Chapter 06 – Evolving?

‘Come out wherever you are… I’ll make it quick…’

*Splat*

*Splot*

‘Stop running away, there is no place to run!’

Another rat fell under the massive metallic boot and joined its brethren in rodent heaven. Rusty was going through a rampage after discovering a small colony of these creatures. They were quite agile beings, making things a bit challenging for the slow-moving living armor. However, eventually, he managed to cut off all the escape routes and trap the small creatures in an enclosed area, then the slaughter began.

The metallic echoes of Rusty’s relentless extermination resounded through the dungeon. The small rats were no match for his brute strength and the corroded sword that cleaved through them effortlessly. The experience points kept piling up, bringing him closer to the coveted level ten.

‘I wouldn’t need to do this if I got that other human, why did I want to let them live?’

As he was finishing up his grinding drive his thoughts went back to a few days ago where he encountered some strange adventurers. He managed to get the first one but had been stopped by a strange invisible force from delivering the final blow. It still didn’t make any sense as there was no reason for it, they were there with no way to defend themselves. Was there a reason to not defeat a foe when they were down? He truly didn’t know.

‘It has come! But what is this path forward?’

With the last rat squashed beneath his foot, Rusty stood victorious in the small rat nest. The dungeon floor was littered with the remains of the creatures, and the metallic armor glinted eerily in the dim light. The level-up bar on his status screen was now full, and Rusty felt a surge of relief as he was given the level-up message. Level ten was now his, and he was quick to look up his current stats.

‘Um… is that it?’

His stats went up by a little bit, but he was still quite weak. Rusty expected some drastic change to occur or perhaps he would get a new weapon. Even having his damaged armor restored would have been something, but he wasn’t receiving anything. Thus, after receiving nothing, he decided to go through all of these status windows, and finally, he discovered something new; a new one had appeared.

‘Oh! This must be it! Will it let me become strong?’

A new window appeared with a strange icon of an egg seemingly transforming into a larger creature that was like some type of quadrupedal monster. He had never seen something like it before so identifying was impossible. However, without waiting he quickly tapped this status window which brought up something called ‘Evolutionary Paths’.

‘A path? But there is only one…’

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Rusty looked at the singular option in front of him, which looked like a less damaged but still corroded living armor form. It was depicted as a three-dimensional model from the side, and his current form was also in this window. It was to the side, and an arrow was going from it to the less damaged armor.