Virgil was still laughing on the ground, saying "You forgot, I cannot believe you forgot" over and over again.

With a grimace, Walker said, "Look it's not that big of a deal."

"Walker, you went into a big speech about how you were going to adapt, and then you settled on the old ways of drawing things slowly but surely. You have a copy ability. Just copy it."

"Yeah yeah" Walker said walking away in a huff. He put his hands in his pants pockets and noticed he'd been wearing his suit since his last day at the school. Purple, Valerie's favorite color. Nobody had purple suits anymore. He forcefully pushed the thoughts away. "So when is the fish system going to be done Virgil?" He asked, totally not changing the subject and totally not looking at Virgil still on the grass. "You're over there making fun of me but I'm the one who finished first."

"Check your notifications Walker. I just put the finishing touches on it."

.....Scanning.....

Task Updated!

- - -

Ecology task complete: Build a small functioning ecosystem: Part 1

Small functional ecosystem built: 1

Reward given: Magnetic field provided indefinitely

....

New ecology task: Build a medium functioning ecosystem: Part 2

The first step was taken, but the alpha protocol is about building a stairwell to an indefinite upper limit. Build a medium-sized functioning ecosystem that will maintain a portion of your world.

Medium functioning ecosystem built: 0

Reward for completion: Ecology subsystem upgrade

.....Scanning....

Task updated!

- - -

Entity task: Create three new unique entities: Part 1

The creator has the power to modify and evolve entities. You have created one entity for use in the alpha protocol, now make three more.

New unique entities created: 2/3

Reward for completion: Diverse

.....Scanning.....

- - -

As your entity is modified from its original form, please name it.

As it was just food for the Slicer, Walker didn't feel the need to name it anything special.

Entity: Multitudinous Yellowtail Snapper is named.

.....Analyzing.....

Entity named Multitudinous Yellowtail Snapper analyzed.

Size: Small.

Entity category: Animal.

Organism type: Prey.

Modification: High.

Ability to evolve: No .

Age: 0 Years.

Grade: C+

Rewards calculated.

- - -

Reward for completing the first evolution task:

Congratulations Dante! Your world has gained a permanent magnetic field.

The alpha protocol understands that not all creators want a magmatic core in their planet. The magnet field around your world will protect it from standard cosmic damage permanently.

Small reward for completion of a C+ Entity:

Congratulations Dante! You've gained an increased allotment of creation instruments.

- - -

"No description of the small reward there."

"No", Virgil responded. "The greater the reward, the more the description. That is a very standard reward for completing an entity. D's will just give you back the same amount of your instrument that was used in the process of creation, F's will take away from you, although those are incredibly rare, and C's will give you a little bit more. B's and higher tend to do something special, and now that you've advanced to the full Creator system, you will gain even higher allotments for your creation instrument."

"Neato. So how is that a small functioning ecosystem? You just added a fish to the water and suddenly it is an ecosystem?"

"Good question. It is about working with what you have Walker. I added two multitudinous yellowtail snappers to The Crater, but the system had already added over a hundred other unmodified fish to the Slicer's habitat, thus small pieces of them are spread throughout the water. Because of all the small pieces, and the Slicers proclivity for destruction, I made it so our new entity type only eats a small amount before feeling the need to procreate. The slicer blows them up, they eat the small pieces, make more, and the Slicer blows them up again. It is all balanced in a small ecosystem as the task required."

"That's fuckin cannibalism with extra steps man."

"Regardless, it is what was necessary to complete the task in time to protect your world from the Slicer. Please go into the temporal subsystem and spend some of your stored years to advance our two multitudinous yellowfin snappers-."

"Muys" Walker interrupted.

"Sure. Go ahead and advance them.... let us say two years. Make sure to make it a bubble that surrounds them so that their children also have children within the required time."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"This isn't going to cause any genetic mutations from inbreeding?"

"Some, but it should be manageable."

