The next order of business was checking out its next evolution. Looking at the list again it knew for 100% certainty that it did not want to become any type of insect. Getting rid of them completely the list went down from twenty choices to seventeen. Next Resh looked at the Tier 3 Water Options. None of those appealed overly much so taking those 3 out was a no-brainer. Its options were reduced from seventeen to fourteen. The Tier 3 Earth Options were all weak as well, Resh wasn’t interested. Twelve Options were left.

Satisfied, Resh left it at that. The rest could be potential choices in the future. For now, it needed to look at what was next. Resh had never chosen anything except slime options, if it was honest with itself, it was mostly fear. What would change if it stopped being a Slime? Would it lose some of its abilities as it had in the past? Would it be able to go back to being a Slime? What about its ability to change and adjust its shape? Would it still be able to Consolidate as it could now? That was a Slime ability. It might lose that if it ever stopped being a Slime. The indisputable fact was that Slimes were weak creatures for the most part. Compared to many other monsters and creatures in the world Resh wasn’t strong. But that didn’t mean that it couldn’t become powerful if it continued to stay as a Slime, right? Whatever else there was Resh was simply not ready to stop being a Slime, there were a lot of other options available but none were as appealing to it as staying a Slime, for now at least. Eventually to reach the true heights one day Resh would need to change. Resh was not ready to risk losing some of its most powerful capabilities. Consume, Assimilate and Consolidate, were the bread and butter skills of Resh’s existence and the reason Resh had grown to where it was now. Not an easy decision to take for sure. Resh checked all five slime options in more detail.

Slime Options – 5 Options

Tier 3 - Dense Slime

Requirements: Be a Tier 3 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, +100 HP, +20 HP Regen, +35 SP, +15 SP Regen

Requirements Not Met

Tier 3 - Earth Slime

Requirements: Be a Tier 3 Slime - Level 10, have Underground Living Level 7+! Have assimilated 1 Earth Adaptation Trait!

Description: Earth Slimes are more adapted to Earth. You will have no penalties for being underground but instead will have penalties for your activities on land and in water.

Evolutionary Bonus: +4 Strength, +3 Vitality, +2 Endurance, +3 Resistance, +3 Perception, +65HP, +17HP Regen +15SP, +2SP Regen, 2x Exp for Earth-Related spells and Skills, +10 Levels to Underground Living but it will not Level further with this evolution, gain Talent Earth Born +10% Damage Resistance to Earth-based attacks.

Requirements Not Met

Tier 4 – Boss Copycat Slime

Requirements: Be a Tier 3 Slime – Level 10. Have Assimilated at least 30 different traits in total.

Description: Boss Copycat Slime is a Tier above Copycat Slime and even better at taking on traits of other creatures. It is so good in fact that if you become a Boss Copycat Slime some of its traits becomes so deeply ingrained that they will never leave you, becoming an integral part of your DNA. You get a +20% chance to successfully Assimilate. Assimilate gets a 20x boost to experience.

Evolutionary Bonus: +12 Intellect, +8 Accuracy, +6 Reaction, +5 Perception, +55HP, +15 HP Regen +8 SP, +3 SP Regen, +30 MP, +8 MP Regen

Requirements Met

Tier 4 - Aerial King Slime

Requirements: Be a Tier 3 - Level 10, have Insectoid Wings, Level 10+

Description: Aerial Slime is a greater form of Aerial Mini Slime, regain the abilities of Aerial Mini 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 – King Water Slime

Requirements: Be a Tier 3 Slime - Level 10, have Water Adjacent Level 10+! Have assimilated 5 Water Adaptation Traits!

Description: King Water Slimes even better in Water. Your movement in Water is even more efficient, you can now gain experience for Water Adjacent while in the water. In addition to that as you continue to increase your

Evolutionary Bonus: +1 Intellect, +2 Accuracy, +4 Reaction, +3 Speed, +3 Perception, +35HP, +8HP Regen +25SP, +8SP Regen, +25MP, +3MP Regen, 2x Exp for Water-Related spells and Skills, Water Adjacent will now level up while you are in the water the effect will not be felt until you are no longer Water-type, all Water related abilities will have a 100% damage penalty against you! You will now absorb any Water-based attacks, due to your Water Born +10 Talent. 10% of damage received is converted to HP, the rest is blocked.

Requirements Met

Time to evolve! Resh did not want to make the same mistake as last time so it came out of the water and onto the bank. It was time to stop being a Water creature and get back to land. Or Resh could go underground but Resh wasn’t sure which choice to go for. Considering that Resh’s goal was strength at the moment Dense Slime would have been the best choice but it would take a lot of Consolidation to get to the required Density and considering how long this one had taken it was going to be a very long process. Also, considering that Consolidating too early would result in the loss of that strength that it so desired, the process would take even longer. Density gain was not worth the sacrifice of Strength, Endurance, and Vitality. It was sure it would lose all three if it was not careful.

Maybe Resh could find a good middle ground, after all as long as it did not lose stats it was fine, there would still gain speed, accuracy, and other stat gains. Overall there had never been a net loss of stats. Consolidation was that powerful of a skill. There was also the fact that Resh needed to retain enough Volume to use its weapons, there still required a minimum volume. Both Tier 3 Slime options appealed to Resh, but neither one was possible yet. Those annoying requirements needed to be met still.

Resh decided its best bet was to prioritize the Tier 3 options, it needed to diversify if it was going to get stronger in all areas. Resh knew that for that to be possible it would have to fulfil the requirements of those 2 options. So should it try for Earth Slime first or Dense Slime, both seemed to show some promise for boosting strength, which was the stat that was lagging behind the rest at the moment. Resh would be lying if it didn’t admit that this was a cause for its concern. After all, strength was the stat that made sure its weapons while ineffective would still do some damage.

Earth Slime was going to be the easiest to fulfil the requirements for, the only limitation being that Resh couldn’t be out of the water for more than 30min at the moment and even less in the soil. That wasn’t the only problem though. Resh wasn’t exactly a prime digger. It would need to devise a suitable solution.

Extending its Strong Legs of the Squitter, luckily they were able to manifest underwater as well as underground, Resh began digging down at the edge of the water of the river. Straight out to a dryer part of the underground where water would not easily seep in. In that way, it could be underground without also being underwater. The instructions were not very clear but it did say that Resh would need to be completely buried in the soil for it to count towards Underground Living. Resh would have to test it out. Unfortunately, the Claws that were on the ends of its Legs were more designed for clinging to trees or scratching enemies, most certainly not for digging underground. This resulted in very slow and tedious progress. While a Field Grole could move through the soil at Resh’s regular speed, Resh was reduced to a crawl. Moving at about 10% of its regular speed underground and then having to dig its way as it went. Resh was lucky if it moved more than a handful of centimetres in as many minutes! It was becoming tiresome and Resh was just about to throw in the towel when its claw struck something.