Leaving the shed I stepped out into the Hive Mind's nest it had taken over. It had grown bigger while I was evolving.

Will this thing grow more as I raise my tier?

It was weird for me to get used to moving in this new body. My height had increased a lot, so I had difficulty keeping my balance just standing here. My Str and Agi have Increased by a big amount. Even just standing here it is hard to control my new strength. I will have to move more to get used to this. If I run into something while I am like this I will probably be killed.

I saw one of the eggs from the corrupted queen from the corner of my eye. Using the new skill I had gained from the fusion I shot a Twilight Bolt at them.

After I fired it I realized that the new skill had changed colors. It was a gray color this time. Shooting another one this time it was darker. Firing a third one this one was a lighter color than the rest of them.

I kept firing them to destroy the eggs to try to get a feel for how the new skill works. If I thought of my light bolt the color would be lighter and vice versa.

After using the skill to destroy all the eggs I was feeling it. This skill was easier to use than the other two were since I only had to think of the type of magic I was using and the color would change. Since twilight was the combination of three magics types it created a brand-new type of magic.

I wonder If by raising my mana manipulation skill I will be able to make my magic skills do more damage? Or be able to use it to decrease Mp cost while using skills?

Now isn't the time to be thinking of possibilities for future use.

Moving forward I walked around. I was able to regain my balance after a short bit of time. Maybe the monster fighting skill I have is helping me?

I put away the shed back into the tattoo and left the nest I was in. Since I killed everything in there to make sure no more hive minds were able to be reborn. Those things were the worst monsters to ever exist.

I got to thank Timir for the Iron Mask skill he gave me. That skill saved my ass. Had I not had that I would have been a new mindless slave for it to control?

Speaking of which I need to get rid of the corpse. I walked back to where I killed the mind hive.

Staring at the dead body that lay there it was already rotting away. I stepped back a few feet away just from the stench it made.

I made sure I wouldn't get splattered by the gore from what I was going to do. I used 40 Twilight Bolts on the body. Shot after shot to destroy every piece of it. I made sure to use the twilight magic to its fullest. I made sure each bolt had more light magic in it.

Each shot that hit it vaporized big chunks of the body. This me around 10 minutes to finish all of it off.

Once I was done I looked at the queen's body and thought to myself just I would have to destroy everything I had killed. And I gave the bodies of the spawns and fight to the spider out on the plains. “Fuck it all she told me was to kill them not clean up the bodies. I don't have any skills good for cleaning up anyway.” I mumbled.

Leaving once again I just left the nest behind to head to the pond.

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Getting into the forest I started to train myself by running.

Since I was bigger everything looked different. The foliage of trees are very close to each other and form a very thick canopy not even mentioning the roots and rocks sticking up making everything harder to avoid. Being small I had an easy time moving throughout the forest. Being bigger gave me more fighting strength but limited the way I was able to do certain things.

The hours I spent running through the forest helped me to get used to moving this body of mine again.

The plains were empty of all traces of the fight I had with the swarm. That little spider had cleared out everything. From bodies to spears even the stone rocks the fighter threw at me.

I ran the through the plains leaving this area behind me forever.

The time it took to get back to the pond wasn't very long only 2 hours now.

The pond only had a few monsters there lying around the water.

I didn't see any monsters I recognized meeting before I became tier 2. Most here now were tier 1. So I ignored them as I went to drink the red water.

I drank until I couldn't anymore. My throat felt better, and my body moved easier.

Ah, this is what they mean when you evolve into a higher tier at the pond. The water helps join both the mind and body together. The awkward movement I was still having was fixed. I can't rely on the water all the time to fix any problems I have. What happens if I can't access the pond water anymore, and I am not able to do things without it, because I used it as a crutch?

To become stronger I can't just rely on things given to me. I need to take it for myself. I am the one who shall become so strong I can never be killed. I will be the one to kill all who come for me.

I prayed to the Mother that what I was about to do would be allowed, and I wouldn't get into trouble. And using the tattoo to grab at the very least 20 gallons (75.71 liters) of water. This took up 166 lb (75.3 kg) inside the tattoo. I didn't want to take up too much space in the tattoo. And since nothing happened to me, I was happy that it worked out for me.

Some monsters looked at me seeing but went back to rest where they lie around the pond. Standing up I tried to use my new skill Tail Slash.

I swung my tail around and swished it around back and forth. But I couldn't tell If the skill was working or not. Is this skill more like a passive one, in that when I hit something with my tail It increases the damage done?

Magic skills are so much easier to tell when I am doing something. I wish I could see the level progression of skills and levels, so I can track my growth. That would be nice.

I kept trying to use my tail as a whip. Even If I can't figure out how to use this skill now I will need to learn how to use my tail in combat to be more effective.

I wonder if I should go back to the dark forest for now or head to the north to the tier 2 area. If I go back I can go train first and use this time to learn to use my new skill. Or say fuck that and head straight for the mountains and fight new enemies.

Safety or adventure.

I kept thinking of what to do and didn't notice my legs were carrying me towards the mountains. I kept going without even knowing until I had passed the ring of trees that surrounded the pond.

“After this, I will need to go back to the dark woods and train myself until I am unable to gain stats from training. I will be able to maximize stat points to make sure I keep ahead of the other monsters. I wasted tier 1 by going straight to tier 2. Even though I got good rewards for doing it I could have gotten even more stats from tier 1.” I said as I thought about how to gain the most stats from training and leveling.

I always need to be gaining more power in different ways. Magic was my greatest strength while everything else was good too, but not as strong, so I will need to change that and make myself more physically stronger.

I could hear something ahead of me. It was still quite some way away from me. I think 7 yards (6.4 m) to the left of me. It didn't sound that bad. Something heavy and big, but slow. This sounded like a good place to start testing out the new skills I have received from evolving.

My tail swung side to side as I happily walked towards the noise that being made. I hope it is able to entertain me more than the swarm and the hive mind did.