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101 - Seventh Evolution

Welcome to the Evolution Menu, traveler.

Congratulations on earning yourself the right to evolve into a Tier 7 monster!

You will have the following options available to you:

Choosing a new species from the available options. (Depending on current species, stats, and actions taken during leveling up, more options become available.)

12 mutation points will be available to you.

35 attribute points.

Due to you completing both bonus objectives, the following will apply:

Eat a Lava Fruit:

- Upgrade your Mind Protection passive skill to B-tier.

Find the Obsidian Palace:

- Gain the passive skill: Hidden Radar (B)

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Possible Tier 7 Evolutions:

Adult Voidling

Noble Adult Voidling (S)

Royal Adult Voidling (S)

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Adult Voidling

After spending about fifty years as an adolescent while nurturing and defending their seed of the void, it is finally time for a voidling to reach adulthood. The accumulated energy from the seed is released and aids the voidling in the transformation to an adult. Depending on the quality of the seed at the time of evolution, the voidling becomes stronger.

Tier ten seed detected, main energy sources: Neutral and Void Mana.

All neutral and void-type spells will gain +10 levels.

Gain access to void mutations.

Passive skill: Pure Voidling (A)

100 mutation points

Adult form will be saved.

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Noble Adult Voidling (S)

Every once in a while a voidling might find that it is in possession of a special seed of the void. If it manages to escape the jealousy and greed of its fellow voidlings and cultivate the seed beyond the fifth tier, it will become a special type of existence in the void. Akin to what a noble is in a kingdom of the intelligent races, these voidlings are revered for the power they yield, often taking other voidlings under their command.

Tier ten seed detected, main energy sources: Neutral and Void Mana.

All neutral and void-type spells will gain +10 levels.

Gain access to void mutations.

Gain access to special evolution options.

Passive skill: Noble void aura (A)

Active skill: Subordination Contract (A)

100 mutation points.

Adult form will be saved.

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Royal Adult Voidling (S)

In extremely rare cases, a voidling on its path to adulthood manages to avoid being hunted for long enough to cultivate its seed to the highest possible level. The adult resulting from that evolution is considered voidling royalty. They are destined to become one of the most powerful existences in the void, joining an exclusive circle of ancient beings. As such, other voidlings flock to the royals, currying favor in the hopes of being allowed to join their retinue.

Tier ten seed detected, main energy sources: Neutral and Void Mana.

All neutral and void-type spells will gain +10 levels.

Gain access to void mutations.

Gain access to special evolution options.

Passive skill: Royal void aura (S)

Active skill: Subordination Contract (A)

Passive skill: Royal Court (SS)

Active skill: Void Pressure (S)

Mutation: Void Crown (?)

100 mutation points.

Adult form will be saved.

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I giddily skipped past the usual stuff to get to my evolution options and was blown away by the options presented to me. There wasn’t really any question about what I’d ultimately pick, but hot damn, getting the seed to the tenth tier had been worth every second. I noticed that all three evolutions were essentially the same, aside from the skills they would gain, as well as that the noble and royal evolutions would open up the path to other evolutions. Even ignoring the evolution-specific skills, the generic stuff every evolution got was nuts as well.

I mean, every neutral and void-type spell would gain an immediate ten levels? That was a free tier upgrade for every spell of that type! Then, the one hundred mutation points? Chefs kiss! Now that I’d unlock void mutations, I could really go on a shopping spree, as well as improve some of my existing stuff! I did a little wiggle dance in my cave, happy that my boring, hard work was paying off in such an amazing way.

While I didn’t plan on choosing the regular adult or noble adult evolutions, it still paid off to analyze them a bit. For example, the description of the evolution was interesting. When all of them were put together it revealed that the void had some sort of caste system going on. Not an official one, apparently, but it would seem like the voidlings could still tell which voidlings were a higher existence compared to themselves.

There was the common folk which included essentially most of the voidlings. The ones that grew up nurturing a normal seed, eventually evolving into an adult voidling. Above them were the noble voidlings. The ones that either got a true seed and managed to cultivate it above the fifth tier or, according to Tim, managed to kill and steal one from another voidling. I could understand why the voidlings were so bloodthirsty as soon as such a seed appeared. After all, if they managed to steal and consolidate it, they would ascend above their peers.

