Their single focused drive would get them to places where I couldn't since I had to split my focus. This wouldn't be as bad with my high mental potential as learning spells or fighting techniques would be accelerated, and with such a high spirit my mana and stamina will be higher than anyone I know.

With a twist, if my body a snake ended up bas.h.i.+ng through a tree. My body in my spirit getting used to the movements that my VR ident.i.ty was known for. Even if my experiences were limited, a very impressive list of weapons had been burned into my memory. My main teacher was a pain in the a.s.s but he was through.

I was planning on testing out weapons one by one until I found a weapon style that fit my magic. As the most mages specialize in long-range attacks, melee seemed the best option. It was also going to be the best bet against warriors as they try to stick close to disrupt a mage's spellcasting. This would give me an advantage against one, and even ground on the other, though the same could be said for a long range as well but then I'd lose that advantage once they got close.

A half smile came to my lips as the pole moved like a phantom to make a circular imprint on the back of a monkey's head snapping its spinal cord. Those times with my teacher were good indeed, having my virtual body pushed to its limits, always striving for something higher slightly out of your reach. It might sound like a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic approach but I couldn't wait to drive my body to its breaking point.

The feeling of my spiritual body inside my mind felt much like my VR character. It could move, get exhausted, and felt like me but there is a sense of detachment that I can't shake. I a.s.sume this would be much like someone getting a robotic arm that could feel and send feedback to your mind, a piece of you would know those feelings are just simulated.

Through my travels scouting around the area I had come across over fifteen different types of animals, none of them being a hunter. I hadn't moved far from the camp as I was moving around in a spiral to learn as much about the area around me as possible. When the corpses of the animals became too much I'd come back, and switch to a new weapon to practice.

Staff, Bow, Knives, Swords, all of them were used though I finally settled on two to make them my own style in this world. Both of them will handle everything from close range to melee, I needed weapons that could handle both. To find a ranged weapon that was good up close was easy, something small easy to wield in one hand, that is silent with little recoil. Eliminating the rifle I created earlier from the lineup due to its damage, size, and noise a handgun was far more practical.

With limited firepower due to their size and weight to keep them useful, I made rounds that could be used more for self-defense rather than penetrating power. The soft pellets that I made had enough stopping power to break the leg of a deer but I was sure against an actual fighter it wouldn't do as much. Also, the gun couldn't be used without creation magic since there was no way to load it or make the pressurized air, so no one would have the same concerns as they would the rifle.

The Karambit was the sister weapon to the gun, quick impactful movements that I could use to control or kill the target quickly. When mixed with the gun it could easily combo to take down an enemy quickly and incapacitate them. If the situation calls for it the small blade can also be used to cut into people quickly, meant to attack and pounce like a tiger or jaguar. The fact that it was a small blade also meant that strong enchantments to it would use less mana.

Still, this put me into the situation where I was best from mid to close range which I rather liked. Most mages liked to stand in the back and let their magic do all the work, with these weapons I'd be a great mage killer. It would also take several people by surprise since the weapons could be summoned out of nowhere.

I did, however, notice something the further I went away from the library the larger and more powerful the beasts were becoming, though still there is no water which was depressing. There were also some beasts that didn't exist in my previous world, though the part of me that was Nikolai recognized each one. These were low-level magical beasts, most of them had some sort of defense but they were still herbivores.

One that I was most excited for was a black ooze-like creature with hundreds of tentacles that came out of its body. This would probably give the next evolution path for my larva, and be matched with my favorite spell from video games.

Black tentacles was a spell that covered an area with a substance that entrapped creates within it. This would allow the caster to restrict the movement of someone while they made h.e.l.l rain down on the person. If used in reality though as a creature this might allow it to strangle a bunch of creatures into a slow and silent death.

Happily taking my prizes from killing all day to the larva, I added them to the pile of corpses that made a small hill around them. Nearly force feeding one the ooze from earlier. The larva was deeply afraid at my eagerness as I smiled, laughing to myself loudly.

After it had finally eaten the whole jelly, the traits I wanted showed up as the larva s.h.i.+vered slowly as if it had been violated. I ignored it, bringing up the traits I wanted to fuse.

Shadow Manipulation - Tentacles fused to Shadow Tentacles

Impregnation - Spores fused to Touch of Birth

Blood Leech - Teeth fused to Vampiric Bite

There were a few others that were less successful, like the ability to shoot bubbles out of its mouth, or the ability to sense where trees were. These were, however, the ones that I felt that had the most use with my new creation.

As I wanted this race to have an explosive birth at the beginning stages, having multiple paths of birth seemed like the right choice. Though I knew that I would be called a pervert for this combination considering the tropes that were aligned with it. As no one else would see my actions I didn't feel embarra.s.sed to create this creature.

Template: Amorphis Form, Psion, Small, Vampiric Bite, Touch of Birth, Shadow Tentacles, Shadow Manipulation, Many Legged, Eyes x3

Confirming my options, the larva was suddenly covered with a very thick amount of mucus. He had over twice the amount of bioma.s.s needed, but the amount dropped to zero when he started to evolve. This meant I couldn't skip evolutionary no matter how much bioma.s.s they gained.

'Congratulations on completing two unique evolutions, as a reward you gain one trait that your creatures have from their templates.'

This was a pleasant surprise, though as I looked through my options there were only four that wouldn't cause visible changes to my body. Touch of Birth, Shadow Manipulation, Shadow Tentacle, and Psion, which of course Touch of Birth was ruled out. As I didn't trust Psion, I choose Shadow Manipulation, hoping it would gain me another affinity.

'As the creature, you are gaining this from doesn't have a core, Shadow Manipulation requires Psion. Unlocking brain's Psionic potential.'

"Wait, what‽" My eyes opened wide as a fierce headache consumed all of my thoughts making me scream out in pain. The edges of my vision started to go black as the pain was threatening to make me black out but I endured. In the end, I lost that battle making my vision go completely black as I pa.s.sed out falling to the ground in a heap.

The life wizards outside of my consciousness started to feverishly work as they heard me screaming loudly as I laid there. Their foreheads pouring out sweat as they saw nothing wrong with my body even if I was screaming in pain. They had been there for quite some time now and were fatigued as they kept healing my body in s.h.i.+fts.

"f.u.c.k that fat b.a.s.t.a.r.d, why did he have to drag all of us into this mess? The general is still suspecting us so we had to stay here for days past when we were meant to leave." William complained as his hands were shaking due to mana exhaustion.

After ten minutes I stopped screaming, but the healers seemed even more concerned as they could feel energy building in the room. A sudden burst of unseen force made them all fly back into the wall, the only one not affected by the blast was the culprit. Lying peacefully, my covers not even wrinkled in the slightest, though he still had a pained look on my face I was no longer screaming. I only seemed to be suffering from a nightmare as if none of the previous scenes happened.

As tools and decorations of the room continued to rain down on the healers who were covering their heads for protection, one of them yelled out, "The force magic is strong with this one!"

After they all got up, they went to my body to check vitals, and the only issue was a slightly elevated heartbeat. "What the h.e.l.l just happened?"

"He seems to have awakened a new power."

"While asleep?"

"Unnatural sleep."

The healers now had more questions for me when I woke up if they were able to talk to me after I awoke. As they sighed in relief, the two guards in the room called out for the maids to come and clean up the room, making sure there was nothing sharp around anymore so no one would get injured should this happen again.

The general was on his way back home to check on his child's condition, so every person was worried that something even stranger might happen. With the list of things that they couldn't explain became larger all they could do was sigh at their bad luck.