"I want to be strong. The strongest being possible."

At that sentence, [Guide] paused for a second, before responding with.

{Core task accepted. [Quests] tool initiated.}

Lucas felt a mild pain in his mind. It cleared up in a few seconds however. When he opened his status screen, he was met with a new function.

{[Quests]:

•Raise [Spirit sense] to level five. Reward: Information packet on Spirit energy.

•Raise [Leech] to level five. Reward: Information packet on Life energy.

•Evolve or improve mimicry beyond its current level. Rewards: information packet on skills.

•Acquire a pseudo core. Rewards: Information packet on pseudo cores.}

Reading through this list of quests, he couldn't help but frown a bit as he asked out loud.

"Why are all the rewards information packets? Attribute points would be much more helpful."

{I'm a [Guide] skill not an [Attribute] skill. My sole purpose is to assist you without interfering with your own development and goals.}

[Guide] replied without missing a beat. Lucas tsked but shelved the matter. It's not like he was expecting any help anyway. And thinking on it further, there was the old saying, "knowledge is power" right?

With [Guide]'s help, he would certainly figure out how his skills worked much faster. Maybe even create new skills as well. Subconsciously nodding at his own thoughts, Lucas addressed his [Guide] again.

"Okay let's give you a name… How about Wiki?"

{I think it's a wonderful name. Anything else?}

"Can you talk?"

At the question, a soft and melodic voice appeared in Lucas' mind. It was completely gender neutral, seeming designed to ease Lucas' mind.

{Yes I can, Lucas.}

"Good, do that from now on."

{Okay, I understand.}

Though it was mildly unpleasant to have a voice in his head, Lucas already had another voice in his head, what was one more?

With that out of the way, he brought his focus to his status screen. Though the quests were interesting, he had a more pressing issue to deal with. He still had two whole points to assign. The choice was easy to make but he noticed something strange.

"Why did my Attribute point assign itself to my Physique?"

Lucas tilted his head slightly as he asked himself.

Humm.

With a powerful hum, Crash interjected his thoughts. It tried to express something to Lucas he couldn't really understand. All he could make out was,

"Transformation good??"

Thinking further on Crash's "words", he came to a more put together statement.

"Using that particular slime enhanced my Physique? Was it because it had a physical core?"

Hum Humm.

"Oh I see. If my Physique didn't reach that level the transformation would have failed? Dang. Guess we should gun for tougher foes then, huh? I need all the Attribute points."

Humm!

He felt his Spirt energy shift and crash like a raging tide at the thought. Crash definitely agreed. With the matter put to rest, Lucas turned his attention back to his status screen.

Expecting what's to come, he laid down flat on the rough cave floor and prepared for the enhancement he would receive.

He mentally assigned the point, he felt his heart clench suddenly before his heart rate spiked up dramatically. As always, all the surrounding energy was drawn to him, to his core more specifically.

The entire cave became covered in frost in just a few seconds. The frost continued to spread beyond his cave but Lucas didn't pay any attention to this external change.

Within himself, he felt the surroundings energies flow into his core, where they underwent a mystical transformation before moving into his body. Unlike previous times though, the process was completely painless. In fact, it was quite pleasant.

It felt like each of his individual cells were being massaged by a torrent of clouds. Their efforts to enhance him were soft and almost affectionate. Strangely, he could feel something in his mind shifting as well. To be more specific, his perception was developing into something more.

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Apart from his seven senses—the "regular" five plus his Spirit and Life energy senses— he could feel a new type of perception bubbling up. But since his transformation was not over, he could not explore the sensation any further. As the process went on, the clearer he could feel the changes going on in his mind.

After about three minutes in, he felt another change. His body felt saturated with the soft energy so it moved back into his core. He tried his best to feel what was happening to his core without directly using his perception. He could feel his core solidifying, becoming something actually physically. It was shaped like a perfect sphere.

Feeling these changes, one thing stuck out to him.

'Wasn't this how the dark slime's core was? It seems there's more to having five Physique than I thought…'

Time ticked away rapidly, and after about thirty minutes, the enhancement was done. No more energy flowed into his body or Crash. He felt refreshed, and energized. Standing upright in the frozen cave with the use of his tendrils, his motions looked eerily inhuman.

He looked down at his arms and felt a surge of power course within him. He could feel Crash buzzing and writhing within him as it felt it as well. This had nothing to do with Sprit energy or Life energy. It was just him. He felt… more.

He paid close attention to himself, trying to take note of the differences he was experiencing. His senses easily spread into his body. His 360° perception keener than ever. He could see a clear mental image of his organs and how his blood moved within him.

This information that would overwhelm the average human mind just caused him to frown for a bit, feeling slight strain on his Mind. If he wanted to, he could consciously control his bodily functions now.

"I should consider putting more into Mind. It seems to be helping me already but my body is just too complex for my current processing power."