Then there were the royal voidlings. I couldn’t be entirely certain, but a slight difference in the description between the noble and the royal voidling made me think that one couldn’t become a royal with a stolen seed. If my theory was correct, a voidling needed to not only be born with a true seed but also defend itself against the vastly superior voidlings that wanted it for themselves until the seed reached the tenth tier. They obviously wouldn’t have the unfair advantages I had, such as isolating myself from the void, or the system-aided acceleration in evolution speed.

Hiding or running from the frenzied voidlings for over fifty, or maybe a hundred years sounded like a complete nightmare, not to mention, impossible. The only way I could see that happening was if the voidling had help from someone else that defended them until the process was complete. It was only natural that the skills that were coming with that evolution would mostly be S-tier. Well, aside from the mutation that was labeled by a question mark.

The only other things I had that were rated with a question mark were my magical bolt spell, which I assumed to be too low tier to rate, my true seed of the void, and my seed analyzer skill. The seed was incredibly valuable in comparison to the basic spell, while the third one was a temporary skill, so what exactly a question mark signified was unclear.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Curious about what these new skills I was getting actually were, I selected the royal adult voidling.

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Royal Adult Voidling has been selected.

Attribute points will be distributed upon completing the evolution process.

Royal Void Aura (Passive) (S)

You give off a royal aura that only other voidlings can sense. They will automatically develop a greater liking towards you.

Subordination Contract (A)

Upon mutual agreement, you may enter into a subordination contract with another voidling. The voidling in question will pledge themselves to your service, a magical bond ensuring their loyalty.

Royal Court (Passive) (SS)

You may enter subordination contracts with an unlimited amount of normal voidlings. You may also enter into subordination contracts with up to five noble voidlings. As long as a normal voidling is in a contract with you, they will gain the skill . Noble voidlings under your rule will gain the skill .

Void Pressure (S)

The signature skill of voidling royalty.

As a being intrinsically connected to the void, a royal may exert a fraction of the presence of the void to their surroundings.

Void Crown (Mutation) (?)

A crown made from pure void energy that signifies a royal voidlings status. Allows the user to freely traverse into and through the void.

Lost Skills:

Seed Analyzer (Temporary skill)

Dreams Of The Void (Incompatible with Mutation: Void Crown)

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There was a lot to take in here, once again.

Amidst all the crazy things in that list of new skills, the one thing that stood out to me the most was that I would be losing the dreams of the void passive. Tim had warned me several times about the dangers of said skill, and I learned the hard way just how right he was. I was hoping that I might employ the help of other travelers to get rid of it once I went off-planet, but now the problem had resolved itself. Not only that, the void crown would provide me with a better, more safe method of getting into the void.

The royal void aura seemed almost too simple for an S-tier skill, but I suppose having the entire population of a plane of existence automatically liking me was pretty dang strong. The subordination contract and the royal court skills seemed to work together. With how the skills were worded, as well as the fact that the noble voidling didn’t have a skill similar to the royal court, I assumed they could only recruit regular voidlings, and only in a limited quantity. The royal court skill really earned its SS-tier simply by allowing for unlimited contracts, as well as the ability to recruit nobles. There was no explanation of what the royal support and royal knight skills did, but I assumed they would be beneficial in some way for the voidling under contract.

Then there was void pressure. Of all the skills, this one was the hardest to gauge what it would do exactly. It was S-tier, as well as the signature skill of voidling royalty, so it was bound to be something good. But what exactly did it mean to “exert a fraction of the presence of the void”? I’d been in the void multiple times, but it never felt particularly threatening. If anything, the stuff living in the void was a lot more spooky than the void itself. Then again, some of the earlier descriptions of the void warned of how it could drive people insane, was I just immune to this due to being a voidling?

I wouldn’t get anywhere by wondering about what the hell the skill did exactly. I’d just have to try it out once the evolution was complete. And to that end, it was time for mutations!

This time around I had access to a crazy amount of mutation points, and I was planning to use most, if not all of them. The first thing I did was upgrade my poison mucus, as well as my spell-attuned brain. Those two mutations were essentially my bread and butter, and now I had the ability to crank them to new heights. I upgraded both of them to tier nine, but when I tried to get them to the tenth tier, the system suddenly stopped me. I got a bit confused until I read what the system had to say about my plans.

