Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

After changing my clothes, I didn't have the mood to look in the mirror. I threw my dress into a bag and then left the room.

I was now wearing a dark open jacket with an inner lining on top and a knee-length skirt below. I was still wearing the borrowed boots on my feet. Actually there was also a pair of stockings that came with the outfit, but I ignored them.

Outside the door was a bunch of people. Other than Nicola, Adrian, Vivianne and the others were all there, apparently waiting for me so we could go eat together.

"Feliciana, you look really good in that outfit." Adrian sincerely complimented me when he saw me come out.

"It's... alright I guess." I responded with an awkward smile, and glanced at Nicola next to me. She was also staring at me. I actually thought Nicola looked pretty good too. Although there were two other girls and a loli present, compared to her they were completely overshadowed.

The dining area was in the hotel lobby. There were also many other guests dining there. After letting Brennan and the others order some food for me, I discovered there actually wasn't too big of a difference in the cuisine compared to what I was used to. Although the steak in front of me looked very strange, and was slightly bluish, when I ate it, it was extremely delicious. The meat was fresh and juicy, and the seasoning was just right. I almost couldn't stop myself from swallowing my tongue.

"So she's started transforming into a Light Elf now huh?"

I saw Irene's skin that had already whitened considerably next to me, and asked Selene who was sitting on her other side.

"That's right, I didn't expect it to happen this quickly either, after all it's my first time seeing it."

Selene replied to me while examining Irene's condition.

Irene seemed to also be eating something from this human world for the first time, and was scarfing down the food in her bowl. According to Vivianne, after checking into the inn she had been sleeping the whole time until just now when she finally woke up, probably because she was hungry.

"I didn't expect that even a humble village inn like this could serve such delicious food in this world."

After the meal, while strolling around town, Nicola still seemed to be reminiscing about the food earlier.

"Yeah." I nodded in agreement.

Leisurely walking along the streets of the town, it was the first time I felt so relaxed after crossing over. It had already been several days, and I had also gotten to know many companions. I looked back at everyone behind me. Adrian and Brennan were discussing something again and had even taken out his bow to demonstrate something. Vivianne and Selene were taking Irene shopping at one store after another. It seemed they still had endless energy even after walking all day.

I really hope this kind of scene could continue forever.

"Feliciana, we'll probably arrive at Norvale tomorrow." Adrian suddenly called out to me from behind. "After we reach our destination, what are your and Nicola's plans?"

"We decided to stay there for a while first before deciding." Nicola thought for a bit before replying. This was a decision we had come to together after discussing it. Since we had both crossed over to this world and were now fellow sufferers.

"We heard there's also an Adventurer's Guild there, so we're considering joining."

This was also part of the route we had already planned out. Even if I was completely useless in fighting and magic right now, I at least had my angel background to fall back on. I heard even the lowest level bi-winged angels had strength comparable to a fourth rank magical beast, and from my battle with Minos I deeply understood that. So relying on my current physical abilities to be an adventurer and earn a living was a realistic survival method, moreover, I had Nicola with me.

Actually, I would be very willing if we could join Adrian's party, but this was just an idea for now and I didn't know if they were interested in having us, so there was no rush.

"Then we'll also try our best to keep an ear out for any angel related intelligence." Adrian nodded and also expressed his willingness to help out however he could.

"Oh, there's no need to pay too much attention to that." I hurriedly declined upon hearing that.

Nicola and I had also discussed this. Although she wasn't as wary of other angels as I was, no one could say whether interacting with them was a good or bad thing until we got to the bottom of things. So to be safe it was best to avoid them for now.

"Yeah, we want to stay in human cities as long as possible. It'll probably be hard to come back after returning." Nicola made up a reason to agree with what I said.

"Alright then, we're also stationed long term in Norvale, with rented houses there, so if you run into any difficulties you can come find us." Seeing our attitude, Adrian and the others didn't insist on it any further.

When we returned to the inn, Irene had at first insisted on staying with me. According to Selene, she had already started feeling an affinity toward the light element, so naturally was reluctant to leave me since I was an angel.

