POV Geckodo

Geckodo was at peace. He had saved his people from certain doom and loss of Sapience and that fact filled him with both joy and sadness. Joy in the fact that now his people had hope after a long time spent in darkness and evil. Sadness at how many lives had to be sacrificed before that freedom could be attained.

He was Fomorian once again and the godsblood within him was free of taint. He had a new god now, a new master to serve and that was just and right. He had much to atone for. His large frame rested against his Master’s central pillar and he breathed in the thick Aether present.

This place was strange and yet invigorating with levels of Aether he would never have expected from such a small area. His Crystal Core drank it in like a bottomless pit and Geckodo had to control it firmly so he wouldn’t take more than his share. The creatures here were almost as amazing as the levels of Aether. How they had attained such Aether Density without a Crystal Core was astounding. He wondered if the Dungeon even knew about them and then dismissed the thought immediately.

It probably didn’t. The Fae didn’t normally use them as they received power directly from the seeds they were born from. The Mother Tree supplied prospective parents with a seed with the goal of having it sprout. He had no knowledge of how they did it but he was sure each subspecies had their own methods that were passed down through the ages. He was pretty sure that was how they got their inheritances too.

So no Crystal Cores, which meant his shattered one was all the Dungeon had to go on, and even now that it was fixed Geckodo doubted the Dungeon would look too hard until it had a reason to. So he would have to bring it to the Dungeon’s attention. There was no reason not to when his new god would benefit so much from the knowledge. That could wait a moment longer though. Neither he nor his new god were going anywhere anytime soon. So Geckodo leaned back against the central pillar and breathed, content to no longer be a Warmeister of the Fallen but Chieftain of the Risen.

POV Valterra Unok’Davaas

Your “Savage Mink” is ready to evolve!

Please choose from among the following evolutions:

Feralclaw Marauder (Rare)

Doubling down on its savagery, this mink has evolved into an entirely new species dedicated to its aggressive lifestyle. It is now a scourge upon the forests it calls home and a roaming terror to those who have the misfortune of stumbling upon its path. Its only purpose is to indulge itself in the hunt.

Embermaw Mink (Rare)

Having feasted on the Aether of an entity of fire, this Mink has had its savagery sated and replaced with something more hungry still. It has embraced the flame and kindled a fire within its very soul. No longer is it semi-aquatic and it is now an anathema to the forests it calls home.

Slipstream Mink (Rare)

Larger and more powerful than its lesser evolutions, this mink is the terror of the streams and lakes it calls home. With a growing water affinity, this evolved mammal has the ability and inclination to live a fully submerged and aquatic lifestyle. It does this by utilizing its water affinity to pull breathable air directly into its body from the surrounding water, allowing it to remain submerged for hours. Building dens wherever it can along the banks of waterways, the Slipstream Mink travels constantly to find enough prey to satiate its hunger.

Valterra looked over the options for his Savage Mink’s evolutions. They were all decent in his eyes, providing something new to his Dungeon or adding to what was already there. The Feralclaw Marauder would provide an overall upgrade but it would also transform its species into something else entirely. Valterra wasn’t sure what to think about that.

The Embermaw was something he was very interested in as it would pair nicely with his new mantis evolutions. Perhaps he would even be able to build a fire-inspired floor later. Perhaps in the boiler room of the house. He mentally checked the area and the strange flame that continued to burn in the room. There was something about it that still tickled his senses but he didn’t have the time to explore that feeling right now.

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The Slipstream Mink seemed like a return to the Mink’s original evolutionary path with a large enhancement. While semi-uninteresting it would give him another creature to use in his water floor, potentially making it even more deadly and adding competition with the whale pod.

Every option was enticing and something he didn’t yet have but his choice was made easier by the fact that only one was truly unique. He chose the Embermaw. The reason for this was simple. The Feralclaw and Slipstream were direct upgrades of the Savage Mink itself while the Embermaw seemed like an option made available because of the recent invaders. If Valterra could only choose one then he would choose the one he might not get again. Considering there was only one Mink that had accumulated enough Aether to evolve, he would have to wait to find out if there were other options.

