“So, let me get this straight.” Sean said, making sure he had this right. “We have five perfectly good options, but you don’t want to evolve yet. Not before we go down the giant hole to fight who-knows-what is down there.”
“That’s right.”
“Because you want the Gelaton evolution.”
“It is literally named after me, so yes.”
“And you’re not at all upset that we haven’t unlocked it yet, because…?”
It hadn’t taken long for Sean to realize that the line running straight through ‘Gelaton’ on his prompt meant they couldn’t pick it. Heck, they couldn’t even read it. All trying to examine it had done was say they had ‘insufficient mass’. Which, now that he actually thought about it, made the answer to his last question feel obvious.
“Because it means we need to FEAST!” Gel shouted happily. The slime raised a flash-fried ant leg into the air and stared up at it, as if envisioning a glorious future. “We’ll devour this horrible fungus whole, and use its mass to fuel our growth to titanic heights!”
“Uh-huh.” Sean said, drawing out the word. He let some skepticism that wasn’t entirely authentic slip into his tone. “What are the odds of me getting you to entertain another option?”
“Not high.” Gel admitted, and the slime didn’t offer up any further explanation.
He didn’t have to. It wasn’t a real question, and they both knew it. The slime warrior was already convinced, he was just giving his friend a hard time. Besides, they had already seen how powerful a ‘rare’ evolution could be in comparison to the others before. Back when they had fought Bancroft’s minions back in Dry Run. Sean had always thought of himself as a ‘measure twice, bake once’ kinda guy. Even if that meant foregoing a potential power boost before diving back into the enemy stronghold. Chances were the evolution might take too long anyway, and there was nowhere out here safe enough to try.
Sean still had one question though. One that hadn’t come up last time around.
“Is there a penalty for not evolving right away? Like if we keep leveling up and don’t choose one, I mean.”
“Eh, yes and no.” Gel admitted. “I don’t know if you’ve checked your stat gains for level 11, but the amount you received for that level should have gone up by one.”
“It did.” Sean confirmed as he pulled up and read through that same prompt. “I got another point of… Hey, adaptation! Not what I expected, but I’ll take it.”
It wasn’t one of the pure survival attributes like might or toughness, but it would give him a little bit more time on the clock so Sean wasn’t complaining.
“Right. So, we’re still going to get the per-level benefits as if we had evolved, but we’re going to miss out on that one-time boost until we actually wobble down and do it.” Gel explained. “Think of it like saving the brain for last. You want to eat it first, but if you end on that then you get to savor the taste.”
“You never do that.” Sean pointed out. “I’ve seen you. You go brain-first every single time it’s an option.”
“True, and if that were an option for us I would be all over it.” Gel admitted.” But since it’s not, we’ll just have to consume everything we can find as fast as we can until it is.”
Sean chuckled. “And I take it that means you won’t even consider the other options? What if there’s something else worthwhile in there? What other evolutions did you get?”
“Slimic, Mitoslime, Invisislime, Dream Eater, and Ooze Gear.” Gel reported brightly. “Of those, the first two and Dream Eater both sound pretty good, but I’m aiming for the top. Anything without a requirement can’t possibly be as good.”
Sean couldn’t argue that logic. He wanted to know the same thing. Though he had to admit he was incredibly curious as to what advantages those evolutionary paths offered to his friend. Gel had called all of their new options ‘second-tier evolutions’, and had said they wouldn’t get ‘third-tier’ ones until they leveled up further. Sean wasn’t entirely sure how he could evolve into something of the same evolutionary tier as his own - was that like a monkey evolving into a baboon? – but he was nevertheless interested in the idea. His own offerings had been rather tempting, and he was curious about what Gel had received.
Five options that are probably solo evolutions, and then another sixth which is probably a hybrid just like Slime Warrior was. Sean reasoned, wondering if this pattern would hold as they continued to level up. It might be worth splitting apart at some point if there are enough benefits. Some of these sound pretty badass.
