Chapter 11

But before evolving into the next stage, I wanted to check one thing first.

[Tank Core (Rank I)] was in the active slot, so I was curious what exactly it was doing for me. After all, it was a core fragment, created from three complete genetic fragments, so it had to be significantly stronger than any one of them on its own. So I summoned my stats and saw that my total HP was now increased by 200 points and my Bite damage by 10 points, having gone up from 5 to 15.

So, as expected, my stats went up in the same way as they would have if I had equipped three separate fragments in my active slot: one [Fang (Rank I)] and two [Chitin Plate (Rank I)]. That was excellent news. Since I could only place a single fragment in the active slot at a time, and normal fragments improved only one stat each, equipping a core fragment was definitely more beneficial.

Anyway, it was time to evolve. Obviously, I needed to get into the evolution chamber to initiate the evolution process, so I climbed atop the cocoon, pushed aside the lid, and climbed inside, hind legs first. I used my front limbs to drag the lid back over the opening and close the cocoon.

While the material it was made of seemed quite tough, it was at the same time quite elastic, allowing me to move my limbs or adjust my body if I needed to. I lowered myself onto the bottom of the cocoon, squirmed around until I was as comfortable as I could get, then finally went still.

This was it. The moment to evolve had finally come. I issued a mental command to begin evolution. However, it failed to start. Instead, a warning popped into view.

Dang it, what now? I thought as I read the message.

You cannot initiate the evolution process at this time, as not all of the requirements are met: Biomatter 0 / 100.

It was odd. I had exactly one hundred points of biomatter stored in my inventory. Perhaps I needed to put it inside the cocoon with me instead? I decided to give it a try. I regurgitated the biomatter and tried again. This time, a different system message was displayed to me.

—————————————

Level: 5

Biomatter: 100 / 100

Core Genetic Fragments: 1 / 1 (Tank (Rank I))

Genetic Fragments: 2 / 2 (Acid Gland (Rank I), Sticky Globe (Rank I))

Genome Stability: 68%

All the requirements are satisfied. Proceed with evolution: Y / N

—————————————

Apparently, while I needed to keep genetic fragments inside my body, biomatter had to be deposited inside the cocoon with me for the evolution to work. Now I knew that.

I also noticed that my current Genome Stability was at 68%, and I could remember that one of the requirements was for it to be over 60%, which meant that it was barely above the minimum required threshold. It was interesting. I wondered what it depended on. What affected Genome Stability?

Perhaps all the genetic fragments needed to be compatible with one another? Perhaps they needed to be harvested from the same type of enemies for evolution to work more smoothly?

Anyway, I decided not to ponder that for now. Eager to proceed, I thought, “Yes,” and a different panel of system text was shown to me.

—————————————  

Evolution Forecast  

—————————————  

Guaranteed Growth  

—————————————  

Body: 1 (+10 HP)  

Mind: 1 (+1 CP)  

Magick: 2 (+20 MP)

 

Core Genetic Fragments – Tank (Rank I):

 

 

• HP: +100 (100 → 200)

• HP: +100 (100 → 200)

• Bite: +10 (5 → 15)

 

 

—————————————  

Potential Genetic Adaptations  

—————————————  

Genetic Fragments – Acid Gland (Rank I), Sticky Globe (Rank I):

 

 

• Acid Spit (Uncommon Ability) – 54% success chance

• Sticky Glob (Uncommon Ability) – 53% success chance

 

 

Additional Potential Changes:

 

 

• Random Common Skill – 68% success chance

• Random Genetic Benefit – 72% success chance

• Aberrant Genetic Effect – 21% chance of occurrence

 

 

—————————————  

Mutation Risk: 13%  

—————————————  

Initiate Evolution?  

Yes / No

—————————————

That was interesting. A lot of new information to process.

I now knew why nothing had changed when I allocated stat points to my attributes. Apparently, any changes they gave me went into effect only during the next cycle of evolution, which kind of sucked, but at least it made sense now.

I then examined the rest of the forecast information, which was more complicated. There were a lot of interesting details, and I didn’t understand everything shown there. However, despite the fact that I didn’t yet fully understand how everything worked during evolution, I decided not to dwell on it at the moment.

I was eager to proceed and learn what would happen after the evolution, and at first glance, the chances that something bad would happen were pretty slim, so I thought, “Yes.”

All the information immediately vanished. Suddenly, everything before my eyes darkened, and I felt very sleepy. I grew worried, but before I could do anything, I was plunged into deep slumber. While I slept, the evolution process continued on its own, and I was strangely aware of changes taking place with my body.