The final evolution he looked at was another one of his unique creations. The Deeplight Stalkers.

Your “Deeplight Stalker” is ready to evolve!

Please choose from among the following evolutions:

Error! Due to the Core’s reaction to the Danian Ant evolutions the System will now engage the Helpdesk in formatting new evolutionary paths for Unique creations. Only one path may be created for each individual creature that is evolving. Any evolutionary paths created will be added to the overall Tree of Evolution for that Unique creation. In future evolutions for this particular creature, the Core may choose to use an existing Evolution or create a new one.

“Hey there nephew. I figured this would happen eventually and put in this option for you. You have reached the point where you are actively manipulating your creature’s evolutionary paths, at least the ones that don’t have much divine influence. Normally, a Dungeon would have to be much older to even have one Unique creature, much less the number that you have, but that is as much our fault as it is yours. That being said, you should have some decent choices to make within this creature’s Evolutionary Pool to get your creature to the next level of rarity. I can’t wait to see what you do with it.”

- Krat’Imos

Valterra’s eyes widened at the System message before giving his impression of a smile. Now he knew why his mice were so different from the rest of his Unique creations. It was because Ile’Fen was much more involved with their whole “Tree of Evolution” than he had previously thought. Now that he knew how much potential went into even one Schema he was again humbled and grateful that the High Spirit would spend so much effort and time to give him such defenders.

Let’s get started then, Valterra thought. He dove into the helpdesk and found the Evolutionary Pool of his Deeplight Stalker waiting for him. It was a strange substance with so many factors that it made his Core feel dizzy. As he slowly sifted through what he was seeing he realized that he was looking at all the different factors that made up his creature. Most were features from the Jeweled Skitterer and the Phoenix Cockroach waiting to evolve further.

To his interest, he found that the cockroach’s wings were an option, and immediately an idea came to him. He quickly moved into the flood of information once more in order to see if it could be done. To his surprise, although perhaps it shouldn’t have been, he found that the Schema was even more malleable when about to evolve than it was normally. It also used the creature’s own stores of potential which Valterra was again surprised to find that it had a small amount available.

Valterra chuckled and got to work. He reinserted wings upon the Stalkers and made them larger while making the body a tad smaller and more streamlined. He made the legs shorter but even sharper so that they would be able to use all six to pierce and stab their prey as well as to cling to walls. He had to use the majority of the Evolution Pool to make the wings big enough and strong enough to carry the large insect. He helped that along by creating four of them in a similar way to his Danian Ants. Two larger ones in the front and two smaller ones towards the back.

Looking it over Valterra was both satisfied and apprehensive. He didn’t know if his changes would be enough to push it up in rarity. It was what he wanted, however, so he spread what was left of the Pool, making it overall stronger and faster before releasing his grip on the Evolution.

New Evolutionary Path synthesized from an existing Schema during Evolution! The Schema “Deeplight Stalker” may now evolve into the following Schema:

Deeplight Swarmer (Unique- Rare)

A Unique Evolution of the Deeplight Stalker, this creature has evolved to have wings with which to take to the air. Large and heavy this insect hunts by using its caustic belch to cover and blind the enemy, after which it uses its spear-like appendages to carry away its semi-cooked meal. Quicker and faster than its size would make it appear to be, it is nonetheless easy to hear coming due to its distinct buzzing.

Valterra nodded to himself, satisfied. It wasn’t perfect but it would get the job done and he now had another rare creature to populate his Sixth Floor and deeper floors. It was also Uniquely his as were the other Deeplight variants. He had needed some help from Qual’Dorn with the first ones but he was pleased with how varied they were becoming. With more of them close to evolving he would be able to create even more variants to fulfill his different desires for giant bugs.

Having finished with the last of his evolutions he turned towards his final task before fixing his Dungeon. He had a certain guardian to bless.