Chapter 11

At the dawn of day, a small round pearl hidden in a ball of grass cracked. A cascade of cracks wormed through the pearl until it burst. A ginormous baby mantis emerged from the pearl. Its size when compared to its natural brethren was completely unnatural. Its carapace sheened a black color accented by a dull yellow at the joints. Down the center of its abdomen was colored a pale white.

Zack stretched out his claws and limbs. His antennas and limbs were fully healed. Almost like they were never damaged in the first place. Zack exited the base and grabbed the two frogs he had buried before evolving. Of course, he wrapped them tightly in grass stalks to minimize any scavengers catching their scent. And it seemed the heavens were on his side this fateful morning. The two frog corpses had minimal damage, so it was free to eat. Zack chewed down as he checked his status screen.

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Name: Zack Huntt

Species: Devils Flower Mantis (Idolomantis diabolica)

Age: 1 Month, 26 Days old

Lifespan: 3~ Year

Lifecycle: Nymph

Size: 42 mm

Prayers Collected: 48 Prayers

Biomass Collected: 6 Biomass

Abilities: Flowery Aroma, Mimic Flora, Mimic Dead Flora, Enchanting Luminance

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Zack lamented his decreased size, but the two frogs were already providing so much biomass. So, returning back to his staggering 21 cm from his last evolution should be much easier. Zack switched his attention away from the appetizers and onto the main course, the new abilities. Thankfully, the old abilities remained along with gaining the new ones. It did leave Zack a little salty for missing out on a possible physical ability though. However, that bitterness changed with a notification from the system.

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Ding! Ability Synergy Detected!

Fusing Mimic Flora and Mimic Dead Flora!

New Fused Ability: Mimic Mundane Flora!

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Zack's mandibles dropped, this was completely unexpected. Somehow his cautious decision paid off. But wait, Zack needed to see if it did anything other than lower the clutter on his status panel. Zack didn't wait for another second and checked the descriptions of his new abilities.

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Mimic Mundane Flora(Fused):

Imitate both living and dead plants to an uncanny degree. Deception relies on form and camouflage synergy with environmental factors. Everyone says a shriveled-up dead flower shouldn't be able to walk nor should an alive flower as well. But don't you just want to prove those haters wrong?

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Enchanting Luminance:

Enhance natural colors beyond what they were originally. Enchant prey and stun predators with dazzling and colorful lights. Only Limited to only colors inherent to the user. A walking blob of colored light can be very scary, especially the colors red and blue. Best not to scare that certain group of people. Criminals!

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The descriptions were as weird as always, but they gave him some information. It seemed the newly fused ability remained mostly the same in function. The description hinted at something else though. The mimicry ability should be stronger than before. But, the degree of strength was unknown. It required testing, but Zack focused on the other ability.

Enchanting Luminance was completely different compared to the abilities Zack has seen up until now. To 'Enchant' prey could mean many things from hypnotizing them, to pacifying them, and even just making them pause for a moment. So, the first thing Zack had to do was a field test.

Outside of the temporary base an ant crawled by, a perfect test subject. Zack tested his new mimicry ability by sneaking up on the ant. Zack mimicked the dead leaves found on the ground and effortlessly approached the ant. Usually, once Zack was within a certain distance he would be spotted, but this time he wasn't. The ant did glance backward a couple of times but otherwise remained oblivious.

Next Zack tested out his Enchanting Luminance ability. Previously when mimicking flora, Zack relied on his past experience to mimic plants. This was due to his mantis eyes lacking color vision. That however changed after his current evolution. The colors had returned even though they were quite muted compared to when Zack was a human.

Zack dropped his mimicry and startled the ant half to death. It was ready to run when Zack used Enchanting Luminance. The initial attempt didn't do anything, but he quickly figured out why. Zack had to focus on a certain color on his exoskeleton. So before the ant could escape Zack fully illuminated the yellow accents on his carapace. A small shimmer of light hit the ant directly when it suddenly froze.

The ant was shivering? No, it was terrified. Zack looked down at the ant clicking his mandibles in confusion. He wanted to enchant the ant, not mentally scar it. Zack left the ant alone and left. Not because he felt sorry or anything like that, the ant was just too small and not worth the effort of killing. A hundred percent that was the reason Zack assured himself. Either way, this ability needed more testing to see its worth.

Zack continued to test the ability until night fell and he returned to the base. After a lot of testing, it seemed the ability Enchanting Luminance had many different uses and probably more yet to be unearthed. First, the creature's perception of Zack had to be unassuming. That meant Zack shouldn't be identified as a danger before the creature is 'enchanted' with color. Once they are 'enchanted' the creature becomes very docile and walks towards the colorful light show Zack caused. This state of enchanted could be broken when the creature detects danger or is hurt.

