Creature Modification Essence based manipulation Extraneous transformation

It had taken an embarrassingly long time to find the tab I was looking for. Adding insult to the injury of my pride was that one of the options was unavailable, most likely related to the previously mentioned missing memories and inability to do all my weird Essence stuff. The worst part was the difficulty finding this was my own doing. After getting help from the assistance tab to figure out where I could find what I was looking for, I came across a bloated System menu filled with things I couldn't do yet. I took it upon myself to gussy up everything and inadvertently lost track of my initial objective. I finally managed to wrap back around and find what I was looking for, the menu was not wrong when it said I couldn't access direct manipulation of my domain's creatures. Luckily reality was willing to give me a break. While in depth and direct manipulation of my creatures was out of the question, I still had the 'assimilation' option along with other yet to be seen methods of growth native to this world.

You have assimilated 'Anklebiters' and gained access to their 'poisonous' trait

I decided to assimilate the corpses of the 'Anklebiters' which allowed me to modify my creatures with their 'poisonous' attribute that they apparently had. Which thinking back explained the bright yellow skin.

Now to reap the rewards of my hard work! Time to make all of my creatures into unstoppable Bioweapons!

Creatures Modifications Apis Florea (Pest) Lesser Anklebiter Venom (3 influence) Lesser Anklebiter Poison (2 influence) Anelosimus Eximius (Pest) Lesser Anklebiter Venom (2 influence) Lesser Anklebiter Poison (3 influence)

Or not, I guess. Wait a second. The only difference between venom and poison is how it gets inside the body, these are basically just a single modification for two creatures packaged in a different way! What a rip-off! .. Actually yeah, this checks out. The execution will always be as important as the thing itself, so getting both is still pretty good. That said I only have one influence left, so I have to wait before I can even get this... lesser stuff. Why is it lesser anyway? If these guys are Anklebiters, and this is their poison, shouldn't it just be their poison? No caveats, no buts ands or ifs?

"System, why do I only have 'Lesser' options?"

Assimilation grants the abilities from a defeated creature, but can only be used once per enemy type. The abilities gained from assimilation start of as weaker variants [√X; X representing the original ability] but can be improved by half the amount of the reduced ability through each additional killing before assimilating.

Nope, I guess caveats come with the territory. At least I have a way around it, but that requires a consistent flow of the same creature. Not to mention I can't do it after assimilating, such as I've done with the Anklebiters. So I guess in the mean time I just have to improve things in other ways.

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While being large in number is half of the reason why eusocial behavior is effective in nature, that doesn't mean there aren't areas that could be improved. Bees don't have a need to hunt, and only defend from certain creatures that they have mostly evolved to combat even if it's through sheer numbers rather than actual individual capability. Overall: bees are well enough equipped for what they do, excluding their current lack of numerical superiority, but spiders have areas they lack and the potential to be more useful should I focus on them. The question is how. If the spiders could effectively hunt outside of their web, there would be more prey to sustain the hive. The problem: their ability to defend would probably be reduced. The Queen is vital to the species survival and anything that gets past the others likely wouldn't have a hard time making her lunch either.

I looked over the spiders, now vastly different and fewer than before. One spider, the queen, had grown huge relative to her now subservient brood. Having been just shy of 6 millimeters before, she developed to a monumental 1 inch- almost quintupling from her previous size. Despite the size increase she was no safer than before, her already lackluster combat ability from relying on quantity based survival tactics was now reduced further in favor of a greater size. No doubt to better produce large amounts of drones. That wasn't my main concern, however, as the number of spiders had been reduced drastically more than reasonable.

That doesn't seem good. Investigation time.

It didn't take long to see why the spiders numbers had dwindled. Some of the spiders were eating each other. I was worried that it was some kind of inverse of the parasitic larvae situation, creatures of the same nest unable to recognize each other, but those consuming the others were too discriminate- outright avoiding some of their kin. There was a reason behind the behavior, something the spiders saw and I didn't..... but maybe my system would be able to?

"System, are there any notable differences between those being eaten and those that aren't?"

The reply took less than 5 seconds, but felt far longer than it had any right to as I worried about what I would find. Then it came.

Spiders being consumed have a 100% tendency towards being male. This is most likely due to the nature of your Domain. Due to there only being one breeding female, the bodies of the females have been modified to no longer breed and the males are most likely being consumed to conserve resources for the colony as a whole.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

That was good, at least. It wasn't my spiders turning on eachother- just them making use of the excess and making sure there was no waste. So long as it wouldn't hurt the nest's chances I didn't mind too much. There were still quite a few I could count. I quickly realized that I wasn't just eyeballing how many there were anymore either, but had an innate sense of their amount just by focusing on them. 1,340 in total, not as much as before but still way more than what the bees were at. I attempted to use the same 'sense' on my bees and found they had already increased their numbers somewhat bringing their amount to a little over five hundred sixty.

You know, I could probably use this to keep track of how much Essence I get from these little fellas at some point. Thoughts for later.

