Fatal Poison Assassination (C)

Conjure a potent poison needle behind the target. This spell is guaranteed to inflict the deadly poison status.

Cost: 100 MP

A quick glance at my new spell revealed that it was quite useful. The jump in mana cost was pretty significant, but with my MP reduction for poison-related spells, it wasn’t that bad. Having a guaranteed way to inflict the deadly poison status in the future would come in handy, even if I still didn’t know how it stacked and interacted with the regular poison status. I’d just have to cast this spell twice before doing anything else…

Which brought up the question: Could I even stack deadly poison twice? My passive skill, poison master, only mentioned being able to stack the effect of poison twice. Did this apply to deadly poison? I once again cursed the oddly vague wording of the system, combined with no way to find out.

I looked down at where the hunter’s lifeless body rested, half buried beneath a giant rock and rubble from when it tried destroying its prison. No point in leaving behind good food, and having the hunter's body with me would actually help me quite a bit once I evolved. The system told me that the hunter was actually a max-level T4 creature, which meant I could get a decent chunk of XP if I ate it after evolving, kickstarting the leveling process.

Gluttony really earned its rep as an SSS-tier skill.

I jumped down from my own perch, quickly arriving next to the hunter. Storing its body in my inventory was as easy as ever, although removing it from beneath the rock caused it to shift and I had to quickly escape, lest I be crushed as well.

I jumped back up to a higher vantage point, taking in the destruction around me. Our fight had really done a number on the place, the entire oasis was destroyed. Only a few trees were left standing, and a huge boulder decorated the middle of the lake, acting as an artificial island. I felt kind of bad for the oasis, since the part that had almost completely regrown after our last fight was razed once again.

I seriously doubted that any of my bunkers survived the tremors and explosions this time around, so I quickly went to work creating a new one. Sure, most monsters would likely give this place a wide berth for some time, but I wasn’t willing to bet on that. So, making a nice, cozy hole for me to hide and evolve in was my first priority. I had completed all of my bonus objectives, so there was no point in further delaying.

That, and I was really looking forward to evolving again. Evolving was fun.

My big mouth and my tentacles were really convenient for digging a hole in the soft soil, so creating my newest bunker only took a fraction of the time it took me to create my earlier ones. Before long, I was sitting in a new bunker, created with some extra space to account for another increase in size.

The achievement I got from killing the hunter gave me something called “Special Evolutionary Energy”, and in true system fashion, no further details were provided. I was looking forward to how that would affect my choices. Provided it would be a notable change. After all, one of my earlier rewards made all of my evolutions better in some way, but I never really figured out what it did exactly.

As for my other reward, a C-tier skill of my choice, it was waiting to be redeemed. I figured that the system gave the option to redeem things at a later time whenever the decisions could take a while, making it possible to peruse the menu after getting to safety. For now, I decided to evolve first and decide what skill to take after, accounting for the freak chance of being offered the same skill during evolution.

Feeling sufficiently safe and prepared, I initiated the evolution progress.

Welcome to the Evolution Menu, traveler.

Congratulations on earning yourself the right to evolve into a Tier 4 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.)

Six mutations will be available to you.

Twenty attribute points.

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

Reach 100 in an attribute: Your Wisdom attribute had been crowned.

Kill a Hunter: HunterxHunter achievement will be unlocked.

I quickly looked over the opening blurb, seeing the usual stuff. Six mutations would be nice, especially since I still had two banked and ready to go, which meant I had eight mutations available. What really caught my attention was the bonus objectives. For starters, the whole crowned attribute thing was apparently already active ever since I got it. I felt a bit cheated since bonus objectives were supposed to give me a bonus upon evolution, and if the system info could be trusted, my attribute would’ve been crowned eventually anyway.

Then again, I would have probably had a harder time against the hunter if it wasn’t crowned before my evolution. I probably wouldn’t have pumped wisdom to 100 if the bonus objective didn’t give me the hint, after all.