Unless Sean missed his guess, “Slimic” sounded like a mimic fused with a slime. ‘Mitoslime’ would probably let Gel split, at least if he was remembering his high school biology accurately. ‘Invisislime’ seemed obvious, but Sean was curious just how invisible they were talking here. Could Gel make him invisible? If so, that was a potential game changer. Fighting ants that couldn’t see him had been almost like cheating. Fighting everyone with that kind of advantage was incredibly appealing.
‘Dream Eater’ Sean could only guess at. But ‘Ooze Gear’ sounded tantalizingly transformative. He was already wearing Gel as a prosthetic. What could the slime do if he could upgrade the rest of Sean’s limbs? Could he grow another set of arms and cut down their foes Shiva-style? Or would it be more of an expansion of ‘slime arsenal’ and give the slime a dozen different weapons to choose from?
All of those sound good, honestly. Sean thought, before a thought came to him. It seemed so simple, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before. “Hey Gel, can you share your evolution prompts? The details on each of them, I mean. So I can see what they say.”
“Huh? Oh, sure. Here you go.” Gel made a brief mental flex that Sean somehow felt inside his own head, and just like that Sean had the information. New prompts appeared in his mind… only there was something wrong with them.
The borders and fonts were the same, but all of the characters were completely different. Some swirled around one another in what might have been a pattern, but the rest looked like straight-up chicken scratch. There wasn’t even an ordered pattern to them. No lines of left-to-right or even top-to-bottom. There was only a single symbol Sean recognized. One that looked similar to something he had seen amongst the papers back in the potion room of Bancroft’s mansion, but Sean still didn’t know what it meant.
Might as well be Chinese. Sean said, more irritated at his inability to read a random language from an entirely other world than was perhaps entirely fair. Gel and I can read each other’s status pages, so why can’t I read his prompts?
Wait. Can he read mine?
“How did you do that?” Sean asked, a bit more tersely than he had meant to and he hurriedly fixed his own tone. “Send the prompt, I mean. I can’t read yours at all.”
Gel walked him through the process, and Sean sent the slime his own level-up prompt. When the slime reported what he saw, Sean’s irritation only increased.
“Congratulations, initiate of death upon reaching level ten you have… Oooh, look at all these options!” Gel made a few more excited sounds as the slime started delving down into the details of each, and Sean realized that even he hadn’t done that yet. Putting aside the last of the irritation his undead nature was already bottoming out, Sean quickly examined his own level-up offerings.
They had some time before Saren returned from finalizing their deal with the survivors and getting the wagon ready anyway. Besides, the giant hole in front of them wasn’t going anywhere.
EVOLUTION: SKELETAL CHAMPION
Rarity: Rare
Description: Battle-hardened and often raised from the bones of those who spent their entire lives at war, skeletal champions are walking terrors on the field. Equally comfortable in melee or ranged combat due to their prowess with dozens of different weapons, these undead are primarily placed at the head of formations of their own, lesser evolved kin. Skeletal champions empower other death creatures under their command, imbuing them with a measure of their own martial skill.
Special Traits: Leader’s Prowess
“Now this one has potential.” Gel said approvingly. “We could lead our own horde against Bancroft with it! Assuming he doesn’t have a bigger one already, which he almost certainly will by the time we get to him.”
“I thought we destroyed most of it with that cousin of yours.” Sean pointed out, the former military in him rather liking the idea of leading a squad of the undying into battle. “Doesn’t he need corpses or something to make more? Where’s he going to find those?”
“There are always more bodies.” Gel replied, and the slimes’ tone was strangely neutral when he said it, though his normal cheer returned almost immediately. “But since we’re not picking this one, it doesn’t matter anyway. When we get back, we’ll just carve our way right to him and then carve him up for good measure.”
