At the unfamiliar word, the sli tilted its body slightly with a kku-it! sound.
‘What’s evolution?’
The system responded to the question asked in its mind.
[Evolution is a phenonon where you can evolve into a higher entity.]
‘?’
Since the sli still didn’t understand, the system explained in simpler terms.
[It is a phenonon where you can beco a stronger being.]
‘?’
[Adjusting explanation to match the subject’s intelligence.]
[Selecting explanation based on recent experiences of the subject.]
[You will be able to catch deer faster.]
‘Wow!’
Now, the sli was finally able to grasp roughly what evolution was.
‘Deer! Catch faster!’
Boing Boing! The excited sli bounced on the spot.
The head of the deer beneath the sli was getting buried into the ground.
The sli imdiately shared its newly discovered fact in the chat.
▷Evolution! Evolution!
▶Evolution?
▶ Hmm?
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Don’t tell … Did you get the evolution screen, Squishy?
▷I can evolve! Catch deer faster!
▶For real? You actually got the evolution screen?
▶Why so fast?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Has the evolution screen appeared, my kin?
▶Ah! Evolution Xes!
The chat exploded with excitent over the news of the evolution screen.
Because the speed was just that fast!
Normally, after monsters developed enough intelligence to recognize the system screen, it took at least a year for them to encounter the evolution window.
By that standard, the sli’s evolution speed was near Mach-level!
However, it wasn’t unnatural for the sli to face the evolution screen so quickly.
While other monsters grow to so extent and then recognize the system, the sli had understood the system the mont it was born, so naturally, the experience required for evolution would differ.
And among the viewers, soone began to notice this fact through the growing pile of questions.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Isn’t it just because Squishy is still a sli? The first evolution is usually fast anyway.
The first to comnt was Troll, of course.
Though he hadn’t evolved after becoming a lich, he spoke as if he had firsthand experience.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Is that so?
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ We dragons were the highest-ranking species from the start, so we wouldn’t know.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ Don’t lump together with so pitiful pile of bones.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ What did you say?
[Squishy Queen] ▶ If you’re going to fight, take it to another room! One of our kin stands at the path of choice!
▶ (Unpopular opinion) Every ti you oldies fight, it stinks of rot.
▶ 222222
▶ Lol
[Just Slam First] ▶ Squishy! What can you evolve into?
At Fenrir’s question, the sli tilted its body.
‘Into what?’
[You have three evolution options.]
[1. Poison Sli]
[2. Big Sli]
[3. Bounce Sli]
[Would you like a detailed explanation?]
‘Yes!’
[Poison Sli: You will gain toxicity in your body. You can attack by secreting poison or coating your whole body in it]
[Skill: You will acquire Poison Generation]
[Required coins: 25 coins]
[Big Sli: You will have a much larger body. You can crush opponents with your increased size and weight. You can instantly absorb enemies smaller or about the sa size as you]
[Skill: You will acquire Capture]
[Required coins: 20 coins]
[Bounce Sli: You will gain a more elastic body. You can move much faster and use the terrain for easier attacks]
[Skill: You will acquire Bounce Tackle]
[Required coins: 15 coins]
‘?’
The sli listened as the system explained further.
But even after hearing the explanation, it couldn’t understand.
It had no idea which one to choose.
‘What should I do?’
To that, the system gave a firm response.
[It is up to your choice.]
This ti, the sli felt like the system wouldn’t explain it any easier.
So it decided to ask the chat.
▷Evolution! Got choices! So many!
[Free Spirit] ▶ What choices do you have?
▶So many choices? How many?
▷Three!
▶You call three many? lolol
▶Three is plenty.
▶Yeah, three is actually a lot for evolution lol
[Squishy Queen] ▶ My kin! So what choices did you receive? Tell us!
‘Tell them!’
The sli was about to say the three options just as they were.
But then it paused and thought.
Wouldn’t it be better to repeat exactly what the system said rather than just naming them?
‘Everyone! Talk lots! Know lots!’
[Squishy Queen], who always worried and gave advice.
[Just Slam First], who taught it how to body slam and hunt.
And [Free Spirit], who told it to eat at instead of just purple grass.
To the sli, the chat viewers were beings who knew more than itself.
So maybe they could understand what it didn’t.
Thinking that, the sli spoke to the system.
‘Say it again!’
Then the sli copied the system’s explanation into the chat word for word.
The explanation in the chat surprised the viewers.
▶Squishy’s beco a lore-dumper!
▶That’s just a copy-paste of what the system said lololol
▶ Never seen soone explain their whole evolution before lol
▶That’s almost exactly what I got when I evolved.
▶What’s Bounce Sli, even?
***
‘So this is the evolution screen explanation the other monsters always talked about.’
In his secret workshop, the flas flickered in the hollow eye sockets of Troll.
A glow of curiosity and inquiry.
He had never seen the evolution screen himself and had always been curious about what kind of options and ssages monsters received.
But if he asked about it during broadcasts, he’d get reactions like, “Why are you asking that?” or “Who rembers those explanations anyway? Just pick whatever feels right.”
So he never got a straight answer.
But now, the sli had kindly shared the evolution screen in full through the chat.
‘Not that complicated, but quite informative.’
It told you what characteristics each evolution form had and what skill you’d gain.
