Zao (POV)

Zao and Jia stood in front of a group of nine men. They watched Rebecca lead her Terra Ant Golems against the Ice-Bugs. She ordered the warrior caste to block the main entrance with their bodies like a Greek phalanx. Except this shield wall is literally made of living wood and stone. The worker caste added more layers to the defense and carried away wounded golems that had fallen. The Ice-Bugs numbered over a thousand, and their wings allowed them to attack from above. Despite the onslaught of Cryokinetic attacks, the earthen dome held, but for how long was uncertain. Within the swarm are five Butterflies, similar to the one Zao had fought and killed in battle over Rockville. They provided unlimited Mana to their brethren through a conjured hailstorm.  The Golems had several thousand Golems, but the opponents they faced was a small swarm that had split away from the main attacking the Pacific Fleet and the military base at Seward. If the fleet is sunk and Seward destroyed, more Ice-Bugs would arrive and overwhelm the defenders since the Golems lacked the long-range firepower to take down the airborne Ice-Bugs.  After a few minutes of observing the flow of the battle, enemy tactics, and locations, Zao turned his attention towards Markus, who jogged up to him.

Zao. “Have the refugees sealed themselves inside the passageway to Dale’s bunker?”

Markus. “Everyone is inside, though it's a bit cramped in there. Luckily, the Neo-Atlas Drones built a proper ventilation system. Otherwise, it would have been a bloody nightmare.”

Zao. “Where are Dale and Mash?”

Markus. “Without the sun, Dale only has a small reserve of Mana left to use, and Mash is only good at ground-based close combat. So they decided to stay behind as a last line of defense.  How is the battle outside?”

Zao. “Rebecca's Golems lack the offensive firepower to destroy the Ice-Bugs. Holding them back and repairing the Dome is all they can do. I waited for you to return before-”

Suddenly the figure of Rebecca is enveloped by a ball of white light, and then it changes to green. It solidifies before cracking and breaking apart to reveal Rebecca. Her appearance did not change since she is a Skill Transfer Tamer, but all the golems under her control grew in size. The Warriors grew from seven feet to twelve while the workers grew from five to eight. Apart from their size, the Golems gained new abilities. The stones and wood that made up for the armor of the warrior cast slowly changed. Topaz replaced most of the rocks, and sharp wooden spikes grew out of their body like what one would find on a porcupine. The worker caste gained the ability to heal by using their control over the soil and flora to replace lost limbs and close wounds. They immediately treated the injured warrior caste to have them rejoin the fight. The Ice-Bug swarm had paused their attacks when they noticed the transformation, but they quickly recovered their senses and resumed their bombardment. But this time, a volley of several hundred wooden spikes intercepted the Ice shards and shattered them into harmless pieces. Some of the projectiles kept soaring and skewered the Ice-Bugs within the swarm. These projectiles were fired from the bodies of the warrior caste who presented their rear to the enemy. New spikes slowly grew to replace the ones they fired, but this only took twenty seconds to complete.

 

Markus. “What just happened?”

Zao. “Rebecca just evolved to her third form.”

Markus. “How did she manage that so quickly? I don’t recall her fighting any Ice-Bugs until now.”

Rebecca overheard the question and came over to answer it.

Rebecca. “I had been using the Monster App’s Duel mode since Zao told Dale about the feature.”

Markus. “I appreciate you taking the time to answer, but shouldn’t you be focused on leading your Golems?”

Rebecca. “I already handed over leadership to the oldest workers and warriors. They will contact me if they need help. 

Markus. “Oh, in that case, please explain.”

Rebecca. “Mash was upset about being stuck inside the bunker while everyone else went out to fight and leveled up their skills. You all know he is obsessed with martial arts and needed real opponents. Since I had plenty of warriors suffering from lack of battle experience. I proposed the duel feature to solve both of our problems.” 

Zao. “You reached Exert Rank before the battle?”

Rebecca. “I reached the Expert Rank, but I held myself back from evolving because I wanted to see what would happen after Master Rank.”

