Yeoman glanced around. The dark dimension hadn’t changed at all since the last time he was here. Well, that wasn’t quite true. There was a new branch and image connected to the phylogenetic tree of life—the goblin genus. Also, an image of a dryad was hovering just below the scavenger crow. Below the dryad, there was an image of a kobold and a lizardman. Yeoman had accompanied his group to a dungeon, and although he didn’t plan on killing anything, he still ended up with those two gene unlocks. Apparently, the monsters spawned in the dungeon weren’t sentient. They were like mindless beasts, unable to be communicated with. Since that was the case, Yeoman had no qualms about slaughtering them. Yeoman didn’t have time to further examine the tree of life. A display appeared in front of him.

[Main Mission: Survive for 365 days. 365/365]

[Reward: 1,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Become a D-ranked Party. 1/1]

[Reward: 1,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Become a C-ranked Party. 1/1]

[Reward: 2,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Become a B-ranked Party. 1/1]

[Reward: 3,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Become a A-ranked Party. 1/1]

[Reward: 4,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Complete S-ranked Mission “Fruit of Knowledge”. 1/1]

[Reward: 5,000 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Complete SS-ranked Mission “Obtain a Dragon Egg”. 1/1]

[Reward: 7,500 Points]

[Bonus Mission: Complete SSS-ranked Mission “Fountain of Youth”. 1/1]

[Reward: 10,000 Points]

[Murder Ranking: Pathetic.]

[Reward: 0 Points]

[Total Reward: 33,500 Points]

[Total Points: 34,000 Points]

Yeoman swallowed. Thirty-four thousand points, thirty-four upgrades. After he spent all of this, would he even resemble his current self anymore? Underneath the display, there were three buttons: [Evolution], [Shop], and [Item Storage]. Yeoman selected the shop, electing to buy items. It was a good way to figure out what other people had accomplished, and he was curious. Last time, someone had killed Lucia, obtained Durandal, and put the sword spirit up for sale. Did that person do something crazy again? Yeoman sorted the shop by price, starting from the most expensive. Surprisingly, the first item on the list was something he already had.

[Aran’s Greatsword (Epic): The sword is made of a mithril-orichalcum alloy. Allows the user to cast Flame Slash three times a day.]

[Flame Slash: Coats the edge of the blade with a layer of fire. When slashing, the flames disconnect from the blade and can travel up to twenty-five meters.]

[Price: 15,000 Points]

Yeoman noticed Durandal was missing from the shop list, but [Gae Bulg (Epic)] and [Bouncykins (Epic)] were still listed, but their price had increased to fifteen thousand points as well. Either the seller had decided to use Durandal for himself, or someone had bought the weapon. There was only one other (Epic) item for sale, and Yeoman’s eyes widened upon seeing it.

[Elf Chief’s Necklace (Epic): Grant’s the wearer Nature’s Understanding. This is a set item.]

[Nature’s Understanding: Those who can understand nature can understand all living things.]

[Nature’s Accessories Set: 1/3]

[Nature’s Accessories Set Effects: ???]

[Price: 15,000 Points]

Yeoman’s finger hovered over the [Buy] button located next to the item. Fifteen thousand points was a lot, almost fifty percent of his net worth. He could unlock so many muscle and bone density upgrades with fifteen thousand points, and they could arguably be more useful than the necklace. However, communication was important as well. If he couldn’t talk to the goblins, he wouldn’t have become the goblin king. Also, it was part of the item set that the [Patrol Leader’s Ring (Epic)] also belonged to. Yeoman pressed down, cringing as he confirmed the purchase. On Earth, he wasn’t poor, but he was frugal as heck. For a certain period of time in college, he had even considered eating the dandelions off of his apartment complex’s lawn to save money on food expenses.

[Obtained Elf Chief’s Necklace (Epic)]

A necklace appeared in Yeoman’s hands. It was made out of bark, similar to the ring he had. He fiddled with it and found a clasp, which was really just a loop on one end and a needle with a hole in the other. The needle went through the loop and bent into the hole to secure the jewelry into place. Yeoman wasn’t sure if he could even call the item a piece of jewelry. It looked more like a child’s creation. Well, at least no one would think it was valuable. Yeoman put the necklace on, but he didn’t feel any different. He checked his fleshwatch, but the line of text still hadn’t changed.

[Nature’s Accessories Set: 2/3]

[Nature’s Accessories Set Effects: ???]

