Eagerly, I bring my antennae forward and activate my Core Surgery Skill. The information from her core floods into my mind, and after parsing it, I put together her status:
Name: Crinis
Leveclass="underline" 1 (core)(III)
Might: 78
Toughness: 65
Cunning: 34
Wilclass="underline" 32
HP: 130/130
MP: 70/70
Skills: Expert Shadow Flesh Manipulation Level 4 (III); Expert Grappling Level 6 (III); Expert Shredding Level 8 (III); Enhanced Tremor Sensing Level 8 (II); Brutal Dismembering Level 5 (II); Greater Fear Inspiration Level 4 (II); Mana Transformation Level 2 (III); Smooth Tentacle Walking Level 7 (II); Tentacle Fu Level 3 (I); External Mana Manipulation Level 3 (I); Shadow Magic Affinity Level 1 (I); Stealth Level 3 (I)
Mutations: Dense Durable Shadow Flesh +10; Rapid Disintegrating Void Maw +10; Vast Bottomless Dimensional Stomach +10; Empowered Dividing Tentacles +10; Sharpened Ripping Spines +10; Pointed Macabre Teeth +10; Wide Fine Mana Sensory Gland +10; Rapid Deep Shadow Magic Gland +10; Extra Swift Shadow Flesh Generator +10; Shadow Eye; Tentacle Conductor
Species: Shadow Murder Orb
Skill Points: 17
Biomass: 210
Oho! There’s some good stuff here! In the Skills department, she’s clearly been making great strides. Already reaching Mana Transformation. She must have been practising diligently whilst riding on my back to achieve the tier three Skill so quickly. And she got Shadow Magic Affinity right off the bat! I’m so jealous. Not to mention she’s reached a solid level of Cunning already… and the rest of her stats are so high as well. Dammit! I feel so inadequate… This is mainly due to her having far higher base stats before her first evolution. Poor ants. We have it so rough in the that department.
I can only hope my next evolution will be able to push me over the edge and I can start reaping some high stat gain.
Also seems as if Crinis has gone for a balanced approach, improving in every stat. Her mental stats being concentrated in one mind means that her brain must be incredibly powerful. Far stronger than my own since my efforts are distributed across three brains. With her Shadow Magic Affinity, the full potential of her Shadow Magic Gland has been unlocked and her high mental stats mean she has the grunt to get the job done.
Her might stat is still decent without being overwhelming. She’ll continue to be able to battle multiple smaller foes with impunity and will be stronger against the heavier hitters. I think that’s why I see an emphasis on Stealth. Crinis seems to have been thinking about her own method of contribution to fighting tougher monsters, and she’s reached her answer with her new organs.
The Shadow Eye… I’m curious about this one.
78. New Crinis, Spending up
Curious about Crinis’ new Shadow Eye, I dive deeper into the information hidden within her core, laid bare before my Core Surgery Skill. Ah, interesting. It’s a dense block of information and a powerful organ. If anything, I’d think the majority of her evolutionary energy was spent on this.
From what I can gather, the Shadow Eye is a special type of sensory organ. It doesn’t help her to ‘see’ per se, not like human eyes, it allows her to extend her vision—her awareness—through shadows. I’m not sure exactly how powerful that will prove to be. Although I’m sure Crinis will have a use for it, otherwise she wouldn’t have picked it. Combined with her Shadow Magic Gland and affinity Skill, there must be some trick she can use that I’m not aware of.
The other new organ she gained is also interesting. This is Crinis’ solution to the problem of divided attention. I resolved this issue by adding a number of brains to allow me to think about multiple things at once. She’s taken a slightly different path. Much like how an octopus has neural connections for each tentacle, Crinis’ new organ, the Tentacle Conductor, effectively acts as nerve endings for up to eight tentacles, able to move and act independently of her main mind. Eight may not seem like enough considering the kind of numbers she can manifest, but with mutation advances, I’m certain she’ll be able to push the boundary higher.
Interesting! All in all, she’s done an excellent job.
[Well, Crinis, it looks as if your evolution has been very successful!] I praise, freezing my antennae at the last moment so I don’t pet her. If I overpraise her, she might freeze up and I can’t afford the time. As it is, she’s already quivering a little bit, like a blob of jelly I’ve poked.
Crinis collects herself, lifting her body up on her new permanent tentacles and skittering left and right a little to get used to them.
[Thank you, Master,] she replies warmly. [I spent a great deal of time thinking about how I was going to evolve.]
[I took a good look at your Shadow Eye, but I’m not quite sure how it’s going to work. I assume it has something to do with your Shadow Magic Affinity?]
The slightly larger blob nods.
[That’s right. I’ll show you.]
The squishy orb of death grows still, and I notice that the shadow beneath her body grew noticeably darker until it’s pitch-black. Then, Crinis deliberately extends a tentacle into the shadow.
I boggle at the sight of her tentacle extending into solid stone. What is this? Some sort of shadow gate?
Something tickles the bottom of my carapace and I leap high into the air.
[Wazzat!] I cry.
Crinis giggles, a to this point nearly unheard-of sound, and I look down to see the tip of the tentacle emerging from the ground where my shadow had been, wiggling back and forth.
[Oh, that is sweet!] I yell as Crinis withdraws her tentacle back through the connected shadows and into her body.
[I can’t move my main body through,] she said, checking my enthusiasm. [The Shadow Eye allows me to extend my senses through the shadows after I’ve connected them.]
Oh snap! She could spy on people or extend her tentacles to attack things through a shadow that is in a separate room than she is! The possibilities are almost endless.
[How far can a shadow be before you can’t connect it?] I ask.
[I can’t be certain yet, but it feels like my range is around twenty metres so long as I can detect the target shadow through my Mana Sense, much shorter if I can’t.]
I nod, stroking my chin with an antenna. [Train hard, Crinis. This new ability will be extremely powerful when Levelled up.]
[I will, Master,] Crinis acknowledges, already sounding pumped for the challenge.
So diligent.
Crinis, with her shiny new evolution toys to play with, waddles onto my back with her short tentacles and settles into position, no doubt already practising her Skills. I’m somewhat jealous, having successfully completed her evolution. With my own dance with body changing looming on the horizon, the anticipation and anxiety are continuing to build apace.
It’s a strange thing, changing your body in such a dramatic way. Also invigorating, the sense of growth and strength you feel is incredible. At the same time, there is a tinge of fear from stepping into the unknown.
Gah! Thinking about that sort of stuff is just going to hurt my head. Time to move on to what I need to be doing in the here and now: mutations.