As soon as I got the completion message I giddily accessed the evolution menu. The past four days were very relaxing for me, but something in me wanted to go back out there, fight, grow, and survive. And the only way I could do so was by evolving into something stronger… something better.

Welcome to the Evolution Menu, traveler.

Congratulations on earning yourself the right to evolve into a Tier 2 monster!

You will have the following options available to you:

Choosing a new species from the available options. (Depending on current species, stats, and actions taken during leveling up, more options become available.)

Two mutations will be available to you.

Ten attribute points.

Due to you completing some bonus objectives, the following will apply:

Reach the third layer: Two more mutations will be made available

Survive for 14 days in the third layer: You will be able to choose from the Tier 3 evolution pool for your evolution(some restrictions apply).

Alright, so, as far as I could tell, the regular rewards had doubled up, compared to my first evolution. Of course, they weren’t all that interesting, the real juicy bits were the rewards from the bonus objectives. Reaching the third layer gave me another two mutations, so that was good, but the real bombshell was from the survival quest, doing this crazy quest really did pay out in the end.

The reward seemed straightforward enough, but I had a lot of questions. Was this allowing me to evolve straight to the third tier? Or was I going to evolve to the second tier, but into a monster that usually wasn’t available until the third tier? What restrictions were there?

There wasn’t much point in breaking my head over all these questions, after all, I could just continue the process and find out. So I quickly pulled up the available evolution options.

You have been granted the right to choose from the Tier 3 evolution pool. Please choose an evolution from the Tier 2 pool first, so that the options available to you may be determined.

Possible Tier 2 Evolutions:

Toxic Slug

Omen Slug

Armored Slug

Rainbow Slug

I quickly scanned over the options presented to me. Whatever I picked here would determine what I’d actually evolve into. Strangely enough, the system didn’t tell me what kind of bonuses I’d receive from these evolutions, just what their general focus would be. Did that mean that I wouldn’t get anything from this in-between step?

I discarded the Toxic Slug almost immediately. It would take my poison strategy to new heights, sure, but this didn’t agree with the evolution goals I’d set for myself. I needed more ways to defend myself, so it was time to diversify.

The Omen Slug seemed to be the next step up of my current evolution, the Elder Slug, and would increase my magical abilities even further so it was a definitive maybe. The armored slug would take me in the direction of becoming a literal tank, but while more defense was nice, I really needed something to kill the monsters of the third layer. Sure, my poison could probably take care of them while I turtled up… but that just seemed kind of stupid to me.

After all, it was basically the strategy I employed every time I was actually attacked. Sure, it got the job done, but I essentially left my fate up to luck, and I just wanted something more… definitive.

The Rainbow Slug seemed to be a result of me unlocking the luck attribute. The system just told me that it was a “luck-focused” evolution, whatever that meant. But, as I just said, I wasn’t looking to leave my survival up to fate, or in this case, luck. Sure, it’d probably be funny to go around winning fights because my opponents tripped or accidentally friendly-fired at each other, but no.

I locked in the Omen Slug as my choice, since it was the only evolution that went in the direction I wanted to go and a new list popped up, with the much-anticipated Tier 3 options!

Possible Tier 3 Evolutions:

Harbinger Slug

Warlock Slug

Ominous Acolyte Slug

Harbinger Slug

If Elder and Omen Slugs count as a warning, the sighting of a Harbinger Slug signifies imminent doom. Once this monster has been spotted, it’s most likely already too late.

Aura skill: Fear

Aura skill: Bad Luck

Aura skill: Madness

Allows access to Mental magic.

Warlock Slug

A highly intelligent type of slug. They command different types of elemental magic and can destroy wide swaths of land if left unchecked.

Elementally attuned Mana Gland mutation.

15 Intelligence points

15 Wisdom points

Allows access to elemental spells.

Ominous Acolyte Slug

A terrifying type of slug, even rarer than witnessing a Rainbow Moth. Nobody really knows which god(if any) they serve under, but those who tried to find out, all turned insane.

Void connection mutation.

Void mana conversion gland mutation.

10 Intelligence points

10 Wisdom points

Allows access to void spells.

An ominous being takes notice of your existence.

Oh man, all of these looked really powerful. The harbinger slug seemed to be the continuation of my current evolution chain. The different aura skills, combined with the unlocked mental magic would allow me to disable anything that dared to get close to me. It would most likely allow me to deal with large groups of enemies as well, which would come in really handy, considering how chaotic the third layer got at night.

The Warlock Slug seemed to switch the focus completely to magic. I was already going for a mage build anyway, so the bonuses from this evolution would push me to new heights. The unlocked elemental magic would give me the new offensive options I so craved, even letting me take advantage of potential elemental weaknesses my opponents had. A very versatile class, if a bit basic.

Then there was the Ominous Acolyte Slug. Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of this one. Especially that last line. What the hell did it mean by an “ominous being”? I mean, it was listed among the benefits of evolution, so was this a good thing? Or was this something to balance out the other positives with a negative? Also, just how strong were void spells?

I didn’t really have a frame of reference here as I had with elemental magic. Elemental magic was a clear-cut thing, but void magic? It could be anything, really. Sure, I could probably make some educated guesses, but I’d only know for sure if I picked it.

