"He's back." I mumbled to myself.
It was only a week later when the boy from before returned. This time, he had a horse and a cart filled to the brim with stuff. It seemed like he was going to get things built out here before he relocated his daughter and his wife. He stopped on the hill overlooking my pond. There was about an acre of land between the spot he planned to build and my pond, if he tried to build on my shores, that was probably not something I'd allow, but this was acceptable.
"Please, accept this sacrifice." He pulled out a bucket and dumped it into my pond.
Fish came plopping into my water, and then slowly floated to the surface. What the hell? This guy had brought me dead fish! What the hell was I going to do with deal fish? I grabbed the fish and started chucking them at him.
When the first struck his face, he let out a cry. He got hit by two more before he started dodging them. He was pretty skilled. I thought this guy was a talentless shlub, but he started dodging my throws, moving with an almost supernatural grace. I realized he must have had some level of training in swords or fighting because his movements were far more fluid than I would have thought. When I stopped being able to hit him, I quickly lost interest.
"What did I do wrong?" he asked, the shape of a fish still imprinted on his forehead where I got him pretty good with the first strike.
I wasn't even sure how to explain it to him without talking. Instead, I grabbed one of the fish, poking its head out of the surface of my water. He winced, preparing to dodge once again. However, I only shook the fish and then showed it swimming back and forth a few times. Then, I grabbed the fish and chucked it onto the shore.
"You want… living fish!" His eyes widened, and then his cheeks reddened. "Ah… I see… this pond doesn't have any fish, does it? I've been rude."
I squirted water at him. He didn't dodge it, letting it strike him in the face. He nodded.
"I'm sorry/ I'll make sure to bring you living fish next time. I promise." He declared. "Ah… I won't have the money to stock the entire pond for a while, but I'll bring you a few every week!"
I relaxed, creating some bubbles which he seemed to take for pleasure. The remaining fish I dissolved and ate for nutrients. It wasn't like I couldn't use the fish. I could break down just about anything and use it for nutrients. However, it wouldn't give me any additional experience, and that's where I had a problem. Once I finished digesting the fish, I took a look at my status.
Name: ???
Evolutionary Form: 9
Evolution Level: 5
Species: Coenobium
HP: 599,999,900/19999900
Stamina: 599999900/199999900
Attack: 599999902
Mana: 0
Defense: 599999903 (899999855)
Agility: 59999999902
Skills:
Absorption Skill: Active Diffusion, Endocytosis, Phagocytosis, Pinocytosis,
Attack Skill: Calcification, Electrogenesis, Eutrophication, Phage Tail, Pilli, Water Jet, Spores
Body Modification Skill: Cellular Growth, Chromatophore, Metamorphosis, Morphology Shape Modification, Specialization
Buff Skill: Anatomical Separation, Decoupling, Signal Transduction, Toxins
Crafting Skill: Adhesion, Cohesion, Decomposition, Filtration, Glycosylation, Lysis, Transcription
Control Skill: Autobiokinesis, Cloud Control, Differentiation, Eternalized Control, Unification
Defense Skill: Apoptosis, Cellular Wall, Encapsulation, Fibrinolysis, Organ Reinforcement
Endurance Skill: Aerobic Respiration, Chemosynthesis, Fermentation, Glycolysis
Experience Skill: Conjugation
Health Skill: Autophagy, Binary Fission, Gastrulation, Growth Factors, Homeostasis, Mitosis, Photosynthesis, Regeneration
Knowledge Skill: Adaption, Nuclear Envelope, Replication, Succession
Language Skill: Translation
Movement Skill: Cilia, Flagellum, Pseudopod
Perception Skill: Chemiluminescence, Chemotaxis, Parallel Processing, Photo Sense, Thermoception
Storage Skill: Endocytosis, Exocytosis, Luminal Storage, Selective Permeability, Vacuole
Stealth Skill: Crypsis, L Form Switching
Support Skill: Acidify, Antibodies, Mind Division, Mutation, Mutagenic
Nothing had changed, and I wasn't sure when I would be able to level once again. Even with the fish, it could be years before I leveled. It didn't matter though. I had something to pass the time. I went back to watching the guy. What had he called himself again? Ah, that was right. His name was Tanner. He had pulled everything off his cart and was now pulling it to the forest. Once reaching the edge, he started to cut down trees. After filling his cart, he took them back up the hill.
