Aspect - Elite Savage Metal-fisted Bear | Health : 24/88 | Mana : 0/0

Level: 10 | Next: 3000 xp

Rank: 2 | Max Level 10

Mana cost: 8 | slot cost: 3

Element: Normal | Affinity: Melee

Class: Bear | Type: Beast

-Attributes-

Free points: 4 (+4/level)

Might: 99 (+6/level)

Speed: 19

Magic: 0

Toughness: 73 (+6/level)

Resistance: 48 (+6/level)

-Abilities-

Embolden Claws

Savage Slam

Innate Trait: Pure Metallic Skeleton

Blocks 15 physical damage passively.

99 might. One point shy of 100.

Theron browsed his party’s status pages as he allocated their free points. Not much was up for debate in his eyes; in the case of Berys, he deemed it worthy of splitting the stat allocation this time to might and Toughness. So two points to each, he whistled as he flipped the interface around, finishing Cuby’s and Trolgar’s allocation as he stepped behind an indentation of the wall. If the treant elite’s secret treasure was a toughness crystal, then…

Trolgar’s fists crushed the indentation in the wall. Within, as he expected, a might crystal rested atop a slight plinth of dirt, fully red in color.

[Rank-2 Red Opaline crystal. Use along a rank-3 evolution to grant extra +3 might when the aspect evolves. Gene slot cost: 3.]

Neat. Then the crystal behind the basilisk’s lair must be the magic version of these.

Unfortunately, with their range and the elite’s propensity to generating bone-chilling blizzards, their party simply had no way of outsmarting or playing around with their advantages in mind. Berys would fall from the onslaught of icicles, no doubt, even with its insane toughness and resistance. As much as he hated to admit it, this was as far as his current party setup allowed him to traverse. If he wished to proceed, he needed massive upgrades in his lineup, one of them being Berys’ evolution.

Accepting the end of his delve, Theron exited the troll’s secret lair, finally granting his tense shoulders a chance to rest. It felt like the last few hours had stretched to eternity since he began his incursion to the secret lair, no doubt caused by the spike in the difficulty of his encounters. From Berys’ health alone, even after being buffed by all his defensive abilities, it still lost a majority of its health from a few punches from the elite.

The moon struck midnight when he exited the cave. Another day had passed, and the day when he had to meet Selena’s people crawled ever so closer.

He opened his satchel under the guise of the black midnight, then felt around the unique aspect core clattering under his satchel. Pictures of the spiked bear flashed, flickering inside his mind, taunting him for a battle. With four aspects—all at rank-2—he had confidence in his chances of prevailing. All he had to do was wait and allow Berys to heal up before initiating a battle. Glancing southward—the direction leading to the tutorial zone—Theron steeled his fist as he set a course back to the checkpoint.

Let’s get the evolution going, then I’ll see what I can do next.

###

[Quest completed! Complete all hidden events in the Ghostwood forests. (4/4)]

[Rewards: 1x Rank-2 evolution stone.]

Theron’s eyes skipped a blink when the stone materialized in front of his eyes, caught by his open palm when it inevitably fell. Two evolutions… I’m not… seeing things, right?

Doubtless, the last line regarding the elite aspects within the quest list should reward him with another elite aspect core, to which he only needed another elite basilisk clear to complete.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

So… which should I evolve first?

[Evolution options found! Select one of the aspects from the following. You can revisit this choice again later if you elect to wait.]

(Elite) Savage metal-fisted bear

White-scaled basilisk

Silver-back Beast troll

Sable Metal-clawed Bear

Full-grown horned Gray brute Dire wolf

So many choices this time around… But of course, Theron’s heart had already set.

[(Elite) Savage metal-fisted Bear selected.]

[Rank 3 evolution unlocks additional upgrades other than the species and form choice. To grant your aspect additional attributes, you need to find the associated crystals.]

[Elite rank 3 evolutions will be able to house crystals worth up to 12 evolution points.]

Okay… so this is where those crystals come into play… I get it.

Theron rubbed his palm as his eyes scoured the massive wall of text shrouding almost the entirety of his vision.

[Common path]

[Rank 3: Brute Metallic Ursine(Elite), grants bonus stats: +12 might, +12 Toughness, 12 resistance. Growth/level: +8 might, +8 toughness, +4 resistance, +5 free attributes/ level. Adds a new ability: Metal skin. Upgrades an innate trait: Pure metallic skeleton - 2. Summon slot cost: 6. Requirements: 2x R-2 Elite(of any monster) Materia, 3000 essences, 1x elite aspect core.]

[Metal skin[Melee]: Temporarily hardens the ursine’s skin, reducing 1x[1.2x] toughness damage before the shield shatters. Cooldown: 10 minutes.]

[Innate trait: Pure metallic skeleton - 2. Passively blocks 20 physical damage.]

Yikes. The system wasn’t kidding when it said Elite and higher-tiered aspects demanded a sky-high cost of maintenance, especially after knowing they required another elite aspect core to evolve. Theron seriously doubted most had enough resources to rank up these monsters. Lucky he saved up a ton of the elite materias and had one elite core waiting in the store, he wouldn’t be able to make this choice otherwise. Its new ability solved a lot of tanking problems on Theron’s side; its insurmountable toughness meant Berys could survive a damage number he never thought possible. The upgraded innate trait didn’t sound impressive at first, but 20 damage reduction with the taunt added on top should deflect all but the strongest of attacks.

