To get to my twitching target, I shoved the bodies of other beetles to the side, letting them spurt their green blood off the cliff. It might’ve been tasty, but it wasn’t my biggest concern at the moment.

Plus… there was a whole horde of them down the other tunnel. So it’s not like I was really wasting any resources here.

Buuuuuuuuut…. I’ll admit I did chug one of the beetles like a bowl of cereal. There were a few… crunches, as well, so the analogy really fits.

Anyway, once I was sated, I returned to my victim, whom I’d set up for my new plans.

You remember that bad pun I made?

Yeah! The one about the tight hole?

Well, I filled that hole right up!

Crammed it in, as it were.

Never in a million—or perhaps even 165 million—years could there ever be a dino so talented at filling holes as myself.

Winky face.

…

That last one doesn’t really land so well in this format, eh?

Well, all jokes aside now, I shoved the beetle, who was definitely too fat to fit through the hole, into it. It was a bit of a struggle to position myself in such a way that I could kick and shove effectively, but I managed to get it done.

And to think, there was still room to go around him!

His body wasn’t made to compress, so by the time he wasn’t stunned anymore… well… he was wrigglin’, but he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. He was just too… vertically endowed.

This is what you get for messing with the champ!

Don’t even question how I got the title. It’s just indisputable. I’m the champ!

Plus, now that I could grapple, could there ever be any doubt?

Alright there, little fella, I addressed the blue demon. Sorry, but you’re gonna have to suffer through this. It’s about time I got to actually experiment in a controlled environment!

I tapped his shell to make sure it wasn’t compromised from his fall.

Then I smacked his shell.

Perfect.

And then I started spamming as many [Claw] attacks as I possibly could, scratching at different angles and heights. I spent a minute or two doing it, just to see if I could gain any levels without actually doing any damage. Nothing happened.

Maybe level progression is a bit slower if I’m not doing any real damage?

It made sense. I’d left a few scratches on the shell, so I was definitely doing some damage.

So I went at it for another couple of minutes and… voila!

Your [Claw] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 6.

Aha! Proof! It was possible! And I wasn’t harming the squirming beetle, so he would last a long time. I giggled to myself giddily.

Now this… this is definitely an exploit.

I looked at the wiggling butt of the beetle before me.

Okay, I should rephrase. This is definitely something I can get behind.

Well, now that testing had proven successful, I could leave the beetle there while I messed with the notification from my Guided Evolution trait.

Uh, hey, magic boxes? Please show me the evolution options, if you’d be so kind.

Guided Evolution

Possible Evolutionary Paths

Child Melra (F)

Far more humanoid than most saurians, this creature is capable of fighting with styles unheard of in others of its kind. Two opposable thumbs make this monster able to wield tools and repurpose body parts it picks off its prey.

Child Sashta (E)

This dinosaur hunts its prey with near-unmatched stealth. It is able to scale walls as though it were walking on regular land, and attacks with sudden ferocity.

Child Krenta (B)

This dinosaur consumes anything and everything in sight, becoming a threat to any ecosystem it inhabits. With an appetite that can’t be sated, it eats until eventually, it is killed by nature’s balance.

Child Turanta (S)

Covered in spikes from head to toe, approaching this dinosaur is well-recognized as being a death sentence. This creature is capable of firing its spikes as ranged attacks, and is known for disemboweling monsters that are much stronger than it. A threat to anything it targets. It forms large packs and carelessly roams wherever it chooses.

Woooaaaah!

Some of these dinosaurs were super impressive! And the fact that I might have access to an S-ranked evolution for my next phase was pretty nuts!

Though… I don’t know if being covered in spikes like a porcupine was an aesthetic I wanted. And these were only possible evolutions, so there might be requirements I hadn’t met for one yet. And others might even appear later.

The details of the Guided Evolution trait had said that it was possible I was seeing paths that were locked to me. But I only wished I could see exactly what those requirements actually were.

What could I possibly need to be able to evolve into the turanta? The thing that shot spikes?

Unfortunately, I had nothing to write with, or I’d jot this all down. Instead, I did my best to internalize all the information I could process within the boxes before dismissing them, coming up with any ideas I might have for each now.

The Child Sashta was probably an option for me because of my Sneak skill. But, did I need a specific level in certain skills to evolve into those? Probably. If I got my level higher in Sneak, it might guarantee that the Sashta would be available for me at my next evolution.

My question would be if having too high of a level in one skill might remove an option. So if I leveled up Sneak too much, would I lose access to the stronger physical attackers?

I memorized every detail I could for each of the evolutions, considering the possibilities while I returned to grinding out levels on the beetle.

Take this!

Your [Claw] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 7.

And this!

Your [Stomp] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 5.

And this and this and this!

I continued my harassment of the poor creature’s shell for what must have been hours, until I was exhausted and had to stop. By the end of it, the poor beetle’s shell was scratched, cracked, and damp with green blood. I did help the guy out though, by cleaning off his shell with my tongue.

Yummy.

That’s what you get for trying to kill me for falling down a hill!

The magic boxes swarmed me with notifications.

Your [Kick] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 3. Your [Kick] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 4. Your [Slam] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 3. Your [Slam] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 4. Your [Punch] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 4. Your [Punch] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 5. Your [Leap Strike] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 2. Your [Kick] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 5. Your [Leap Strike] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 3. You’ve developed a new Skill: [Sneak Strike Lvl 1]. Your [Sneak Strike] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 2. Your [Blend] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 3. You’ve developed a new Skill: [Headbutt Lvl 1] Your [Headbutt] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 2. Your [Sneak] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 5. Your [Blend] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 4. Your [Headbutt] Skill has leveled up. It is now level 3.

Yes. While abusing the poor creature, I had also psychologically tortured him, if bugs could even be affected by that, anyway.

I’d snuck around until I’m sure he thought I was gone, and then poked my head into the hole next to him, growling loudly, and sending him squirming again.

He tried to snap at me a few times, too, but I avoided the sharp mandibles easily, since his head didn’t have great maneuverability. Though I did back out of the hole faster than I thought possible.

It was a little embarrassing that he could still spook me, but to be fair, a snap of those things could behead my poor tail.

Most of the time was just spent hammering on his shell, though.

I’ll let you heal up for a while, my guy. I grinned a wicked grin. There’s a lot more work we have to get done.

Though I’m not sure how much more useful this guy could be if his shell was compromised. From what I’d seen, the beetle’s internal parts were a lot more fragile than the rest of them.