As he walked back to his base he pondered his decision. He felt like the sudden urge to decide on creating an alliance with the goblin chieftain, he was pretty sure that whoever he had been previously was not as impulsive as he had just been. There wasn't even a date of time on how long their alliance was supposed to last. Were these alliances permanent? He sighed and stopped thinking about it, questions with no answers could keep him occupied for days but for now he had things to do. He walked up to his headstone and let the messages from the battle flood over him.
[Monstrous Northern Funnel Web Spider, Leader class Tier 2: Slain, 14 KP earned, 264 KP earned from other kills Total KP: 288.]
Z grinned at the result before he took a look at potentially new options from his headstone he had to go through the individual evolutions gained. First, he glanced over to the puppets, six of them had the evolution option, he tapped their boxes and frowned slightly at the result. They did not have the ability options he himself and the grower zombies had, they only had the option to evolve into the next tier. He shrugged and tapped the Large Zombie evolution, the six of them burst into growth and now towered over their lesser brethren. Next, he walked over to Clog and tapped his screen.
[Clog (Large Zombie) Tier 2 Common, Evolution Available]
The same options as before were still there except surprisingly the evolution to tier three which was greyed out. A few new options had been added aswell.
[Collosal Presence (Available)]
[Sub Leader (Available)]
[Base Guardian (Available)]
Z tapped the options in order, first up was Colossal Presence.
[Collosal Presence has been unlocked by this individual for standing out on the battlefield, It has shown strength and insight during battle. This ability increases the size of the unit by 30% regardless of the tier. It shall always be 30% larger than its counterparts.]
So Clog would be about 9-10 feet tall, he had to admit that he did like the sound of that but for now, he tapped the other options.
[Sub leader has been unlocked by this individual for taking control of its lesser minded brethren and leading them on the battlefield. This ability increases the cognitive ability of the unit and grants them some tactical insight.]
That Z could definitely use, he was more than smart enough to lead the troops himself except for the fact that he lost his cool in battle and enjoyed fighting too much himself to pay much attention to his troops. This would free him up from his responsibilities. He grinned, he rather liked that option. He tapped the last one.
[Base Guardian has been unlocked by this individual for being suitable for the position. This ability increases the overall abilities and strength of the unit by 33% but binds the individual to the territory which it will now view as its primary directive to defend.]
Z frowned at the message, he had to admit he hadn't really thought about defense yet, he cursed softly to himself. What would have happened if this base had been attacked while he was away? He shrugged, done was done, first he had to decide what upgrades to pick on Clog.
On another impulse he tapped the Colossal Presence upgrade, he watched with awe as the zombie burst up into the sky it's muscles thickening and its skin looking slightly less decayed. Clog was easily over 10 feet tall, the systems 30% must have been slightly off because he was absolutely sure that this was more than a 30% growth. Clog towered over even the larger zombies, when he noticed Clog's box though he grinned, Clog still had an evolution available to him. Z tapped the box and selected Sub Leader.
[Clog (Large+ Zombie) Tier 2 uncommon Leader Class.]
Clog looked down at him, his dark eyes now showing a hint of intelligence. “You have granted intelligence. This one thanks you.” To Z's utter amazement the words were accompanied by a formal bow.
He grinned at the humongous zombie, “Not a problem Clog, glad to have you with me. Hope you'll stick around for a while.”
The giant nodded solemnly, “If that is thy wish.” Z smirked, what an amusing guy. So not only did their intellect grow they also grew a personality. He had to admit he liked the earnest big guy already, now he only had to see how effective the big guy would be in combat when leading troops. He walked over to Brainz, Clog walked behind him keeping a two paces behind him and a pace to his right, like some gigantic bodyguard. He tapped Brainz box.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
[Brainz (caster zombie) Tier 2 Rare]
Brainz to his surprise had actually LOST options, improved strength and thick skin were no longer an option. He had gotten a few that replaced them however. He tapped on the box then glanced at Clog. “Share information box with Clog.” He told the system, curious if his idea would work.
He watched as the giant blinked when a box invisible to Z appeared before him. “What do you wish this one to do with the information?”
“Let me know what you think of them, I will read through them myself first. You do the same and then we will talk about them afterwards.” Clog nodded in confirmation and started reading through the message. Z realised with a start that the giant actually knew how to read, now that he thought it through he shouldn't have expected him to be able to do that. He shrugged, just one of the many strange things that he could throw on the insanity pile. He turned his attention backed to Brainz's options.
[Brainz (caster zombie) Tier 2 Rare]
[Regenerative stitchwork (available)]
[Improved Agility (Available)]
[Improved Purist Bolt (available)]
[Purist Shield (Available)]
[Elemental Choice (Available)]
[Base Guardian (Available)]
[Magic Savant (Available)]
The first two were nothing knew, Base guardian he was now familiar with as well the others were new to him however and he tapped their boxes for more information. He noted that Brainz did not have the option for Sub Leader or Collosal Presence like Clog.
