Chapter 102: Time to spend EXP again

I found that eating rocks might've brought me EXP, but it didn't sate my physical hunger, and after this forceful evolution, it only grew stronger. A single critter wasn't enough to sate it, but I still had to put my EXP to use before I went to hunt again, even if my stomach protested.

So I did that in a hurry.

Most of my EXP was eaten by levelling up 'Frost Wind Claws'. To level up a single ability with base cost of 1 EXP from level 15 (or close to it) to level 20 cost approximately one million EXP. If the base cost was higher, I had to multiply it by the number.

'Frost Wind Claws' had base cost of 22 EXP, which meant that even the huge amount of it I got from the magic rock wasn't that huge when you thought about it. But it was worth the cost—when I got my upgrade, there was an option I just had to pick immediately.

As a result, I could now throw my wind claws from my fingers, turning them back into wind blades—except, much more precise ones than the original wind blades were, and much more deadly now that they were at level 20. And of course, since they were magical from the start, my wind claws grew back on my fingers in the next moment, ready to be thrown again.

The resulting ability was called 'Detachable Frost Wind Claws'… The stupid name was the only bad thing about it.

The next on my list, and the next expensive (it had a base cost of 5 EXP, so five million to upgrade) was 'Battle Trance'. It gave me a small, but nice boost in combat, and was the only way I could increase my overall battle performance faster than grinding up stats. Of course, I got it up to level 20 for the sweet upgrade. This time, the choices were so puzzling that I had to pick at random again, just like the first time I upgraded this ability. As a result, the ability changed into 'Steel Soul'.

Souls. Mine didn't feel like it was made of steel at the moment—it still felt more like an open, oozing wound. Without a fight to test this stuff at, I had no idea what it could do. Just concentrating on the ability didn't do much. Maybe I needed some special state of mind to activate it, just like with the original battle trance.

The next on the order of expensiveness was 'Steel Web Spinning'. This one was even more interesting. I had, from what I assumed from the names of upgrades, an option to change the material the webs would be made from somehow, or learn how to make them transparent. Since I didn't understand the mechanics or details of the first upgrade, I chose the latter, and now was an owner of 'Invisible Web Spinning' ability.

I still could make my webs visible and white, but I also could make them different shades of transparent, to the point where they were completely invisible. They had less smell to them, too, I noticed.

And the last and the cheapest, one that I spent my last two millions on, was 'Liquid Malleability'. I thought about switching it back to 'Auxetic Malleability' before doing so, but decided against it. The additional defence from auxetic upgrade wasn't worth the convenience of being able to hide my wings under my clothes or, if I really wanted to, flatten my snout so much it fit under a flat mask… Though it made it hard to breathe.

I wasn't disappointed by my choices. At the end, I picked the upgrade to 'Form Shifting'. It was a telling name. Now, after some effort to adapt—and it certainly was effort, because with each move towards the liquid slime state it became physically harder to not be a slime all the time—I could change the form of my body without restrictions at all besides my size.

It was a real shapeshifting ability. I could imitate monsters and animals I've seen before: wolves, goats, snakes, centipedes. The only things I couldn't change were my colouring, my transparent skin and my abilities. Even if I took a form of someone with carapace, my skin stayed soft and vulnerable. I could still use the abilities I had in other forms, though.

In the end, my humanoid form was the most convenient overall if only because I was used to it, but the possibilities that opened to me now were so many I didn't know where to start. As a snake or something snake-like, I could slither into any hole, for a start, and there were many holes in caves.

Evolving took me a full day, even though I didn't spend as much time thinking about my options as I could've. I crawled out of my cave ravenous and parched, and a few critters that stuck in my webs felt like a light snack that only whetted my appetite. I needed to eat something big, to feast on its flesh and blood.

I sniffed the wet and chill air. An old scent of a beast drew me on. The track was old, but there was still a chance to find something on the other side of it. My legs soundlessly drew me on. As I passed, I noticed another etching on the wall. Now that I knew about the human settlement, I suspected it was their doing.

The meaning of the etching still was hidden from me, though, so I ignored it. I could hear no humans nearby, and scented no trace of them. Instead, I caught another scent, also a familiar one. Similar to that of an insect, but also to that of a mammal—a strange blend with a unique musk that belonged only to bugmen.

Well, well, well. I wondered if the bugmen around here drank the rainbow water. I wouldn't be surprised if humans deliberately cut them off if they could. That what I would've done. Well, I would've taken the crystal out of the water and took all its power to myself, but that was another story.

The point was, I had something to hunt now.