Now the kinds of animals Lightning encountered were very few, and they were mostly soft-bodied. So relying on his electrical shock ability, he hadn't encountered much danger, except during the last volcanic eruption. However, as Lightning moved closer to the shallows, he found that the types and numbers of species were increasing. The brief encounter with Armor made him realize that the shallow waters would not be as easy as the deep sea.
Return to the deep sea?
That was simply impossible. Not to mention that the deep-sea species were surely evolving as well, but mainly because Lightning, having finally seen sunlight after staying in the dark deep sea for so long, would rather take a stroll to an active volcano again than return.
On a steep cliff, in an inconspicuous small crack, Lightning cautiously sensed the outside situation. Besides the now-common plankton, there were only a few ordinary soft-bodied creatures occasionally swimming by.
This crack was something Lightning had found not long ago. After easily eliminating the soft-bodied worms inside, Lightning naturally claimed this narrow space.
A tremor came from within, suggesting that the formed spores were about to be born. Reconfirming that there was no danger, Lightning used his tentacles to move some small fragments to seal the crack.
※※※
“I never thought I’d see the day.”
Looking at the pile of spores he had produced, Lightning felt both conflicted and somewhat excited.
“What am I? A father or a mother?”
"Uh, asexual reproduction, so I guess I’m a predecessor? No, I’m an ancestor.”
“It's true that sexual reproduction is better. In these situations, the female gives birth, and the male protects and forages.”
“Ah—, what am I even thinking about? I’m going to go insane.”
A small current ran through his body, prompting Lightning to calm down.
“Let's go find some food, and bring some back for these little ones. I'm getting a bit hungry myself. These spores should take some time to grow into my current form.”
Confused by the fact that he had produced a bunch of spores, Lightning chose to avoid facing his reproductive reality. He moved the fragments aside and slipped out of the crack, then sealed it back up. Sensing his surroundings carefully, Lightning began to search along the cliff. Based on recent experiences, there should be some plants growing along the cliff at intervals, and some cracks might contain flat soft-bodied creatures that could provide Lightning with plentiful food.
And then...
"Damn it, I actually forgot I need spores to enter the evolution space. I hope it’s still not too late."
Just as Lightning destroyed a soft-bodied worm and was about to devour it, he suddenly remembered the primary purpose of his reproduction, which sent him into a renewed panic. With the small-bodied soft worm in tow, Lightning swam back along the steep cliff. However, the speed provided by a single flagellum was painfully slow.
“Right, this is a good time to test what moving with electric tentacles means.”
Carefully watching for potential hunters hidden in the cliffs, Lightning cautiously approached the cliff face. Making contact with the hard cliff with his tentacles, Lightning recalled how he used to use his limbs, fortunately not having forgotten. Using the buoyancy of the water, he began to move forward slowly, pulling his body along as if a person submerged in water was using their hands to crawl along the ocean floor.
“Much faster than using that useless flagellum, though still a bit slow.”
Despite this improvement in speed, Lightning was still unsatisfied. This gave him time to ponder on how he could improve his speed, leading to a sudden shock.
Near his temporary nest, two multicellular organisms were loitering around, crashing into the somewhat loosened fragments.
“Damn it, playing gatekeeper at my nest—get lost!”
Worried for the defenseless spores, Lightning couldn’t bear the increased speed that still felt slow compared to the flagellum. Dropping the soft-bodied worm from his mouth and grabbing a protrusion with his tentacles, he used it to spring himself forward like a slingshot, adjusting his direction with the flagellum behind him. This burst allowed him to reach near the entrance to his nest at almost twice his usual speed.
The two multicellular creatures, intent on breaking in, remained blissfully unaware.
The burst of speed lessened after covering some distance, but now Lightning was at the entrance. Unfazed by the now-reactive multicellular creatures attacking, Lightning was relieved to find that the entrance hadn’t been completely breached.
“Since you’ve delivered yourselves, I won’t have to go out and hunt. Become reserves for me and my spores. Electric burst.”
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With no hesitation as the two multicellular creatures approached, Lightning focused his nutrients for an electric burst, lighting up the dim water like the shallows.
After the brief brightening, both multicellular creatures floated motionless in the water, but they hadn’t perished, a fact Lightning immediately sensed.
Grabbing one with his electric tentacles, he sent another burst to stun them temporarily, quickly focusing repeated electric shocks on one to dispatch it before the other could recover.
Fortunately, both creatures were mere grunts. Even in his weakened state, Lightning managed to deal with them.
[New component acquired]
[5 evolution points gained]
[5 evolution points gained]
Ignoring the system prompts and questions about what components these grunt-level multicellular creatures might possess that he didn’t, Lightning swiftly used his newly discovered movement method to search the surroundings, bringing back the soft-bodied worm’s body to the nest.
He moved the fragments out of the crack with his tentacles, grateful that the soft-bodied creatures lacked such handy appendages, and carried the three items inside the crack, sealing it carefully behind him.
Finally stopping, Lightning observed the spores he had produced—about ten remained, some already starting to divide and grow. He wondered how the attackers had discovered and reached the defenseless spores.
A wave of sadness washed over Lightning.
