Several Crawlers went flying as I spun around lashing out with both my new axe and my kunai. I immediately noticed how much better my axe cut into the rubbery flesh of the Crawlers than the blade of my kunai did. Obviously, I had also gotten a lot stronger since the last time I had fought a Crawler, which combined with the power boost that Tane had given me meant that I could almost kill a Crawler in a single blow.

Next, I fired a pair of Gravel Shotguns from my hands tearing another two Crawlers completely to shreds and wounding several others. My increased speed and strength allowed me to finish off another two of the Crawlers that I had just injured before a Crawler managed to leap onto my back and sink its teeth into the meat of my left shoulder.

I snarled in pain as I reached up and ripped the thing off me taking a chunk of flesh with it. Before I could get attacked again, I activated my Regeneration spell before swinging my axe once again as I retreated to allow the wound to close up a little while the Gel sprayed some of the nearby Crawlers with its acid attack and the scorpion charged into them like a freight train. I smirked as I allowed my minions to take over while my injury healed and started firing Stone Shots into the tangle of grey limbs.

I decided to activate my Inspiring Aura as well now that both of my minions were fighting again. As the aura washed over my minions, I could feel both of them get stronger as the aura buffed their Stats. This was the first time that I had used this Skill in combat, and I was looking forward to seeing how effective it was.

I had already killed around a quarter of the Crawlers that had been attacking my minions when I had arrived, and the number of living Crawlers dropped by another three mere seconds later. It was actually a little bit freaky how easy it was to kill these Crawlers now that I had Levelled Up a little, gotten some more Skills and had my minions to help me out. Of course, Tane had given me a power boost as well but I think that we would be handling these Crawlers relatively well even without that.

As it was, we were cutting Crawlers down with such ease that my fear of them only moments earlier almost seemed like a lie thanks to the combination of the buff that Tane had used on me and the Inspiring Aura that I had used on my minions. Of course, if there was a Stinging Crawler here instead of what seemed to be young Crawlers that hadn’t changed into something else- to say nothing of a Shelled Crawler as even the weakest of those could kill me without even trying- things would be going very differently.

While I fired my spells at the Crawlers, that had decided that I was a bigger threat than the scorpion which had charged into their midst I took a moment to admire how much more powerful both of my minions had become recently. If they were much more powerful than they were right now I wouldn’t have even bothered to come and help them when they were attacked by Crawlers and just use my Heal Minion spell from a distance while my minions took care of them by themselves.

However, I was here now and I knew that I had to make the most of this opportunity to completely wipe out this force of Crawlers before one of them managed to escape and let the rest of its swarm know where we were. Now that Tane was temporarily out of the picture this was even more important. Not only would I be killed easily if the Crawlers brought more powerful members to fight me which they could do now that Tane was hibernating thanks to it using its powers to boost my Stats but Tane had actually seemed a bit afraid when I had told it that Crawlers were attacking my minions and the last thing I wanted was for my friend to wake up and find an entire swarm had invaded the area while they had been asleep.

Now that my shoulder had healed up, I charged into the fray once again. Since my Stats were still being boosted, I decided that I would take the chance to do as much melee fighting as I possibly could so that I could increase my melee Skills. As I fought the Crawlers, I made use things like my Stone Grasp and Sticky Bog spells to try and both control the number of Crawlers that we were fighting at the time as well as prevent them from running away.

My two minions and I tore through the remaining Crawlers with ease. My new axe proved to be far superior to my kunai but both weapons were able to deal more than enough damage to kill a Crawler. Especially once I started using my active Skills like Stab and Chop while augmenting both of my weapons with my Mana Weapon spell which I could pretty much constantly active right now.

I had also activated my Needle Armour Skill which was quite effective at keeping Crawlers from leaping on me like that one from earlier had while also allowing me to deal more damage when I kicked Crawlers away with my now needle coated feet. It was still a bit weird to me how this Skill didn’t seem to affect anything that I was wearing but I suppose that in a world like this one anything is possible.

At some point during the fight I felt a second burst of power fill my limbs as I reached Level 5. Which was a good thing as my SP and MP were both starting to get low and I was really started to feel exhausted.

