NOVEL FROG 22: Evolve or die
Kai tumbled out of the way and leapt to his feet. His eyes snapped onto a rumbling mountain of fur. A wolf-like creature stood on two haunches and snarled at him with burning purple eyes. He could feel the anger drip from its jaws for failing to impale and kill him. A body of ink black fur bristled as two long tails dipped in golden amber swished behind the figure. Each tip reminded him of a dried paintbrush, and glistened like polished bronze spears — so that’s what attacked me.
Expecting some kind of fat queen bee, Kai squandered time wondering why the creature only had two eyes, two legs, and two arms, unlike the rest of the six-legged lupine hive he'd been fighting.
Young Primal; Amarok Kitsune, Level 32
A savage bipedal creature that hunts alone. The more tails this trickster has, the older, wiser, and more powerful it is.
Oh sod it, another primal! Fear and greed warred within him. Wait, hunts alone? That wasn’t what he was expecting and didn’t make much sense based on their pack-hive mentality. Had the young primal been using the Ooze hounds to make itself stronger?
The Amarok Kitsune had not been idle during his musings. After its opening salvo missed, it had plunged its twin tails into the amber floor upon which Kai stood, causing the crystallised amber river to liquify. He was ankle deep and sinking fast into an undulating ocean of sticky amber. His heart thumped loudly. Kai moved to dodge to the side but out of nowhere the Amarok’s claws sliced towards his head from both sides, attempting to decapitate him. With his back to the tunnel wall and snapping jaws before him, he was forced to duck down. The lightning-quick assault succeeded in causing him to sink deeper into the amber sludge as it sucked and bubbled all around him. Adrenaline shot through him in panic. Kai reduced his weight and attempted to leap out, but the Amarok continued its relentless barrage of claw swipes, lashing out like a scythe reaping wheat. The primal’s intent was clear, it was forcing him into the sea of preserved bodies, where he’d suffocate and die. I’m sinking into a graveyard of preserved food!
The fierce attacks forced him on the defensive while he scrambled for ideas. The Amarok Kitsune deftly dodged his Water Slaps as his aura-coated arms deflected the momentum of its claws instead of meeting them head on. Claws sparked against his Hotplates with each parry, however some raked through his flesh despite his best efforts and he let out a gasp. This is bad, I’m now shoulder deep! The Amarok backed off and watched with a smug grin on its wolfish face; its twin tails were still connected to the amber and pulsed with aura. Kai was well and truly stuck. They both knew it.
They were within reach of so many corpses, which gave him a desperate idea.
Kura, can you absorb this?
Kura trembled.
Aura… bad bad.
Kai was on the verge of despair before he realised he could change that. Only death waited for him above so he flooded his aura outwards from the waist down, clashing with the Amarok’s aura, which he was able to push back due to how thinly spread it was being further from the Amarok’s body.
Kai’s teeth flashed with a shark-like grin as he sank into the sea of amber.
“Kura! Feast feast fe—” His last shout blew out syrupy bubbles instead. His heart hammered in his chest as he waited.
Kura thrummed with energy as her greed roared to life and the liquified amber and corpses near his feet were devoured in swirls of white light. Kura couldn’t absorb beyond his sphere of influence so she simply bore deeper and deeper. Through bleary eyes covered in syrup he glimpsed untold layers of preserved bodies move past him as he sunk deeper and deeper.
Kai sloshed out the amber with a wet plop and landed ass first on the ground with a grunt. Standing up, he sent silent thanks to Kura while he shook off excess amber. She was irritated that she’d only been able to consume several out of hundreds of remains.
He gazed up. The hole was already closed, the aura-free amber returning to its original rock-hard state. Peering through it was like looking through the glass of a fading lantern, hard to make out any details. However, distressed howls pierced through the solid amber before it rumbled and began to crack. Is the damnable creature still coming for me?
Kai hurriedly took stock of his surroundings, finding himself trapped in a cavern without any tunnels. He did notice a small corpse — at least he hoped it was dead. The corpse looked distinctly like a curled-up baby umbra hound, except the black and yellow fur was resplendent and regal. What happened here? Scattered around the cavern were desiccated honeycombs and hundreds of larvae husks with bite marks. Some kind of nursery? Kai’s stomach churned.
However, what drew his attention like a beacon in the darkness was a single unscathed honeycomb thrumming with life, with vital aura. The honeycomb’s golden surface undulated like melted rainbows and glowed with colourful light that felt ancient and powerful. Kai instinctively began to salivate, his senses urging him to take it. He tentatively reached for the honeycomb, drawn to its energies and desperate for any way to improve his chances of survival.
Protocosmic Vital Fruit: Umbra Queen Honeycomb (Fine)
Details: This honeycomb, once meant for a queen’s progeny, has been saturated in vital aura over decades from creatures dying in amber nearby.
Reward: If eaten, choose a vital trait to evolve. May instead be used in the creation of a primal hive.
Rarity: Legendary (10).
