It took about a second for me to zone in the evolution screen. It was quite a bit different… many changes from before.

 

Evolution Crystal Rat: Very Rare. Crystal rat is very powerful creature that utilize unique symbiotic nature of crystal parasite to fuse together, resulting in a force to be reckoned with. Overall focus on defense and mana. Last tier of evolution. Unlocks- Crystallization. Recommended. System warning! This evolution path might result in dying. Moderate chance.   Superior Black Rat: Uncommon. Superior black rat is an enhanced version of a black rat standard evolution. This creature is generalist in approach and often likes to scavenge. Overall focus on reproduction. Second tier of evolution. Unlocks- Mating priority (high), Superior sense (slight), Tail regeneration (very high), Enhanced bodily functions (slight). This evolution results in losing partial crystallization! Not recommended. System warning! This evolution path might result in dying. High chance.

In particular the screen was a bit more forced and there was nothing else to pick than evolution path. No system commentary either.

I didn’t even read it yet only skipped past the names and started to vent.

What? So basically I can choose only my evolution path this time and nothing else. I mean I get it but how to get new skills then? Stupid garbage god…

Well no use in thinking about that for now I guess and someone interrupted me anyways…

¨Please proceed with utmost haste. Evolution already started. Your body is defenseless. I recommend taking the black rat path. Evolution is a powerful tool that shouldn’t be discarded so early. ¨

Hmm… well I guess I should at least read the screen first properly to even understand what she is about…

Okay this is not funny at all. I wasn’t expecting this amount of bullshit. Why did the stupid bitch have to force me that fucking crystal.

I am sure that the reason why my chances are so grim is because of the crystal and honestly even going further with the crystal is risky af. No wonder they are rare if there is a chance to straight up fucking drop dead. Just why…

Alright, alright calm down. Calm down… I need to pick something anyways. Better think this through. Let me pretend there is nothing dangerous and this is just my regular day in the awesome new world where everything is so amazingly fair and fun.

Yeah there is nothing bad about evolving honestly. I should be happy instead Right? Right!

Hmm… I understand the system recommending me the crystal path. I bet from the perspective of the system having more of the rare stuff is better in general and well… there is also the benefit of having a bit better chance to not just drop dead. Understandable but I think my tutorial is probably correct.

Funnily enough having higher chance to die right now might result in better chances for me in the future.

Also this was forced on me and the only reason I even think about being a crystal rat is because of the focus. I like both of these stats. Having a better defense is just good in general and mana is something I need. I know I literally need it to even have a chance to do anything in this world.

So if I pick the black rat path I will most likely lose the nice stats I currently have. I will be lucky to even have one mana. That is just simply ridiculous. I don’t want that.

Granted right now I technically have zero mana and the crystal is providing me with mana so it would seem good. It also might be good I don’t know but there are just too many risks involved. I might literally brick myself completely if I just take the easy path for now. Not a fan of that.

I will pick the superior black rat path. There is no way I will not regret losing mana and I might just die but it will be worth it. Jeez… even my tutorial think so. I guess having thought about it calmly and dying once provided me with so much needed courage to pick the correct decision.

I am still scared of dying and god knows what would happen to me but just the knowledge of there being something is huge. Fuck it.

Masterfully ignoring the text of the black superior rat I just picked it. Only in the few last moments I managed to actually read it before I lost all vision. HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAH.

Now the process started relatively pleasant but shifted into something very similar to what happened when I ate the crystals.

I could feel all of the changes happening and well… I guess I might really die. This felt even worse and was starting to be similar to the torture I went through when the god decided to fuck me over. I don’t think there was a single part of my body that didn’t hurt and even if there was I wouldn’t notice.

Fortunately relatively fast I was starting to feel amazing and the better changes were happening now. I could feel my body stretching and growing in size. My tail was getting bigger. Something else was getting bigger too… eh. My eyes sting a bit and I could feel that all of my body is steadily going through some changes. Overall really pleasant feeling after the crystal was gone from my body.

I guess I got lucky and didn’t die? I would assume the process to get rid of the crystal was the risky part? Well good. Maybe there is a bit of justice in this world after all. I am a bit used to pain at this point so that might be a bit of the factor there but probably nope. Luck ftw.

Anyways after the process ended I passed out. I think I just slept and all these changes happened during that but I could still feel it.

