The spider woke up at sunset. Almost a day had passed since he'd passed out. Quite a lot. Reminded me of the last time it had grown into a young spider. Apparently it's doing the same thing now. He felt quite healthy, and full of energy. However, his discarded chitinous shell was lying nearby. "So I've really grown up and changed my armor. It was very fast, not even a day since the last molt. Although, that time I was just modifying my body and now it's an age thing? I guess so."
He looked around. "I didn't finish the web yesterday, fell out halfway to the finish line. The corpse of a mouse is still there, that's good. Okay, time to evolve into something more formidable. "Status!" ah, and "Tree of Change!"
Name: ?
Species: Spider-eater.
Growth Stage: Adult (For Level 10)
Level: 10 (+10% to stats)
Strength: 1.1 (1+0.1)
Dexterity: 1.925 (1.75 +0.175)
Stamina: 0.66 (0.6+0.06)
Intelligence: 0.66 (0.6+0.06) (+12**)
Fortitude: 0.66 (0.6+0.06) (+18**)
Wisdom: 0.22 (0.2+0.02) (+15**)
Life Essence Points (LEP): 38,9
LSG consumption per day: 1.5.
** Your immortal soul has retained the experience and knowledge of your past life. Characteristics are added to your new body.
Divine Skills
"Code Absorption"; "Code Storage"; "Code Deciphering"; "Structural and Genetic Body Transformation"; "Creator".
Skills
"Predatory Leap"; "Insurance"; "Improved Wide Angle of Vision"; "Increased Range of Vision"; "Dynamic Vision"; "Enhanced Regeneration" "Clinging Paws";
+"Heavy Spider Shell: Adult" - Spiders are protected by a tough chitinous shell. Your carapace takes its base from the armadillo beetle's carapace. Increases your mass rather than reducing your dexterity by 30%. Invulnerable to attacks with less than 3.5 Strength.
"Accelerated Growth and Maturation"; "Explosive Spider Muscles"; "Weightless Body".
Transformation Tree
"Spider Jaws" -> "Breaker Jaws" (Reinforced version of spider jaws, reinforced jaw muscles, together with super strong chitin give the ability to tear its victim into pieces) Cost: 8 OSJ Time for transformation: 5 hours.
"Spider Jaws" -> + "Black Duke's Poisonous Fangs" (You have devoured the Black Duke, the most poisonous spider on this continent, and can grow equally poisonous fangs. The venom is dangerous to any creatures that are not immune. Your poison is harmless to you). Cost: 10 OSJ Time to transform: 5 hours
"Spider Body" -> "Multi-Membered Body" (Allows you to create a long, narrow body made up of many joints. Increases Stealth. Stealth + 100%, Strength - 30%, Dexterity - 30%). Cost: 10 OSJ Time to transform: 10 hours
+ "High Pressure Glands" (You will be able, like the Black Duke, to shoot your poison under pressure, paralyzing the victim from a distance. Shooting distance is no more than half a meter). Cost: 10 OSJ Time to transform: 5 hours.
"Nice catch last night. Turns out I took down some Black Duke. I guess that's why they gave me 38 OSJs for it. There was an armadillo beetle, though. Yeah, and by level 10, I'd grown into an adult. I'm even a little bigger now, probably about 12 or 13 centimeters. Stamina, intelligence and wisdom have finally increased. Of course it did, it's an adult after all! The stamina seems to have reduced the need for OSJ to sustain life a bit. What else? Well, that's about it. Let's go to skills. Yeah, the shell's thicker."
As he looked around himself, he noticed the external changes in his body. The shell was more massive and looked more threatening. Trying to move around, he realized that he had indeed gotten heavier. But his muscles had no trouble handling the mass, he was still very fast. "That's pretty damn useful. Combine high speed and a lot of mass, plus a tough shell and voila! The boshcracking weapon is ready. You can ram the cockroaches with a battering ram. It's even more fun."
Next, we should have paid close attention to the Tree of Transformation. "Let's see now... Hmm. That duke was a very poisonous creature! If he had shot me with that poison, I'd be lying with my flippers glued together right now. Judging by my glasses, I can reinforce my jaws, grow poisonous fangs and add high-pressure glands. That's a no-brainer! I'll be a fucking death machine!"