Once we had finished off the last of the Crawlers, I sighed in relief. Despite how easy it had been to kill the Crawlers once I had gotten here it had still been quite stressful since they had been the reason that I’d been forced to leave the last supposedly safe area I had been living in. So, once I had finished using my Essence Drain Skill on the bodies and then ordered my minions to take care of what remained I headed back home.

Returning to the base of Tane’s trunk was weird when I remembered that the tree wouldn’t be talking to me for around a week. I sighed once more before sitting down on a rock and brining up my Skill Increases which turned out to be pretty significant because I had sent my minions out hunting while I had been making a couple of different things we had also killed a bunch of Crawlers since the last time I had checked my Skills.

Skills increased!

Labourer increased to Lvl 8

Minion Control increased to Lvl 14

Create Armoured Scorpion increased to Lvl 7

Create Gel increased to Lvl 9

Nature Shaping increased to Lvl 11

Dissection increased to Lvl 3

Zoology increased to Lvl 10

Growth Rate increased by 1 Wisdom

Calm Mind increased to Lvl 11

Enchanting increased to Lvl 6

Growth Rate increased by 1 Wisdom

Mana Manipulation increased to Lvl 20

Growth Rate increased by 1 Intelligence

Mana Bolt increased to Lvl 10

Growth Rate increased by 1 Intelligence

Spell Targeting increased to Lvl 9

Stone Shot increased to Lvl 7

Gravel Shotgun increased to Lvl 4

Axe Mastery increased to Lvl 7

Unbreakable Will increased to Lvl 4

Inspiring Aura increased to Lvl 3

Chop increased to Lvl 4

Stab increased to Lvl 5

Growth Rate increased by 1 Strength

Dodge increased to Lvl 6

Regenerate increased to Lvl 2

Cellular Regeneration increased to Lvl 2

Essence Drain increased to Lvl 7

Available Aspect points increased by 31

“Yeah, that’s a lot of Aspect Points,” I sighed as I considered how much easier things would’ve been if I had spent my Aspect Points before sending my minions out hunting this morning. If I had done that, I might not even have had to ask Tane for help which would mean that Tane would still be conscious and producing the aura that they had been using to keep dangerous predators away right now.

Of course, maybe I still would’ve asked for Tane’s help but I shook my head and returned my attention to the plethora of Skills that had Levelled Up and sighed.

“Jeez that’ a lot of Skills that I’ve barely used,” I muttered. I’d pretty much had Labourer since I’d arrived in this world and it had only just reached Level 2 despite being quite a useful Skill which was a bit ridiculous. Dissection had also been suffering since I only really bothered dissecting one specimen from each species which seemed a bit stupid now that I thought about it.

With a wave of my hand I placed 5 Aspect Points into my Aspect of Perception and confirmed my decision.

As I found myself once again in my internal world, I wondered what it was that I was going to be seeing this time. Would it be something that had happened back on Earth or would it be something different like what had been happening the last few times that I had been sent here?

As it turned out it seemed to be somewhere in between. Looking around the field that I had found myself I was surprised to see what looked like a large rock moving towards me but as it got closer, I realised my mistake. The thing wasn’t a rock at all but an extremely large beetle with what seemed to be quite a thick shell that looked like it would protect the beetle from all but the most dangerous predator. I vaguely recalled that we were reaching the point where the first beetles were supposed to appear but things in this world were a bit different from Earth now which probably explains why the beetle is so massive.

Once I returned to the real world I grinned as I read the notifications that had popped up in front of me. If there was one thing that I knew that I would never get tired of in this world it was feeling my Stats grow and learning new Skills. Especially since growing more powerful is the only thing that will keep me alive right now.

Aspect of Perception has been completed!

Sensing danger before it appears. Being able to see microorganisms without the use of a microscope. Hearing things outside the normal audible spectrum for your species. Detecting poison by smell. All these things are possible for those who have high Perception and more.

Growth Rate increased by 5 Perception, 1 Agility and 1 Intelligence.

For completing this Aspect, you may pick a Skill from the list below. (Some Skills may combine Skills that you already have into a new one).

