Receiving many, many thousands of tiny pinpricks was not fun, but it resulted in so little damage that Resh was still having a great time. It could have kept going but it had stopped gaining experience a long time ago. After the first thousand or so and it wanted to look at its evolutionary options before it absorbed anymore.

Through Digest and Photosynthesis, you have gained 64.74g. Your Weight is now 91.14g and your Volume is 41.43cm3.

You have gained 274.6 Exp for killing 2746 Termites.

YOU HAVE REACHED Aerial Mini Slime Level 3! CONGRATULATIONS! +1 Acuity, +1 Accuracy, +1 Perception

YOU HAVE REACHED Aerial Mini Slime Level 4! CONGRATULATIONS! +1 Intellect, +1 Reaction, +1 Speed

YOU HAVE REACHED Aerial Mini Slime Level 5! CONGRATULATIONS! +1 Acuity, +1 Accuracy, +1 Perception

YOU HAVE REACHED Aerial Mini Slime Level 6! CONGRATULATIONS! +1 Intellect, +1 Reaction, +1 Speed

YOU HAVE REACHED Aerial Mini Slime Level 7! CONGRATULATIONS! +1 Acuity, +1 Accuracy, +1 Perception

You have reached the Maximum Level for an Aerial Mini Slime! You are ready to evolve!

Evolutionary Options

Tier 2 - Dense Mini Slime

Requirements: Be an Aerial Mini Slime Level 7, have a Density greater than 5.00g/cm3

Description: This is a denser form of Slime, you will be able to pack more of a punch behind your actions and skills, however at the cost of being slower.

Evolutionary Bonus: +1 Intellect, +4 Strength, +3 Endurance, -2 Speed, +2 Vitality, +30HP, +10HP Regen, +15SP, +5SP Regen

Requirements Not Met

Tier 3 - Fly

Requirements: Be an Aerial Mini Slime Level 7, have Assimilated Wings, Legs and Eyes of the Fly or merged equivalents, all at Level 5+.

Description: You change into a Fly, you will have the features and capabilities of the Fly as well as a 3x bonus to any Fly related skills.

Evolutionary Bonus: +1 Intellect, +4 Speed, Gain Dexterity Stat +3, +4 Accuracy, +4 Reaction, -20HP, -5HP Regen, +20SP, +10SP Regen

Requirements Met

Tier 3 - Termite

Requirements: Be an Aerial Mini Slime Level 7, have Assimilated Mandibles, Wings, Legs and Eyes of the Termite or merged equivalents, all at Level 5+.

Description: You change into a Termite. You will have the features and capabilities of the Termite as well as a 3x bonus to any Termite related skills even after they have merged.

Evolutionary Bonus: +3 Strength, +1 Speed, Gain Fortitude Stat +1, +2 Vitality, +1 Endurance, +10HP, +3HP Regen, +2SP, -15MP, -5MP Regen

Requirements Met

Tier 3 - Aerial Slime

Requirements: Be an Aerial Mini Slime Level 7, have Insectoid Wings, Level 10+

Description: Aerial Slime is a greater form of Aerial Mini Slime, retain the abilities of Aerial Mini Slime and more!

Evolutionary Bonus: +3 Intellect, +3 Accuracy, +3 Reaction, +4 Speed, +3 Perception, +25HP, +10HP Regen +20SP, +5SP Regen, +10% chance to Assimilate Wings and Wing related objects.

Requirements Not Met

Tier 3 - Copycat Slime

Requirements: Be an Aerial Mini Slime Level 7. Have Assimilated at least 15 different traits in total.

Description: Copycat Slime can gain traits of other creatures more easily. You get a +10% chance to successfully Assimilate. Assimilate gets a 10x boost to experience.

Evolutionary Bonus: +7 Intellect, +4 Accuracy, +5 Reaction, -2 Speed, +4 Perception, +35HP, +8HP Regen +5SP, +1SP Regen, +10 MP, +2 MP Regen

Requirements Not Met

You have qualified for 2 Evolutionary Options, do you wish to Evolve now or wait? If you do not choose you will automatically be evolved, if you would like to wait you will need to select No.

