Sanguine Paradise

Chapter 8: [Day 3] – “Evolution”

Day 3

Finally managing to come a bit more out of my stupor, I used appraisal on the smaller of the two dire wolves currently wreaking havoc amongst the stowlers.

-Appraisal!-

[Profile: Ebonwood Dire Wolf]

Name: "???"

Race: Ebonwood Dire Wolf

Sex: Female

Rank: ???

Level: ???

Health: 620/620

Stamina: ???

Mana: ???

[Attributes]

STR - ???

VIT - ???

AGI - ???

DEX - ???

INT - ???

CHR - ???

WILL - ???

MAG - ???

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - ???

Traits - ???

Titles - ???

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - ???

Mag. Resistance - ???

Men. Resistance - ???

Oh, a female. Are these two wolves mates?

It seemed they had a lot of coordination in their hunting strategy, and it would make a lot of sense if this is how dire wolves hunted; in pairs that is. I dismissed the prompt as I drew my attention back to the fight between the male dire wolf and the alpha stowler. I was a bit surprised to see the alpha stowler still standing and alive, although completely raked and bloodied.

Looking at the wolf I also noticed that the right leg of the creature seemed to have blood on it, and it wasn't the stowler's since it was slightly flowing and leaking new blood, obviously caused by one of the stowler's attacks.

Damn, it's not an alpha for no reason, being able to take a stand and even wound that monster of a wolf.

But my appreciation didn't help the stowler still very bad situation as the dire wolf performed a series of actions that completely baffled me. As it was charging at the defending alpha, it displayed its intelligence with it suddenly sidestepping the overgrown cow, causing it to be thrown completely off guard.

Reaching the flank of the alpha stowler, the dire wolf used its momentum while clamping down with its massive jaw around the right hind leg of the beast. Coupled with the force of the momentum and swinging motion of the dire wolf's body, the wolf managed to capsize the bulky alpha stowler all the way onto its back.

Laying on its back, the alpha stowler wailed in panic with a torn leg pointing straight upwards as it had become completely immobilized leaving it vulnerable. The male dire wolf didn't waste this opportunity and lunged instantaneously for its exposed throat.

Clamping down with savage ferocity, it growled menacingly as it tore off pieces of flesh with each succinct bite. It didn't take long before the alpha stowler's movements were reduced to slightly spasming its limbs in the after-death-throes as its throat and neck had become utterly shredded; almost decapitated.

Letting out an ear-piercing howl of triumph and domination, the male dire wolf returned to the remaining swamp stowlers already being expertly ripped apart by the female dire wolf.

Holy... fucking... shit...

At that moment I was unsure as to what exactly I felt after seeing such a slaughter fest. Of course, I had been terrified and scared shitless at the raw savagery on display, but upon seeing all of this I also felt something strange welling up inside.

It was a pure and unadulterated lust for power. The scenes of pure domination put on by the dire wolves had awakened something inside me. Clearing my head before any more thoughts of grandeur, power, and conquest invaded my mind, I started to consider what I was going to do now.

Now that my current food source had been destroyed, dismembered, and utterly slaughtered, I had to find something else to feed on. I only considered for a brief moment of unrestrained greed on trying to feed on the dire wolves but immediately shook that inane idea from my head since there is no way in hell that these incredibly intelligent creatures are ever going to let me simply feed off them.

I was currently quite big and very easy to spot for these creatures, the only reason that I could keep feeding off the swamp stowlers was because of how dumb they were. After all, they were just overgrown bovines with pointy horns.

I thought about diving deeper into the swamp and try my luck there, but that would probably end up as my last resort, to be honest. I was only on the outskirts of this monster-infested swamp, and that was already enough for me to encounter these giant wolves and stowlers.

Other than that I didn't doubt for a second that the rest of the swamp would be filled to the brim with those lizards and frogs, not also to mention other bug-eating creatures. So diving deeper into the swamp is pretty much a no-go for now.

Hmm, I could find a place back in the glade and evolve. If I do that I might be able to take on some smaller critters or maybe even a horned rabbit.

Yup - it's decided, let's do that.

Following that, I only gave one last glance at the blood-soaked dire wolves indulging in devouring the dead stowlers before I took off for the glade.

Tracking my way back the glade took me about half an hour, and I spent about another twenty minutes of flying deeper to be sure I wouldn't have any more surprise visits from other swamp-dwelling creatures. Spotting one rabbit and a few critters and the way, I got both a notification and also exactly what I had been searching for.

[Flight has reached LVL: 5 and can now be advanced!]

Fuck, yeah! One of my most important skills, plus more skill points! I'm going to look at this more after I evolve since circumstances about what I would be needing might change once I evolve.

As for the thing I had found, it was a large and very compact acacia-like tree. In the top of the tree where the branches split out to the sides, was a relatively big hole in between the parting branches. The splitting of the branches created a natural-made hiding place with walls all around; the perfect place for me to evolve without getting disturbed.

After checking for any unwanted creatures and not seeing any in or around the hole, I landed within it.

