Prometheus was tired of digging. They had been going at it for more than four hours, with no progress on his skill.

"Hey, Zilch" Started Theo using the scout's language, "How do you never get tired of digging?"

"Well, for me and other worms digging and burrowing are facts of life. It's like if I asked you how you never get bored of breathing."

He glanced at the worm with his ant for.

"I-I didn't mean anything by that, I'm sorry!"

What?

"Why are you apologizing? I'm just trying to understand what you're saying."

"Ah, sorry. Well, if you do something for the majority of your life and it is something you HAVE to do to survive, you don't have a choice in the matter, you know?"

"I think I understand, yeah. Also, I don't really need to breathe, at least not in the way you think"

"What?" Exclaimed the worm in surprise. "How is that possible?"

"In simple terms, I don't have lungs or other important organs that most creatures have. I have a uh..." How do I explain this in simple terms?

Zilch was looking at him expectantly.

"I have a Core, which is pretty much my brain, and various roots linking every part of my internal body together. These roots do everything necessary, such as moving nutrients and removing waste."

"Woah, that sounds... really complex."

"Many times I don't understand it myself, but it allows me to put more muscle and bone where organs would normally be, you see?"

"So that means, you are very strong?"

"Of cour-"

His fight with the ice golem flashed in his mind.

"Maybe, maybe not."

Zilch nodded understandably.

His mandibles continued tearing at the dirt and rock in front of him. He had chosen to dig in the rougher dirt to speed up his progress, but no notification came to reward him. The Digging skill was still at level 3.

"How did you even get your burrowing skill to Medium rank?"

Zilch came out from a wall on his right and answered, "I have been burrowing for all my life. As you do more of something, you learn various tricks and methods. Those are the ones that increase your System skills."

Zilch thought for a second to itself, Is it safe to share my knowledge?

Prometheus was waiting patiently. Uff, gotta take a risk I guess.

"The knowledge I used is this one, which also gave me the Earth-softening trait." Zilch moved to a nearby wall.

"I'll turn off my trait to show you."

The worm hugged the wall with his body, making sure as much surface area as possible was touching it. Prometheus observed attentively. Then, Zilch started vibrating, increasing in frequency. Dust came off the wall, which was followed soon after by pebbles and then even bigger chunks of dirt. Zilch was shaking to break down the dirt, making it softer and easier to burrow through.

That's genius. How did he even come up with that?

"And that is how I made it. The skill ranked up and I got this awesome trait."

The worm touched the wall once again, this time without vibrating. The wall softened considerably, dropping dirt on the ground.

"That's the trait in action. Sometimes the soil is really hard so I have to use both."

The scout showed the combination of the trait and the shaking method, which almost liquefied the dirt. Prometheus nodded, satisfied at the new information. Maybe I could use that as well?

"How did you discover such a method?" The question arose in Theo's mind. He had to ask it.

"One time my group had a mission in a cold tundra, and we weren't given anything to warm us up, so I would shake from the cold all the time, and I randomly noticed that the earth would soften up a bit when that happened."

Ah, most discoveries are made by pure accident, true.

Prometheus tried doing it as well, moving closer to the wall to do it.

"WAIT!" Zilch shouted from the other side of the tunnel. Theo stopped immediately in alarm, ready to fight any intruders.

"Don't use that knowledge unless your skill is at level 5. If you do, you'll waste it on a single level up and you'll have to make another discovery to rank it up. "

What does that mean?

"So, if my skill is at level 3, using this knowledge will only bring it to level 4?"

"Yes, that's how it is. So, if you want, keep it stored until you need to rank up the skill."

Fuck. That means I'll have to use another method now. Well, I guess I have to dive into my implanted knowledge now.

When Prometheus wants or needs to access advanced knowledge in him, he has to dedicate all his resources to do that, effectively going into standby mode. He hadn't done it until that moment because he hadn't needed to.

Okay, let's look for any advanced digging techniques used on Earth, maybe I can find inspiration there.

Theo had been implanted with the majority of useful information present on Earth's internet. Most sectors were covered.

Okay, laser digging, air excavation, moisture control... I guess I could use moisture control.

Theo didn't feel like using his own water to create moisture, so he went outside to look for some. Wait a second.

He looked around for his companions. The feathered lobster and Buzzelina were chasing each other playfully, the water-spider joining the chase occasionally.

Perfect.