Markus. “You sound like Zao…wait! Did you reach Master Rank during this battle?”

Rebecca. “The last fifteen minutes against the Ice-Bug swarm helped me clear the requirements for evolution manipulation.”

Zao. “Since you are the first to have evolved. I must ask, what did the App ask?”

Rebecca. “Apart from offering the replace or evolve skill. The APP provided my monster’s core attributes and told me to pick two I wanted to specialize in. After that, it asked me to modify three of my cores.”

Zao. “Cores?”

Rebecca. “You have Sun, Body, and Metal as your attributes, right?”

Zao. “Yes.”

Rebecca. “Think of each of them having their own core. The app will give you two upgrade options for each and ask you to pick one. Your answers will change the way you fight, so don’t rush with your choice.”

 Zao. “Is that what made your Golems grow and gain new abilities?”

Rebecca. “Their growth in size is probably a side effect of the Mana core evolving. But the Enhancing Mutaion modifications I chose for my Insect core allow my golems to gain new abilities to overcome their enemies.”

Markus. “Are you saying they all have become Ant Golems with mutant powers? Can they get laser eyes now?”

Rebecca. “I just got these powers. I will need to see how far they will evolve.”

Markus. “Ah, I understand. Wait! If their mutant powers are part of your modification to the Insect core. Then what skill did you replace or evolve?”

Rebecca. “I got rid of the skill that created a Ten-Foot-tall earthen dome around me because it made me immobile and blind. The new skill I received is called Terra Ant Queen’s armor.” The Earth under Rebecca split apart and swallowed her, and before the tamers could recover their shock, she slowly re-emerged out of the ground, but now her body is wrapped in wood and stone. She resembled a being that was the fusion of Groot and a Kronan. Now towering over the men at 9 feet and with a bulky body that could rival the Hulk, she smiled. 

Rebecca. “Impressed?”

Everyone nodded, and Zao had a fire in his eyes.

Zao. “I will be going out there and killing as many bugs as possible I can till I reach Master Rank. Is anyone else close to it?”

Markus. “Two out of four are Master Rank.”

Zao. “What about the rest of you?”

No one raised a hand or voiced an affirmation and sheepishly looked away from Zao’s intense gaze.

Markus. “I think reaching Master rank is a struggle for most. Maybe it's best if they stick to evolving at the Expert Rank.”

This time four among the nine raised their hands with confidence. 

Zao. “Then use this opportunity to level up and evolve. We must increase our combat strength to wipe out all the enemies around the dome.”

Markus. “It will be tough to fight the Ice-Bugs if they don’t come close to the ground. They are 200 meters above us and don’t look like they will be coming down since the Golems began firing projectiles at them. You and Jia are the only Tamers with flight here since Dale can’t help.”

Zao. “Hmm… the only reason the swarm is attacking from a distance is because of the unlimited mana that the Butterflies are supplying to use long-range Cryokinetic skills. If I can take them out, the swarm will have no choice but to fight in close combat.”

Markus. “The last time you had Dale to help you with that against one. Can you do it on your own against five and a swarm three times bigger than the one in Rockville?”

Zao. “Jia is here, so I am not worried.”

Markus. “Jia? Will she be able to fight the swarm like you?”

Jia. “I will be healing and supplying Zao with stamina with my blood arrows.”

Markus. “How?”

Jia. “Have a look.”

Jia ordered her AI to share her skill sheet with everyone.

[Tamer Name: Jia Li Wang

Combat Style: Monster-Fusion

Monster: Poison-Blood Vampire Bat (Bianfu)

Type: Body, Sky, Vitality, Beast, Poison

Mastery: Ranged Attacks

Skills: Blood Bow & Arrow Manipulation (Intermediate), Blood Poisoning (Intermediate), Blood Miracle Transfusion (Intermediate), Blood Sucker (Expert)

 

Skill Features:

Blood Bow & Arrow Manipulation - The monster draws upon the Blood pool within its body to create solid bows and arrows. The range is limited to 70 meters, and the accuracy will be higher within 50 meters. The firing rate is 1 arrow per sec. This skill can only be activated if the blood pool is above 35%.