Yes / No?

From Aerial Mini Slime, it wanted to become a Copycat Slime so badly! Even Resh knew that Assimilate had given it most of its useful abilities but as always nothing was ever easy. The Termite and Fly options were immediately discarded. Those were extremely weak creatures and there was no telling how weak it would be if it changed into them. It almost had Insectoid Wings up to Level 10, so it should just work on that and then just become an Aerial Slime, it could become a Copycat Slime later.

With that sorted in its mind, it just spread its new Insectoid Wings, they were slightly different less transparent than before with more of a brown tinge to them. They also felt less flimsy, and its wing muscles felt slightly stronger as well. It wouldn’t have to worry about its weight as much. That was something that was holding it back.

It took 6 hours of work but finally…

Insectoid Wings has increased to Level 10!

Congratulations on reaching Level 10! Your Insectoid Wings has improved to Strong Insectoid Wings flight distance has increased from 1m (+50% for Aerial Mini Slime) per level to 3m (+50% for Aerial Mini Slime) per level! Your carrying capacity has increased from 250g to 300g!

It had also made some gains from Photosynthesis while flying but they were less important. This was great news! It had increased how far it could fly by three times! At the same time having fulfilled the requirements to become an Aerial Slime, Resh decided not to wait any longer.

I will be Aerial Slime!

You have chosen Tier 3 - Aerial Slime. You are now Aerial Slime Level 1!

Your Flight will boost experience gained further with each level. You now have a 10% greater chance to Assimilate Wings or related objects in the future.

+3 Intellect, +3 Accuracy, +3 Reaction, +4 Speed, +3 Perception, +25HP, +10HP Regen +20SP, +5SP Regen

All HP, MP and SP have been restored on Evolution!

As with all the previous evolutions it had undergone. Resh started to feel the warmth spread through its body and its vision and senses dim. Then without warning, there was a very sharp pain! It started in its core and spread to its extremities. This pain was a tier above what it had felt before! Resh tried to wake itself up but nothing was happening, the pain just kept getting worse and worse.

Just as Resh thought it was going to die with the pain reaching a crescendo it abruptly stopped. It did not fade away gradually the way it had built. Like it was there one second and completely gone the next. It left Resh shuddering and utterly terrified. What happened? It felt completely drained and weak. Unlike the previous evolutions when it had come out feeling great and rejuvenated and excited to try out its new capabilities.

It took a few hours for the shivering and memory of the pain to subside. Resh was left wondering what had happened as well as dreading its next evolutions in the future. It would need to understand this in much greater detail. When it checked its HP, SP and MP they were all full. So they had been restored and the damage had not caused it to lose any of those.

Would this happen again with the next evolution? Would Resh have to deal with this pain again or would it get worse the next time? It wasn’t a problem that needed to be resolved now but it would need to be addressed at some point and soon. At least it would if Resh ever wanted to evolve again.

The closest Resh could compare it to, was when the two animals had been running through the forest. It had been crushed underfoot. Resh had been left with nothing but 6 HP and an incredible amount of pain. It had just wanted to curl up and die. This was something Resh had not thought about for some time, like a memory covered in a haze and now the veil was slowly lifting.

Resh knew, instinctively, that all this “thinking” was due to its increases in Intellect and Acuity. Resh needed more of that so that it could start thinking up strategies, if for no other reason than to avoid barrelling into deadly situations only to come out by a millimetre. It was usually better for it but maybe this increase in Intellect would be the tipping point that allowed it to think clearly, probably not though. It needed to gain more and try to be more cautious in the meantime.

Trying to figure everything out with a less than functional mind was such a struggle! Resh didn’t understand how other animals managed. Purely on instinct which as an Aerial Slime it seemed not to have. Maybe that’s why it had not seen any other Slimes here? It was the only creature of its type that it knew of and was slowly adapting to life in the forest, it would continue to get stronger and hope for the best.