Chapter 32 – Vast and Incredible Changes

You have Assimilated 2 River Screws and can now choose what to Assimilate from the River Screw. Would you like to Assimilate the Eyes, Paws, Nose, or Ears? If you do not choose then an option will be selected at random!

You have chosen Eyes. You have gained Eyes of the River Screw! Your skills Watery Insect Eyes and Eyes of the River Screw are compatible and as such have merged to form Watery Sight! You will gain +1000 Exp for this adjustment. Your ability to see clearly in water doubles. You are also able to see a little bit better beyond your visible range.

You have chosen Ears. You have gained Ears of the River Screw! Your skills Ears of the Field Grole and Ears of the River Screw are compatible and as such have merged to form Ears of Echo Location! You will gain +200 Exp for this adjustment. Your Echo Location Ears is now able to give you some basic understanding of vibrations and what objects are around you, this effect only works underwater.

Ears of Echo Location has increased to Level 9!

You have Assimilated 2 Water Rats and can now choose what to Assimilate from the Water Rats. Would you like to Assimilate the Whiskers, Nose, Flippers, or Hide? If you do not choose then an option will be selected at random!

You have chosen Hide. You have gained the Skill Poison Resistance Level 1! Skill grants resistance to poisons.

You have chosen Flippers. You have gained Flippers of the Water Rat! Your skills Fins of the Darter Fish and Flippers of the Water Rat are compatible and as such have merged to form Fins and Flippers! You will gain +200 Exp for this adjustment. Fins and Flippers increase your carrying capacity from 500g to 1000g.

The last four days had completely transformed Resh's abilities, it had maxed out its level, it had modified and strengthened several of its skills and abilities. Its affinity with water had risen and it was feeling a lot stronger and larger. Resh was not satisfied yet though. It knew that there was much more out there to find and much stronger creatures to Assimilate and grow into. Now Resh was faced with 2 choices. It would either look at its options for Evolution, or it could Consolidate its mass now and see if it gained anything good from it.

Evolutionary Options

Slime Options – 5 Options

Tier 3 - Dense Slime Requirements Not Met

Tier 3 - Earth Slime Requirements Not Met

Tier 4 – Boss Copycat Slime Requirements Met

Tier 4 - Aerial King Slime Requirements Met

Tier 4 – King Water Slime Requirements Met

Water Options – 6 Options

Tier 3 – Fresh Water Mallusces Requirements Met

Tier 3 – Submarine Worm Requirements Not Met

Tier 3 – River Darter Requirements Met

Tier 4 – River Screw Requirements Not Met

Tier 4 – Water Rat Requirements Not Met

Tier 4 – River Crab Requirements Not Met

Earth Options – 4 Options

Tier 3 – Burrower Worm Requirements Met

Tier 3 – Youth Field Grole Requirements Not Met

Tier 4 – Adult Field Grole Requirements Not Met

Tier 4 – Grounded Squirret Requirements Not Met

Insects – 3 Options

Tier 3 – Ant Requirements Met

Tier 3 – Termite Requirements Met

Tier 3 – Fly Requirements Met

Other Options – 2 Options

Tier 4 - Treaber Requirements Not Met

Tier 4 - Squitter Requirements Not Met

Resh once again had too many options, for now, it would not choose. Resh wanted to Consolidate first and while it was doing that it would vet its choices. It brought the insect back as well to see if any of them would be useful once it removed options now, they would be gone forever. Otherwise, the list of choices would become more and more ridiculous with time. Resh was confident that it would be able to knock out most of these.

You are planning to use Consolidate! This is irreversible and will take 20hrs and 48min at your current Weight of 3,743.76g and Volume of 1627.72cm3 after the process is concluded you will have a Weight of 449.25g and Volume of 179.70cm3 your new Density will be 2.5g/cm3, while Consolidate is happening you will be unable to perform any further actions, you will not be able to use any passive skills related to movement or growth, only those related directly to your safety, at this time there are Strong Camouflage and Strong Odour Alteration. Do you wish to go ahead with Consolidate? Yes / No?

It was time to see what Consolidate was good for. In 4 days how many stats could it get? Yes!

Resh was now much more aware of what happened when it Consolidated its body. First, its senses shut off, one by one, sight faded first as Resh felt its eyes deconstruct. then sounds that it could hear quieted until there was nothing together with its ears fading away to nothing. Taste was the next to go as Resh felt its mouth and tongue fade away. Once sight, sound, and taste were gone Resh was only left with smell and touch. Smell gradually faded with its nose and Resh was reduced to its base state. But it still had its brain and it was still receiving impulses from its neural network and brain. Next, Resh felt its blood vessel regress back towards its brain from where it originated and then a moment later its neural pathways followed growing in reverse back up to the brain it had been blessed with. For a moment Resh panicked thinking that it would completely go back to its original form. Just a glob of Slime with nothing else, base intellect and nothing… Resh's brain began to deconstruct and it felt its ability to think drain away, thoughts and ideas just fading into the fog as it once again settled firmly in place over its mind. Resh didn't even have the time to panic as it felt its consciousness fade away and it was just a thoughtless mindless blob, even less thought than when it had been born.

Over 20 hours later and the reversal of the process started. Its brain formed first, thoughts starting to flow again, sluggish at first but then faster and faster. It was a familiar feeling, the hazy once again lifting slowly but sure until it felt as if it had never been, just hanging at the edge of thought. Still there but less perceivable. Then there was an incredible itch that spread through its body, it didn't last long a few seconds at most but it was extremely uncomfortable for Resh it wanted to dig its paws in and itch the inside of its body. Blood vessels and neural pathways once again formed originating in its brain. Signals began flowing and it could feel how much of its body it had lost. Its senses returning in reverse. Resh could more prominently feel the river water rush past along with the feel of Darter Fish and other small creatures crawling and tasting at its body. First, the smell of the river water returned with its nose, turned up to the water's surface. Next Resh could once again taste the water. But this time a small about of blood in the water came to Resh's mouth as it once again tasted that water. Resh had not expected everything to remain the same while it had been checked out. It had not. When Resh's ears manifested again the rush of water seemed louder for some reason. Resh's senses seemed to all become a little more sensitive with the manifestation of its ears. Finally, the last sense was its eyes, Resh didn't understand the order of why its senses stopped and started in that order but it seemed completely random.

Having all its senses back and brain and other bits all in their rightful place give Resh a massive sense of relief. In addition, it could now check on its new capabilities and what it had gained in exchange for its massive bulk. Resh then thought of the Human (Male) and (Female).

Well, my relative bulk I suppose. Once again Resh marvelled at the improved thought processing. It checked its gains, they would explain the difference.

You have Consolidated to 449.25g and 179.70cm3 your Density has increased to 2.5g/cm3!

Strong Consolidate has increased to Level 13!

…

Strong Consolidate has increased to Level 16!

You have gained and lost the following stats due to size and weight reduction! +8 Speed, +8 Reaction, +5 Resistance, +4 Intellect, +5 Acuity, +4 Focus!

Resh had gained over 30 stat points! For 4 days of effort that was nothing to sneeze at. It would have diminishing returns Resh could see. The relative reduction in weight and volume in its last two Consolidations did not correlate with the stat increases. Resh looked forward to the next one though. It needed more strength though. The next evolution would need to have that as a consideration.