1 The Change
With the pitter-patter of the amazon rains the moonlight fluttered in through the thick canopy of the trees, reflecting off of the wet and shiny carapace of a small centipede. The small centipede scurried along the shadows of the forest as it entered into a decaying log, which was its humble abode. Every night it would leave it's home and hunt for prey such as spiders, earthworms, or other soft bodied prey, on some lucky days it'd be able to find itself a bird.
With this hunt he brought back a rather large spider which took it quite a while as the spider was very agile, however he finally managed to hunt it and brought it back as soon as he could before he started to chow down on its feast. It hurriedly chewed on the spider and ate as much as its stomach could hold before it went to rest, it took a lot of energy to hunt it after all.
As it flitted into a deep sleep, its surroundings were undergoing massive changes. Throughout the forest roars, screeches and earthquakes could be observed happening. Trees were toppled, large hills crushed. The entire topology of the forest was completely morphed.
This wasn't the only place undergoing changes, the entire world was undergoing massive changes whether it be the extremely violent earthquakes, skyscrapers toppling over, or animals' behavior turning violent.
This was a common scene across the world, it was a period of extreme growth, or evolution if you will.
As the night passed the earthquakes grew softer and eventually stopped.
Not long after the sun had begun to reflect off of the centipedes back did it begin to wake up, Its curled up body slowly unraveled like that of a coiled snake.
'Hmmmmm…'
A groan was heard in his mind. Shaking his head he realized he was hearing something in his head. He scratched his head with his foremost legs as best as he could but nothing worked.
'What is this? Who's Talking?'
[That would be you, host. We have given you the average knowledge of an adult human at the age of 25, as well as the stats of an average male at the age of 23, this increase in stats has caused your body to undergo many changes, such as a change in size and the ability to think properly.]
The centipede took a moment to look at its surroundings before looking at itself, its previous six inch size had grown to an astonishing meter long. He then looked around and saw a broken log that was his home before.
After looking around he felt a jolt in his mind, knowledge of various topics like etiquette, math, history, biology, and math were all put into his mind. His head felt like it would split as waves of piercing pains shot across his body, his body began to thrash around, creating craters with every impact.
After every piece of knowledge has been absorbed, his large body crashed to the ground with a dull thud. If centipedes had pores to sweat from, he would certainly be drenched.
'Please never let me go through that again.'
[That promise is unable to be kept, Host.]
'Again with this Host business, just what exactly are you?'
[I have forgotten to introduce myself, I am here to help you evolve and stand at the apex of creatures.]
'Help me evolve? Doesn't that take like thousands of years to make a change?'
[That is correct, but the natural method is slow and ineffective. I shall extract the beasts' bloodlines for you to strengthen yourself with. On the other hand you can store them and combine them with others later.]
'I see, it certainly sounds better! But other than all this talking you should be able to do much more, right?'
[If the host wishes to access the interface, you must give us a name.]
'A name?'
[Yes, something you wish to associate with us.]
After mulling it over for a few moments within himself he thought of one.
'I'll call you Life'
[System processing… System name "Life" has been registered. You may now access the interface by thinking of us with the word "Life"]
'Life!'
As soon as he thought of the word a screen appeared in front of his compound eyes. It was a pale gold interface with numbers on it. It looked very similar to the game windows he'd seen in the knowledge the system had given him.
'This is amazing'
In his eyes the screen showed his stats with a few tabs at the top he could click. His stats were as follows.
Name: N/A
Race: Scolopendra Gigantea (Giant Amazonian Centipede)
[Stats]
Strength: 1 {How heavy your punches are, how much you can lift.}
Vigor: 1 {How healthy you are, Poison resistance, etc.}
Agility: 1 {How fast you are, how quick your reflexes are}
Intelligence: 1 {How smart you are, How quick you can think, Mana utilization}
Constitution: 1 {The strength of your body, physical resilience}
'So the most average stats are 1?'
[Correct host.]
'There's three tabs at the top, what are those?'
[The tab with the question mark is the "Quest" section of the interface, it will give a varied amount of quests based on your current stats and abilities. Occasionally timed quests or event quests will appear.]
Stopping for a moment, Life then continued to explain.
[The tab with a double helix on it is the "Bloodline Storage" section of the interface. In this section you can manage and store the Bloodlines you acquire. And finally, the tab with a coin on it is the "Shop" section of the interface. It can only be accessed after the host has fulfilled the requirement(s): Acquire 5 Bloodlines or 10 points]
'So I have a status tab, quest tab, storage, and shop. Will there be anything else in the future?'
[Host must level up or complete certain quests in order to unlock more of the system.]
'I see.'
He nodded after hearing the information he'd been given. In order to get stronger he had to hunt and assimilate with bloodlines. He looked at the broken log before he began to scurry off with his large body.
'Well no time to dilly-dally then! We're off to hunt!'
He traced his routes to where he normally hunted for prey. Normally with his previous size, it'd have taken him around 10 - 20 minutes to get there but due to the changes in topography within the forest it had taken him around 40 minutes.
Along the way he found a few carcasses left by other creatures, some were torn, and some were corroded. It made him think about just how different some creatures evolved. When he asked Life if he could get the bloodlines from the carcasses he passed he got a blunt answer.