In the case of a failed 'enchantment,' they usually tend to react in one of three ways. These reactions were the freeze, flight and fight responses. They either froze, ran, or attacked when the ability failed to activate. Zack also determined different colors had differing effects. White pacified them more easily, black was more likely to trigger the fail condition, and yellow seemed neutral in its effects. But given the limited colors Zack was working with yellow could might have some other unknown effect. Having done his research for the day Zack fell asleep after sensing the telltale signs of molting.

The night passed undisturbed as Zack awoke ready for another day. He peeled off his old exoskeleton and admired his new form. The biological camouflage on his exoskeleton greatly resembled a bunch of dried-up leaves. Add that Zack's new mimicry ability got a boost, he has never felt safer than now.

Underneath all the biological camouflage was a splash of rainbow. His underbelly was painted with a wide spectrum of colors. White, blue, green, and red were also hidden beneath his premature wings. Some parts of his exoskeleton were still black or yellow, but most of it was covered with fake beige leaves. His antennae were now also feathered. Out of all the changes, Zack felt the multitude of colors was the real reason he received the ability Enchanting Luminance.

Zack didn't immediately test the effects of the new colors but instead went hunting. After the molt, Zack had grown back to a respectable size of 80 mm. This was enough to hunt birds and Zack wanted to continue refining his skills. Zack already had a few targets in mind, so it didn't take long to pick a tree to climb. The dried leaves camouflage on Zack's exterior was perfect for hunting birds.

Birds built their nests out of dried sticks and twigs with the occasional grass to tighten the nest. As such it wouldn't be unusual for a small pile of 'dried leaves' to collect in their nests. The reason Zack hadn't snuck and hid in the bird's nest last time was that birds typically removed any mushrooms from their nests. The chances of a successful hunt when facing a bird's beak were astronomically lower than attacking with its guard down and back open.

Zack climbed the tree until he reached the nest. No eggs had been laid yet, but Zack wasn't after eggs. Luckily the bird was gone so he got in position and waited. The heavens must've been smiling down upon Zack today because not ten minutes sooner the bird returned. Zack waited for it to land, and then he struck. Two fore claws stabbed the bird and Zack gave it a swift death using his mandibles.

The whole ordeal was a lot more anticlimactic than Zack expected. But that didn't stop him from eating. However, halfway through a furious screech interrupted his meal. Zack only got a glimpse of the giant bird before he jumped. Talons scrapped Zack's back, ripping off his underdeveloped wings. The pain sent shivers through his body, but Zack needed to focus. Zack had to land on his feet, book it, and hide as soon as possible. Having experienced falling multiple times, landing got many times easier.

He landed without a hitch, and then out of the corner of his eyes Zack saw the abnormal bird swooping down. The bird was three times larger than the one he had killed and had an aura that screamed of danger. Zack hastily used his mimicry ability and the bird paused mid-dive. It paused only for a second before locking back onto Zack. Zack panicked and threw himself to the side, barely avoiding the bird's swoop. The ability failed?! No, the abilities never failed. At least that was what Zack hoped or he was truly going to die this time. The only explanation was that Zack himself did something wrong.

Zack's thoughts raced as the bird flew up to prepare for another dive bomb. His wings! Zack's wings were ripped off exposing his colorful exoskeleton underneath. It was impossible to use Mimic Mundane Flora if the colors on Zack's back continued to act like a beacon amidst the foliage. Hiding was impossible, the bird would spot him no matter where he ran. It was hopeless to try and hide now.

However, Zack still held hope in a single ability. The bird had dived down once more, this time it was prepared for the mantis to dodge. When the bird's talons were only centimeters away a bright and colorful flash blinded the beast. It was sent tumbling into the ground rolling on fallen leaves. Surprisingly, the bird managed to stand up after the rough tumbling. However, Zack still cheered himself despite not killing the bird.

Using the ability Enchanting Luminance like a flash bang had worked better than he expected. A fall like that would break a bird's hollow bones easily. Even if it could stand up, it would no longer be able to fly. Therefore, it was no longer a threat since Zack fully believed he could outspeed the bird on foot. Zack watched the bird attempt to fly with its battered body and succeed... Zack froze in shock, only for a second before he started running. Zack's thoughts raced trying to figure out why that bird was able to fly. But all that wasted brain power didn't help him in his situation. So, he focused on trying to find a way to live.

The bird flew a lot slower than before, but not enough that Zack could escape. Killing the bird was out of the question. If it could tank slamming face first into the ground, Zack doubted his claws nor mandibles could do anything. So, either escape or hide. Escaping was unlikely, so all that was left was to hide. Hide where? Preferably somewhere with a lot of color like the Flower Forest. But the Flower Forest was too far away, by then Zack was sure to run out of stamina. Zack tried to think of any more colorful places until he remembered a certain tree. The tree didn't have many leaves instead, it bloomed with a wide array of flowers. That unique tree just happened to be close by. With the destination set in mind, Zack ran for his life.