Microvision Lvl 1 (Rare)

This Skill allows you to see things that are far smaller than normal for members of your species. Many doctors learn this Skill to learn more about the diseases that are harming their patients.

Cost 20 MP/ min

Danger Sense Lvl 1 (Rare)

This Skill gives you a sixth sense that allows you to sense when something nearby wishes to harm you.

Cost 20 MP/ min.

Aspect Points Remaining: 26

Soul Aspect increased to Level 250!

A new species of insect has appeared in your inner world. This insect has a carapace that is both heavier and stronger than that of any other species in your inner world right now. This creature is called a beetle and while slow its shell protects it from anything that wishes it harm.

Toughness increased by 3!

Constitution increased by 1!

Strength increased by 1!

Create Colossal Beetle (Primordial) Unlocked!

This Skill allows you to create a Colossal Beetle that can follow simple orders and use Skills inherent to its species.

Cost: 50 Essence.

Upkeep: 30 Control Points.

“Well that’s an easy choice,” I muttered to myself as I picked Danger Sense and brought up the information on both of my new Skills. While it was true that Microvision would be useful to some people Danger Sense was much more useful to me. Especially since Tane was no longer able to scare away predators with their aura.

Danger Sense (Rare) Unlocked!

This Skill gives you a sixth sense that allows you to sense when something nearby wishes to harm you.

Cost 20 MP/ min.

Growth Rate increased by 2 Perception and 1 Wisdom.

Create Colossal Beetle (Primordial) Unlocked!

This Skill allows you to create a Colossal Beetle that can follow simple orders and use Skills inherent to its species.

Cost: 50 Essence.

Upkeep: 30 Control Points.

Growth Rate increased by 1 Unassigned Stat Point.

Once I had checked my new Skills which both looked like they could be particularly useful to me. Now that Tane had gone dormant I had needed something that would help me stay safe until the tree woke up again. But Create Colossal Beetle was going to be just as interesting. I already had some plans for this new Skill where I would be using the Beetle as my main ‘tank’ while the scorpion became more like the ‘warrior’ of our little party. I would also be using the beetle to transport large amounts of all sorts of different things like building materials the remains of the things that we hunted.

Next, I brought up my Stat Screen. Not only did I need to check how my Growth Rate had changed but I had Levelled Up as well and while I did have some idea of how much more powerful, I had become. However actually knowing how much more powerful I had become was important. Once I had gone over my Stat Changes I started to assign the 18 Unassigned Stat Points that I had from Levelling Up taking a brief moment to lament the fact that my Growth Rate had increased after I had Levelled Up because I had chosen not to use my Aspect Points when I’d had the chance.

In the end I decided to put five points each into my Constitution, Endurance and Coordination since those Stats were really starting to fall behind and then the final three into my Willpower for the boost to my Control Points and looked over the changes one more time.

Status

Status

Level 4

Exp: 11%

HP: 311/373

MP: 411/1001

HP Regen: 30.7 per minute (+1)

MP Regen: 56.9 per minute

SP: 175/292

Essence:61

SP Regen: 29 per minute

Control Points: 54.6 (24.6)

Str: 43 (+13/Lvl)

Agi: 63 (+15/Lvl)

Con: 54 (+ 6/Lvl)

End: 49 (+10/Lvl)

Tou: 59 (+10/Lvl)

Int: 126 (+45/Lvl)

Coor: 45 (+8/Lvl)

Vit: 45 (+8/Lvl)

Wis: 80 (+27/Lvl)

Will: 91 (+39/Lvl)

Per: 69 (+27/Lvl)

Cha: 38 (+11/Lvl)

Additional Growth Rate: +19 Unassigned Stat Points/Lvl. +40 MP/Lvl. MP regen increased by 1.4/min per Lvl +5 Control Points/Lvl.

Unassigned Stat Points: 0

“God damn I have a lot of MP,” I muttered. Not only was this true but my MP regen had gone up so much that I could now use Nature Shaping on wood indefinitely which would be incredibly useful. “Right then what should I do with the rest of my Aspect Points.”

I brought up my Aspects Screen to examine my options which had grown since the last time I had looked at them.