[Fusion path]

[Rank 3: Silver-coat brute metallic Ursine(Elite), grants bonus stats: +20 might, +10 Speed, 6 toughness. Growth/level: +12 might, +4 speed, +3 toughness, 1 resistance, +5 free attributes/ level. Modifies class: Bear/Troll. Modifies an ability: Savage slam > Furious crash. Grants a new passive ability: Troll blood. Summon slot cost: 6. Requirements: 1x R-2 Elite(of any monster) Materia, 1x R-2 Silver-back Beast troll(Elite) materia, 3000 essences, 1x elite aspect core.]

[Furious slam[Melee]: Slams both fists on a target area, dealing 2x[2.4x] might damage within the area of effect. Increases Might by 20[24%]% after usage. Buff lasts for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.]

[Troll’s blood(passive): Regenerates 10% max hp per minute. The effect is stopped when the bear is under a status condition or is burned.]

Passive hp regeneration and an upgraded ability... and insane damage output. Two, three traits any tank appreciated, no doubt, but to attain such gains, Berys had to give up upgrading its innate trait. Selecting this would turn it into a pure boss-killing machine, a 240% bonus might damage should render most monsters into paste if their toughness faltered under its strength. The regeneration meant Berys should be back to full power after each encounter, another extra goodness in this bundle of pure power and joy.

[Rank 3: Ghostwood Metal Ursine(Elite), grants bonus stats: +5 might, +25 Toughness, 6 resistance. Growth/level: +12 Toughness, +4 might, 4 resistance, +5 free attributes/ level. Modifies an ability: Savage slam > Savage whip. Grants a new passive ability: Bark regeneration. Modifies innate trait: Pure metal skeleton > Nature’s frame. Changes attribute to nature. Changes affinity to tank. Summon slot cost: 6. Requirements: 1x R-2 Elite(of any monster) Materia, 1x R-2 Silver-back Beast troll materia, 3000 essences, 1x elite aspect core.]

[Savage whip[Melee]: Unleashes a barrage of whips unleashing from the bear’s arms twice, each dealing 0.5x damage. Cooldown: 5 seconds.]

[Element: nature, found! Nature element increases base health regeneration by 5% per minute. Takes 20% extra damage from heat and cold elements, and reduces poison and paralysis ailment duration and severity. Gets 1 free toughness point per level. Deals extra 20% nature damage.]

[Nature’s frame: Passively blocks 15 physical damage. Reduces all elemental damage by 5. Regenerates 20 health per minute, if not under any special status condition.]

Theron whistled, remarking on its great toughness growth with a smile. If he wanted a tank, this evolution would be it. Although, Theron struggled to conjure the image of a bear and a treant, would it be a bear-shaped tree? Or a tree-shaped bear? Confusing, to say the least. The innate trait seemed ludicrous upon a first read, damage block to all kinds of sources—even elemental damage?—sounded incredible in his mind, and the regeneration mimicked the ones the trolls had. However, in doing so, he’d sacrifice a lot of firepower for extended longevity. A tough choice to pick, to lose a chance at 2x might damage was… difficult to compromise.

[Rank 3: White-scaled Metal Ursine(Elite), grants bonus stats: +30 magic, 6 resistance. Growth/level: +8 Toughness, +10 magic, 2 resistance, +5 free attributes/ level. Modifies an ability: Savage slam > Cold slam. Grants a new ability: Icicle blast. Modifies innate trait: Pure metal skeleton > Cold pure metal skeleton. Changes attribute to ice. Changes affinity to magic. Summon slot cost: 6. Requirements: 1x R-2 Elite(of any monster) Materia, 1x R-2 White-scaled basilisk(Elite) materia, 3000 essences, 1x elite aspect core.]

[Cold slam[Magic/Melee]: Imbues the bear’s fists with ice, then slams the earth with its fists, sending a shockwave of cold encompassing a radius of 10 meters around it. Deals initial 0.5x might + 1x[1.2x] magic in a 5-meter radius. Deals a continuous 0.1x magic damage per second to every enemy within the area of impact. Lasts 30 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Manacost: 15.]

[Icicle blast[Magic]: Summons a ball of ice, shooting it at a target, dealing 0.6x[0.75x] magic damage in a 3-meter area of effect. Cooldown: 3 seconds. Mana cost:4.]

[Innate trait: Cold pure metal skeleton. Blocks 15 physical damage passively, reduces all sources of ice damage by 5. Clads the bear in a shield of frost, its health equaling its magic. Once shattered, it takes 1 minute before the shield reforms.]

A departure from all the other choices, this evolution came with its insane benefits. The cold slam gave Berys a tool to deal continuous damage in a massive area, pairing extremely well with his necrotic aura if used in tandem. To say this form wasn’t tanky would be a lie, the passive cold shield granted a permanent health increase if he read under the lines. All in all, he was tempted to ruminate this evolution path further. There was a caveat; however, Theron had no access to this evolution as it currently stood—he lacked the necessary elite materia.

All of these options hadn’t even taken into account the genetic seeds and crystals awaiting their usage. The ghost bark barbed skin passive, for example, fitted all these evolution options well, and so would the might and the toughness crystals.

[Class path.]

[No compatible base(unevolved) aspect or materia of a similar class or rarity found.]

Empty again… Well, what am I expecting?

With all the options laid athwart his eyes, Theron pondered over his decision again.