What is perfection? Not the definition, but the concept. How can it be determined? Is it ever obtainable? Or forever out of reach to inspire those seeking it out to forever improve? Maybe it's rather like beauty, and is only determined by the beholder. Perhaps the two are intrinsically linked, perfection lying within the heart of beauty.

Or maybe true perfection is finding satisfaction in the imperfection of things.

Or perhaps perfection is only achieved when all things have become still and everything is no more.

I guess it all depends on whether the letter of definition should be followed or the feeling of not wanting anything to change. Humans and other sentients don't really put much stock in perfection. Of course there are outliers, but those few don't interest me. No, what interests me is unspoken widespread acknowledgement that perfection is what every monster aims for. All monsters big and small are quite prone to change. Almost designed for wide spread variation.

And deviation.

Monster seek perfection or rather they aim for the very pinnacle for their physical forms and magical prowess. Trying to forge an edge sharp enough to cut those who merely gaze upon the blade. They all seek to become the most adaptable, with the greatest survivability becoming the apex of every environment.

That is the key difference between monsters and animal, one seeks mere survival, while the other seeks to conquer survival. A trait pixies and monsters share, as unlikely as it sounds. Pixies are weak, and the bottom rung of of pretty much everything. Pixies also idolize strength, it is why they created the clans, in an effort to pool knowledge and collectively grow stronger. Their sensibilities lay more on the monstrous side of desire, almost identical to a certain deväk.

It's for this pursuit of power and growth that Vaelin was walking in to a monster den with Stygian.

Stygian wasn't entirely comfortable with its lady coming along, but objectively she was an asset. She could increase Stygian's stats, provide magical shielding, and make sure Stygian wouldn't die from its injuries if it came to that. Just because the bug knew that, didn't mean it liked it. It was Stygian's job as her knight to protect her at all costs, and having the roles reversed felt odd.

What's more is that Vae didn't allow Stygian to just charge into the half flooded cave the mudlings called home. She scouted while camoed, and she didn't bring good news upon her return. There was a metric assload of mudlings that seemed poised to become a literal fuckton. She also admitted that it seemed likely that host-worms had taken over the nest. Their jerky movements and the mudlings corpses, which littered the muddy cave waters were too damaged to act as a proper host.

Well it was partial good news, it seemed Stygian might be able to fill two gene pools in one go.

Gene pools Parasitical Growth Progress Arthropod Aväk 0/10, Des. Ant 0/500 Mammalian/Amphibian Human 0/100, Mudling 0/90 Morphis/Annelid Marg 0/200, Host-worm 0/150

Even though all the values seemed random our psyling had a theory about it. Since our bug morphed down the desecrator ants path, it would need a smaller sample size. Human and marg doubled since they were neglected while host-worms and mudlings grew by a quarter since they were applied but not fully integrated. Stygian had the feeling that if it ignored the original three for another metamorphosis the bug would lose its connection to them without being able to replace it.

There may not have been a total of ninety mudlings in the nest, but there was a large cluster of eggs in rear sections of the den. The murky water made it impossible to measure the depth, but was okay Vae had a plan. Instead of going into the den Vae would erect some small walls to create a choke point then act as bait to lure the host-worm operated mudling towards the choke when Stygian would mow them down. Of course luring them all at once would be too much so Vae would let out miniscule sparks of power over a group on the monsters and speed back toward Stygian.

The plan made Stygian nervous, but the slow reactions of mudlings coupled with Vae's flying speed made it a fairly safe plan. Of course they didn't take into account that the erection of the walls would alert the whole nest. Nor that upon seeing a group of mudlings chase after something, it would cause a chain reaction of sorts that caused the whole nest to frenzy.

Stygian saw the horde racing towards the choke point grimaced, things were going downhill quickly. Shifting the armored tentacles on its back into wide spade shaped maws lined with jaded teeth meant to eviscerate prey, instead of chew. The bug also prepared to blast the mudlings with a psychic shout, hoping that the host-worms weren't too animalistic otherwise they would just ignore the blast. When they were almost upon the bug it let it's psychic scream out. The front line was completely unaffected, but several rows back mudlings that looked bigger, healthier, and less savage collapsed.

Splitting a Knight's Fork in two Stygian began to hack and stab the mudlings. Unfortunately, Stygian's normal tactic of fatality wound and forget wouldn't work unless the psyling hit the main body of the host-worm. So Stygian began striking for the brain, the host-worms had to control the body somehow and Stygian was banking on a physical control instead of a magical one. In which case the brain would have to be where the host-worms rooted themselves. If it was magical well Stygian would fucked, there is only some much a bug can do.

