must experience death, possess the ability to see souls, and its magical energy core had to be completely filled.
If even one condition wasn't met, the evolution wouldn't have taken place.
Next I checked all my new skills. Having weapons and not knowing how to use them would only be something a fool would achieve.
[Extra Dimension] and [Teleportation]—those were from the skeleton. No need to inspect them further.
But [Argus Sight] was interesting.
It let me see detailed information about anything I looked at. In an unknown world, it was beyond useful.
Next was [Revert].
"Returning an object to a previous state…? Pretty vague. No point in speculating."
Time to test it.
I picked the mirror as the target. The moment I activated [Revert], two words appeared in my mind: Primary and Secondary. I instinctively knew what they meant.
"…[Secondary]."
Time rewound—but only around the mirror.
Cracks vanished. The glass shimmered with perfection. It looked untouched. As if it had never broken.
[Revert: Secondary] returned objects to a point before they broke, by rewinding only that object's time.
[Revert: Primary], however, restored it to its broken state.
It was a powerful skill.
But it consumed a huge amount of magical energy.
Still, that condition didn't bother me anymore—
Because of what the [Unique] trait revealed:
———>
[Unique]
Any being with this trait gains a massive amount of magical energy for being the first of its kind.
———>
That explained my oversized magical core.
Even compared to the winged beast outside, mine was bigger but it returned to being white with a small red dot in the middle.
And finally—[Puppet Strings]. The evolution-exclusive skill. It let me control inanimate objects using magical threads, but mastery would take time. Thus it wouldn't be as useful as the other skills.
Still… excitement filled my chest.
I could finally leave this mansion.
But it vanished just as fast, I had to be careful. If humans learned I wasn't one of them, I'd be hunted… just like the Duke.
First—clothes.
My face could pass off as someone wearing a mask. But the rest of me? I needed to hide everything.
I searched the closets. A black hooded cloak, black pants, a plain white shirt…
Women's stockings and shoes… long-sleeved gloves, with black leather ones over them. It was absurd.
Still—this was the best I could find.
I used [Revert] to restore the clothing, then put everything on.
Once dressed, I faced the mirror.
"…Perfect."
My identity? Hidden.
My body? Covered. Although my height worried me a bit.
And lastly my gender? Indecipherable.
Speaking of gender, I still didn't now if I was male or female.
But looking in the mirror again, I was completely dark, like the night sky.
If only I had a scythe, people might call me the Grim Reaper.
With my disguise complete, I headed to the first floor. The front door creaked open—
And light poured in.
The blue sky.
The green trees.
Everything was beautiful.
After so long in the mansion, the outside world looked dazzling. But I couldn't forget—
The winged beast was out here.
Correction:
It was literally right next to me, curled up in a nest of straw and sticks, sleeping peacefully.
"…Isn't this perfect?"
Yes. Lady Luck must've had a crush on me.
I mean—who wouldn't?
One quick slash to the throat and I'd be free... If my knife could even cut through its scales.
I crept forward, careful not to make a sound. Soft grass muffled each step.
Closer… closer…
My silhouette fell across its face as I raised my knife.
Just a second away from striking—
The beast's eyes opened.
"…W-Wait!!!" it shouted in a deep, gravelly voice.
I froze. Knife inches from its neck.
"…What? You can talk?"
Surprise flashed across its scaly face.
"H-How?"
Why was it so surprised? My disguise made me look human enough… Was it sensing something else? That would be my next question.