I reset my traps gathering a few more kills and quickly consuming them to gain a storage of biomass in case of emergencies adding around a hundred-and-twenty biomass to storage. As I reset the traps I saw the area was relatively clear of ants, they appeared to have withdrawn from this part of the grass jungle for now. My goal of acquiring heavy carapace to merge into my carapace mutation path wasn’t something I thought I could do here. None of the bug’s I’d come across looked like they even had what would be classified as heavy carapace.
The pill bug I’d killed was likely a good candidate for unlocking that biomorph. As soon as I was done resetting my traps, I moved out returning the area I’d killed the pill bug. They weren’t there and the corpse had long sense been dragged off by the ants after stealing it from me. Scouting the area I found a herd of pill bugs under a log feeding on the detritus under neath it.
Hovering midair something I was able to do after leveling up Toughness enough to where my stamina regeneration let me fly continuously as long as I didn’t have to do any complex aerial maneuvers like dodging. I began blasting one of the pill bugs with my venom the acidic poison burning through carapace to the vulnerable flesh beneath. The pill bug rolled up on itself but its health ticked down and I got the notification and XP for its death.
I dropped down and touched the pill bug to analyze it.
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<b>Would you like to absorb Oniscidea</b><b> Cryptus for the cost of 93 XP and all the creature’s Biomass?</b></td>
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I selected yes.
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<b>Multi-legs Unlocked! You now have access to the Multi-legs mutation path! Multi-legs not found, would you like to spend 300 biomass to grow this biomorph?</b></td>
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I frowned and selected no. I suppose the random biomorphs would not always be compatible or desirable. I had to wait for my venom charges to recharge as I tracked the retreating pill bugs. Once I was recharged, I took down another of the wood lice.
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<b>Level Up! You are now Level 18! 8 stat points available</b></td>
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I had a massive increase in stats per level since I had advanced from young adult to adult. Placing a hand on the wood-louse to analyze it I accepted the prompt.
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<b>Stone Covering Unlocked! You now have access to the Stone Covering mutation path! Stone Covering not found, synergy between Stone Covering and Praetorian Guard Carapace would you like to merge the two mutation paths?</b></td>
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<b>Yes/No?</b></td>
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I hesitated then selected no. I needed to fly and stone covering sounded like it might add a lot of weight to my carapace. I sighed and pursued the remaining three pill bugs. I blasted through the next one’s carapace leveling up my venom slinger another few levels and then the pill bug finally died.
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<b>Venom-slinger Level Up! Venom-slinger Level 28!</b></td>
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<b>Accelerated Flight Level Up! Accelerated Flight Level 25! </b></td>
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The gains to my Flight skill were slowing down but being able to constantly hover was steadily pushing it up. I dropped down and analyzed the wood-louse for the cost of one-hundred XP.
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<b>Food Sensor Antenna mutation path unlocked! Antenna found, would you like to add this mutation path to your antenna for the cost of 25 biomass?</b>The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.</td>
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<b>Yes/No?</b></td>
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The cost was so small that I accepted if. My antenna hurt like a son of a bitch but I needed to wait and let my venom recharge anyway. My antenna recovered and twitched and I could sense all the sources of food around me, most of it was just little things like aphids hidden in the grass but I also could smell the sweet tang of nectar up in the flowers above.
Jumping up into the air I flew after the fleeing pill bugs as they led me away from my usual hunting ground farther north. I began to blast the next wood-louse and burst through its carapace. I leveled up my venom-slinger making it easier to do even more damage in the future. It curled up and died as the venom ticked down its health bar to zero. Dropping down I analyzed its corpse for the cost of one-hundred-and-seventy-five XP.
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<b>Rot Gut mutation path unlocked! Error this mutation path conflicts with your Omnivore skill and will replace your current stomach if accepted and prevent the consumption of certain food types while unlocking new food types. Would you like to accept this mutation path for the cost of 50 biomass?</b></td>
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<b>Yes/No?</b></td>
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No. I selected it and dismissed the notification. So far pill bugs seemed to be a evolutionary dead end to me in terms of gaining new mutations. I followed the last remaining pill bug as my venom recharged then melted through its carapace and claimed another kill.
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<b>Level Up! You are now Level 19! 8 stat points available</b></td>
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<b>Venom-slinger Level Up! Venom-slinger Level 30! Skill Point available</b></td>
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<b>Accelerated Flight Level Up! Accelerated Flight Level 28! </b></td>
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I dropped down onto the top of its carapace and analyzed the last pill bug.
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<b>Segmented Carapace mutation path unlocked! Carapace found, would you like to merge this mutation path into your biomorph for the cost of 70 biomass.</b></td>
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<b>Yes/No?</b></td>
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Again it wasn’t Heavy Carapace but I sighed and selected yes. A horrible itching and burning covered my body I’d gotten used to, or at least I thought I had the sensation of my body mutating but this was on another level. I passed out and woke up a number of hours later.
“You stupid fuck,” I cursed myself. “Never mess with your mutations out in the open like that again something could have eaten you when you were passed out.”
My carapace did feel different, and I looked down seeing my carapace had changed. There were no longer any gaps in my carapace and there was a strange sensation over my body. I focused on the sensation, and it was like that of having a new muscle. Flexing the muscle the carapace around my head moved closing in around my face. My vision was somewhat obstructed by I had a visor and my face which had been a vulnerable gap in my carapace was now also covered.
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<b><u>Praetorian Guard Carapace</u> (Rare): The armor of a super-elite warrior of the hive that guards the Queen herself; designed to offer no impediment to movement and motion while providing maximum protection, its segmented joints and sections allow seamless coverage of the entire body and you to cover your face at will; hardened sections of the armor allow them to take harder hits in place of the Queen. Evolved to at will camouflage to match the surrounding environment.</b></td>
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<b>Reduces physical damage taken by 12% and then further reduces the remainder by 90-270. At the cost of 1 Focus per second your carapace shift’s color to match the environment. Damage reduction is increased with Toughness and the Armored Defense Skill.</b></td>
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My carapace now offered a damage reduction percentage as well as a flat damage reduction. I flexed the muscle in my neck again and my carapace retracted, clearing my vision again. While it was disappointing to have not gotten heavy carapace, I did level up several times and increase my skills for flight and Venom-slinger as well as get an unexpected upgrade to my carapace. I looked around where I was, I was far from my usual hunting ground but still near the fire ant territory, closer to their ant mound then the grass jungle was.
Taking to the sky to catch my bearings I surveyed the land around me. I spotted something strange, it wasn’t a natural structure or something made by insects like the fire ant mound. I flew towards the ruin and examined the dilapidated and burned structure. Blackened stones formed a ziggurat that rose above the plants around it crowding around its base and vines growing along it disguising its presence from a distance. The structure was abandoned and I wondered what had happened to its inhabitants.
I landed down and went into stealth, since coming to this world this was the first sign I’d ever seen of other intelligent life. I remembered my quest, Find a Mate, it was not likely to happen here but perhaps I could find something that would point me towards other people here.