Infancy stage has ended.

Primary Goal completed.

Optional Goal completed. Complex races available.

Gi’s consciousness floated in a sea of white. There were no features anywhere that he could see. No sound. No anything. Nothing except the words that floated in front of him.

Race: Goblin (Hero - F)

Stats

Strength - F

Agility - F

Vitality - F

Wisdom - F

Traits

Intelligence (Inherited)

Boss (Achievement)

Stealth

Speed Boost

Iron Skin

Accept default race selection?

Gi recoiled as an image of a goblin appeared in front of him. The memories told him that goblins were these wretched, spindly green beings, but the one in front of him was muscular and strong. It held a broad two handed sword that rested on its back and with a dark loincloth to cover its sensitive bits. Frankly, Gi didn’t hate it, but he didn’t want to simply accept the default either.

“No.” His voice echoed through the white void, coming from everywhere and nowhere. The words expanded in front of him and some new options were presented.

Choose Race: Aquatic / Beastial / Draconic / Humanoid / Mechanical / Undead (Up to 2)

Evolution Points: 30

Stats:

Strength - G (+)

Agility - G (+)

Vitality - G (+)

Wisdom - G (+)

Traits (+)

Intelligence (Inherited)

Boss (Achievement)

Gi considered the screens in front of him. It seemed like he could actually build out his race. His mind seemed to be working a bit better than it had when he was a slime and he was able to follow that to a series of conclusions. If the “Infancy Stage” had ended that sounded like there were going to be more stages beyond this one. Since the Goblin default had some of the traits that he’d had as a Slime. It seemed that all of these Stages would build on each other. Probably.

If he had to fight for his life like he had before. What would make the most sense? Was the Goblin Hero really the best choice?

One of the Traits that seemed to carry over to the blank slate was the one called “Boss”. He focused on that.

Boss Trait - Allows for one follower to travel with you between stages. (Current Follower: Poe) Achieved by being a Progenitor who recruited a follower in the Infancy stage.

Interesting. So he could get achievements that provided additional benefits. He also noted that he had more Evolution points than he expected. He tried to focus on that as well and it gave him a breakdown of how these were achieved. Most as he expected were simply from defeating the slimes. The last segment stuck out though.

Top of the Class (Infancy) - Adds an additional five Evolution Points. Achieved by possessing the most Evolution Points and Traits by the end of the Infancy Stage for your Spawning Pool.

The Eldritch Slime had been the big boss of their Spawning Pool and by taking it out right at the end, he’d rocketed to the top. That made sense considering its size and how many Evolution points that he’d gotten from it. The last thing that stuck out is that by completing the optional goal of killing ten slimes, he’d gotten the ability to select a complex race.

The default hadn’t even taken advantage of that being only Humanoid. Gi hovered on each of the races to get an idea of what they provided.

Aquatic - Ability to breath underwater and provides a swim speed.

Beastial - Increases a physical trait by one grade (Only from G to F)

Draconic - Increased natural armor and breath weapon.

Humanoid - Ability to use tools and increased intelligence.

Mechanical - Resistant to cutting, slashing, and base elemental damage. Weak to Lightning. Decreases Agility by a half grade.

Undead - No longer needs food/water to sustain life. Minor Regeneration increased by feeding. Immune to critical hits. Weak to Fire and Holy.

That was… a lot of information. He immediately ruled out Undead. It came with several weaknesses that he wasn’t interested in. Also it was a little gross. Mechanical was interesting, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted those weaknesses either. He clicked Humanoid just to see what it did and another image of a goblin popped up in front of him. This one looked particularly pathetic with thin limbs and arms. Instead of a giant sword, it had only a small wooden scepter.

Preview Race: Goblin (Peon Boss - F)

“So the stats affect what the race is as well.” Gi was leaning towards Beastial and Humanoid simply because of the flat increase to a stat and Intelligence had served him well so far so he wanted to double down. Besides… Hands. He selected them for now just to see what it would do.

Preview Race: Werewolf (Cub Alpha - F)

It looked like a puppy that stood on two legs that ended in fully articulated hands with claws. Its fur was a nice grey and Gi kind of wanted to rub his face in the fur. He didn’t have a face currently so obviously he did not do that. On a whim, he switched beastial for Draconic.

Preview Race: Kobold (Peon Boss - F)

The Kobold looked much like the goblin with the exception of a snout that looked like a snapping turtle and the tough scales that covered its hide. Frankly, Gi was having fun just seeing what combinations made what. He slotted back into Beastial/Humanoid and started going over his stats and traits.