It looked like he needed all three items to reveal the set effects, but he didn’t know how long that would take. What if the third item could only be obtained from the stage he had just completed? What if the item effect was so good that no one was willing to put it up for sale? Yeoman sighed. Well, perhaps he could find information about it on the front page of the internet later. He scrolled through the rest of the items in the shop. There were a few things that intrigued him, but they were all magic tools. Between his teleportation ring, his tree-steroid ring, and his flame sword, he couldn’t afford to slip in anymore magic tools. In fact, he even considered selling his [Bracelet of Fling (Uncommon)]. He had only used it once last stage. Yeoman shook his head. He dug the shadow pouch out of his body and opened it, taking a look at all the items he owned.

[Dread Callers (Rare)]

[Water-array Flask (Uncommon)]

[Ring of Dismantling (Uncommon)]

[Ravenwood Ring (Rare)]

[Bracelet of Fling (Uncommon)]

[Goblin Shaman’s Staff (Uncommon)]

[Wyvern Gene Fragment]

[Fairy’s Ring (Cursed)]

[Giant Two-Handed Mace (Junk)]

[Mammalian Bone Enhancement Fragments: 97]

[Shadow Pouch (Unique)]

[Fountain of Youth Water (Epic): 7 Portions]

[Wooden Spear (Common)]

[Patrol Leader’s Ring (Epic)]

[Wyvern-Skin Caestus (Rare)]

[Aran’s Greatsword (Epic)]

[Elf Chief’s Necklace (Epic)]

Yeoman furrowed his brow. There was a long list of items. He had almost forgotten about the bone-enhancement fragments that he had obtained from killing the skeletons during the kobold raid. He scrolled through the shop again, and bought three fragments being sold for thirty points each. They were probably a little higher than what they were worth, but it was just ninety points. Yeoman didn’t care.

[Remaining Balance: 18,910 Points]

[Would you like to combine 100 Mammalian Bone Enhancement Fragments into Mammalian Bone Enhancement (Epic)?]

[Yes] [No]

Yeoman pressed [Yes].

[Obtained Mammalian Bone Enhancement (Epic)]

[Mammalian Bone Enhancement (Epic): Increases bone density.]

[Would you like to use the Mammalian Bone Enhancement?] [Yes] [No]

Yeoman pressed [Yes] again. A flood of warmth ran through his body. After dealing with those bone fragments, Yeoman put the [Wyvern Gene Fragment] into the [Item Storage]. It was selling for one hundred fifty points. At that price, if someone wanted to unlock the wyvern gene through the shop, it’d only take them fifteen thousand points; however, there weren’t enough gene fragments on the market to construct even a single gene. Yeoman picked up the [Wooden Spear (Common)]. He had looted it off Celia, but honestly, it was worthless. He decided to leave it in the shadow pouch. Maybe it’d end up being useful. At the very least, his party could use it as firewood.

The [Goblin Shaman’s Staff (Uncommon)] only had four uses left after Kat and Joanne borrowed it to subdue their target from the Red Blade Adventurers. It still had some use, so Yeoman stored it into the shadow pouch as well. Once the pouch expired, he could let Kat or Ella hold onto it. As for the [Giant Two-Handed Mace (Junk)], Yeoman had no idea what to do with it. He could put it up for sale, but he didn’t think anyone would buy it. No wonder why the shopkeeper had such a hard time selling it. The people who could lift it didn’t need it, and the people who needed it couldn’t lift it. Well, it had a bit of sentimental value: his party had bought it for him. With that in mind, he stuffed it into the [Item Storage]. There were still five slots in the storage, and the aliens even prompted him to buy another ten slots for another one thousand points. Of course, he didn’t purchase the space; he didn’t need it.

Yeoman focused his attention on the [Fountain of Youth Water (Epic)]. He had seven portions left. Although he had earned it himself, he still decided to share it with his party members, letting them all drink one usage. Yeoman sighed. If possible, he’d like to give one portion to his mother. Perhaps he’d meet up with her in the aliens’ dimension one day. With that thought in mind, he stored one portion into his storage and put the other six up for sale for ten thousand points each. No one else was selling any, so he got to dictate the price. However, if the price was too high, no one would be able to afford it except for the people who had obtained the points for turning it in already. Yeoman shrugged. If it sold, then it sold. If not, he’d lower the price after the end of the next stage.

