[Level UP!]

[Level 3]

[WARNING: GROWING IS UNAVAILABLE. EVOLVE TO INCREASE BODY SIZE]

[Level: 3]

[Race: Living Bioweapon]

[Skills: ]

[Mana Absorption(LVL2)] [Growth(LVL2)] {LOCKED} [Reinforce(LVL2)] [Body Manipulation] [All Sense (Passive)] [Mana Manipulation (LVL2)]

[EVOLUTION]

[Requirements:]

[Defeat a being who has EVOLVED]

[Reinforce all of what you grew before the first evolution]

[Level up all of your skills to at least LVL 2]

This was the first time the system had sent me so many notifications...I was momentarily blinded from all sides as my view was obstructed by those holographic letters. A number of thoughts and questions instantly filled my mind.

Apparently, I had to evolve now before I could grow any longer. How inconvenient.

Defeat an evolved being, how would I know whether they were evolved or not?

Perhaps that Unicorn-rabbit was an evolved creature? Or the bear...

Plus reinforce everything?

Then I thought that …well I could actually do both at the same time! Defeat plus Reinforce! I could use [Reinforce], so my flesh would be pretty tough, then activate [Body Manipulation] to shape my flesh into sharp blades, to use as weapons.

I decided to test this out. Using [Reinforce] and [Body Manipulation], I manipulated one of my tentacles. I made it thin and long while sturdy and sharp. In the end, I created dark black blades out of my body.

Those looked pretty sharp. Could they be used to defeat evolved enemies though? Better experiment first.

I used my newly "forged" blade to nick off pieces of wood from trees like a proper knife could. And it worked!

It wasn't too hard, nor too easy. The deeper into the tree I went, the more force I would have to put in to move my body. Physics right?

I then experimented more after that, making various weapons using my flesh. I made axes, knives, tipped spears, you name it!

I also tried making projectile weapons by carving off pieces of wood to act as bullets and pushing my flesh against them to shoot them out. Alas, my strength wasn’t so great to propel it to deadly degrees. That idea was a no-go for now. Perhaps after I evolved, I would have a strength increase?

Anyways, after thinking of my offensive capabilities, I needed to try out my defenses. So I tried cutting pieces of my body to test my toughness while comparing it to the hardness of the wood. My formed weapons could cut through my flesh like a knife through butter.

Well, either I was not that tough ...or my blades were very sharp.

Either way, it seemed like I needed to prioritize using [Reinforce] more. Just like the system said I should.

I gradually used [Reinforce] and tested its effectiveness by cutting newly reinforced flesh to see how fast it grew tougher.

However, it might not have been accurate, as the bladed tendril was also gradually growing stronger and tougher, proportionally to that of the rest of my body.

I still pent a couple of cycles doing this, and [Reinforce] did make it harder to cut through the flesh. Simultaneously, it was making my blade sharper, allowing it to cut through a tree trunk a little bit easier.

This confirmed that it was a worthwhile investment to [Reinforce]. I switched my focus to using it more often. Eventually, I received a notification from the system.

[Reinforce LVL2 -> LVL3]

--- --- ---

Nothing really interesting happened across these cycles and I was already getting kind of restless from no action...at least I knew I was growing stronger.

No interesting specimens were spotted throughout my surveillance system. Every animal was just your normal average animal. No magical abilities or insane physical strength. Most likely no Evolved beings.

I then remembered the bear carrying the rabbit back to its den to enjoy its meal. I could defeat the bear...maybe...and also take the rabbit's horn to study it. The bear wouldn’t eat that magical horn would it? I decided to go back and see if I could follow the bear. And luckily for me, there was a trail of blood.

The trail of blood was quite dull, but I could still notice it with my sight and sense of smell. I grew a couple of tendrils to head towards that direction underground. Occasionally, I shot up a couple of tendrils along the way to see if the blood trail changed directions.

After a while of doing this, I eventually found the bear's home and did the same thing I did with the rabbit’s burrow. A small tendril poked into the burrow.

However, I could see that the bear was missing from its den.

Instead, I could see that bones were scattered everywhere throughout the den. I also spotted the rabbit's horn off to the side.

"Oh well, if the bear is not here, I'll just come back later. For now, I will take the horn..." I thought to myself as I quickly extended my tendril from the top of the den using [Body Manipulation] and tried to carry it above. Nonetheless, it was way too heavy for me to do that, so I had no choice but to draw out many more tendrils to try and pick it up.

As the many tendrils reached the horn and wrapped themselves around it, I pulled.

Suddenly, from my information network, I noticed that the bear was nearing its home, with a limp wolf within its mouth.

The thought of fighting it began to scare me. Its gleaming teeth and sharp claws didn't help at all Maybe I would just find another rabbit instead...

Frantically, I doubled my efforts and kept pulling the horn to reach the ceiling, extending more tendrils to help with the task. Right as the bear reached the burrow, the horn poked into the ceiling and was fully covered in black gooey flesh.

The bear growled as it noticed the writhing flesh above its home. It quickly got up and stood on its hind legs to swipe at me, causing large gashes to appear on the flesh and the ceiling of the burrow. Gah that hurt! I immediately quickened and tried to pull the horn inside of the dirt, simultaneously using [Body Manipulation] to replace the lost flesh for now.

The bear did not stop its attack though. Instead, it continually tried to dig upwards to reach me.

What was up with this bear?! Now it grew on my nerves. If it wanted to fight a bioweapon, then go ahead!

I had two tendrils split off from the horn and quickly turned them into sharp blades by using [Body Manipulation]. As the bear's paw went through the dirt, the blades immediately sprung, shooting into the bear's paw pads piercing through them. The bear retracted its arm as it cried out in pain, ripping apart the tendrils as they were pulled apart. Blood dripped down its paw as it sat in the corner licking its wounds. It stared at me with those angry red eyes. Waiting to see who would make the first move.