**Congratulations on attaining max level and entering the next growth phase of the species: Cleial Isopteran(Termite)**

*DING*

Would you like to undergo evolution now? Yes / No

"He's waking up..." were the first few words Crete processed before an overwhelming amount of pain flooded his mind. Groggily he began to recollect the actions that lead to his current state. "Oh yeah, I lost two of my legs.."

The realization that he was functionally crippled setting in, the physical pain seemed bearable, only second to the psychological impact that losing two limbs caused. He felt that his legs were there but whenever he tried to move them all he felt were the phantom pains from his joints.

As Crete inwardly despaired, the figures of his siblings approaching distracted him. "How do you feel..?" Amore whispered softly. Fighting back the pain he responded "I feel as fine as the day I was hatched" sarcasm laced in his voice.

"... I'm sorry.. that was a dumb question," she said even softer this time. Chuckling at her response, he was able to ignore the pain for a short moment before saying "It's fine, I know you meant while by it, but I'm in a lot of pain right now".

Moving his eyes from the still ashamed nymph he glanced across the room in search of something. "Where's Vito..? Is he alright?" silence was the only answer… “Tell me he’s alright... ?” he continued desperately to figure out the condition of his sibling.

“... He’s alive and slowly recovering but… He’s not waking up..” the words bringing a short-lived. Relief. “What do you mean he’s not waking up?” Crete barked anxiously. “Ever since he was knocked out, no matter what we do he isn’t waking up” Meneo answered in Aretha’s stead.

“Take me to him” his words firm and undeniable, and as they carried his battered body he slightly winced in pain before suppressing it. The procession was silent as they carried him to the restroom, and in there he saw the unconscious Vito, his abdomen still sporting that ghastly gash, although it looked like it was healing up.

Dropping him off close enough to inspect Vito’s status, Crete quickly used Inspect> on the nymph.

*Status*

Name: Vito

Species: Cleial Isopteran (Nymph)

Gender: Male

Level: 3

Health Points: 11/50

Endurance: 3

Strength: 3

Vitality: 9

Agility: 3

Intelligence: 6

It looked like the beetle really did a number on him, because his health was only roughly 20% even after having passively healed for a good while, but seeing his total health points tick up by 1, Crete concluded it was only a matter of time before he was back on his legs again.

Inwardly sighing with relief, he turned to address his siblings, “He’ll be fine, his monstrous vitality saved his life, but what happened out there… I don’t want to see it happen again. Is that understood?” Seeing them all nod their heads in agreement, he turned his attention to his own *Status*.

*Status*

Name: Crete

Species: Cleial Isopteran (Nymph)

Gender: Male

Level: 4 >10

Health Points: 40/40

Stamina Points: 85/85

Mana Points: 0/0

Spirit Energy: 12/12 > 18/18

Strength: 6

Endurance: 6

Agility: 6

Vitality: 6

Intelligence: 11

Luck: 4

Spirit: 6

Perception: 7

Will: 11

Undistributed Stat Points: 0 > 35

Experience Points: 29/80 > 909/810

Skills:

(Active)

Desperate Chomp- Lvl 2

Masticate- Lvl 4

Inspect- Lvl 2

Sprint- Lvl 4

Sneak- Lvl 2

(Passive)

Strong Body- Lvl 4

Pheromone Language- Lvl 4

Compound Eyes- Lvl 2

Hyper Metabolism- Lvl 4

Titles: N/A

Achievements:

First of the clutch (15 % faster experience gain)

Leader of the clutch (5% faster experience gain) Limit: 7/7

To go beyond oneself (Grants a bonus of 1 extra stat every level up)

Staring without blinking, Crete found it hard to believe that the number of his undistributed stats was a whopping 35 points. Thinking about what that 35 meant for his personal strength, he was mildly surprised that he had a whole 5 more points than he was supposed to, but focussing on the overwhelming amount of notifications everything made sense.

*DING*

*Gained 160 experience points*

*DING*

**Congratulations you have leveled up**

**Congratulations you have defeated an enemy of a higher evolutionary status** (500% more to experience gain)

*DING*

*Gained 420 experience points* (500%)

*Gained 2100 experience points*

...

