After I got all my stats up, I was a little bit worried. If I ran into something larger than I couldn't Inhale, what would I do?

The farther upstream I went the Fishwalkers were getting more mature. I don't think I could inhale a fully grown one. I could try and grind a biting or maybe a stomping skill. The Young Fishwalkers weren't a problem, still only about 5 inches long, but they had longer and more developed arms. It looked like they had small and underdeveloped claws on their front legs, so a mature one might be a small challenge.

I kept walking upstream, and I came to a cluster of Young Fishwalkers. Chomp!

New Skill gained: Bite 

Yes, now I could train it to become a real killing machine. It worried me that I was okay with that.

I kept walking in the middle of the stream, stopping only to chomp the odd Fishwalkers. I only saw Young Fishwalkers now, and I was expecting to see the next stage in age. I wanted to get some more XP so I could form my core. I didn't want to become a purely melee build. I needed some range and I wanted some spells. I could tank most attacks but there were definitely other powerful beings out there.

I had been chomping and walking for a little bit when I saw it. I didn't use my observation skill very much since the Fishwalkers were in clumps, it was just useless information. I was focusing on the creature and I accidentally squished a Fishwalker with my foot. It was an unpleasant feeling, but the bottoms of my feet were dulled, like shoes.

You have gained the skill: Stomp 

Oh, I forgot that I could just step on things. Back to the creature.

Adult Fishwalker: Level 5

It had decently sharp claws and a thick tail. It was about a foot long, and I thought I could easily take it out. I ran at it from behind, hoping to catch It off guard. The Fishwalker turned around decently fast and sliced at me with its claws. I tried to stop but I had too much momentum. It barely caught the side of my face with one of its claws, but it still hurt. I snapped it up with my Bite skill, killing it almost instantly. Bite improved, and the Fishwalker was bisected. It had an unpleasant taste.

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A searing pain opened in my chest, right as I got kill credit for the Fishwalker.

3 bars at the top of my vision popped into existence, one blue, one red, and one yellow.

HUD unlocked

Level 15 Achieved

Core Formed

Affinity options available

Mana usage is enabled

You can learn spells

Mutation options available

Skill automatically learned: Mana Control 

You have 10 stat points to distribute

Skill: Bite has improved

You are now an Adolescent Dominator

Choose your name

Skill: Mana Empowerment learned

Holy shit, that is a lot of information to process

STATUS!!