The screeching squirrel was far more terrifying than he had assumed initially. Sure, it had been one thing to be in awe, it was another to watch this small squirrel dig its claws into the sabretooth rat’s stone hide without problem, and if his claws coated in heat cut through it like butter, the squirrel’s base claws were like a knife cutting though cake. Effort was needed, but it gave way easily enough. He’d be excited were it not for the squirrel’s face, which almost looked like it was bragging without speaking. Didn’t stop it from bragging with that large mouth of its either. Richard gave it a thumbs up, and as many words as he could muster (it was few) and thought back on the fight between the squirrel and the rat.
Unlike with Richard, where the rat looked scared, eager and desperate, here the rat looked agitated. Then again, the squirrel had been cursing in what he could only assume was squirrel then back to the empirical language, on and off, and while Richard had never seen a drunken sailor (he lived inland), this squirrel certainly sounded like the ones in stories. The mock and screech skills in action it seems. The rat immediately turned to stone and rolled at the squirrel but the squirrel just sheared through the poor bastard, killing it one blow. And afterwards it used erode on the dying rat, ‘to make it more digestible’ stated the squirrel, as he complained that it tasted like swill.
It did make Richard feel a little useless, but that was expected. Besides, probably better to be outdated, than dead. At the very least, the shop seemed to offer bloodlines or drops of blood, so things could change later on.
Not only that, but Richard noticed that they had different level minimal requirements to evolve. The squirrel required 4 times the amount he did, whereas the Octopulse required 50 and he plus the blood tick were both 25 respectively.
When pit against a rat, the octopulse acted differently. It actually started invisible, which resulted in the rat charging at him at first. A poor choice on its part, considering the octopulse then exploded with light, which resulted in the rat flinching back in surprise. Not one to seemingly hesitate, the octopus squirmed over and then started grappling with the rat, wrapping over it as the creature squirmed, trying to escape. It was hopeless though, as that 100 in attack wasn’t a bluff. Richard watched as the octopus managed to get a firm grip on the rat’s neck, and with an effortless snap there was one less rat in the world.
The octopulse squirmed over to him, and wrapped itself around his arm, and as it did so, he felt an emotion, or an instinctual feeling conveyed by the cephalopod like a request for approval. He scratched the little head it had, which seemed to elicit feelings of joy. “You did good, little octopulse. You’re a very strong little tentacle monster, yes you are.” The octopulse straightened most of his tentacles and then propped one on each side the way men do, almost as if straightening his back and expressing pride. ‘Of course!’ came the mental voice of the octopulse. At least he was friendly and energetic. Richard heard a huff from the squirrel, and a muttering of ‘I did it better’ and the tick didn’t say anything, though he felt a sense of determination. Speaking of the tick, when Richard looked at his own stats, he saw:
Species: Lightning Dragon (Hatchling)
Level 2/25
Health: 302/302(+32)
Spd: 54(+21)
ATK: 64(+24)
Mana: 101/101
Def: 44(+80)
Skills: Scratch, Glide, Screech, Appraisal(lvl 2), fireball, rock smash, splash, vine whip, shock, icicle, stealth, heal, wind slash, molten claws, charge, lightning pulse, static, frost fang, frost smash, book of oaths, shapeshifting, berserk rage
Mana circles: 0
Points: 16
Skill Points: 0
[Inventory]
[Gacha]
[Shop]
Richard winced when he saw the drop in mana, and the drop in points also made him wince, but looking at his stat increase as well as the fortune of a new skill were undoubtedly a boon, and he’d argue that they were worthwhile.
Richard decided it was time to name them. He’d been thinking about it, as names not only affected the creature’s reputation, but names held power, so best to give them good names.
For the blood tick, it made him strong and protected him. It would keep him strong, and for that, he thought of an old story, of a titan who held the sky to protect the people. A guardian of people, and was once a popular name for newborn boys. “Your name, blood tick, shall be Atlas.” As he said it, he felt his mana drain a little and a sense of confirmation from the critter, but he also felt another presence. Not as foreboding as the god squirrel had been earlier, but just as powerful. No more powerful. And yet it seemed warm and comforting.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
[The guardian Atlas gives his approval and wishes the blood tick good luck. New evolutionary paths have been opened and the system gifts the user 50 points for gaining the attention of Atlas]
Richard was a bit stunned, seeing that Atlas himself had come down to bless the blood tick, but then again, he was less stunned given how it felt far less ominous than the other encounter. Besides, he had two others to name and he had no plans to start naming the others after fabled characters. It’d been more chance for Atlas than anything else.
