Natural Selection
I stared at the system's alert with a full grin, but I was met with an unusual silence, which was surprising.
"What's wrong? Why are you so quiet, Sensei?"
It seemed he was being a downer as usual.
Expecting him to nag me for something trivial, I was surprised when the scolding didn't come.
«Well done.» Sensei said in a voice that was both surprised and pensive, like he too was surprised at his own words.
«I expected you to win the mental battle but never did I expect the wasp to be suppressed so completely that it would lose all of its memories. Normally, there should be some left.»
Wait, what?
The wasp lost all of its memories? How?
I was shocked at the sudden development. Had I done something terrible without realising it?
But then again, it was impossible for it to win over me, who had lived two lives and had more memories combined than a normal creature. If I didn't suppress it, wouldn't I just end up getting attacked again when I released my control?
Now, nothing like that would happen because it had no memories of anything.
I stopped myself from feeling remorse. So what if I took control of it by crushing its last will? If I didn't fight, I would surely have been swallowed up by it without hesitation.
Seeing my internal turmoil Sensei asked calmly. «How did you do it?»
"I didn't do anything. I just didn't want to disappear."
Sensei pondered it over for a moment before giving up. «Nevermind, it's done. Now tell me, what is the reason for taking control of a creature that is near death?»
When he posed the question, I couldn't help examining my motives. It felt wrong to admit that in the heat of the moment, I simply wanted to know if I could. And now that the deed was done I wasn't completely sure what came next.
I looked around at the strewn rubble in hues of blue and green thinking of my next steps. Most of it had been cleared in the wasps charge and I wondered if more of the blocked tunnels could be cleared.
But, not yet. Before I could do this there was more of the searing pain in the wasp's chest and I looked down at my carapace that bled from various bites. Its injuries were terrible but more unsettling than this was the intense rush of euphoria that was out of place, followed by a rising surge of energy.
Something was deeply wrong with it. The energy was plenty but it was in a constant state of depletion. It felt much worse to be in this wasp's body than when I'd suffered my first fall without [Pain Resistance].
Its strength and energy just kept disappearing no matter what I did and I struggled to overcome the waves of sleepiness that followed.
"What's wrong with its body?" I asked Sensei.
«You dealt the damage yet you ask such a thing. It should be obvious that it's dying. It prolonged its evolution to fight you and now its body can't recover the energy it expended to evolve. Its core hasn't settled and now the energy that remains is wasting away to nothing. Unless it eats soon, its evolution will be incomplete.»
That would explain the insane levels of hunger.
Sensei continued. «You should be able to shut off the pain by separating the physical aspect of control from mental control with [Mind Chain] so you won't feel a thing. It shouldn't be long now.»
"Are you saying I should wait it out until it dies?" I asked
«Do you want to save it then?» Sensei retorted in a mocking manner.
Of course not. Without its memories, it was as good as finished.
I cleared my thoughts and channelled my intentions through [Mind Chain] and almost immediately, the feeling of pain dulled to a bearable amount. A searching probe went through the wasp's body and true to what he said, the gathered energy throughout its body was disappearing fast, and there was no sign of a 'core'.
But I found an unusual void in the middle of its thorax, where all of its energy was being sucked into, disappearing to nothingness like a bottomless hole.
Sensei continued. «Most creatures have the capacity to experience an evolution at Level 12, but only when it has reached peak levels in at least three of its skills. If they don't meet this criteria, their evolution at that level will be missed and they can only continue to live out their remaining lifespan.»
"Lifespan?" I asked curiously. It seemed like an important thing to know.
«An evolved creature is a monster with variant skills and profound power. Normal creatures all have a varying but limited lifespan, which will be extended after evolution. An evolved monster can live upwards of 50 to a hundred years.
But until Level 12, these creatures are not much different from other regular creatures and do not have much capacity for mana. Evolution helps them form a core, which in simple terms is condensed ether absorbed through the body.
Before this, the energy is spread out through the body and present within the blood and flesh in a gaseous state. During evolution the excess is condensed into a core at the centre of their being.
At the first stage of an evolved monster, their internal energy will be condensed from the normal state of ether which is a gas, into a liquid core that grants them a boost of power and better control over mana.»
"So without an evolution, my lifespan will be short? Is this why you said I'd only live for 18 years?"
Sensei chortled with laughter. «You still remember that? It must upset you to realise how weak you are.»
"That doesn't matter." I retorted, more than a little annoyed.
He continued, bemused. «But to answer your question, yes. If you fail to evolve, your capacity for magic will be limited and with that, the increasing density of ether in the Labyrinth will eventually kill you.»
"And if I can evolve?"
«Your mana will go through a qualitative change from a gaseous state to liquid and then to solid later. At that point, the creature will have abundant amounts of internal mana to be unaffected by the outside. They will be capable of manipulating that energy and may even manifest the ability to control an element through mana.»
Control an element? Like magic?
«However, evolution is a rare opportunity and differs from creature to creature. Most can only evolve once in their lifespan, and the majority die prematurely before they can fulfil the criteria again.
A Hesperia has a lifespan of 44 years and that extends to 84 if it evolves. Yet this one barely reached LV 12 after 40 years. That is how difficult it is to trigger an evolution.»
Only reached Level 12 after 40 years? I was mind blown. Were the monsters really that weak? Or was it that difficult to gain levels?
«And if for any reason the evolution is not successful, the creature will become malformed by the strain of the process and turn into a weaker, degraded version of their evolved form, and would never be able to evolve again.»
His words were enough to strike fear in me.
"That's awful."
If I couldn't evolve, my life would be short and if I did evolve, it had to be under specific conditions and there was a risk of failure. I did not want to end up like this unfortunate wasp.
"You could have mentioned this earlier!" I scowled.
Was he knowingly sabotaging me? To think he would omit such important information!
«Where's the fun in that?» Sensei arrogantly said. «I'm confident this wouldn't be difficult for you. Challenges have always been your strong suit, I'm sure you'll make the most out of it.»
I glowered at him and if I could hiss to vent my anger, I would have.
Too bad he was ethereal, and I just happened to be possessing a wasp. To berate him would make me a hypocrite.
What an unlikely duo we made.
"What do I need to evolve?" I asked furtively.
«Some proficiency over the control of your mana and a mastery of your skills. If you can get your skills to LV10, I guarantee you will evolve without any risks.»
I would have complained more if he had not sounded so sincere, so I let it go and focused on the pulsing gaseous mass of energy inside the wasp's carapace.
The cloud-like mass kept getting pulled to the centre where a hazy sphere of mist formed from energy sucked in from all over its body. The large mass contracted even more until it became a fraction of its original size and I glimpsed the clear sphere form in its centre.
It was no longer hazy and spun with energy and life, all the while vibrating at an alarming frequency and the mist grew smaller as I watched, compressing until it changed to glistening, molten liquid.