Minoru felt the freezing water close over his head, the sudden pressure on his eardrums mitigated by the slight, compensatory adjustments of his newly acquired Gills. With 99 Magius currently stored, the tiny, dark slits on his neck pulsed steadily, filtering oxygen from the water with a dull, background ache that was now preferable to suffocation.
He descended into the obsidian darkness of the cavern pool. His Enhanced Night Vision was useless; the water was too deep and lacked ambient light, making his surroundings an absolute void. He was navigating by pure sensory input, relying entirely on his Enhanced Senses to follow the Magoi Pulse that beat like a slow, enormous heart beneath the pool.
The deeper he went, the colder the water became, forcing him to draw slightly on his Magius reserves just to regulate his core temperature, a passive drain he didn't even have a skill to quantify. He ignored the discomfort, his focus absolute. The pressure built steadily against his small goblin frame, but the rhythmic Magoi pulse grew stronger, cleaner, and warmer.
It felt less like a natural geological formation and more like something alive.
Finally, after a descent that stretched his limited sense of time, his clawed hands brushed against something vast and smooth. The Magoi pulse, which had been a distant beat, now resonated directly through his palms, intense and mesmerizing.
He cast Appraisal instantly, focusing his remaining fear and curiosity into the command.
Object: Prismatic Egg (Dormant)
Race Core: Unknown (High Dimensional Origin).
Status: Stasis (Requires high volume, complex Magoi to initiate hatch).
Magius: \approx 1500 Magius (Latent, inaccessible).
Affiliation: None.
Warning: Possesses strong Magoi attraction properties.
Fifteen hundred Magius, dormant! Minoru's greed battled with his caution. The sheer power radiating from the egg dwarfed the Fangjaw Wolf. He reached out, his green skin barely touching the slick, vast curvature of the object. It was cold, yet it pulsed with a profound, internal warmth. The egg was easily the size of a small car, dominating the deep pocket of the pool.
As his flesh contacted the egg, the rhythmic pulse suddenly accelerated into a frantic, high-frequency thrum. The darkness was briefly fractured by a stunning, internal rainbow of light emanating from the egg, and the 1500 Magius signature surged dramatically.
Minoru felt a powerful, non-physical jolt—a systemic integration that bypassed his conscious mind entirely. The light vanished as quickly as it appeared, and the Magoi pulse returned to its slow, steady beat.
He cast Appraisal on himself immediately, his body trembling from the shock of the bonding process.
[Integration Complete. Unique Attribute Gained.]
[Evolution Requirement Fulfilled: Unique Factor Assimilated.]
Name: Goblino (Unnamed Goblin Male)
Race: Goblin (Lesser Variant)
Magius: 99 / 100
...
Unique Attributes:
• Race Hop: Unlocks the capacity for complete racial transformation upon reaching the maximum tier of the current racial evolution path. Provides access to non-native evolution trees (e.g., Draconic, Elven, Giant).
Evolution Requirements: Goblina to Hobgoblin (Stage I)
| Requirement | Status |
| :--- | :--- |
| Magius Capacity | 100 | (Current: 100 Max) |
| Magius Pool | \ge 95 | (Current: 99 ) |
| Magoi Saturation | Achieve 1000 units of Magoi absorption | (Current: 275 units) |
| Threat Elimination | Defeat three Magic Beasts \ge 500 Magius | (Current: 0 ) |
| Unique Factor | COMPLETE! (Prismatic Egg Bonded) |
Minoru's mind, which had survived being run over by a truck and reborn as a goblin, struggled to grasp the magnitude of Race Hop. Complete racial transformation? It was the ultimate safety net. He wouldn't be locked into the grotesque goblin line forever. Once he hit Hobgoblin Stage III, or whatever the pinnacle of the line was, he could jump. He could be anything. Even a dragon!
This egg… it's the ultimate trump card, he realized. And it has automatically marked the Unique Factor complete.
Three requirements remained: Magius Pool (easy), Magoi Saturation (grind), and Threat Elimination (lethal).
He pushed off the egg, giving it a silent, respectful bow in the black water, and began the tiring swim back to the surface. He was no longer just a desperate survivor; he was a desperate survivor with a future.
He breached the surface of the pool, coughing as the heavy cavern air hit his lungs. He immediately paddled to the rock shelf, hauled himself out, and deactivated his Gills, the tiny slits closing on his neck with a dull pinch.
Magius: 98 / 100 (Cost of Gills plus minor passive drain during the dive).