**Congratulations you have leveled up**

has leveled up! (Lvl 3 > Lvl 4)

has leveled up! (Lvl 3 > Lvl 4

has leveled up! (Lvl 2 > Lvl 3)

has leveled up! (Lvl 1 > Lvl 2)

*Criteria met*

Achievement gained. Grants a bonus of 1 extra stat every level up

**Congratulations on attaining max level and entering the next growth phase of the species: Cleial Isopteran(Termite)**

Would you like to undergo evolution now? (There is a small chance of death)

Yes / No

Observing the prompt in front of him, Crete was at a loss for words, He had barely won that battle but that was all it took to boost him all the way from level 5 to level 10, and now he was apparently ready to evolve. Making mental connections, he speculated whether or not this was the “first change” Grubby mentioned before leaving.

He considered the fact that even with all the loud sounds and thumping the battle with the beetle made, the rock was still firmly in place. Death was a very real possibility in this chamber and from the lack of action from anyone he concluded this was also a part of the challenge in the pursuit of power. In this chamber, they gave the nymphs an opportunity for power in a somewhat controlled environment, but from the looks of it, they definitely were not going to spoon-feed them.

He decided he would discuss the seriousness of their situation with the nymphs later, but for now, Crete was facing the decision of remaining essentially crippled and possibly slowly dying or risking a “small chance of death” for an unknown evolution. With pain spurring him on, it wasn’t long before he came to the conclusion that anything would be better than remaining in his current state, even at the cost of death, he resolutely focused on the yes option.

Like a freight train to the face, the pain he was experiencing multiplied a few folds, he could feel his body being restructured, piece by piece, every single inch of his anatomy undergoing this change. He felt his organs slowly dissolve due to an unknown source of energy being madly injected into his body.

The pain of his organs liquefying only second to that of his brain being literally broken down and the feeling of all his muscles and limbs extending. He felt his head ballooning in size to accommodate his growing brain, his mandibles extending and hardening as they gained a glossy texture. His joints became firmer and his liquefied organs began to reform and take shape, bigger, more efficient, and he felt something completely new forming inside him something... spherical it seemed.

At that thought, the pain he thought could be no greater went past all that he experienced before. He felt that spherical object liquefy all the nerves, veins, and arteries in his body, any and all pathways disintegrated before it. He felt it take control of these pathways, restructuring them, connecting them weirdly with every part of his body in a way more attached than ever before.

The pain of these changes made everything seem instantaneous but Crete was aware that hours were passing by, and closing in on the 5th hour he felt the pain slowly begin to recede as the newly restructured pathways siphoned a cooling energy throughout his whole body.

It continued to recede until eventually, all that remained was the soothing cool and an uncontrollable tsunami of pleasure.

Crete felt as if every single cell of his body was singing out in pure ecstasy at the change. It was a paradox of emotions as he felt absolutely juiced up and ready to run a marathon but at the same time drained of every ounce of energy both mental and physical and submitting to the latter he felt himself sleep once more…

“What are you doing *^$*#@, I told you to eat your food!! You silly child!” a masculine voice sounded out as Crete found himself staring at a faceless giant. “I’m sorry dad, I was just busy looking at the termites in the wall… they’re so focused and relentless… I want to be like them…” he found himself uttering uncontrollably. “ You really are a silly boy you know that,” the giant bent forward and a firm hand was placed on his head.

“But you’re a dreamer just like your mother was, hah, its moments like these I realize I’m too hard on you sometimes, you’re just a little boy that… uh, that had a really bad experience…” the voice began in a confident reminiscent tone before transitioning into an awkward sadness

.

“What was mother like daddy?” Crete felt the body he inhabited speak again. “Ah, your mother… she was… she was a beautiful person just like you, inside and out. She would find all the little things to enjoy about life and she would share them with the people she loved. ^$*@($^ was the best thing that ever happened to me and she gave me something that took that place… she gave me you *^$*#@. “

“Heck, I remember one time she saw me trying to get you to throw some baking soda in the vinegar volcano I made, so you could have experienced your first experiment, and she was absolutely livid I tell ya. Going on and on about how I shouldn’t introduce you to science so early but what she was really angry about was that I didn’t have her there to see it with me” the sadness in the voice completely evaporated as Crete heard passion replace it and a little chuckle chucked in at the end.

Crete felt like a passenger in the back seat, as he heard the body he was in a chuckle before doing a 180 and in a dejected tone said “I wish she was still here…if she could make me laugh enough... I might be able to enjoy life again..”

“...” the masculine voice kept silent and the body he was in said with a self-deprecating but reassuring tone “Hahaha I’m just kidding dad, as long as you’re in my life I don’t need anything else”

“... Don’t worry *^$*#@. I’ll figure it out soon, just believe in me, I’ll find a way to do it… believe in me.” the masculine voice started off shakily before firming into one of resolve and the pitter-patter of footsteps and the creaking sound of a closing door acted as a switch for the body he inhabited.