Hmm… I was waking up and got a bit blinded by light from the ceiling.

Immediately I was greeted by shadow generated by something that made me jump insanely fast. I literally smashed myself into a wall with that jump.

Nothing too serious fortunately but there was something right before me and after I realized what it was I was already smashed in the wall. It was my mother. I was sure of it.

I don’t know why but I even have the feeling that she might have protected me. Of course that’s just wishful thinking and I hope for that only because it would ease my mind. However there is a high chance she came to kill me.

She left us and I actually hate her. I understand her decision but I still disagree. We could’ve been a big pack and that’s just not possible anymore.

She is standing there looking at me amused. However I am not a fan of blindly trusting her anymore. I will make sure to guard myself at all times in her presence. She betrayed me. I will not forgive her. I was never a hateful person but I had just enough of bullshit to deal with. If anyone pisses me off… no mercy. NO MERCY.

I was trying to be nice to everyone. I really was. I probably still will be because I will never learn. But one thing changed. I will not hold back anymore for the sake of being a good guy.

I am a fucking monster.

You made me one.

I shall be one. You fucking cunt.

I was trying to familiarize with my body and noticed the changes. I had a rough estimate of the changes that happened. I could probably look at my status but I didn’t want to risky blinding myself even partially at all. I was sure I estimated my current strength fairly accurately anyways. So there was no need for that risk.

I will give her last chance though because there is indeed that chance she really protected me. I have no way of really telling but since I woke up basically right in front of her. If anything she coulda killed me right there.

I was slowly walking close to her and she wasn’t even moving. Except watching me at all times. Not sure if she expected that but after only mere moments I realized there is no way she wanted to hurt me. I don’t know how I knew and it might have been my damn wishful thinking but she was so passive and waited for my decision that it hit me. She is an animal. She might not be that smart as me and there are decisions she will do that I would just not agree with period.

Obviously… but would she reproduce only to kill her children like that? Of course fucking not she just doesn’t know any better. She doesn’t know strategy or even how to teach her children anything important because there is a high chance nobody taught her either. God knows maybe she went through the exact same shit because of her own parents. There is also a chance she was just made by dungeon itself so of course she just doesn’t know any better.

I am still pissed at her but now that I realized… it was even more likely that she indeed protected me when I was evolving.

I decided to approach her and interact in a way so that even animal can understand. I have rubbed my head to her and basically started cuddling with her. It was responded in kind. She also cuddled with me.

It was getting to the point where it was quite a bit embarrassing for me. I don’t want THAT either… god knows how my new body works. So I cut it short after a while.

Still the intent was clear. Now what? We back to square one except I evolved. That also just reminded me… I should look at my status right now.  So I did.

Monster status Name: None                                                                                Combat Power: 10 Race: Superior Black Rat                                                         HP: 10 Level: 1                                                                                         MP: 1 Fame: 0   Skills: Bite lvl.2, Jump lvl.2, Scavenger, Alpha test player, $@&*. Evolution:  Mating priority (high), Superior sense (slight), Tail regeneration (very high), Enhanced bodily functions (slight). Ver. 0.5

Well it was somewhat close to what I estimated. The mana was spot on. I knew I had just one. Freaking loser I am.

Combat power was a bit better than expected and I am finally starting to understand how that one is calculated. Or at least I think so. My bet was eight so it was relatively close guess.

My mother meanwhile started to evolve herself. I think she would like me to guard her as well. That much I understood from her motions. Okay. No problem. Well except that I am insanely hungry. Jeez.

Oh… there was actually meat waiting for me. She gathered quite a bit of food. There was also some fruit and few things that I don’t really know what they are… quite a feast. Maybe she knows that evolution is taxing? She might’ve prepared this much for both of us. Nice.

Considering how hungry I am… I wouldn’t really want to risk anything so I started eating. I was watching her even while I kept stuffing my belly. Mother was already in the process of evolution and I got the rare option to watch from the very beginning.

I could clearly tell she is going through the process and her body was changing rapidly. The crystals were descending into her skin and she was starting to get a bit bigger slowly. She was twitching a lot and it was clear as day she is not really enjoying it. I imagine she is getting rid of the crystal too? Maybe because I gotten rid of it? Hmm… well I hope she can survive as well. I imagine moderate or high chance means over fifty percent?