So Walker opened up his overlay, clicked Time, and did as Virgil asked. Making the cursor turn into a bubble was a trick that took him a moment to figure out, but after he got the hang of it, he clicked on the single arrow individually multiple times so it moved one month at a time. It seemed like the time bubble also created a shield where nothing could get out, as the fish butted heads against an invisible barrier multiple times. He was advancing time slowly as this was his first chance to play with the temporal subsystem, and he wanted to watch as things changed. He wasn't disappointed. The two Muys grew, and made him wonder about starvation, but apparently, they were very efficient at eating in the small space provided. Soon two became ten and ten became over 70. Each time they gave birth it was in an odd amount, but they grew so quickly and produced so fast it didn't seem to matter. Once the two years provided had ended, there were hundreds in the water. He stopped and time reasserted itself, with all of the fish quickly spreading throughout the habitat. Walker couldn't see the Slicer's reaction, but it began zipping quickly back and forth, red stains left anywhere it passed.

"Man, he never gets tired of it."

"Yes" Virgil agreed. "It makes me worry that I did not modify the Muys to produce fast enough to maintain an equilibrium of growth. Let us pull up your monitor ability and take a look at what is happening down below"

"Okay."

Walker clicked on his abilities, and where a bulleted list had existed before, it had been modified into a table. He decided it was probably because he had gained a lot more abilities than he'd first had after arriving.

Dante's Abilities:

Assistant (Advanced): Virgil

Copy

Evolutionary Edge

Identify

Monitor

Walker's anal-retentive side appreciated that everything was in alphabetical order. He clicked on Monitor and a floating screen the size of an average-sized computer monitor appeared in front of him. Grabbing the corners, he found that the screen size could be expanded, and there was a zoom option at the bottom. After scrolling for a moment, he found the Slicer and had to zoom out to keep track of its rapid movements.

"Little bastard is so fast." He said as the one-worm genocide continued.

"Very. Although something has me greatly worried now that I consider it."

"Oh? What's that?"

"If the Slicer already has a high chance to evolve, and we factor in your Evolutionary Edge ability, would that not mean that the slightest chance of something attacking the Slicer would kick in its new advanced adaptive properties and cause another evolution."

"Good thing we didn't make Piranha then" Walker said with a laugh.

Of course, he knew he shouldn't tempt fate. It was a bitch that couldn't stand it if someone was succeeding. As soon as he finished up his laugh, one of the Muys miraculously moved out of the way of the Slicer's attack and slapped it with its tail, scratching its carapace. Walker's overlay took over.

Evolution Occurring.

The Slicer is evolving!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Slicer has gained extreme survival instincts.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Walker asked as he clicked identity on the worm.

Name: Slicer

Genus: Slicer

Organism Type: Apex Predator

Modifications: Rockhard carapace, Deadly jaws

Evolutionary Traits: Advanced adaptive properties, Extreme survival instincts

Wasn't it an alpha predator before?

Walker clicked on extreme survival instincts for a closer look.

Extreme Survival Instincts:

While basic survival instincts will develop an intrinsic need for the entity to ensure its own survival, this entity has evolved its instincts to an extreme level, and gained the ability to analyze threats immediately. The entity will react to threats in sudden and unexpected ways.

"Seriously, what the fuck does that mean?" Walker screamed.

The monitor, which was still focused on the Slicer, showed it abruptly looking straight up toward the starry sky and a small green moon overhead. Walker looked at it for a moment, wondering what it was doing, before clarity dropped on him and Virgil at the same time.

"Fuck, it remembers us."

"I believe it is considering us a threat."

They looked at each other for a long moment before Walker laughed. "There's no way it can get to us up here."

As if taking that for a challenge, the Slicer dove down toward the bottom of the planet, pushed itself into the granite below in a tight coil, then sprang out and undulated straight toward the top of the water. The Slicer was moving so fast that the pressure of its wake pushed aside the water and even killed some of the MUYS. It breached and flew hundreds of feet in the air before splashing back down below with an angry hiss.

"See, there’s no way." He said with false confidence.

The Slicer began to spin in a circle as if chasing its own tail before slowing down, pausing, and heading toward the beach.

"What now?" Walker asked fate as if the bitch was riding his shoulders.

"No." Virgil whispered.

"What?"

The Slicer beached itself and began pushing toward the new beautiful mountains Walker had just built. It kept moving, slowly, until it reached the wall, and began biting into it. The worm was moving in an accelerated fashion, finding efficiency and adapting as it attacked the rock, pieces of it splashing away from the area. Walker couldn't move as he watched the worm burrow itself through the mountains faster than he could've illustrated them.

