Ignoring the foundation that would be Danna's statue, he placed his hand on the Encampment Crystal at the bottom of the lake.

Residence Menu:

No Body Orbs.

Use Soul Orbs to increase Attributes?

Use Heart Orb to empower a Squad?

Establish Squads?

He still had an extra Heart Orb to buff one of his Squads, but he'd wait on that until his strategy for dealing with the Spiked Eagles had solidified. Instead, he started pouring Soul Orbs into his Vitality until it hit C and got an interesting notification.

You have leveled up! Level 30 milestone reached. Reward: Major Racial Evolution

Level thirty was the level cap for the Adolescent stage which meant this was the ultimate upgrade that one could get without ascending to the next stage. Evolutions like [Expanded Pocket] or [Twilight Eyes] had been Minor Racial Evolutions. This would be something bigger. He dove into his options.

Choose Race: Aquatic / Beastial / Draconic / Humanoid / Mechanical / Undead.

Gi blinked. Was this changing his race? Or adding additional qualities? Would they stop being otters? Even though he'd only initially chosen it because of one of Richard's memories of Danna, he now thought of himself as an otter. It was part of his identity.

He polled the system and it continued to be more helpful than it had in the earlier stages.

This Major Racial Evolution will not inherently change your fundamental race, but it will upgrade it with qualities of one of the other racial types as selected after the Infant Stage.

That made sense. It wasn't something as large as was normally selected between stages, but it was still very significant. Now, he just needed to know what each of these would do.

Aquatic - Allows monster to breathe underwater and provides a swim speed. Resistant to changes in pressure and can handle much greater pressure such as those in the deep ocean.

The first on the list wasn't particularly good. It probably provided a lot of utility for a monster that hadn't already gotten a swim speed or the ability to breathe underwater from their Unique Constitution, but unless they wanted to live in the deep ocean, it wasn't for him.

Beastial - Improves a physical trait by one level without increasing the grade. Functionally, this is a hidden boost that gives beastial types an advantage over someone with the same stats (not including traits.)

Beastial looked a lot more promising. His initial race selection had been a combined race of Beastial and Humanoid. Now that he had more experience, he understood that Beastial had simply helped him level faster. That made it a good choice for a complex race like himself, but it wasn't currently providing him any benefit.

However, this one was different. It would always give him an edge in a specific stat. As long as he was equal to them, it would give him the edge he needed to win. That was worth a lot. It was only a shame that it didn't provide it for Wisdom. It wasn't one of his limiting stats, but as his main stat it was the one most likely to the highest.

He continued on.

Draconic - Provides increased natural defense and a breath weapon. Both of these will match the nature of the monster and the alignment of a Unique Constitution.

This one was promising. Increased defenses and an extra attack? His Quicksilver Body was aligned to Water Aether which meant it might give him more versatility in his fights. With Earth being weak to Water, this would be a hell of a good choice against the Spiked Eagles. For now, that one was the top of his list.

Humanoid - Grants a tool to the user that helps the monster in their chosen profession. For most monsters, this will be a weapon. It is a part of their inner self as much as their arm or leg and grows in power as they do.

A tool that was a part of him? It reminded him of the river rock and grey robe that all his otters spawned with. The robes could be destroyed, and if Gi understood correctly, this tool could be too, but it would be much sturdier. The limb of a monster with a high Vitality wasn't something so easily destroyed.

He knew it was stupid, but choosing humanoid made him ill at ease. Danna was a human and the actions she'd taken towards Richard were unforgivable. He didn't want to be like her. Would The Father be so petty or would he take anything that would make him more powerful? He wasn't sure, but he also wasn't him either.

He examined the last two, but they were similar to the versions that he'd rejected back after the infant stage. He now understood the Mechanical race to not be as weak as he'd thought since it would just take longer to level, but both of these new versions had significant gave weaknesses still and he wasn't fond of that.

Mechanical - Resistant to cutting, slashing, and base elemental damage. Decreases Agility by one level, not affecting rank. Functionally, this is a weakness that gives mechanical types a disadvantage over someone with the same stats (not including traits.)

Undead - Sustained by the wild Aether in the air. Requires much more damage to be killed and can no longer die from specific organs being targeted. Your body is treated as being weak to Fire Aether and Divine Aether in addition to its normal weaknesses.

With Mechanical, Undead, and Aquatic out, that only left him three options. He thought it was safe to disregard Beastial. If he was a more physical oriented build, it would be amazing, but otherwise, it had limited use. Most of the time, he'd be faster or stronger or he wouldn't. Either way, he'd use his Wisdom based attacks to end it.

So that left him with Draconic or Humanoid. A weapon that grew with him or a more static buff that provided some versatility in his attacks? A more monstrous race or a more human one?

There were good arguments to be made for either choice, but the longer he kicked it around in his head, the thought of following in Danna's footsteps after all this time frustrated him.