Kai grinned triumphantly as he marvelled at the protocosmic vital fruit in his hands. He still wasn’t sure how Apex Explorer worked, but he was drawn to the amber lake above. Perhaps the noteworthy location was this legendary fruit—that did not really look like a fruit—beneath the amber lake.
He swore internally when he heard and saw the Amarok drilling through the amber with twin tails, why he wasn’t sure, perhaps liquifying such a large area had consumed most of its aura. I don’t have much time.
He had no idea how to create a primal hive and he couldn’t think of any way to increase his chances of survival apart from consuming the Protocosmic Honeycomb. The question was, which trait to use it on? Kai brought the honeycomb to his lips; it smelled incredible. He crunched down on the golden wafer, devouring the rich flavour. It was unlike anything he’d ever tasted. Decades of condensed vital aura exploded into his stomach; it was like the dawn of creation coursed through his veins.
Congratulations on discovering your first Protocosmic Fruit! They come in many variants. Evolution fruits may be used to evolve a vital trait while fusion fruits may be used to fuse vital traits together, even rarer are Soul fruits.
Rarity and quality are as follows:
Common (100,000)
Uncommon (50,000)
Rare (10,000)
Epic (1000)
Mythic (100)
Legendary (10)
Ancient (3)
Arcane (2)
Primordial (1)
??? (?)
The number indicates how many of this specific thing is available in this integration.
Kai was relieved to finally get some concrete information on rarity and how limited some things were. So if something was legendary, it meant there were only ten of that thing available on Earth. So moving fast was key to not falling behind. Unfortunately it didn’t explain how the Apex bonus changed— Kai stumbled as the amber ceiling rumbled and the room quaked. The Amarok Kitsune had tunnelled halfway through and was almost upon him.
Uh, evolve vital traits? Kai thought. Four options appeared before him.
Apex Explorer, Primal Eyes, Hotplates, Neural Regeneration.
Kai could feel the energy from the vital fruit looking for somewhere to go while at the same time slowly fading; he needed to use it while he could or he suspected it would be wasted.
Kai quickly settled on Neural Regeneration—he was always in physical combat, and didn’t see that changing anytime soon. Improving his endurance and tolerance to pain would aid his focus in and out of combat. Most importantly it was the only trait that might directly improve his chances of remembering more of his techniques. Since it scaled with mind it may also evolve in a way that would help him resist outside influences. He didn’t want the situation with Hafez to ever repeat itself.
Evolving Neural Regeneration!
All the bottled energy that had been gently flowing around his body rampaged and flooded towards his brain. The energy crashed into his mind, causing a sudden headache. However it was over just as quickly as it began and the turbulent energy along with his headache subsided.
Evolution influenced greatly by past actions and tangentially by future desires.
You hunt to persevere as your true self and walk a path of power determined by both strength of body and mental force of will.
Vital Trait: Apex Ironblood Will (Fine)
Description: Your resolve enables you to withstand great physical pain and psychological trauma. Moderately enhanced cognitive restoration.
Apex bonus: Resistant to willpower suppression, subjugation, illusions, mind control, and subliminal seduction.
Fusion: Scales with Mind
Kai grinned and a cackle escaped his lips; he felt alive, truly alive as his mind and body thrummed with energy. He suspected his Bloodborn, Vital Hunter and Aura Hunter achievements had greatly influenced the evolution. Being able to function and fight without being completely overwhelmed was a great boon.
He grinned at the vital trait going from flawed to fine and earning the apex bonus meant he was the first in this integration to earn this vital trait, and it was just what he hoped for. How much did my thoughts influence the evolution?
Since his cognitive restoration had increased from minor to moderate, he scoured his memories for techniques but frowned in frustration. He was doubting cognitive restoration had anything to do with memories at this point. Perhaps it healed brain injuries, which is why it helped with his speech, other than that, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps I should have chosen Hotplates or Primal Eyes?
He managed to shake off his disappointment; the rest of the vital trait was amazing. Right now he had to prepare for the Amarok Kitsune. The amber above was breaking apart in chunks like peanut brittle and crashing to the floor. He could see the beast’s purple eyes aflame. It glared at him with unbridled fury as its claws and tails tore towards him. Kai wondered if it had been maturing the Protocosmic Honeycomb for itself over decades, and he’d simply scarfed it down. He almost felt guilty, then he remembered it had tried to bury and kill him. Kai grinned brazenly at the twin-tailed wolf and offered the young primal his most gentlemanly imaginary hat tip.
“Thanks for all your hard work.”
The enraged primal howled, and its bloodshot eyes burned with bloodlust that promised violence. Kai cringed; hopefully goading the creature would make it act irrationally and its attacks easier to predict. Otherwise he was about to be ripped to shreds since it would be through any moment now. At the very least he was sure it had used up lots of its aura reserves. Unfortunately since Kai did not have any memory epiphany regarding his techniques, he would resort to a much simpler plan. Hit the Amarok as hard as he could when it would be most vulnerable — coming out of the amber.