Moving cautiously, just because it could handle the number of attacks it had taken up to this point didn’t mean that it would be able to handle this many, there were A LOT of Ants here. Resh needed to make sure it could handle them. Within the first few seconds of it moving to and starting to Absorb and Digest the Soldier and Worker Ants it was already close to maxing out its Level! As soon as it moved in, the Soldier Ants started attacking Resh in earnest and so it was Absorbing more of those than the Worker Ants.

You have Absorbed 213 Worker Ants and 773 Soldier Ants! You have gained 79 Exp!

You Assimilated 2 Soldiers Ant and gained the Courage of the Soldier and Endurance of the Soldier!

From Courage of the Soldier, you gain +5 Resistance!

From Endurance of the Soldier, you gain +3 Endurance!

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

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

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

You have Digested 213 Worker Ants and 771 Soldier Ants! You have gained 79.23g of Weight. Your Weight is now 309.34g and your Volume has increased to 140.61 cm3.

You have just received -0.8 Luck! Better Luck Next Time!

Argh! Everything is always so wrong!

Just as things were going great everything started to turn against Resh, the number of Soldier Ants that were moving in was overwhelming it completely. Photosynthesis was not able to keep up and it was losing almost 10HP per second, almost 100 bites on parts of its body each second! Things were looking dire and on top of that, it lost a point of luck! This was getting bad, time to back out and quick. It would recover health and then come back to finish things off. Extending its wings to make a quick getaway…..and they didn’t work. It couldn’t get its bulk off the ground…

You are unable to perform this action. You are too heavy for Strong Insectoid Wings!

Again it had not been paying attention to its Weight. It was just a little over and now it had lost its fastest way to retreat! Luckily its movement with Legs was much faster than the ants and so it kept moving that way but it got a lot more bites and stings for its trouble.

Now sitting at 21HP it wasn’t completely down to the wire but it was cutting it pretty close. It needed to be smarter about this. Pay more attention to its Weight and other stats. It was becoming more and more important, it could not hunt Insects non-stop. Eventually, it would need to go for stronger creatures so that it could have more powerful options for Evolution. Insects and Slimes were not going to work forever….would they?

Ignoring its mid-week crisis, Resh continued getting its health back up for round two with the Ant Colony, this time it would get them. It still had about eight hours of daylight and it needed to gets its health back up to full.

For losing and healing so much HP +1 Vitality!

Yes! Got another stat point!

While it celebrated, it continued to use Photosynthesis to heal itself, since it had stopped moving it was also able to use Meditate to boost health as well. Since Resh was over the threshold for flying it thought that it should use this time to Absorb and Digest some more so that it could “bulk up” in a very literal sense. Then it would have no restrictions on its weapon usage.

Six hours later and Resh’s HP was over 100 and it was ready for another go with the Ant Colony. If it waited any longer then it would have a slower recovery rate since it would be nighttime. At the very least it would get to the threshold where it could evolve again, and get something better and stronger hopefully.

Legs of the Squitter has increased to Level 9!

You have Absorbed and Digested 54g of Soil and Ground Material. Your Weight is now 363.34g and your Volume has increased to 165.15cm3.

Resh was ready for the Anthill and with daylight to spare. If things went badly this time Resh had planned ahead and it would have an hour of daylight at least to recover some of its Health. Keeping Photosynthesis active on HP recovery Resh inched its way back to the colony. This time managing to Absorb and Digest everything on the surface of the mound as well as extending its body into some of the holes, it kept going until it maxed out its level. It didn’t take long and this time it got more Workers than Soldiers as well. It must have Absorbed many of them in the first round.

You have Absorbed 8254 Worker Ants and 284 Soldier Ants! You have gained 110 Exp!

YOU HAVE REACHED Aerial Slime Level 8! CONGRATULATIONS! +1 Intellect, +1 Reaction, +1 Speed

YOU HAVE REACHED Aerial Slime Level 9! CONGRATULATIONS! +1 Acuity, +1 Accuracy, +1 Perception

YOU HAVE REACHED Aerial Slime Level 10! CONGRATULATIONS! +1 Intellect, +1 Reaction, +1 Speed

You have Digested 8254 Worker Ants and 284 Soldier Ants! You have gained 11.094g of Weight. Your Weight is now 374.43g and your Volume has increased to 170.20 cm3.

Success!!!

With that elated thought buoying it up it decided to take its win and literally run. The last stranglers got Absorbed and Digested as well. Within a minute it was out of range and safe from the Ant Bites, it had lost around 54HP and so had come out better than the previous fight with the Colony.

Now it could evolve and get stronger…..that was when it remembered its fear of evolving. It would not willingly put itself through that pain again…but how could it not. It needed to get stronger otherwise it would be stuck here forever. It was not willing to do that either. It was stuck in a moment of indecision. At least it could look at its evolutionary options. It had dismissed the message at the time since it was fleeing from the Ant Colony.

Evolutionary Options

Tier 3 - Dense Slime

Requirements: Be an Aerial Slime Level 10, have a Density greater than 10.00g/cm3

Description: This is a very dense form of Slime, you will be able to pack much more of a punch behind your actions and skills, however at the cost of being slower. Dense Slime is at the density of most lower-tier metals and materials so you can expect your formed weapons and attacks to have quite the effect!

Evolutionary Bonus: +2 Intellect, +10 Strength, +7 Endurance, -8 Speed, +8 Vitality, +100HP, +20HP Regen, +35SP, +15SP Regen

Requirements Not Met

Tier 3 - Fly

Requirements: Be an Aerial Slime Level 10, 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 Slime Level 10, 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 - Ant

Requirements: Be an Aerial Slime Level 10, have Assimilated Pincers, Legs, and Eyes of the Ant or merged equivalents, all at Level 5+.

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

Evolutionary Bonus: +5 Strength, +3 Speed, Gain Fortitude Stat +2, +5 Vitality, +4 Endurance, -10HP, +5HP Regen, -12SP, -15MP, -5MP Regen

Requirements Met

Tier 3 - Copycat Slime

Requirements: Be an Aerial Slime Level 10, 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, Gain Command Stat +5, +35HP, +8HP Regen +5SP, +1SP Regen, +10 MP, +2 MP Regen

Requirements Met

Tier 4 - Aerial King Slime

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

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

Evolutionary Bonus: +5 Intellect, +4 Accuracy, +5 Reaction, +7 Speed, +5 Perception, +45HP, +10HP Regen +30SP, +5SP Regen, +10% chance to Assimilate Wings and Wing related objects.

Requirements Met

Tier 4 - Treaber

Requirements: Be at Tier 3 - Level 10, have Assimilated Paws, Nose, Mouth, and Ears of the Treaber @ Level 10+.

Description: Treaber’s are small but capable tree climbing Cats, their green fur blends well with the foliage in which they make their home, powerful claws aid them in moving in the branches. Has some minor Earth and Water Magic affinity

Evolutionary Bonus: +8 Intellect, +4 Strength, +8 Vitality, +3 Accuracy, +4 Reaction, +7 Speed, +4 Perception, Gain the Charisma Stat +5, +10HP, +2HP Regen +20SP, +5SP Regen, +15MP, +10MP regen

Requirements Not Met

Tier 4 - Squitter

Requirements: Be at Tier 3 - Level 10, have Assimilated Paws, Eyes, Tail, and Ears of the Squitter @ Level 10+.

Description: Squitters are small but capable tree climbing Squirrels, they are incredibly fast and perceptive, their agility helps them run from predators and they stay in the trees at all times. Has some minor Air Magic affinity.

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

Requirements Not Met