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Taking a breather from all that had happened over the last day I somewhat slumped onto the tree, resting on abdomen and thorax while checking a notification I had been putting off from back when I had managed to drink a bit of the alpha stowler's blood, and also a skill level-up I had gotten from appraising the female wolf.

[Siphon]

[You've consumed the blood of an (Alpha) Swamp Stowler]

[You're currently at the level threshold, no EXP will be rewarded]

[Stats have been added]

[Appraisal has reached LVL: 2]

Now to check my status before evolving.

-Status!-

[Status]

Name: "???"

Race: Lesser Sanguinite

Sex: Male

Rank: K

Level: 10/10

Health: 23/23

Stamina: 10/10

Mana: 0/0

[Attributes]

STR - 3

VIT - 6

AGI - 8

DEX - 5

INT - 13

CHR - 0.30

WILL - 12

MAG - 0.11

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - 7

Traits - 3

Titles - 0

Skillpoints - 10 2

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - 0.302

Mag. Resistance - 0.050

Men. Resistance - 5

Hmm, good I managed to top off my vitality with that last slurp.

Everything seemed to be in order, so I quickly went onto the evolutions.

-Evolutions!-

[Available evolution paths]

Sanguinite (Rare): Rank - I- / Primary ATTR - INT, AGI, DEX / Req - Bloodsucker race, Sanguinite species, STR - 2, VIT - 2, AGI - 6, DEX - 5, INT - 8

The rare and raw form of the Sanguinite race. Not specialized in any particular role within a sanguinite nest. Provides better evolutionary paths, such as being the only evolution of the sanguinite race that can turn into a Sanguinite Queen. Due to the high requirements, this is a rare race with additional benefits.

Sanguinite Drone: Rank - J+ / Primary ATTR - AGI / Req - Bloodsucker race, Sanguinite species

The main fighting force and gatherers of a sanguinite nest. Specializes in swarming and gathering sustenance.

Sanguinite Defender: Rank - I+ / Primary ATTR - STR, VIT / Req - Bloodsucker race, Sanguinite species, STR - 3, VIT - 5

The muscle of the sanguinite nests. Decked out with sharp bladed protrusions on their legs, included with their hardened carapace and superior strength, they defend the nest and their queen.

Sanguinite Laborer: Rank - J / Primary ATTR - DEX / Req - Bloodsucker race, Sanguinite species, DEX - 4

Constructures and caretakers of both the nest and the brood. Extremely weak in combat, but is able to construct hives with their molting gland located in their abdomen.

Wow, that's a lot of choices and I even got a rare one!

First and foremost the rare sanguinite seemed extremely enticing right off the bat. Not only did it seem pretty good in terms of power ranking, sitting at a solid I- rank, but it also provided supposedly better evolutions and/or increased options later on. The only reason I met the requirements was probably due to my human mind coupled with me taking advantage of the stat farm that was the swamp stowlers.

For the sanguinite drone and the sanguinite laborer, I could essentially already put kick them out of the race due to their subpar and lackluster descriptions; at least compared to the two other evolutions.

The last one, the sanguinite defender, also seemed extremely enticing with its promise of both power and increased combat-capabilities. But I realized quickly that ultimately if I chose this evolution I would be cutting myself short in the long run.

I was playing for the end game here, and I had decided to make something out of this new life I've been given. So I wasn't going to go with some quick and easy power in exchange for my potential. That being said, I chose the rare sanguinite evolution, but not before preparing myself mentally for the pain sure to come.

....

Stop shaking! goddamit... uh- I mean, I'm totally not scared of feeling that pain again...

Yeah... definitely not...

-SANGUINITE!!!- I practically shouted the command so fast it was basically a mumble rather than a coherent word.

...

...

Nothing happened, but oh-no, this time it wasn't going to fool me again, so I kept my mental eyelids shut tightly in anticipation as continued waiting.

...

...

Nothing still happened.

Huh? did I really do the command wron- AHHHHH!

MOTHERFUCKER. SHIT. AHH. WHY. WHY DOES IT NEED TO HURT SO MUCH-!

-FUCKITY FUCK-

...

...

15 minutes later

(Mental sobbing)...

...

(Sobbing)...

...

(Sob) (Sob)...

[Evolution completed]

[Race changed to Sanguinite]

[You've acquired two new skills!]

[Skill - Weak Slash, has been added to the skill list]

[ALERT - Due to your trait "Limit Breaker" and your evolution into a "Rare" race one of your new skills have been modified]

[Unique Skill - Blood Plague, has been added to the skill list]

Urgh, please. No more. No more. I can't handle another minute of this tortu- oh it's done.

Immediately jumping back up my legs, all traces of previous agony and pitiful embarrassment simply wiped clean from my mind as if it never happened. Instead, it was replaced with the greedy machinations of my mind starting to churn in anticipation of the prospect of my new skills and increases to my attributes.

Two new skills- whoop! And one of them is a unique skill!

-Although I don't know what that necessarily means for a skill...

