The first thing Justin needed to take into account was the stat bonuses for each choice.
As he was currently submerged in more than twenty feet of water, and could confirm the security of the area from the soldier’s perspective, Justin wasn’t’ concerned for his safety at the moment and could take plenty of time in choosing.
Justin looked at the first option, a steady choice based on its stat allotment, and from the description he realized it was what the Origin would’ve mostly likely went with, given its relation to the Herald.
[Scourge Progenitor (Pupa)]
[After an initial period of assimilating hosts and devouring biomass, a Scourge Progenitor in the larval stage will eventually evolve to this stage. A straightforward path for the daemon, in the next stage of maturation it will gain comprehensive boosts to its assimilation and consumption abilities, as well as its influence over individual hosts. If this natural evolution path is followed, the fully mature scourge has a chance to advance to a more significant level of life, and be given a mission by its species’ patron, advancing it to the level of a Daemon Herald.]
[Per Level Bonus:]
[+2 DEX, +1 END, +8 PER, +6 Free Attribute Points, +1 CEL]
That being the case, by looking at the stat bonuses, Justin could guess what role this particular species would have specialized in.
‘From its heavy lean on perception, given enough time it would develop Esper-like abilities. It's impossible to know exactly what I would develop into after choosing this option, but it wouldn’t be the worst case. In the guild, Harriet had been our esper, so I’m familiar enough with the possibilities.’
They had talked at length about their individual class paths, especially in the early years of the guild, so Justin knew that a for Voltas, esper was one of the more diverse power classes.
A high perception stat allowed Espers to sense their cellular energy in potent ways, allowing a diverse range of potential skills to develop. Control over natural elements, developing clairvoyance or telepathy, or augmenting physical strength were just a few, and the width of their path was second to only Augurs. Across all the classes though, its use of cellular energy was still the most visually-manifesting.
Oftentimes skills from their class had the byproduct of condensing an aura of energy that at times could be visible even to the naked eye.
Justin could still recollect Harriet’s golden aura she had emitted while healing. In fact, it had been the first thing he had noticed when they met on a random mission years ago.
But did all of that apply to a daemon with the same specialty?
Not necessarily. Sometimes the abilities of daemons seemed to closely mirror similar volta abilities. But other times, like in the case of the scourge, there was no volta equivalent.
This particular evolution might push Justin toward the domain of espers, but he knew he would never be the kind of healer that Harriet is, or develop conventional control over an element like some fire-wielding hivemind. That just wasn’t how daemons took to the system.
The hive would also never lose its basic abilities of assimilating and consuming, though they might be modified depending on what evolution Justin chose. Those two skills had shown up on the interface after level one, but Justin knew that they were likely intrinsic to the Origin’s race. Meaning even scourges without the system, if any existed, would be able to engage in those basic actions.
‘But even if I gain esper-like abilities, it won’t improve my situation. This one could be a bust.’
Though Justin had that idea, he realized that the next one looked far worse for his situation.
[Scourge Corruptor]
[An atypical route for the scourge species, this particular hivemind has chosen to forgo the quantitative benefits of a network and consolidate its mass into a single, gargantuan hive entity. By forsaking the benefits of potential omnipresence, the individual will have explosively high cellular energy and a much easier time picking up conceptual traits at higher levels of life.]
[Per Level Bonus:]
[+2 STR, +9 END, +1 PER, +6 Free Attribute Points, +5 CEL]
‘Fancy description, but it's still a brute. Plain and simple.’
Though it had the highest CEL bonus out of all the options, that didn’t make it any more appealing to Justin. The dense energy level could get him over some hurdles he would encounter later on easier, but it came with too many drawbacks.
He had no doubt that it was the ‘consolidation of mass’ that gave it such an advantage, but Justin didn’t feel like he was missing out. Being stuck in a body like that sounded repulsive.
Evolving from his current state to a Corruptor would just do more harm than good, and would certainly interrupt whatever balance he had managed to strike in the war for control between his soul and the parasite’s.
Despite its apparent similarity to the Cleric specialization, which was commonly described as a fusion of some parts of the pugilist and esper classes, and was actually the volta class he had aspired to adopt before pugilist, he had to look at the next option.
It was that unattractive.
[Patron Slave Mind]
[Considered as one of the ultimate servants for its patron, this rare class of hivemind has completely cast away its own will in deference to its ancestral master. Entirely subsumed within itself, the slave mind lends its bodies to the whims of the patron which can take control over directly. This hive has a high cellular energy level by the necessity of sending its mind through great distances of space.]
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[Per Level Bonus:]
[+1 PER, +2 CHA, +9 MYS, +6 Free Attribute Points, +4 CEL]
They just kept getting worse.
Justin felt a small headache coming on. He had to reread the description for this one a couple more times before he could make sense of it, and even then he came away with questions.
‘Its specialization into mystery makes sense, but what is a patron?’
The wording made Justin think of the Daemonic Cult, but those were something mortal-made, so to speak. The system never mentioned something like that before, so Justin quickly wrote it off.
Regardless, the apparent ability to send one’s mind over space to be intercepted was something Justin could only imagine Augurs to have the capacity for, and in line with that the evolution specialized in the same stat they did.
