NBB - A sphere's tale - Chapter 9 Evolution one

As soon as Mutar was out of sight, GD18 started preparations. The longer he was here, the more dangerous it could be, and he still needed to choose his upcoming evolution. He summoned his modified status window and opened the list of potential evolutionary trees he had prepared as suitable before moving into this body. They covered every possible situation he could find himself in, with a slew of different types and requirements. Below each was a section of in-depth information. He minimized the details, for now, leaving him with a long list of primary patterns and their eventual final form.

He quickly added some filters to remove everything but those that would increase his intelligence. To his surprise, the list shrunk to under 1 percent of its previous length, leaving a few hundred options and variations. As he looked at the filter list, he saw one that stood out.

> Filter by the ability to exist in space

As soon as he read it, he knew what he wanted. Freedom, not just from his sphere, from humanity's limitations, but also from this planet! To go anywhere and see everything!

He selected the filter, and the list shrunk down to three different paths. Each had a unique name, and the first two had an explanation generated by the system based on existing information and data. Something about the last entry seemed odd, but he started at the top.

> Ethelog Warper

> [Racial main base] A rare spacefaring entity found roaming the outer fringers of gas giants. Feeds on rare elements.

A small entry below showed some data based on reported scans and historical events.

> Scans showed a massive brain that should indicate a high intelligence, and measurements revealed mana waves between the different members of the race. Attempts to decipher the potential speech were never successful. For a long time, there were attempts at communication, but no response ever indicated success. After no success was made in a decade, one was killed for autopsy purposes. Upon its death, every member across known space disappeared, leaving traces behind that indicated they had used some form of warp propulsion.

A rotating image was added below the explanation, showing a being that resembled a massive purple and black whale. It had a tail that went from side to side like regular fish. There were no eyes nor discernible up or downside, and its fins had sharp ridges that glittered as it moved as if producing static electricity. A human and a humpback whale were added for scale, showing it was five times as long as the whale and just as massive.

A table showed the required changes to the pattern due to him being an undead wyrm. The potential render below the table showed a white-plated, more carnivorous version of the Ethelog. The statistics were all estimates as nothing of this type had ever been created.

GD18 looked it over and frowned as he examined the four evolutionary steps needed to reach the end goal. None would make it easier to reach the surface any better than he currently could. The third would actually be more difficult. He checked the next one.

> Energy Kraken [Carry]

> [Racial main base] A human-engineered version of the mythological Kraken based on DNA from the giant squid. Used to harvest minerals from high-pressure aquatic worlds, the Energy Kraken or Carry (short for carry-all), as the human workers named it, can create a powerful yet propulsion from between its tentacles that can last for upward of an hour. It uses this to lift off from planetary surfaces to bring the harvested metals to orbiting space stations.

The image showed an arrow-shaped, completely black Kraken with a row of small eyes around the base of its body. It had tentacles three times the length of its body and a jet of white and blue plasma ejected from between them, propelling it up.

There was another table with stats. Most of them were roughly the same as the Ethelog, except for a higher dexterity and a lower maximum physical density. The potential render showed a mix between his current Wyrm look and the Kraken, again white. There were again plates, but they only covered the rounded top. The biggest difference between the normal and undead versions were two extremities that pointed towards the front and held the middle between tentacles and arms with three-fingered claws.

The arms intrigued GD18 as they gave him more freedom, but again, none of the paths towards the final evolution would make it easier to get around underground.

Looking at the last one, he was slightly taken aback. The first two had been based on something that resembled an aquatic being, but the last option looked like a slender lizard with long elegant legs and wings.

A Dragon? GD18 thought in surprise, easily recognizing the mythical creature.

> Experimental proto drake [Grogaldragh]

> Based on a proposed genetic experiment done in the early thirteenth century that was found in an old research journal. Although never completed, a small-scale version was created shortly before the discovery of mana. The sole subject managed to breach its container and flee into outer space, where it disappeared. Searches were dropped shortly after, and the research stopped. The scientists were moved to work on the research of mana.