Before delving into my skills, I wanted to first take stock of my new body, so I began twisting and turning to get a better look at my new and improved self.

I was slightly stunned by realizing my growth, as my body has changed quite a bit. First of all, my size had changed from a good 25-cm in length, from head to the end of my abdomen, to a full 40-cm! I was almost a half meter long mosquito - Fuck that's scary when you think about it.

Next, each of my limbs had grown significantly in bulk - plus my exoskeleton had also grown much more sturdy and thick.

On each of my two frontal legs, I had grown small claw-like appendages. On the bottom side of each claw, there were three small but pointy spikes that were also bladed on the sides. I could deduce from just looking at them, that I could use them for not only slashing things but also hooking myself into objects, or people...

Lastly, it would seem that my shade of color had also changed quite a bit. From when I had been a glade mosquito, I was simply black while my body being somewhat transparent in certain places. When I had changed into a lesser sanguinite I had adopted a more solid and pitch-black shading in some places, with a bit of a blood-red tinge to the mix.

But now my whole body had turned a balanced blend of a blood-red crimson-ish color and solid black, with the opacity of shading changing in certain places. For my abdomen, it was a bit more light and transparent compared to elsewhere, and when I stretched it a bit, I saw some lines that glow a faint red, reminding me somewhat of runic patterns.

The rest of my body followed mostly a black-red scheme. I looked a lot scarier now, but I wouldn't deny that it did look kinda cool. Anyways, now done with the physical inspection of myself I went on to the more juicy parts of my evolution - my stats!

-Status!-

[Status]

Name: "???"

Race: Sanguinite

Sex: Male

Rank: I-

Level: 1/20

Health: 39/39

Stamina: 15/15

Mana: 0/0

[Attributes]

STR - 3 6

VIT - 6 9

AGI - 8 12

DEX - 5 8

INT - 13 14

CHR - 0.30 0.60

WILL - 12 13

MAG - 0.11 0.30

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - 7 10

Traits - 3

Titles - 0

Skillpoints - 2

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - 0.302 0.855

Mag. Resistance - 0.050 0.139

Men. Resistance - 5 6

Fuck yeah! that's what I'm talking about.

All my stats had gained a substantial increase.

Huh, how come my magic power attribute rose so much? Before it seemed like it was rising abnormally slowly, even when I had evolved the first time. Eh, doesn't matter right now, magic seems to be a little different in the world - at least from what I would have imagined it to be.

Seeing all this made me giddy, as for the first time since coming to this world I finally felt like I could fight something and not be turned to bug-splat in the process. The last thing on the list of things I needed to check was my skills, so I quickly pulled them up.

-Skill list!-

[Skill list]

-Appraisal- NEW

LVL: 2

Appraises a target and creates a profile. The amount of information is determined by the skill level of the user and the difference in power between the user and target.

-Blood Plague- NEW

LVL: 1

<----------------------------------------???---------------------------------------->

-Blood Profiling-

LVL: 3

Consumes the blood of biological creatures to create a profile on the creature.

-Flight-

LVL: 5 - MAX (Advance)

Enhanced speed and maneuverability.

-Heat Sensitive-

LVL: 2

Allows the user to better detect heat sources.

-Hiding-

LVL: 4

The basic level of hiding makes it harder for creatures to notice your presence and form.

-Muffled Flying-

LVL: 2

Reduces the sound produced by flight.

-Greater Puncture-

LVL: 1

Increased penetration.

-Smell-

LVL: 3

Enhanced smell capabilities.

-Weak Slash- NEW

LVL: 1

Slashes the targets with the bladed appendage of the user.

Huh? My new unique skill has no description, or rather it's hidden for now.

Seems like I'll have to figure it out on my own.

Let's advance my flight skill n-

I cut myself off as a very pungent odor assaulted my senses all of a sudden.

[Smell has reached LVL: 4]

The scent seemed strangely familiar in two ways. The first way that it seemed familiar was that definitely from the blood horned rabbits.

But hmm... what else is making this scent so familiar? My mind began to wander and suddenly stopped when thinking back to the slaughter of the swamp stowlers.

The second familiarity was - carnage.

Putting the skill advancement on hold, I began flying towards the scent to investigate. The closer I got, the more pungent the smell became. With my new flying speed having increased by a lot, it took me only ten minutes to arrive at the origin of the scent, even though I could tell that it was quite far away.

Upon arriving at the scene, a somewhat familiar sight entered my eyes.

Slaughtered horned rabbits everywhere.

If I were to guess, there would have been about twenty dead and bloody rabbits strewn about the thickets and bushes, while also coating the ground. Taking a closer look I noticed something strange about the carcasses of the horned rabbits. All of them were missing their horns, seemingly cut off. Some of them had even been split open, leaving not much left.

Flying closer to one of the corpses, but not too close in case whatever did this was still in the vicinity, I started to feel a sneaking suspicion crawl up the back of my mind. My suspicion was almost immediately verified as I looked onto the next corpse.

Embedded within the little furry creature's body - was a broken arrow.

Humans...