by Okina Baba
That’s okay, yeah? It is?
…Heh, heh-heh-heh. I’m in the prime of my liiiiife!
This solves the conundrum of my once-terrible stats all in one go!
They’re still low compared with big game like the eel, but now I’m finally strong enough that a lone poke from the local small-fry won’t be enough to do me in!
All this time, I’ve had to assume that a blow from a single attack would be the end of me.
But now, finally, FINALLY I have respectable stats!
Heh, heh-heh-heh. Hee-hee-hee-hee.
This means I’m stronger than the sea horses in terms of stats—and even the monkeys—doesn’t it?
My skill levels increased a lot, too. Looking good, looking good.
Wait, Taboo went up again?!
Hey! What do you mean, level 5?!
Does that mean I’m halfway to maxing it out?!
If my prediction is correct, I’m pretty sure something big’s gonna happen if it reaches level 10.
Crap.
Well, it’s still only halfway. I’m okay for now. I think.
Let’s see, what else? I also gained a few new skills.
Rot Attack? Seriously?
By “Rot,” you mean that attribute, right?
The one that was way scarier than I expected when I Appraised it?
I can use that now? Damn, I’m talented.
The next unfamiliar skill is Silence.
I feel like I can more or less guess what that does, but maybe I’ll Appraise it just to be sure.
Yep. That’s what I thought.
Awesome! My ninja skills are on the rise!
Maybe I’ll be able to defeat things with a single ambush now?
There’s also a very strange skill situation here.
Spider Thread and Cutting Thread have disappeared. Instead, there’s a new skill called Utility Thread.
It’s probably an evolved form of Spider Thread, but where did Cutting Thread go?
Now I can add more attributes and stuff than with Spider Thread.
It looks like Cutting probably has the same effect as Cutting Thread, Impact adds the Impact attribute, and Shock adds the Shock attribute.
Impact just means a normal strike.
And apparently, Shock can briefly generate some sort of shock wave in the thread.
If an enemy touches the thread while it’s in that state, it’ll get shocked and take damage.
Man, if I weren’t in the Middle Stratum, this would be super-useful!
Ugh, I really wanna get outta here fast so I can try it out!
Anyway, I finished de-scaling the eel while I was checking all that.
Okay, time to see if this eel meal is the real deal.
Let’s take a little bite.
…It’s delicious.
The flavor is totally different from the catfish.
I’ll say it again: Delicious!
This time, when I evolved, I didn’t lose my SP.
Instead, it drained most of my Overeating stock.
That just proves that Overeating functioned perfectly.
Given that, as long as I keep building stores with Overeating, I’ll be fine even if I don’t have a bunch of food on hand when I evolve.
So I’ll just have to eat a ton so I can save as much as I can.
Judging by my previous amounts, it seems like I can stock about 100 SP per skill level, so right now I should be able to stock about 800.
Well, speak of the devil.
Now I can stock up even more!
Speaking of stocking, I suddenly have way more skill points than before.
I thought they rose by 20 per level, but I have 280 more than last time I looked.
If 60 of those came from leveling up three times, what’s the deal with the other 220?
Does evolution come with a bonus or something?
If so, that would explain why my skill point calculations didn’t make sense before.
Well, I’ll certainly take however many I can get.
I’ve got a whole 500 now, so maybe I can find a really good skill.
I’ll have to take a good look at the list of acquirable skills later.
Before that, though, there’s something else that concerns me.
My body shape has changed a little. I noticed as I was pulling off the eel’s scales.
The two legs in front, which used to be shaped like sharp claws, are more like thin scythes now.
And these sickle things happen to cut extreeemely well.
It took me forever to get the scales off that snake a while back, but this time, I made quick work of it.
I can’t cut the scales themselves, but I was able to slice between the scales and the skin.
Is it because my attack power went up or because these scythes are so sharp?
In addition, my body is black now. It was always pretty dark, but now it’s black for sure.
I’m telling you, it’s pitch-black! The kind of black that doesn’t reflect light at all.
I can’t see the rest of me, since I don’t have a mirror, but I’m guessing those are the biggest changes.
I don’t feel like my size is any different or anything.
But I bet there are some little details that have changed that I’m just not aware of.
So far, since I was sticking with the taratect species, my shape didn’t seem to change at all when I evolved.