I watched as he did this a few dozen times. Once he had enough logs, he started cutting and shaving them. I watched as he worked all day. It was only when it was too dark that he jumped into his cart and went to sleep. As soon as it was day again, he ate a little bit, came to the pond and got a bit of water, wished me a good morning, and then began anew.
His work ethic was far better than mine. I might be considered lazy considering how hard he worked. I also noticed he was a bit stronger than he looked. He could carry the entire log in his hands. For a boy of only seventeen, that was impressive.
I knew I wouldn't have been able to do it at twenty-two. The reason he was so strong and fast had to come down to levels. He must have leveled up and evolved. The more I interacted with him, the more I realized he must be a level two evolved. At the least, he gave me a similar feeling to the great fish in my pond. It was hard to describe, but it was just a general feeling that his abilities exceeded the limits of his body.
I watched as he worked day and night, slowly putting together an impressive-looking wood cabin. It was more than I would have been able to do with access to modern electric tools, and this guy just had a hammer, a saw, and other hand tools. If I wasn't impressed before, I was getting there. A week passed just like that, and early on the morning of the seventh day, he appeared at my shore.
"I'll be heading back to town for some supplies. I'll bring the fish I promised. I know you're limited to the pond, but watch after things for me, will you?"
I caused the pond to bubble.
"I knew I made a good choice." He grinned to himself. "I wonder… what evolution are you, water spirit?"
I didn't know how to respond to him. I didn't want to say anything anyway.
"Ah, maybe you don't understand. When you are born, you're born a Mortal. When you evolve, you become an evolved. I'm an evolved human, for example. My wife and daughter haven't evolved, but that's not strange. If you evolve again, you become a flawless human. Above that are Champions, Prestiged, Lord, and King. Well, the strongest human I've ever met was a champion, so that's probably flawless, right? That would be… um… two evolutions! They say if an animal reaches the fourth evolution, they should be able to speak."
I remained silent.
"I'm sorry! Maybe it's rude to ask. Thank you once again! I'll be about a week." He bowed a few more times, took some water in waterskins for the return trip, and then left.
He left me with quite a bit to think about though. I appreciated his little lesson, although I wasn't going to give him anything that might help him guess my identity. He seemed to think I was only an evolution above him. Mortal, Evolved, Flawless, Champion, Prestiged, Lord, and King, they had a name for the first seven evolutions. There was just one problem. I was on my ninth evolution. What did that make me?
I couldn't ask him about it, so I just remained in my pond and waited. I found this following week since he left to be far slower and more boring than the week prior. By the time I saw his cart returning, I was bored out of my mind. When did I grow so impatient? I had spent countless years mindlessly leveling, but now I couldn't go a week in solitude without feeling restless. What was that about?
Well, it'd probably be better once he gave me my fish to play with. Speaking of which, the first thing he did was come down to the shore. This time, he had a container that held water, and when he dumped it out a dozen fish came splashing into my water. I had guests! I quickly checked out the fish. They were all of the same type, a large perch-like fish. I cleaned them of parasites. These were my brood now. I needed to take care of them. I gave a pleased bubble, and he let out a sigh of relief.
"Living fish are a lot harder to transport, and a lot more to purchase." He admitted. "These fish normally live in a river. I'm not sure how they'll do in a pond."
I immediately created a current of flowing water. Such a thing wasn't a problem for me. I'd make sure these fish had everything they needed to spawn properly. This would be my future from now on. It wasn't a bad one. I sat back and took care of my fish husbandry, all while watching Tanner build his house. It wasn't a bad life at all.