Evan glanced around his cave, wondering what to do next.

Do I go back out there? What if I encounter his momma? Steel yourself Evan, come on. If you're gonna piss your pants every time you have to leave the cave, you might as well stay here for the rest of your short, egg life.

Evan headed out through the veil protecting his newly claimed home, and once again floated through the winding corridor attached to his home base. He arrived in the lush underground cave opening once again, and decided to hide himself this time. He went over to the wall of the cave and stuck to it, heading around de car-sized mushrooms in the center of the room.

I'm not gonna get jumped this time. Nobody catches me slippin twice in a row, oh no. Let's just hope these dogs don't have a nose for kings. I wouldn't be surprised if my majestic aura attracted these mindless brutes....

As Evan explored, he discovered a few other openings in the cave wall, possibly leading to the rest of the cave system. Evan decided to take a chance, and entered one of the openings.

Since this is a dungeon, let's hope there's treasure. I can't be a poor pauper for the rest of my royal career Satan! Give something good, come on!

Evan followed the cave, until he found a room at the end of the cave. By using his Mana echo(lvl1), he noticed that all the residual mana in the cave seemed to be gushing out of this room, like a river coming out of a river source. He entered the room and low and behold: a spring. The little pool seems to be shining with mana, the particles buzzing like fruit flies around the room. He looked around and noticed an unwelcome guest. On one of the walls of the room there was a bug, about the size of a full backpack, hanging on the wall. The bug looked like an enlarged bedbug, and it seems to be sleeping, absorbing the mana particles bit by bit, albeit much slower than when Evan was using mana sense. Evan cartwheeled his eye in the direction of the bug, and immediately used Minute mana pulse(lvl5).

You attacked tiny sleep-spore mana bug(lvl1) for 4 Dp (-4 due to resistance to pure mana based attack)

Now that his attack was already lvl 5, the damage was ramped up from 3 Dp to a whopping 8 Dp. Evan thought it still didn't sound very impressive, but it was a lot better than 3. Still, the bug had good magic defense. Because of that, he blocked 4 Dp, and only ended up taking 4 Dp total.

I guess the damage counter only shows the damage I dealt, and not the damage I would have dealt without the resistances..... I guess I can still do the math if I wanted to find out.

Due to the attack the bug woke up, opened his mouth and shot out cloud of green mist, which enveloped Evan before he knew what was going on.

You have been surrounded by an acid sleeping spore cloud.

You take 0 acid damage. (-1 due to high wisdom stat, which bolsters ailment and elemental resistances)

You have been inflicted the drowsy debuff (5% per second)(-5% due to resistances). Once the drowsy debuff reaches 100%, you will fall asleep.

SHIT! Even with my high wisdom stat, I'll still fall asleep in 20 seconds? How strong are these sleeping spores? I have to kill this guy QUICK. Within 20 seconds, in fact. Let's hope he's not as hard to kill as that hound from before...

Evan charged up as many Minute mana pulses as he could, feeling like a small mana cannon.

You attacked tiny sleep-spore mana bug(lvl1) for 4 Dp (-4 due to resistance to pure mana based attack)

You attacked tiny sleep-spore mana bug(lvl1) for 4 Dp (-4 due to resistance to pure mana based attack)

You attacked tiny sleep-spore mana bug(lvl1) for 4 Dp (-4 due to resistance to pure mana based attack)

You attacked tiny sleep-spore mana bug(lvl1) for 4 Dp (-4 due to resistance to pure mana based attack)

Congratulations! You have Slain tiny sleep-spore mana bug(lvl1)! You have gained 6 exp.

As the imaginative dust settled, the bug fell to the floor, inside the pool of mana, before disintigrating and disappearing.

Only 6 exp? I got like 30 from the dog from before! Was it because of the level difference? I guess I wasn't supposed to beat up a lvl 3 right after being 'born'. I wonder how close I am to leveling up...

Your exp sits at 28/30.

Sooo... I only needed 10 exp to level up to level 2, but I need 30 to level up to level 3! This is fraud! How come there's such a big difference!

Evan decided to stick around near the mana spring for a little while longer. He wanted to experiment a bit with absorbing the ambient mana. After about 30 min of utilizing mana sense he received a notification.

Congratulations!

You have unlocked the achievement: Primed and ready

{Through oversaturating yourself with mana, you have effectively turned yourself into a mana bomb. It's not all bad though. Your mana pool has been expanded. Ap + 10}

Warning! Mana has breached max capacity! 45/35

No one told me about this! Couldn't you give me a warning before I breached capacity? Fuckfuckfuck, what do I do?! You know what, just spend all the mana!

Evan started casting like a madman, mana pulses flying left and right, hitting the walls of the caves before dissipating.

Congratulations! Minute mana pulse has reached (lvl6)

Your mana pool has stabilized. Ap 34/35

Phew, I should watch out with all this mana in the air. I don't want to color the walls with my pristine metal armor.....

"......."

Since when did I start liking my newfound species? Satan, is this your doing?

Shook, and somewhat tired, Evan returned to the large cave opening, with the intent to head home and try his unused skills and practice his favorite ones. When he reached the large opening however, he froze.

