Growth (1/2)
The hours drifted by, after I had finally managed to clear my thoughts. Having the two women inside my domain while I was still vulnerable gave me a feeling of uneasiness. Forcing myself to relax I finally tapped into my now, heightened understanding of Aether Cultivation and began absorbing. The cosmic energy transmuted on my command, turning into Mana, Health and Stamina. When the Skill reaches Rank 3 I will even be able to cultivate and store raw Aether in my Core, turning it into Aether points. My priority right now was to tend to my losses and use all the excess Aether I had obtained to bolster my defenders. Both my Dire Cave Fisher and Amber Slime were now beyond level 10, with my Coyote not being far behind. That meant they were ready to be evolved a second time! Hopefully this would produce powerful variants that could lead the rest of their kin to victory.
Of course to evolve three monsters and summon more of them, I would need a ton of Mana. Then Aether to raise them to an acceptable level. Your average human fighter was more than capable of killing a Rank 1/2 monster of low level, with one or two good blows. My Cave Fishers were a good example. That meant I needed to strengthen my monsters a lot or at least get my hands on monsters of higher rank. The Dire Coyotes were a good step in the right direction, as even the Level 1 pups managed to hold their own against the raiders for a few minutes. I had obtained a venomous snake just two days ago and a Sand Skink the previous afternoon, both creatures at Rank 1/2. They seemed promising but I wasn't in the mood for experiments today. For now I would focus my efforts on what I already knew. I allocated my latest free Attribute in Magic before diving deep into my inner self and peering through the void surrounding existence. I drew in energy with ravenous intensity for the next six hours. It was amazing what a single Rank Up could do to a skill. By the time I was finally ready to work, I felt as if I were radiating raw magical power.
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Race: Superior Dungeon Core Lv.5
Avatar: Arsani (Hermaphrodite)
Age: 29
HP: 89/95
MP: 87/36
XP: 94/220
Aether: 139
Gold: 235
Physical - 9 (Near Peak)
Mental - 3 (Average)
Social - 5 (Above Average)
Magic - 6 (Above Average)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I was so happy with my progress! Due to my Skill's Rank up and the recent investment in my Magic attribute, my Mana Regeneration was now at 1 point per 8 minutes. And while cultivating this factor was multiplied by 1.7 due to my sharpened proficiency! I had more than enough Mana to begin my projects, so there would be no dilly dallying for me. "First things first.. Amber Jelly, we'll start with you.." With a thought I brought up a spectral image of the critter and began the process.
[Amber Jelly has reached and exceeded Level 10. Evolutionary path is available. "Amber Ooze" Would you like to review?]
I nodded in agreement and I received knowledge of the being in question. Amber Oozes were almost 50 centimeters in height and had almost three times the mass of an Amber Jelly. It reminded me of the Pokemon "Muk", but had the same honey coloration, no mouth and two darker spots that looked like eyes. They boasted an even higher resistance to physical damage and their stomach acids were slightly more potent. For the time being this creature seemed like an adequate upgrade to the Jelly. I had the power to make edits to the evolution by spending Mana and decided not to miss out on the opportunity. I entered the evolution editor and started playing around with the design. I quickly came to realise that editing an Ooze was not an easy task. Its solidus body didn't give the imagination many ideas to work with. I finally decided to follow the simple route of just focusing on its strengths and augmenting them. I couldn't do much for its ability to resist damage but its regeneration speed was another subject entirely. I boosted the speed in which it could piece itself back together and recover HP, by a small margin. I even increased its size to 70 centimeters height with a proportionate increase in mass, making it even beefier. After that, I gave it the ability to produce pseudoarms, tendrils of slime that it could use to grab things or creatures with. It could even coat its tendril in acid and deliver an Acidic Slam attack. Happy with the result I willingly infused it with the 12 Mana needed for the upgrade.
[New Evolutionary path created! New Evolution named. "Great Amber Ooze". Both Evolutions are now available for immediate summoning. Great Amber Ooze Lv.2 successfully created.]
I could sense my newly evolved critter, sliding gleefully around its smaller kin, testing out its new body. It then resumed its duty of guarding the entrance of the main Cave Room. "Ok, up next should be.. My little arachnid.." I thought and summoned the image of the Fisher in my magical display.
[Dire Cave Fisher has reached and exceeded Level 10. No Evolutionary path available. Would you like to sculpt a new evolution?]
Agreeing to the suggestion I immediately started brainstorming over the new form. I increased its size as much as its new Rank allowed me to. The new Cave Fisher would have a length of 1 meter, more than double its last size. I strengthened its carapace to be able to deflect some incoming damage and raised the potency of its Blood-Thinning venom, adding a good 5% to the possibility of activation. I imparted my Fire Resistance skill to my monster, sacrificing 15 Aether to do so. This not only allowed it to tank fire damage a little better, but it also gave it the ability to transfer this resistance to its silk if it wanted to. No more fire storms in my Dungeon unless it was an intentional trap! Lastly, I noticed, now that my Fisher was bigger, some small tentacle-like appendages in orifices on its claws. Its left claw had eight small and one big tentacle. These were apparently for mating! The smaller tentacles would secure the female in place and the more girthy one would then deposit the fertilizing seed in what I could only imagine was their version of a vagina. On its right claw it had one more tentacle-like appendage that had the ability to creep into small crevices of underground caves, in order to suck out water and moisture. They served no tactical advantage but then it struck me. "Why not give it a way to ensnare opponents so it could then claw at them with its free pincer?" I mused. I strengthened the tentacles' elasticity, durability and strength. With that, I was done.
[New Evolutionary path created! New Evolution named. "Deep Cave Fisher". Evolution is now available for immediate summoning. Deep Cave Fisher Lv.2 successfully created. Achievement unlocked, "Sculptor of Flesh", 50 Aether points awarded, 30xp awarded. Monster Summoning Skill has reached Rank 2. Congratulations, your maximum number of possible summons has increased. You can now summon or create Rank 3 creatures. You can now edit your creatures with more freedom and for 10% reduced cost to Mana and Aether.]
*Ping* [Specimen has reached Rank 2 by evolving for a second time. This creature has absorbed enough Aether to develop a Monster Core! Will you allow this development?]
I nearly jumped up when I read the last message! I had completely forgotten! Strong creatures in this world could develop something called a Monster Core. Not only did this make them stronger, it gave them higher intelligence, greater potential for developing Skills and unique evolutions. For a Dungeon monster there was also the added benefit of the creature being able to roam the outside world indefinitely, just like me, without the fear of breaking up into Aether particles. In gaming terms, it was as if the creature basically transformed from a common mob to a named Boss.