Blood Poisoning - Opponents hit by the blood arrows or a bite will be infected with a poison that damages their internal organs, hallucinations, and a fever. This skill can only be activated if the blood pool is above 35%.

Blood Miracle Transfusion - The monster’s blood has regenerative properties. It can inject it into others through its blood arrows or a bite. During the next 2 minutes, wounds will be healed, and stamina will be replenished. This skill can only be activated if the blood pool is above 35%.

Blood Sucker - The monster can restore its internal blood pool by extracting blood from victims through a direct bite. When bitten, the target will enter a state of trance for 10 seconds]

 

Markus. “I guess Zao found the stamina he was looking for. Wait… can you replenish your blood pool while fighting in the air?”

Jia. “Normally, I would bite into a blood bag. Since we don’t have those around, I need to stay on the ground and bite some of you.”

For some reason, a few hands rose up quickly. Zao wondered why they were so eager to give away their blood until he noticed their lustful eyes.

Markus. “I guess you won’t be lacking in arrows. My flaming swords will be able to protect us. So just focus on supporting Zao until he takes out the Ice-Butterflies.”

Zao. “Alright! Everyone, get into your combat style. Rebecca, order your Warrior caste Golems to give me a path to fly. I don’t want to get skewered by their projectiles.”

Rebecca. “Will do.”

Zao transformed into his Bee-Paladin form and ignited the thrusters on his back to propel him towards the swarm like a rocket. As he neared the mass of bugs, the twin lances began rotating like a drill. The Ice-Bugs saw the attack coming and fired Cryo-Kinetic attacks at his figure, but they were either deflected or missed. When the attacks failed, they tried to dodge. Like a stitching needle, Zao pierced through the swarm, killing dozens of Ice-Bugs that failed to get out of his way. Zao kept up the momentum by reorienting the thrusters on his back to allow him to turn and keep drilling through the swarm. He searched for the Ice-Butterflies, but they kept vanishing every time he got too close. Zao cursed as he remembered that Dale’s fireball was what had managed to strike them before. It didn’t help his chances when dozens of Ice-Bugs sacrificed themselves to stop or slow him down. Zao expertly dodged those who would have achieved it and kept activating all his skills to level up towards Master rank. If his current skills couldn’t defeat them, he would get ones that could.

In three minutes, several dozen Ice-Bug corpses fell to the forest around the dome. Zao’s armor and weapons are cracked all over. He kept them intact by using the skill called Metal Brazing. But the wounds and exhaustion in his body kept building up. So, he dropped out of the swarm and rocketed towards Jia, Markus, and the others. Jia had already transformed into her combat form, which frightened those who had volunteered to be her blood bank. She used the claws on her ghoul-like hands to slit the wrists. The blood that poured out was turned into a nightmarish Recurve Bow. She grabbed it and created arrows from the blood still pouring out from her wrists. Taking a kneeling position and aiming at the approaching figure of Zao, she fired an arrow that struck his body.

Upon contact with Zao’s armor, the arrow turned into blood splatter and disappeared. Zao could feel Jia’s blood enter his skin through the openings in his armor and seep into his bloodstream. In a few seconds, his body began to heal, and his mind regained its focus through a shot of adrenaline. Zao pulled out of the dive and used his thrusters to launch him back into the swarm. The Ice-Bugs that had followed him down were perforated by Markus’s flaming swords that numbered in the dozens.

Jia fired several poisoned blood arrows at the Ice-Bugs. Her victims were immediately disoriented to the point that they lost control of their wings and fell to the ground. The other nine tamers activated their combat style and slaughtered those that didn’t die upon impact. A constant stream of Ice-Bugs kept falling to the ground as corpses or survived for a bit before being ripped apart. It took fifteen minutes before half the swarm was wiped out. Zao, Jia, and Markus had reached the Master Rank, while four of the nine other Tamers had reached the Expert rank. Rebecca’s Warrior Caste Golems provided cover for the Tamers to return to the Dome to take a break and evolve in peace. 