First, the cocoon itself began to change. While it had initially been quite elastic, it now began to solidify. Its pale material darkened to a deep gray and grew tougher, thickening into a rigid shell. The opening at the top of the cocoon also began to knit itself together until it closed completely.

The lid I had formed wasn’t needed, and therefore it didn’t participate in the process. At some point, it dropped to the metal floor of the vent duct and lay there the whole time. The cocoon continued to change for a couple of minutes more.

Finally, the evolution chamber finished its transformation. The whole process took a few minutes, and now the cocoon looked very different from before. Its exterior was now rigid and quite tough, capable of withstanding some damage. If an enemy attempted to attack it, it wouldn’t be easy to shatter.

The cocoon was now fully closed, protecting me from all sides. Now that its occupant, I, was protected from all sides, safely hidden deep within, the actual process of evolution finally began.

First, the globes of biomatter I had expelled from my stomach and placed alongside myself turned into a half-liquid state and crawled over my body, merging with it. My own body began to grow, and new features began to form on it. Some of my existing features underwent changes. The changes weren’t too drastic and the growth wasn’t too substantial, so the whole process took only about half an hour. After the process was finished, I awoke from my slumber.

For a moment, a pang of panic washed over me. I definitely didn’t appreciate being put to sleep without warning. The system should have warned me that it would happen. I had no idea how long I had been asleep, but it didn’t feel all that long.

After a moment, I realized that nothing bad seemed to have happened while I was asleep, which was good. I didn’t know what was outside, though, and I suddenly also realized the opening above me was now sealed shut. The cocoon had definitely changed while I was asleep. I tried to move, and that was when I also realized that it now felt much more cramped inside the cocoon.

I tried to climb out, but I quickly realized the cocoon was now rigid. It was no longer elastic, making it hard for me to move inside. I wasn’t quite sure yet, but it also seemed I was now somewhat bigger than before, and my body also seemed altered, though since I was trapped inside the cocoon, it was hard to determine exactly what was different.

Determined to get out of my confinement, I braced the joints of my bent forelimbs against the cocoon and pushed with all my might. At first, the rigid cocoon resisted, but as I pushed even harder, it suddenly cracked, and the next instant it simply crumbled into hundreds of small pieces.

I dropped to the ground onto my side amid the tiny shards of the collapsed cocoon, crushing some of them beneath my weight. I didn’t know it at that moment, but after the evolution process was complete, the cocoon’s shell weakened, becoming brittle enough to allow its occupant to shatter it and get free upon awakening.

I rolled onto my feet and rose. I looked at what was left of my cocoon. Apparently, an evolution chamber was for one use only. After I was ready to evolve again, I would need to build another one.

Giving the matter no more thought, I turned my attention to other things. I quickly looked around, but as far as I could see, nothing in the area had changed while I was asleep. There were no threats around me, so I decided it was time to check my stats and see what had changed now that I had evolved.

I issued a mental command to display my status, but instead of the familiar screen, a new system message flashed into view.

—————————————  

You have successfully evolved from Stage I: “Lesser Form” to Stage II: “Acid-spitting Bug”.  

—————————————  

The following of your vital stats have been improved:

 

 

• HP: 100 → 310

• CP: 0 → 1

• MP: 100 → 120

• Bite: 5 → 15

 

—————————————  

You have acquired the following genetic adaptations:

 

 

• Ability – Acid Spit (Uncommon): Allows you to launch an acid projectile from your mouth.

 

 

 

• Skill – Adhesive Secretion (Common): Allows you to stick to most surfaces, allowing you to scale them.

 

 

 

• Resistance to Pierce damage: +10%  

 

—————————————

I checked the information. It looked like the system had assigned me a unique name based on the acid-spitting ability I had acquired. That was interesting. But more important was the fact that I had gained a few useful traits. So I decided to test the ability and the skill I had just acquired.

I turned to the wall to which the cocoon had been attached and tried to use Acid Spit. As it turned out, it was quite easy to use.

All I needed to do was think about activating it, and I immediately felt a small amount of mana transfer from the mana pool, which was located somewhere in the middle of my body, to my mouth, where it formed a glob of acid. It seemed to hover in the middle of my mouth cavity.

I looked at a particular spot on the wall and opened my mouth. Upon my mental command, the acid projectile flew from my mouth as if fired from a gun. It splattered against the spot I aimed at, leaving behind a semi-melted splotch.

It didn’t eat through the metal, though. Apparently, my acid was too weak to create holes in metal. However, it should be powerful enough to deal damage to the current types of enemies I had encountered, like roaches and spiders.