Then again, it probably was insanely powerful, judging by the little description and the fact that there might be a negative to balance it out…

All three of the options provided me with the things I wanted, and none of them seemed like a bad pick. So I spent a long time just weighing my options, trying to think of the future as well. Eventually, I decided against the Harbinger evolution. I’m almost ashamed to say this, but I just wasn’t that interested in becoming some type of mind-control slug, even if it’d help out a ton in this layer.

So that left me with two choices. Go the generic, flexible path, or take a risk and potentially win big?

I didn’t exactly have a great relationship with taking risks, or gambling, as some would call it. Yet, ever since I became a traveler, my luck seemed to have turned around quite a bit. Sure, I got angry at what my random choices got me, but in the end, being an overpowered slug was the only thing that allowed me to even complete this most recent, unreasonable quest.

My seemingly bad luck was also what allowed me to kill the reaper snake in the first layer, and if I wasn’t so small, I would have never had my encounter with the Rainbow Moth. Thinking of which, that meeting had unlocked my Luck stat, and it was already a lot higher than it used to be.

So… should I take a gamble once more?

Yes.

It may be dangerous in the short term, maybe even stupid, but the system seemed to reward stupidity. And if I wanted to become really powerful, there was no way that the cookie-cutter evolutions would cut it.

I locked in the Ominous Acolyte Slug.

Ominous Acolyte Slug has been selected.

Attribute points will be distributed upon completing the evolution process.

Void Connection

A special, otherworldly organ that establishes a connection to the void, allowing for passive collection, and use of void mana.

Void Mana Conversion Gland

A special gland used for storing void mana. Slowly converts regular mana into void mana. Max VMP(Void Mana Points) is set at 50% of Max MP and is stored separately.

The two mutations included in this evolution seemed to just enable the use of void mana, which I’d most likely need to cast void spells. Well, if it needed two mutations to just use the damn stuff, it was probably something special, right? Right?

While I was hoping that I was correct in my assumption, the system pulled up the mutation menu for me. I had four mutations available to me, and there was just one thing that I absolutely wanted more than anything else.

I needed more speed.

The last time I evolved, there was not a single option that would allow me to go faster, so my hope was that with my higher tier, some new options unlocked. I used the filter function to search for potential candidates, and much to my relief, a single option showed up.

Additional Tentacles.

The system informed me that I could use two of my mutations, to grow two more tentacles somewhere on my body, the function of which I could freely choose. At first, I was a bit confused about how tentacles would help me go faster, and why it was called “additional” tentacles. Did the system consider my eye stalks to be some sort of tentacle? I guess my mana-absorbing tentacles counted as well.

Well, the mutation showed up when I filtered for anything speed related, so it probably wasn’t wrong. I locked in my choice and a new screen popped up, letting me choose the type of tentacle I wanted, as well as where I wanted to place them on my body. There were a ton of different tentacles available, much more than I’d thought possible.

I also found a type of retractable tentacle. This was most likely what my eye stalks were, and honestly, being able to retract my vulnerable body parts was pretty cool, and choosing this would fit my slug aesthetic, I guess, so I picked it. I placed them in the middle of my body, on either side and chose their function to be movement.

After I’d confirmed my choice, the system offered me some options to make the tentacles even better, all of them costing an extra mutation. Extra strength, longer tentacles, suction cups, more accurate manipulation, there was quite a bit of customization possible. I’d noted it down as a maybe, and went looking for a bigger mouth so I could eat faster.

Contrary to my movement options, there was a whole slew of alternate feeding methods that I could choose from. My stomach was already functionally infinite due to my Gluttony passive, so I needed to modify my mouth in a way that I could just tear through my meal with great speed. The less time I spent eating the better, since not only was I vulnerable whenever I did so, but I could also get more attribute points this way.

I was particularly fascinated by a mutation that would allow me to disconnect my mouth from my body, essentially stretching it outwards so I could fit more food inside. It kind of reminded me of how a snake unhinged their jaw to eat or that weird ass shark I’d seen in a video once. I locked in this option for one mutation and went looking for something that would upgrade my teeth as well.

My mouth was filled with hundreds of tiny teeth that ground down my found into a paste that would then go into my stomach, so since I had a larger amount of food coming through I wanted the process to go faster as well. It didn’t take long to find a fairly simple mutation that would add a shit ton of teeth so I locked that in as well.

I kinda wanted to spend another mutation to upgrade my new tentacles a bit, but I was already happy to just have them.

I finalized my evolution choices by distributing my ten attribute points between Wisdom, Constitution, and Luck before the system continued on.

All necessary selections have been made. The evolution into new species will now commence.

Evolution is an incredibly painful process since complete reconstruction is necessary. You may choose to be put to sleep.

Y/N

Ah yes, I’d almost forgotten about this bit.

Last time I chose to stay awake in hopes of getting rewarded somehow but, as promised, the searing pain quickly knocked me out anyway. I still thought that there was probably a reward waiting for anybody that actually managed to stay awake during the process, but I didn’t think I’d be able to do it.

On the other hand, I’d just get knocked out if I failed, so I steeled my nerves and, once again, selected no.

This was going to suck…