 

[To advance skills from Beginner=>Intermediate=>Expert=>Master

The User must execute a skill fifty times in combat with wild monsters to reach Intermediate Rank and a hundred more times to Expert Rank.

Once all skills have reached the expert level, the monster will evolve to the Third Form.

But if the User chooses to attain mastery in all four skills by executing each of them two hundred times more in combat, then they will have access to Evolution Manipulation.

Analyzing current skill level mastery progress…

Congratulations! All four monster skills have achieved Master Rank.

Evolution manipulation of the third form is now accessible.

Would you like to evolve your monster now?]

Zao stared at his phone, hovering his finger over the Evolve button. He noticed the others had already clicked theirs and were in the process of answering the Monster App’s questions. He let go of his hesitation and pressed the button.

 

[You must answer the following questions]

Body, Sun, Attack, Insect, Metal

Pick two among these for your monster's third form to focus on]

"Sun and Metal!"

[Evolution Manipulation requires you to modify the below cores for the next evolution]

[Sun Core, Body Core, Metal Core]

“I will start with the Sun Core.”

[Flame Solidification: The user can solidify fire.

Or 

Fire Immunity: The user is immune to fire, being completely invulnerable to direct and indirect effects]

“Too bad none of the monsters use flames. I choose Flame Solidification. Next will be the Body Core.”

[Body Transcendence: The user can transcend their bodily capabilities beyond their limitations. Greater endurance, strength, resistance, and flexibility.

Or

Auxiliary Organs: The user can create one or more auxiliary organs in the event of the original being rendered useless]

“I would have chosen the second if I didn’t find Jia and her healing abilities. So, I will choose Body Transcendence. Now the last one.”

[Ferrokinetic Wing Manifestation: The User’s armor will generate wings according to their needs.

Or

Ferrokinetic Blade Construction: The User’s armor will generate blades according to their needs]

“I already have twin lances, so making more swords sounds redundant. Having wings will increase my mobility because my thrusters alone aren’t enough. I choose Ferrokinetic Wing Manifestation!”

[Evolution Modifications have been bound to the User.

All skills and the combat style will be affected by these choices]

“Great!”

Zao felt the earth shake as the dome was hit by something big. He wanted to investigate what happened, but the App gave a notification.

[If you exit the evolution selection now, you will be unable to enter your new combat style]

“Guess I have no choice. Continue!”

[You are allowed to evolve one monster skill slot or swap one current skill for a different one]

"Evolve current skill!"

[Cross-Slash, Lance-Dance, Drill Lance, or Metal Brazing]

"Drill Lance!"

[Which core do you wish for the skill to be influenced by?

Sun Core (Flame solidification) or Metal Core (Ferrokinetic Wing Manifestation)]

“Hmmm…. If I chose the second, I might end up with Wings that serve as weapons… it sounds interesting, but I want to see what happens with Solid Flames.”

[Sun Core is now modifying the Drill Lance skill…

Congratulations!

Drill Lance has evolved to Plasma Lance (Beginner)

Plasma Lance: When this skill is activated, the twin lances will turn into solid plasma. Its length can be adjusted from 2 feet to 7 feet. Duration: 15 minutes. Cool Down: 55 minutes]

 

Zao stared at the skill description in disbelief. Ever since he first saw Star Wars as a child, this had always been his dream. Before he could test the skill, he noticed there was now a cooldown added to it. None of his other skills had a cooldown before, and neither did Rebecca mention a time limit placed on hers.

Zao. “Maybe those who chose Body types have skill cool-downs, and those with Mana type just need more Mana to use them.”

Rebecca rose out of the Earth next to Zao. She immediately took a peek at his choices.

Zao. “Hey!”

Rebecca. “I heard you say my name, so I came over.”

Zao. “You heard my voice from down there?”