Unlocked Aspects

Aspect of the Warrior 0/25 (Locked until Lvl 10). Aspect of the Crafter 0/25 (Locked until Lvl 10). Aspect of the Wizard 0/50 (Locked until Lvl 25). Aspect of the Sage 0/50 (Locked until Lvl 25). Aspect of Vitality 1 (0/25). Aspect of Strength 1 (0/25). Aspect of Agility 1 (0/25) Aspect of Constitution 1 (0/25). Aspect of Endurance. Aspect of Coordination 1 (0/25). 1 (0/25). Aspect of Charisma 1 (0/25). Aspect of the Mutant (0/50). Aspect of Intelligence 2 (0/100)

Aspect Points: 26

Personal Aspect

Aspect of Evolution

250

After several minutes wrestling with the different possibilities I finally decided to start on the Aspect of the Mutant. This had been quite a hard choice to make as I really wanted to increase certain Stats such as Constitution and Vitality among other things, but I really wanted to know what Aspect of the Mutant would give me. So much so that it was almost worrying to me but in the end, I decided to trust that feeling and placed all 26 of my remaining Aspect Points into it and confirming my decision.

At first everything seemed normal. Or at least normal as far as things had been going recently in that the evolution in my internal world seemed to be going along similar lines that I was familiar with from reading books about evolution.

For example, the first things that I saw in the expected montage of new creatures were some things that looked like they were some sort of cross between mammals and reptiles with limbs that weren’t as sprawled out as previous creatures that I had seen and some of them even had short fur and if I recalled correctly this was close to the time period where the first Therapsids started to appear. The next part of the montage showed similar looking creatures to what I had seen in the previous part but with much larger jaws and teeth making them specifically look like a cross between a crocodile and a modern mammal.

But then something weird finally happened or rather not weird because I did vaguely remember that something like this was about due to happen, but it was nonetheless noteworthy. I found myself surrounded by water once again but this time I didn’t see anywhere the same number of things swimming around that I was used to seeing. In fact, I saw more corpses than living creatures and assumed that we had entered the next extinction event.

The next thing that happened was everything faded away but instead of what usually happened I found myself staring at a series of paths diverging in front of me as well as a large rather familiar looking blue screen.

Divergence Point reached!

Now that your Soul Aspect has reached Level 200 you are being given a choice that may change it completely. Be aware that you may refuse this change and may even be better off doing so.

Your choices are as follows:

World of Scales

Your world will focus on the evolution of different types of reptilian creatures. Reptiles are known for their solitary natures and tough scales and the creatures that evolve in your inner world will reflect these properties making them incredibly tough and powerful. Your magical abilities will also begin to affect the creatures within your inner world more and more causing a variety of magical reptiles to evolve.

World of the Warm Blooded

Your world will focus on the evolution of different types of mammalian creatures. Mammals are known for their tight family bonds and intelligence and the creatures that evolve in your inner world will reflect these properties making them incredibly intelligent and able to work together. Your magical abilities will also begin to affect the creatures within your inner world more and more causing a variety of magical mammals to evolve.

World of the Swarm

Your world will focus on the evolution of different types of arthropods. Arthropods are known for their many different forms and massive variety of abilities and the creatures that will evolve in your inner world will reflect these properties making them incredibly adaptable. Your magical abilities will also begin to affect the creatures within your inner world more and more causing a variety of magical arthropods to evolve.

I grinned as I immediately selected World of the Swarm from the list and watched as a new world formed around me. While at first glance World of the Warm Blooded might look like the better option for a summoner there wasn’t anywhere near the amount of difference between different types of hunting mammals as there was between different types of hunting arthropods and having a variety of options was incredibly important to me. I also knew that insects like ants and bees were even better at working together than mammals were which basically removed that advantage entirely. Ants and bees did evolve millions of years after the first mammals but that didn’t matter that much right now because it wasn’t like I had enough Control Points to summon a whole lot of minions even if I did unlock them right away.

When everything cleared, I looked around my new inner world in awe at the sheer variety of insects and arachnids both large and small that I could see scurrying about around me. Now I wasn’t entirely sure what I would be getting from the decision that I had made but I sure couldn’t wait to find out.