‘And it even costs coins to evolve.’
Coins accumulate when a monster has certain experiences.
From what Troll knew, coins were only used to buy skills at the shop.
The skills in the shop varied widely, but one rule applied.
You could only purchase skills your species could actually use.
For example, even with tons of coins, a sli couldn’t learn a dragon’s breath attack.
You couldn’t buy every skill, but buying the right ones could make you stronger.
So when monsters first gained system awareness and unlocked the shop, so would start streaming just to beg for coins.
– Please! I’m a lowly octopus who just opened the shop! Spare so precious coins!
So would lower themselves pathetically to beg.
– You guys like this, right? Here’s shedding skin~ I’ll shed even more next ti, so coin support please~
Others mimicked provocative strears.
– I’ll do anything if you give coins! Go on! What should I do?!
So even created challenge content to earn coins that way.
Monsters in a diocre position craved coins to grow stronger.
Putting aside the joy of learning about the evolution screen, Troll now shifted to Operation Squishy Manipulation.
‘I need to steer it away from Poison Sli.’
Just like how he’d worried when the sli ate poisonous herbs, if it beca a Poison Sli, it’d be harder for it to interact with Nellin.
Troll began with a casual question.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Squishy, how many coins do you have right now? Coins?
[Free Spirit] ▶ Ask the system, it’ll tell you!
▷37!
‘Enough to evolve, then.’
Troll quickly analyzed the other options besides Poison Sli and prepared to advise.
Then—
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ If you're going to evolve, bigger is better! Go Big Sli!
The fire dragon.
Noblesse Fire chid in first.
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ That’s a crude thing to say.
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ What do you an crude! Hey! Being big ans people don’t underestimate you!
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ That’s exactly why it’s crude. Though I agree size does matter.
Though they usually argued, the fire dragon and bone dragon surprisingly agreed.
[Thread-Lady] Oh my, don’t you know how useful poison is? Cute little Squishy, Poison Sli would suit you~!
The arachne.
Thread-Lady, who used poison often, recomnded Poison Sli.
[Just Slam First] ▶ What nonsense! Squishy learned body slamming! To body slam well, Bounce Sli is the best choice!
The fenrir.
Just Slam First recomnded Bounce Sli to match his own teachings.
As the recomndations heated up, other viewers jumped into the debate for fun.
▶Bounce Sli is a no. Least coin cost.
▶You’re dissing it just because it’s cheap? lololol
▶More coins doesn’t always an better.
▶Poison’s useless if you can’t land a hit lol
▶What’s so good about bouncing?
▶If you’re just big, you’ll get hit more easily.
▶But it does cost the least, huh.
Of course, most of them were trolls just having fun.
They enjoyed mocking the other options and stirring chaos in the chat.
‘Uuuhhh… I don’t know!’
The constant stream of conflicting opinions only deepened the sli’s confusion.
Then—
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Silence! You rabble rousers! Who cares about your opinions! What matters is what my kin wants!
▶Not my business lololol.
▶Ahaha co on, it’s fun lolol.
As the serious discussion about the evolution of their fellow sli turned half-joke, the Sli Queen was furious.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Yeah, Sli Queen is right. What Squishy wants to beco is what matters most.
Troll seized that mont of rage and jumped in with a question to the sli.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Squishy! What do you want to beco?
▷What?
While the chat was noisy, Troll drew on his past as a forr mage to explain each evolution path in a way the sli could understand.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Poison Sli can use poison.
▷Poison?
[Free Spirit] ▶ It makes water that hurts, so you can catch deer easily.
▷Wow!
[Free Spirit] ▶ Big Sli makes your body bigger.
▷Get bigger!
[Free Spirit] ▶ You’ll get slower, but you can eat more.
▷Eat more!
[Free Spirit] ▶ Bounce Sli can move quickly.
▷Quickly?
[Free Spirit] ▶ Yeah, and you always bounce when you’re happy, right?
▷Yup!
[Free Spirit] ▶ You’ll be able to bounce even more.
▷More bounce!
Troll, doing his best to explain it simply, told the sli:
[Free Spirit] ▶ Just pick the one you want to beco, Squishy.
***
‘The one I want to beco…’
After listening to Troll’s explanation, the sli thought deeply.
Poison Sli.
It had a vague understanding of using poison.
It rembered the pain it felt after eating that purple herb.
It understood the concept of using that pain to attack.
But it couldn’t quite imagine itself using poison to attack.
Big Sli.
On the other hand, the idea of growing big and eating more was easy to picture.
Like the deer that were bigger than it.
If it beca a Big Sli, it could eat more deer, and faster too.
And finally, Bounce Sli.
It could move faster and bounce more.
It could chase down fleeing rabbits or deer without needing to ambush.
What did it want to do more?
After thinking endlessly about that, the sli made its decision.
Sothing familiar to itself.
Sothing it had always wanted most.
‘I want to evolve!’
The system responded to the sli’s will.
[Which form would you like to evolve into?]
‘Bounce Sli!’
[You have selected Bounce Sli.]
[15 coins will be used.]
[Beginning evolution.]
Wooooooong!
‘Waaahhh…!’
The sli’s entire body was engulfed in light.
User Comments
0 comments from readers