This is one huge pile of food… there's no way I can fit it all in! I kind of want to call my pets over and have them indulge as well, but I feel bad about it since the Colony has gathered all of this for me. I guess I'll dive in and if there's any left when I'm done I'll make sure the others get their fair share.

[Alright gang. Get some rest but keep an eye out. I'll make sure you get your food later, alright?]

[Yesssss,] Invidia says but I can see his eye blazing with green light as he eyes off my food.

[Yes, Master,] Crinis says, happy to attach herself once more to my carapace and allows her shape to blob.

[Hurrrrr…] Tiny growls, the saliva pouring from his mouth as he openly gnashes his teeth as if eating already.

[That's gross, Tiny! Just move over there, alright? We ate a bunch of demons in the tunnels not that long ago. Mutate or something.]

With my badgering, he finally turns his back on the feast and sulks in the corner. Five minutes later, he's asleep.

[Alright then, Granin. What's the first thing you want to discuss?] I sigh as I start to tuck into the mountain of food.

[The Rescindic Principle, obviously.]

[What the heck was that?]

[The cash in,] Torrina breaks in, [it's going to be one of the most important decisions of this evolution.]

[If not the most important,] Granin grunts. [It's a good idea that we discuss your options since there are likely to be a few built into the choices you get when you evolve. If you have a clear picture of what you want, then it'll be easier to eliminate some options and focus in on the ones you prefer.]

[Alright then,] I grumble, [so what's the best choice? Is there a reason I shouldn't just reset everything and get a totally awesome new body? Just get it all over and done with?]

Granin's eyes go wide and I can tell he wants to facepalm but is resisting by sheer force of will. Corun doesn't quite succeed and smack himself in the face at my apparent idiocy.

[What? What's the problem? So my mutations get set back to zero, but if I sit here in the Colony and they pump me full of Biomass, I'll be able to get them all back to a respectable level in a couple of days! I'll be way more powerful, won't I?]

[Allow me,] Torrina says, mostly to the others and Granin nods before he waves her forward. [Anthony,] the talented young Shaper says, [there are a few reasons why you don't want to do that, although you can, the option will be available to you. One reason is that the further you go down the tiers of evolution, the better reset options you will find. I don't doubt that there will be many options available only to second and possibly a few from third strata monsters when you evolve this time. The next time you evolve, you will see a few that may normally be seen on the fourth strata. Constantly resetting your body parts is hugely inefficient and the more you evolve, the worse it gets. For tier six, it's going to cost you a hundred and forty Biomass to improve each body part from +25 to +30, but if you start your whole body from scratch, it's going to cost four hundred and fifty five per body part.]

I flinch. Ouch. That's a whole lotta Biomass. Four hundred and fifty five? For each mutable part of my body? That's… insane. I'd have to eat through half a strata to amass that. And at tier six, it'd have to be the third strata at that. Although the Colony could pour resources into me, the thought of that much Biomass going towards bumping up my mutations when it could instead be spent on the hatchlings, or other members of the Colony…

[Let's say you did that,] she continues, [and piled up the thousands of Biomass necessary to evolve into tier seven with all mutations at +30, what do you do then? Cash it all in again? Because there'll be better options available at tier seven, and at tier eight, and so on. A better, more efficient strategy is to cycle critical body parts and reset them every few evolutions, if you get that far. Think of everything you consider the most important parts of your body and divide them into three groups. Cash in one set now, one set next evolution and one set the evolution after that. Then repeat the process. At least, that's one way you could manage it.]

I keep eating as I think over what she said. The sheer Biomass cost of resetting my entire body has pretty much pushed me away from the idea. I mean, I could do it, but to get that much food into me would mean I'd probably be still trying to get those points even after I reached level one-sixty.

[You said there were other reasons?] I ask.

[The other main reason is what we would describe as Monster Dysmorphia. Which is to say that not all body parts resonate well with each other.]

[It's complicated as hell and has mainly to do with the higher concentrations of mana needed to fuel these more complex structures,] Granin breaks in, scratching his head. [In the first strata, a monster's body is more or less straightforward and the way mana is used to form them is simple and uncomplicated. When you get to the third and below, things start to get weird.]

[Weird?] I ask.

[Weird,] he nods. [Without going into too much detail, because I think you'd find it boring as heck, complex mana structures don't always resonate well with each other. In extreme cases a monster with two body parts that don't cooperate can literally be torn apart by the conflux of mana.]

[Holy Moly!]

[Which is why taking it slow and being a little careful is a sensible idea. The three of us can advise you about the combinations we know don't work, but the evolution System itself will confirm the safety of the reset, but only for current parts of your body.]

[So you mean, the System will check if the reset parts will work with my body now, but not the other parts that I reset?! What kind of hack job is that?!]

Granin just laughs.

[If you can talk to the System itself, then you can complain about it then. Otherwise, it's better to think about which parts of your body you want to cash in on this evolution. Keep eating, and we'll work it out.]