Demonic Devourer's Development

The beast that trampled towards the stream looked like a mix of a cow and a lizard: all cow in form, but with scales covering its hide, lizard's tail and wide paws where cow would have hooves. I wouldn't bet that it was a herbivore, though. There were no pure herbivores in this cave ecosystem, though some creatures preferred mushrooms to other creatures.

Unlike most of cave monsters, this one had eyes, and they carefully scanned the vicinity for threats as the creature approached the water. I kept still where I plastered to the rock, but I found a good hiding place—the monster's gaze passed over me without pause.

I could've attacked then, but I waited, curious to see what would happen next. Did the creature came to drink the rainbow water? If yes, I wanted to see it do it, just to know that I could do it, too. After all, if that monster survived, I would too… especially after I eat it.

The lizard-cow lowered its head and began to drink. It was an even better moment to attack, both because now I learnt what I wanted, and because the beast was distracted. I let go of the stone ceiling and, with an almost soundless flap of my wings, flew towards the creature.

It noticed me instantly, long before I could reach it. In motions way too fast for an average animal of its size, the lizard-cow turned and pointed its curved and sharp horns at me. I paused in the air before I could skewer myself on them and circled around the beast, trying to come from an unprotected behind.

I was a fast flier, but the lizard-cow was a fast turner. It was, though, still limited by its physiology, which didn't let it raise its head as far as it needed to protect itself from me landing on its back. A classic and reliable tactic. I raised my claws, ready to strike—

And the force with which the lizard-cow bucked threw me off its back, and if I didn't reorient myself in the air fast enough, I'd fall in the water. The lizard-cow let out an angry mooing sound and scaled its teeth—way too sharp for a normal cow—at where I hovered in the air. Its eyes tracked me without a hitch now, and I knew it had heatvision. The light that came from the water alone wouldn't be enough for anyone to see that well.

If my encounter with the hand-worm taught me something, is that I had a lot to lose if I lost a fight. "I will find you later, lizard-cow, and kill you in your sleep," I told it and took a deep breath. The lizard-cow smelled more like a lizard than a mammal. I remembered that scent for the time when I would search for the creature's den and turned my tail on it.

It didn't look like it had more interesting abilities than just unusually high stats, anyway.

I flew over the rainbow stream until the lizard-cow was well away, and landed on its shore. I was dying to have a good gulp of water, even though I drank plenty of liquids. Now, magic rainbow water… It won't cover me in scales, won't it?

Not that I would suffer that much with scales, but still.

When I put my hands in it to fill a handful with water, I felt a soft tingling on my skin. Alarmed, but not enough to stop myself from drinking, I studied the water closer in my palm. It still glowed there, and in the darkness, the light was impossible to miss.

It still tingled when I drank it down, and kept tingling even in my stomach for a moment, until it settled down. Besides tinging, it tasted like any water, fresh and cool, with some mineral tint to it—like any water in these caves. I immediately wanted more.

I drank straight from the spring until my thirst faded and then waited for the intense tinging inside of me to settle. I felt it spreading from my stomach to my entire body, but when it vaned, in its wake, I felt just… good. And more than that, the part of my snout that touched the water felt the best of it—the same part that still bore not entirely healed acid burn.

Could this be some sort of magical healing spring? I tested this theory by washing my face with it better, and was almost immediately rewarded with a dulling of the remnant ache on my skin. This was amazing. I lost my way to the surface—temporarily, temporarily!—but I found some healing water. Worth it.

I also realised that the rest of my body felt better, too. It was healthy already, but now it felt revitalised. A burst of energy filled me, and I wanted to run and jump around, to chase and claw at something to let it out. It took some willpower and pacing in a circle to rein myself in. Eventually, the burst of energy turned into something more akin to a gentle flow of it, a general state of feeing great and ready to hunt. It was much like the time I evolved 'Cold Affinity', except these caves weren't cold enough for me to get that much of a boost from it.

While I paced, I inspected myself as much as I could. That included my character sheet. There, I found something that made me pause.

STR: 14.68

DEX: 15.3

CON: 14.1

INT: 12.24

My stats! It didn't look like much, but my STR, DEX and CON went an entire point up since the last time I checked them, which was recently enough. My training had raised them about a point since I entered the caves, but this was an entirely different thing. I just drank some water and got a point up?

I had to drink as much of that water as I could. Then, I would have to find the place where this water was coming from… Because it was coming from SOMEWHERE, and what sorts of miraculous powers I would be able to get from that place?