Stygian lucked out and the control was indeed physical, but the whole head had to be removed, or destroyed otherwise the worms would just be slowed down. Stygian cut and chewed and cursed. This was going to be tiring. The most effective way to wield a spear, especially for those just starting out is to, be aggressive, be be aggressive. Which was the mantra Stygian kept up the whole fight. Thankfully Vae had made it to safety, and she was shielding Stygian from unavoidable blows. While also restoring what stamina she could.

Ten and then twenty mudlings were slain, but they still kept coming. Stygian surrounded by corpses, the uneven terrain would provide a nice bonus to acrobatics. Provided they survived. Our psyling would occasionally send a psychic screech into the horde and watch a few mudlings fall over. Every blast a few more would get stunned, which implied that those in the back where smarter than those in front. Therefore the horde was getting more dangerous as the fight progressed.

As the bodies continued to pile up the mudlings could only attack the deväk in ones or twos. Allowing Stygian to feast and regain some strength, which in turn took some of the load off of Vae. Vae had also noticed the trend of bigger and higher thinking mudlings and she was just going to wait for them to ruin the duo's day. Vae's basic thread was primarily used to heal, defend, and replicate the qualities of her innate thread. Vae had spent a lot of time contemplating the nature of the life thread bonded to pixies trying to think of a way to weaponize it. Unfortunately their thread basically boiled down to revitalization instead of the true meaning of nature which includes death. They could make things grow, breath fresh life into things, and shape the whole of nature. Life, growth, and creation. They couldn't directly make things die, make something wither, or tear apart and destroy the living.

Vae's extra strong connection to the basic thread made her an Advanced Mage in not just name, but also class. This allowed her, as I have said before to shape energy with thoughts instead of chants. This meant something very special to Vaelin Koroth. It meant she could do all the things her innate thread refused to do.

"You're on your own for minute! Hold on okay?" Vae's voice cracked at then end, but she resolved to stop the horde and end this. Stygian only gave a slight nod.

Vae created a small ball of basic mana and began to focus the entirety her will upon it. What she was making wouldn't just take a lot of energy it would also take focus and time. Meanwhile Stygian had shifted from pure offense to, changing its armored tentacles into wide tower shields. The killing slowed down, but with the bodies clogging the way the pace was still manageable.

Five minutes passed in this manor, and then Vae tossed her lump of blue pulsing energy at the largest worm operated mudling. A moment passed and nothing happened. The puppet looked relieved and took a step before withering away into not, but skin and bone. The lump streaked to the next nearest target bigger than before sticking to the mudlings skin. And the same thing occurred. After every target withered the lump got bigger and faster. Before long it was taking out five or six mudlings at a time. Suddenly there were no more mudlings, and the the now fairly large ball was streaking towards Stygian.

The bug froze there was no way it could avoid something like that , there's just nothing it could do. Then it heard Vae's laughter. Stygian glared at the pixie while she casually stopped the mass of roiling energy.

"Noot cool, I thoought I was gooner."

Vae was still giggling, the reprimand doing nothing to decrease her good humor. If anything it just made the incident funnier.

"Do you want some of this? I can't use it all." Vae asked settling down a bit.

The psyling nodded, and asked, "What did yoou dooo?"

"Well in short I made them wither, instead of giving them energy for growth I snatched it away. All of it away."

"Aaaand in loong?"

"There are three fundamental energy that exists within everything. From rocks and dirt to plants and animals this energy is everywhere. One supplies information to the status, the other empowers those that can access the status, while the third is a bonding agent that helps the physical exist with the magical. I disrupted the magical protection most things have, in essence disrupting a part of their bond to magic. On a fundamental level for the smallest of small moments. During that moment of disruption I pulled the energy keeping their bodies alive out. Withering them. Not something I could do against a magical foe with a stronger bond, but useful only because I haven't quite figured out how to drain the magic or mana from threads directly. So I had to do it in a roundabout fashion."

Stygian watched Vaelin pull a small amount of the large sphere into herself, then gesture for Stygian to take its fill. The psyling ready its shackles and dug into the massive ball of life force. Fortunately this energy wasn't enough to overwhelm Stygian's control, but was enough for gluttony to level up.

