Edward Toon:
So what other capabilities do you have as my new arm? I ask Invidia mentally and after a moment, She responds.
I can define our bond, but besides that the panel concerning my abilities is likely available to you. I shoot back,
In that case, thats define our bond. She counters in the affirmative and a screen pops up in front of my face.
Symbiote Bond Type: Undefined
Options Currently Available:
Host/Parasite-The host loses all consciousness and intelligence, and the now parasite takes over -Low Risk- Ability Decreases-Staged Symbiote Class doesn’t Offer this Option
Complete Symbiosis-The Host and Symbiote combine into a merge their bodies entirely, they share the body, one taking over half of the time the other the other half-High Risk- Extreme Ability Improvements
Partial Symbiosis- The Host and Symbiote Stay in the same state they were in originally-Medium Risk- Minor Ability Improvements
Staged Symbiosis- The Host and Symbiote Slowly Combine into a singular being, in mind, and body with 2 consciousnesses that are effectively 1, which can independently manage the body as well as use the skills of the other in the relationship. The speed of this bonding is based on how mentally connected the Symbiote and Symbiont are.
Flavor:
Friendly,Allied, Militaristic, Research Cooperative, Give/Take
Additional Information:
Bond typing may not be changed, Flavor may be changed.
Well, what do you think? I ask Invidia after relaying to her the options.
I believe the best option would be to do the staged symbiosis, primarily because it doesn’t immediately throw us into a new stage, while not limiting us as well. It also seems to have the highest potential out of all of the options. I don’t respond, given that it is entirely unnecessary because I had decided the same. I pick the option, and nothing happens, but after a few seconds I gain access to a new status screen.
Symbiote Bonding: Stage:1
Percentage to Next Stage: 22%
After seeing that screen, I decide to actually get up, like Invidia suggested and begin to walk home. It is rather difficult to walk at first. Invidia has to move my arm in sync with my movements to not make me lose my balance, and as she does I get another notification.
Percentage to Next Stage Increased to 34% due to the Achievement of In-Sync Movement
I mentally communicate to Invidia regarding the notification, and she is rather surprised at how fast the Stage seems to be progressing, but as both she and I later point out, there isn’t much we can do unless we want to impede each other, so we end up simply moving In-Sync until we arrive back at my Fortress/Store Tree, which I explain to Invidia while we are approaching the tree.
So the tree is not a tree anymore? She states as we arrive at the front door.
Kind of. It’s a tree with genetics altered by Archite, so it's more a evolved variant of tree, guided by me than anything else. I respond in kind. While we enter the door, she asks,
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Why are you so calm even though you have a Non-combat class in what seems to be a combat tutorial?
My class is a Hybrid Class cloaked in the utility of a Non-Combat. It offers me the ability to make rather powerful poisons that can take down creatures far above me in Attributes and Levels. I respond as I walk up the stairs of the fortress up to my lab to continue some tests. My arm had processed the samples while I was unconscious, and I had gotten the genes, Tough Stomach, and Cudd Chewing. Turns out, while it wasn’t mentioned my Computing part of my arm had gotten an upgrade, though minor. It gave it the ability to Categorize and name the genes that it extracted from the samples. It had arranged the genes into an array
Gene Name
Description
Effects
Hoofen Legs
The carriers of this gene have hooves instead of feet as well as stronger legs at the cost of Dexterity.
+20% Speed while running
-10% Dexterity in the legs and feet
Tough Stomach
The carriers of this gene have an immunity to food poisoning and they may consume practically anything even edible and gain its full nutrient contents.
+The capability to eat anything edible with no side effects.
Cudd Chewing
The carriers of this gene may regurgitate their food to reprocess it, gaining increased amounts of sustenance from every bit of food.
+20% nutrient gain from food
This time I acquired some genes from the centrifuge that may actually be worth modifying my own genome with, but they certainly aren’t the best. They are primarily based around survival which I don’t particularly need right now given I know how to butcher and I can either kill for meat or sell my poisons, venoms, and now medicines from my Manipulator Arm to acquire food and other such things. Mentioning that, I haven’t checked precisely what my Substance Synthesis can do. I walk into my lab, and my Arm gives me a Notification, I read it. It states that you have an Archite Capsule, and if I would like to overhaul the lab into something more, Esoteric. With my previous task forgotten, I decide, screw it, might as well, and a new panel appears before me. A large research tree appears with various possible enhancements to me and Invidia, from the addition of new Attributes to the capability to cast various types of magic through subdermal magic arrays powered by mana. And at the beginning of this research tree, I see a single line of text, Mana System Awakening. I click on it and I get a set of tasks to research it with the first being to acquire the mana core of a beast. It gives me a few tips on where I might find a beast with these attributes, as well as the fact that there is one such beast in a 3 mile radius of the tree. I dismiss the screen, and I see the new lab in all its glory, the lab is now what only I can describe as Biotechnology. There are 5 human sized vats with what seem to be status screens to the left of them, as well as injectors on the right, but in the middle of the lab there is a Larger vat with equipment attached to it that takes up ⅔s of the room. There are currently three open receptacles on the mass of biotechnology. Each is labeled with a different material I need. The first, a mana core of a beast, the second, a type of refined metal, and the third being the antidote to a neurotoxin. Concerning the second, it gave additional instructions on where to find the ore for the metal, 100ft north of the tree, and how to refine it, to heat it up to approximately 2000 ℃, then to flash cool it down with a liquid of PH 7.6 repeatedly until the ore is red in color, then to bring it to the lab. I decide to go out and tackle the first by walking down into the store, and setting up a quest with a reward of 200 vials of assorted substances if they can bring in the mana core of a beast.
Do you think that the Mana System Awakening is really that important to awaken? Invidia asks me as I am walking back up the stairs to the lab to prepare for an expedition to acquire the ore.
Given that the entirety of the research tree I’ve been provided with stems from it, I believe that it will be a worthwhile investment. I state in return as I slowly use my Substance Synthesis to create a concoction to melt the stone that is likely around the ore. When that is finished I decide to create a shovel in anticipation of having to dig, and I look out the thin transparent membrane the tree uses as windows. The sun is beginning to set, which Invidia marvels at, but I decide to take a shower in the bathroom that the tree recently created in response to my need for one.
Invidia Silvia:
So far, during my symbiosis I haven’t been speaking much, primarily because, well, every time that I speak with my Symbiont, the bond percentage increases with it currently being at 86%. Though as my Symbiont exits the bathroom, I decide to talk to him concerning the fact that we haven’t chosen the flavor of our bond, likely hampering our strength. Weirdly, after becoming Edward’s symbiote, I have become increasingly mentally focused on strength, a fact that has had me repeatedly confused until I more closely thought about it and I was given an answer by my class. That answer was the fact that without direction to the bond, the goal is the simple gain of power. So, back to the former topic, I ask my Symbiont,
What do you think about the flavor of the bond? He responds rather quickly with,
I believe that the best option would be Research Cooperative at the current moment, given my current goal. I don’t bother to speak to him before I choose the option.