Evolutionary upgrades were endless examples of how a species' body could've ended up looking like, millions of years from now. The main difference here was that the system sped up the evolutionary process, and picked out specific branches to improve, until the said progress seemed nothing short of magical!
It was magical, he had a godly advantage to his side that perhaps no other creature had, but overall, the system was also really logical about the process. She didn't overwhelm him with grand, superior upgrades immediately, but rather, she focused on minor upgrades first, just so she could build a favorable base of altered DNA, a base that she could improve drastically later on!
For example, she strengthened his bones by fifteen percent, apart from his head, which she strengthened by thirty percent. George's head was considered a lethal weapon, so she didn't deprive him of its use during the upgrades!
Stronger bones were nothing short of essential for an explorative, adventurous assfish such as himself! His bones were stronger now, overall, and they were fit for him to swim across, and endure whatever challenges everything above the two-thousand meter depth mark, would toss at him! He was stronger.
The system did the same thing with his muscles afterwards, strengthening them by twenty percent, and the protein pockets that developed within his muscles, reflected on his scales as a result. He had a beautiful, dark-pink patch on both sides of his long body, signifying his muscle development!
The upgrades were substantial. George only weighed three kilos a couple of days ago, but now, he weighs a stunning ten kilos, which was a lot in comparison to the common assfish! The extra muscle, and strengthened bones that he had now, surely helped him weigh more.
The system wasn't done yet. She was working on his organs now, in order to help his recently heavier body be more resistant to the immense water pressure around him!
This required a bit of work, but ultimately, he hadn't experienced any major upgrades yet, as the system was just tampering with his durability. The three types of evolutionary upgrades that he experienced during this hour cost him one-hundred and fifty Blood Essence, and seventy Bone Essence points so far!
"If you're gonna toss me around like a dead anglerfish, you might as well make me smarter, system lady!" He demanded.
[A single IQ upgrade takes place in the line of upgrades that I'm implementing.] She assured.
The system kept doing her work, and George didn't have the slightest bit of fun during the process, because he was in constant pain that he would otherwise not experience if it wasn't for the system's work. It was not fun, but he just held onto the fact that he was turning into a stronger fish! He was a couple of changes away from being the greatest Bony-Eared Assfish that had ever swam the seas, and he was willing to endure any kind of pain for that title!
The system acknowledged his train of thought, and went even harder on him. A moment later, he experienced a kind of pain that he wouldn't have thought possible. His brain hurt, severely!
George wasn't experiencing a headache, no, but the very nerves that connected his brain to the rest of his body, puffed up. They puffed up, ached, and put his brain along with his neck in severe distress!
After that, he felt his brain sloshing around, which was the weirdest experience yet! Comfort-wise, it was the equivalent of hitting one's elbow on a solid surface, one-hundred times, and living to tell the tale! His vision was so blurry at the moment, and so absurd, that he felt like he was tasting the water with his eyes!
"Blurgurgerok…" He spoke gibberishly.
Screaming out in pain was useless, so he simply endured it. When his consciousness started stabilizing, he simply came to terms with the fact that intelligence upgrades were supposed to be weird, especially if they were big ones! This was a big upgrade, as he imagined, as the system spent one-hundred and fifty points of Blood Essence on this single IQ upgrade that he experienced!
It took two whole hours for the upgrade to be implemented. The pain decreased gradually, and at the end, the system gave George an intelligence score that wouldn't have been genetically achievable before! He started out with just a few hundred neuron cells to call his own, and now, he bore millions of them!
The system announced, [You now bear an IQ of 60 points! Congratulations!]
"Sixty points sounds good," He nodded, and he didn't have the strength to celebrate, because the upgrade had taken a toll on him. "It's decent, although, I have to admit that at some point, it felt like I was shitting my old brain out just to make space for the new one. Maybe we should take IQ upgrades slower, system, it would be safer, and I wouldn't mind waiting two days for it to complete, if I had to. Anything is better than tasting water with your eyes, I'll tell you that for free."
George's vocabulary had increased significantly, which was one of the signs that his upgraded brain had settled in nice, and well. He wasn't only the smartest assfish in the seas now, but he also challenged the intelligence of the common dolphins, or orcas, even, assuming that those species hadn't figured out ways to make themselves smarter than what they were biologically capable of. He was amongst the smartest fish in the sea!
"Let's hope my intelligence will come in handy," He expressed.
Anyway, with a few hundred more Essence Points left over, he was yet to see the end of the line of evolutionary upgrades! He had well over a hundred Bone Essence points left, for example, and the system put them into use.
In less than an hour, George grew a single, venomous dorsal fin across his spine! The venom could either kill small fish, or whole humans, and its effects entirely depended on the biological resistance each species had against his venom. It was a perplexing topic, but since the system already gave him a dorsal fin to call his own, the venom within it was very easy to upgrade, as it would just require Blood Essence, which was the easiest essence to attain.
The system then paired the remaining Blood Essence, and Bone Essence points that he had, in order to toughen up his tiny, Cusk Eel scales. This part of the process wasn't as painful, and overall, it may be the most useful upgrade yet!
Once she upgraded his scales, she then announced. [As of now, you can withstand a bite force of 15 PSI, without losing chunks of your flesh in the exchange. Congratulations!]
"PSI?" He asked, curiously.
[Pounds-per-square-inch. It's a form of measurement that measures the bite force of various animals.] She explained, [Now, you can easily resist the bites of the smaller species of anglerfish.]
"Hmm… that's very useful." He added.
Anyway, with these physical upgrades out of the way, the system then moved on to what might be far more important in comparison to everything that he experienced these past few hours. Through an informational, visual, blue bar, the system listed out three magical powers which he could choose from!
They weren't considered upgrades, per se, but rather, they were considered entirely new, offensive, elemental abilities that the system offered! They cost sixty Mana Essence points each, so he could only choose one of them.