Chapter 324 New Crinis, Spending up (1/2)

Curious about Crinis' new Shadow eye I dive deeper into the information hidden within her core, laid bare before my core surgery skill. Ah, interesting. It's dense bloc of information, clearly a powerful organ, far more than the average, if anything I would think that the majority of her evolutionary energy was spent on this.

From what I can gather, the shadow eye is a special type of sensory organ, it doesn't help her to 'see' per se, not like human eyes, it allows her extend her vision or more accurately, her 'awareness' through shadows. I'm not sure exactly how powerful that will prove to be, although I'm sure Crinis will have a use for it, otherwise she wouldn't have picked it. Combined with her shadow magic gland and affinity Skill, there must be some trick she can use that I'm not aware of.

The other new organ she gained is also interesting. This is Crinis' solution to the problem of divided attention. I resolved this issue by adding a number of brains to allow me to think about multiple things at once, but she's taken a slightly different path. Much like how an octopus has neural connections for each tentacle, Crinis' new organ, the tentacle conductor, effectively acts as nerve endings for up to eight tentacles, so they'll be able to move and act independently of her main mind. Eight may not seem like enough considering the kind of numbers she can manifest, but with mutation advances I'm certain she'll be able to push the boundary higher.

Interesting! All in all I think she's done an excellent job!

[Well Crinis, it looks as if your evolution has been very successful!] I praised her, freezing my antennae at the last moment so I didn't pet her. If I overpraise her, she might freeze up and I can't afford the time. As it is, she's already quivering a little bit, like a blob of jelly I'd poked.

Crinis collected herself, lifting her body up on her new permanent tentacles and skittering left and right a little as she got used to them.

[Thank you Master] she replied warmly, [I spent a great deal of time thinking about how I was going to evolve.]

[I took a good look at your Shadow Eye, but I'm not quite sure how it's going to work. I a.s.sume it has something to do with your shadow magic affinity?]

The slightly larger blob nodded.

[That's right. I'll show you.]

The squishy orb of death grew still for a moment and I notice that the shadow beneath her body grew noticeably darker over time until it was pitch black. Then, Crinis deliberately extended a tentacle into the shadow.

I boggled at the sight of her tentacle extending into solid stone. What is this? Some sort of shadow gate?

I felt something tickle the bottom of my carapace and I leapt high into the air.

[Wazzat?!] I cried.

Crinis giggled, a to this point nearly unheard of sound and I looked down to see the tip of the tentacle emerging from the ground where my shadow had been, wiggling back and forth.

[Oh that is sweet!] I yelled as Crinis withdrew her tentacle back through the connected shadows and into her body.

[I can't move my main body through] she checked my enthusiasm, [but the Shadow Eye allows me to extend by senses through the shadows after I've connected them.]

Oh snap! So she could spy on people, or extend her tentacles to attack things through a shadow that is in a separate room than she is! The possibilities are almost endless.

[How far can a shadow be before you can't connect it?] I asked, musing to myself.

[My range is around twenty metres right now, if I can detect the target shadow through my mana sense, ten if I can't.]

I nodded, stroking my chin with an antenna. [Train hard Crinis, this new ability will be extremely powerful when levelled up.]

[I will Master] Crinis acknowledged, already sounding pumped for the challenge.