Lucas mumbled to himself. He switched his focus to his core. He could see all his Spirit energy was bottled up in a perfect sphere. Its color a hue he couldn't place. All he knew was it was otherworldly and associated with his specific energy. Watching his energy swirl and race unpredictable within the core brought him a certain peace.

Tkkt!

That peace was shattered when he subconsciously clenched his fist. This normal action caused a sharp whistle of air to escape from his fists. It sounded almost like the air fled in terror of his sheer might.

"Of course I'm not that strong yet. It's just the high from placing the attribute hasn't wound off. I just have to keep my cool, I'm not sure I can afford being surrounded by those tree people once more."

Lucas tried to rationalize. He knew for a fact that even though he was much stronger now than he had ever been, numerous unknown treats still lurked in the cavern. His previous experience of escaping from the tree humanoids taught him the price of his misplaced confidence.

Humm?

"Yeah that's right Crash, acting badass while you're weak just makes you a dumbass. With that said, it's time to go test out what I'm capable of with my current attributes. Then I can decide how to use my final point. While at it, we should try to complete those quests, we need all the information we can get."

With a plan formed, Lucas walked out of the icy cave, a virtually different being in both body and mind. Lucas activated his [Spirit sense] as he walked, the already beautiful colors of the cave became even more vibrant.

He could now see clear patterns of Spirit energy weaving in the air. Forming very faint and very complex shapes and structures. Before he could even investigate the occurrence further, he received a notification.

{[Spirit sense] has leveled up from level 3———>level 4. Keep it up.}

As he read the notification, Lucas thought to himself in satisfaction.

'It seems transforming back to a human is yielding all sorts of improvements after all.'

He focused once more on the changes in Spirit energy around him. He stood with four gently swaying tendrils behind him for a full five minutes, carefully observing his surroundings in deep thought before he reached blunt conclusion.

"I can't understand any of it."

The reason he was so intrigued by these patterns was because they reminded him of the runes he saw on the sky blue salamander, and on himself when he used his level 4 [Leech].

Sadly, things were never that easy in the cavern. His recent rapid advancement seemed to have made him forget that. Lucas decided to be more productive, He directed his focus to the many winding tunnels of the cave trying to deduce which path to take.

Suddenly, he heard a very familiar sound. This was the sound that accompanied him when he just got into the cavern. With its tranquil melody, it not only helped heal his wounds, but also enhanced his senses. The sound was much louder now, its amplitude rising little by little.

This time, Lucas could see something else occurring at the rhythm of the melody. The Spirit energy in the air got more excited. Even Crash seemed to enjoy the sound a lot as the flow of Lucas' Spirit energy became much fiercer.

'So that's why it feels so good. It's interacting directly with my Spirit energy. I wonder where it's coming from.'

With that, Lucas closed his eyes with a tranquil expression. His tendrils relaxed and retracted into his form. All his attention was on the sound. A few moments later, he opened his eyes and exclaimed.

'That way!'

He shot off to his right with zero hesitation. His initial plans or whatever danger lurked in the cavern thrown to the back of his mind. This sound… it touched on something deep within Lucas' psyche. Something he never had as a human. Following it just felt natural and instinctive. Why would he question the impulse?

As Lucas dashed through the cavern, his tendrils sprang back up from his back. He ran so fast his feet left small craters with each stride. His weight seemed to have increased quite a bit.

He shot his tendrils into the walls to help him maneuver and make turns. His knowledge of parkour fusing with his current super human body for insane results. With each tendril assisted turn, flip, and wall run, his velocity continued to climb.

The wind howled in his wake as he shot through the cavern's tunnels like a streak of black lightning. Every cavern creature avoided his presence the moment they heard the thunderous sounds of his steps.

After a minute of dashing, Lucas finally caught himself. The sound's trance-like affect having worn off enough for him to think clearly. Subconsciously, he slowed down and thought to himself in both panic and excitement.

'Holy shit, how am I moving so fast?'

With his mind distracted, the sound faded completely. He couldn't hear it anymore no matter how much he listened.

"Why did I suddenly race off like that?"

Now that he was back to his senses, he couldn't help but be slightly frustrated at himself and even a little worried. He had given in to a random impulse just after chastising himself to not rush off toward the unknown if he wasn't prepared.

"Well, we're already here. Let's look for something to fight."

With a heavy sigh, he began looking around. Trying to make heads or tails of where he was and something to take his anger out on.

Hum hum?

'Yeah, yeah. We'll eat it as well. Everything seems to be avoiding us though. We'll have to go full stealth mode for this.'

In the distance, he could sense the ever colorful creatures of the cavern moving away from him in unison. Looking down at his polished black skin, he immediately frowned.

'I stand out like a sore thumb like this.'

Focusing on his [Mimicry], he willed his skin color to change back to the vibrant, ever changing color he once had. With that out of the way, he stalked further into the cavern. His steps were cautious but confident.

'Let's see what I'm made of.'

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