[Evolution to Necrovore Slime (Rare Variant) is complete]

  Xen was startled awake by a system message. "Ugh," he said. Not because he felt terrible—in fact, he felt better than he ever had—but because his mouth was full of sand. Pushing himself up with his black skeletal arms, he quickly glanced up at the giant stone staircase that led to the upper floor of the dungeon.

  It was empty.

  A heavy sigh left his mouth. He had survived his first evolution.

  "Evolutions take time and knock you out—noted for next time," Xen said, gathering himself. He had been too impulsive in accepting his evolution and should have spent more time querying the system. After all, if evolving carried no risks, why did it give him the option to say no in the first place?

  Dusting off the sand from the magic-resistant cloak he had stolen from the skeletal mage, he cursed under his breath as he tried to raise his foot to discover the boots he had looted from Gerald were filled with sand. Taking one off and pouring out the sand, he was about to put it back on when he heard a dull groan from right behind him.

  Glancing over his shoulder, he came face to face with an ivory skull. "Ah?!" Xen felt his soul leave his body as it stared at him blankly with hollow eyes. Reflexively, Xen slapped the head away. There was a hollow thunk as his skeletal hand came into contact with the empty skeleton's skull.

  Surprisingly, he seemed to wield far more strength than before his evolution, as the skeleton was sent flying back. That's when Xen was horrified to learn that there hadn't been a single skeleton right behind him, but there was an entire horde. If they had been curious and mostly non-hostile before, seeing him lash out at one of their own, he could feel the mood instantly change as they all stared at him and began trudging toward him through the sand.

  Compared to the undead roaming the upper floor, these had better weapons. The swords weren't as cracked or dented, the shields had rings of metal to reinforce them, and Xen saw a few with crossbows already loaded with arrows.

  "Maybe this wasn't the best spot to evolve," Xen muttered as he stood up under the gazes of his many foes. The magic-resistant cloak he had stolen from the skeletal mage fluttered around him in the wind, and he was wearing a single sand-filled boot.

  The undead continued to shuffle through the darkness toward him under the dungeon's fake night sky, and the ones holding ranged weapons raised them and took aim.

  Xen responded in kind by raising both his skeletal arms. His cloak sleeves slid down his arms, revealing his black bones. "Holy Smite," Xen said gruffly as he fanned out his fingers and directed a considerable amount to the spell. Golden mana crackled between all of his fingers before he released the spell. The darkness of the black desert was replaced with a blinding light and a thunderclap, and many streaks of golden lightning sprawled through the air and targeted the incoming undead.

  The undead tried to raise their shields to block, but it was hopeless. The once-weak spell that delivered nothing but a spark blasted the shields out of the undead's weak grip and purified their bones to dust.

  Xen didn't stop there. He continued walking toward the group while blasting them with golden lightning.

  You have killed a large group of enemies.

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  Experience split between [Necrovore Slime] and [Undead Mage] form.

  [Undead Mage] has leveled up: 6 -> 7.

  Xen lowered his arms to his side as he surveyed the destruction. A pile of weapons, some bones, and ashen sand was all that remained of the undead legion.

  "Was I always this powerful?" Xen wondered while crouching down and devouring what was left of them. "Oh wait, I evolved, didn't I?"

  [Devour Complete]

  You gained a large amount of biomass.

  "Mhm, no new skills from this batch. Must have been weaklings." Xen waved away the system message and stood up. He searched his immediate area with Mystic Perception to make sure no other undead had snuck up on him. Confirming that he couldn't feel any other monsters coming, it was time to get out of here. Anywhere was better than sticking so close to the stone staircase.

  Scanning the horizon, there was nothing but endless black sand dunes and white crypts under the dungeon's fake night sky. There were also large groups of undead aimlessly wandering the desert that he could spot from here. Whether it was his all-black outfit that made him nearly impossible to spot or his new evolution's passive [Undeath Resonance] that made the undead see him as kin, they didn't seem bothered by his presence.

  "They might leave me alone, considering they didn't kill me during my evolution, but on the off chance the humans come for me, where should I go?" Xen pondered. The first thought that came to mind was to find the staircase to the third level of the dungeon, but that was a bad idea for many reasons.

  First, he had many reasons to remain on this floor. There was plenty of undead for him to easily kill for EXP and also to acquire new skills from. Because his new [Undeath Resonance] passive also boosted the strength of corruption-based spells, he wanted to focus on obtaining more spells of that type, especially after seeing the strength of his [Corruption Missile (B)] skill.

  The second reason it was a bad idea to focus on trying to reach the third floor of the World Dungeon was that he risked encountering human hunting parties that were far stronger than he was. Here, on a floor infested with undead, he didn't stand out as much. But if he delved deeper, he would stand out and be killed.

  For now, he wanted to blend in, hide, and gather strength.

  His gaze landed on an area to the north of the stone staircase. He could see a large group of white crypts in the far distance. If anywhere nearby was going to contain rare variants of undead that he could steal skills from, it would be there.

  But first, he needed to check his status screen.

  ??[Name: Xen]

  [Level: 10 (D)]

  [Race: Necrovore Slime (Rare Variant)]

  [Current Form: Undead Mage (Level 7)]

  [Class: Shapeshifter (Unique)]

  Necrovore Slime: Level 10 (D)

  < [Devour (S)] - [Appraisal (C)] - [Mystic Perception (C)] - [Shapeshift (E)] - [Soul Leech (D)] >

  < [Undeath Resonance] >

  Sure enough, he was now listed as a D-grade monster since he had reached level 10 and evolved. His Undead Mage form was also nearing its first evolution.

  His eyes flickered down, and he checked the skills his Necrovore Slime form had. Besides the jump in all of his hidden stats and especially his magic, if the strength of the Holy Smite skill had been anything to go by, he had two new skills.

  [Soul Leech (D)]

  Drain lifeforce from weakened enemies to regenerate mana and biomass over time.

  [Undeath Resonance]

  Undead creatures treat you as kin. Corruption-type skills enhanced.

  Xen hadn't noticed it while picking his evolutions, but Undeath Resonance didn't have a grade like Soul Leech did, and it was even listed in a second row on his status screen. Was that because it was considered a passive skill?

  "Mhm, Soul Leech isn't going to be of much use in a dungeon floor covered in nothing but the undead. But I can definitely see its use in the future as a healing skill I can use to win extended fights or when facing multiple enemies."

  Satisfied, Xen dismissed the system message and began trudging forward. However, he quickly realized that as an undead with one sand-filled boot, this was going to be one long journey across the dunes.

  "Hold on, Undeath Resonance is a passive skill attached to my slime form, meaning it should carry over no matter what form I take," Xen mused. Deciding to test if that was the case, he chose to shapeshift into a wolf with midnight black fur.

  [Do you wish to take on the Wolf form?]

  Xen accepted the system's message, and his skeletal body changed into something far more savage.

  to read ahead!