I pushed the bodies of the other beetles to the side, letting them spurt their blood off the cliff. It might’ve been tasty, but it wasn’t my biggest concern.

Though I’ll admit I did chug one of the beetles like a milk jug.

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

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 250-million years could there ever be a dino so talented at filling holes as myself.

Jokes aside now, I shoved the beetle, who was definitely too fat to fit through the hole, into it.

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.

This is what you get for messing with the champ!

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

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

Alright there, little fella, sorry you’re gonna have to suffer through this, but it’s about time I got to experimenting!

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

Then I smacked his shell.

And then I started spamming as many [Claw] attacks as I possibly could.

I spent a minute or two doing it, just to see if I could gain levels without actually doing any damage. Nothing happened.

Maybe progression to the levels is slower if I’m not doing anything?

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

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

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

Aha! Proof! It was possible! And I wasn’t harming the squirming beetle! I giggled to myself.

Now this… This is a veritable exploit! I can get with it!

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

I should rephrase. This is something I can get behind.

Okay. Now that testing had proven successful, I could leave the beetle there while I messed with my trait notification.

Uh. Hey, magic boxes? Please show me the evolution options.

Possible Evolutionary Paths:

Child Stalker (E) This dinosaur hunts its prey with near-unmatched stealth. It is able to scale walls as though it were walking on regular land. Child Meler (D) Closer in shape to humanoids than most dinosaurs, this creature is capable of fighting with styles unheard of in dinosaurs. Two opposable thumbs make this monster able to wield deadly weapons it picks off its prey. Child Naturalist (F) In touch with nature, this dinosaur doesn't often hunt, but survives by absorbing the abundant life energy around it. Hunting this creature usually fails as, at the first sign of danger, it rapidly disappears into the nature surrounding it. Child Devourer (D) 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 disembowling monsters that are much stronger than it. A threat to anything it targets, it forms large packs and carelessly roams wherever it chooses.

Well dang. Some of those dinosaurs were super impressive.

Now it all made sense. The letter to the side of the dinosaur name was a ranking.

Okay, so, if I had anything to write with, I’d jot this all down. Instead, I did my best to memorize it.

The details of the Guided Evolution trait had said earlier that it was possible I was seeing paths that were locked to me.

But I only wished I could see exactly what the requirements for each dinosaur was.

What could I possibly need to be able to be the turanta, which shot spikes???

And the naturalist, I imagined was due to the Nature’s Embrace trait. Stalker seemed pretty simple to figure out, as well. It was probably because of [Sneak].

But, did I need a specific level in certain skills to evolve to those? Probably.

I did my best to memorize the options displayed before me, and returned to grinding on the beetle while I thought about it.

Take this!

Your [Claw] has leveled up. It is now level 6. Increased likelihood to [Cripple] with these attacks.

And this!

Your [Stomp] has leveled up. It is now level 4.

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. Beetlejuice. The boxes had swarmed me with notifications.

Your [Kick] has leveled up. It is now level 3. Your [Kick] has leveled up. It is now level 4. Your [Slam] has leveled up. It is now level 4. Your [Punch] has leveled up. It is now level 4.

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

Your [Leap Strike] has leveled up. It is now level 3. Your [Kick] has leveled up. It is now level 5. Your [Leap Strike] has leveled up. It is now level 4. You’ve learned a new skill: [Sneak Strike Lvl 1]. Your [Sneak Strike] has leveled up. It is now level 2. Your [Flee] has leveled up. It is now level 5.

You’ve learned a new skill: [Headbutt Lvl 1] Your [Headbutt] has leveled up. It is now level 2. Your [Sneak] has leveled up. It is now level 4. Your [Headbutt] 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, which leveled up my Flee as I backed out of the hole faster than I thought possible.

It was a little embarassing, but I figured there was no real downside to leveling up Flee, so intermittenly, I would sprint away from the bug.

And after a while, that worked too.

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

I’ll heal you back up later, my little mill stone. I grinned a wicked grin. There’s a lot more work we have to get done.