Welcome to the Evolution Menu, traveler.

Congratulations on earning yourself the right to evolve into a Tier 3 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.)

Three mutations will be available to you.

Fifteen attribute points.

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

Kill 100 Monsters in a single night: Upgrade one of your mutations to tier four.

I was once again in one of my bunkers. I assumed that I’d get bigger again, so before accessing the menu I made sure to make a bit more room down here. This whole evolution process was always a bit lengthy, but still fun somehow. Something about picking out things that would make me stronger was just so… addicting.

I suppose it was a better addiction than gambling, all things considered.

Anyway. It was time for my evolution into a tier-three monster. Or rather, into a tier four monster. After all, I had skipped an entire tier with my last evolution. But then again, I didn’t get any rewards for the skipped tier… did that make me a pseudo-tier three? Bah! Too complicated to think about, and not worth my time. After all, there was an evolution to be had!

Looking at the regular rewards for evolving, they were kinda just that… regular. Three mutations were nice, and while having more attributes was always incredibly helpful, fifteen of them barely even phased me anymore. The real value came, once again, from the completed bonus objective.

Being able to take one of my mutations up to the fourth tier for free? That was one hell of a discount. If I picked any of my tier-one mutations, I’d save a whopping nine mutation points! Of course, I could also upgrade my poison to the fourth tier, but that would only save me four points. It was obvious that I should pick something else. Maybe I could even invest it in something from this evolution.

I felt a twang of regret about not being able to complete the second objective, but, giddy to see what my options were this time around, I told the system to continue.

Possible Tier 3 Evolutions:

Void Acolyte Slug

Reaper Slug

Abomination Slug

Void Acolyte Slug

A slug that has established a stable connection to the void. As most people know frighteningly little about the void, it is generally advised to evacuate as soon as possible, should one such specimen be spotted.

Stable void connection mutation

Dreams of the void skill

Void attunement passive skill

10 Wisdom points.

Reaper Slug

A slug that breaks all conventions associated with a slug. These agile hunters lurk in the dark and dispatch their victims quietly, and efficiently.

Scythe tentacles mutation

Shadow walk skill

Aura skill: Mute

10 Agility points

10 Strength points

Abomination slug

Often mistaken for a low-tiered vine amalgamation, these slugs are anything but weak. Their manyfold tentacles can strike out in any direction and apply a slew of status effects. Many a party fell victim to their deceptive appearance.

Four tentacle mutations

Allows access to Imbue magic

10 Agility points

10 Intelligence points

5 intelligence points

Oh man, what a diverse three choices these were. It was very clear that no matter which one I picked, I’d go in a very specific direction with my build going forward. Even still, the choice was fairly easy this time around. I had already seen the power that void magic held, and out of the three options, this one was the most appealing to me.

The reaper slug would make me a silent assassin, but I kind of could already do that anyway. The shadow walk ability was probably an inferior version of void cloak anyway. And while the free tentacles and the aura skill sounded neat, they weren’t really supporting the overall direction I wanted to go in.

Similar things could be said about the abomination slug. While it was cool to get a whole bunch of new utility tentacles, as well as a new branch of magic, the option paled to what I had from void magic. I could still get more tentacles through regular mutations anyway, but this whole void stuff? It seemed to be almost exclusive to the evolutions so far, being unable to be picked from the regular menu.

So, without thinking too much about it, I chose the Void acolyte slug.

Void Acolyte Slug has been selected.

Attribute points will be distributed upon completing the evolution process.

Stable Void Connection

An upgraded version of the void connection organ. Allows the user to establish an active connection to the void, in order to gather Void Mana more efficiently.

Dreams Of The Void Skill (Passive) (A)

When the user sleeps, their dreams will be invaded by the void. This can have many effects on the user, such as insanity and madness, comprehension of the void, loss of attribute points, or temporary buffs and debuffs.

Void Attunement Skill (Passive) (B)

Void spells will cost 10% less void mana to cast.