Small fungus crawler(lvl9)

In front of Evan, a translucent grasshopper the size of a small van was eating the fungi at the center of the cave.

Damnit, I have to be the unluckiest king-to-be on this continent! Wait... am I even on a continent..who cares, I've got bigger problems right now. Van sized grasshopper-problems; the worst kind.

Evan hid himself on the side of the cave, the same way he did when he came in. He didn't know whether or not he could lure this one to his protective veil, nor did he know whether the grass hopper would be able to break said veil. What he did know, however, was that it wasn't worth risking it just yet.

Evan stayed still, not daring to move, while the grasshopper ate. It was tearing through the mushrooms, eating whole chunks in one bite. Evan didn't dare to present himself to the grasshopper as dessert, so he stuck to the wall like the good, scared egg he was. After 10 or so minutes, the grasshopper turned away in the other direction, and left the way it had entered, Evan presumed. After the monster of a bug was out of sight, Evan soundlessly headed back to his cave, before stopping the levitate skill, and falling to the floor.

I should probably gather my strength before I start to challenge van sized bugs to a one on one. No way can I kill that thing right now. Let's see here, which skill haven't I tested yet? Ah.... Sense corruption(lvl1). That doesn't sound ominous at all.... Let's try it anyways, I'm more scared of that grasshopper right now, than a lvl 1 skill.

Evan braced himself and started the skill. Just like when he used mana sense for the first time, it felt like he had opened up a whole new world. All around him he saw waves upon waves of black and green lines, flowing throughout the room like a spiderweb in the wind. He noticed that the red hay at the center of the room was emitting a part of the waves, the same way the mana-spring emitted mana. Evan tried to follow the same procedure as before, and tried to converge the black line inside his body. He realized, however, that his seemed to block out the lines completely. They bounced off with no effect, or notification. He tried to force it, but once again, his body blocked it.

He decided to try different places on his body, to find a weak spot. His central black eye soon turned out to be somewhat weak to the corruption. Evan could kind of squish it, almost getting trough, but not quite.

After an arduous 30 minutes, he had gotten somewhat better at shaping the line, tying them together into what seemed to be a little drill. For the final time he tried getting through his eye, into his body.

Come on, come on, come on get through!! Yes! It's in! Now to make a corrupted pool....

The corruption started writhing like a snake grabbed by the tail, until eventually it came into contact with his mana pool. Evan felt the convergence of the two energies, and immediately regretted using the skill in the first place. His two energies started to fight, tearing up what seemed to be the inside of his body in the process.

Get out you corrupted piece of shit energy! I don't want you anymore! AAAArrrggghhhh......

Evan pushed out the larger part of the corruption with the help of his army of little, domesticated mana nodes, which Satan called Ap. Only a little ball remained of the volatile energy, and Evan decided against his better judgement, not to expel it. Instead, he surrounded it with his mana, keeping the little ball in prison. Another 30 minutes later the little ball of writhing black line crystalized in the middle of his mana pool, leaving no residual corruption inside of his body.

A notification popped up, as Evan had grown to expect at this point.

Congratulations! You have crystalized your first corrupted core!

Cp + 1

Cp stands for corruption points. Each Point represents 1 slot. A corrupted slot allows you to socket one corrupted skill which can then be used at the cost of Hp.

Note: Only one corrupted skill can be slotted at a time for each Cp. They can be changed out after each general level up. Corrupted skills can only be bought, not discovered like other skills, through corrupted skill points.

Congratulations! For creating your first corrupted slot within 5 days of birth you have unlocked title: Fate of corruption

Fate of corruption: Gain one free corrupted skill point, every evolution.

Corrupted core? Corrupted skills? Sounds dangerous, but what king doesn't have a few demonic secrets. I should probably use my corrupted skill point that i received from my new title then.

Congratulations! You have used a corrupted skill point. The system will now randomly generate one corrupted skill.

Random?! I can't choose what skill I want to make a deal with the devil for? Oh wait... I guess I accidentally already did that.

Congratulations! You have received corrupted skill 'Corrupting breath(lvl~)'. Since you have an empty corrupted slot, skill has been slotted automatically.

Corrupted breath(lvl~) (active)

Effects: Breath out a cloud of corrupted mist, infecting flora and fauna alike with the corrupted ailment.

Each breath costs the caster 10 Hp.

The corrupted status deals (0.01%) of Hp as Dp to all creatures, per second, and mutates infected flora over time. Damage inflicted increases depending on the hidden stat corruption. Skill cannot lvl up.

The corrupted status deals damage depending on the skill used to inflict said ailment.

The effect wears if the victim leaves the corrupted cloud.

Mutations may vary in effect.

The corrupted ailment cannot be blocked or resisted by any skills or stats. Only certain titles and other corrupted creatures and skills can mitigate or nullify this often fatal debuff. Usually running away is your only option. That, and killing your opponent. ~Adrian Finch, alchamy grandmaster of the theocratic empire Dipresas, Baro continent (eastern continent).

Sweet! Finally a skill that can actually kill things! With this I can kill that grasshopper. Unless... It kills me first....