> Shortly before dying, Professor Agga Jamerin, the ex-lead scientist, proposed renewed investigation. She suggested it be combined with her mana-field research. Her request was denied, and all subsequent research was destroyed for unknown reasons leaving only her journal.

> Warning! Reports exist in confidential databases that Agga created undead before she died with the knowledge of her proposed experimentations. It is said that she wanted them to eventually continue her research. None of these undead were ever found, but rumors kept popping up about her hidden research centers buried deep below the ground.  None of those were ever found either.

The table with attributes below showed minimum values that were lower than those of the previous choices and question marks for the maximum values.

The proposed render showed again a far more predatory version of the initial image. Bulkier than the first image, the main body was covered in large white plates that became smaller towards the bottom and along its tail. The massive wings seemed meant for a larger animal and had red glyph-like markings on the bottoms. The head still held a few vague memories of the wyrm, with the eyes slightly higher than on the original image and two wide-tipped tongues falling from between the three rows of teeth that lined the massive jaw.

There was only a single step to reach the final evolution. GD18 looked at it in confusion.

He knew he had chosen every single one of the thousands of options before, but he lost the detailed memories of the why. He could vaguely recall having high hopes for this one, but looking at the information, he didn't understand why. Where the first two options changed massively with each evolution, there was only a single, strange step from his current form to the final evolution.

The wyrm would just grow massively as his mana-field grew towards the required maximum. He expanded the details and looked at a list of images that showed the different stages. First, his plates would turn bigger, and then he would grow spikes across his back. After that, the edges of his plates would begin to protrude until finally, the last image resembled a sort of pupa stage. He would lie down, curl up a bit and stay there as his body hardened even more. Eventually, he would burst out, and a being like he had seen on the previous render would emerge.

He read through all three options twice, more to give himself time to think than because it was necessary, as he could remember most things upon reading them.

Perhaps the proposed class will explain this oddity, he finally thought. There was only one class suggestion, and he knew that was because the wyrm body had little influence on it. It was another custom-made pattern, and he remembered it had taken him all of his processing skills to create it, bypassing many human implemented hurdles.

> Artificial Undead constructor

> Created by GD18 [Name to be changed], this pattern will change the way the manafield that carries the personality and mind of a being works, granting computational abilities similar to those of an AI, but without limiting personal and emotional growth. Grants the ability to connect directly to beings with weaker mana fields to edit inscriptions on their manafield. With enough intelligence, it will allow the ability to create mana-constructs.

A massive list of potential ways to use the mana-constructs followed, but GD18 didn't read through it. Instead, he looked at the small note that he had left for himself.

> Adding this class is only possible starting from the last evolution unless any of the following racial patterns is chose. Only the increase in mana-field size of these evolutions allows immediate inscription of the class pattern.

A list of twenty-four patterns was showed with the Proto drake one of them. A quick, cursory scan o the others showed none would increase his intelligence. Below the last normal message was one more line, colored in green.

> Choose depending on your current mindset!

He couldn't remember putting it there, and that bothered him. Re-reading the line didn't help him remember, and he knew that wasn't as it was supposed to be. Although he didn't know what he did before, he knew he would have added his own reasoning to the memory restoration data package he created. Did this mean his memories were tampered with?

A final thing the humans did?

GD18 played back everything that had happened since he awoke. He didn't find any oddities, but after examining the restored memories, he did find strange gaps that couldn't solely be attributed to the lack of his full set of databases. He investigated further, and as soon as he saw the timestamps of the different fragments, he knew for sure. The data in the package was changed!

A loud screech came from deep in the city, and he searched for any imminent dangers. There was nothing, and he turned his attention back to the three relevant options he had left himself. They should all be equal, and they might have been, had he all his memories.  Now he didn't know if he could trust those. What he needed to do now was get back to his full faculties.