After a moment of contemplation, Yeoman decided to keep the caesti. They might make wielding a greatsword uncomfortable, but he liked how they looked, and if he ever needed to punch things, he could count on them. Yeoman sighed. Once the shadow pouch expired, carrying everything was going to be a huge pain. It was a shame there weren’t any storage items up for sale. He didn’t think anyone would sell them given how useful they were.

After dealing with his inventory, Yeoman tapped on the [Evolution] button, opening up the phylogenetic tree of life. The first image he focused on was the dryad. When he unlocked it, all he had obtained was its language. Now, he could finally see what other benefits it could give. Unlike all the other images he had viewed, a list appeared next to the hologram of the dryad.

“Skill list?” Yeoman raised an eyebrow and read over its contents.

[Dryad Skill List]

[Grasping Vines]

[Paralysis Powder]

[Poison Powder]

[Sleep Powder]

[Seed Infection]

Yeoman could guess the general effects of the skills just by reading their names, but just in case, he decided to tap on them to see. There wasn’t any description at all, just a price tag.

[Unlock Grasping Vines?]

[Cost: 5,000 Points]

[Yes] [No]

Yeoman furrowed his brow. “Is there a way to see its effects?”

As usual, the aliens responded by animating the hologram of the dryad. A human appeared a few feet away from the dryad hologram. Blobs shot out from the tip of the vines on the dryad’s back and landed on and around the human. The blobs expanded, growing into vines that wrapped around the human. One of the vines even pointed at Yeoman and waved, giving him the assumption the vines were controllable. Yeoman blinked. “How is this not magic?”

[Unlock genus Dryad vines.]

[Unlock genus Pilobus spore-ejection mechanism.]

[Unlock genus Homo penis-inflation mechanism.]

[Unlock genus Octopus decentralized-brain mechanism.]

[Unlock genus Delphinus prehensile-penis mechanism.]

Yeoman scratched his head. Perhaps the skill [Grasping Vines] could be recreated without the use of magic. It bothered Yeoman a bit to know two components of the skill involved penises, but he supposed it was practical. The vines shot out bits of themselves or perhaps some type of seed using genus Pilobus’ spore-ejection mechanism. Yeoman wasn’t sure what genus Pilobus was, but he assumed it was a type of fungus. Afterwards, those bits of vines would inflate like a person’s boner. Yeoman wasn’t sure how that worked since boners required blood, but he didn’t think too hard about it. Since the vines were essentially penises at that point and Yeoman knew dolphin penises were controllable thanks to the double-penis guy who applied to his party in the previous stage, he figured out how the vines were able to move around and even wave at him. Of course, for the vines to move in the way he wanted them to, there had to be a way to control them even at a distance, and that’s where the octopus genes came into play. Apparently, octopuses were built in such a way that they had one centralized brain and a bunch of little brains, one for each arm.

“I don’t have to unlock the genes that these mechanisms are taken from?”

[Unlock Grasping Vines?]

[Cost: 5,000 Points]

[Yes] [No]

As usual, the display didn’t answer him directly, but Yeoman figured the system was telling him unlocking those gene trees were unnecessary. After all, eyes worked like magic, but they were explainable through evolution. When he unlocked his crow eyes, he didn’t have to unlock all the crow’s ancestors’ eyes as well. Unlocking the dryad’s abilities wouldn’t require him to fulfill any prerequisites. It would just price gouge him. Instead of costing one thousand points like most additions, it’d cost five thousand, one for each component of the skill. It was a nice skill, but Yeoman really wanted to know more information about it. “What’s the cooldown? How long do the vines last?”

[Unlock Grasping Vines?]

[Cost: 5,000 Points]

[Yes] [No]

Yeoman sighed. It seemed like the system wanted him to explore the skills by himself. Yeoman thought back to the previous three stages. If he had [Grasping Vines] earlier, a lot of things would’ve been easier. “Alright.” He pressed on the [Yes] button. Heat flooded his back, and vines grew from his skin as dense as porcupine needles. Other than the wings and the mottled skin color, Yeoman looked almost exactly like a dryad.

[Remaining Balance: 13,910 Points]

Yeoman scratched his head. Just like that, twenty thousand points were gone. Yeoman looked at the dryad skill list, and his eyes bulged.