I was so engrossed into watching the process that after I ate and sated my hunger I nearly forgot that by eating I get experience somehow. That happened too but I got a bit more clues. I knew for sure only the meat provided me with experience. So there are some rules to it. Probably it has to come from anything that actually had experience when it died? That’s my best bet for now. Shame eating fruit and leveling up easily would’ve been quite enjoyable experience.

Now I could clearly tell the evolution process ended. She wasn’t restless anymore and just slept calmly. Lucky her too I guess. Good.

Unfortunately I was about to get a taste of my first combat. I was sure that three raptors are close by and it was only matter of time before they come here. I wouldn’t abandon my mother in her defenseless state. It was really shameful to do that with my siblings but I was too powerless that time. With their sacrifice I at least have overall understanding of how they fight and they managed to kill one before even giving me hope.

I imagine our stats were about the same before I evolved so that brings me at ten times more power than I had before. Should be doable for me, if I don’t make any big mistake I can do it. That’s a big if but I don’t want to run again.

Revenge time bitches.

Prepare for trouble… you got wiped out by mere rock on my planet. You are not a big deal.

I was waiting for them to approach the cave and they really came soon. Now that I was preparing to fight I noticed they have a bit more mana than the ones before… this might be bad. Still. Even if I wanted I wouldn’t be able to back down now.

They didn’t really care about me standing there before the cave entrance. It was only natural for them to hunt me down and I noticed they were surprised. They probably were hunting down my mother. I bet they had no idea I was even there. One of them was a bit hesitant seeing as I was not backing down or running. Smart fella.

Regardless both of his comrades kept charging and were about to jump me. Now… the raptors are actually a bit bigger than me but I also grew so they can simultaneously jump at me at once and they did. Each tried to jump at different side.

I could already tell that if they manage to land and get their claws into me or if they bite me I die. I have to do everything in my power to not get hit. I might tank it now but they would pin me down they have numbers. The third one is also watching so it is really problematic because after I deal with those two he will know. Also If I don’t deal with them… he will just join them sealing the deal. Well it doesn’t matter if I lose to two a third one will be just a formality.

I don’t know how exactly fast we are moving currently but it felt like the time itself is moving slower. I had been so focused on not fucking up I tried my very best to time it correctly.

My plan was a bit simple. Unfortunately I can somewhat only kill off one of them like that. Doesn’t matter I will keep pressing on.

After they jumped on me I was sure they couldn’t dodge unless they had some sort of weird air jumping which is probably safe to assume they don’t.

I jumped forward and tried my very best to aim and time it perfectly so that I would slip past them. Hopefully without any damage taken…

I managed to time it almost perfectly and when I was past them I used all my strength of my new body to coil my tail around one of them. Still in the air I coiled my tail around one of the poor bastard neck. Resulting in exactly what I desired.

When we both landed the combined force of our jumps was just too much for his neck to handle. His neck broke and he instantly died. Servers you right. However that was not enough. I highly doubt the raptor currently watching will just continue to idle. I need to press on. My tail hurt as well and it was a bit torn but it managed to hold on. Still… unusable for now and I needed to do everything as fast as possible. Not giving them any time to counterattack. I was charging at the raptor that just finished his landing but he was ready.

To my surprise the regeneration of my tail is so fast it was already in perfect condition. That was perfect because without my tail it would be really hard. I don’t think I can handle them without abusing the reach of it.

I was closing in on the raptor and I could already tell the third one was charging at my back. I had so little time it isn’t even funny.

Just before I jumped at the completely ready raptor before me I smacked him straight into one of his eye. I used my tail as a whip and in the brief moment that he was hurt and his other eyelid closed as well I was already in air aiming straight for the neck. I managed to land on his neck and bit him as hard as possible. I also had to hurry I knew the raptor from behind will jump soon too.

I managed to rupture his neck artery resulting in a lot of blood. I was drenched in it and It also went into my eyes and I basically blinded myself.

Still I had to press on. The raptor jumped about the same time I released my bite and I don’t think I will make it in time.

Shit.

This is it.

I will really die this time. I don’t have enough time to do anything… I still tried to jump away but I wasn’t fast enough and he landed on my back.

That was really painful… he buried his claws deep inside of my back and I can be happy he didn’t already paralyzed me with that only.