It was now time to check Adhesive Secretion. I looked down at my legs. As before, they were tapered to a point, but I now realized I could actually bend the very tips, forming something like feet. I hadn’t been able to do that before evolving.

This made me realize my body was now somewhat different from what it had been before the evolution, but before checking it out further, I decided to first see how the skill worked. Now that I had formed feet, I could use Adhesive Secretion. Unlike Acid Spit, it was a skill, and as it turned out, a skill worked automatically, without me having to manually activate it with a thought.

As I placed one foot against the wall, I felt adhesive goo ooze from small pores in my feet, making them stick to the metal surface. I then placed the other front foot on the wall. As I started to crawl upward, mana dispersed in small amounts to my feet whenever contact was needed, creating adhesive secretion that made me stick to the wall. When I lifted a foot, mana immediately stopped forming the secretion, making it easy for me to detach it from the wall.

I climbed the wall as easily as I had once walked across the floor. But sure enough, the process drained my mana.

I reached the ceiling, crawled to the middle of it, and stopped there, hanging upside down. Being able to crawl on any vertical surface was definitely beneficial. I now felt like a real bug. I was sure I would be using Adhesive Secretion all the time.

But it also meant I would have to keep increasing my mana pool to make sure I had enough mana at all times. I then crawled back to the wall and descended to the floor. It was now time to check out my new appearance.

Before I evolved, as far as I could tell, I was about two inches long from head to rear. And now I was… well, not much bigger than that. I had grown a little, but definitely not by much, probably only about one more inch.

However, my body felt bulkier now somehow, and that was when I realized my chitinous exterior was now somewhat thicker. I tried to scuttle from spot to spot, and I realized I was now somewhat slower and less agile than before.

It kind of sucked. Sure, due to the thicker exterior shell, I could definitely take more damage now, but I didn’t like having to sacrifice speed and agility for toughness. If possible, I wanted to have both strength and speed. Well, hopefully, I would be able to fix it during the next cycle of evolution.

Anyway, it was now time to check my current stats.

—————————————  

Basic Identity  

—————————————  

Name: Nathan Morgan  

Species: Xmorph  

Evolution Stage II: “Acid-spitting Bug”  

Level: 5

—————————————  

XP: 1,250 / 2,100  

HP: 310 / 310  

MP: 110 / 110  

CP: 1  

SP: 0

—————————————  

Abilities: Nest Creation (Rank I) (Uncommon), Acid Spit (Rank I) (Uncommon)  

Skills: Night Vision, Mana Sense (Rank I) (Uncommon), Adhesive Secretion  

Traits: Fear of Fire  

—————————————  

Attributes  

—————————————  

Body: 1  

Mind: 1  

Magick: 2  

—————————————  

Damage Output  

—————————————  

Bite: 15  

Stab: 15  

Slash: 10  

—————————————  

Resistances  

—————————————  

Pierce: 10%  

—————————————  

Inventory  

—————————————  

Biomatter: 0 / 100  

Active Fragments: 0 / 1  

Stored Fragments: 1 / 3 (Chitin Plate (Shard x5) (Rank I))  

Core Fragments: 0 / 1  

—————————————

My inventory was mostly empty now. Sure enough, the core fragment and the two regular fragments that had been used during the evolution process were now gone, having been consumed to bestow various genetic adaptations and abilities on me.

As for [Chitin Plate (Shard x5) (Rank I)], it was still stored in my inventory. It had stayed untouched because it existed as a bundle of merged shards rather than as a complete fragment. As I already knew, only complete and core genetic fragments could be used during evolution.

I also couldn’t help but notice that I had acquired a new section: Resistances. Thanks to the tougher, somewhat reinforced exterior I had acquired, I had gained 10% pierce resistance.

Once I finished reviewing the changes, I started mentally comparing the actual results to the earlier evolution forecast. I already understood part of the system. The core genetic fragment increased the same stats it had boosted when inserted in the active slot. In other words, inserting a core fragment in the active slot basically worked like a preview, letting me know which of my stats would be permanently improved during the next cycle of evolution.

I had also used two complete genetic fragments, Acid Gland and Sticky Globe, and based on those, I had a 54% success chance of receiving the Acid Spit ability and a 53% success chance of receiving the Sticky Glob ability. Out of the two, I had managed to acquire only one of them, which wasn’t all that bad.

So I had a pretty good idea of how evolution worked. But there were still a couple of details I couldn’t quite figure out. For example, I couldn’t help but wonder whether there was any way to improve the odds of successfully gaining a desired ability.

However, before I could give the matter any more thought, the Queen’s voice suddenly rang out in my mind, sharp and urgent.

Come back right away! I need you. The humans have returned. We’re under attack!