[Host can only gain bloodlines from creatures that have not begun to rot.]
It dampered his mood but it soon picked back up as he had arrived at the hunting grounds. It had changed a lot, the once plentiful trees that towered over him were now just a little less packed causing many areas to open up.
As he walked over to where he previously found a spider he noticed that the den was much larger than before but it was sadly empty with nothing inside.
'Looked like it also got much larger, this hole is about 2 meters large. If I do meet it would I even be able to kill it?'
As he had this thought a liquid dropped onto him, it was thick and viscous like that of syrup. As it settled onto his carapace a small amount of smoke appeared, alarming him greatly.
'Corrosion!'
He looked up, getting into a striking pose. And there he saw a giant 2 meter spider looming just 10 feet above him. It dropped down as soon as it realized it had been noticed.
'Damn spider! How did it even get a corrosive ability?'
As soon as it dropped, he ducked down and whipped the other half of his body at the spider. Causing it to be forced to land elsewhere, albeit ungracefully as its eight legs dug into the ground causing small trails.
'That serves you right you sneaky bastard!'
As he observed the spider he realized its abdomen was leaking a green fluid. And a thought appeared in his mind. Could he possibly be stronger than this giant spider?
[Host is indeed correct. Even though we've only given you the most basic stats, it altered your body in a way to get the maximum efficiency of every part. So even though the host looks the same on the outside, the host is very different on the inside.]
'So I can just bash it to death?'
His mandibles clacked together in anticipation as he looked at the injury he left on the spider. It wasn't a large injury in comparison to its size but since he had already made the injury he just needed to focus on it.
The spider's eight legs began to move as it sped towards him in a charge, its fangs bared and ready to pierce. When the spider got within ten feet of him he suddenly pushed his body down and dashed forward as well, before the spider could stop itself he was already under it.
As soon as he reached the abdomen of the spider he looked up, opened his mandibles and bit down as hard as his mandibles could. A large gash formed on the spider as blue blood seeped out of its wound.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE
A deafening screech resounded out as the spiders inner organs began to seep out. It began its attempt to retreat as soon as it realized it's been heavily injured. Realizing this he hurled his lower body once more to smack the spider on its head, with a loud crack the chitin on its head cracked as more blue blood seeped out of it.
The spiders eight legs began to thrash violently as it felt its life leaving its body, but its thrashing soon ceased. And with a loud thud it crashed on top of him, covering him in the blue blood.
'Dammit, how am i supposed to wash this off?'
He crawled out from under the spider and looked at his hunt, striking a pose a kind of pride filled him. Even though he had hunted spiders before it was still different to hunt on so large, and just as he was at the height of his pride he heard Lifes voice in his head.
[You have gained the Minor Bloodline of Amazonian Spider.]
'So it's an auto-extract?'
[Yes host.]
'What does the 'Minor' mean at the beginning of the bloodline?'
[Bloodlines are distributed into four ranks; The lowest is Minor which will increase a stat by 1-2 points at a time, which is what Host has just gotten.]
'I see, and after that?'
[The ranks above it are, Moderate, Major, and Superior. With moderate giving 3-5 points, Major giving 6 - 10 points and superior giving 25 points]
'Theres such a large increase in stats?'
[Hosts knowledge of bloodlines is lacking, We will explain.]
'O...kay?'
[Bloodline ranks are due to the thickness of its bloodline, the thicker the bloodline the heavier the modification it went through during the evolution.]
'And since all the spider really did was grow in size and learn to spit that corrosive stuff it had a thin bloodline?'
[Host is correct.]
'So then what would my bloodline be?'
[Non-existent.]
'Why's that?'
After asking he heard a loud ringing sound in his head, it only stayed for a few moments but afterwards Life's voice was heard again.
[We are unable to answer that question.]
Many thoughts appeared in his head all at once after he heard the ringing and Life's answer. However he realized he probably shouldn't delve any further and asked a different question.
'How do I access my bloodlines?'
[Host can access the Bloodline storage interface by thinking of word "Bloodlines"]
'Bloodlines!'
As he called out the pale gold screen appeared once more but instead of his stats there was a singular box with a label on it. It read "Minor Amazonian Spider" and under it another line of text read "Minor Agility Boost"
When he focused heavily on it another window appeared before him.
[Would you like to assimilate the "Minor Amazonian Spider"?]
[Yes/No]
'So if i think yes i'll assimilate it?'
[Host has selected to assimilate to bloodline, in approximately one minute the host will be transported to system storage to assimilate the bloodline.]
'Shit...LIFE!'
[Yes host?]
'Is there a way to turn off the assimilation?'
[No host.]
'Dammit… What happens when I assimilate a bloodline?'
[Host will be transported to system storage for the duration of assimilation, depending on how much of the bloodline you've already consumed cosmetic changes will occur. The duration of assimilation is two days.]
'There's a limit to the amount?'
[Yes, you can currently assimilate 19 of the "Amazonian Spider" bloodline without any major anatomical changes needing to happen.]
'I see-'
As he finished his sentence his mind blanked and he was left with a message.
[Host has been transported to system storage. Beginning assimilation. Duration...two days]
His limp body fell due to lack of consciousness and before it could hit the ground it vanished as if it were never there.
