After accepting the quest he realized that he only had a single day to complete the quest. Looking up he guessed it to be around midday so he would have until around noon tomorrow to complete it, that being said the difficulty in doing so would be quite difficult as he had no way to identify levels.
'Life, how can I identify a creature's level?'
[Host can find the identifiers in the shop, host would only need a 1 - 5 identifier in order to complete this mission. They can be found in the utilities subsection.]
Opening the shop he noticed there was a tab that had a radar on it labeled utilities. Opening the tab a large list of classifications appeared on the panel. 'Potions, Radars, Equipment Maintenance...Identifiers!'
Opening this tab there many different kinds, some had a shorter range while others worked with anything in his vision, some would even provide more info than just levels, like bloodline levels and their bloodline.
The cheapest option however was a basic identifier, it had a range of 100 meters and could tell him the levels of anything below level 5, it only cost 10 points. Looking at his balance he realized he had gotten ten from the level up.
'Buy the basic identifier.'
[To confirm, You would like to buy "Basic Identifier?"]
[Price: 10 Genome Points.]
[Yes/No]
'Yes.'
As he accepted the purchase a slight pressure was felt in his head and when he thought of the pressure his consciousness was transported into his 'head'. It was a dark abyss with two lights glowing like lamps. Within the glows he could make out one with the outline of a camera lens with the numbers 1 through 5 on it. And on the other was a liquid ball in mid flight.
'Life what is this?'
[This space is known as the Mind Space, the pressure you felt earlier was the system opening your Mind Space. Here is where all Talents, Organs, and Skill information will be stored besides the status panel.]
'If it's already on the status panel why do I need the mind space?'
[Host will eventually be able to evolve by himself and things within the mindspace will influence the evolution.]
'You wont be with me eventually?'
[No host, we will relinquish control of the system to you instead.]
'I see, is it okay to be telling me this?'
[As this is considered classified, it will serve as a motivation booster for you.]
'So you're telling me in order to get me to level up fast?'
[Correct]
'Well it worked!'
Feeling pumped up he left his mind space by thinking of the outside. Looking at the surroundings there was a gap within the forest that the capybaras must have come through. There were many small carcasses along the trail that the capybara must have killed before finding the spider's carcass. After scuttling along the forest ground for a few minutes he found a lone capybara in another large opening.
'Was it a straggler of the previous group?'
Above its body a hazy fog appeared before a line of glowing white text condensed within the fog.
[Level 1: Feral Capybara.]
Nodding his head he thought to himself, 'Either it got lost or it ran away before hand.'
Hiding in the overgrown grass and shrubbery he observed the opening the capybara was in. Standing in the opening it was asking to be prey for something, lowering himself he slowly crept to the very edge of the circle. As he clacked his mandibles he was about to attack his prey he noticed it was staring at him, or rather just slightly above him.
Turning his head he saw a massive snake head in his vision, its forked tongue slithering out of its mouth with a slight hiss. He was about to run as he saw the head and heard the hiss but his body felt weightless as he was thrown into the air, landing on the ground and skidding for a few meters within the opening.
'That damn snake used the capybara as bait.'
He could feel pain radiating from his back, his carapace was definitely cracked, maybe even shattered where he was hit. Trying his best to ignore the pain he looked at the creature's level, the fog appeared again before condensing, it took a longer time to condense this time.
[Level 5: Green Anaconda]
Fear filled him as the snake slowly slithered from the edge of the opening, it was large, frighteningly so. It was at least 15 meters in size. It hissed at him and the capybara froze in place.
[Warning! Host is being targeted by a high level creature, please try your best to stay alive.]
'I don't think I can run from this.'
Slowly dropping his head he looked at the snake cautiously. Its green scales glistened with coldness under the warm sunlight. It stared at him with its emerald eyes as it hissed once more, its forked tongue waving in the air.
'Life, any way I can reasonably escape!?'
[I am not able to help host by making recommendations. However I am able to tell the host what I can.]
The snake slowly slithered towards him as his conversation with Life continued. 'And just what can you tell me!?'
[Host should Evolve.]
'What happens if it just waits for me to come back?'
[Host will surely die.]
'So we're making a bet on whether it's a persistent hunter or not.'
Glancing at the snake that was once moving towards him, it appeared to have stopped. Except its body was coiled instead this time, making its body look even more massive. He looked around and noticed that the capybara that was once in the area was now gone.