This sounds like the perfect moment for a trap.

Evan headed back to the lush opening, and checked if the coast was clear. After realizing the grasshopper was nowhere to be found, he started moving. He scouted out the complete cavern this time, and found three exits, excluding the one to his own base. One that went to the mana spring, one he didn't know anything about, and finally the one through which the grasshopper left the last time. Evan started hatching his master plan....

If I can trap that infernal hopper here, and close the exits, than it will have no choice but to stay within my corrupted cloud. Only problem is, how do I close the exits, and how do I not get trapped inside along with it. I don't want to die due to my own skill!

Evan couldn't exactly cave-in the entrances with his own hands, since he didn't have any, and he didn't haven any destructive skills to do it for him. He was gonna have to come up with something new.

Wait a minute... didn't Satan say that by oversaturating myself with mana, I turned myself into a bomb? Maybe if I gather a heap of mana outside of my body, and crystalize it by.... surrounding it.... with corruption this time,.... I might be able to reverse engineer my corrupted crystal, and instead make a mana crystal....

Sure enough, after arriving at the mana spring, and experimenting with the mana, his theory proved to be true. Both corruption and mana could crystalize each other. After a few hours, Evan had crafted 4 mana crystals.

After inspecting his creation, a notification popped up.

Congratulations! You have crafted your first mana crystal!

Mana crystal: a crystal made out of pure condensed mana, usually found in a mine. It's volatile and can explode due to the lightest of disturbances.

The mana crystal is both a magicians best friend and biggest nightmare. They can create empires, and exterminate them just as easily. These crystals power our society, but other forces covet them, and will do all that is needed to collect these rare and useful gems. It is only after obtaining them, however, that they realize they are now the new public enemy number one. People rule over kingdoms, and greed rules over them in turn. ~Arsan cisotar, high-elven mage of the eldergrove union, Utlera continent.(northern continent)

Yes! Now my plan can be set in motion. Face my royal might radioactive grasshopper!

So Evan thought, and so Evan did. The crystals proved to be about as volatile as you would expect; a Minute mana pulse was all it took to set off these magical satchel charges. Evan detonated one above the entrance of the mana spring, with the intent to excavate the cave in later, and another above the unknown entrance. He planted one near the grasshoppers cave, and finally one above his own cave entrance.

Ok, the trap is set, now for the execution.

Evan waited right near the grasshoppers entrance for about 3 hours, before that familiar translucent shimmer came out of the cave. Evan jumped in front of it. The grasshopper, surprised, reeled back, ready for a fight. It quickly noticed however, that its enemy was tiny compared to itself, and it regained its confidence before charging at Evan.

Evan rushed towards his own cave, the same way he did with the fight against that hound. Only this time, Evan wove through the bushes and mushrooms. The grasshopper can't quite follow, obstructed by the plants. It has to crawl around. Before getting to far away, Evan detonated his crystal above the cave of his latest enemy, closing the cave completely.

Thank god for the loose dirt, otherwise just one crystal wouldn't be enough. Now comes the crucial part. Let's hope the grasshopper is as clumsy as he is big.

Evan decided that now was the best time for his breath skill and activated it. A large gust of black and green fog exits a little hole under his eye.

So I do have a mouth! Maybe it's only meant for skills though.... it's not like I've gotten hungry yet.

The opening filled up with the corrupted gas, leaving no safe places. Both Evan and the hopper were subjected to the corrupted ailment.

Warning! You have been inflicted with the corrupted ailment. (O.O1%) Dp per second.

Evan entered his cave opening, turned around and launched another minute mana pulse at the planted crystal. Just like planned the cave opening caved in, trapping the grasshopper in the central opening room.

Corrupted ailment has dissipated.

Feeling safe and successfull, Evan returned to his home, through the barrier, and laid down by deactivating his levitation spell.

Congratulations! Levitation has reached(lvl6)

All that floating around has paid off. Soon enough I won't even need to spend mana to use the skill. Now I just need to wait for the grasshopper to die, and the mist to dissipate.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Crumble....

Did the grasshopper.... break through the cave in? Oh nooo....

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the grasshopper came around the corner and slammed with his full van-sized weight against the barrier. It showed no sign of breaking, but the bigger issue is the corrupted mist the monster is bringing with it. Luckily, as Evan stared in fear, the mist arrived, but didn't seem to be able to penetrate the barrier!

Thank you Satan for giving me such a secure home! I might actually forgive you for turning me into a metal egg at some point....

About an hour and a half later, the hopper stopped slamming into the barrier. Unlike the hound from before, the monster doesn't seem to be fazed my the mana-absorbing barrier that Satan's home security agency installed. The corrupted breath did the trick though, draining it of health.

Congratulations! You have slain small fungus crawler(lvl9). You have received 153 exp.

Congratulations! You have reached lvl 3. You have earned 1 skill point.

Congratulations! You have reached lvl 4. You have earned 1 skill point.

Congratulations! You have reached lvl 5. You have earned 1 skill point.

Exp 31/90

Congratulations! You have fulfilled all requirements for your evolution! (reach lvl 5, increase mana capacity above 30, level 2 skills to lvl 5 or higher).