Rebecca. “One of the modifications to my Mountain core has made my senses more sensitive when I merge with the soil. Anyways, to answer your question. I believe you are right. My mana costs have doubled from what they used to be to hatch my eggs and the other skills.” 

Zao noticed that Markus and the others were not to be seen.

Zao. “Where are the others?”

Rebecca. “You were so absorbed by your evolution that you didn’t notice they went back out to fight.”

Zao. “I remember something attacked the Dome.”

Rebecca. “Reinforcements from those attacking the pacific fleet arrived. One among them has the skill to create Ice-Bugs in the air and launch it at the Dome.”

Zao. “Hold on! If they sent reinforcements here, does that mean the Pacific Fleet lost?”

Rebecca. “There is no word from them through the App. I tried contacting Soma and Sergei to find out what's happening in Seward, but they are not replying.”

Zao. “Probably busy fighting. I should go out and do the same. Are you joining?”

Rebecca. “I will go down to the Bunker to tell Mash and Dale what’s happening above since no one is recording the battle.”

Zao. “How will you know then?”

Rebecca. “My pheromone communication has become sensitive enough to understand the Golem Ant language in all its complexities. They will be my eyes and ears as long they relay the information to a golem within five hundred meters of me.”

Zao. “That’s incredible!”

Rebecca. “Now, hurry up with your transformation. I want to see your new Plasma Lances.”

Zao ordered his AI Butler to summon his monster partner Barbatos. When the monster materialized, he looked very different from the one he had spent the last week with. The body was twice as big, the twin stingers made from solid Plasma. There are insect wings made of Metal on its shoulders. Its golden metallic body with ebony stripes was glowing from some kind of energy. The six mini thrusters on its body allowed it to hover in one spot.

“Activate Combat Style!”

Barbatos disappeared, and Zao was enveloped in white light slowly turning green. It solidified and shattered to reveal him in a suit of armor that resembles the ones worn by Iron Man. Six thrusters are on his back along with metallic Bee shaped wings. The twin lances in his hands looked the same as they did before, which surprised Zao.

Rebecca. “Try activating them by saying the skill name. I had to do the same to create my new Terra Ant Queen Armor.”

Zao. “Activate Plasma Lance!’

The twin lances immediately transformed into Plasma Lances that closely resembled a fusion between a lightsaber and a lance. They are golden in color, and the heat they generate causes the temperature to rise. Thankfully it wasn’t hot enough to burn his skin. 

The six thrusters on Zao’s back ignited, and his new insect wings spread out. He launched into the air and flew out of the Dome through the entrance where Rebecca’s Golems Ants parted for him to exit. The battle outside was fiercer than before, the new reinforcements consisting of all manner of Beetles. Among their number is a 25-meter-long centipede that resembled the Arthropleura that existed on Earth over 290 million years ago. Its body channeled the water in the environment into a giant Iceberg suspended over its head. The block of Ice is conical in shape with a length of over 250 meters and still growing. Its long whip-like antennas wave around as if grabbing Mana and water. 

Markus, Jia, and the other tamers are battling the Ice-Bettles while Rebecca’s golems keep the airborne swarm at bay. Zao decided, he had to be the one to stop the overgrown centipede before it launched the Ice-Berg at the Dome again. He forced his thrusters to blast his body forward at top speed, aimed his plasma lances in front of him, and started rotating his whole body with the help of his new wings. 

Zao pierced through the mass of Ice-Bugs that tried to block his way and tunneled into the Arthropleura (prehistoric Centipede) that couldn’t dodge while preparing the skill. The Centipede screamed in pain and lost control of its concentration. Resulting in the massive Iceberg losing its ability to ignore gravity. It crashed on top of all the Bugs below it and shattered apart.

 

Markus, Jia, and the others were far from the center of the impact, so they witnessed the whole attack. They could see ice at the center of impact melt into water and then turn into steam as something from below was burning underneath. The Plasma Lances poked out of the icy water, and Zao’s Bee Paladin form slowly rose out, covered in a cloud of steam.