Chapter 6: Research(1)
Edward Toon:
For Selecting the Research Cooperative You have Been Granted the Following Skills:
Symbiote:
Bond Type:Staged-1-89% To Stage 2
Bond Flavor: Research Cooperative
Physical Arm:
Natural Weapons-Stage 1-Claws
Mental Bond-
Auxiliary Mental Tissue: +50% Base Mind Attribute
Instant Telecommunication
+Research Cooperative:
+Sample Taking-Skill of Similar Typing Already Acquired- Upgrading:
Genetic Manipulator->Biomechanical Genetic Manipulator
+Visualization of Possible Research Paths-Bonded Entity has similar skill-Upgrading
Research Tree(Aligned Entity)->Unified Advanced Research Tree
Well that sure was something! I mentally shout, but I am yelled at by Invidia almost immediately.
Quiet down you bloody imbecile! She shouts at me in my own flavor of speech. I mentally chuckle before conceding, turning my attention to the new Skills. Regarding the first, my left arm has suddenly become coated and integrated with my flesh yet again, but it is still clear with the metal often peeking up through my skin. It seems to have enhanced capacity for samples as well as greater volume in systems overall, a pretty good upgrade for a simple choice. On the other hand, I open up the other skill and I find two tabs. One with the list of current requirements for the research that was selected, and to the right of that one, the research tree in all its glory. And reminded of that, I notice that it is rather late, and I should be off to bed. The next morning, I wake up, get out of bed and I waltz out the door, headed due north, and as I do as such, I am interrupted. The party I met towards the start of the tutorial is calling me towards my shop, and before I decide to heed them, I am reminded to check the Tutorial Panel.
Tutorial:
Extreme Difficulty
Human Alive in Tutorial:
11(12)
Humans Alive in Your Party:
1(2)
Tutorial Points: 8
Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. Invidia states. The people with non-combat classes probably were annihilated rather quickly, and with that in addition to the random deaths, it makes sense. I state my opinion in the affirmative. Immediately after, I am accosted by a man who is shouting at me. As he encroached on my position, I spotted what he was carrying, the mana beast core, so I shout,
“Calm the hell down, I’ll be over in a moment!” Before walking to my shop, going behind the counter and sitting down.
“So you want to turn in that mana core?” I ask the man with him nodding in the affirmative. I ask,
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“What type of payment would you like? I can just give you 200 vials of venom or I could give you 40 vials of medicine. You choose.” He responds with,
“100 vials of poison and 20 of medicine.” I silently grab a specially prepared crate, and I start grabbing the Venom, before I ask,
“Do you want combat or hunting venom?” He states
“50/50” I continue to collect and input the venom and medicine into the crate, slowly filling it up. When it is filled, I haul it up onto the counter after closing it, and he hands me the mana core as I slide the crate towards him. Now to continue with my earlier endeavor. I think before I begin to walk out into the forest in search of the ore. And as I walk past a large tree, I see the ore, surrounded by a large quantity of extremely large lizards who seem to have some type of acid, poison, or otherwise destruction based ability given that I can’t see any bits of living grass or foliage in the entire area. Well it seems my best option would be to simply wait it out. I think to myself, as I sit down to do exactly that. By the time the overgrown reptiles are asleep, the sun has long set as I stand back up with a stone blade coated in venom which I had crafted in the hours I had waited. As I walk towards the ore deposit, blade in hand, one of the lizards seems to notice me, popping its head up in alarm, but I manage to dash forward, putting my blade through its eye and soon brain, but not before the others wake. Overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of the opposing force, I begin to run before my right arm extends a few feet, fans out into a circular plate then curves outward. Moments later, the first lizard reaches me, but it immediately shrieks and begins to surge back towards its brethren, colliding with them, before being swept with them away from me. And as I walk toward the ore, Invidia tells me; That's the singular ability that you gained in the change from Genetic Manipulator to Biomechanical Genetic Manipulator, an effective signal dish that projects signals that confuses the heck out of these creatures. From what the system has told me, it has a limited duration and a cooldown, but no specifics.
“Well that’s a tad weird.” I say to myself, but I disregard it while dissolving the rock around the ore. Minutes later, as I stoop down to pick up the ore, I distinctly heard something behind me. As the world slows to a crawl, I begin to move, but I do so at a miniscule pace, and as I turn, I converse with Invidia. What the hell is happening? I mentally yell, before she responds. It's likely the effect of your massive difference between your physical and mental attributes that caused this, though I wonder what the conditions are to activate this state, maybe danger? I agree and state back, I should be able to activate it by though, but it’s probably set to off most of the time because it would be incredibly boring if everything took this long. By the end of that discussion, my head was only halfway to turning around, so I decided to filter through what it could be. Immediately the first thing that came to mind was some type of beast, but I figured it would have been a bit more obvious given my perception, so it was either a stealth oriented beast or something else, likely another human, given my impression of the others trapped in this Tutorial. After that train of thought, I wait and wait and wait and wait until my head turns just enough for me to see what moved, a fucking frog. I immediately relax, then come back to my senses as I remember, frogs aren’t 20 feet tall. Well, shit I think while I stagger, every second literally minutes in my mind as I ready my Biomechanical Genetic Manipulator with the most potent neurotoxin it can currently generate, and brace myself for impact. During this time, the giant frog, or more likely toad, has been catapulting itself towards me one jump at a time, and as soon as it gets within range, I stab it with the injector before being swallowed whole, and the world goes pink. As I pass through its esophagus, I use my right arm’s ability to extend a blade from it and I stick it to the side with Invidia doing the same with our claws on our left arm; we slice down its entire esophagus before landing in its stomach. We land in a pool of digestive juices and are tossed around before the entire frog becomes still.
You gain 48 Tutorial Points for Killing a Level 22 Creature
It's dead for sure. Invidia states in a mental monotone as I begin slicing through its flesh to exit, supported by Invidia’s use of our left arm’s claws. Around 30 seconds later, we see light coming from the most recent stab into the toad’s flesh, and we grab the opening by both sides and rip it open. We climb out and we make it back to the tree rather uneventfully, before I am prompted by another notification from my arm.
You have received another Archite Capsule
Compatibility Detected:
You may use the Archite Capsule to Upgrade Your Natural Weapons
Do you wish to do as such?
Invidia and I immediately accept and the sales that rest on my left hand change color and extend, gaining an otherworldly aura which seems, for lack of a better word, weird. As Invidia waves them around, there seems to be an afterimage trailing after them and when she stabs a rock a few second later, the same indent as the one from her former slash appears slightly to the right of the first.
Enhancement Identified:
4th Dimensional Trailing:
Any damage dealt with this instrument is repeated in a location close to the original damage.
Well that's certainly good. I walk up to my bed, and am about to go to bed before the world fades to black.