Apparently, I wasn’t allowed to go too far above my current tier with my mutations, since my body might not be able to handle the power held in those body parts. I grumbled a bit since I’d have loved to spend a ton of points on these two, maybe even get them to tier ten, but then I remembered that I now had access to void mutations and my mood brightened up instantly. Why invest in these high-tier mutations, when I could finally get some cool new ones?

I used the system to filter for void mutations and, sure enough, there they were. I’d seen the list before since I got to pick one from the void invasion reward, so I already had an inkling of what to get. The real question was, should I get mutations that started at a high tier, or buy low-tier ones and slowly upgrade them? The problem with the higher-tier ones was that they cost a lot of points to acquire. If I wanted to get a mutation like the void body I chose from the reward, I’d need to spend a whopping thirty-six points. Well… I did have points to spare, so getting one or two high-level mutations wouldn’t hurt.

Although, before I got lost in the sauce I quickly went back to look for a nice pair of ears. It had only been a low-priority mutation, but now that I had this many points, it wouldn’t hurt to get some. As expected, there were tons of ears to choose from, but with some clever filtering, I managed to find a pair that did what I wanted. The pair would be almost invisible, consisting of two holes that I placed just below my mantle. I’d also be able to completely seal them so that I couldn’t hear anything, which would allow me to continue being immune to sonic attacks.

They would also help if I needed to tune out annoying noises.

Due to the heightened functionality compared to regular boring ears, these ones needed to be at the third tier, which set me back another six points. I quickly thought about what other simple mutations I could add, but I felt quite happy with what I had in terms of basic equipment, so I once again filtered my list to display the void-themed mutations. First off, I needed to think about if there were any mutations that would complement my new skills.

There was of course void body, that made all of my void abilities just a tad stronger. And then there was the void core that I hadn’t picked in favor of the void body as my reward. Now? I could just buy it, completing the set. I locked in the void core mutation, setting me back another thirty-six points. This, coincidentally, left me with exactly thirty-six mutation points. I briefly considered just getting yet another tier-eight mutation but decided against it after some deliberation.

Instead, I upgraded both the void body and the void core to tier nine, making sure that my most important mutations were as high as they could be. This left me with eighteen mutation points. I could either buy a tier-five void mutation or use the points to upgrade some of my other stuff. The only thing that stood out that could need an upgrade was my mana infusion gland. Casting spells with void-infused mana proved pretty powerful, yet I only had an extremely limited amount that I could store. The question was, would it be worth more to get more of said mana, or look for a nice new void mutation?

I remembered that I now had access to an ungodly amount of MP, which made the infused mana almost redundant. I got a bit annoyed since this wasn’t the first time that I realized that a mutation that I got early on was close to worthless now. Sure, the infused spells were of a higher quality than the regular spells, but since I could just throw metric tons of spells at the opposition, the few spells I could cast barely made a difference. With my mood slightly soured, I went to look for a nice tier-five mutation as a gift for myself.

I scrolled through the entirely too-long list of mostly fucked up body parts looking for something that caught my fancy. There were entirely too many mutations that dealt with tentacles and eyes, proving once again why most voidlings looked like they did. And, while I could totally appreciate what the mutations did, I was still trying to adhere to looking at least a little bit normal. I’d grown to appreciate my slug-shaped body, and I wanted to keep true to it. So far I made sure that most of my more outlandish additions were hideable in some way, and I wasn’t about to start adding a whole slew of stupid body parts.

In the end, I settled on a mutation called “Void Feelers”, which was a type of sensory organ. They were almost invisible and similar to the odd feelers I’d gotten when I evolved into an elder slug on the first layer, snugly fitting just below the longer feelers. Buying those left me with three points that I decided to save for now. Being able to get a mutation that could help me with whatever I faced had proven to be a smart way to go about things and even if three points couldn’t buy much, it was better than nothing.

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Void Core (T9)

Form a core of pure void mana within your body. The core will purify and concentrate void mana, allowing you to cast stronger void spells.

Void Feelers (T5)

The void is everywhere and nowhere. Everything interacts with the void constantly, even if they don’t know about it. These feelers will allow you to feel the slight fluctuations caused by these minuscule interactions.