He moved toward the spider and created the usual mental connection, asking it to follow him. He discovered the spider was a female and the lobster a male. I'll call the spider Splash and the lobster Lunch. After informing the creatures of their names, they seemed elated. I wonder why names are so important here. Maybe a status symbol?

Prometheus and Splash moved to the tunnel, in the same spot he had talked with Zilch. He informed the worm of the new names and asked the spider for some water. A shifted cup from Theo waited patiently, and Splash moved over it, using an opening on its underside to drop a considerable amount of water, but not enough to dry her like what had happened with the humans.

Prometheus stored the water inside a new organ in his body, while slowly shifting a proboscis on the top of his head. Starting to dig again, he sprayed the dirt and rocks in front of him with the recommended amount of water to make it moist. Too much water would make the dirt really heavy, especially with clay-like soils. Thankfully, the dirt here seemed to be sandy. After fifteen minutes of that, a notification rewarded him.

Low-rank Digging level up to lvl 4!

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Zilch."

"Yes, Prometheus?"

"I am bored of digging here. I'll try to level up my other skills. Are you gonna continue here?"

"I think so, yeah. Actually, Theo, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Depends on what it is."

"I want to train my stealth skill, so can you help me with that? A simple hide-and-seek game will be enough."

Why not? It's not like I'm in a rush.

"Okay. I'll close my eyes and count to thirty, and you'll hide."

"Perfect."

One, two, three... After counting to thirty, Prometheus opened his eyes. Obviously, he didn't want to lose, so he activated every single sensor in his body. Thermal, vibration-based, gravity-based, and many others. These couple of days, he and Zilch had built quite a big maze of tunnels, so it was the perfect environment to play hide and seek.

Theo started by going around the corner and moving his head from side to side. Nothing. Even creating a nose that would give him a sense of smell didn't help as the tunnels reeked of dirt and dust. The sneaky worm didn't leave any tracks, its smooth body surfing along the ground.

Analyzing the various surfaces didn't seem like an efficient strategy, so he opted for a better one. He shifted his multiple insect legs into four mammalian ones and shrank his head. His exoskeleton disappeared, replaced by yellow fur. The fastest land animal known to mankind, the cheetah. Obviously, Theo improved the animal's design massively, with much more powerful muscles at the same weight, stronger and lighter bones, and improved aerodynamics.

It's showtime.

The cheetah kicked off at its maximum speed. In half a second, it reached one hundred and fifty kilometers an hour. In another half a second, it reached two hundred. The combination of Prometheus' biological improvements and the body stats, as well as his innate Core tier all contributed to such an incredible result.

He sprinted on the ground at breakneck speeds, the various walls rushing past him. Thankfully, Theo had the capacity to speed up his mental processes, allowing him to react quickly enough. For the next ten minutes, he looked for Zilch. I'm sure I checked every single corner here. Okay then, time to play dirty.

His front left leg started thickening, full of electrocytes, the cells that eels use to store and release electricity. He pumped various ions through these cells, which started gathering electricity. With one single motion, he created a single, intense electromagnetic wave, that acted as a sonar. He waited for the wave to return, and when it did, it gave him all the information he needed.

Low-rank Shapeshifting leveled up to lvl 5!

Found you.

He moved toward the spot where Zilch was hiding. He had to admit, he probably wouldn't have found Zilch without the sonar. The worm was hiding inside a wall, but he had covered the whole in dirt in a way that didn't look suspicious at all. It had even lowered its body temperature to match the environment!

He dug out the hole and found Zilch turning around, astonished.

"How did you find me??"

He roared softly, laughing at the surprised worm.

"I used a sonar."

"What's that?" Zilch asked while thinking to itself, Is that some Soul technique perhaps? Maybe even something else?

"It is too complex to explain, but I used a wave that went through the rocks and, when it came back, I knew where you were hiding." He nodded at his own genius. Clearly, I am incredible. Only I could have come up with such an idea!

"Wow, that sounds complex but also unfair."

"Mmm?" Theo hummed questioningly.

"I-I am not accusing you of cheating! I swear!"

Why is Zilch so agitated sometimes? Is he still going through worm-puberty?

"Calm down Zilch. What do you mean by unfair? Do you mean that playing a game in which I am destined to always win is unfair?"

"N-No, I simply mean that using," The scout seemed to gulp, even though worms usually don't do that, "Something like that seems like cheating to me, that's all."

Cheating?

"Cheating? Like cheating on a test? I don't understand." Prometheus had no idea what Zilch meant. How can I cheat on a game? I just used every tool at my disposal.