But in reality, when Irene saw Nicola was also in this room, even though she was an angel too, it couldn't dilute her hatred at all. In the end she still ran back to Vivianne's room.

"Looks like her hatred towards you is still quite deep." I couldn't help sighing a bit after closing the door.

"Well it makes sense, since it was you who made her into this after all. The fact that she didn't insist on killing you already shows she's thinking rationally."

"I didn't have a choice. She was the one who came to assassinate me first, I almost lost my life." Nicola also had a very helpless expression. Then she lifted up the bedsheets and laid down.

"You..." Seeing this scene I finally reacted that we were sharing a bed again. Still worried, I reminded her, "Sleep far away from me at night, no touching."

When camping outside, I had always slept very far from her.

"I know, I know!" She impatiently pressed a button by the bedside, turning off the magical illumination lamp on the ceiling.

The room instantly became pitch black. I was speechless for a moment, then groped my way to the bed and slowly laid down near the edge.

"Hey, Nicola." In the darkness, I suddenly remembered something and called out to the person behind me.

"What is it?" She didn't seem to be asleep yet, and I heard her body shift slightly.

"How much did those two outfits cost, and how much did you borrow?"

Hearing my question, Nicola didn't say anything for a long time. I thought maybe she had fallen asleep, but then I heard her voice answering.

"Not much, 200 silvers. The clothes only cost a little over 100, the rest is still with me."

After a pause, she added, "The prices here seem about the same as on Earth."

So the currency here was called silvers? I suddenly understood.

"Since you borrowed it you have to pay it back."

"Mm..." She just vaguely agreed before going silent again.

I sighed, and quickly fell asleep as well.

The next morning.

"Hey, Feliciana, wake up! What's going on with you?" I seemed to hear Nicola's voice calling me. I opened my eyes to see her standing in front of my bed, shaking me to wake up.

"What is it?" I rubbed my eyes and glanced at her. It was already bright outside.

"Take a look at your wings." She pointed behind me and said. Puzzled, I turned my head back to look, only to discover the bed was covered in feathers. My wings had actually come out of their concealed state on their own while I slept!

"What's going on here?" I sat up in shock, instantly awake. "I clearly put them away before sleeping. And they shouldn't even come out while I'm asleep, it was fine before."

"I wanted to ask you too." Nicola also had no idea what was happening. "When I woke up this morning, I discovered there was suddenly an extra quilt on the bed, a down feather one at that."

"And you didn't notice?" She looked at me meaningfully and asked.

"Huh?" I didn't understand what she was getting at. Just as I wanted to conceal my wings behind me again, I discovered I had an extra pair...

"What's happening? Did I advance a rank?"

I was startled again. So Nicola and I both had four wings now?

Carefully examining the new pair of wings, I discovered that after the new wings grew out, both the original and new wings seemed thinner compared to before. But added together they were thicker overall.

So was this because they were growing out of the same spot on my back? I somewhat understood why this was happening. Thinking about the case of having six, eight, ten or even more wings later on... If they didn't get thinner, my whole back probably wouldn't be able to support them. Not only for aesthetic reasons, but once I got to eight wings or more, having my entire back be that heavy would definitely impact mobility. That clearly wouldn't be scientific... No, wouldn't be fantastical.

"How come you advanced a rank at this time?" Nicola was very puzzled about this. Could I say I was also completely clueless? Moreover I advanced while sleeping in bed, without any feeling at all.

"I don't know either. What was it like when you advanced to four wings?" I asked her instead, wanting to find similarities between our experiences.

"After killing a scorpion lion beast, not long after I suddenly felt an itch on my back. Then the new wings just grew out on their own." Nicola recalled what had happened to her. It seemed the memory was still fresh.

"So you advanced while fully conscious?" I suddenly realized there was no point of comparison at all between our experiences, the differences were too great.

"Of course." She affirmed very definitively.

"Could it be because you gained strength after killing magical beasts?" She threw out another hypothesis, but immediately rejected it herself. "No, that's not right. You've been with us these past few days without killing anything... Speaking of which, how many have you killed in total?"

Being asked this question suddenly, I was at a loss for words. After a long pause, I blurted out.

"Zero."