Chapter 19: Magical emanations

Ethan awoke again with a splitting headache that soon faded, the information settling in. "Ah, you survived. Good. We were running out of time, needed to expedite the process. A more direct infusion of lord Zaggoth's essence will give you a decided boost to your evolution's power as well as some other surprises later on. This will help you get a leg up on the competition." Hiamel finished spouting off. "Not only that but your mana is now fully awakened, now you can begin to use your mutation magic."

Ethan wanted to be upset, but Hiamel wasn't wrong. They were running low on time and not only that. Ethan could feel the power flowing through him. His form now had small spurts of green and black energy that showed off of him from time to time.

"I feel... power... unrestrained power... I need to try this out.. I need to see what I am capable of." Ethan thought to himself.

" I understand why you did what you did, but the next time you do something like that again. I will kill you. I will not let anything get in my way. " Ethan said with a cold predatory tone that sent shivers down Hiamel's non existent spine.

With that Ethan stood and immediately minions spawned. "Now to practice with mutation magic. The best way is with a fight." Ethan began making his way to the center of the desert area where the bigger monsters lie. "I want to fight something with teeth," Ethan said to himself with a chuckle.

The area that Ethan was in before was closer to a Savannah. Now? It was closer to an environment similar to the Gobi desert. Endless sand dunes and sparse trees from time to time. "This is where the big boys play huh?"

Ethan thought to himself.

Just at that moment, Ethan would get what he came for. He saw a large camel-like monster eating smaller monsters that it dug out of the ground. But in the distance was the real prize, a dorsal fin surfaced in the sand in the distance.

It was covered in rock-like armor, and as it got closer to the camel it dropped down below the surface and then re-surfaced in a cascade of sand that did little to obscure the size of this monster... it was a massive land shark. It breached with the camel in its mouth as it chomped down and bit the camel in half and quickly ate both bites before crashing back down into the sand and disappearing.

"Now, that is what I am talking about.... But how to get it. I can't get to it when it is submerged like that. Not only that, it only breaks through when it is taking down prey. I definitely don't want to fight it head on. That would be stupid. Wait... food!" Ethan had an idea, it's a crazy idea but it might just work.

Ethan skulked away slowly, methodically through the drifting sand. As he slowly traveled so that he did not alarm his prey. The camel monster that he saw earlier, it was obviously a choice prey item for the sand sharks. This worked for Ethan's plans. "Finally!" Ethan had spotted one of the camel monsters. Its giant tusks jutting out of its mouth as drool dripped down as it dug for small monsters hidden in the sand. The thing was covered in sandy shaggy fur, it was at least 10 ft tall and 16 ft long. "Perfect, now to acquire my... bait."

Ethan summoned his swarm-lings and burrowed himself into the ground 100 feet away not wanting to give away his position. With that, Ethan began channeling his mana into his swarmlings. Making his first tentative moves in the swarm-lings genetics. Ethan saw what made them tick. He could alter them to his liking. He wanted them to grow smaller and then be able to alter their size when he willed them too.

This was finished shortly, and then with the half inch little swarm-lings all dancing around Ethan. " Goood Gooood!.. Now fly my pretties." The little swarm-lings burrowed and began moving at a breakneck speed... but since they were much smaller now, it took them a bit to get to the camel.

Once the camel went down to sift through the sand once more in search of prey it found some! Some crunchy little insects! Yum! Except something was wrong! The insects kept multiplying the more the camel crunched them! Its eyes widened in fear, as if on queue a giant spider suddenly appeared and burst from the sand and sped towards the camel as the swarm-lings clogged the camels airways.

Ethan jumped onto the camel and bit down, injecting the mind control venom which made the camel go limp and stop struggling as the swarm-lings filled the camel's body and filled it up like a skin suit. Making room for themselves by gorging themselves on mutogene and tears filled the camels eyes as it was overwhelmed with pain but could do nothing to stop it.

"Now, time for a bigger game." Ethan thought as he received 500 mutogene from the camel.

"Lets go fishing..."

Ethan forced the swarm-lings to make the camel stand and follow Ethan as he made his way back to where the massive sand sharks were located. " I cannot wait to see what I can do, plus I always loved seafood." Ethan chuckled to himself as he formulated his plan.