Gluttony

You have consumed the energies of light and life. You feel, unenergized...100%

Density has morphed into Energy Dense. Energy Dense is level 3: You feel, ravenous agony... 0%

Stygian had gotten used to the discomfort of hunger pangs, but this was something else. Stygian was completely racked with pain, it would seem that this level of gluttony was an endurance test. Stygian shackled the sin, and while some pain still leaked through it was negligible. This new test was not something to endure out in the wild. Stygian felt the minor decrease in both Mnt and Con, but before it could check its status the rewards from the battle popped up.

Congratulations, Combat level increased to 12. Path of the Spear has reached level 5. Bonus attributes for reaching level 5 Dex +5 and Agi +5. Dodge has reached level 6. Bonus attributes for reaching level 5 Agi +5, and Acr +5. Congratulations, new skill unlocked, Path of the Sword: Level 1. Attributes increased; End +3, Acr +3, and Dex +3. Physical modifiers increased; Int +4.6%, Wis +4.4%, and Mnt +2.0%

Stygian was about to ask Vae what her rewards were, but she looked focused on her own status, so Stygian decided to out the new skills.

Path of the Sword Level 1

Long is the road to mastery, but those who stay dedicated will become unstoppable. Swords are more comfortable in your grasp, bonus dexterity when using sword-type weapons. Bonus will increase with levels. Current bonus +2.5%

Energy Dense: Level 3

As solid as a lump of iron. Your body is dense and heavy, but not just physically. You have achieved something usually reserved for adapt mages. Your body has adapted to the increased energy. Your bond generates more energy and requires less. Your bones muscles, and everything about you is denser, Str +10%. You can feel strong energies around yourself, Per +10%

The strength bonus was old news, but perception was nice to have even it it would make pain more noticeable. Path of the Sword wasn't anything new, but it was nice to have since a Knight's Fork could benefit from both path skills in its different forms. When Stygian looked up at Vae the bug found her smiling a jubilant smile.

"That last attack got me all the way to combat level ten! I was only at six before the fight!"

"U-unfaair, I only goot two leevels, aand I diid moost of the fiight." Stygian said with a psychic pout.

"That may be true, but I got the most kills. Besides Stygy, you didn't even hear the best part. I multi-classed! I'm a Siphon. Half magic half combat class it seems I rogue class mixing with a class for draining magic and life out enemies. I got two slots not as good as your four, but listen to the skills I got. The first is a part of the rogue aspect it's called background combatant; 'in a group you will be the last targeted up to a certain point.' The other one though, I got a drain spell right off the bat! It lets me pull energy from enemy spell and use the energy for my own purposes. As enemies get weaker as we get stronger!"

Vae grinned quite madly and Stygian couldn't help but grin along. She was so utterly pleased. It was a very different feeling from when she had obtained her current magic class years ago, but that is a story for another time. Stygian began to mop up corpses. Easily reaching the ninety mudling mark and beyond. The total count of both mudlings and host-worms, one hundred forty three. Stygian gave Vaelin shit about her less than eighty estimate.

"I meean, I know hoow hard nuumbers can bee, after aall I was as small as you once I geet it. Counting geets easier the bigger yoou are." If a bug could make a shit eating grin Stygian definitely was.

Vae rolled her eyes, "This coming for the bug who used to think of ten as lots, and a hundred as lots and lots, or do you not remember how you described your status to me that first time? After all it was lots of days ago."

The two friends just laughed at one another, it was never good to take oneself too seriously. The unlikely pair made their way to the back of the flooded cave where Vaelin had spotted the eggs. The further they delved into the cave the summer and dimmer it became. Fortunately Vae was able to summon a globe of magic light. Unfortunately, the deeper into the cave they got, the deeper the water was. Which was much, much deeper than it let on to be. Vae sent the globe of blue light to hopefully illuminate the murky water, but the light disappeared after less than meter. Stygian was pretty sure that something was alive down there, and decided that it should be the one to go check.

That raised the issue of hold to breath underwater, since Stygian had almost drowned once and wasn't eager to repeat it. Stygian spent the next little while trying to mimic the gills of the mudlings. Of course they could have had Vaelin fly to the back wall and begin to steal the eggs, but they both had a feeling that if there was something under the water it would be less than pleased with the attempt.

