Gwin had not gotten the chance to further inspect the sculpture during the strategy meeting with Elena. He could have figured out things were not good on his own anyways by just looking around them without her lecturing him for as long as she did. There was no point in dwelling on their situation since the only way to change it was to get stronger and that's what Gwin hoped to do standing in front of this bloody squid. Stepping forward to touch its surface Gwin braced for the unknown. His hand caressed its cool surface and a set of glowing runes appeared in front of him.
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[Consume] [Evolve] [Bind]
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'Consume, evolve, or bind? What do these mean? What do they even do? Evolve sounds like the best choice if it means the remnant feeder becomes a monster but binding it sounds good too…I think? I don't actually know what it means but it sounds better than just eating it.'
Choosing was a difficult process. Every time he settled on a pick he hesitated and became indecisive which led to him taking even longer to pick. This choice was critical after all since even the smallest rise in power could be the difference between life or death so he wasn't entirely wrong in being cautious.
'Evolve or bind?'
He came up with a genius idea to make his choice. He stepped back from the runes and closed his eyes. He then held his arm out and pointed straight in front of him. After that he began spinning as quickly as he could.
At this moment his reliable sense of direction was actually working against him as he still felt he knew which choice was where so he spun faster. He hugged his other arm close to spin as fast as possible, nearly tripping over a bloody tentacle in the process. After almost a minute he felt he had finally lost where each choice was.
'Almost there!'
He spun for a while longer even using his aspect to help him.
'There!'
He abruptly stopped and opened his eyes. He was now several meters away from where he had started yet thankfully the runes had followed him. There at the tip of his index finger was a set of glowing runes that read "Evolve". Before doubt could creep in he answered the runes with a mental command and chose to evolve. As he did something changed with the sculpture of the remnant feeder.
At the tip of its body the moon's lonely radiance seemed to reflect off of its surface with extra prominence. The pale scarlet light infused itself with the crimson ichor slowly at first then quickly as the entire squid was soon infused with scarlet light from within. Its glowing figure then pulled itself off of the endless crimson sea and began floating upwards.
Gwin watched as its shape flickered before becoming unrecognizable as it slowly formed into a glowing orb. It continued its ascent until it reached the scarlet moon high above and froze. It hung there high in the sky like a lonely star without a constellation.
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[Effigies Needed To Evolve Remnant Feeder: 1/2]
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'Woah….Did I just get scammed? I should have picked bind! How was I supposed to know I needed another to evolve?! It should have told me!'
He stared down at his hand as it twisted and split into three red tentacles. Sure enough he could not feel a change in them. He decided to summon his runes to see if anything had changed with them as well.
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Name: Gwin
True Name:—
Soul core: dormant
Soul fragments: 0042/1000
Soul essence: 0027/1000
Memories: [Kiss of Kesh] [Mantle of the Drowned] [Jagged Fang] [Dark Wing] [Millitia's steel] [Shrill Screacher]
Echoes:—-
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'Nothing here…what about my attributes?'
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Attributes: [Envious][Elusive Presence] [Bestial Vitality]
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'Crap..'
He couldn't take his choice back now though. Gwin was going to have to live with his choice until he could finish another one and figure out whether that was really the right choice. He tried to not let it get him down.
'Whatever…no point in worrying about it now..'
However, just then something happened in front of him. The empty space the effigy of the remnant feeder had taken up was bubbling and swelling. Gwin took a few cautious steps back as something began emerging from the endless expanse of blood.
A few meters in front of him the blood swelled and flowed upwards like ruby tendrils. These tendrils interlocked and merged forming a pair of giant beaks. One was larger than the other and closed in over the smaller one hiding it from view as the blood continued forming. From the edges of the beak the blood formed into the bases of a dozen strong limbs. Their formation stopped soon after that leaving a fearsome creature unformed.
Gwin looked at this sculpture with a bewildered expression for a moment before he recognized something curious. This new sculpture was far larger than the remnant feeder yet he couldn't help but be reminded of it when looking at the unfinished mollusk.
'Is this its monster version?'
Indeed this was the unfinished monster version of the remnant feeder. Gwin belatedly realized the kills he had earned during their escape must have been more than enough to finish the sculpture and the excess must have been put aside for the next one.
'I think I get why it needs two now.'
If he had just made the current version of the remnant feeder then it would make sense that he would need the next stage as well. After all, if he didn't have a frame of reference he would never even know what it looked like since he hadn't outright slayed it to see. Gwin was suddenly feeling very excited for the finished thing.
'I wonder what all has changed! Even from the small part I can see its way bigger!'
That meant that it would need more blood to finish however. Gwin suddenly felt quite pensive about his aspect.
'What if I keep evolving it? Will it become a titan eventually? Is that really possible?'
Whatever the case was it was clear that it would take a literal sea of blood to accomplish. Much like what he was standing on right now.
'One step at a time I guess.'
Emerging from his soul sea Gwin decided to do something he hadn't done in a while. He was going to train his swordsmanship.