And upon the next day, Richard sat down to consider evolutions.

Not his yet, because he wasn't the only one to hit level 25.

Atlas, as a parasite who was siphoning off his levels, had also hit 25, so he was also at the point of evolution, which did interest Richard a bit.

An evolved blood tick? He'd never seen one before. Actually, what were the chances anyone had ever witnessed one?

Sister Alexandria was also curious to see the outcome and had wrapped around a tree to sit and watch.

Panda was just sitting nearby, seemingly indifferent.

Richard opened the system, choosing to focus on Atlas' status instead.

[Congratulations to Atlas for reaching level 25!]

[Your options are as follows:]

[Atlas Arms Beetle Grub]

[ Arms Beetle Grub]

[ Ant arms Larva]

[wasp arms larva]

Looking at the options he was provided with, Richard was more curious than anything else.

The Atlas arms seemed to be the most tempting to look at, but first he would examine the other options.

Answer may seem obvious, but Richard was the curious kind, and he'd be remiss if he didn't share the knowledge with sister Alexandria.

Alright, from bottom to top then.

[Wasp arms larva]

[as an evolution to the blood tick, the wasp arms larva is as it sounds, a larva. However, the potential it offers is great. Although not much can be said, the wasp arms is a symbiotic creature that offers great speed and increased air maneuverability.

This phase of evolution will be a temporary phase over the course of a month in which the creature must be fed a mana rich diet]

[Ant Arms Larva]

[As an evolution to the blood tick, the ant arms larva is as it sounds, a larva. However, the potential it offers is great. Although not much can be said, the ant arms is a symbiotic creature that offers great strength in proportion to its size and increased jaw strength, and is recommended for those producing an army.

This phase of evolution will be a temporary phase over the course of a week in which the creature must be fed a mana rich diet.]

[Arms Beetle Grub]

[As an evolution to the blood tick, the ant arms larva is as it sounds, a larva. However, the potential it offers is great. Although not much can be said, the beetle arms is a symbiotic creature that offers great strength and defense, as well as the ability to switch between defense and strength.

This phase of evolution will be a temporary phase over the course of a month in which the creature must be fed a mana rich diet.]

There was certainly a lot to unpack here.

The concept of a temporary evolution wasn't new to Richard, the very idea of such a thing did exist. Many bug monsters are known to have a pupa phase and a larvae phase; the fact that caterpillar monsters were often seen spinning cocoons was proof enough.

The fact that the blood tick's next evolution however would be a larvae phase was quite surprising.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

And the atlas arms beetle grub:

[Atlas arms beetle grub]

[As an evolution to the blood tick, the Atlas arms beetle grub is as it sounds, a larva. However, the potential it offers as a blessed of it's namesake is tremendous. Although not much can be said, the Atlas arms beetle is a symbiotic creature that offers immense strength and great defense, as well as the ability to switch between defense and strength.

As a variant of the arms beetle, the potential it has is humongous, possibly capable of drawing upon the true potential of the blood tick's ancestor.

This phase of evolution will be a temporary phase over the course of 2 months in which the creature must be fed a mana rich diet.]

Huh.

That description clearly indicated that he should choose this evolution in spite of the 2 month phase without Atlas.

Even if Atlas was a lot more quiet than the others, he still served as a major boost to Richard's combat prowess, so he would be a little crippled without the blood tick.

Probably best to ask about that true potential.

"Sister Alexandria..." Richard called out to the patient wyrm.

"Yes child? Have you perhaps chosen the evolution to the blood tick? I must say I'm quite curious to see why this blessing of yours encourages you to evolve a blood tick."

"Well..."

The next few min would be spent explaining the descriptions and the options offered.

"Fascinating... To think the blood tick would evolve into a larva instead of a bigger blood tick of sorts. Truly it does exceed my own expectations. As for the true potential, I suspect it refers to the dormant bloodline of Atlas."

Richard's brow crinkled at the thought.

"Dormant bloodlines?" He voiced his curiosity. He could guess, but more information is always better.

"Well, the saying goes that only one tiger can live on a mountain, and that's true for monsters. However, the result of this is that the more powerful a monster is, the rarer it is for a monster to find a mate of equal strength. And thus since there are no monsters of equal strength to breed with, the tiger will have to settle with a cat.

The child born will be weaker than their progenitor, and chances are, will lack the will it's progenitor had, thus never reaching the same heights, eventually settling with a creature weaker than them.

This goes on and on, until the descendent of the original tiger is nothing but a shadow of its former self. All that remains is a dormant bloodline of the monster that's too small to really matter, and can only be awaken through intense stimulation."

Richard nodded and found it interesting. It wasn't hard to understand the concept, but it had simply never crossed his mind.

He ventured. "In that case, then the ability to awaken a dormant bloodline is..."

"Good, very good. Great in fact." Alexandria said excitedly. "If I had to guess, it's likely due to the blessing of Atlas which has stimulated the bloodline. The bloodline may not majorly affect the evolutions for now, but if nothing else, it will greatly improve on the evolutions powers."

"So I should choose this one?"

"Yes, definitely yes."

"But it might require a high source of food in the meantime." Richard worriedly pointed out. He wasn't sure how much the evolution would take, being 2 months straight of extra food needing to be procured.

Alexandria huffed, seemingly trying to make herself bigger, but ultimately just looking a little fat around the front instead.

"Richard, have you forgotten already? I'm a wyrm. No matter how much it needs, I can easily procure the resources needed for the next few months. Besides." She added, whisking a basket of caveshines out.

"Did you forget about these?"

Richard's eyes lit up as he look at the sizeable amount of caveshines, more than he had initially given sister Alexandria.

He rushed up to sister Alexandria to give her a great big hug as thanks.

Did her face get a little redder.

"Ahem. Anyway, since you got some for me, I've been growing plenty of them, and probably more than enough to provide one little grub. Worse comes to worse, I go hunt some meat for the critter."

Richard nodded, confirming that it would be alright to choose the greater option.

[You have chosen the evolution atlas arms beetle grub]

[Evolution will commence.]

A seemingly unknown pressure disappeared from his back, and turning around, Richard watched curiously as Atlas seemingly dropped off, twitching on the floor.

crack

crack

Atlas's carapace cracked, as something bulged underneath the surface, struggling its way out.

Panda's face scrunched up.

"I don't care what anyone says, I do not look forward to my next evolution. I better not crawl out of my own skin." As he wretched a little.

Right, Panda wasn't there for his first evolution.

Richard watched in morbid curiosity as a white maggot like creature burst out of the carapace of his familiar.

It then began eating it's former carapace quickly and without hesitation. It finished quickly.

The grub looked around twitching it's cute little front arms, before a word was uttered.

hungry

whispered Atlas into the connection, and obliging, Richard took a few caveshines out of sister Alexandria's basket, which Atlas sniffed and then eagerly began chewing.

The beetle grub looked just as it sounded, a grub, with a seemingly tint of blue lurking just beneath the surface of the creature's skin, shining just under the surface. Little black dots lined the creature's skin, contrasting with the translucent white skin.

Alexandria looked at it curiously. "How wonderful! To think the blood tick's truly had a secret evolution like this. I might just have to get one myself and test out the other options."

While Alexandria was musing over the little grub, Richard was prepping himselfe

Alright. Time for evolution 2.