Chapter 15: Chapter 15. Fun with Mutation

We interrupt this regularly scheduled dream to bring you a special Bulletin.

I had been dreaming, oddly enough, about electricity. Not just electricity, but photons, radiation, energy, dark matter, and a cute redhead goth anime waifu wearing glasses and a classic ‘sexy librarian’ outfit. I struggled to awareness, if not wakefulness, with effort. It was a fun dream right up until I hit a part where we were both standing on Alderaan, the waifu explaining what was going on, while the Death Star disassembled it.

My apologies, but you have earned an evolution! The pressure you are feeling is the advancement energy you have absorbed from the named dire rat. I expected to have a bit more time before you collected enough to evolve, but the creative uses of your abilities added to the death of that Chaos beast sort of kicked us over the edge.

How does that work, anyway? Advancement energy?

Based on Celia’s statements, I believe that the ‘resources’ the game was referring to could be most closely compared to life energy. People naturally create it when they improve themselves through education and training, mothers use it to create babies with a father’s help, and in a world like this, it is naturally released when you defeat a creature formed of unbound chaos.

Based on the linguistic connections in undercommon, it appears that every living creature, and some unliving ones as well, have things that they can unlock as they draw and use more of this energy. Many of those can be unlocked naturally, which is why the game uses attributes.

Some of those potentials, however, need a nudge in the right direction to unlock. On Earth, this untapped life potential often mutates into cancer, or simply manifests as a burst of rather insane and unlikely fortune. Whatever locked down energies on earth may have protected it from Chaos, but it also locked a thousand talents that humans could potentially manifest as well.

The clues from undercommon imply that this free energy is where the Game exists, using it to help people unlock their potential as they accumulate more, and freeing more of it, as well as gifting it for accomplishing ‘quests’ or ‘tasks’ of various sorts. I am having trouble finding a similar concept to link it to in your memories, as most of your personal energy concepts such as chi, mana, quantum, and the like already have corresponding energy types.

Mojo? I thought, curiously.

Yes. Have I mentioned lately that I love English? It’s so unbelievably contextual that it lends itself to creative poetry and philosophy. You should make an offering of learning to Lyric at a temple. She should reward you greatly.

I will do that if I ever get out of here. I thought testily.

Right. Well, most creatures have a large array of potential talents due to their bloodline, soul affinity, and personal interests, but in the common races, most of them are small and easily attained. Choosing one often blocks off the potential of others, which is why they have ‘classes’. This is an easily-defined set of talents that do not block each other off when their potential is unlocked. In the version of undercommon you were given, there are over 1200 known classes or ability trees of various rarities, many of which can only be unlocked by showing interests, facilities, or even achievements of certain types.

The uncommon races, monsters, and animals tend to have a lot more powerful unlocks based on their bloodlines, but they require correspondingly greater amounts of mojo to achieve. They do not have classes because of their flexibility, and the fact that many of the bloodline and soul talents are either automatic, such as an adult deer growing horns, or they lead to talent trees that are simply unknown.

You have several unknown soul and bloodline talents available, but we have tentatively named them in our dreams based on what they do. Your mojo is full, and you need to decide where it will be applied or it will take its own course, which could lead to negative evolutions, commonly referred to as mutations.

Geez, that sounds like radiation, with a comic book twist. You either turn into a giant green rage monster or you grow an extra head and your hands fall off.

That sounds like an appropriate metaphor, yes. Such extreme changes are not necessarily likely, but most uncontrolled mutations simply kill their host or have a less-useful effect, such as albinism or heterochromia.

Okay, let’s see.

I looked carefully at the list that was presented. It didn’t seem like a lot of options, but I imagined that since she called them trees, one option would open up the potential for another option.

Apparently, this was my adolescent evolution, and I could choose which of the two I would accept, as well as one more when I had chosen my evolution.

Beefy- an automatic evolution, beefy kobolds become small creatures instead of tiny, adding health, muscle mass, and improving their lifespan by ten years. Beefy kobolds are easy opponents for young adventurers rather than yard trash. They are considered adolescents and are slightly more capable of following instructions and combat tactics, as well as having improved minor regeneration.

Brainy- Brainy is not an automatic evolution, but is reserved for kobolds that are artificially enhanced via sorcery, or are made into familiars. This instills sapience and self-reflection and allows the kobold to manipulate energy directly rather than instinctively. Brainy kobolds are considered a highly dangerous challenge to young adventurers due to their innate cleverness combined with foresight and tactical acuity, if not for their physical prowess. Brainy kobolds that are not familiars are treated as abominations by most common races as they can develop in dangerous and unforeseen ways to become a true threat eventually.