Stygian molded and shifted the faux gills around trying to get the structure perfect. Basically the bug was just letting its shifter flesh fill a set of gills completely and then letting them mimic the cell structure of the gills. Shifter flesh allowed for the alteration all the way down to cell structure. Pressing up against something with shifter flesh was actually one of the easiest ways to learn how it was made. Once Stygian figured out the structure or rather copied it, the bug then set about testing them.

Stygian however didn't just want to settle for a copy, the psyling was trying to improve the design. Honestly, though that was just an excuse. Stygian had basically made the inverse of the gill with its mold and was trying to play it off to avoid teasing. So instead of something sunk into skin, these gills poked out. As it turns out the increased surface area provided better oxygen absorption. So Stygian grew them straight out of its body, making frill-like gills. Stygian grew four to determine how many would be needed to keep up with the psyling's oxygen needs. Turns out five was the magic number. As Stygian was testing the improved gills, which were now frills thanks to the bugs 'modifications', the bug realized that the lack of visibility was a huge disadvantage

Vae had no ideas, except for 'fill the water with lights' which would ruin their attempt at stealth. Stygian for once was the voice of reason, the bug theorized that mudlings should have some way to see in the murky water, after all it was their home. So Stygian began to flex its shapeshifting stuff once again, this time trying to mimic a mudlings eye. The process was rather unsightly.

Pun aside, it really was rather gruesome, the bug had to stab its shifter flesh into the eyes to figure out the internal structure. It was messy and took a few eyes because the bug was a bit too forceful. The basic structure was easy enough to mimic, the hard part was the consistency of the eye jelly. Finally getting everything just right Stygian opened eye under water only to be immediately queasy. The psyling's brain was trying its best to merge the images from all three eyes. Snapping shut the two eyes on its head Stygian focused on the third and queasiness faded. That is until the moved the eyes position. It was disorienting since its head was still and the eye had changed position. Kind of like if someone took the eyes out of your head, and you could still see out of them. Your body would be stationary while someone was running around with your eyes. Giving your brain the impression that you were both stationary and moving rapidly.

Quite unpleasant, dear friends.

The bug tried to push away the sickening feeling, and kept looking, but the sight was only marginally improved. It was possible for the bug to improve the already heightened light sensitivity of the mudlings eyes, but it wasn't the time for such experiments. So the bug moved on to its next idea.

Host-worms were eyeless creatures and yet they could still determine where proper hosts were. They must of had some external sense, magical or otherwise that let them observe the world without the need for eyes. Looking at the brownish worms inside and out didn't provide any obvious clues. So instead of painstakingly trying to determine what gave the worms their sense, Stygian just copied the whole structure of the worm. Nothing seemed too different until Stygian closed its eyes. The bug had a sense of where everything was within a meter of the it. It could tell what was water and what was cave, but this sense had no color to it nor any sort texture. The sense just showed the bug dividing lines of different matter and what that matter was. The bug could even feel Vaelin she was an organic, and the thing that stuck out the most in this sense-scape.

Congratulations, research research level increased to 9. Mind attribute bonus; Int +3, Wis +3, Mnt +3, and Per +3. Shapeshifting has reached level 5. Bonus Vit +5, Con +5, and End +5. Congratulations, research has reached level 5. Choose a new passive skill. Fast Learner: Learn faster. Gain research levels and specialization (Geneticist) levels faster. Knowledge Retention: Mind like a steel trap, once something is learned it can't be unlearned forcibly or otherwise. Critical Thinking: The ability to question, 'is this a good idea?' before doing something.

Stygian could do without so many tempting options, well besides critical thinking which just felt insulting. Stygian picked up fast learner being the skill most in line with the bugs desire for rapid growth. The bug wasn't really surprised by the level ups, the bug was mimicking complex structures, which were bound to increase both knowledge and shapeshifting. It was a bit surprising to gain five research levels though, but Stygian had developed, or mimicked two working systems to view the world, and a way to breath underwater. Stygian could probably snacth a few more shapeshifting levels by rapidly reforming and disassembling the structures, and Vaelin's pride about her combat levels.

Which the bug promptly did.

The bug waited just long enough to see the jealousy on Vaelin's face, and Without further ado, the bug dived down. The plan was just to scout and see if there was anything at the bottom. If there wasn't they would harvest the eggs, if there was Stygian would report back and they would make a plan. Five meters down and there was still no bottom. Six and then seven meters and still nothing finally around nine meters Stygian detected something. It was lumpy, bigger than a rabbit, smaller than a dog. From nose to tail it was half a meter, it was thick like a barrel and seemed to be dangerous. With long claws and sharp scales. It seemed to be scaled up mudling, albeit with slight differences, but it was still recognizable as a mudling. Though it preferred the title mudking.

