[Hold still, Tiny! You’ll get back everything you lose and more in a minute!]

With his lower lip jutting out stubbornly, Tiny continues to wiggle back and forth, trying to avoid the touch of my antennae. Watching the big ape roll around like a potato in the sink would be amusing any other time, but when I’m trying to modify his core, it’s just plain irritating!

Could I pin him down? Sure I could. Could I order him to hold still? Obviously, yes. Rather than force him, though, I want him to accept the modification of his own free will. He knows it’s good for him, he just hates to lose any flexing power, even for a moment.

Damn stubborn idiot!

[Sorry about this, Crinis, looks like you’re up next. I’m going to have to sit down with the big ape and have a conversation. A long, boring conversation.]

With an audible groan, Tiny slumps to the side, but still manages to scoot away from my feelers.

[A-are you sure, Master?] Crinis says, startled.

[Of course. I have every confidence in you. You’re going to do great!]

[I’ll do my best!]

~~~

[Crinis, I don’t mind sharing with you that of all the monsters I’ve studied or worked on over the years, you are by far one of the most terrifying.]

[That’s very kind of you.]

[I thought you’d say that,] the big golgari sighed. [I have to say, viewed through the lens of my training and work with cores over the centuries, your build is a mess of inefficiencies.]

[Oh… is that bad?]

[Well, normally it would be. Your methods for defeating your enemies are needlessly… let’s say brutal. The TTK, or time to kill, ratio on your attacks is high, really high, which is something we usually like to avoid.]

[Think about Anthony’s Void Chomp,] Torrina interjected. [Very high damage, relatively low wind up time.]

[The flip side of that, your theoretical DPM, or damage per minute, which is a calculation of how much damage you are able to do over time, is astronomically high.]

[For a comparison, we could look at Anthony’s gravity bomb. Long wind up time, relatively long lasting effect, highly dangerous throughout its duration.]

[Even though each individual strike you make is relatively weak, you are making many of them at once, and it all adds up. Your uptime is quite good also, the length of time you can maintain your peak performance, though not nearly as good as your master’s, for obvious reasons.]

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Of course not. Her Master was special. Always had been.

She sat, as condensed as possible, into a ball of darkness in the centre of the chair across the desk from Granin. Despite her blindness, the big golgari made a point to lean over the table so he could look at her as they conversed.

[I guess what I’m driving at is that your design is unconventional, yet effective. It was Anthony who made the initial modifications to your core?]

[It was,] she confirmed.

[He did a surprisingly good job. Corun, do you have the report?]

Corun scratched at the back of his head as he read through the paper in front of him.

[I do. I’ve honestly never even heard of an ‘Immaterial Mind Breaker’ before, and I couldn’t find one in the Colony records either. I think the Crinis Inanis base species is relatively new, which limits our data somewhat. However, we do know something about your mutations and organs. Immaterial Flesh is a bit of a thing, to start with. I’m going to assume you’re fully accustomed to it now?]

Crinis bobbed her upper half in what she hoped was an approximation of a nod.

[Yes. Though it was quite difficult, at first.]

[I can imagine. Effectively, you can move through solid objects, but the price you pay in mana to do so is staggeringly high. Your rather unique build has helped to mitigate this issue, since you can send through a single limb, or a portion of your body, a lot more easily than, say, I could. Even so, I’m going to assume maintaining the immaterial state for any length of time has been too costly.]

Again, Crinis bobbed a nod.

[Yes, it has. During the wave, it wasn’t as much of a problem, due to all the energy I could pull in, but now I’ll find it difficult to use again.]

[It’s not that big of an issue,] he assured her, [so long as you address it in this evolution. There are a myriad of organs you can purchase, or mutations, that will assist with absorbing mana. We saw from your core that you’ve been diligent in training your mana manipulation Skills, which is excellent, but without a dedicated caster build, it won’t be enough on its own.]

He checked his page.

[The… uh… Soul Seeker Cilia…] he began reluctantly, then looked pleadingly at Granin, who nodded. Relieved, Corun turned to the next sheet.

[You’ve done a great job working on your senses without resorting to purchasing eyes of any kind. Your mana detection organs are excellent, though could probably do with a reset. In extremely high mana environments, such as the lower strata, your current organs may struggle due to the overwhelming amount of energy. There are further additions you could make to strengthen this ‘vision’, which you’ve already done, specifically with shadows.]

[Your commitment to shadow magic is commendable and works well with the rest of your build,] Torrina chips in, [It may be worth going back and investing in a shadow magic conversion gland since you’re capable of producing shadow mana on your own. Remember, shadow mana can be turned into Immaterial Flesh, though it isn’t very efficient. Reserves of mana can be used to replenish your body in a pinch.]

Corun nodded.

[That’s a point that needs considering. You don’t have any healing built into your build, per se, but rather replace what you lost, usually through the consumption of Biomass. That’s not a problem, but there are a few things we can do to give that process a boost. Make it more cost effective, and give you more ways to replace what you’ve lost, such as Torrina’s shadow mana idea.]

He frowns.

[The other recommendation I would make is that you reset the barbs on your tentacles. As your main offensive weapon, they are seriously lagging behind. I’m sure you’ve already found it difficult to cut into many monsters in the fourth?]

Crinis had indeed been having a hard time rending her opponents down as she wished.

[That is true,] she confirmed. [The FILTH that DARE TO APPROACH… ahem. I apologise. Yes.]

Corun nods… slowly.

[A reset there would be valuable, then. More… cutting power, will make your primary mode of attack much more effective.]