“Let me get this straight. I have to choose one of these two, and then I get a real choice afterward?” I asked curiously.

Yes. You are becoming an adolescent kobold with this evolution, and you can choose which of those two you wish to take. Both will increase your size somewhat, but beefy opens up more physical evolution paths while brainy opens more magical manipulation talents.

“The thing is, I am already sapient and self-reflective. What do I gain from Brainy?”

Primarily, the ability to actively channel energy instead of using it as part of your innate talents. It will not allow you to actually cast spells, as such, since that requires an affinity with a magic type, but it should be possible to obtain additional magical affinities in the future if that is your choice. Beefy will open up additional manual affinities in the future as well, although it might take several evolutions to permit additional affinities because you already have four. If you had only one, a new affinity would likely be one of your evolutions, but there is a diminishing returns.

I sighed. I hated making choices like this without enough information. I wasn’t really that interested in becoming some kind of wizard, but it looked like magic was the only likely route to returning to human form. I was more comfortable with the idea of being bigger since that’s how I had grown up, but it was the default route to becoming a greater kobold and that wasn’t my end goal.

As far as being looked at as an abomination, well, Carolinus had mentioned that Antowyn Online apparently had a problem identifying me. That meant that only other monster races, the ones not directly tied into Antowyn Online, would even have a clue what I was, and I figured most of them wouldn’t care. This was about me, not them. If I could be identified by AO, that was a lot bigger problem than someone being worried about my potential to become an abomination.

“Let’s rename brainy as ‘energy manipulation’ since that’s all I am getting from it, and that’s my choice.

Done. You now have to choose a true evolution that spends your mojo. Your subconscious was actually expecting you to choose Beefy, but that would be more comfortable, but sometimes we don’t agree with our unconscious mind, so please excuse the looseness of the terminology.

Soul Evolutions:

Quirky- You gain improved emotional integration and can recognize obvious facial expressions without decoding. You gain the ability to recognize individuals more easily by their facial features and habitual gestures and lose some of the social penalties associated with your unique mind. This will, however, cost you some of your analytical ability and you will lose the fear-resistant trait. <Unlocked by Aneurotypical mind>

Tempus Fugit- You may extract temporal aspected essence from your core and use it effectively. This allows you to unlock time dilation from your soul space, reducing the endurance cost of performing physical activities under a time dilation effect. Using this ability has an increased chance of damaging your own body, however, as you can potentially strain your form in ways that exceed its natural limitations. <Unlocked by Subjective Compression>

Quirky was… interesting, but right out. I knew how my brain worked and wasn’t willing to give it up just to be normal. Tempus Fugit, on the other hand, was almost frightening. It implied that I could actually act while under the stress effect of being in the zone, rather than just using it to line up my thoughts and actions and suppress emotional outbursts. It wasn’t like some kind of cool time-stop effect, though, because I would still be tied to the laws of nature. It also had the problem of potentially forcing me into the actions I started while in the zone, which could change moment by moment in a real fight.

Definitely, something to think about, but I wanted to see what else was possible. Also, I never saw ‘aneurotypical mind’ on the character sheet or its effects. It was sort of a handicap and a boon, I had to ask myself if I wanted it on there or not.

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Bloodline Evolutions:

Weapon sense- Anything you pick up can be used as a weapon and you quickly become familiar with its handling characteristics. <unlocked by Salvaging and Physical Affinity, and watching lots of Jackie Chan Movies>

Improved natural weapons- Your claws and teeth become larger, sharper, and more damaging. Physical compensation improving your ability to use them in a fight will also occur. <Unlocked by Physical Affinity and being a kobold>

Frosty- Ice kobolds that are exposed to frost aspects have a small chance to naturally develop the frosty evolution. This increases the cold resistance to 100% unlimited by power level, and cold affinity to 250%. Frosty kobolds can manipulate frost aspects to protect themselves, create cold breath, and damage anyone that touches them without at least ice kobold levels of cold resistance. Frosty kobolds are considered a dangerous challenge to young adventurers that do not use ranged attacks. <Unlocked by Frost kobold>

While the idea of having better weapons was interesting, I was still going to be small for a while. And I had to wonder about how more inhuman ‘compensations’ to allow me to bite and claw more effectively would make me. “Nem, could you modify the list a little and remove anything that is going to make me more monstrous?”

Done. 12 Bloodline evolutions removed.

Channel Evolutions:

Energy aspects- This increases your ability to handle and produce unusual energy types. This will make you a more useful energy siphon. Turn yourself into a magical battery! <Unlocked by Channel>

“For the time being, also put a pin in anything that’s going to make me a much bigger target for someone that might want to use me as a power battery. Don’t remove them, but I want to wait until I am better at defending myself before I put a giant target on my back.”