“I need to quickly select a spore and enter the biological editing space, or I’ll end up having to reproduce again, and that would be a real pain.”
He quickly chose one of the yet-to-grow spores.
[Entering biological editing space, restoring original consciousness, main consciousness transfer.]
…
“I’m back.”
[Welcome back]
“So it wasn’t a hallucination last time.”
[…]
“Ah, don’t worry about it.”
“By the way, what did the system prompt ‘restoring original consciousness’ mean when I entered?”
[When you go out next time, your consciousness will merge with the biological entity formed by this chosen spore, remember that?]
“Uh-huh.”
[Your species now has a brain, albeit primitive, and is starting to develop a faint, instinct-like independent consciousness. Therefore, when your consciousness leaves this body, if there’s none, it will just be an empty shell.]
“Oh, so the body remains, but it’s an independent separate being now.”
[Pretty much, but importantly, that body is no longer your original body. Didn’t you notice? You’ve already died once more.]
“What!”
“Wait, was it during that volcanic eruption? No wonder my body felt sluggish after waking.”
[Quite observant this time. So now it just restores the original simple awareness of that body while integrating your consciousness experiences during this period.]
“What do you mean, quite observant this time. Well, whatever, it’s not like I feel anything.”
“And something very important. What’s up with the asexual spore reproduction, why not directly evolve to sexual reproduction? It really caused me, uh.”
[Weren’t you excited and thrilled when you produced those spores? 8051 teased the main consciousness.]
“…”
[Having just evolved into a multicellular organism, the system will only provide reproductive methods within asexual reproduction. There are three ways to get other reproductive methods: self-evolution, acquiring from other organisms, or system-provided ones at the next evolutionary stage.]
“I suppose besides system provision, the first two are like other component evolutions? And there’s likely no guidance on self-evolution, is there?”
[Exactly. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be called 'self.' So self-exploration is needed, 8051 reiterated, finding such copy-pasting quite nifty, except there aren't enough opportunities.]
“Why so generous with three methods this time?”
[These are system-allowed to be provided at this stage.]
“Got it.”
[So, choose your components.]
“Hm? Oh, choose components from those creatures. Let’s see what’s available.”
[Tentacle Worm
Provides: Tentacles, Poison Stinger Tentacles, Stomach, Intestine]
[Big Mouth Worm
Provides: Intestine]
[Gatekeeper Worm
Provides: Chemical Sensory System, Intestine]
“Okay, the intestines from the big mouth and the chemical sensory system from the gatekeeper worm don’t need much thought—I'll take those.”
“Huh? Are these names the usual ones?”
[At this stage, the names of creatures are generated by your consciousness, since only the main consciousness cares what they’re called. It’s best to name them as you like. 8051 curiously answered the main consciousness’s naming.]
“Oh, I see.”
“So, what is the chemical sensory system? Let’s check.”
[Chemical Sensory System
A system component that can evolve into sense of smell and taste
Required: 100 evolution points]
“Ugh, expensive. But it seems it’s what allowed those creatures to find my nest. Wait, let’s see how many evolution points I have this time.”
[Thunderbug
A multicellular organism, soft-bodied, early evolutionary species.
Evolution points: 101
Life: 20/20
Attack: Electric Long Mouth (15) (Bite), Electric Tentacles (5) (Contact) x2, Electric Burst (30) (Area)
Defense: Bristly Skin (10) (Enhanced electrical resistance) (Tactile)
Movement: 2—5
Vision: Simple eyes x2
Reproduction: Asexual spores
Body Information: Simple digestive system, nervous system, and nutrient circulation.
Species Evaluation: Leader
You feel exhilarated after completing your first reproduction. As your species nears shallow waters, your former abilities are waning. Facing evolution once more, what will you choose?]
“Still ignoring the nonsense at the end, hmph.”
“Over a hundred points, it looks like a lot, but not enough for many things.”
“Now I’ve discovered a new tentacle movement method, it seems quite decent. But with muscles, it should be even faster. Better check the tentacle worm’s components first.”
[Poison Stinger Tentacles
Tentacles with needle-like tips that inject toxins causing muscle weakness
Attack: 5 (Toxin)
Speed: +2 (Movement)
Required: 30 evolution points]
[Intestines
Digestive component for processing food and expelling waste
Required: 50 evolution points]
[Tentacles
Tactile sensory component
Required: 35 evolution points]
[Stomach
Component for holding food, grinding large food into smaller pieces
Required: 50 evolution points]
“Predictably expensive.”
“Poison Stinger Tentacles? Pretty similar to Electric Tentacles, so I’ll stick with the latter. Having too many different components can be inconvenient, so PASS.”
“The intestine from the big mouth appears similar, so PASS as well.”
“Now for the tentacles and stomach.”
“With a stomach, I can save time on slowly chewing food with my long mouth, and sustain longer after eating once. Combined with intestines, it can create a better digestive system than my current one. Tentacles? The shallow waters are almost here, simple eyes are becoming active, so tentacles can wait.”
“So that’s the decision—the stomach. The other two creatures’ components won’t be selected, right, 8051?”
[Is that confirmed?]
“Yep.”
[Components obtained will appear in the display frame, I assume I don’t need to remind you how to equip them.]
“Got it.”