At first glance, the mutations and skills seemed a bit… lackluster. Detrimental, even, in the case of the dream skill. What was the whole point of this? There was nothing that stood out as amazing in this evolution, it was just more of what I already had in a sense. Sure, being able to gather void mana faster? Very good. Void spells costing less void mana to cast? Synergy out the wazoo.

It felt good. But at the same time, it felt like a preparation for what would come once I evolved later on. Like the system was slowly giving me access to these things in order to attune me to whatever this whole void business was.

The dream skill seemed to be the primary offender here. I remembered the thing I saw when I evolved to tier two and shuddered. The void wasn’t a good thing, that much was clear if seeing glimpses in my dreams could turn me insane. But on the other hand, void spells were incredibly powerful.

So far I had only pulled from the void without establishing contact. This time I would have to dip my toes in, so to speak. Both with the dreams and with the ability to “connect” to gain more void mana.

I was second-guessing myself a bit after thinking about it for a bit, but this was a clear challenge, and if I managed to come out on top, I stood to gain a lot. There was also the case of my abnormally high Wisdom and Intelligence. Both of these attributes affected my mind in a way, and would probably be able to protect me from some of the bad aspects of the void.

I pulled up the mutation menu, staring at the three points I had to spend. It was almost funny that this was almost the lowest amount of points I ever had available, but if I considered that I essentially got nine more points to upgrade later, it was fine.

I quickly looked over my mutations, wondering what I needed. I felt quite comfortable with the mutations I had so far, so I considered using my points to upgrade instead of buying new ones. Upgrading a mutation to tier two would cost me two points, so I could only upgrade one mutation, which left me with a point to either save for later or invest in something new.

After taking stock of my mutations, I decided to use my free upgrade to tier four on my spell-attuned brain, so there was no point in investing in it now. Void spells were hard to cast, and would only get more difficult down the line, so having the support of a high-tier spell-attuned brain would be immensely helpful.

I also hoped that it’d help mitigate the effects of the void dreams a bit.

After weighing the pros and cons of each choice, I eventually decided to upgrade my mana gland to the second tier. I was still looking to get as much mana as possible, and upgrading that would give me a huge boost, considering that it raised the effectiveness of Wisdom points related to MaxMP.

I quickly filtered the mutation list for anything that would support my void abilities, but just as I’d thought, there were none to be found. So far, it looked like they were exclusive to the evolution bonus, which made me think at what point they would become purchasable.

I locked in my one choice, deciding to save the last mutation point for now.

The system then prompted me to choose which mutation to spend my bonus reward on, and I quickly selected the spell-attuned brain, watching it jump all the way from tier one to tier four.

Spell-Attuned Brain (T4)

A brain specialized in deciphering the arcane weave. It makes the casting of spells as easy as breathing, making it an almost passive craft. You become so attuned to the arcane that you gain the ability to sense it when something magical is nearby. You might even be able to recognize the type of magic that’s being cast before it activates, or learn new spells just by observing them closely.

Damn, so having this made me some kind of magical genius? Back on earth, being a genius at something required decades of dedicated studying. Here? Just spend some points, and you’re there. I wondered if human travelers had shortcuts like this too, or if mutations like this were something specific to monsters.

Happy with my choices, I prompted the system to continue on. The last thing to do was to distribute my new attribute points. There were the ten points in Wisdom that I got from my evolution and fifteen points that I could freely spend.

As it was, Wisdom was above and beyond any other attribute, and Intelligence was sitting at a respectable second place. I didn’t see much of a point in adding to my Strength, so I evenly distributed my points among Agility, Constitution, and Luck.

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, of course.

No evolution could be complete without getting this damn, ominous message. At this point, I had resigned myself to trying, even if it sucked. The system was giving out achievements for doing stupid, reckless shit that nobody else would do, so I was almost, definitely certain that I’d maybe, potentially get one if I managed to not pass out during evolution.

And to be honest, the second time was more bearable than the first time I did it, so this time would probably be better as well.

So with a mentally raised, non-existent, middle finger to the system, I once again selected no.