Playing around with the tool, it looked like the ranks for E and F both cost 5 points while D cost 10. He wasn't able to push it past D. Since most slimes would have gotten out of the spawning pool with half or less points than him. He suspected they could only afford to increase a stat up to E at max. Should he get one to D to ensure he maintained an advantage? Or would that make him too weak elsewhere?

He played around with the stats and traits until he got something that he thought would work. With a thought, he also included the points spent in each area so he could review.

Stats:

Strength - F (5)

Agility - E (10)

Vitality - F (5)

Wisdom - F (0) - Beastial

Traits:

Intelligence (Inherited)

Boss (Achievement)

Stealth (3)

Speed Boost (2)

Arcane Bolt (3)

He kept Agility high as he felt speed had helped him the most in infancy. Instead of cranking that up to an absurd level, he picked up his [Speed Boost] trait which gave him a quick burst of speed. He thought that would be enough to give him a bit of an edge. [Stealth], of course, had been his bread and butter since his first kill.

“Thank you, random Shadow Slime, for being a shitty monster with a good trait.”

Finally, he’d selected [Arcane Bolt]. Poe had taught him the strength of aerial combat and he wanted to have some way to defend himself. The Beastial Benefit even meant he'd have some umph behind it. Overall, He felt pretty good about his layout.

Preview: Werewolf (Shadow Alpha - F)

The coat of the werewolf had turned to a sleek black. It still looked young, but there was power behind its muscles despite its slimmed down form. The Werewolf looked both fast and powerful. Satisfied, Gi went to confirm his selection.

You still have 2 Evolution Points remaining. Unused Evolution Points will be lost. Would you like to confirm your race as Werewolf (Shadow Alpha - F)?

Gi immediately hit no. Apparently, his math skills sucked. With only two points, he couldn’t increase his stats anymore. Opening up traits, none other than the Speed Boost were worth two points and he already had that. There were two single point traits that he’d accumulated though.

Swim Speed - Increased swim speed.

Beyond the Veil - Your body is a vessel and is more permeable for the realms beyond.

[Beyond the Veil] is what he’d gotten from the Eldritch Slime. Its explanation didn’t really provide him with any information on concretely what it did. It actually sounded a little ominous if he was being honest. He slotted it in, but it didn’t seem to affect his race preview at all. [Arcane Bolt] hadn’t either, but he figured that was because it didn’t necessarily provide a big enough impact to affect the theme.

Part of him felt hesitant at including it, but he figured it had to be beneficial, right? It cost Evolution Points to get so there had to be something good about it. Part of him realized that he was really just making excuses because he didn’t want to lose the point after selection. Being miserly was a good enough reason for him, he supposed.

He added in [Swim Speed] as well and the Race Preview changed.

Preview: Gang Otter (Shadow Alpha - F)

The otter looked much as the Werewolf had but instead of a more hulking back, it had larger legs that wouldn't have looked out of place on a hare if it weren't for the webbed feet. Its hands were smaller than the Werewolf's as well, but these were also articulated with a much smaller webbing than their feet. The biggest difference was that its head was cute and adorable rather than fierce and vicious.

He didn't hate it, but it definitely felt like a downgrade.

Another vision from Danna came to him.

Danna stood outside a fenced in area, her hands clasped underneath her chin as she gazed in wonder inside the iron bars. An excited squeal erupted from her throat.

"Eeeee! Look otters!!"

Her dopey follower stepped up after that because, of course, he was here too. Like anyone would, he had a loving smile on his face as he watched not the otters in the pen but Danna.

She pressed her face into the bars. Most of the otters were swimming in an artificial river with a grace that belied their slightly portly forms. The others were laid out on rocks letting the sun warm their bellies. One of the sunbathing ones pulled a rock out of a fold in their arm.

"Oh my God, they have pockets! They're perfect!"

The vision ended there. For Gi, he felt that decision was now locked in. Danna had never steered him wrong before. Besides, all the stats were the same so it should technically still be an upgrade on the werewolf.

He confirmed his race selection and checked out his new status.

Name: Gi

Race: Gang Otter (Shadow Alpha - F)

Stats:

Strength - F

Agility - E

Vitality - F

Wisdom - F

Traits:

Intelligence (Inherited)

Boss (Achievement)

Stealth

Speed Boost

Arcane Bolt

Swim Speed

Beyond the Veil