That leaves me with no other choice, he thought, staring at the Artificial Undead constructor. He needed it if only to attempt to find out what more of his memories had been altered.

He selected the proto-dragon option and his massive grey manafield wooshed into existence around him. Immediately, thin turquoise-colored lines began appearing, partitioning the massive manafield into sections.  A shudder ran through his mind. If he hadn't changed the process with some unique tweaks, he would have lost consciousness now. The cost was that the inscription process would last a bit longer, but that was a well-calculated risk.

When the partitioning had finished, another shudder ran through him, and a sluggishness around the edges of his mind began fading. He hadn't actively noticed it before, but he knew it was where his mind overflowed from the mana-core onto the mana-field. The sharpening meant the intelligence of the body and mana-field was increasing. The lines widened and began pulsating until they settled. Thin inscriptions appeared in one of the sections, starting from the edges and quickly moving inside.

A beep came from the status program, and he looked at the short message.

> Two hours, seven minutes, ten seconds until evolution completes.

> External sensory input turning off in 10, 9, 8,

GD18 quietly watched the countdown, looking at the still surroundings, trying to detect any movement. There was none, and he hoped it stayed this way. Then his smell-o-vision turned off. The world turned to a small fuzzy grey area above his eyes, and then that too faded. This was the most dangerous part of the evolution, as he was left both defenseless and unaware.

As the second countdown continued, GD18 paid close attention to the changes he felt throughout his body. A dull throbbing came from inside as organs began rearranging, bones elongating and thickening, and his entire body began growing. The values on his status window increased with irregular jumps. The last to develop was an organ reminiscent of a brain that had been no more than the size of walnut before. It grew until it was ten times its original size.  When it stopped, the sharpening around the edges of his mind increased for a second time, and then the changes to his status screen stopped.

Name: GD18

Age: ERROR

Sex: male

Race: Proto-wyrm

Type: Grogaldragh

Class: Metal eater

Strength: 21/40

Constitution: 50/100

Dexterity: 1/5

Endurance: -

Intelligence: 1/10

Wisdom: 1/10

Charisma: -

Mana-field: 9802/90000

Physical density: 3009/30000

Skills: -

Inscriptions: 2/9

Mana generation: 151

GD18 scanned the new values, noting that the mana field was already increasing from the metal still in his stomachs. That was a good thing because he had never heard of such an absurdly high mana-field requirement. His physical density was also growing but at a much slower speed.

After another few moments had passed, he regained control over his body. The last to return was hi smell-o-vision, which hadn't changed at all.

He immediately scanned his surroundings: the crumbling buildings and muddy walls were the same as before, and he found no dangers. There was also no sign of Mutar, and the occasional screams and collisions deeper in the city had stopped. Stretching his senses, he examined his new body. He had increased in size, now almost twice as long and wide as before, and he was still growing, albeit slowly. Small stubs grew on the interlocking plates covering his back, the start of the massive spikes he had seen on the render.

He turned his attention back to his status screen.

Still only ten intelligence.

He knew that statistically, a ten-fold increase from a single evolution was top tier. Still, it wasn't enough to begin placing his personality into the mana-field so it could grow with the body. He also knew that he wouldn't be able to increase it again until after his pupa stage.

He waited, examining his surroundings carefully. Although he very much wanted to add the next pattern immediately, he needed to make sure it was safe.  Ten minutes later, there still hadn't been a single sound; no rumblings of buildings collapsing or screeches of wyrms. Nothing.

Something isn't right.

Before he started evolving, there had at least been some sounds every so often. There should have been something by now.

Another five minutes of eerie silence confirmed it. Something had changed, and with no sign of Mutar, it wasn't safe to stay here without knowing what was going on. To be sure, he calculated the odds of nothing happening if he stayed here, but without enough data, the calculations were flawed. The best he could come up with was a sixty percent chance of something happening that could endanger him.

That's too big a chance, he decided, and slowly his massive bulk began moving forward.