Quickly assigning all three transformations. Burned all the status points instantly. "Just when I'm starting to live, I'm a bum again! It's sad...," he just finished the thought on a sad note, and he fell into darkness again. In five hours all the transformations would be finished.
......
Five hours later.
He woke up, curled up in a ball. "Strange, I'm not a cat," he thought, rising to his feet. In front of his front eyes was a large vertical jaw made up of four spiky blades. The bite folded into a lock, and worked almost like scissors. Two jaws on top and two on the bottom could bite through perhaps almost anything. For example, he tried biting through a piece of wood as thick as two of his own legs. The result was shocking, to say the least. The wood was cut into pieces.
"Yeah... I could probably bite a man's finger off now!", his jaw worked in such a way that a piece of anything would remain in his jaws after cutting it off, and he could either carry it away or eat it right off his jaws with his small auxiliary chewing jaws, "That's a scary combination! I can chew off heads at once now. That's what it's all about! I'm sick of getting fucked up by everybody." Right behind this huge jaw were two more horizontally located poisonous fangs. They were collapsible and could extend forward a couple of centimeters.
"Either grab the victim and sink my fangs in, releasing the poison. Or I open my mouth and shoot venom from those fangs. "I could do it both ways, Macedonian style. That'll do, I'm satisfied. I worked my ass off with that black corpse-eater for a reason. Why a corpse-eater? The mouse was still alive. Now I'm a fucking corpse-eater, the mouse has been dead for 24 hours!"
Remembering this furry dry ration, I began to look over the menu for today. "It smells okay, but maybe it's just the spiders that don't give a shit. Okay, enough pissing around, I'm gonna try it. Uh. Whoa. I just realized I haven't defecated once in days! What kind of an anomaly am I? I guess it's true, these life essence points are not related to digestion, but are somehow calculated from biomass and enemy type. Whatever! At least you won't have to run to the toilet, and sitting in an ambush, you won't have to be afraid that you'll fart at the most inopportune moment or shit yourself from fear".
Finally, it was the turn of the mouse corpse. It tasted more or less acceptable. Checking the status after devouring the furry dry rations, the spider found that he had 56.8 points of life essence on his account! The mass of this mouse was no bigger than that spider for sure, but the points were given as much as 48 pieces! And the most important thing is the list in the transformation tree!
Transformation Tree
+ "Internal Skeleton" (You can grow a skeleton inside you that follows the contours of your body. It will additionally protect your internal organs. The best possible material will be used). Cost: 20 OSJ Time for transformation: 10 hours
+"Simple Nervous System" -> "Central Nervous System" (You can equip your body with a central nervous system consisting of brain and spinal cord. Intelligence + 1, Willpower +1, Wisdom +1, Dexterity +1, CNS Consumption +100% Increase the maximum supply of CNS.) Cost: 30 CNS Time for conversion: 15 hours.
+Facet Eyes -> Complex Eye (Converts simple eyes to complex eyes. Allows you to focus on an object. Requires the presence of a central nervous system. Range of vision + 1000%. Distinguishing small objects. Improved dynamic vision). Cost: 5 OSJ for each eye Time to convert: 15 hours! Unconverted eyes will be removed.
+"Simple Ear" -> "Complex Auditory System" (You can evolve an auditory system consisting of an inner ear and two outer auricles. Expands the range of perceived frequencies. Increases the maximum range of audible objects. Requires a central nervous system). Cost: 30 OSJ Time for conversion: 15 hours
+"Tactile hairs" -> "Fur-covered skin" (Allows to build up a fur-covered skin on top of the chitinous shell. Resistant to temperature fluctuations. Touch. And just plain white fluff.) Cost: 20 OSJ Time to transform: 15 hours
+"Spider Body" -> "Rodent Body" (Changes base body. Zeroes the level. Converts modifications. Modifications that cannot be converted are removed. Increases the maximum amount of OSJ.) Cost: 50 OSJ Time to convert: 24 hours.
"Spider Body" -> "Multi-Jointed Body" (Creates a long, narrow body with many joints. Increases Stealth. Stealth + 100%, Strength - 30%, Dexterity - 30%). Cost: 10 OSJ Time to transform: 10 hours.
"Holy shit..." - was all that went through his head the moment he read and realized the entire list. Even hovered a bit as he looked at it. Our hero didn't even catch himself at once that there wasn't a single goddamn thought running through his head. He stared stupidly at the list of transformations.