Anelosimus Eximius had been changed far more than I had initially realized when I looked over the hard working spiders. Where there had once been an uneven distribution of fertile females outnumbering fertile males, now they were left with a single mating female. The rest remained infertile with the purpose of either hunting or tending to the web that was their home seemingly based on size. While all of this was not necessarily detrimental, I could still do better.

The queen and young are too exposed in the web, I need to get them out of sight. But I also want the protection and environmental awareness the web grants them. I'll have to see what other spiders do for this conundrum in the future, but for now putting them underground should solve half of the issue.

I ordered the eight legged workers to do my dark, unnatural bidding: That is, digging a cave-like hole with their unsuitably spindly legs. Individually they pitifully struggled, the ground soft enough for any reasonably sized creature to easily carve into as it was soft enough to almost be considered mud if it weren't for it not quite being wet enough. As more joined and assisted, their task became less monumental- with a shared burden their superhuman task became a construction project no different from their web. Soon the small divot in the ground barely large enough to fit a tiny spider became a hole, large enough to fit.... a much bigger spider that probably existed. There was a tiny incline and a curved 'roof' that both let the queen that would soon rest there be able to escape over theoretically flooding water below, while also giving a seperate space for the new eggs that would no doubt come soon enough. It was a good start, but I knew I would need to improve it all eventually.

What other species are there, I can't seem to remember. Going to have to spend some influence to learn more about the different variations of creatures under my care if I want to make the best choices. Smart as I like to think of myself, evolution does tend to get results. Easier to succeed with what already works than to find something new. Besides, even if what I find is unsatisfactory I will still have a jumping point to go off of.

Finished with those thoughts just as my spiders finished their work, I commanded my spider minions to begin laying a thin layer of web on the dirt floor of the underground hole for my queen. My intent being to slow down the interlopers with sticky web while also warning the queen of any who entered her domain. It took suprisingly little time as my spiders worked together each using their own webbing to speed up the process. I had imagined it would take at least a day for the arachnids, yet in less than an hour the smallest of the spiders came together and formed the final piece of the foundations for the underground 'lair' I had envisioned. Now it was just a matter of the spiders hunting for more nutrients, they had gained only 2 in total from eating the males.

I suppose the eating of males shouldn't have surprised me all that much. Why have males taking up resources if they aren't going to be used to mate? Some spider species already eat the males after breeding, and if this version of Anelosimus is like the social spiders from the realities I remember, there isn't enough food to go around for all members anyway. Spreading food equally can lead to starvation, and having too big of a spider colony leads to fewer creatures being caught. Eusociality certainly isn't a one size fits all solution. Granted, that only accounts for normal worlds. Here we have magic, and that changes things.

At least, it will down the line.

I intended to abuse that fact over time, but for the moment simply setting myself and my multi-species crew up for success was the main priority. While removing the male population would temporarily reduce the strain on the spider nest resources, the truth was there would always be a need for food. I couldn't have them harass the bees in a vulnerable state, and even if I could I wasn't sure I wanted to. While I didn't have any ideas yet, I knew I would have to find a sustainable form of food for these carnivores if I wanted them to be anything more than a fragile Influence farm. Speaking of, I checked the influence I was gaining compared to when I just had the bees, what I found was fairly underwhelming.

Sources Summary of Source Type Deities (0 per cycle) Deities under your domain that grant Influence based on faith they receive Creatures (3 per cycle) Organisms you control that grant Influence based on their success or survival Territory ( 0 per cycle) Realities, planets, and continents that passively generate Influence Miscellaneous (0 per cycle) Non-specified sources of Influence

Oh my influence increased, I guess that confirms the whole 'more creatures gives more influence' stuff I was told. But this feels odd. I know Essences are essentially the big shots of the multiverse, so why do I start with so little Influence?

The system responded, despite the lack of intent to communicate my question.

During the Essence's testing period, Influence gain is kept at a maximum of 5 to quell potentially disruptive growth until the individual Essence has proven to be capable of restraining themselves from ruining the balance against stagnation of any reality they may come into contact with.

Ok, So I had a maximum of 5, but I'm only earning three. that didn't really answer the real qestion. Why is it so low?

Creatures under Essence's control are designated as 'insignifant' granting a single influence per star cycle every 500 individuals.

Ah, now that makes sense; while I would like a bit more to use, I don't even have much I can spend my influence on. I just need to prioritize my influence spending. The best short term option to help the survival of my creatures is probably assimilation, but long term I would like to get my memories to gain access to my full capabilities. Either way, I should save some influence for an emergency purchase. Overall, everything seems to be in order. I just need to wait for my creatures to get me to the maximum Influence gain per day and then I can worry about finishing the tutorial.

I refocused on my pet project, the spiders. The lair wasn't perfect, and the spiders were still far from the dangerous force I wanted them to be. However, that would all come with time. For now, my main priority was to prepare. I had a good start so far, but there was more I could do and too much I didn't know.

It's time I do some in depth research.