Over the next few weeks, the slaughter continued without pause. The kill count eventually crossed a thousand, pushing him to level three, granting him four additional stat points. Yet beyond that, nothing changed, no new quests, no sudden growth, no dramatic shift in his strength—only his level increased. The emptiness of it left him unsettled. He had expected a lot more, then his eyes slowly narrowed as realization struck him, he had been killing these horned rabbits for so long that they no longer felt dangerous to him, now they had become a part of his routine and from what he knew, players only evolved when they face life and death situations. If he continued hunting here, nothing would ever change. He straightened his back and turned, facing the horned rabbit clutching a carrot in its small paws. Their eyes met, and for a heartbeat, the creature froze completely. That sight freeze made Vayu smile as his title was still working. He looked at the rabbit once more, expecting the same reaction, but this time the rabbit merely stiffened and didn't freeze at all, it just showed a flicker of unease as its ears twitched sensing danger from Vayu, but it was no longer frozen at all.
This discovery made Vayu feel uneasy, because his title made the horned rabbits froze, yet it just made this horned rabbit uneasy. Vayu thought it had to do something with the golden carrot he had. Vayu still putting his thoughts aside charged forward, his muscles tightening as he threw his spear with full force. The horned rabbit remained where it was, unmoving, its eyes calm. As the spear closed in, the golden carrot suddenly began to glow, a soft light spilling outward. In the next instant, an oval-shaped protective shield formed around the rabbit's body and the spear struck the shield with a sharp clang and was violently knocked back. Vayu ran towards his spear, the weapon was lying on the ground, its shaft bent and crooked from the impact. He stood there, stunned and when he lifted his gaze again, the glowing shield was vanishing slowly and the horned rabbit stood quietly, as if nothing had happened at all.
Suddenly, a ding echoed in his mind, a translucent status window appeared before Vayu's eyes. He had received a new quest: Kill 100 horned rabbits who have completed one demonic transformation.
"Demonic transformation" Vayu stood there with a puzzled expression on his face, he knew the task was to kill those rabbits with carrot in their hand, but right now there were too many variables, his weapon was bent and he had no idea how strong the shield was and third he didn't knew anything about demonic transformation. Gathering his loot, he quickly retreated to his hideout, by evening he reached the underground chamber. He had collect a lot of demonic crystals, he quickly put them all in a bag and from there headed straight to the Hunter Guild.
For the first time after coming here Vayu went there back in and exchanged all the demonic crystals for gold coins. After that he began waiting for Ruru and her group, nearly three hours later, they finally arrived. Ruru spotted Vayu at once, and waved towards him and Vayu waved back, the bull brothers behind her showed curious expressions. Ruru quickly made her way towards Vayu and said "He is the one who saved me from the horned rabbits cave" and continued by saying " HE is Bal" said pointing towards the one on left "and he is Atibal" pointing towards the one in right, "Bal, Atibal this is ....." and she suddenly remembered she had never asked Vayu his name, Vayu understood that she didn't know his name and smiled towards her " I'm Vayu" he said.
After exchanging brief greetings, the bull brothers left and Vayu asked Ruru to join him for dinner and she agreed. Soon, the two of them were seated inside an inn. For once, Vayu was paying with his hard earned money. While they ate, Vayu asked her about the shield he had seen, but even Ruru had never heard of such an ability, though she did mention that some demonic beasts possessed similar defensive skills. He then showed her the crooked spear. To his shock, Ruru straightened it with ease, casually remarking that his weapon was primitive and weak. The sight startled Vayu—if Ruru could do this so easily, then after activating Overdrive, his own strength would surpass Ruru. Then he asked her about demonic transformation, and she told him " All demonic beasts go through nine transformations over the course of their lives. Some are born stronger, having already completed a few transformations at birth, while others started from absolute rock bottom. Yet, once a beast reached the ninth transformation, the difference between species vanishes—if two ninth-transformation beasts fought, they would be evenly matched in strength. The path to that peak, however, was vastly different. For a horned rabbit, reaching the ninth transformation was almost impossible, while for a lion, it was something that came naturally".
After finishing their meal, they parted ways. As Vayu walked home alone, his mind sank into deep thought. The rabbit with the glowing carrot, had completed its first transformation for sure. He had also asked the reason for the transformation but Ruru said "what exactly triggered these transformations, or when they occurred, no one truly knows" she even told him that even shapeshifters go through transformations, they were called body transformations, they were even harder then a demonic beast.
Vayu's curiosity deepened as he heard that even shapeshifters go through transformation. He wanted to know the reason behind these transformations. If beasts and shapeshifters could undergo them, then why couldn't he? To find an answer, he first had to understand what triggered a transformation. Most shapeshifters never went through even one. Among them, only the true alpha of all shapeshifters had completed eight transformations, while some were stuck at the fifth body transformation, even there number were very few. Those who had managed to complete even three transformations were treated as nobles within the kingdom, as achieving three body transformations alone would take a lot of effort.
But Vayu was a devourer and could gain abilites by eating others, as he was thinking a dangerous thought crossed his mind—if he consumed someone who had undergone a body transformation, could he evolve as well? The idea itself made his spine tingle. But he put a stop to the idea because even an ordinary shapeshifter was terrifyingly strong, one who had completed body transformations would be on an entirely different level. Just imagining such an existence sent a shiver through his body. Lost in these thoughts, Vayu returned to the underground chamber, the darkness closing around him as his questions only grew heavier.