Sean spared a last glance at the skeletal champion prompt, bland as it was, and couldn’t help but agree. All it had going for it was gear and the ability to buff nearby comrades they didn’t even have right now. The only ones they did have were life-mana based, so that buff would do nothing. While it would have been great to roll around with intimate knowledge of a dozen different weapons like some kind of traveling kung-fu master, Sean didn’t actually need a dozen weapons right now.
Hell, until I get both my arms back I can only carry one. Although… If the last evolution fixed my arm, this one should too. Sean gave the thought another brief moment’s consideration before dismissing it for good. He pulled up the next potential pick, one that sounded very similar to one he had received before. In fact, reading through it, it actually sounded like a direct upgrade to the ‘skeletal berserker’ option Sean had gotten at level 5.
EVOLUTION: SKELETAL BRUTE
Rarity: Rare
Description: Fury-filled bones given renewed life in order to take it from others, skeletal berserkers are shock troops rather than soldiers. These undead fight with a savagery borne of pure rage that is only ever satisfied when none remain left alive to challenge them. Skeletal berserkers are particularly noted for their disturbing ability to literally shoulder blows that should have killed them… and for using everything within arms’ reach as a deadly weapon.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Special Traits: Enrage
Borne of pure rage. Sean thought, rather intrigued by the idea. He wondered if choosing this evolution would finally allow him to get control over whatever fugue-state he dove unwillingly into every time he got hit. On second thought, it might make it even worse.
If that was the result, then this option was a clear dud.
“I like this one.” Gel exclaimed. “It suits you. Just tear into everything around until there’s nothing left to do but eat the remains. It’s like what you already do! Only better, I’m guessing.”
Sean rolled his orbs and moved down to the next option on the list. One - if he had to guess - they had unlocked literally right before leveling up.
EVOLUTION: BLAST BONES
Rarity: Rare
Description: Marked by an inherent and ceaseless fascination with blowing up new and exciting things in new and exciting ways, blast bones are the bane of careful planning. Their very bone structure is incendiary, making enemies wary of closing in as even the slightest touch is liable to set off a minor explosion of its own. Blast Bones are able to save up large quantities of their own constantly shedding body to use as both primer and fuel for their ‘experiments’.
Special Traits: Volatile Body
“Nope.” Gel said immediately. “Not a chance. You can’t pick this one. One little tap and boom! You’d blow me to pieces! Just little patches of your best friend laying all around the desert. This is the worst option by far.”
“I don’t know…” Sean said, trying his best to sound convincing. “If that Mitoslime one lets you multiply then we could leave pieces of you primed to blow anywhere we needed. Get a little C-4-Gel action going. I guarantee you Bancroft would not see that coming.”
“Hmmm… What’s C-4?” Gel asked curiously. “Can you eat it?”
“You’re… not supposed to.” Sean said quickly. “Well, actually, you might be able to. But I don’t know how to make it. It’s an explosive. Comes in small packages because it does all this–”
Sean waved his hand at the pit. “Only on a much smaller scale.”
“Ah. Well… I don’t hate the idea.” Gel acceded. “But I refuse to pick until we can at least see what the last one is.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t pick yet.” Sean said reassuringly, even as he pulled the next prompt up. “We’ve still got plenty to eat before making that decision.”
“You bet your bones we do.”
EVOLUTION: MAULER
Rarity: Rare
Description: Dense as the boulders making up the great Heyyah Mountains, maulers are the antithesis of skeletons’ usual fragility to crushing force. Instead of fearing it, these skeletons use their massive, gnarled frames to deliver pulping blows to all who come within their lumbering range. Maulers are equally comfortable crunching buildings and fortifications down as they are other prey, and have even developed a unique capability to feed off of certain kinds of stone.
Special Traits: Mineral Makeup, Mineral Retrieval
Hu-uh. Sean thought, before pulling up more information on each of the special traits.
Mineral Makeup: Creatures with this trait derive some of their physical properties from that of consumed stone and other minerals.
Mineral Retrieval: Creatures with this trait may consume and digest certain minerals from rock and other stones in order to fuel their growth or enhance their attributes.
