Chapter 7

My Progress Goes Viral

Congratulations on your first evolution. Due to your choice you may make some adjustments to your traits at this time. You may select the 20 traits you want to keep and the rest will be converted into experience.

My my, this is going to work out great. I have collected an amazing list of useless or what I think are useless traits. Getting rid of them will only clear up my lists and make me progress immediately. I also have 15 unused free trait levels that I might as well place also. I used to only be able to use 15 traits. I guess with the new evolution I will be able to have more. I need to make sure to keep anything I think will also be useful after another evolution like Devour. Just because I cannot use it now does not mean it will lose its benefit when I finally evolve into something that can fulfill its requirements.

After staring and sorting through the list I pick my traits and let the evolution commence.

Evolution Complete.

Well a little tingling and everything is done. That seemed a little anticlimactic. If I was to evolve into something larger than a virus I expect that it might be more spectacular or exciting or something. Anyway, I need to place my trait levels and then check my status. There. Status.

Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus Veriforma insectica - 941 hosts

Level: 3 Formica flamensis – 852 hosts

Lepidoptic hornicaa – 451 hosts

Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%

Traits:

1. Mimicry Level 10 – MAX

2. Hidden Level 20 – MAX

3. Greater Resist All Level 10 – MAX

4. Adaptable Level 10 – MAX

5. Greater Multi-Infection Level 10 – MAX

6. Devour Level 0 – 1%

7. All is One Level 15 – 22%

8. Basic Tactics Level 10 – MAX

9. Photosynthesis Level 4 – 23%

10. Chemical Warfare Level 3 – 32%

11. Boost Level 0 – 1%

12. Mana Manipulation Level 10 – MAX

13. Poisonous Level 9 – 14%

14. Iron Defense Level 9 – 37%

15. Direction Sense Level 0 – 1%

16. Play Dead Level 0 – 1%

17. Burrow Level 0 – 1%

18. Charismatic Cuckoo Level 0 – 1%

19. Strengthen Level 0 – 1%

20. Flexibility Level 0 – 1%

The traded in traits managed to push me up to level 3 in my new evolution, but I did not get any more bonuses. I guess bonuses are for only lower tier evolutions. I did manage to max out some more traits and have one ready for evolution. I left Poisonous and Iron Defense alone because they have almost leveled up on their own. Some of the other choices I made are probably self-explanatory. I kept two though that might confuse others. Burrow I wanted to keep, because I feel that underground is safer than above ground. The skill to burrow or dig well is useful in too many ways not to keep for future use. The last is Charismatic Cuckoo. I had to Observe this to even understand it, but once I read the description I knew I had to keep it. It feels like a low level blending into the crowd or hiding skill that will probably stack well with hidden. Observe Charismatic Cuckoo.

Charismatic Cuckoo: Just like the infamous cuckoo bird who makes others raise their young you can imitate and order around others or become unnoticeable in large crowds. Chance of blending in or orders being accepted increases with level.

I think it is basically a camouflage ability for bipedal intelligences. Translated, I can pretend to be someone else and have people believe me or just disappear from sight if enough people are around me. This could be a huge life saver in the future. Especially since I have no idea of cultures, languages, history, or anything else for humanoids on this new planet. This should help me blend in until I can learn what I need to pass as a native. Well technically I guess I am a native of the planet Braxis now even if I have the memories of my life on Earth. I mean I was technically reincarnated which is a birth so that does mean I am officially a Braxis native. Finally I maxed out Mana Manipulation, which makes gathering it much easier.

Now that everything is settled it is time to get back to my original pattern. I will hibernate and continue to gather mana until something new happens. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.

I was brought back to consciousness in the middle of my first hibernation cycle. I had forgotten that two of my traits were about to evolve. They have both hit level 10.

Iron Defense has reached maximum level. Due to your unique class evolver you can evolve it to the higher tier Steel Defense. Do you wish to evolve Iron Defense now? Y/N

Poisonous has reached maximum level. Due to your unique class evolver you can evolve it to the higher tier Toxic. Do you wish to evolve Poisonous now? Y/N

Yes Please evolve Iron Defense and Poisonous to their higher tiers. Now back to hibernation. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.

After my two rest hibernations cycles I am feeling better. Time to gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.

Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.

This cycle repeated for 12 times during which I gained level 4 and finally maxed out All Is One again.

All is One has reached maximum level. Due to your unique class evolver you can evolve it to the highest tier Many Bodies One Mind. Do you wish to evolve All is One now? Y/N

This says it is the last evolution of my mind expanding skill. It sounds important. Observe Many Bodies One Mind.

Many Bodies One Mind: This is the ultimate skill in hive intelligence. Once it has reached it’s peak you can now manifest any physical body you have consumed. Have you ever wanted to be a wolf? Then eat a wolf. Want to be a whale for a day, eat a whale.

Oh I am so excited. This is perfect. I definitely made the right choice in staying a virus. If I max this one out I can be anything. I do not have to pick just one thing to evolve into, I can be any of them. All I have to do is eat that organism. Hmm, it does not say if I need to eat an entire one or just a piece of one. I hope it is just a piece. I have infected and consumed so many hosts at this point that I can just pick from the list and manifest myself as any of them. I will be the ultimate chameleon.

I will be able to turn into a wolf and run long distances to get to town, and then shift into a humanoid form to interact with the locals, then escape detection as an innocent bumblebee. This is the perfect overpowered skill. There has to be some restriction on it, but until I can use it I won’t know. This means I can keep dreaming big. I wonder if I get the stats of the creature I turn into? That could be a huge bonus and drawback at the same time. In one instant a near undefeatable dragon. However, if I was infiltrating as a bug someone could also just squash me in an instant. I am definitely going to have to do some more pondering on this. Yes DEFINITELY evolve All Is One.

The other nice surprise I had was that I still got bonuses to traits. They just came every five levels instead of every level when I was a more simple virus. I am going to save them up once again. Once I reach maximum level in Many Bodies One Mind I can they determine which one would help me the most and plug them in for use with the new bodies I create. Well enough excitement for now. Back to the old grind until I finally reach the level that I can be something else. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.

Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Repeat. 6 generations later I hit level 6. Continue cycle. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.

Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. 4 more generations and my mana finally feels full. Now why did that take so long? It should have finished long ago if it matched the first half of my gathering mana. What changed? My evolution. Perhaps being of a higher tier allowed me to gather more mana? Maybe it was the number of hosts I have infected also. During this time I have spread to over 400 species. My host list is abnormally long. The last time I looked at it, I just browsed for a second and turned it off due to the sheer amount, and it is only going to get longer. It may be a combination of both. More “bodies” probably means more space to store mana, and a higher tier evolution probably gave me a larger space to fill also.

Well now that I feel full what should I do? Should I try and create some of the “spells” I remember from Earth games like dungeons and dragons? I quickly dismiss this idea. I just had a horrible vision of a virus casting a fireball inside of the host that it was in and my poor blood wolf exploding from the inside. I am pretty sure that I would transfer to another host, but I would rather not take the chance. What if whatever governs this world would consider that a suicide attempt and then force me back into the reincarnation cycle. I cannot afford that. I have to use my opportunities in this life so I can take revenge on the “Overbeing”.

Wait, what if I try some of the non-destructive spells. I know there were some, I just have to think of them. They were definitely not as popular and got used less in games so they are harder to remember. Do I have to use premade spells though? Can I just make up my own? You know what I am going to try that out first.