Besides, the Jellymaw is already crazy strong, any power I shave off now can be made up for in future evolutions by ensuring the core is maxed out.
I begin to put my mind to the changes, forcing and shaping them with my Will and holding them down until the new form holds steady within the core. Reducing the strength of the tentacles a little here and there, adjusting the musculature of the face to pour more energy into the brain. All of the extra energy is devoted to pure intelligence, raising the Cunning little by little.
I manage to squeeze another four points of intelligence before I stop. I don’t want to take away the creature’s strength too much.
My mind is already aching by this point. The adjustments are becoming harder and harder to accomplish. I’m not sure how much more I’ll be able to do. Girding myself, I dive deeper into the core, probing the limits of the information accessible to me at my current skill Level.
Aha! More answers are forthcoming here.
It seems the creatures body manages without bones since its flesh is formed from a bizarre, rubbery substance that is partly infused with Mana. If I’m reading this right, then the Jellymaw won’t be able to survive without a constant injection of Mana since it will absorb it directly into its body. Crazy!
I’ll need to keep this in mind for the future and make sure the little thing manages to get enough Mana at all times. This may prove slightly tricky on the surface but won’t be an issue in the Dungeon.
I can also see the future evolution paths of the Jellymaw. There are a few selections. Most of them are focused on providing various physical buffs and organs that directly increase overall combat proficiency. There is something else I want for my Jellymaw. By scrapping most of the existing options, I create my own custom evolution, and in doing so I get to set the bonuses granted by choosing that evolution.
Modifying a creature at this level is a first for me and the change is excruciatingly hard to make. I feel as if I’m about to burst a vessel or completely pass out by the time it’s done.
That’s it!
I’m out, Gandalf. No more of this torture!
I think that is all I can do.
After taking a few minutes to recover, I reach forward to tap the core once more.
[Compatible monster core detected. Would you like to reinforce your core or reconstitute the monster?]
Reconstitute!
With my command, the core begins to glow, emitting brighter and brighter light with each passing moment. As it grows more intense, the form of the core itself becomes more elastic, changing and shaping itself into the new monster.
Eventually I have to turn my eyes away as the light has grown too radiant, casting shadows across the walls of our cosy chamber. Some eyelids would really come in handy right about now…
Soon, the light has faded, and I turn back to behold my new creation and friend!
It’s… a ball…
Sitting on the ground in front of me in the space the gem previously occupied is a small dark sphere the size of a tennis ball.
Tiny tentacles start to tentatively emerge from the ball, wiggling their way to poke and stretch across the ground as the completely blind Jellymaw tries to find something in its environment.
Internally I sigh. I knew it was going to be like this, but somehow, I hadn’t quite mentally prepared myself for just how small and unthreatening the newly formed Jellymaw would be. Don’t be discouraged, me! Feed it up and it’ll become the brutal killing machine you remember in no time.
[I’m over here,] I tell the new monster, and reach across with one of my legs to touch one of the seeking tentacles.
The creature wobbles happily in response, flexing more tentacles to grasp my leg. It takes a few moments, but eventually it manages to scale up onto my back, taking the position Tiny once occupied when he was still small.
Sheesh. I feel like I spend half my time giving rides to small creatures in this life. What am I, a pony?
The dazzling display created by the core reconstitution has managed to awaken the little worker as well and she rushes to take her place of pride on my noggin before we set out.
I feel pleased, and simultaneously exasperated.
Fine. You can ride on my back for now, but you’ll work hard once you get large enough!
20. Digging is the Song of my Soul!
With my new Jellymaw pet, little worker and Tiny in tow, I head over to the farm. I’ve occasionally been letting the workers in to battle on their own, since I think every creature needs real combat experience rather than just raw XP. So long as they attack in numbers, the ants are able to overwhelm their opposition, smashing the enemies and pulling them apart without any resistance. If they trickled in with smaller numbers it would be a hugely different story, the weaker individual ants would get pulverised, so I only let them in after piling up enough workers at the entrance.
As each day passes, the colony is growing stronger. Everywhere I look, there are more workers with mutation advancements of all sorts. When I flip on my Mana Sense, there are the soft responses I get from low-Level cores all over the place.
Our power grows! I believe I even spotted the first double evolved worker, a beefy looking ant with a larger head and powerful mandibles. This may be the first ‘soldier’ in the colony.
It’s all looking good right now.
Tiny and I descend into the farm chamber and smack the heck out of everything in there until they are almost dead. Only then do I let my two burdens loose on their meal.
As the little worker excitedly leaps off to grab her experience, I take a moment to have a word with her.
“I’m not sure if you can understand this much, but if you’ve got one, try to spend your Biomass on your Pheromone Gland, if you can get it to +5 you’ll be able to take Pheromone Language and talk to me and the queen. Think about it.”
She looks back at me for a long moment before jumping onto her first victim and starting to saw away with her mandibles. I use one of my antennae to reach onto my back and poke the Jellymaw there.
The Jellymaw has been sitting in the centre of my back, tentacles expanded out to grip my carapace to stop its little ball-form from rolling straight off. When my antenna prods into its body, it reaches out with a tentacle and grabs onto it.
[I’ll take you to some food, grab on.]
The young monster grips onto my antennae and I lift it up into the air before heading over to a defenceless beast. I don’t think the Jellymaw is able to fight at all yet, so I finish off the monster with a single chomp of my mandibles before dropping the little creature onto it.
The small black, tennis ball-like Jellymaw rests on the Biomass, feeling it out with its tentacles before starting to eat.
Once again, I’m treated to the horrific sight of the main body somehow unfolding to reveal that dreadful maw filled with razor teeth. Only this time the entire process takes place in miniature. The fanged mouth is probably too small to fit an apple in at this point.
Nonetheless, the newborn starts ripping into the Biomass with gusto, taking in far more food than really seems physically possible, until the main body has inflated from tennis ball size to nearly football size.
Gross, but impressive!
I nab some food as well. After this much time, I’ve managed to accumulate a chunk of Biomass points. I’ll need to think about what I want to prioritise my spending on soon. For now, I gather my crew together and we exit the farm.
Things are going well here with the colony, so it’s time to try and develop my own strength, and let Tiny exercise a little. The big guy is looking more depressed every day. If I don’t let him fight something soon, I’m worried he’s just going to fade away.