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Next up the system prompted me to assign the thirty-five attribute points I had available. I pumped all of them into luck, planning to use them to buy a few drinks from Tim later on. Luck points held more value when completing a transaction in the void, so I could buy more, with less. The system quickly switched to the next screen, where I was given the rewards for completing the bonus objectives. For finding the Lava fruit, my mind protection passive was upgraded to B-tier.

At this point, I was starting to suspect that the rewards for the bonus objective weren’t set in stone from the beginning but rather tailored to every traveler that completed them. There was simply no way that upgrading a specific skill was the same reward for everyone. Still, I appreciated the upgrade, since it now not only protected my mind against attacks but also provided a certain resistance against status effects that affected the mind.

For discovering the obsidian palace, I received a passive skill called Hidden Radar. It was a rather simple skill that would occasionally alert me if there were hidden things in my vicinity. Stuff like magically hidden objects, secret tunnels, or even just a hiding monster. Yet another skill that only rarely would get any use out of it, but I could see how it could help me discover some neat things in the future.

With all of my selections made, I was faced with the confirmation screen. And, as was tradition, I decided to face the pain of evolution head-on. Here’s to hoping that my increased attributes would help me face the onslaught!

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All necessary selections have been made. The evolution into new species will now commence.

Evolution is an incredibly painful process since complete reconstruction is necessary. You may choose to be put to sleep.

Y/N

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Name Gary Traveler Tier 1 Type Monster(P2W) Species Royal Adult Voidling (T7) Level 1 Max HP 19'530 Max MP 283'118 Max VMP 186'858 Strength 384 Agility 461 Intelligence 856 Wisdom (C) 959 Constitution 420 Luck 480 Attribute Points 0 Skill Points 6 Data Points 114'456 Mutations 3

Skills: Obliterating Poison Mucus Armor Lv.3 (C), Compress Lv.3 (C), Hunter Radar Lv.1 (C), Powerful Leap Lv.4 (B), Rush Lv.2 (B), Maximum Fortification Lv.7 (B), Meditation Lv.9 (C), Subordination Contract Lv.1 (A), Void Pressure Lv.1 (S)

Magic: Obliterating Poison Shot Lv.10 (E), Obliterating Poison Spear Lv.10 (D), Obliterating Poison Mist Lv. 10 (D), Obliterating Poison Needle Lv. 10 (D), Obliterating Poison Bomb Lv.10 (C), Obliterating Poison Assassination Lv.10 (C), Obliterating Poison Aura Lv.8 (C), Obliterating Poison Explosion Lv.1(B), Poison Caltrops Lv.1(B), Giant Spike Lv.2 (SS), Void Javelin Lv.10 (B), Void Cloak Lv.10 (C), Void Jump Lv.8 (B), Void Laser Lv.2(A), Magical Bolt (?), Guardian Summon (C)(7/100), Shield Lv.4(C), Grass Walk Lv.5(C), Restoration Lv.7 (C)

Passive Skills: Bottomless Inventory (S), Stealth (B), Turret (B), Giant Hunter (S), Gluttony (SSS), Increased Evolution Potential (A), Toxin and Poison Immunity (B), Increased Passive Void Mana Regeneration (A), Crystalized Poison (C), Fast Learner: Poison (A), Poison Master (A), Wisdom King (B), Polonic Chance (A), Void Guidance (S), Void Synchronisation (A), Apex Hunter (C), Magical Singularity (EX), Archive of Asphon (EX), Infuser (B), Lightning Resistance (C), Lava Diver (B), Mind Protection (B), Royal Void Aura (S), Royal Court (SS), Hidden Radar (B)

Mutations: Obliterating Poison Mucus (T9), Mana Gland (T2), Mana Concentration Gland (T1), Mana Absorbent Skin (T2), Spell Attuned Brain (T9), Monster Eyes (T2), Stable Void Connection (T4), Void Mana Conversion Gland (T4), Movement Tentacles (T2), Hand Tentacles (T2), Wing Tentacles (T2), Bigger Mouth (T3), More Teeth (T3), Sealable Ears (T3), Mana Infusion Gland (T4), Gills (T2), Crystal Symbiote (T3), Void Body (T9), Void Core (T9), Void Feelers (T5), Void Crown (?)

Skill Trees: Poison Magic, Magical Truth (2/2)

Languages: English, Void Language, Spell Runes