"Well, using that 'wave' makes all my efforts useless and, th-there was no way I could have avoided it, you know? Plus," Zilch's voice became a lot quieter, almost like it didn't want to be heard, "it was supposed to be just a fun game."

Wasn't this training?

"We can do this again. How does it sound?" Theo asked his worm companion.

"S-sure, I will start hiding now!" With that, the little scout disappeared from sight, a combination of its intangability power, and skills allowing it to move at unprecedented speeds.

He closed his eyes once again, counting to thirty. I'll use only my instincts this time. Let's have some fun. After finishing counting, he started inspecting the walls of the tunnel maze. Once again, there was no hint as to where Zilch had hidden. Prometheus looked around, to the ceiling, the ground, and even near the entrance, but Zilch was nowhere to be seen.

How could I even do this?

An idea sprung into the shapeshifter's mind. He started tapping the walls with his paw, listening closely to the sound it made. If I'm lucky I'll find a hollow sound.

While slowly walking and tapping random spots on the walls, Theo began a train of thought. If an enemy had looked for Zilch and had the same capabilities I have, how could it escape? Zilch would need a way to dispel electromagnetic waves and reflect them back the same way the environment around it does. I don't think Zilch could do that the way it is now. Should I finally modify him too? Maybe with some capability to camouflage his skin cells to change color or simple properties? That could work.

Another two hours passed, with no progress on Theo's part. He gave up and exclaimed loudly, "I give up Zilch, you win!"

The worm fell smoothly from the ceiling with its power. That intangibility thing is truly crazy. I could think of hundreds of ways to exploit it.

"It seems I won," Then the worm laughed nervously. "I even leveled up my stealth skill!"

"Well done. Now, I wanted to talk to you about something else."

"What is it?" The scout asked somewhat worried.

"I was thinking of how you could avoid the trick I used on you if an enemy were to use it as well. So, I came up with genetically modifying you to give you skin cells that can change slightly to allow for that. As well as other general improvements, of course."

Zilch seemed to think it through. Is it safe? With the goblins, their screams of pain were scary. But with Splash and Lunch, they didn't seem to suffer at all.

"If there are any problems, could you revert them?"

"Sure." Prometheus nodded.

"Okay then. Do we have to do it here?" It asked shakily.

"It doesn't change much to me," said the cheetah while shifting into his Sponge form. He had become adept at using this complex form, so he transformed quite quickly. He pumped Zilch with painkillers and other drugs and started the procedure. He had amassed enough biomass for the operation, so he began.

Let's see, there aren't many cell types here so it should be simpler. I'll start with the usual, improved metabolism, improved toughness, improved regeneration, and halted aging. Now, here comes the tricky part. I need to change the skin cells to react to their environment, not just in color, but also in general properties. For the color part, it is simple, I'll just use some chameleon and octopus genes. But for changing the properties, I need to simulate this. I can't use the same structure I use for myself, because half of my computational power is dedicated to cell management, and Zilch obviously doesn't have that.

Prometheus ran his protein and gene-generating algorithm, which would generate what he would need. The complexity of the procedure made it take two hours, but when it was done, Theo was satisfied. Perfect. Zilch's skin will react to the environment and slightly change its cells to resemble what they are touching. Hopefully, this will make it sonar-proof.

Low-rank Genetic Manipulation leveled up to lvl 3!

He moved away from Zilch and waited for his worm companion to wake up. When it did, he explained to Zilch the changes he had made to its body.

"So that means, that I am stronger?"

"Yes, but not now. You'll see the changes in a couple of weeks, and I also had to slightly change your brain structure to allow you to change your skin. That will take a lot of training to figure out, though."

The worm seemed to shake slightly.

Did I mess something up?

The scout jumped in the air and exclaimed, "YES!!" Prometheus dropped a relaxed sigh. Turning into the cheetah form, which he was starting to like a lot, he decided to go up to the platform and see if the monsters had finished the melee trial. Zilch went to join his other companions, playing alongside them.

He told them not to hurt each other and walked up the stairs to the platform when he noticed the Major with all the Examiners except Examiner Brown discussing passionately on a large stone table, who was at the platform managing the trials. He walked over to the table and found an invisible barrier at around twenty meters from them. Using his Soul sense, he could see the scary amount of Influence in it. Prometheus couldn't even begin to understand how it worked, even with his incredibly fast mental processing speed. every time I begin to notice patterns, it changes completely. Annoying. It is also completely sound-proof.