For the octopulse he was trying to think of an encompassing name to befit the octopus and its electric qualities. Surprisingly, the little octopulse had decided on its own name and had suggested it to him. And not only did it sound good to him, he couldn’t deny the critter who so actively chosen their name, unlike a certain squirrel who didn’t seem to care at all.
“And for my little multi-faceted friend, I give unto you, the name Krakelshine” Another stream of mana, and while it was larger than the amount used for Atlas, it was more around 25. “But I’ll be calling you Krackle” said the hatchling and Krackle waved its little appendages in response. They seemed to like it.
“And finally, for you, you screeching bastard, you shall be known as Pandemonium.”
“Yeeeeeahhh bitches!” The squirrel seemed to really like his new name.
“And your nickname will be panda.” The squirrel quieted down and gave him a look of pure hostility before jumping on him and shrieking.
“You bastard! You f***ing bastard! Are you comparing me to those flabby, no good, stupid **** for brains, incompetent nincompoops whom even the gods hate! I’ll flay you alive, your head will adorn my neck while I call you panda you albino lizard bastard! Aaaagh!”
It would take Richard a good day or two to get the squirrel to calm down and finally accept the name as a shortening of pandemonium and assurance that he had no idea what a panda was, and Pandemonium could only sigh and accept his new nickname with great reluctance.
…
He was finally done, and so was a peeved Panda, which left Richard with one last thing to do: to head where the rats had been coming from this whole time. This may be too soon, but at the same time, it would always be too soon. Besides, the idea of heading into the caves and seeing more of the world was exciting. He rarely left the vicinity of the temple, and now? He would finally get to see the caves.
Activating shapeshifting, Richard felt an aching in his bones, similar to his evolution, though this time he felt his wings contract themselves inwards, pushing into his skin, in an extremely uncomfortable sensation, and they would not be alone, as he felt his body warp and change to match the template. Although the octopulse seemed surprised, the blood tick remained vigilant and the squirrel seemed indifferent, though he caught it looking once or twice seemingly worried before looking away. Cheeky little squirrel that one is. Looking at his body he saw that it was no longer as tall and elegant, instead it was stockier and more packed with power. His claws were no longer sickle knives and were now giant claws, seemingly like those that were meant to climb or dig and reminded him of bear claws.
Richard decided to head to the river and take a look at his new appearance. What he saw was far different from a dragon, as he was quite lacking his wings, and in their place were two huge stocky crystals, that brilliant yellow as the crystals on his body always were. The crystals on his chest and other similar locations throughout the body were no longer as well chiseled, looking more primitive and chipped. Like ore rather than jewels. His tail was far thicker, and no longer ended in a crystal, rather just ending in the tip of the tail, as many reptilians do. He’d been hornless before, and while he was still hornless, his head was different. The shape was short and a bit caved in, and while his head had been regal before, it now felt more potato shaped. His dorsal spines had disappeared, and his neck, once like a swan, would now be more akin to a bulldog’s neck. Checking his stats, Richard found that none of them had changed, though that made some twisted sense given he had forfeited his wings, and his tail had shortened, so he was left to assume the lost body mass was concentrated into his body. All that he was left with was a stumpy thunder monitor and it’s 3 critters. Speaking of which…
Atlas remained where he was before, clamped into his back, though he became more apparent without the wings to hide his appearance.
“Krackle” called Richard and the octopulse climbed over, before wrapping around one of the crystal pylons that had taken the place of his wings, and while it did look a bit big at first, Krackle compressed itself, and soon looked a lot smaller, something Richard attributed to Krackle’s elastic body. Panda ended up curled around his other crystal pylon. Finding himself ready, and grabbing one more batch of Caveshines, which had grown back and even multiplied from when Richard first saw them, before heading towards the cave the rats had been coming from.
Richard had never actually seen the cave. Sure, he knew it was there, given the rats kept coming from the same direction, and he could only assume it was a small hole, otherwise something bigger would’ve arrived earlier. In this regard, Richard was quite grateful that this environment was so nurturing considering anywhere else he could’ve been born, especially considering he wasn’t the only player supposedly.
The cave was a stark contrast from what he’d seen of the forest. It was a dark and lackluster cave, lacking in the vibrant color the forest had, and it lacked the smell of grass that had been prevalent in the forest. He could smell a variety of monster stenches, so strong he was left pinching his own nose in disgust for a second. It was a small cave, as Richard had suspected. The walls around this forest were tall, towering at least 8-10 times over every tree here, and those trees were already quite large, each being 20 feet tall at least. This hole in comparison, was barely his new size as a thunder monitor, which was half the size of his dragon form.
His heart fluttering in his chest, Richard walked slowly into the cave with excitement. From one chapter to another, Richard was excited, if not mildly worried about what would be in store for him.