Day 5 of coral excavation:
My shell is still damaged, and further uses of food-based healing have not improved its state. On the bright side, I am still growing in size and levels, I am now level 4, and most of my skills are level 3 except for [TIP]. BM-20, SP-4.
Day 6 of coral excavation:
The crawl space has been steadily improving, but last night something big above collapsed on the west side. Thankfully the thing didn't notice me and left in a hurry after the kerfuffle blood had started dripping from the ceiling.
Sadly there's been an increase in activity lately of those small dartfish.
Day 7 of coral excavation:
I've started experimenting with the mutations system, [TIP] has been a massive help once again here and even leveled up. The process nocks me out of each use, so doing everything in one go is for the best.
Oddly before mutating, it gave me prompts about repairing or Adapt-specializing. Mutating to repair is a lost cause that will cost me my early levels and mutations, so I chose Adapt-specializing for my shell.
The process hurts but Adapt-specializing my shell has given me a new function.
Name: Garand
Level: 4
Might: 30+5
Toughness: 17
Cunning: 35
Will: 35
HP: 60 +10
MP: 0
Skills: Digging level 3; Sideways Scuttle Level 3; Grip Level 4; Bite Level 3; TIP level 2
Mutations: Blood Drinking Dark Exoskeleton +2, Spongy Mandibles +3, Cracked Dark Legs +3, Shadow Eyes +2, Bulbous Antennae +2, Bent Claws +2
Species: Deformed Hatchling Abyss Crab (Brachyuran)
Biomass: 13
Skill Points: 4
Day 8 of coral excavation:
Week one in a new world. The mutations seem to be playing nice and have made the excavation effort significantly less challenging. Though the MVP in all this would be my new vampiric shell. The Adapt-specializing made it a stamina generator as long I'm covered in blood, useful for mining in another organism. Nothing of note.
Day 9 of coral excavation:
Stray Dartfish have started to swim into my crawl space; they've been getting more agitated since the collapse of the western side. Thankfully they are dumb as bricks and in tight spaces, easy as shooting monkeys in a barrel. They are worth one BM point each and have been kind enough to bring their acid, which I've been using to generate another Adapt-specializing.
Day 10 of coral excavation:
My acid pool plan had been going well until some variant of Dartfish spat out shadow mana acid. Corrupting the pool and leaving me with more of a poison than acid. The reason I know its shadow mana is from my eyes and [TIP]. Except for that setback, the Dartfish have started experiencing more mutations and variants; something big must be happening soon.
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Day 11 of coral excavation:
Thinking about it, a mutation on acid would be super niche and situational.
The poison sludge from the variant dartfish has grown since last time since I hoped to dilute it would be better than starting over. Now the sludge has a dozen different liquids in it, and it honestly looks like it could kill the eel. Nothing of note.
Day 12 of coral excavation:
My claws are the best!! After stirring the cauldron* for the last couple of hours, it changed from a dark-green and red mess into a dark-purple bubbling witches' brew. Dipping my claws in and mutating; Shadow Poison Claws +2. Going in it was a cracked and bent dark grey claw, coming out was a black and purple claw with fire-like accents; one word, "Awesome!!"
Day 13 of coral excavation:
I've finished eating the 50the dartfish. The Dartfish have been coming in constantly, and if things don't calm outside, I will be overwhelmed.
So in my endless knowledge of warfare, I destroyed the tunnels.
I know I could have just blocked the door, but then I would be at risk of being munched in my sleep. And more importantly, my mutation and evolution. Reaching level five was a breeze with the constant influx of fish, and last night I did, but before that, I wanted to finish my mutations first.
Day 14 of coral excavation:
The blood has stopped dripping in, and the Dartfish seem happy about that and have started acting normal again. I've finished mutating everything to level 4 and now want to complete the last mutation cycle at level 5. At level 5, I get access to new bonuses and abilities for my organs; thanks to cycling all at once, I have all six mutation pages.
Starting with my eyes and antenna, I want better senses for scouting and hunting in this environment; eyes obviously are weaker, so they must fill a different role. And for my Antennae, they need range, they are already powerful enough as they are, and most of the other ones are all ridiculous. Sense movement, Sense time? Sense Heat, Sense Mana, X-ray? And more!
Now, to my eyes, the list is more or less the same but for sight and a couple more. So my eyesight is as good as a human's, so they don't need a quality upgrade, they see well enough in the dark, and they sense dark mana. I don't need a new sense, and I don't need an upgrade leaving me with a gimmick.
And there are a ton here: regeneration, eye beams, invisibility, armor, weak point finder, and a couple more. I don't need a weapon because of my claws, so how about duel eye? Gives me another set of eyes, and they can be used to increase my field of view. I could have eyes at the back of my head at all times! That's two.
Next, my legs and claw and body. Do I want Speed, Defense, or Attack? Speed is good only in open spaces(I learned that from the dartfish).
Defense is good only with high regen (This is gaming logic).
And Attack, on its own, will make me a glass canon.
And with everything I have here, the only thing I can think of is a fast tank.
Using poison, kiting, and retaliation damage. Because of that, I got the sharp shell, spreading poison for claws and swift for legs.
And lastly, my mangled mouth, I go for a boring* option as I use it more for digging than anything else.
Name: Garand
Level: 4
Might: 30+5
Toughness: 17
Cunning: 35
Will: 35
HP: 60 +10
MP: 0
Skills: Digging level 4; Sideways Scuttle Level 4; Grip Level 4; Bite Level 4; TIP level 3
Mutations: Sharp Blood Drinking Dark Exoskeleton +5, Boring Spongy Mandibles +5, Swift Cracked Dark Legs +5, Duel Shadow Eyes +5, Far Bulbous Antennae +5, Spreading Shadow poison Claws +5
Species: Deformed Hatchling Abyss Crab (Brachyuran)
Biomass: 3
Skill Points: 4
*Cauldron is an offshoot from the center blood pool, located southeastward for convenience.
*Boring as in to dig, may it either be flesh or stone.