More Rocks!
The existence of the Mutagen was ingrained in his consciousness. He then opened the Mutagen Socket of the Basic Tentacle. Because of this, he knew that he could just open it with just the intent from his mind.
[Mutagen Sockets>
Socket: Empty
Socket: Empty
Socket: Empty ]
[Insert Mutagen {Rock} into Socket One?]
"Righty'o!"
[Socket: Mutagen {Rock}]
Basic Tentacle's inside became shiny for a second, as the skin texture was a bit translucent. Before he knew it, he arrived at the river.
"Sweet macaron! Also, how will the Mutagen affect my tentacle?"
[After the Mutagen Socket was inserted, it will stimulate and push an evolutionary trait to the corresponding Tentacle. The mutation will be affected with the nature and elements of the Mutagen, and also the Aggressiveness of the Tentacle_
[Currently, your Basic Tentacle's Aggressiveness is at a 12 value. So your Tentacle's evolution will take a peaceful turn with less combat-oriented abilities. Remember, the mutation is always irreversible.]
"Ooooh~!" Jack put on a satisfied and smug face as he started to sharpen his rock using the whetstone he picked up from the river. "Well, I'm a peaceful old man until someone throws their spear at me. I'll probably see if I can stimulate the Basic Tentacle to be long enough for general use, and making it grab something does the job pretty well."
Grabbing his tools before continuing what he was doing again, he silently dashed from place to place as if he was on the run. There were too many gnarly beasts roaming around and strange plants that he was afraid to approach.
Triple tusk giant koala, a two headed snake, and a beast that looked like a wyvern could be seen sniffing out a hole made by other animals to loot their food. There was a small rain nourishing the land for a while. Most of the trees were behemoth enough to be a shelter from the rain.
It was cold regardless, but Jack got used to it.
When the cloud went away, a rainbow appeared in the sky. The humidity made the air fresher than ever.
He then finally found a mild slope of a vast glade within the jagged forest. There was no hint of another beast's smell occupying the air, so Jack decided to mark this place as his own territory.
"Oya, Sephiroth, can these equipped Mutagen Sockets be replaced when I need it?"
[The act of replacing a Mutagen from the Socket is possible but the item will be lost forever.]
"Aight, put two more rocks there on the last two remaining sockets."
[Your fixation with rocks is similar to that of a primitive ape, Jack.]
[Mutagen Sockets>
Socket: Mutagen {Rock}
Socket: Mutagen {Rock}
Socket: Mutagen {Rock}]
"Beautiful!" Jack gave himself a small applause. "I can imagine that my Basic Tentacle is too much of a sushi. More rocks means more durability! When the time comes, it might acquire the ability to turn itself into a healthy young man who's as hard when facing Medusa! Ahaha!"
[Your analogy becomes more and more clustered, Jack.]
"Time waits for nobody." He smirked. "At day time I might be blessed by the caring tenderness of the sun, but when the night devours the world, crazy stuff can happen, you know?"
[I assume that you're wary of the nocturnal creature within the biome.]
"I think I remembered a quote that I randomly spewed back in the day." Jack tilted his head. "What was it again? I think it's close to 'The night preys upon the living in both worlds, whilst the day eased their temper before they sharpen their fangs' or something."
[You mutter words excessively in a short period of time when the situation allows. Some of that data was damaged when I transported you to this world.]
"I see, I apologize if you're harmed in any way when you tried to reincarnate me." Jack nervously grinned. "Though, hope that I'm not that 'user' you mentioned about ending the war or stuff. I'm tired of that."
[As if I'm going to choose an old fart like you to fight in an important war that will determine the fate of the entire galaxy. I'm actually the same as you, Jack, old and retired.]
"Ohoho! Why don't you say so!" Jack chuckled like crazy. "Save that line for later. It's still not a retirement if we have nothing here other than leaves, vines, and wooden sticks laying around."
[Project Sephiroth is nothing more than a corrupted piece of gear upon this massive grandfather clock of a world. I admit that I have nothing much to give other than a single Roots Feature_
[I'm basically just a lone and weak oxpecker trying to keep my buffalo free of ticks and leeches. Only the big man can steer the wheel. With all of that done and said, I'll be counting on you, partner.]
"Partner, ey? You didn't turn on your cringe inhibitor for that?"
[It's not cheesy if I'm the one who says it.]
"Double standards."
Aside from preparing a sharpened stick or two, Jack passed the time by crafting some improvised clothing made out of huge leaves and vines. He already had the required tools such as an improvised stone knife and a puncturing stone. So most of his tasks were easier to accomplish.
He also tried to use the Basic Tentacle on his back as much as he could to stimulate some changes, to the point that he began training the tentacle flexibility in a motoric action such as cutting vines.
[Basic Tentacle> Length: 103cm(+4) | Weight: 15kg(-1) | Wide: 28cm–12cm(-1/+2) | Kinetic Strength: 22kg(+1) | Intelligent Quotient: 42(+1)]
Certainly, the Suckers contributed a lot, though he needed to keep in mind that the other side of the tentacle was smooth and slippery. There was some mucus excreted with every action, but Jack eventually got used to it.
"Ohoho! Sephiroth, How did I look?" Jack said with a grin, opening his arms to showcase his vine knitting skills.
[I see that you're starting to imitate a tree as a hobby.]
"Hahaha. Though, I wonder if I can acquire something more comfy than these itchy leaves. At least I'm not running around naked anymore."
[You don't have any private parts to hide though. No need to thank me.]
"As if!"
Dusk started to creep upon the horizon. The sky became yellow and Jack didn't know whether he would love to survive the night underprepared with what he had.
"This forest." Jack tightened the sharpened stone's vines on a long wood. "I got another notification telling me that level 200 is recommended for something before we entered this forest. Do you have any clue, Sephiroth?"
[It seems like every living being within this world is valued for their strength and capability in a numerical worth called 'Level'. Not a strange concept to be universally distributed, but it's clear that this world is not a normal one.]
"How about me? Can you tell me what my level is?"
[The universal system quotient on this place hasn't touched you and so I don't have any reference upon the system to determine your Level.]
"Huh, my two cents is on the goddess of fortune, then. If a level 1500 is as powerful as that giant worm back in the desert, then level 200 is still genuinely as terrifying."