It Started with Slime - Part 1

Chapter 4 - To Evolve or Not to Evolve?

No.

It could finally make a decision for itself, and it looked at the other options for Evolution that looked much more useful for it than the first one. This time it thought it might make use of its ability to choose, so it would work on some of the other skills. Even though it could not read, the information was transmitted directly into its "brain," and it could comprehend its choices. It could not level anymore for the time being, and since the flies were blocking its view, it did not want anymore Flies­ to surround it.

It had to change its smell. It knew, without being able to smell itself, that this is what had attracted the flies to the Manure and continued to allow it to attract them.

Since it could now understand its own capabilities, it knew that it could hold one more scent. It needed to find a scent that would not attract more flies and preferably no other creatures as well. That would be its next task. In the meantime, it was still very hurt.

While it knew that if it evolved it would heal it was not satisfied with what it was qualified to evolve into. With its Intellect Stat now at 7, it has also gained a significant amount of cognitive function and was able to think through its options...a little.

It had only been a short while since the attack so it had only gained 9 HP. It was sitting pretty with 15HP. With its max being 121HP after all the levels and having just lost 73HP from what amounted to collateral damage, it was not confident enough in its own strength yet to venture out, away from the tree where it had sought shelter.

Shivering it received another message.

You have gained the Species Skill Camouflage Level 1! You have the ability to blend into your surroundings, hiding from your enemies and you can store various materials to camouflage into currently you can store 1 texture!

You have stored the Texture, Tree Bark!

Camouflage has increased to Level 2! You can now store 2 Textures!

You have stored the Texture, Loamy Soil!

You have gained the Odour Fresh Grass! By default you will exude any new Odour you acquire immediately, you can store up to 2 smells in your repository currently! You are currently exuding Fresh Grass!

It latched onto the grass that was growing near the tree and absorbed that scent so that it could exude something other than what had attracted the flies. It was still the same colour, brown, as it had mostly absorbed manure, but it was not giving off the smell of manure, so it did not attract anymore flies. It resolved to huddle up and wait for its health to recover a little more before it ventured out again and tried to unlock some of its other evolutionary options.

What it didn't understand was why it was not able to heal itself with the use of Photosynthesis. It seemed like it should be able to and that it was just a lack of knowledge how, but when it tried to push the ability to heal instead of gaining weight...

You are unable to perform this action; Photosynthesis cannot be used in that way yet!

....which indicated that it could be used at some point in this way in the future. Maybe it needed to continue to work on it and then it would develop that skill. It would have to experiment and see.

Since it was settled against the tree it thought.

Absorb the tree!

So, it set about slowly absorbing a section of the base of the tree. Since it was still very small, there was really no danger of damaging the tree to the extent that it would fall, and it was starting to get very tired from the exertion. It had been over 48 hrs since it had been born without sleeping. Granted it had been at full health most of that time and this was the first time it had really been in danger of dying so it had not noticed.

It was possible to continue using Photosynthesis while sleeping but not Absorb or Digest.

Hmm...why no Digest?

­It thought, an old experience, it couldn't very well try while sleeping so it just decided to curl up and lay against the Tree while mimicking the bark. Then it fell asleep.

It was more than a day later when it woke up feeling much refreshed and significantly recovered.

Odour Alteration has increased to Level 3! You can now store and use 3 Odours at anytime!

Camouflage has increased to Level 3! You can now store 3 Textures!

Eyes of the Fly has increased to Level 2!

Through Photosynthesis you have gained 8.4g of Weight; your Weight has increased to 80.517g, your Volume has grown to 40.259cm3!

So it had gained one more chance for a scent and one more for a camouflage. Great! It would not use them now but they would definitely be useful. Since it had recovered a lot of its health, it was ready to experiment with some of its new skills and qualities. One that it was excited to try was Wings of the Fly. In terms of gaining access to some of its other evolutions, it would be good to learn flight, and would help it get around and see where it was. Although, with its poor vision and low Perception, it was unlikely that it would see much. Still it was worth a try.

It did not fully understand the limitations of the Skill yet, but it did know that there must be some, even if they were just temporary. It was important for it to understand them to continue to grow. It manifested the wings on either side of its body. They were small, but compared to the flies these wings were larger and proportionate to its body. Shifting to a more spherical shape it flapped the wings as it had seen the flies do. It stayed close to the ground so as not to fall too far, if it had to stop abruptly.

It has just gotten the hang of the motion when its wings and joints began to tire, and very quickly at that. It hadn't even had a proper experience with the wings! A brief rush of wind (granted it had not moved very fast still) and then back to the ground. It quickly pushed itself up to the nearest tree which was a few centimetres away and reviewed what had happened.

Wings of the Fly has increased to Level 2!

It looked back to where it had been, barely a meter of flight! It was really annoyed and struggling to try flapping its wings again, but it was no use. Its wings and joints needed to rest. They were taxed.

You are unable to perform this action; Wings of the Fly cannot be used in that way yet!

It was really going to need to train up its wing muscles if it wanted to use flight as a viable mode of travel. However it had another method it wanted to try as well. It had acquired some legs!

Leaving the wings manifested Mini Slime now manifested its Legs of the Fly. 6 in total. They were extremely flimsy and initially they wobbled, and the fly face-planted several times.

Why legs, slide is better! It thought as it continued trying to stand.

It definitely preferred sliding on its squishy main body than this legs business. Even though it had 6 legs it still seemed like it wasn't enough. Why was it so wobbly? Maybe it needed more legs!

You are unable to perform this action; Legs of the Fly cannot be used in that way yet!

Arrrgghhhh!!!

It was so frustrating! Why did it keep getting messages that amounted to you can't or, that won't work! It was good that it would be able to do all that later, but it wanted to do those things now! Later might not be useful. It firmed its resolve and plowed on. So it had 6 legs, and with its body flattened a little so that the 6 legs were spread out under it, it took the first few shaky steps.

Legs of the Fly has increased to Level 2!

It was feeling pretty good about it until 5 steps later it toppled over again; it had moved just a few centimetres from the second tree.

It's hard...it thought with a sigh.