As for the other objective, getting another achievement seemed a bit… underwhelming? I suppose I should wait until I saw what it did. Oh well, time for the most interesting bit!

Possible Tier 4 Evolutions:

Eldritch Slug

Pure Mana Slug

Void Devouring Slug

Nascent Voidling (S)

Eldritch Slug

A slug that has chosen the path of madness. Many mistake it for a mass of enormous tentacles, but few know that in the center of it all, is a tiny slug controlling it all.

10 Tentacle mutations

Split thought passive skill

Summon: Shadow Tentacles

10 Intelligence points

10 Wisdom points

Pure Mana Slug

A slug whose very being has become interwoven with mana. They have no physical body and can not be hurt by physical attacks.

Pure Mana Body mutation

Volatile Mana Regeneration mutation

Effective Mana Channeling passive skill

20 Wisdom Points

Void Devouring Slug

A slug that has developed a taste for void mana. Often considered one of the few void predators, they gorge themselves on the void to empower themselves.

Void Devouring mutation

Void Mana Transmutation organ

Void Radar skill

Allows access to Void Destruction spells

20 Constitution points

Nascent Voidling (S)

Voidlings are the inhabitants of the void. These primordial creatures are feared across the expanse as powerful combatants and devious merchants. It is recommended to avoid them at all costs unless you are prepared to lose everything.

Learn Void Language

5 Mutations

Allows access to Void spells*

*Advance 1 Void spell to level 10

Void Guidance passive skill

Void Attunement passive skill*

*Void Synchronisation passive skill

30 Intelligence points

Holy moly, that was a lot to unpack!

I felt like my heart was already decided on picking Nascent Voidling, but there was nothing wrong to take a closer look at the other options. They usually revealed some things about how the system works, after all.

The eldritch slug seemed to be the continuation of the Abomination Slug that I had as an option when I evolved last time. A stupid amount of tentacles got added again, and the description feels pretty accurate. Again, not interested in becoming a mass of tentacles. The split thought passive seemed interesting. It was most likely used to control all of the tentacles, but maybe it could help me cast more than one spell at once. I’d have to keep an eye out when I picked out my free C-Tier skill.

This evolution also revealed the existence of summoning magic. Summoning seemed like a neat concept, even if I wasn’t too interested in summoning tentacles. This might be a branch of magic that I should consider at some point in the future.

Next up, the Pure Mana Slug.

The sheer fact that I’d not be vulnerable to physical attacks was an incredibly juicy option. I felt like I got this option due to my Wisdom crown since all the options had a lot of mana support. If I picked this, I would probably become an absolute spell-flinging machine. Both of these traits combined made it a very strong option to pick.

I had a slight feeling that there was some sort of trade-off for the physical immunity, like taking more damage from magical attacks. If it wasn’t for how crazy the Nascent Voidling was, I’d most likely picked this one, especially since the next option seemed to go in the opposite direction of where I was currently going.

The Void Devouring Slug.

Instead of furthering my understanding of the void, this evolution gave the opportunity to predate on the void to get stronger. I wasn’t entirely certain how that’d work, but seeing as how there was a radar skill involved, it might have to do with defeating void creatures. Or maybe there were magical items that had void mana stores inside that I needed to find.

The new spells seemed interesting, but I had a feeling like picking this evolution would put me on the warpath with the voidlings. And what little I’d learned about them so far, this seemed like a very bad idea. Even the description for the Nascent Voidling advised against making an enemy of the void.

Which brings me to the last option, the Nascent Voidling.

It was the first time that I’d seen an evolution option with a tier designation behind it. Or maybe that (S) just meant special and it was unlocked due to my reward from the hunter? Still, the evolution sure did look like an S-tier option. The little description was loaded with information as well.

For example, something called the expanse was mentioned. Was that a specific area in space? System-governed territory? Or something else entirely? Then, voidlings were described as primordial, so they had to have been around for a long time. If voidlings were truly feared across all system-governed systems as powerful combatants… wouldn’t that mean I could become incredibly powerful if I picked this? Even if the Pure Mana Slug was a tantalizing option, this just felt like too valuable of an opportunity to pass up.

