Chapter 18 - Evolution.

Sebastian blinked his eyes open only to see the darkness purged away again, now it was replaced by beautiful rainbow lights illuminating the surrounding.

He was now in some sort of clouds. He tried to turn his head and observe more, but he was surprised as his system's words were suddenly projected before him on the clouds in a blue screen.

Despite the words already being projected before him, the system was not negligent as it still diligently told them to him.

[Host's evolution process has started. You have only 30 minutes to contemplate and make the choices that you want for your evolution route.]

[Due to you having reached the threshold of level 5, you have unlocked a few new main perks of the system.]

[Main system store has been unlocked for host's use.]

[Evolution system store has been unlocked for host's use during breakthroughs.]

[Lottery wheel has been unlocked for host's use. {Terms and conditions apply for usage}.]

[The Evolution system store is currently available for host's use. Your remaining evolution time- 29: 47.]

[Make your choices.]

Sebastian originally wanted to take his time and explore but on seeing the time that was slowly counting, he put all those luxury thoughts away and started groping around wildly.

After a few pokes and pushes, he finally got a hang of the evolution process a bit. He hesitated. "System, show me the evolution store and my options".

[Affirmative! Evolution system store has been actively accessed.]

[Host evolution options are as follows:]

- Teenage Great White- Shark.

- Mature Hammerhead Shark.

[Host skill options for current evolution route: Bite; Swim; Dash; Sharp Dorsal Fin; Tail Fin; Electroreceptors.]

[Host should choose any of the above options to decide on a personalized evolution route.]

Seeing this, Sebastian came to a realization. Before choosing, he decided to check his current attributes first. He checked the time first; after confirming that he still had time he ordered the system.

"Show me my status".

[Affirmative!]

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Name: Sebastian

Level: 5

Stats:

Speed: 1.3

Mind: 14

Constitution: 1.1

Luck: 0

HP: 25/25

Skill Points: 118

Adaptation Points: 256

[Skills: Bite Level- 5; Swim Level- 5; Dash Level- 3; Sharp Dorsal Fin- Level 2; Tail Fin- Level 3; Electroreceptors- Level 4]

[Adaptation: Map]

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Sebastian was not surprised seeing this. Compared to when he was just born into this magical world, he experienced some increase in his attributes, and his skills improved a lot too after repeated usage.

He also amassed a lot of skill points and Adaptation points during this period, he was not killing prey for the past 2 days for free.

After he joined the Leroy clan, that was when he noticed that whenever he leveled up, his attributes increased though only slightly.

Compared to the 2.5 power that he started with, he now had 2.8. It was a small increase, but it was something.

According to Leroy, these were just negligible increases, after he evolved that was when he would experience considerable growth.

"Give me the bite skill first". He decided to tackle his skill options first before tackling his evolution option.

His evolution route would determine what he became in the future, he had to be patient and thorough about it.

[Affirmative.]

His eyes didn't widen, but his mind ballooned in shock as he saw a lot of new forms that he could evolve his bite skill to, of course, he had to spend his skill points to purchase them.

He saw new forms such as Smashing bite; the teeth would be blunter but will carry much force for each bite. He saw others in the form of Shredding bite, Stabbing bite, and even Tickling Bite, the options were numerous.

He felt like a kid who came to a grocery store alone for the first time, his eyes just kept darting from one to the other in amazement.

Despite how numerous they were, he arrived at his choice almost immediately. "I choose the Magic Shredding bite".

As soon as Sebastian made his choice, instead of proceeding, the system rather took him to a slide that he's been anticipating since he found out about magic in this world.

[Before host can access the Magic Shredding bite skill, you need to purchase the magic mutation organ.]

[Magic mutation organ.]

[Magic type: Physical. Cost: 150 Adaptation points.]

[Magic type: Material or External. Cost: 170 Adaptation points.]

Material magic was the normal one that Sebastian was familiar with in movies. Mages hauling spells at opponents, something like that was the focus of the material magic type.

For the physical magic type, it was more focused on self-buffing but much more badass and complicated than that. It was the type that was used by battlemages, the close combat types.

Before starting his breakthrough, he already thought through all his choices and made his decision.

Flinging spells at opponents was exciting, but Sebastian was pretty sure that the power exerted by such spells when he was still low-leveled would be limited.

He trusted his own teeth more than any spells. Instead of flinging spells at opponents, why not empower his sharp teeth with magic to enable them to do the job better? He loved that better, close and personal.

There was the option to buy both types of magic organs at once, but the sheer amount of Adaptation points needed to purchase them both deterred him. Perhaps, he would buy the next one when he evolved next.

He made his move.

[You have purchased Adaptation: Magic organ- Physical.]

As soon as Sebastian purchased this, he finally had access to the full repertoire of evolution upgrades that were available for his skills.

New skills in this concept were basically upgrades for his old skills, his current evolution only gave him 3 slots for new skill purchases.

[You have purchased Skills: Shredding Bite, Triple Reverse Swim, Advanced Dash, Empowered Tail fin, Empowered Dorsal fin, Electroreceptors, Spike attack, Battering ram, Magic Teeth.]

[You have purchased Adaptations: Spikes, Hard Dense Skin, Vampire Teeth, Mana Conductor Coating, Magic Organ.]

The skills were as written, they were all empowered by magic. The shredding bite skill enabled him to power his teeth with magic, and it was more adapted to tearing enemy flesh apart.

The Triple Reverse swim enabled him to swim faster, and with it, he could perform back swims and lots of other water maneuvers.

The Advanced dash was a better version of the dash skill. The empowered Dorsal and Tail fin used the same logic, the electroreceptors were the same, it would become more potent as it would be empowered by magic.

The spike and battering ram attack were new skills, he's not used them yet but he was sure that they were as written. He decided to take them in consideration of the new adaptations that he purchased.

For the Magic Teeth, he was not sure yet until he saw it, but his gut feeling told him that it was probably like throwing daggers, but instead of daggers, it would be his teeth this time.

For his upgraded skills, according to what Leroy explained to him, he could only access the upgraded bite and swim skills.

For the others, until he leveled them up to the max level of 5, he couldn't make use of their upgraded versions. Despite this, he still bought their upgraded versions in reserve for the day they finally leveled up to the max.

For the new adaptations that he bought, unlike skills, they were more like mutations to his body. He didn't know how they would be, he felt anticipation to see his new look after all these adaptations.

He got the inspiration for the spikes adaptation after the peep he got into his family home. For the hard dense skin, it was a tougher skin that would grant him significantly more defense.

The Vampire teeth were as written; when he bit into opponents, they would start losing more health points passively as time went on.

His magic organ, according to the system's description was like his second heart, but it would pump mana into him instead of blood.

The mana conductor coating was like a copper wire to the mana, it would enable easier and more efficient transportation of mana to any parts of his sharky body that needed it.

Honestly, he was practically shaking with excitement just imagining what he could do after all these new add-ons.

He still had some skill points and some adaptation points, but they were not enough to purchase other mutations and skills that he wanted, so he finally withdrew.

Checking the time, he was relieved that he still had 5 minutes. For his main evolution, he already made his choice before the option for purchasing adaptations opened to him.

[You have chosen your evolution route: Teenage Great White- Shark.]

[Would you like to confirm your choices?]

Sebastian did not hesitate. "Yes!"

His vision darkened the next moment like he was knocked out, the evolution finally began.