But with this evolution, my species has changed.
If I could get a good look, I’d be willing to bet that there are lots of differences.
At times like these, I really wish I had a mirror. I can’t even find out what I look like.
As far as I can tell from moving around, though, nothing feels particularly off.
The overall makeup of my basic parts doesn’t seem to have changed much, so I should be able to move as usual without a problem.
I never really felt any bodily changes before evolving anyway.
So it’s a relief that I don’t seem to have changed much this time.
I guess these scythes are a pretty big change, though.
They kinda look like they’d make a noise like ka-shing! or something when you swing them around.
Come to think of it, they definitely bring the grim reaper to mind, huh?
The description of this species did say something about an “ill omen” or whatever, and now I have Rot Attack and stuff, so that makes sense.
I definitely still have a ninja-style thing going on, but in extreme cases, I could probably pull off the grim reaper image, too.
I’d better check in on the skills that leveled up, as well.
I’m always glad to see Herculean Strength and Sturdy improve.
That’ll add a bonus to related stat growth from now on, too.
My stats have definitely gotten a lot stronger, but they’re still pretty low compared with an opponent like the eel.
Let’s see… Poison Synthesis, Poison Magic, and Shadow Magic all leveled up, too.
I still can’t use the magic skills, but I do want to check if I gained anything for Poison Synthesis.
What? Wh-wh-wh-what’s this, now?!
I think I might’ve just gotten something really wild!
Poison Synthesis, the skill that’s worked so wonderfully for me here in the Middle Stratum, just took another huge step forward!
Oh man. I’ve gotta try this out right away.
So, I want to experiment with adding the Paralysis attribute to my Deadly Spider Poison.
I’ll see what
kind of effect it has as soon as I get a chance to test it out.
Ah, but Deadly Spider Poison will probably kill most enemies instantly…
Okay, let’s add the attribute to Weak Poison, too.
Next time I find an enemy, I’ll have to start by using this Paralysis-infused Weak Poison on them.
Aah, I can’t wait!
As for magic… Well, who cares? Not like I can use it anyway.
Huh? No, wait a minute. Can I really still not use magic?
My Parallel Thinking and Arithmetic Processing skills both rose quite a bit.
Doesn’t that mean I might be able to use Detection right about now?
It’s been a while since my last attempt, so I guess I’ll give it a try.
Huff… Whew. All right!
Detection on!
Gah! Hnnnngh! Oof!
Off!
Whew. That was rough.
But I was definitely able to endure it longer than before.
It takes all my concentration just to deal with it, but that’s still a big step forward.
So it looks like my approach wasn’t wrong.
It may be a while yet until I can really master it, but I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, maybe?
I’ve been wandering around in the Middle Stratum.
I’m pretty full after eating the eel, so it looks like I don’t need to worry about passing out from hunger or anything.
Since I don’t need to actively hunt for more prey right now, I can proceed at my leisure.
I’m feeling pretty good right at the moment. I can even deal with this stupid heat.
Ugh. The climate still sucks, though.
There aren’t any monsters around just now, so maybe I’ll check in on my skill point situation.
I got quite a few points with this evolution, so maybe I’ll discover a cool skill or two.
All the skills I’ve acquired so far have been killer except for Detection, so hopefully, I’ll keep lucking out.
So far, aside from increasing the level of Taboo, Pride doesn’t seem to have any drawbacks.
And even Taboo isn’t doing any harm at the moment, so really, it’s like there are no downsides at all, right?
Considering how crazy its effects are, the positives vastly outweigh any negatives.
Why I was able to get this skill for 100 points is a total mystery to me.
With these effects, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was worth 1,000 points, easy.
It’s probably too much to expect to find another awesome bargain like Pride, but if there are any skills that look good, I might as well take ’em.
There’s no point in trying to save skill points too much, after all.
These things really burn a hole in your pocket.
Saving up even more and waiting for the bigger skills to be unlocked seems incredibly inefficient anyway.
All right, Appraisal, do your thing!
First, I double-Appraise my skill points.
Then I take a look at the list.
Hmm. There are still lots of skills I can get for 100 points.
I haven’t taken any of them because they don’t look particularly important, but maybe I should try to raise my proficiency for some of them when I have some free time?
But I guess if I have time for that, I should spend it improving more-useful skills.
