Last time I had no way of measuring the time it takes to evolve to another creature. It was dark, and I had nothing to measure time with.

This time wasn't that much different either. The only difference I had was that by the time the cracks started appearing on my cocoon, and I could expand my Sense again, the fluids in the snake's stomach were refilled to their original state.

With an outburst of energy, I shattered my protective shell, and once again emerged as a black

The sudden outburst of energy was most likely felt by my predator as well. I could feel movement, and my surroundings started rumbling. The gig was up, I had to immediately initiate the plan.

'Enya, activate the blessing ability and get me out of here!' I ordered my system. There was no time to waste. I had no idea how much time I had, until something deadly would happen.

Instead of the ability activating, I received a stern warning from my companion this time.

[I have to warn you Aiden, that the strain that the blessings effect will put on your soul, will cause heavy damage to you. After the effect ends you will be in a comatose state for the next 24 hours and you could suffer lasting damages. Please confirm your choice once again with this knowledge.]

While the lasting damages is not something I want, I simply do not have any other choice. I have to live with it or die here right now.

'I understand and accept the risks. Now start the process! We have no time to waste!' I confirmed my choice.

Instantly I could feel a huge increase in power, and I started radiating golden light. The aura I suddenly emitted, destroyed every particle of the snake innards, quickly making its way outwards. The Viper had no chance to react at all, in mere seconds its entire body was destroyed by this golden aura.

As soon as I was free and my predator disappeared in this flash of light, the aura submerged back into me. As the aura entered back to my body, I felt the sudden surge of power accompanied by an incomprehensible pain. It wasn't physical pain, nor mental, but something in between. This was the first time I felt this type of pain. It felt like something was trying to tear me in half trying to force itself out.

I tried to release the tension by shouting but I was unable to, I still had no way of communicating, since I was still a bug. I couldn't do anything as the pain just get sharper, and more and more real. I slowly lost consciousness, and the familiar darkness engulfed my soul once again…

If I would have been awake, I could have heard Enya's voice that sounded like she was on the verge of tears speaking to me.

[Blessing Backlash initiated. Hibernation started. Countdown: 23:59:59.. Sorry Aiden, but this is for your own good…]

With the countdown started, my Body started showing golden glowing cracks all around and shattering to tiny bits and pieces shortly after. As the resulting dust settled, a black egg shaped cocoon was left in its wake. It was similar to the cocoon I used when I morphed from my Birth Form to my Bug form, but at the same time it was different. Unique. Harder. It really looked like a small ebony colored egg. Like if the darkness that was all too familiar to me at this point, was given a solid shape to hug and protect my very soul that resided inside.

...I had no idea how much time had passed. I only know that when I woke up I was in complete darkness. However, I wasn't alone as I could hear my sweet companions voice. I could feel some sadness in it this time, however.

[Welcome back Aiden. Before you ask, you were put into hibernation as a result of the backlash that you received for the usage of the Blessing. However, once you get your bearings, you should check the notifications you received for the fight with the Viper.]

Following her advice, I turned my attention to the upper right corner of my vision where a slew of notifications was still blinking. While waiting for the dark shell to crack and set me free, I opened up all of them.

[Due to the effects of the Blessing, your overall Soul Power has increased by 1!]

[-Survive and kill one of your natural predator (1/1) - Completed]

[Mushroom Bug Evolution mastered! Rewards: +1 Might, +1 Agility, +50 XP, Leveling system unlocked.]

[Congratulations for defeating a mature Cave Viper! Cave Viper form, and Guided Evolution Path system unlocked.]

[Due to the heavy backlash of energy overdose, Spirit received reduced by 3 points, but received +50 XP]

[First Guided Evolution Path life form obtained, Evolution Shop unlocked.]

[Poison Resistance Bonus! Because of your experience with the stomach acid, your Poison Resistance leveled up!]

[Primal Absorb ability received 50 xp bonus from Evolution Mastery!]

Okay, that was a real big wall of text with way too many changes and features all at once. Let's go over them one by one. First, it should be good to check up on my updated Status Screen. I received new stats, upgrades and unlocked a new feature as well.