Unfortunately the beast wasn't very regal at the moment. The host-worms were trying to use the big beast as a hatchery for their young. The mudking didn't want to be used as fertilizer for those damn worms, so it sank to the bottom of its pond. The larvae would drown if they burst out into this environment, so they were in a stalemate. The larvae were in pockets all over the mudking, their biology telling them not to hatch in the presence of water, while the mudking couldn't do much of anything while the adult host-worm and it were in a battle for control. Which was quickly brought to an end when Stygian severed both the mudling's brainstem and the host-worm's body in two.

Not at all the plan, but both Stygian and Vaelin were developing a habit of not following those.

Congratulations, your bound weapon A Knight's Fork has developed a new ability. Due to similar enchantments upon A Knight's Fork, this ability has been strengthened. A Knight's Fork now has the ability Shifting Metal, your weapon empowered by killing so many shapeshifter can be altered much more freely. There is an expansion limit as well as a collapsing limit. This ability has consumed the enchantments extend and collapse, new enchantments maybe placed upon A Knight's Fork.

Stygian was speechless, and not just because it bug so far underwater. The weapon had adapted becoming more functional and allowed Vae to place additional enchantments upon it. That was a win-win-win in Stygian's book. With a thought the bug elongated the blade and shortened the haft. It changed easier and faster than before. This weapon had the chance to become Stygian's greatest asset. As well as the bugs greatest crutch, relying too much on a weapon would only diminish one's own strength. Stygian was too busy giggling to give it any serious thought though.

Disappointed that the stealth kill didn't gain the deväk any combat levels, Stygian began to eat all the pockets of host-worms and it's parasitical growth shot up. And only stopped eating when a warning popped into its head.

Warning, gene pools can exceeded limit by 100%. Any more add to host-worm section will not be added to parasitical growth.

Stygian grumbled about wanting to abuse the system, but it seems only fair that there was some kind of limit. Still being able to enter metamorphosis with two hundred points for every gene pool as well as bonus ability for each was completely unfair. Especially when you consider how hard it was to gain abilities. Abilities were almost always something one was born with, on very rare occasions adventures had gained abilities, but nowhere near the rate Stygian was gathering them. If Stygian maxed all its gene pool, it would have a total of one thousand eight hundred points for metamorphosis. An actual fuck ton.

Stygian decided to leave the mudking at the bottom of the pond. There were still a lot host-worms larvae in the corpse and Stygian wanted to tame some of the damn things as well as a few mudlings. Before that however, Stygian decided to fill it's mudling gene pool to double as well. Which only required about thirty eggs to be eaten. Which Stygian did while being berated by Vaelin for not following the plan. Stygian devoted the rest of its attention to the cave area. How the eggs were kept, the lighting and everything trying to study the cave as best as the bug could. When that didn't raise its research level to ten Stygian began to inspect the eggs more thoroughly. Finding several that were slightly different.

The eggs were clear and you could see the embryonic mudlings inside. Several were slightly smaller than the rest, but what made them really stand out is the mudlings inside seemed to have already grown teeth, or something that would one day become teeth. It was odd, Stygian didn't remember any of the mudlings having teeth so, pointy. Checking the bodies Stygian didn't find anything it would describe as teeth, but swimming down to the mudking Stygian found that it had quite furious teeth.

It was this deduction that the smaller mudlings had the possibility of growing into mudkings that pushed Stygian into research level ten.

Congratulations, research level increased to 10. Congratulations on reaching research level 10. You have been awarded a specialized job and an extra job slot for your efforts. You can accept or reject this job, however you will never be offered this choice again.

Stygian anticipating starter skills just accepted the prompts without really reading it, waiting for the skill selection prompt.

You have earned the job:

Splicer

Life is yours to meld and shape, you can create abominations or animals so splendid it makes one weep. Geneticist focus on understanding how genes can make up the whole, Splicers work to understand what two animals would make a better unicorn. They do not understand genetic they just mash things together until something halfway decent is created.

This is a single class job for research. Accepting will take the last slot available to you. This job is highly compatible with Geneticist.

Will you accept?

Yes / No

The system seemed like it already knew the answer, but Stygian still had to hit yes. Pleasant surprise seemed to be the word of the day, and now finally Stygian would get to pick its starter skills.