"But aren't there too many? In my last evolution, I didn't have enough energy. I just bought the mana gland, and poof—most of my energy was gone, so I put the rest into my stats."
"Because you didn't max out your core," Rain explained. "Now you have me, and obviously, you're stronger. You can gather way more cores, which means more energy."
"I see… And you said evolutions are dictated by what skills I have as well, correct?"
"That's correct. I laid out a lot of skills you can buy, even basic ones—I wanted to cover all the bases. But I'm sure you've already got most of these."
Lime read through the list and let out an awkward laugh. How did I not think of these?!
"Of course, hahaha…"
Some of these skills, I'm sure I can train, so I don't have to waste skill points.
"Rain, I need to ask—why are you helping me?"
"I'm not," Rain replied flatly. "This isn't out of the kindness of my heart. I'll help you, and in turn, you'll help me. You have massive potential I can capitalize on."
"And… do I have a say in the matter?"
"Right now? No. You're weak."
"What if I grow stronger than you?"
"It wouldn't matter. By then, you'd be in far too deep, and you wouldn't have a choice."
"...That's totally not ominous at all."
"That's the law of equivalent exchange."
"What would you make me do, anyway?"
"I won't make you do anything. You'll do it of your own accord. And you'll know when the time is right."
"Ahuh… sure… I'm gonna go back to my base and look over the skills you mentioned."
I don't think I should worry about skill points, so I'll just spend them for now. Soon enough, I'll have more than I know what to do with.
Let's see... Balance Mastery, Grip Strength—I guess this would be useful if I ever chose to wield a weapon or magic staff. Ooo, Tensile Limbs—this would be perfect with my body. Impact Absorption is pretty good too. Oh, Mana Compression? How did I not think of that?! This would make my spells stronger. Mana Efficiency—that's perfect! And the last skill I'm interested in… Stone Skin. I didn't see it before, so I assume I didn't meet the requirements.
With this, I should have 10 skill points left. Oof. I'm also close to level 20—let's evolve my core-related skills and magic skills to the next rank with what I have left.
---
Weeks later…
"Finally! After weeks of hunting these stupid monsters and doing quests, I'm a Rank E adventurer now! Isn't this great, Asil?"
Lime glanced at the side of the cave where Asil was inside a cocoon. Her skill had evolved to the next rank, allowing her to enhance her evolutions. It also shortened the time needed. The next rank should be even better.
"Oh right, I hope it's not long. I should go see Rain right after she wakes up. As for now—magic training, baby!"
A few hours later…
Asil burst out of the cocoon. Her black and yellow fur had turned into hardened steel—sleek, powerful. Her wings were larger, sharper. Her entire body had grown, and red marks now lined her wings and back.
"Master!" she cheered. "I finally woke up! I missed you!"
She flew straight to him, floating around excitedly.
"Wow, Asil! You look so cool… unlike me, sigh."
"I think Master looks the coolest ever!"
"Do you mind if I check your core?"
"You can check it! See how powerful I am now!"
Lime closed his eyes and focused on her core. And to say he was surprised would be an understatement.
---
Species: Steel Blazing Worker Bee (Special)
Level: 1
Tier: 3
Stats:
Strength: 41
Endurance: 29
Dexterity: 57
Intelligence: 13
Skills:
Expert Flight (Lv. 1)
Decent Fire Casting (Lv. 8)
Decent Dive Attack (Lv. 2)
Decent Stabbing (Lv. 12)
Low-Light Adaptation (Lv. 12)
Decent Dodge (Lv. 9)
Decent Dash Flight (Lv. 9)
Mutations:
Steel Stinger (+5): Reinforced with steel-like properties, increasing penetration.
Sharpened Stinger (+10): Tip becomes razor-sharp, increasing damage and efficiency.
Stronger Wings (+5, +10): Enhanced durability and strength, improving flight speed and endurance.
Regeneration Gland (+5, +10): Quicker healing, faster regeneration.
Fire Elemental Gland (+5, +10): Deeper well, compressed fire.
Steel Elemental Gland
Sharpened Wings
Resources:
Skill Points: 18
Biomass: 200
---
She got a huge boost in stats, plus a new elemental gland. She was strong now.
"Wow, Asil, you're super strong now!"
"Thank you! I'll do my best to protect you from now on!"
"I'm heading to Rain to check up on things. Wanna tag along?"
"No! I don't like him. He seems… bad."
"What do you wanna do for now?"
"Hmmmm, I'll go hunt! Master should go do his business—but be careful, please!"
As she floated away, Lime swore he saw more emotion in her eyes than before.
"I'll be okay, don't worry. You be careful and don't fight anyone dangerous!"
With that, they split up.
---
At Rain's desk:
"So, Lime, how far are you in skills and levels?"
"Well, I'm max level now, stopped eating cores, and most of my skills are at Rank 3."
"Good. Do you mind sharing which evolutions are available?"
"Can I say no? I'd rather keep some cards for myself."
"I'm only looking to help you out."
"I know, but I'd rather lay my own path."
"Sigh… Okay. Just be careful what you choose. You already hurt yourself by evolving with minimal energy—make sure you pick something good."
"I will."
---
Back at the cave, Lime found Asil waiting.
"Oh, already back?"
"Yes! I got these!"
She seemed a bit hurt, but not much. Her new body and glands probably gave her better protection. She presented him with four Rank 1 cores and one Rank 2 core.
"Whoa! And in such a short time? Thank you, Asil!"
"Hehehe, you're welcome!"
Lime used Core Fusion, merging cores of the same species and rank. In the end, he was left with four extreme high-quality Rank 1 cores and one high-quality Rank 2 core.
"Alright—time for dinner."
As he absorbed them, his core boiled. It didn't hurt, but it felt like his soul was burning. He rushed to the lake, drank some water, and built a cocoon around himself.
Time to evolve.
As previously a very long list of bugs showed up, this would sacrifice his others dna to become one whole bugsome of them were cool especially soecial rank evolutions, but what interested him was obviously the chimera slime evolution line
Keeping his Species just felt right
Ignoring all the species change and none rare options he started looking
Arcane Chimera slime (special) "interesting, this would efficiently be good for my current build, it would also make spells stronger"
Pet master Chimera slime (special)
That's interesting, it would make my pets level up faster, I can gain more pets and I would have better coordination with them but...not my style
Infernal Chimera slime, tempest Chimera slime, super mana dense Chimera Slime, abyssal chimera slime and lastly titanic Chimera slime
All.of these either emphasis one elements or just plain out pure mana, this would make me too specialized I don't like that
And finally he saw somthing that freaked him out
Core devoured Chimera slime (rare)
But one evolution caught his eye.
Core Devourer Chimera Slime (Rare)
RARE???? HOLY MOLY!!!!!
Lime's vision swam as he read through the details.
And he almost fainted.