'Ughh…' the centipede groaned mentally, mind groggy. How long had he been out for? It feels like days? He tried to stand, but froze the moment he tried to move his limbs. Why did he only have around 50 or so legs?
In his panic, he began to squirm around, unused to the less additions. It was then he realized the scorpion was lying beside him. Something must have happened the moment they finished eating the salamander corpse because now he could see a completely white silhouette of a giant scorpion.
Said scorpion not only had a large carapace, but spines growing on its claws and head, trailing down to its tail. They all looked slick with poison. The arachnid seemed to be in a deep slumber.
The insectoid observed himself. Of course, there were the removed limbs, but not only that, he felt at least twice as long and wide as before. His head also felt slightly heavier and it seems he was on the cusp of gaining a pair of eyes.
And..were those horns he was looking at? A pair of sharp horns seemed to protrude from his skull above, long enough for him to see it in first person.
He seemed to have grown some spines himself, although smaller and likely not projectile like the scorpion..at least he suspected it spines were projectile. He could instinctively feel that he could spray poison from it though.
'Status' he ordered mentally.
[Status:
Name: –
Age: 2 months 15 days
Evolution Points(EP): 56.5/160
HP: 1920/1920
MP: 320/320
CON: 192
INT: 32
AGI: 120
(New)Stat Points(SP): 24
Skill(s): Bite, Sharp Edge, Lock, Dash, Cognizance, (New)Regeneration, (New)Poison Spray]
..They were asleep for nearly a month!? How did they not die during this time!? He shook his head, focusing on other things. The salamander's aura or leftover traces probably kept some of the nearby beasts away.
His…CON and AGI went up by a ton…his INT also had a major increase, but it still fell far behind his other two stats, though it was to be expected since he assumed he took on the characteristics of his victims. That salamander seemed more of a ranged, close-combat mixed fighter. Stupid at that.
In all honesty, he should research what INT does. CON is directly correlated to his HP, obviously enough, and AGI is likely his reaction time and how fast he is…It says MP, which he suspected as Mana Points, but who knows?
And what's also interesting is that he got the
[Poison Spray] skill. Could it be that the salamander still had more things to dish out at them? He didn't want to think about it.
Nonetheless, he didn't bother checking the description. It was obvious what it would do. His gaze instead turned to the [SP]. 'The system had said they were allocatable, right?' The 2 should've come from eating the salamander while the others were likely due to his EP. Maybe 3 every time he reached his EP quota?
He decided to leave that alone for now. He had no use for them currently anyway. From what he could deduce, the EP does allow him to evolve, but the number of points needed doubles with each "evolution". Although, it's nice to see it doubling his stats too. If that's the case, he must've evolved at least 4 times.
A soft rumble broke him out of his concentration. Turning to look at the scorpion, he noticed them now standing up.
Their tail shook excitedly while he mentally smiled. He let out a soft screech in greeting, the arachnid doing the same. The scorpion seemed to immediately notice the changes it had gone through, screeching with excitement.
Although he wanted to keep watching the puppy-like creature, there were more pressing matters to attend to. First of all, he was glad they were still by the lake, the problem? It seems, without their notice, the only entrance into this large open area was blocked by a pile of stone and rubble.
Did it happen during the battle? He didn't know, but the moment he even tried to get closer, he immediately realized he would be too big to fit in anyway. It seems that he had grown not just twice but at least 3 times as large.
Now the only thing they could use to try and escape was through the water. There was no way the salamander, having been as big as it was, fit through the now blocked off entrance, so the only other explanation was through the lake.
He gulped mentally, staring at the waters that grew darker the more he observed. Did he…did they have to go in…there? It's not like he had a fear of water, though a fear of the unknown was present.
He took a deep breath. He'll stick his head in first to take a look. I mean, come on..he took on a damn boss! The boss of the lake for that matter! That means there must be much weaker creatures living inside.
But there was another problem. Could his companion swim? He knew that centipedes had the ability by moving like a snake underwater, but scorpions didn't seem to be built for swimming.
Maybe they could survive for days underwater, but can they swim? He looked at his scorpion companion who was simply watching him in curiosity. He sighed. If push comes to shove, he'll just have to carry'em.
Without warning, he dunked his head into the water. The feeling was a bit strange since he could still breath through the spiracles running across his whole body. He used his antennae to get a clearer image of his surroundings, but even after several minutes of observation, there was nothing.
He pulled his head back up, unconsciously taking a few gulps of water beforehand. Huh, he didn't know he needed to drink water. Then again, centipedes are different from other insects.
He turned to the scorpion, pointing to the pool of water. The scorpion tilted its head slightly, but came forward nonetheless. He pulled himself into the water, telling the scorpion to follow.
The arachnid had no problem with it, but it immediately began to sink. The centipede began to panic. He had forgotten an important fact. The scorpion had an obsidian carapace. In the first place, did scorpions float above water anyway!?
He cursed in his mind, trying to swim down as quickly as he could. His long body twisted and shook as he adjusted, but by the time he reached the scorpion, he found that everything was fine. They had reached the bottom full of sand.
There was not a thing in sight and he could feel a current pulling him to who knows where. Could this be a sign? The scorpion waved slowly due to the water friction, but it seemed to have no problem with breathing. He could even see a thin layer of air around its exoskeleton.
With a nod, they began to follow the current towards a large opening on the lake wall. It seemed like this was probably their way out. He once more surveyed the surroundings. Other than some strange underwater plants, nothing seemed too dangerous.
He began to move, the arachnid following behind as they entered the cave. Their carapace carelessly brushed against what seemed to be kelp. Did that mean this led to the ocean?
He was on constant alert, raising a mental brow in curiosity. Was it just him or were those things inching closer to them?
He suddenly heard a muffled screech behind him, snapping him out of his thoughts. 'Scorpion!?' His mind cried out, turning around to take a look.
What he stared at was the kelp wrapping itself around the arachnid as the scorpion tried to struggle away. 'What the fuck?'
To be continued…