Intelligent Design: A Monster Evolution LitRPG

David went over his options for what he felt was probably the 126th time, batlike face scrunched in concentration as he clung to the shadowed supports near the roof. He had thought it would be an easy pick considering that he only had 5 Mutagens, and even if he was bad at math he knew that there weren’t a lot of possible combinations. The longer that David stared into his Status, however, he began to realize that there were a lot of potential synergies and they all seemed to push him in a particular direction. Any fusions with Atavistic or Unnerving ran the risk of altering him a lot, as the Mutagens themselves directly augmented his entire body.

He wasn’t entirely sure he was willing to take the risk of becoming irredeemably terrifying just yet, though he did briefly consider fusing Secretive with Unnerving, thinking that the former would make it easier to trigger the latter. Then he stopped to think about how often it triggered indiscriminately and, shuddering, set the idea aside.

Alright, well, that only leaves me Soporific, Myoclystic, and Secretive. If I had to guess, I’d bet Secretive would make the other two harder to sense or resist. That’s solid, honestly, but Myoclystic…man, ‘your physical attacks’. That’s a lot of my kit, isn’t it? Soporific, Nocturnal Strike, Gloom…Not to mention, doesn’t that mean I could set off a combo just with Gloom? It wouldn’t be useless like it was on stuff like the Chlorogyres either, there’d still be two other effects rolled into it…I mean, assuming it works that way. Everything else has been literal though, I don’t see why this wouldn’t be either.

Fuse the Soporific and Myoclystic Mutagens.

–Confirm Fusion of: Soporific E & Myoclystic F?–

–Fusion will result in: F Mutagen–

Yep, go ahead.

–Fusing–

–Received: Soporalytic Mutagen F: Your attacks have a chance to inflict paralytic sedation, inducing muscle spasms and rendering targets unconscious.–

That'll work, I can live with that. Gloom should be useful almost all the time now. I’m gonna have to be a lot more careful of– Oh, yep, I almost forgot for a second, fuck me.

David clenched his jaws together and tightened his grip on the rafter as everything started to feel unpleasantly bubbly for the second time that day. The sensation didn’t spread from just one point as it had earlier but radiated outwards from various parts of his body. Upwards from his talons and claws, out from the crescent moon patterning on his wings, and wrapping around his head from his jaws as the feeling spread. David tried his hardest not to sneeze. The waves of fizzing numbness crashed together, mingled, and seemed to reach an equilibrium before the ordeal was suddenly over between breaths.

“Okay, that fucking felt weird.” David sneezed viciously before he allowed himself to swing from the support and hang, head pointed downward comfortably.

Claire stared up at him with reptilian patience, her head 20 feet below as she regarded him over her long toothy snout. David’s heart skipped a beat and he shook his head in chagrin before motioning her to step back, which she did. He unfurled his wings and floated to the ground lazily, careful not to spread more than the faintest shimmer of Gloom during his descent. Claire waved at him with her relatively tiny claws and clacked her jaws together a few times, snuffling at him when he hopped a bit closer.

“You smell different, that’s weird.” She rumbled as she began to sniff at him more vigorously.

David suddenly understood why his childhood cat had always been afraid of the vacuum cleaner when he attempted to withstand her investigation, his dense mane visibly pulled towards her snout with every inhalation. She regarded him suspiciously for a moment before exhaling with a loud snort, his ears blowing backward from the force of it while he narrowed his gaze and stared up at her. He shook himself hard, and his uncomfortably ruffled fur settled back into something resembling order before he replied.

“Okay, okay, stop before I’m bald.” David barked up at her, “What do you mean I smell different?”

Claire made a displeased sound deep in her chest as she considered it, “You smell…bad. Not, like, you smell bad, you don’t stink. Something just smells, I dunno, concerning.”

“Uh…I fused some mutagens for control effects. It’s all…I dunno, technically I think they’re toxins. Anyway, I mixed about three if you count Gloom.” David replied casually as she tilted her head in surprise.

“Well you smell like I should stomp and not bite, is what my instincts are telling me.” Claire blinked slowly, “Sorry that just caught me by surprise. It was like alarm bells or something but in my nose. Was that supposed to be the surprise you were talking about?”

“Please don’t stomp me.”

Claire shrugged, “Oh can it, squeaky. Congrats on your new thingy, but that’s not why I’m here. I went and told Herold about the Pack System, remember? He was just happy we decided to trust them, and he was talking about putting together a ‘good old-fashioned expedition’ after everyone evolves.”

“That…sounds like Herold. I think he’s cool, who talks like that anymore?” David smirked slightly, snout wrinkling in amusement.

“I know what you mean. Do you have any plans for the rest of the day? You should fix your sleep schedule and clock out now.” Claire advised.

David nodded guiltily, “Yeah…I’m gonna go hunt something to test this on. I know I just got back, but I can’t resist. And everyone needs food right?”

“...Okay, by yourself? I can come with you, it’d be safer, I just wanted to take a bit before having to go back–” Claire hissed a bit in concern before she was cut off.

“Uh – Okay, let me be honest with you. I don’t know how gnarly this new mutagen will be, and I don’t think having anyone around while I’m testing how it works with Gloom would be smart.” David fidgeted, almost embarrassed to admit the direction his evolution was moving in, “...aaaand I also kinda need to level some skills. I found out we're probably way behind on that talking to Kai and Dallas today.”

“You’re always running around doing stuff all the time, don’t you ever want to just relax for a bit? I’m worried you’re pushing yourself a little hard.”

David had enough respect for her to think about it for a moment, ears flat as he considered what she had said. To her surprise he nodded in agreement, giving a little shrug of his wings, bits of dried grass and dust swirling on the pitted concrete floor around him with the motion.

“Yeah, absolutely. Claire, I got smacked around twice in a row in two days, that time with the lizards I was this close. I hit seven Health. That’s not gonna happen again, and if it does I’m gonna wake up in 20 minutes and whatever did it will still be drooling on the floor.” David shrugged again, “Dad always says that if you–”

“Chill, David. I don’t like it, but I get it. I just want you to know you need to relax at some point, okay? Maybe come socialize or just take some time for yourself?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I do that all the time, like every day.” David deadpanned.

“What? When?”

“Flying, it’s very relaxing.” He unfurled his wings, snickering to himself as he flapped into the air while Claire deftly poked him with her snout.

He wobbled in the air for a moment before laughing and moving towards the door to leave. David nimbly glided through the large doorway, pulling his wings in slightly while zipping through and out into the sky once again.

So that’s what it looks like when a dinosaur rolls its eyes at you. Alright, let's go hunting again. It’s probably harder during the day like this, eh, should be fine.

Claire’s good people…