[Dryad Skill List]

[Grasping Vines (Advanced)]

[Paralysis Powder]

[Poison Powder]

[Sleep Powder]

[Seed Infection]

Instead of being removed, [Grasping Vines] was replaced with an advanced version. Yeoman furrowed his brow and tapped on it. What exactly was the improvement? “Show me the differences between the two.”

Four holograms appeared: two humans, two dryads. The dryads shot their grasping vines onto and around the humans. The humans struggled to break free from the vines. After a few seconds, one of the humans had gotten free while the other was still struggling. After ten seconds, all the vines stopped moving. The human who had freed himself brushed the dead fragments off his body with a few swipes of his hand. The second human was still wrapped up in vines, and although the vines weren’t moving anymore, they were stuck to his body like strands of spider webs. Then, the holograms disappeared.

[Upgrade Grasping Vines?]

[Cost: 2,000 Points]

[Yes] [No]

Yeoman exhaled through his nose. It seemed like the upgraded version included some spider genes, probably something to do with the stickiness and sturdiness of their webs. After some hesitation, Yeoman pressed the [Yes] button. His balance went down by two thousand points, and the skill list reappeared. Yeoman’s eye twitched.

[Dryad Skill List]

[Grasping Vines (MAX)]

[Paralysis Powder]

[Poison Powder]

[Sleep Powder]

“Are you trolling me?” Yeoman sighed and pressed on the [Grasping Vines (MAX)]. “What’s the difference this time?”

Once again, two holograms appeared. The human was covered in vines once more; however, the vines were covered in spikes similar to a cactus. The spikes weren’t exactly like a cactus’ spines. They wriggled and dug into the human’s flesh. Then, they split, and Yeoman saw a rootlike system spreading underneath the person’s skin. The vines grew plumper, and Yeoman didn’t think they’d come off until the person died.

[Upgrade Grasping Vines (Advanced)?]

[Cost: 2,000 Points]

[Yes] [No]

Yeoman scratched his head. He liked the controlling aspect of the skill, but the stabby-stabby aspect seemed a bit too cruel for him. However, since the vines basically contained a miniature brain, he should be able to control them to release his target if necessary. “Is there a way to add some kind of anesthetic to the plant?”

[Upgrade Grasping Vines (Advanced)?]

[Cost: 3,000 Points]

[Yes] [No]

Yeoman was a bit surprised. He was expecting the display to deny his request like it usually did, but it seemed like his request was possible this time. He pressed the [Yes] button, leaving him with a balance of close to nine thousand points. Finally, [Grasping Vines] was taken off the skill list. Yeoman glanced over the remaining skills before deciding not to upgrade any of them. Originally, he thought he had plenty of points to spend, but in just a few minutes, he barely had any left. He had planned on getting stronger, more muscles, more bone density, and if he unlocked another skill, he’d barely have any points left over. Yeoman decided to stick with his original plan and performed a rapid series of unlocks.

[Adding genus Ursus bone density complete.]

[Remaining Balance: 7,910 Points]

[Unlocked genus Hippopotamus.]

[Remaining Balance: 6,710 Points]

[Adding genus Hippopotamus muscles complete.]

[Remaining Balance: 5,710 Points]

[Adding genus Hippopotamus bone density complete.]

[Remaining Balance: 4,710 Points]

[Unlocked genus Hexaprotodon.]

[Remaining Balance: 4,510 Points]

[Adding genus Hexaprotodon muscles complete.]

[Remaining Balance: 3,510 Points]

[Completely unlocked family Hippopotamidae and unlocked traits in all its genera.]

[Obtained: Hippopotamidae Language]

[Hippopotamidae Language: You can speak with members of family Hippopotamidae fluently.]

[Adding genus Hexaprotodon bone density complete.]

[Remaining Balance: 2,510 Points]

[Unlocked genus Loxodonta.]

[Remaining Balance: 1,310 Points]

[Adding genus Loxodonta bone density complete.]

[Remaining Balance: 310 Points]

With every upgrade, Yeoman’s wingspan increased, presumably growing to accommodate his increasing weight. His body felt like it was on fire, but it was a pleasant sensation. With his added muscles and bone density, he believed he could get shot by a bullet in the head and be completely unfazed. Elephants had guns named after them, and now that Yeoman had their bone density, he’d be just as sturdy as one too. It was a shame he didn’t have enough points for their muscles as well, but it didn’t feel too much like a loss. He’d add them at the end of the next stage.