Although System had managed to obtain [Morph], he couldn't use it very well due to the talent's low level. He could only make small changes to certain parts of his body. For example, he could slightly increase the thickness of his exoskeleton or make his tentacles thicker, harder, and longer.

  Compared to his low-level [Morph] talent, the several new Derived Skills that he'd obtained through [Morph] had more obvious effects.

  [Morphological Camoufge] was a Derived Skill formed by the integration of [Color Camoufge] and [Morph], and its effect had become more powerful. System could easily change his color to match the soil inside the chamber, and his tentacles that hadn't been able to change color previously could now change color just as easily as the rest of him.

  When he used [Morphological Camoufge] to make himself appear more simir to the soil, there were also some slight changes to the surface of his exoskeleton and tentacles, giving them a granur texture that felt simir to dirt.

  With the skill activated, System looked no different from a pile of soil as long as he stayed still in the chamber. Even if someone stood right next to him, it would be difficult for them to notice him as long as he didn't make any noise.

  However, although his [Morphological Camoufge] skill worked well, it was basically useless to him at the moment. It was far less practical than the other two new skills, [Limb Reattachment] and [Tentacle-Leg Conversion].

  [Limb Reattachment] was kind of like a simplified version of System's idea to turn his entire body into slime in order to improve his survivability.

  System bit off one of his tentacles and used his new [Limb Reattachment] skill to connect the severed tentacle back in pce. It took less than two seconds for the tentacle to join back with his body.

  when he tested out his reattached tentacle, he found that the bonded tentacle was basically the same as before. It just seemed a little stiff when he moved it. However, after a few minutes, the tentacle had fully recovered, and the stiffness disappeared completely.

  System continued testing out [Limb Reattachment] by cutting off his antennae, ripping out his wings, and shattering parts of his exoskeleton. After being severed or shattered, those parts could also be reattached to his body and would fuse back perfectly in a short time.

  However, compared to his tentacles that would stick back together in two seconds, it took a little longer for his exoskeleton to recover. Even then, he only had to wait about a dozen seconds.

  System thought for a while before deciding to get a bit more extreme with his experiments.

  He bit off a tentacle again, only this time he ate half of his delicious tentacle first before using [Limb Reattachment].

  [Limb Reattachment] worked again. Even though the tentacle was now a lot shorter, the remaining half still fused back with System's body and could be controlled just as easily as the others.

  His tentacles were different from those of other tentacled creatures like octopuses. His tentacles were like a thick brown rope. The thickness at the tip of each tentacle was almost the exact same as it was at the base, so the tentacle that System had half-eaten and reconnected didn't look ugly. The only issue was that it was much shorter than the others, and the contrast made it look a little strange.

  System quickly used [Super-Speed Regeneration], and the tentacle that was much shorter than the others began to grow rapidly. After a few seconds, the tentacle that System had experimented on was fully restored to its original state.

  [Limb Reattachment] and [Super-Speed Regeneration] undoubtedly worked very well together, each making up for the other's weaknesses. Although System could repair his damaged body in a very short amount of time with [Super-Speed Regeneration] alone, [Limb Reattachment] would minimize the loss to his vitality.

  However, in reality, these abilities weren't of much use to System at the moment. At most, they gave him an additional means of saving his life.

  His enemies were either too powerful to be defeated, like the old druid Medran, or they were very weak prey, such as insects, scorpions, rats, and rabbits, so these abilities would rarely have an opportunity to be used.

  System continued his tests, moving on to his st untested Derived Skill, [Tentacle-Leg Conversion].

  The grasshopper legs that System had long abandoned now had a chance to appear again, but these new legs were somewhat different from his original ones.

  When System activated [Tentacle-Leg Conversion] on one of his tentacles, the skin on that tentacle gradually softened like it was going through pupation. The softened skin then began to transform into a hard exoskeleton. Gradually, a bck and gray exoskeleton armor formed around the tentacle.

  There was a line of sharp spines on the exoskeleton's surface, just like the ones that had been on his old grasshopper legs. The multi-segment exoskeleton had many joints that could move freely, and the familiar spurs and cws from his old grasshopper legs appeared at the end of this new leg for use in climbing.

  System estimated that with three to five of these legs, he could use his spurs to hang upside down from branches again.

  In terms of shape, this armored leg was somewhat simir to a strange weapon from his previous life—the chain whip.

  It seemed to System that this new leg hadn't actually changed all that much from his regur tentacle. The only real difference was that his soft tentacle was now encased in a hard exoskeleton.

  However, System soon discovered that the change wasn't as simple as it had initially appeared.

  This armored leg wasn't as flexible as his tentacles, but the joints on the leg were extremely strong. System even had the same feeling that he used to get from his strong grasshopper thighs. He was confident that he could easily jump with joints like these.

  He no longer tested his tentacles individually. He decided to transform all of his tentacles into legs, then go out to the grassnd to conduct some jumping experiments.

  However, when he tried to transform all of his tentacles at once, he discovered that there was a cost to these transformations. He felt a strong hunger in his abdomen.

  According to the information from his bloodline, System knew that his [Tentacle-Leg Conversion] couldn't be completed because his body cked the necessary nutrients to form the exoskeleton that covered his legs.

  He quickly ate what remained of the female ratman's skeleton.

  There were still some parts of her skeleton left, but if he'd waited a few more days, they all would have been eaten by Meatball. In some ways, Meatball's diet was even more extensive than a slime's.

  An hour ter, once System had finished digesting enough ratman bones, his thirty tentacles were all quickly covered by an exoskeleton. He soon exited the nest and appeared on the surface.

  Because of the many strong joints in his exoskeleton-covered legs, System's movements through the grass were very agile. Although he wasn't quite at the same level as a grasshopper that could jump a distance up to dozens of times the length of its body, System could now easily jump seven or eight meters away.

  Also, because his body was covered with so many legs, System could jump and maneuver through the grass using many complex movements that a grasshopper could never match.

  It was a pity that System was no longer in Lilt forest. In the dense forest, his current body would allow him to make even more complex movements.

  System stopped moving and applied power to the ends of his legs. They gradually changed shape, and the spurs and cws used for climbing disappeared. Dark brown conical spikes formed at the tips of his legs instead.

  This was a new ability that System had come up with while using [Tentacle-Leg Conversion]. It was based on the [Ice Spike] ability that he could use while in his [Frost Form].

  After a bit of experimentation, he unexpectedly mastered a new Derived Skill, [Armored Spike].

  ...

  [Armored Spike] (2/11): A Derived Skill obtained from [Morph] and [Ice Spike]. Sharp spikes can be formed on the ends of tentacles or legs.

  ...

  The power of System's newly formed [Armored Spike] was very average. It was far worse than [Ice Spike] both in terms of firmness and sharpness.

  However, it would still be extremely helpful for killing small animals like rats. In order to prevent his tentacles from being bitten when he was wrapping them around rats, he could simply stab them to death.

  ...

  System continued to run tests in the grassnd for a while before suddenly flying into the sky. At the same time, he activated [Morphological Camoufge] and changed the color of his body to light blue.

  His [Enhanced Hearing] ability had allowed his antennae to pick up gnoll voices again. It seemed that a number of gnoll soldiers were fleeing from the direction of Lilt Forest.