Richard had needed her help and she'd lashed out harshly. He might no longer be that human, but Danna couldn't be human any more either. Something was real about that power that had saved him far back in the Child Stage and he'd felt her touch whenever he was heavily injured. Partners should be able to rely on each other and if he couldn't do that then they weren't partners.

Gi was starting to get worked up again and he took a deep breath. Anger could be a good tool, but anger without thought is blinding. That was something The Father had told Richard a long time ago. He couldn't let Danna dictate his thoughts whether she was a human or god.

So what was the answer? The less known but better potential of Humanoid or the more straightforward Draconic? If they fought the Spiked Eagles any time soon, they'd need as much of an advantage as they could get. If things fell apart, his clan might have to flee Igna which... did make an argument for Aquatic. How many of the monsters here could follow them to the deep ocean?

He shook his head, flexing his paw on the crystal. He couldn't plan to fail. That was a horrible way to start. Instead, he decided to pick the more guaranteed choice of Draconic.

As he did, that familiar itching sensation spread across his chest and into his throat and down his arms. Rich blue scales sprouted from his forearms, standing in stark contrast to the waves of gold in his brown fur. As the itching moved down from his throat and onto his chest, more scales sprouted there and it took a long time for them to cover the majority of his chest. Last, they appeared on his shins, but only a little bit of them peeked out from under his robe.

Gi tapped his chest with his paw and he could feel how tough the scales were. His flesh itself was fairly strong considering his now C Vitality, but the scales were tougher. He doubted they were as strong as his Robe of Demonsteel, but these scales would be present on his whole species.

The new Evolution also came with the understanding of how his breath weapon worked. He almost opened his mouth to use it right then and there, but decided against it after remembering the mess from when his Elites had become Classers. Water wouldn't have the same impact as that filth, but Gi could think of a better way to test it later.

"Ten more levels," Gi said, refocusing on his current task. A few otters who were nearby had come over to watch him, many still rubbing their scaled chest in surprise.

Gi poured in five hundred Soul Orbs into Strength, but no notification came. He knew he was now in the levels normally reserved for the Individual Stage instead of Adolescent, but he hadn't expected the pattern of rewards to change. He let the rest of the Soul Orbs needed to get to a D in Strength go through.

Expanded Foundation Task complete!

1 Heart Orb Rewarded. Current Heart Orbs: 2

You have leveled up! Level 40 milestone reached. Reward: Minor Racial Evolution and Skill Upgrade

So the level up pattern changed. If he was correct, he'd only get upgrades every ten levels now, but if this one was any basis, they'd be better than before. Before he could examine the next ones in the list, Tiria and his Elites had shown up.

Each of them sported scales across their chest and arms. Samba, in particular, looked fearsome with shiny blue scales; though with his armor, it would help him the least.

"I wasn't expecting to evolve today," Samba said, rubbing the scales along his arm.

Gi started to apologize, but The Father never apologized. That insinuated that you'd done something wrong. "Feels powerful, doesn't it?," Gi asked instead.

Tiria nodded. "I'm glad our Healers will finally have a true weapon. The Fighting Style only really helps them dodge around a fight."

Gi smiled. "Our babies have teeth." He turned back to the Crystal. "Let's see what else I can give them." He made the options for the Minor Racial Evolution appear.

Unorthodox Mind - The way your species brain is constructed is different than the average monster. This won't change the way your species thinks, but it will provide them resistance to Aether effects that cause fear, illusions, or mind control.

Appendage Fins - Increased control and reaction while swimming.

Reduced Mass - Your species will be lighter than they appear. This allows them to be carried or thrown by others more easily and accelerate more quickly. While this doesn't affect Strength, it will affect mass.

Since they were here, he read out the list to them. Like before, they were more interested in figuring out why he'd gotten these choices than their practical value.

"The mind one is obvious," Kumo said. "You just fought the Illusor Clan."

Tiria agreed. "I'm assuming the fins are because of your new flight as none of the otters have done much swimming in or around an encounter."

"Unless it's just cause we live underwater and the clan swims all the time. It's not the first swimming option," Samba added.

"Point," Tiria said, "but what about the reduced mass one. That sounds similar to the effect of my Quicksilver Body. What could have caused that?"

The twins spoke up for the first time. "Perhaps... It's because Samba threw the others to help the Boss?"

"Oh yeah," Samba said, "I bet that it's it. Should we try doing even crazier stuff next time to get a cool trait?"

"No," Gi said, cutting off their guessing game. "It will be awhile before I get the ten levels needed and there's no guarantee that it will have another racial evolution."

Gi's firm tone had drained the bubbly fun out of the group, but he didn't care. One of them had to keep their eye on their ascent. Gi returned his gaze to the three options.