The bonuses were also crazy in their own right. I could learn the void language just like that, which I assumed to be the headache-inducing noise I heard in the void bar. A ton of mutations and Intelligence points were included in the package as well. I wasn’t entirely surprised by the mutations, seeing how weird the few voidlings that I’d seen were.

What I was surprised about, though, was the fact that this evolution was supposed to give me access to abilities I already had. The system seemed to recognize this and was offered the next best thing instead. Taking a void spell to level ten was invaluable since, not only would it make that spell a lot stronger, but it would also unlock the next spell in the chain. I’d have to consider carefully whether to upgrade void javelin or void cloak.

Since Void Synchronisation was replacing Void Attunement, I could probably assume that it was a further decrease in casting cost for my void spells. That, or something else entirely. You could never be too sure about the system. Void Guidance… I didn’t even dare to guess.

Not only was all of this a no-brainer to pick, but it was also the logical continuation of the evolution chain I was on. So after admiring the juicy details some more, I picked the Nascent Voidling.

Nascent Voidling has been selected.

Attribute points will be distributed upon completing the evolution process.

Void Language (Passive)

The language spoken in the void is a peculiar one. Most voidlings don’t actually have vocal cords, so they communicate by expelling mana as sound. The vibrating mana often induces headaches and other ailments in non-voidlings who hear it.

Void Guidance (Passive) (S)

An essential skill for all voidlings. The void is a mysterious place, and navigating it is near impossible for those not intimately familiar with it. This skill provides assistance when trying to find your way in the void.

Void Synchronisation (Passive) (A)

Void Mana permutates your entire body, letting you use and store it more efficiently. 10% decrease in VMP cost when casting a void spell. 10% more MaxVMP. (This skill replaces Void attunement.)

Alright, so more or less what I expected. The only surprise was that Void Synchronisation was actually replacing another skill. So far, everything had just been added to the list, so it was interesting to know this could happen. Void Guidance was also a skill I desperately needed, so I welcomed its addition to my collection.

Now then, I had a lot of mutation points. A whopping thirteen points, in fact. I never had this many mutation points to play around with, and I was looking forward to spending them. If the next few evolutions gave out mutations like this, I might truly end up like the funky-looking voidlings I had seen at the bar. Although I still had some reservations about transforming myself into some eldritch abomination. Maybe I should focus on upgrading for now…

Well, if there was something I severely missed ever since becoming a monster, it was my hands and the fine control that came with them. I honestly wasn’t entirely sure what I’d even use a pair of hands for currently, but not having at least something to properly grab and manipulate stuff with was almost as jarring as having terrible eyesight. It wasn’t high on my priority list, but now that I had some mutations to spare… why not indulge a little?

And a new set of tentacles only cost two mutation points, after all.

I know I kept harking on about how I wouldn’t want to become some weird tentacle monster, but there were some distinct advantages to these. First off, I could freely model them to fit the tentacles to the purpose I wanted them to serve. Second, they were retractable, so they wouldn’t get in my way while fighting. And third, well… they just kinda fit my overall theme. I mean, a slug would look weird with two human arms sticking out at the side, right?

So I went to find the additional tentacles option, placed them around where my shoulders would be, made them retractable, and fashioned the tips to split apart into four digits. I know, human hands had five digits, but a key part was the opposable thumb, and I didn’t exactly need that if all four digits could be freely manipulated.

Two done, eleven points to go.

I scanned my list of mutations for suitable upgrade targets. The very first thing on the list that caught my attention was my own poisonous mucus production gland. It had been tier three forever now, and I never took the opportunity to upgrade it. I was moving into the fourth layer soon, so if I wanted my poison to stay relevant, I should really upgrade it at least once.