He was ready. Revenge was no longer just a personal desire; it was a necessary component of his career path. The 750 Magius Fangjaw Wolf was now designated as Target One in the Threat Elimination pipeline.
Before leaving the sanctuary of the cavern, he needed to refine his tools. The wolf was a sensor expert, relying on Aura Perception and Hunter's Stride. Minoru needed a defense that was both stealthy and physically resilient.
He sat on the rock, focusing his entire being on the interface of his existing skills, channeling the concept of a hybrid defense.
Magius Suppression makes me invisible to magic sensing. Magius Skin makes me momentarily strong. I need to combine the two. A defensive shroud that suppresses my Magius leakage while reinforcing my body!
He began to channel his Magius, forcing it to flow into the Magius Suppression site, but instructing the energy to coil around his skin, echoing the pattern of the Magius Skin activation. The process was torturous, like tying two distinct, invisible ropes together.
[Adaptation Attempt: Magius Suppression + Magius Skin]
[Initiating Hybrid Skill Synthesis...]
[Magius Integrity Test: FAILURE. Structural mismatch.]
The skill synthesis failed, sending a momentary, sharp mental recoil through his brain. Minoru grunted in frustration, running a clawed hand over his large forehead.
No, wait. Suppression is about hiding the Magius from external sensing. Skin is about using the Magius for internal reinforcement. They are opposites. I need an internal defense that masks its presence.
He tried again, focusing the energy not on his skin, but on the empty space around his body—a small, highly dense barrier of Magius that would act as a heat shield against the wolf's sensory input.
[Adaptation Attempt: Defensive Suppression Barrier]
[Initiating Synthesis... Magius expenditure required: 15 Magius.]
Minoru did not hesitate. He fed the required energy into the process.
Magius: 98 - 15 = 83 / 100
A sudden, cool, invisible film enveloped his body. It didn't feel like armor, but like a localized atmospheric layer, highly dense, yet perfectly concealing.
[Hybrid Skill: Magius Shroud granted. Provides a localized, dense Magius barrier that dampens sensory detection (Aura, Heat, Scent) while active. Cost: 5 Magius/minute.]
A defensive stealth skill! Minoru allowed a rare, thin smile. Five Magius a minute is steep, but against a 750 Magius beast, it's a bargain.
His confidence renewed, he began his final preparations. He reactivated his Enhanced Senses (costing 1 Magius to maintain) and performed a tactical inventory.
Current Status:
• Magius: 82 / 100.
• Active Skills: Enhanced Senses (1 Magius/hour).
• New Weapon: Magius Shroud (5 Magius/minute).
• Escape Tool: Magius Skin (5 Magius/activation).
• Goal: Kill Fangjaw Wolf (750 Magius).
The strategy is sound, Minoru mused, rising to his full, diminutive height. I will use the Senses to confirm its location near the ravine. I will activate the Magius Shroud and slip through its defenses. The wolf relies on overwhelming force. I will target a weak point—perhaps the eyes or the mouth, where the corrosive fangs make the tissue weak and use my physical strength to drive the stone from the fissure into it. If I fail the first strike, I use Magius Skin for the immediate physical defense and then retreat using Magius Suppression. No wasted energy.
He left the safety of the cavern, crawling back through the fissure, moving toward the vast, dark forest outside. The air hit him with a cold snap, confirming the night was still young.
He scrambled up the rocky, steep ravine wall, relying on his powerful new limbs. He reached the top of the ravine where the wolf had been waiting. The ground was torn up, evidence of the wolf's immense frustration.
He saw the trail instantly. The Fangjaw Wolf, confident in its tracking abilities, had patrolled the ravine edge, then began to loop down into the forest, widening its search perimeter, following the ghost of his Magius scent.
It's coming back, Minoru sensed, using the ambient sounds of the forest to pinpoint the beast's slow, powerful return. It's circling back to the kill site, checking for scavengers. My time is now.
Minoru found a high, stable branch in a massive, ancient tree just twenty meters from the cave entrance—the very site where his clan had been slaughtered. He climbed silently, effortlessly, his Enhanced Senses making every handhold obvious. He settled in, drawing the heavy stone he had used as a lure back in his earlier struggle with the beast.
He activated the Magius Shroud. A quiet, cool energy enveloped him, silencing the rustle of his skin against the bark and damping the faint heat and scent of his body. He became a ghost, an anomaly against the chaos of the night.
He could hear the massive, rhythmic breathing now. The 750 Magius target was approaching, its Hunter's Stride skill making its heavy weight almost soundless. Minoru waited, the stone heavy and cold in his clawed hand, his heart pounding a steady, professional rhythm.