He knocked on the barrier twice, which prompted all the individuals inside to turn their heads at him. Major Fuoco raised his scaly eyebrow, Examiner Dripsworth huffed annoyingly, and Examiner Rocktooth bared his teeth, clearly upset. The other Examiner, the armored turtle of which he didn't know the same, simply looked at him neutrally.

The barrier opened enough to let him pass through, which he used to walk over to the table nonchalantly. A mental connection network linked all five of them together.

Examiner Rocktooth stated, "Why are you here, shit for brains? And why did you change your form? It used to be the only good thing about you!" Prometheus nodded at the compliment to his Baryonix form.

"I simply wanted to ask a question about something that happened to me, that's all," Prometheus explained defensively. These guys could all delete me with a single thought. The idea made him shiver at his Core.

"Speak up, kid. I wonder what got someone as arrogant and sure of themselves as you worried." Replied Major Fuoco, each breath of his sending smoke into the air through his nostrils.

"Last night, I didn't sleep, and I-"

"Stop right there," Examiner Dripsworth. "What do you mean by 'night'?"

He couldn't say that it was the moment when the Sun wasn't lighting the planet, as it was an Earth concept.

"It's when everyone is sleeping."

They all got up in alarm and moved closer to him.

What...?

"Durge, create a reality stabilizer, quick!"

"Yes, sir"

Prometheus could only watch in awe as a dense net of Influence moved from Examiner Durge and created a shape that he couldn't fathom. That... that is not tridimensional. What am I witnessing...?

"Rocktooth and Dripsworth, stay on high alert."

"YES, SIR!" Both of them went to opposite sides of the 'room' and looked around quickly, seemingly looking for threats. Water bubbles orbited around Examiner Dripsworth, waiting to be launched upon anyone brave enough to get close. The same happened with Examiner Rocktooth, as he laid down, ready to pounce when necessary.

Major Fuoco slithered his massive body to his position and immediately coiled his tail around Theo's body, squeezing him tightly. He couldn't have reacted to such speed.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Asked the Major with a volcanic tone.

"D-Did what?" Explained Prometheus in total confusion. His mind spun but he could only settle on the fact that he hadn't slept and wondered why it had been such a massive deal.

"Did anything weird, or abnormal happen while you were awake at 'night'?" Asked the flaming snake seriously. Prometheus had never seen the reptile this serious.

"Yes, a table appeared and said 'chair' multiple times, before deforming my body into a chair, then it disappeared."

All the examiners seemed to relax immediately, but they still remained vigilant.

"Do you even understand what happened, kid?"

"I don't, no. That's why I wanted to ask you." Major Fuoco calmed down as well after hearing his answer, so he gently released him.

"Listen carefully, you always need to sleep at 'night'. We call it the unsafe hours. All creatures have an innate sense of when it is, and they fall asleep during this period. If they don't, stuff like what you described happens. Events beyond our understanding. Luckily for you, and us, it only hurt you and not everyone else here. Plus, you were the perfect target, as you came out fine. NEVER mess with the Unsafe hours, got it brat?"

Prometheus nodded quickly, putting 'sleeping with everyone else' at the top of his priorities.

"I can't grasp the idea of how this fool is still alive honestly," Dripsworth exclaimed. He put out his tongue at the jellyfish.

"One time, a whole human kingdom was wiped out by an unnatural event such as what you experienced, but much graver. Every person there started growing mushrooms all over their bodies until a mushroom started growing from the top of their heads. Just days after that, their head was replaced by a mushroom, but their mind was still there. After experiencing agonizing pain for multiple weeks, they dropped dead. The worst parts were that, one, it was extremely contagious, and two, it had nothing to do with Soul abilities or techniques or what have you, so using your own Soul abilities did nothing. Many of them begged to be killed after having their head become a mushroom. These kinds of things happen mostly during Unsafe hours, and they ignore sleeping creatures, but very rarely do they happen outside of Unsafe hours. Now, do you understand why you can NEVER stay awake during Unsafe hours, kid?"

Prometheus nodded, worried at what he had avoided. From his calculations, he had also missed a couple of Unsafe hours.

I guess I was just really lucky.

"Smart kid, now go, Brown should have finished the melee trials. Good luck." He waved at him with his tail while the shapeshifter walked outside the barrier. The Major and the Examiners resumed their conversation, and Theo walked up to the platform, ready to encounter his next challenge.