Ah, but wait, there may be some skills like Prediction that suddenly turn into something more useful when they evolve…
Hmm. I dunno.
Oh, but first, I should really take a look at the skills that cost more than 200 points, since I couldn’t see them last time.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I found one. A broken skill like Pride.
Another skill chock-full of mysterious terminology…
And then there’s that ridiculous, almost laughable ability.
Does this work by constantly consuming MP, or what?
I don’t know how much MP it uses, but does that mean you can keep attacking like a zombie as long as you have MP left?
I don’t get it. Sounds pretty freaky.
Well, I’m not gonna hesitate this time. Boop.
Yes, please.
<[Perseverance] acquired. Remaining skill points: 0.>
With Pride already under my belt, I no longer know the meaning of the word “retreat”!
I’ll take every one of these skills I can get!
Come on, Taboo or whatever it might be, do your worst!
Okay, I’m sorry. I definitely didn’t want you to do that much.
Man, so Taboo rose, just like I figured. Two times, even. Well, what’re you gonna do?
Letting it level up this way doesn’t seem like a good thing, but it’s not like I have any means of countering it.
So don’t insta-kill me or strike me with lightning or anything, okay?
Ugh, the worst part about not knowing is that it makes my imagination run wild, know what I mean?
More importantly, take a look at that title.
I’ve got no time to be standing around worrying! I gotta check out this title right away!
Uh-huh. I knew it. This is another one of those cheat titles.
My defense and resistance increased!
Both went up 100 points, so now my defense is 351 and my resistance is 380.
Man, really, what’s going on here? Isn’t this a little too much like cheating?
The fact that my resistance-type skills will improve more easily now is huge, too.
Since I specialize in evasion, I hardly ever get hit by attacks, which means my resistance skills don’t really change much.
But now this’ll compensate for that weak point. I’m pretty psyched.
How did I earn proficiency for the resistance skills I gained during my training, you ask?
My theory is that the proficiency of resistance skills for attributes that I possess get better every time I level, or something like that.
I mean, I gained Dark Tolerance without doing anything, so that pretty much proves it.
Yep. It makes sense, since I have Abyss Magic and all.
The other resistances I gained by using threads and stuff to injure myself.
I mean, if you knew you could gain a skill just by whipping yourself a little, anyone would do it. So that’s what I did.
Huh? What do you mean, that’s just me? C’mon, that’s not true. It’s totall
y normal.
I’m also intrigued by this “Evil Eye” stuff.
I waaant it.
I mean, with an Evil Eye–type skill or whatever, wouldn’t you get to say lines like “My right eye…it burns!” or “You’re already trapped in my illusion!” or whatever?
Man, I’d be like some kind of badass video game villain.
Ugh, I want it, but now I’m out of skill points!
Oh well. I’ll just have to hurry and level up so I can save more skill points for it.
Last but not least, I got the skills Heresy Nullification and Conviction.
Heresy Nullification seems to be the highest form of Heresy Resistance.
Heresy Resistance increases your defense against attacks that directly influence the soul, so I guess Heresy Nullification must cancel them out entirely.
So now, even if I run into an enemy that uses Heretic Magic or something like it, I should be just fine.
Wow. So it’s an attack that does more damage against guilty parties? The “nonresistable” part is pretty scary.
Hmm? Wait a sec.
Is this maybe connected to Taboo?
Like, the higher the Taboo level, the more damage you take?
That’s gotta be it!
Yikes, if anyone else has this Conviction skill, I’ll be in it deep.
Hmm, but this wasn’t on the list of skills obtainable with skill points, so…
If it’s a special skill that can only be obtained with a ruler title, maybe there’re only a few others besides me who have it.
This is all wishful thinking, but I hope it’s true.
If so, then I’ve got a pretty valuable skill here.
But this reminds me of that Hades skill. I bet I can’t even use it.
I give it a shot, but nothing happens.
It might’ve just misfired because I didn’t have a target, but I get the feeling that I just can’t use it at all.
Well, even if I can’t use Conviction, this was still a net positive.
Sure, Taboo went up again, but I don’t see any way around that at this point.
As long as I don’t die instantly or run into any “game over”–type scenarios like that, I’ll just have to accept whatever the penalty is.
Man, though. My stats improved a ton, and so did my skills.