Arachnomancer 76 Desires Of Kess, Set, And Xelu

After gathering everyone I brought them a distance from the nest, close to where the previous group of treants once inhabited. The reason I did this is because I heard from Inival that monster evolutions can sometimes be destructive. Really powerful monsters can cause the environment to change permanently sometimes as well. That area can then be compressed into a dungeon.

Anyways, after we get a distance from the nest, I tell them my plans.

"I can choose a specific direction for evolution so, I want some input from y'all." Gin

"Y'all?" Xelu

"I want a physical body!!!!" Vulki

'I want a humanoid body!!!!' Set

...

"Let's do it like this. Kess, Set, and Xelu will go in a first batch while Vulki and Nemesis in the second." Gin

"d.a.m.n....." Vulki

"I'm not sure on what I want so getting a bit of time to think on it's good....." Nemesis

....

"As long as I can continue to eat, I don't have any particular wants here..... Perhaps, something that makes the ancient aspect I have more useful?" Kess

I bring up Kess' status screen and confirm her evolution and rank-up. I start looking through the various different options that pop up. Usually, when I create a new broodmother, It automatically gives them extra aspects based on the amount of evolutions they should have gone through based on their level. So I'm guessing that if Ravel becomes a broodmother she will have three aspects.....

I see a couple new aspects that catch my attention. Giant and t.i.tan seem to both increase size drastically..... Nope. Already have to worry about Kess' ridiculous eating habits..... Gluttony appears again which I cross out as well. Looking through the various aspects, I end up crossing them all out. This leaves the ones that would focus more on the aspects Kess already has and on her physique. One in particular catches my eyes.

Kess right now sometimes has problems with walking. The one I'm looking at seems to add a bunch of strength to her base while also increasing the strength of her metal and ancient aspect. She should have no problems with this..... It's weird that there is an almost perfect evolution like this while there are others that basically have no benefits.... It seems that monsters can have c.r.a.ppy evolutions that stunt their future growth if they are unlucky.....

I confirm the choice and the rank-up seems to go along with it. Kess gets wrapped up in a shiny silver coc.o.o.n that gives off a weird pressure. While she is evolving I move onto Set who is fidgeting off to the side.

"You said something about a humanoid body right?" Gin

'Yes. Perhaps something that allows me to alter my body to how I want? With all the women approaching master, I get a bit nervous. If I could make a humanoid figure that is superior, then that would disappear." Set

Set says some things that disturb me. I immediately shatter all of the bizarre and 'eerie' thoughts that are crystallizing in my head. Don't think on it..... Won't do my head any good....

"I'll see what I can do" Gin

For the first time in a while, I get a feeling through telepathy, sheer joy. It eases my mind a little as I bring up Set's status screen and confirm her evolution and rank-up. I start scrounging through the various options here as well. A plant aspect, holy aspect, and oddly enough a fire aspect are present. I only glace over them though. I doubt any of them would give Set what she wants..... It seems that I may end up crossing out all of the options for aspects..... I even see 'envy' which is a bit unsettling.

I move onto the other type of evolution..... After filtering out the ones that are inferior, I'm left with two choices. They both allow her to morph her body as she pleases. The difference is that one is superior in healing, while the other is superior in stealth.... It is quite hard to choose honestly.... Set is already extremely proficient when it comes to stealth so building on that further would turn her into a super a.s.sa.s.sin. However, her healing ability is a G.o.d-send. The boost would allow for almost instant healing ability while also giving her the ability to heal multiple people at once.

After debating for a bit, I decide on the healing one. It was a hard choice but in the end, Set is a guardian. If her stealth ability exceeds mine, it would not do me any good. She would have to seperate from me to be more effective. That would leave me more vulnerable.....

It would allow for her to stay hidden when I'm fighting someone and then give a sneak attack..... However, the quicker healing ability could save my life if I'm about to die..... It could save any of my subrodinates.

I confirm my choice as ink wraps around Set, this time with more amber colored liquid is mixed in. I look over at Xelu who is watching Kess' evolution..... Xelu's evolution is the one that I'm most nervous about. She has finally stabilized so, I'm not even sure about this.

"Do you have anything you want Xelu?" Gin

She tilts her head which is bulging out of her blood red gel-clumps in an odd manner. Her tentacles and thorns tap in a thinking(?) manner. She responds with a question.

"Smarter? If I had more 'smarts' I'd know, Mashta?" Xelu

Another aspect then? I have seen a couple evolutions that would increase intelligence without a new aspect but, they are kinda lackl.u.s.ter when it comes to increasing other attributes....

I confirm her evolution and rank-up..... I have to say..... There are not too many options. Xelu only has a couple dozen options..... In comparison, Set and Kess had hundreds, maybe even close to a thousand different evolutionary choices....

Sloth? What the h.e.l.l! Why are all the deadly sins popping up!?!? Will they pop up for future subordinates too? What about after I have more than seven broodmothers and guardians?

*sigh

I slowly cross out sloth. No matter how many times they pop up, I'll never choose them. I move on to the others. All of the ones that focus on improving her current self are pretty terrible. Very small increases in attributes..... I narrow down the choices and am left with a few more interesting ones.

Vampiric, which really overlaps with her blood aspect. 'Alien', which is full of uncertainty. Finally, there is 'Avian'..... I'm guessing this is here due to her previously being a harpy. I'm not too keen on the vampiric aspect..... As for the the alien and avian aspect, they are kinda iffy too. I'm not sure about what the alien aspect would encompa.s.s. Alien is usually a.s.sociated with the unknown. Creatures of unknown forms with boundless intelligence. As for Avian, there is a lot more behimd that than meets the eye. Raven, Owls, Eagles..... They are symbols of intelligence as well.....

They all would have unknown effects on Xelu. Avian could potentially mess up the balance that she has found between being a harpy and an eldritch arachnid. Alien is completely unknown while Vampiric would probably be the safest choice since it overlaps so much with the blood aspect...

As my thoughts start to go into a loop, Vulki comes over. She is tilting her mask in confusion as I finished with Set and Kess a lot quicker.

"Is something wrong, master Gin?" Vulki

"It's hard to make a choice here. Too many unknowns that could cripple Xelu's mind." Gin

I explain my thoughts to Vulki, leaving her ponder for a while.

"I would go with Alien. Although it is completely foreign, It probably won't effect her like the avian aspect. I think the vampiric aspect would have repercussions as well. It's really a hard choice...." Vulki

I didn't really think of it like that. The vampiric aspect may cause an upset in Xelu as well..... I agree with Vulki here. If the vampiric choice has potential to do harm as well, the only one that is left is the unknown one. It could be a horrible choice. However, It could also be a great choice. I'm really testing luck with this one....

Clicking on this option Xelu gets wrapped up in a b.l.o.o.d.y coc.o.o.n. It has many eyes floating on its surface and a weird purple energy starts arcing out in an uneven fashion. I look over and it seems as if Kess is almost done as her coc.o.o.n starts to crumble.....