The reduced mass might help one of his plans, but Poe had been reluctant so he didn't want to invest heavily. Ironically now that he could fly, the fins were much more useful. It would be a strong asset in battle, assuming it could augment his Agility. The only issue was that it would be a bonus only for him unless the others started flying in the same manner as him or they did more fights underwater.

The first option was pure utility, but it had promise. They could have conquered the Illusor Clan easily if all of them had been unaffected by their illusions and they could have used that base to build up more otters against the Brain Goblins. For the future though, he knew that the Divine Horror Sky Clan had some kind of fear effect that even his Heart of Crossroads struggled with. If they came in conflict...

That possibility was enough to cinch it. He selected [Unorthodox Mind].

Samba let out a frustrated growl. "Argh, my brain itches!"

"Is that the first time... it's been used?," The twins said chuckling into their paws.

Kumo and Tiria joined in and Poe flew over as the Elites were laughing.

"What are we laughing about?! I wanna laugh. Let me laugh too!"

Samba made a faux irritated look. "We just got a trait that enhances our brain. The twins were implying that I'd never used my brain before."

Poe let out a peel of laughter. "I don't get why that's funny."

Kumo raised her eyebrow. "Explaining a joke is never funny."

Poe considered that as he dropped onto Samba's shoulder. "Hmmm... okay!" He then pointed two of his feet at Samba dramatically. "I think you're super smart, Samba. Keep being awesome."

Samba chuckled and patted the dragonfly. "I wasn't offended by it, but thank you."

Gi smiled along with Poe's antics, but then his eyes fell back on the foundation for Danna's statue and his mood soured again. Leaving Poe and his Elites to their chat, Gi returned to the menu for his Skill Upgrade selection.

Fighting Style (Unnamed) -> Fighting Style (Floating River) - Your fighting style upgrades to encompass aerial battle in addition to ground. It will expand to be efficient at short, medium, and long ranges.

Trait: Breath Weapon -> Skill: Endless Torrent - Expands your breath weapon from a small stream to an enlarged cone.

Blunt Weapons and Fighting Style (Unnamed) -> Army of One - Your fighting style expands so you and your summons can more effectively fight as a single unit. This places an emphasis on combat with blunt weapons.

Gi looked over his options, impressed with the current array before him. They were all good. The worst was probably Army of One, but that one also merged two of his skills which would open up another slot. With Doyle working with their clan, he could pick up [Bubble Cure] from him or maybe some other skill he had.

However, he couldn't heal himself and if he was in a Squad environment, the Healers would probably be nearby or one of his Squad would have picked it up already. So he decided to discount that one.

That led him to the other Fighting Style upgrade. It would make him an all around better fighter in any environment and at any range. Long range had been a weakness of his for awhile considering he had a beamed weapon attack, but he also felt like if he had a chance to practice, he could simply fix that.

Considering taking the Spiked Eagle Progenitor one on one made him heavily consider this, but the Army of One description made him hesitate. It sounded like his options were either fighting better with his summons or fighting better by himself. Both might be worth it, but separate? He didn't think it was.

He thought back to his general strategies for fights so far. He'd beaten Slice-Slice with skill. Ferra and Yom had been taken out with the help of his allies. His fights against the Brain Goblins and the Illusor Clan? Those had been a show of sheer power and stamina. He'd thrown his body at the Brain Goblins to get in range and then crushed them with a direct shot.

What good was skill if he just got stat checked by those higher than him? For the Spiked Eagles, at least, an opposing Aether type could be the answer.

He wonder what The Father might think of those options. Richard's Father had constantly displayed both skill and power, but from Richard's memories, Gi knew that he only truly relied on finesse when he had to. That settled it for him and he selected [Endless Torrent] then looked over his full sheet.

Name: Gi

Race: Gang Otter (Archbishop - D)

Job: Cleric

Class: Archbishop

Level: 40

Squad: Gi's Squad

Stats

Strength - C

Agility - C

Vitality - C

Wisdom - C

Leadership - 5

Domain:

* Archbishop (C)

Traits:

Intelligence(Inherited)

Rally

Expanded Pocket

Twilight Eyes

Scales

Unorthodox Mind

Trait Skills:

* Danna's Conduit (D)

* Concealing Light (D)

* King's Guard (C)

* Divine Ire (D)

* Unstoppable Nobility (C)

* Endless Torrent (D)

Skills (6/6)

* Religion (E)

* Light Armor (E)

* Persuasion (E)

* Platoon Leader (D)

* Blunt Weapons (E)

* Fighting Style (Unnamed) (E)

Gi turned from his last selection to his followers, watching him. He looked to each of them and their expressions shifted to seriousness. "We need to prepare for the next fight. We need more Classers, more levels, and more experience. Ultimately, we need more knowledge. I'm going to head to the Library before leaving to gather that information."

The Elites nodded, but Poe popped up. "Ooo! Oo! OO! I'm the information dragonfly! That's me! Take me with you! I wanna learn stuff about stuff!"