Aby removed its attention from the drake, finished examining his changes. Oddly, it seemed that the crystals imbedded within the flesh of the drake had truly melded with the creature himself, and from what the core could tell, it had only brought benefits, after the pain wore off. It made a mental note, deciding to experiment further with this. It would need to think up a way to do it without disfiguring any creature which attempts to break them apart, regardless of the benifits.

However, it had much to do in the meantime. As its halls were finally clear once more, it could finally recreate the corals which had been so thoroughly ransacked through the day. It was quite pleasing to see, what was formerly barren limestone and empty clay found itself covered in tiny polyps, each of these rapidly growing and branching into a wondrous array of life. The halls and caverns seemed to come alive, the dull light shining off of what little coral was left was quickly overwhelmed by the magnificent rainbow of light which flooded those halls. Crystals were recreated, anchored to the floor in hopes of sparing the coral from the carnage it had experienced, and they swiftly regrew to their former splendor.

The creatures which remained seemed to regain their vigor, their scales were more vibrant and their movements more lively. The coral lining the walls and floor quickly burst into motion as hundreds of creatures rushed into the forest of color. As the fish continued to settle into their homes once more, Aby found itself needing to take a look at the results of today's invasion.

Now that there weren’t people ripping its creations apart, it could feel mostly secure in looking over the creatures which had survived the day’s defense, and allowing those which were able to finally evolve.

It did this frequently, though more often than not the creatures were simply unlocking already seen paths of evolutions, repeating creatures it had seen in the past. Even more common, were the times when a creature would merely become a greater variant or giant variant. However, it would seem that there were two noteworthy changes tonight, at least, and it even spied something that could turn out interesting in time.

Aby went through the motions at first, allowing creatures to grow, barracudas becoming greater, hogfish becoming giant, snappers becoming mustard-scaled, much the same as they often did, when it came upon the first evolution of interest.

Congratulations! Your creature “Goliath Grouper” has reached the threshold for evolution! Options available

Greater Goliath Grouper

Goliath Groupers are well known for their immense size, and equally large attitudes. Fearless by nature, and aggressive by choice, they can represent a true danger to the smaller and weaker amongst the Reef. The greater variant simply adds more to it.

Giant Goliath Grouper

Big in name, bigger in size; while few creatures of the Reef can contend with this creature in bulk, its cumbersome size and slow speed are only marginally made up for by its awe inspiring mouth.

Giant Swine-Grouper

An odd fish, it takes on the characteristics of the sea-boars it leads and adds its own immense size. Foul-tempered and more than capable of backing it up, they are a menace amongst the Reef.

Aby discarded the initial two options, and the nominal leader of the sea-boars found himself shifting to match his group. His mottled brown and beige skin turned leathery, short fuzz sprouting and covering him. His head shifted shape, a crude blend between fish and pig, with tusks growing to match. These tusks curled upwards, completing half a loop and almost coming back to meet his skull. His fins and tail thickened massively, and his already barrel-like body seemed to pack on even more muscle.

He awoke with a jerk, opening his mouth wide and gulping down liters of water, a strange squeal sounding as he forced it back out. The surrounding fish seemed ecstatic at his change, and flocked around him, seemingly reassured that their choice in leadership was correct.

Congratulations! Your creature “Giant Bobbit Worm” has fulfilled a hidden condition(s), allowing it to undergo a special evolution!

Creator titles: Randomizer, Invasive, Adaptive, Ambitious, The Trench Dungeon

Creature Titles: Scorned

Special Evolution Available

Bobbit Crawler

A misleading name for a creature such as this, Bobbit Crawlers burrow and dig in their endless hunt for prey. Jaws like blades and venom like fire aid them in their efforts to sate their bottomless hunger.

Aby had been curious to see another creature of the Trench, thus far they had been some of the strangest and most varied in its halls, and it wouldn’t complain about having another.

The worm had changed swiftly compared to most, its long tube-like body simply elongating further, taking on the appearance of a badly rancid sausage, five meters in length. It continued to watch as a third knifelike jaw erupted from the top of its head, arranging itself with the other two around a perpetually open maw filled with needle teeth. The former worm was about to wake up and test the capabilities of its new vessel when it was rudely interrupted by the audience it had drawn, and Aby was forced to heal its now bisected body in response to the drake lashing out.

Seeing that the crawler was unaffected beyond being royally upset, Aby turned to watch a particular rifle shrimp dragging its comically proportioned body back to the nest in the upper floors, the very same which ended the life of the scholar, and allowed the kelpie to come to being. After that incident, it appeared to start changing in body and mind. Aby wasn’t certain due to how little time had passed, but this may turn out to be one of the few creatures in its halls which it could watch in order to learn firsthand more about natural evolution.

It made note of this shrimp, watching it lug itself to a particular hole in the colony, one near the very top, before turning to the kobold tribe, tending to the freshly laid eggs in the largest hut. Aby was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly they were laid, and while it knew they would take much longer to hatch, the core was happy to know it could once more send a full hunting party to the upper floors, and even more happy to see what would be hatched from the union of the kobolds and drake-kin. The dragonkin were proceeding slower, taking time to court one-another. They were acting remarkably similar to the information it had witnessed in the memories of a great deal of invaders and had deemed worthless.

While it didn’t understand why they didn’t simply breed, Aby was not one to force its creatures to go against instinct outside of dire circumstances. The passive bond it had with the minds of each of its creatures meant that it had full access to the discomfort an animal felt upon being made to act outside of their normal behaviors by force, and while it was fully capable of controlling their bodies from its core, doing so was immensely uncomfortable for both parties. It was content allowing its creatures to act as they please, and have them follow instructions it would enforce instead of be puppeted.

It did wish the trio would act faster, though, the core was very intrigued by what offspring they would produce, and very excited by the prospect of being freely able to spawn dragonkin of any form.

It hadn’t much time to ponder the potential creatures which may arise, however, when its partner finally returned from her errand, with three enthusiastic spirits behind her. Sela had asked the core if there was anything it felt may look nice in their room, when Aby told her about the spirits of ice it had seen not long ago. She had set off to find them once she knew the halls to be free of threats, declining Aby’s offer to simply bring the creatures to the room in order to “look around”. Though Aby wasn’t sure why she felt the need to leave their room, it still pointed her in the direction of all three of the creatures.

“Aby, I got them.” She said happily, leading her entourage into the castle she had created. They seemed unusually eager to please her, even more eager than when Aby gave them orders, and whenever she made to stroke one or direct another, they felt positively ecstatic.

‘Yes.’ Replied the core, it could indeed see that she got them, though it was curious as to how exactly she got them to be so responsive. A bit of this inquisitive feeling bled through their bond, and Sela pet one of them, then sent it dancing to a particularly tall frosted staghorn coral before she answered the question Aby had yet to ask.

“Spirits and Fae have always had a close relationship. I still remember mother’s Undine, it was a lovely little thing.”

While Aby still didn’t understand quite why they liked her so, it didn’t question any further. Sela was happy with her new spirits, something which pleased the gem, a feeling which it was unsure as to if it stemmed from their bond, or from its mind.

The spirits of ice circled around Aby’s room inquisitively as the two watched on. Occasionally, one would come over to Sela before flickering away, and one even came to rest upon the frosted aquamarine that was Aby’s everything, before shivering in displeasure and flitting away. The core kept a loose watch over the events occurring in its core room, spreading the rest of its consciousness out throughout the halls of the dungeon, and Sela eventually fell asleep, cuddled beside one of her new pets.