Now that sounds like a tank build. Sean thought approvingly. He was even more impressed with this option than he had been with the last one. Though, looking at the name of what came next, Sean found himself already moving on.
EVOLUTION: CANDLEWICK CHEF
Rarity: Rare
Description: One of the few undead whose survival is often highly prioritized even by their own brethren, candlewick chefs generally arrive on the battlefield after the slaughter has finished. While perfectly comfortable in and out of combat, these half-skeleton, half-wick hybrids excel at preparing and serving food for other monsters. What candlewick chefs receive out of this arrangement varies, but their mana-infused meals and penchant for travel make them a welcome sight in many territories that might otherwise be closed to them.
Special Traits: Mana Infusion (Meat)
Sean’s jaw slowly dropped as he read through the last line of the prompt. It was like someone had tailor-made an evolution just for him, and if he hadn’t already promised to wait, then Sean would have chosen this option immediately. As it was, he read through the prompt twice before he pulled up the special trait.
Mana Infusion (Meat): Creatures with this trait can imbue portions of their mana type into meat of every variety. Effect of consumption varies wildly based on consumed and consuming creatures’ types.
Effect varies based on the creatures’ types. Even the ones eating it. Sean mused. That’s good to know.
“Okay, I’ve changed my mind.” Gel announced suddenly. “If Gelaton isn’t our mutual top choice, then you can choose this one.”
“Oh I can, can I?” Sean said with amusement. “That wouldn’t have anything to do with your desire to eat everything I’d make as a literal monster chef, would it?”
“It has everything to do with that decision and you know it. Now let’s see if yours is– ah, well that’s no fun. Yours is locked too.”
“Locked?” Sean was so caught up in the possibilities that candlewick chef offered that it took him a second to catch on to the slime’s meaning. “Oh, you mean the last one.”
Frowning, Sean pulled up the option that had been crossed out for him before. Sure enough, the slime had been right.
Evolution: Gelaton
Rarity: Surpassing
Description: Locked.
Special Traits: Locked.
‘Surpassing’ rarity. Sean noted, latching on to the only additional piece of information this prompt offered. Slime warrior and the rest of our options just now were ‘rare’, so that has to be good. Next step up, maybe?
“Hey Gel, were any of your options ‘surpassing’ rarity? Aside from the one named after you, I mean.”
“Nope!” The slime responded immediately. “Which is just another sign we should wait until we’ve unlocked it, as it is obviously the best choice.”
Sean shook his head at his friend, though he didn’t refute the statement. Instead, he stared down into the pit in front of them. The massive crater of a pit so large that the slime warrior still marveled at the sheer scope of it. He wondered how they were going to get down. Maybe they could slide down the sides? Either way, once the remaining survivors were loaded up and on their way, they were going down this hole.
As if hearing his cue, Saren approached and began speaking almost immediately. Without being asked, Gel translated the highlights.
“He says the turtle managed to fix up their wagon, though it’s going to need major repairs once they get back to town. Seven total survivors, not counting the ones whose names we’ve bothered to learn or those two fuzzy little snacks, and he’s promised to have the bar of life-mana infused into a weapon for us.” Gel reported, before exclaiming in delight. “Oooh, and it looks like they’ve agreed to all our terms!”
“What were our terms?” Sean asked, having left his trust in the slime and then willfully ignored that entire conversation. Not that he could have paid attention if he had tried.
“Feathers here is going to speak with his paladin friends about Bancroft, see if he can’t muster up some allies for when we go back. He’s promised to quietly spread word about us to the guards and adventurer guilds, so that we have relatively safe passage around the city limits provided we don’t attack anybody. Once he and those lizardkin get back, that is. And that doesn’t go for in Dervash of course, because that’s just off the table. Although every single one of these fine morsels also agreed to bring us some exotic dried meats once they get back!” Gel sounded so ready to burst with delight that Sean wondered if the slime might whip up some tear ducts and cry. “One even promised to bring new spices! And here I was planning to roast them all if they were kidding.”