The name changed to “Destructive Poison Mucus”, and with it, all of my poison spells gained the destructive prefix. I still felt like this was a weird interaction, but I wouldn’t complain about a general upgrade to my spells. That left me with seven points.

A lot of my lower-tiered mutations focused on getting me more mana or letting me use it more efficiently. A relic of my early days as a tier-one monster. Nowadays I had quite enough mana to use, so I’d skip upgrading these for now. Which left my eyes, mouth, and teeth. I felt like my ability to see was fine as it was, but I could always do with eating faster, considering just how good Gluttony was, so I upgraded my Bigger Mouth and More Teeth mutations to tier two.

Another four points spent, leaving me with three points. Happy with how my mutations looked, I dove back into the system to look for something new. I had to rack my brain to figure out what I wanted to add, but coming up empty for now. I was pretty comfortable with how I was for now. So I used the search function to look for void-related mutations. I was evolving into a voidling, so surely there should be some, right?

Wrong.

The system still refused to give me anything, which I found odd. What was the deal with these darn void mutations? Did they just not exist? Did I need to be a higher-tier creature? Were they even purchasable or were they actually evolution exclusive, like I theorized before?

Slightly miffed, I moved on from that idea. Then, something that supported my magic. I already had enough MP support, and my spell-attuned brain helped with my casting speed and learning, what else could there be? I tried several magic-related search words until I stumbled over something interesting.

A mana storage gland that was only available to creatures with two mana pools of differing attributes. It would infuse trace amounts of void mana with regular mana, the resulting mix able to cast void-empowered versions of my regular spells. According to the description, it would at most be able to hold about 200 MP worth of this mixture, but with how cheap my poison spells were, I could dish out quite a bit of punishment. I eyed the mutation for a while, unsure about whether to pick it, but at this point, I’d been sifting through the lists for a long time without seeing anything else.

A few seconds later, I had pumped all of my remaining mutation points into buying the mutation and upgrading it to the second tier. Sadly, the upgrade only took the pool to 300 MP instead of the 400 I’d been hoping for, but I’d take it. Depending on the performance of these infused spells, I might just have gained another ace in the hole.

Happy with my choices I egged the system on to continue.

Next up was attribute point distribution. I got an insane thirty Intelligence just as an evolution bonus, which left me with the twenty points I got as a reward for reaching this evolution in the first place. Funny enough, the Intelligence bonus put me at exactly one hundred, missing the intelligence crown barely. Seeing as how both Intelligence and Wisdom were more than high enough, I spent the twenty points across my other attributes, trying to level the playing field at least a little bit.

Finally, the system prompted me to choose which of my two void spells I wanted to upgrade to level ten. I had been mulling over this question ever since I saw the option, and it basically boiled down to the choice of offense or defense.

In my humble opinion, I had become quite the powerhouse recently, and the urge to see just what the next level of the void javelin was like was overwhelming. But I also remembered the time I came to the third layer painfully clearly. Even though I thought I’d taken every possible precaution, this world and the system spat in my face and showed me the error of my ways.

Even though I had just emerged triumphant from a battle with a max-level tier four creature, and I had every right to be confident, there was this nagging feeling telling me that I might not be. Both a bigger attack and better evasion would come in handy in the case of the next layer being just as mean as the third was… which one to pick.

Ultimately, I decided that my firepower was sufficient. What I needed was a way to run if things went south, so I confidently selected void cloak as my upgrade target!

Void Jump (B)

Tear a hole into the void and jump through, emerging in a faraway place.

Cost: Variable (at least 100 VMP)

This sounded an awful lot like teleportation with extra steps. The fact that its mana cost was variable was interesting since I potentially could jump huge distances with it. I would have to do some testing, but it would probably cut down on my travel time looking for the way down to the fourth layer. It was also the perfect escape spell, just what I wanted.

With that, I’d done everything, only one last thing remaining between me and being a tier four monster… well, technically this was a tier five evolution since I skipped a tier. When the prompt came up, I was ready and once again elected no, bracing myself for the pain to come.

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