"The World Editor Walker!" Virgil snapped at him, trying to break his paralysis. But Walker didn't move. He understood that if he left the Slicer on his planet, he would be effectively cut off from the protocol as he couldn't move forward with his ideas. If he dropped new entities there, they would die unless he made them just as bad as the Slicer, and that would never work. If he tried to somehow drain the atmosphere, the Slicer would evolve and become worse than it already was. This was a no-win situation, and while normally Walker didn't believe in that, this scenario felt unique.

The Slicer got into Symphony's soil and began to burrow deep into the planet, driving itself down. As it moved, the soil filled in after it and the monitor wasn't showing anything. After a minute, Walker's overlay lit up.

Evolution Occurring.

The Slicer is evolving!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Slicer has gained the breathless ability.

"It doesn't need oxygen anymore." Virgil stated in disbelief.

Walker moved the monitor helplessly along the grey bottom of the planet, looking for any movement. After several minutes, he found movement and the Slicer popped out, stretching its body in a twisted sense of triumph. It pushed itself off of Walker's world and his overlay exploded.

Evolution Occurring.

The Slicer is evolving!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Slicer has gained extreme spatial containment.

Evolution Occurring.

The Slicer is evolving!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Slicer has gained advanced cosmic defense.

"Wha-what. What's happening?"

"The damage from space is evolving it, Walker." Virgil said in a quiet voice.

Evolution Occurring.

The Slicer is evolving!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Slicer has gained the wind rider ability.

Everytime the Slicer moved, it did so in a quick manner, adapting to its movement in space. Its carapace was now layered, with the outer layers quickly flapping at a blistering speed as it learned to navigate in a vacuum. Walker closed the monitor ability as the Slicer was quickly approaching them and wasn't needed anymore. It rammed into an elastic bubble similar to the one that had protected them in the first battle.

"What the fuck" Walker said in a small voice, never believing that anything like this could happen.

"I see now why they call it an evolutionary edge." Virgil calmly stated. "Because it is a double-edged sword. The more powerful the evolutionary rate of the entity, the greater the chance of this happening. I cannot imagine my fellow squirrels being so malevolent." He finished with a joke, failing at lightening the mood. The Slicer rammed into their shield one more time before calmly floating in front of them, eyes still on Walker.

"Why aren't you freaking out right now?" Walker asked his assistant.

"Simple. It cannot hurt us, and it has left the planet. The protocol does not allow spying on other creators, so it cannot hear us either. That is a good thing as, for all we know, it could evolve again and start picking up speech to help it adapt to threats."

"Yeah....yeah."

The Slicer rammed the shield one more time, as if in contempt of Walker not being able to fight a super-evolved Bobbit worm, then started moving toward the unknown darkness of space. Walker breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Virgil.

"We need the most aggressive creature we can find to counter the Slicer now."

Virgil asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna evolve a motherfucking Canadian goose."

"I highly suggest against that Walk-."

Before he could finish, The Slicer flew back at Symphony with incredible speed, breaching the atmosphere and lighting itself on fire.

Evolution Occurring.

The Slicer is evolving!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Slicer has gained advanced flameproof.

Evolution Occurring.

The Slicer is evolving!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Slicer has gained the meteoric fall ability.

The moment the evolution occurred, the flames around the Slicer grew to ten times their original size. It shot straight down into the planet and a huge dust cloud rose in the air. As sounds of further impacts and crumbling occurred at the top of the planet, they could see the Slicer pushing itself out of the bottom again. Walker pulled up the monitor ability and watched it move its jaws as if laughing, before floating off into space. He used identify as it left.

Name: The Slicer

Genus: The Slicer

Organism Type: Cosmic Destroyer

Modifications: Rockhard carapace, Deadly Jaws

Evolutionary traits: Advanced adaptive properties, Extreme survival instinct, Breathless, Extreme spacial containment, Advanced cosmic defense, Wind rider, Advanced flameproof, Meteoric fall

Pieces of symphony began breaking off of the planet and floating into space, everything in shambles. Walker fell to his knees in the soft grass and started hiccuping, fists bunched at his sides.

"Hh-hho-howww."

"How do you fix it?" Virgil asked.

"Howw did I fuck up so bad." Walker finished. "Why do I keep....keep...fucking UPPPPPPPPP!" He screamed to the uncaring night sky, veins distending throughout his neck.

Virgil didn't have an answer for that, instead, he stepped next to his Creator as he finished screaming, and placed a paw on his shoulder, while he cried into his hands.