“That’s great, Gel!” Sean was surprised to hear that Gold Spire had agreed to help them. It sounded like something that was almost too good to be true. Unless paladins around here were rather down with the whole ‘enemy of my enemy’ thing. He supposed they would find out, but his practical side resolved to keep an orb on the situation later. “What about our loot?”
“We… traded the rest of it away.” Gel admitted. “But we got a good deal, I promise! The scaled one over there – the one with both of his legs – is going to put a black flag out in the desert near the city when it’s ready for pickup. He’ll check it once a week and if he finds one of my daggers sticking out of it then he’ll know we’re nearby for delivery. They’ll bring the meats and spices, too. All at the same time. That way we don’t attract any unwanted attention, and the townsfolk don’t start questioning why their guards are arming monsters or grabbing pitchforks to come after us themselves.”
“That’s… brilliant, actually.” Sean said, thoroughly impressed at the planning that had gone into that exchange. He had been more than a little concerned about trying to actually get the weapon back once it was made. Not to mention the way the city might view such a transaction. “Did they tell you where the town is from here?”
“Yup! I have a set of very easy-to-follow directions. As well as some general information about the surrounding area.” Gel confirmed, before listening for a second and adding with excitement. “Ooh, and one last thing! Feathers here is offering to help get us down this hole.”
“Get us down… how?” Sean asked cautiously, unable to hide a hint of suspicion from creeping into his tone. They may have just fought together, but if he were a paladin with potent wind magic then sending a potentially deadly monster plummeting to its doom wouldn’t exactly be off the table.
“No idea. He just says he can do it ‘faster and safer’ than jumping by ‘blowing us down like a leaf’. I can’t wait, it’s going to be glorious!”
“And you trust him?” If the slime thought the owlen was on the up-and-up, then Sean was willing to make a leap of faith. It’s not like they hadn’t just survived worse. Even if he sends us plummeting straight to the bottom, we could just use impact shell to survive the landing. It worked for the boom, it should be enough for that.
“No.” Gel admitted immediately. “But I think we should do it. How often does a paladin offer to blow you? This could be a once in an ooze-life chance!”
Sean’s thoughts ground to a halt as he mentally choked on that statement. He went through a number of potential mental responses, including one incorporating the survivors’ ‘slur’ for his race, before finally deciding on the safest one.
“Sure, why not.” Sean conceded. “Where should we stand for this… blowing?”
Gel exchanged a few words with Saren, and then responded. “This is going to be glorious. He says we’re going to fly, Sean! Also, he wants us just a little closer to the edge.”
“Isn’t that his job?” Sean shot back, unable to help himself.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Sean said, shaking his head and dutifully walking over to the edge of the pit. He turned expectantly, facing the now serious-looking paladin with what he hoped was a straight expression.
Saren made a few sweeping gestures, said a few more words in that whistling language of his, and the wind began to pick up around them. Sand gathered in small, swirling tornados as the breeze rushed in. It came so quickly that Sean was forced to dig his feet into the earth just to avoid inadvertently falling backwards. The slime warrior hefted his recently re-summoned bone shield, complete with its own fresh chitin upgrade, and gave the owlen paladin a quick nod of respect.
To his surprise, the owlen paladin bowed slightly at the waist… before shoving both hands forward. A torrent of howling air rushed out from each of Saren’s palms, blasting the pair off the cliff and straight out into the direct center of the massive, open-air pit. Sean barely had time to appreciate that he no longer had a gut to drop before the owlen made another gesture and the two of them shot downwards at high speed.
“Wooohoooooo!” Gel shouted in his mind as the slime brandished his clear battle-axe in great, whirling arcs as they fell. “Down into the hole…. Of GLORY!!!”
Sean’s own soundless battle-cry was quickly drowned out in his mind as he processed what the slime had just said.
“The what?”