I opened up my Status Screen and checked up the changed attributes.

[Name: Aiden

Race: Primal (Evolver)

Form: Mushroom Bug (Tier 1)

Condition: 90%

Soul Power: 1/3

Experience: 100 XP

Might: 2 (0/100 xp) (+1 reward for bug form mastering)

Agility: 2 (0/100 xp) (+1 reward for bug form mastering)

Spirit: 7 (0/100 xp) (-3 for backlash for blessing)

Skills:

Primal Absorb (Level 1) (50/100 xp)

Effects:

Blessing of Ioris (-), Physical Resistance (level 1 - 0/100 xp), Fall Resistance (level 1 - 0/100 xp), Water Resistance (level 1 - 0/100 xp), Poison Resistance (level 2 - 0/100 xp) ]

(A/N.: I know I said I will refrain from posting it, only to post it immediately again, but there's way too many changes to skimp over them this time. There's a lot of back and forth discussion going on in this chapter to get introduction to the core features of the system, and main mechanics.)

Okay, there's a lot of changes that I need to slowly go over. My current Soul Power pool is drained which is understandable, and the damaged condition is probably the result of the backlash effect. Thankfully, with the defeat of the snake, I can relax in the cavern for a while to recharge. I received a boost to my Might and Agility, so that's one thing to test out. I really want to see that if I can feel any real changes to my body regarding those stats.

The penalty to my Spirit stat is a bit troubling, but as my Soul Power increased overall, I cannot complain that much. My Poison Resistance got stronger as well, which I can, once again, understand, as I spent god knows how much time in the belly of the snake covered in its fluids.

The Experience points and the leveling system however is something I need to get more information about.

'Enya, can you please give me a brief overview of the Leveling System, and what the Experience points represent?'

[In simple terms, it is tied to the second new feature you unlocked, the Guided Evolution Path. Once you evolve into a life form that has an Evolution Path associated with it, meaning it could evolve into higher life forms, the leveling system will unlock with it as well. In short you can look at the Experience Points you received as a sort of system currency that you can assign to either leveling up abilities, attributes, to your level, or even spend it in the Evolution Shop.]

'I see. So, I can assign these points to any of my abilities, but from what I see I can also get experience on them naturally or as rewards and bonuses, right? How can I get more points?' Currently this was the most important concern in my mind. I need to know how I can farm these points since it can be used for almost anything in the system.

[Yes, you can receive points to specific skills, abilities, or even attributes as rewards. You can receive points in many ways, that 2 most common points available to you currently would be defeating hostiles or completing assigned quests.]

While I still have a lot of questions, most of them could be resolved with time. I moved on to the next category that I want to take a look at. Opening up the Evolution Menu so see the changes.

I saw the new 'Shop' menu between the Evolution Tree and Fusion which I have yet to try out.

I opened up the Evolution Tree.

[Evolution Tree]

Current: Primal Slime - Clean - Tier 0 (Mastery: 100%),

Available options: Mushroom Bug - Clean - Tier 1 (Mastery: 100%),

Cave Viper - Clean - Tier 1]

Yeah, the new option is the Viper, I defeated, in pristine condition. Before I evolve into it, I wanted to first take a peek at the Shop and see what it is about.

By now, I was pretty familiar with the navigation of the system, so without any issues I got into the Shop menu. What greeted me is a seemingly endless list. From what I could tell from a quick browse, it had various abilities that could be purchased for an exorbitant amount of points. For example the first feature that caught my interest was 'Short range Blink' for a price of 50 000 points. And that was one of the cheapest available! The ability itself was a quick teleport forward from your position 20 meters.

It could be a very useful addition to the repertoire, confusing the enemy during battles, but with that price it will be quite a while before I could afford it. Not mentioning that there were abilities and even traits for forms like Draconic Wings in every color ranging from 20 million to a whopping 100 million points!

While I had yet to see the Guided Evolution Path in action, I had a feeling I first had to evolve into my new Cave Viper form to see it in action.

Exiting from the Shop, I navigated into the Evolution Tree, and selected the new, shiny available form only to get engulfed into the familiar cocoon once again...