He tapped the first of the abilities.
[Improved Purist Bolt has been unlocked by this individual because of its proficiency with the Purist bolt spell. The purist bolt spell is a simple yet powerfull spell where the user gathers raw mana from around him/herself and fires it in a concentrated bolt of pure mana. The improved version increases it's power.]
It kinda spoke for itself, but it was good to know the specifics, he tapped the next one.
[Purist Shield has been unlocked by this individual because of its proficiency in the use of raw mana. This ability allows one to conjure a raw shield of mana that will protect the user from harm as long as the user has enough mana to utilise the ability. This ability will only require extra mana to sustain it when it has been damaged.]
So a simple mana shield, the fact that Brainz could leave it on passivly without it consuming mana was a huge boon. It would protect the zombie from being ambushed, a good skill to keep in mind.
[Elemental Choice as a beginner magic caster the user has been given the choice of element. Available choices are : Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Magma, Ice, Void, Shadow, Light, Life and Death. This feat may be taken multiple times as the user will gain acces to beginner level spells for that element and be able to work his/her way up from there.]
An interesting choice but risky without more information about the elements. Which left him with the ability that interested him the most.
[Magic Savant has been unlocked by this individual because of its singular interest in magic. Through the actions this individual has portrayed it has shown an incredible lack in everything except the utalisation of his/her magic. This ability grants the user the ability to become increasingly proficient in any magical abilities with an accelerated rate of growth while making it next to useless for anything else.]
Z kind of guessed the abilities from the name but he was surprised to hear that Brainz had shown such a focused interest in only magic, he had not really been paying attention to either of his zombies during combat as he had been laser-focused on reaching and then fighting the leader spider. He tapped his chin in thought and glanced over to Clog, the giant was still reading so Z waited patiently for the zombie to finish.
Once he did finish Z popped a question. “So what do you think we should pick for Brainz and why do you think so?”
Clog stared at him for a few seconds, deep in thought. “This one does not feel like he has the capability to decide but this one shall tell the master this one's thoughts because it was asked of this one.”
Z sat down and motioned for the giant to do the same, Clog sat down with a heavy thump. Z tried to look at him yet still had to arc his neck to stare the big guy in the eye. He scooted back a little to make it easier on himself.
“Brainz has not shown any interest in those around him, that one has shown an interest only in its magical capabilities and has used them whenever he was able. This one thinks that that one would be best served with the Magic Savant ability as it promotes that one's ability to grow in that which that one is best.”
Z frowned as he thought it through, he agreed with Clog. On another note he really had to get the big guy to stop with the this one and that one bullshit. It was getting on his nerves. He turned his attention back to the menu and decided to go with Clog's judgement and tapped the Magic Savant ability. Nothing visibly changed that he could see but Brainz did look a little happier somehow. Just like Clog he had the points for another ability so he added the Purist Shield. Giving the zombie some definsive capabilities.
Last but not least was he himself. He tapped his chest to have his own box appear and had a look.
[Z (Zombie?) Tier 1 Unique, Evolution available]
[Improved Agility (Available)]
[Thick Skin(Available)]
[The Hunt (Available)]
[Undying Rage (Available)]
He tapped the two abilities he didn't know.
[The Hunt has been unlocked by this individual because of its focus on the strongest of prey he/she could find. This ability gives increased speed and strength when moving towards the strongest opponent within vision. Also leaves a trail should the opponent try to leave without first battling the individual with The Hunt skill.]
Interesting, this would make him a predator. Although he did not think this ability would be of immediate use to him.
[Undying Rage has been unlocked by this individual because of its love for battle and his/her tendency to lose themselves in the bloody fog of war. This ability gives the user a small increase in strength and vitality per kill it gets in combat. Amount of times the increase stacks is dependent on grade and tier of the individual.]
Now that was a much more interesting ability. He thought a moment about the grade mentioned but then he realised it was probably about the common/uncommon/rare and unique tags he had seen. He wondered how many of these grades there were.
First out of sheer need to have all of the standard abilities he pressed Improved Agility and Thick Skin. It simply wouldn't do to not do things in order, it was fine when experimenting with his troops but it he would feel uncomfortable if he tried to do such a thing on himself. He felt a little lighter on his feet as he moved about a bit. His skin had also grown a good deal thicker, it felt like tough leather and the smaller spiders would have a hard time even penetrating his skill. He blinked when an unnexpected message appeared.
[Due to having unlocked all tier 1 abilities you have been granted a forced evolution, Make your choice.]
Z Grinned, now that was more like it!