Done. 17 bloodline options were placed on hold. Unless you still wish to retain the options that would simply make you a more desirable slave and can be useful to you as well?

“Yeah, leave those in the lineup. All Kobolds apparently make desirable slaves. I am not going to cripple myself just to avoid the assholes that think they can turn a profit.”

Element Separation-This allows you to separate types of materials based on various factors as you manipulate them with your claws. This can allow you to extract nearly pure metals from their ore, trim out knots from wood, separate gemstones effortlessly from their matrix, and even claw apart types of metal. <Unlocked by stone claws and imbue>

There are several sensory and attack and defense enhancements as well, but they will make you noticeably more monstrous. Non-obvious enhancements generally require more magical evolutions.

Magical Evolutions:

Transference- You can intentionally transfer your own energy, or the energy of other things, into an object to enhance its natural characteristics. <unlocked by channel and imbue>

This technically puts a bigger target on your back, but it’s not obvious and would allow you to place temporary enchantments on things, like making your claws affect more than just wood and stone, increasing their efficiency, improving your armor, making food more nourishing, enhancing health potions, and the like.

Most Affinities come with significant initial advantages, yours do not. You have been relying almost exclusively on your hard-won skills and abilities. While I find this laudable, Everyone in this world USES their magical advantages regularly, even animals. You might wish to consider doing the same in order to level the playing field, they belong to you, after all.

Noted. I thought. If you are in a gunfight, you use a gun if there is one available. It does not make you less of a person to use available tools. Transference looked like a potentially decent gun.

Lesser Golem- You can use your affinities to assign temporary attributes to an object that does not normally possess attributes. This is useful for creating golems, self-activating traps or machines, or tools capable of responding to your will rather than solely your hands. Please note that the quality of action is based entirely on the quality and utility of the object in question. Bodies may be animated, as they are already well-designed tools, but they are not undead and you may gain the unearned stigma of a necromancer. <Unlocked by mechanics and imbue>

Blend- You may blend together different stone-based elements, in varying amounts, such as copper and corundum, to create various gemstones, or iron and carbon, to create steel. <Unlocked by mechanics and stone claws>

The memories of your skills won’t be linked well until you use the skills, although you are in a unique situation. If you truly intend to become a member of one of the common races, many of the evolutions more closely resemble class bonuses, which common races have access to. They will burn through an evolution with minimal effective bonuses. Would you like me to place a pin in them as well?

I nodded to myself, still asleep, and then said “Yes, please. The idea of a class isn’t exactly foreign to me. Evolutions should be notable. Some of them I really want, but I might be able to wait on them if they are not shut down by another choice. I guess you already know that both transference and lesser golem have my intense interest. Does one shut down the other?”

No, I tried to avoid any that would close avenues that both your consciousness and subconscious are intensely interested in. I also didn’t mention those that were intensely dead-end, such as tunnel rat which adapts you more fully to tight underground environments and allows you to eat and defecate stone instead of shape it.

Might I strongly suggest that you consume the remainder of your food supplies and several liters of water before you return to sleep and I can apply the evolutions? Brainy will require less mass than beefy, but will still place a considerable drain on your bodily reserves, but the chances of spontaneous mutation are too high currently if you take the time to eat the elite’s corpse, not to mention that the empowered meat would increase your already overfilled energy reserves.

I woke up, ate dried fish, and drank water until I was overfull. Nothing had seemed to approach the corpse while I was napping, and I wondered if it had a territory it controlled and kept competitors away from.

“I think, maybe, Brainy, or energy manipulation, and Transference.

I settled down and closed my eyes, I sort of wished I could use take blend because so far I hadn’t actually seen any steel, which is quite possibly the most useful mineral on Earth. Separation also offered the potential to create stuff that was hard to smelt, like aluminum. I needed to think in the short term though. I would evolve again, and those abilities would be available later… and the ones I had chosen had a lot of potential applications.

“Can an evolution ability like transference be used to simulate other evolution enhancements?”

Of course. There is a lot of overlap. If you can determine a way to achieve the same thing with an existing evolution that would normally be unlocked by an evolution, you will receive that as an ability, not an evolution. Sometimes these are temporary, such as using transference to harden your own skin and scales instead of gaining armored form, and sometimes they may be permanent.

Please be patient. Undercommon has many words to describe this process, but it’s still a job for your subconscious. As you grow, you should be able to contain more energy before being threatened with mutation, so the current rush is unlikely to repeat itself and you should have a better chance to prepare yourself for evolutions in the future.

“How long is this going to take?” I tried to say, but it didn’t really get out before I was so deeply unconscious that it went past sleeping and dreams.

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