Fortunately as he was about to bit my head off a huge bird flew insanely fast and just pick him up. It happened so fast. I had no way of telling what the fuck was that. The raptor was also immediately dead and I can be only happy because he released me. I fell from about fifty meters on ground.

Nearly died on impact… I feel like shit.

Urgh… that was not funny. I know I leveled up a bit but shit… this is insane.

I am not a fan of knowing that I cannot even deal with few lizards… not to mention the fucking bird treated us as worms. It was also comparable size difference. I guess why not… thanks unknown monster. Really hope to not see you again in the near future but thanks.

Now… I am sure that if I don’t eat the meat fast I might just bleed out. I can also barely move and my bones are shattered on many places. It hurts… oh well not that bad.

Fortunately I can eat the raptors and I am doing just that. Immediately I confirmed I am getting experience from that too. That just seals the deal. It is nearly certainly experience of the raptors. I can also tell it is about half of the experience I am getting by killing them. Not accurate of course but close estimate.

That’s really good but right now I am eating in hopes that the regeneration mechanic by eating still works… and fortunately it does.

After I finished eating I was fully healed and felt great. Even during the process I had this extreme feeling of satisfaction. This was probably my first real fight that I managed to win with my own skill and I even beat a stronger opponent.

Amazed by my own stupidity to engross myself in eating and boosting my own ego I completely forgot that I am still in a fucking dungeon. I didn’t notice that there was another monster already behind me.

I noticed very quickly after it made its presence known by biting me in my back. It was one of the snakes that were relatively close by on the trees. Don’t know how he knew about this fight but it doesn’t matter. FUCK!

I screwed up. The snake already achieved all he needed… if he is poisonous I already lost.

Even if he isn’t poisonous and I think that is the case… I still am fucked.

As I was about to kiss my life goodbye again my mother emerged from the cave just as the snake coiled around my body still holding me down by that single bite and started to crush me. Hah. Unlucky lad…

Well good for me she was not a fan of that.

I didn’t really see what is happening but I got crushed a bit more and then released. His head was cleanly separated from his body. Still kept hold in my back though. Annoying…

Not for long. Mother cautiously put it off me.

Now I think I was really paralyzed. Not by poison but my body refused to move. Either from some damage of the bite or my crushed bones… I got lucky again and barely survived. Cannot make it out alive myself though so I hope mother knows how to fix this.

She did. She nursed me by feeding me the snake. I even got level during the feeding. Man. Awesome to get experience by eating really.

It took about few minutes to completely heal up.

Hmm… I love being a monster really.

I needed to calm myself and reorganize my thoughts. So I decided to check the results of the lovely experience I just had the taste of.

Monster status Name: Felix                                                                           Combat Power: 13 Race: Superior Black Rat                                                    HP: 14 Level: 3                                                                                    MP: 1.5 Fame: 0   Skills: Bite lvl.3, Jump lvl.3, Scavenger, Alpha test player, $@&*, Tail control lvl.2 . Evolution:  Mating priority (high), Superior sense (slight), Tail regeneration (very high), Enhanced bodily functions (slight). Ver. 0.5

 

Fuck yeah!!! I GOT MY NAME BACK! YES!

¨Congratulation. System acknowledged you! That is really good. ¨

YOU BET IT IS A GOOD THING!

I have my name back. That’s great. I know it doesn’t mean jack shit overall but it feels good to not be a no name creature anymore. HAH! I even got the same name as before. That’s just perfect.

Now I can also clearly see that I got something new and that makes sense to me. So I guess skills are learned this time? Not bad. It is actually way better than just randomly pop into existence.

Overall I am really happy about the growth of the stats this time.

There is also quite a bit of meat left over. Both inside of the cave and outside from the small massacre…

That might actually be bad. Fucking hell no… fuck.

After I realized what so much meat and blood means it was as if I jinxed it and my imagination materialized and could be heard clearly closing in.

¨STOMP… STOMP… STOMP…STOMP…STOMP¨

Shit… I can even hear some trees falling. This isn’t good at all.

¨STOMP¨

It was picking up on a huge source of mana closing in. I couldn’t really get the overall size or shape or even the distance of the creature but judging by the tremors the mere walking of this creature does… it is huge.

I was sure it is somewhat close despite not visible.

Then it stopped after a while. Nice!

¨GRRRRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRR¨

¨STOMP,STOMP,STOMP,STOMP,STOMP,STOMP¨

SHIT!