Any more than that, Justin was unsure of what this choice was. It seemed like a huge leap from the Origin’s current status, but this ‘Slave Mind’ reminded him of Augurs, who were the least-understood class of Volta in the galaxy. It bore no more thought than that.
For obvious reasons, this one was out.
[Synchronic Intellect]
[A subspecies of scourge scarcely found in the galaxy, this hivemind has chosen to evolve itself in the pursuit of task efficiency. By directing the bulk of its hive through unconscious thought, it saves its complete sphere of conscious deliberation for advanced processes. Recorded instances of this subspecies have shown its technological prowess usually benefits from this, but its network is unavoidably beholden to the fatal flaw of a single vital point.]
[Per Level Bonus:]
[+5 END, +5 INT, +6 Free Attribute Points, +2 CEL]
‘This one is probably the worst so far. The description is alright, but the bonus feeds the very stats I’ve been avoiding.’
A cocktail of intelligence and endurance. Strangely enough that didn’t put this one directly in line with any of the volta classes, so Justin was a little unsure of how to compare it. Still, because it carried the risk of strengthening the mind and body of the parasite, he skipped over it.
Justin looked at the final option, before forgetting it as well.
[Perpetuating Swarm]
[A hivemind in all aspects of the term, this entity has traded all natural traits typical to carbon-based life in exchange for influence over its environment. Nigh undetectable even to the most advanced scanners, this being stretches its cells throughout any organic material, regardless of its sentience or cellular compatibility. In turn, this weakens the physical strength of the hive by a drastic margin, which makes them at this life level often unnoticed and mostly harmless to the world around them.]
[Per Level Bonus:]
[+15 INT, +6 Free Attribute Points, +0.01 CEL]
This one had the highest bonus into a single stat, but from its description, Justin would basically be a formless soup, his only ability would be spreading his microscopic film over every surface. Due to the intelligence stat he was sure he would get very good at doing just that, but would it even be him at that point?
Past the stage of deliberation, Justin needed to make a choice.
After a certain point, just like in a class promotion, one needed to predict their future growth from the descriptions.
The stat bonuses impacted the short term, and survivability in many ways, but the description gave the user of the system a glimpse into how they would progress.
Of the listed ones, only the descriptions for Scourge Progenitor and Synchronic Intellect made any sense for Justin to choose. The others either pulled him in directions he had no interest in, or would compromise his control over the hive.
Yet these two could still very well do that too, and that was the leap of faith Justin had to make. He couldn’t just leave such a thing to a coin toss, so he carefully ruminated on the difference between the two.
‘Of the five, the specializations of Esper, Cleric, Augur, and Technical are all mirrored by one, with only the Synchronic Intellect having no indication of what it follows. With five points per level in both intelligence and endurance, that could either strengthen the parasite, or give me the possibility of taking skills from the Technical or Cleric classes. This is all given that I hold out until the next evolution, which should be at level 25.’
It might sound high-risk, high reward, but the reality of it was heavily steeped in the Origin’s favor. If increasing intelligence or health through the system turned out to positively impact the origin, Justin would be doomed before he could even fight back.
It would be that quick of a change, and the only way to decrease a stat permanently once leveled is through Level Lock atrophy, which also wasn’t an option for him.
‘But the description could be key in that. It says I would have my conscious and subconscious spheres of thought divided. One to control the hive, while one remains awake in a singular but vulnerable vessel.’
Which wasn’t too different from the situation with the scorplings that had yet to grow to maturity. Their nervous systems weren’t complex enough for the full weight of his consciousness to emerge within, so the parasites inside each of them responded to his subconscious desires instead.
Like this, the whole of the hive would be controlled without him having to constantly juggle the bodies mentally, and he could return to assuming his comfortably singular point of view.
‘Would it all work out like that?’
The system’s actual workings were the biggest stipulation in his optimistic view of the future.
The system had no obligation to follow his worldview after all. There had even been times in the past where Justin had felt it had the inclination to do the exact opposite, though that was obviously just his own superstition.
It had never been proven that the System had any kind of sentience or tendency outside of its normal operation. Its origin and purpose were still highly disputed, of course.
Though Justin still couldn’t hinge on that hope, it was better than remaining on the same course. Sooner or later, Justin realized his current rate of expansion would slow down, and the growth of the parasite’s mind would come for his own.
If the theory of Dualism still held true, then he needed assurance beyond a single variable. Aside from the risk of investing into those two stats, this evolution might be able to give it to him.
[Evolution Initiated!]
[Scourge Progenitor (Larva)]
[A scourge at its earliest stage, its rudimentary control over its flesh network is still improving. While in the learning stage it's capable of experiencing many different things that will influence the direction in which it develops. Commonly documented throughout the galaxy, at this life level they are only a threat to individuals lower than the D-Grade.]
[Per Level Up:]
[+3 Free Attribute Points, +0.2 CEL]
[Evolving →]
[Synchronic Intellect]
[A subspecies of scourge scarcely found in the galaxy, this hivemind has chosen to evolve itself in the pursuit of task efficiency. By directing the bulk of its hive through unconscious thought, it saves its complete sphere of conscious deliberation for advanced processes. Recorded instances of this subspecies have shown its technological prowess usually benefits from this, but its network is unavoidably beholden to the fatal flaw of a single vital point.]
[Per Level Bonus:]
[+5 END, +5 INT, +6 Free Attribute Points, +2 CEL]