“It’s okay dad… even if you can’t do it… I’ll still believe in you… because that’s all I have” in a dejected and depressing tone, that confirmed any semblance of happiness shown before was an act, the voice of the body Crete inhabited whispered. The body’s eyes wandering to the opening in the wall, through which Crete observed massive towers of glass and steel, before peering down and focussing on the chair in which it was seated. Two large wheels with two smaller ones attached and two legs lay unresponsive and shriveled, almost as if they were dead...

Awakening from the weird dream Crete felt at home in his familiar six-legged body again..-wait-6 legs? His eyes rapidly turning and locking onto the two legs that were absent before he selected “Yes”.

It was a miracle, the legs that were bisected at the joint had somehow regrown and they looked as good as new, actually, they looked better. Rising from the ground, Crete felt that he oddly could see further and his eyes seemed to be further from the ground than he remembered.

Feeling suspicious of these weird occurrences he took time off from observing his immediate surroundings and turned his attention inwardly he was shocked. It wasn’t that his eyes seemed further from the ground, it was because they actually were!

His legs were much longer than before, about double their previous size and he was a little bigger than the size of Grubby he mused. His previous size was dwarfed before his current stature, his mandibles alone were already the size of his previous body, in length alone he was just a little under a meter and about a little bit more than half of that in height. His carapace was thicker too and it appeared more menacing as he went from a pale color to more of the darker glossy shade that Grubby and the other termites he’d seen had.

“..Crete…?” a timid voice caused his awe and admiration at his new form to be dismissed and looking towards the source of the voice he was even more shocked at the difference in size that came with this evolution. Looking at Amore, who visibly backed up when his eyes met hers, he realized that he had to look down in order to look her in the eyes.

“I’m as shocked as you are, to be honest, I didn’t expect to look this… different.” as she processed the words the timidness evaporated. “Goddamn, it really is you… Guys, you can come out now!! You scared the living sh** out of us you know. Your body just started stretching and making weird noises all of a sudden…”

“Haha, sorry about that, I was just evolving, or as Grubby said, I experienced the first change” Crete announced proudly, “It hurt really bad though, felt like I was getting ripped inside out and had my guts rearranged”. “I could imagine, it looked physically impossible what was happening to your body, which is why we were apprehensive about what was happening” she responded.

Chuckling at the other nymphs who were slowly approaching us now I decided I would try to see if my status had any significant differences, but looking at the notifications I had missed I was momentarily at a loss for words...

*DING*

**Congratulations on evolving into the next phase of growth of Cleial Isopteran(Termite), due to special circumstances, a new caste has been created (Champion)**

**Congratulations on being the first (Champion) of the species Cleial Isopteran(Termite)**

*Criteria met*

Title has been awarded. Grants passive skill and skill has evolved into

*Skill Information*

- Whenever health points of you or species members near you drop below 50% grants boost to all stats by 10% (Effect can stack up to 30 times)

- Yours is a body forged in the most perilous of environments and is able to ignore all physical status effects and grants a boost of 15% to all physical stats

*Status*

Name: Crete

Species: Cleial Isopteran (Champion)

Gender: Male

Level: 10 > 0

Health Points: 40/40 > 80/80

Stamina Points: 85/85

Mana Points: 0/0 > 10/10

Spirit Energy: 18/18 > 25/25

Strength: 6 > 9 + (1.35)

Endurance: 6 > 9 + (1.35)

Agility: 6 > 9 + (1.35)

Vitality: 6 >9 + (1.35)

Intelligence: 11 > 14

Luck: 4

Spirit: 6

Perception: 7

Will: 11

Undistributed Stat Points: 35

Experience Points: 909/810 > 99/1215

Skills:

(Active)

Desperate Chomp- Lvl 2

Masticate- Lvl 4

Inspect- Lvl 2

Sprint- Lvl 4

Sneak- Lvl 2

(Passive)

Strong Body- Lvl 4 > Champion’s body- Lvl 1

Pheromone Language- Lvl 4

Compound Eyes- Lvl 2

Hyper Metabolism- Lvl 4

Indignation- Lvl 1

Titles:

The First Champion

Achievements:

First of the clutch (15 % faster experience gain)

Leader of the clutch (5% faster experience gain) Limit: 7/7

To go beyond oneself (Grants a bonus of 1 extra stat every level up)