'Did it run away?'
As he asked himself that he heard a crack come from the snake's coiled body. Dread filled him as he looked towards the snake once again, it shuddered as it uncoiled itself. With a thud a mangled capybara corpse was in his vision, its body was contorted in many different angles and if it wasn't for the fact that he had seen it before he wouldn't have known what it was.
He then made eye contact with the snake, he couldn't even tell the snake had moved nor the fact the capybara had been taken. He hadn't even realized it was gone until it had coiled itself. His body shivered as dread filled him, it was simply too fast.
'Life what do the capybara genomes do?'
[It would provide Host with a Moderate increase in Constitution or a Minor increase in Vigor.]
The snake seeming to be getting impatient once again made its way towards him. They were only separated by a short distance and it wouldn't take long for it to reach him. He stared as it approached him as he was filled with fear, his thought shooting through his brain rapidly.
He moved his head slightly and the snake launched itself towards him, he turned his body so that his back carapace would face the snake. He felt the impact and once again felt weightless.
'Shit.'
His vision was sent swirling as he flew into the air this time, green blood flowing out of his carapace that had shattered under the snake's charge. He spun in the air as he traveled in an arc and landed 10 meters away, his body making loud thuds as he rolled on the rough dirt.
The snake stopped where the initial impact was made, looking at him in contempt. Under its watchful eye he slowly pulled his injured body from the ground, his body wobbling as he tried to balance himself.
'Urgh…'
His thoughts whirred as he couldn't think straight, his mind felt like it would explode as his vision stirred. He looked at this injured body to check the extent of the damage. The middle of his carapace that the snake had hit had been sunken inwards as shards of his carapace pierced into his back with green blood gushing out of the gaps. Some of his legs had been detached from the sheer force of the impact and were lying a good distance away from him.
'A single charge did this? What would've happened if i hadn't turned away?'
He shivered again. His mobility was restricted due to his legs missing and his carapace that had been shattered. Many different situations went through his head as he realized he would need to evolve. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he would have to acknowledge he was weak right now.
As he was preparing to open his menu the snake charged him again but it used its full agility this time and before he could react it had already begun to coil itself around him. Its body slowly tightening itself around his body, the shards piercing into his back pierced deeper making him let out a high pitched screech. The surroundings area that was once quiet had suddenly been brought back to life.
A loud rumbling was heard from the depths of the forest like a herd of elephants were rushing towards the two creatures and it only got louder as it got closer. Focusing on the surroundings tens of white letters slowly condensed.'
'Level 5: Black Caiman - Variant.'
'Level 4: South American Tapir'
'Level 4: Giant Anteater - Variant'
'Level 5: South American Tapir'
'I made this situation much worse.'
He quickly navigated his menus in the system and made it to the Feral Capybara bloodline. Focusing on it a panel appeared in front of him. The familiar text appeared once more.
[Feral Capybara]
[Constitution - Moderate] or [Vigor - Minor]
[Assimilate this bloodline?]
'Yes'
[Please choose an amount.]
'How many can I absorb without changing?'
[Host can absorb ten of them.]
'Absorb all of them'
[Please choose which stats you would like to absorb.]
'Put half for Vigor and Half for Constitution.'
'Also allocate the unused points from my stats into strength.'
[Understood, Host has selected to assimilate to bloodline, in approximately one minute the host will be transported to system storage to assimilate the bloodline.]
'Shit'
He forgot about the timer and the snake's grip on his body increased. 'Is there any way to speed up the timer?!'
[Host can offer a bloodline to skip the timers process.]
'I'll do it, just skip the timer!'
[Host has accepted to compensate with a bloodline, timer will now be skipped.]
His mind blanked once more as he was transported into the system storage.
[Host has been transported to system storage. Beginning assimilation. Duration...Seven days]
The snake suddenly became alert as it realized its prey had escaped. But now the question was how? If it had know this would've happened it wouldn't have toyed with it and would've just killed it outright. However, as the rumblings got closer that was the least of its worries. It hurriedly left the area and all that was left was the mangled capybara and a few bloodstains.
The creatures within the forest had arrived shortly after the snake left. They were all large in size and seemed to be intelligent as they soon realized the snake had left a trail. Although it couldn't retreat fast it couldn't cover its trail within the short amount of time it had, especially with its massive body. As the beast's followed the trail the area regained its peace slowly with the rumbling getting further and further until they stopped.