Born in apocalypse

...

Name: N/A

Species: Great Echomind Hunter [Ⅳ] [13%]

Magic Affinity: Mind (A), Emotion (E)

Exclusive attributes: Thoughtful

Stats: Strength Lv. 12, Stamina Lv. 10, Agility Lv. 5, Magic Power Lv. 345

Abilities: Expert Mind Manipulation Lv. 17, Advanced Emotion Manipulation Lv. 11

Skills: Expert Mana Manipulation Lv. 1, Tentacle Manipulation Lv. 3, Smart Psychic Link Lv. 14, Shadow Camouflage Lv. 4, Better Faster Mind Control Weave Lv. 18, Acidic Touch Lv. 1, Better Tentacles Control Lv. 12, Expert Mana Sensitivity lv. 12, .... Nightmare Weave Lv. 11, Mind Shroud Lv. 18, Psychic Domination Lv. 15, Memory Distortion Lv. 20

Mutation: Regenerative Flexible Tentacles + 12, Better Invisible Skin +15, Faster Optic Disruption +11, Adaptive Refractive Camouflage +14, Larger Essense Efficient Dimensional Stomach + 20, Efficient Thermal Shielding +6, Sonic Dampening +4, Connective Faster Monstrous Neural Linkage +21, Stealing Memory Siphon +15, Better Manipulative Telepathic Host Communication +22, Psychic Drain Tentacles +12

Essence Points: 35

Skill Points: 11

...

’Woah! Woah! Woah... what’s up with all this information.’ Looking at the screen full of all sorts of information in front of him, Dhruv began to feel jealous.

He wouldn’t have been jealous if his own screen had been this full... but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Wiping his imaginary tears, he looked at the screen in front of him.

’Hmmm! Let’s start from the very top...’ Thinking this, he began to read the information in front of him very carefully.

Just after the name and the species section, a thing caught his attention. And it was one of the affinities of the monster.

’Emotion... that’s a pretty unique affinity if you ask me. So, the monster could control the emotions of its host to make the hunt easier. After all, it is common sense that a riled-up opponent is an easier one...’

When Dhruv was thinking about different ways the monster could use this affinity for the hunt, he remembered something particular... something that had happened to him.

’Now it all makes sense. So, the reason I felt so smart when coming up with that story—about a monster evolving and leaving— is because my emotions have been riled up by the monster. Yes! That really had been the case.’ The moment he got the chance, Dhruv couldn’t help but decide to blame his incompetence on the monster.

Smiling ear to ear, he proceeded to the next section of the status. All his happiness went down the hill when he read the name of the exclusive ability. Instead of a smile, a confused expression was all over his face.

’Exclusive ability! Thoughtful... Does that mean this monster could think more than others, or is this the trait of its entire species... No, exclusive means it was a rare-case scenario...’ Thinking deeply about the name of the ability, he remembered a fact that he had overlooked up to this point.

’By the way, what type of monster is it? Is it some sort of evolved version of an octopus or maybe even the evolved version of a slime...’ He was about to commit another five minutes to this question but stopped as he remembered a fact.

’If I remember correctly, octopuses are generally pretty thoughtful creatures, aren’t they? Yes! They are... or at least that’s what those YouTube videos suggest.’ Dhruv thought, recalling some YouTube videos.

’So! This Great Echomind hunter was even more thoughtful compared to its other species’ mates. Well, certainly explains its weird way of hunting or even the way it had evolved.’ Dhruv thought, looking at the corpse of the Great Echomind Hunter.

’I think I’m getting way out of my way...’ Having a feeling that he was about to get way distracted by all sorts of information, he focused on the status and began to read the next section of it.

As he read the next section, Dhruv was surprised to find out that he didn’t get any surprises from the stats section.

’Well, considering how easily it had died, it was pretty easy to guess that it wouldn’t have that much level in the strength and stamina section...but 10, 5, isn’t it too low for a monster at tier 4.’ Forget about it; he had been surprised by this section as well.

When his surprise died down, Dhruv found the number very justifiable, ’Uhhh! Ummm! I think it is justifiable after all; this sucker has almost 350 magic powers...’

After the surprise comes the emotion of jealousy, ’How great is that number, and when could I be able to get there? I mean, I think I will be close to about 300 in the next evolution if I choose a mage-oriented class, which I surely will do... So, after the next evolution, I will reach the level of this monster.’

Nodding his head, Dhruv moved to the next section of the status. The next section wasn’t that interesting, as it only consisted of the manipulation ability of its affinity.

The next section after that wasn’t that great either... except for the few skills that were worthy of getting mentioned.

’Nightmare Weave, Mind Shroud, Psychic Link, Memory Distortion... what the heck type of skills are these... Man! I think even one of these skills is strong enough to put a person in the mental ward or even straight up kill them... and we aren’t talking about using them on a tier below your own...’

As he read the descriptions of these skills, a thought began to form in Dhruv’s mind.

’Darn it, these skills were surely wasted on the monster. I think it could have done better after having all these skills.’ Dhruv thought, a bittersweet smile appearing on his face.

He couldn’t help but think that if he were in the shoes of the monster, then there was no chance that he would have let anyone escape... even those who had the skill Illusion resistance.

Dhruv wasn’t entirely right here, but his thoughts had some credibility in them as well...

Even though the monster was lucky enough—thanks to its exclusive ability—to get this evolutionary line, it wasn’t the best option or, more accurately, it wasn’t qualified to have these powerful weapons.

Due to not knowing or, more accurately, not having the wisdom of a proper adult, it couldn’t utilize the maximum potential of the evolution it had. It became the perfect example of being unique isn’t always good.

It wasn’t that the monster didn’t use its weapons efficiently; on the contrary, it used them too well against races like its own, but... the problem was that it began to fall short when encountering more knowledgeable species... Like Asteris and Humans.

"Geez! Why am I getting sad about it? Isn’t it a good thing that the monster didn’t have enough creativity to use its skills properly, or else I would have turned into one of the mana stones lying on the floor."

Thinking about his alternate ending, Dhruv heaved a sigh of relief and moved on to the next section of the status...

...The mutations.

This section was filled with even more bizarre stuff... bizarre things that he couldn’t even fathom their meanings. Having no clues about them, Dhruv began to read the description of each and every one of the mutations.

...

[Optic Disruption: With this evolution, the skin transforms into a material that causes light to pass through you, making you invisible.] 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

[Refractive Camouflage: Bends light around you, making you virtually transparent.]

[Thermal Shielding: The invisible skin provides protection against thermal detection.]

[Sonic Dampening: Absorbs and nullifies sound waves, making you silent to all sound-related detection.]

...

When he had done reading the mutations, Dhruv came to a conclusion... a conclusion that totally contradicted his previous claim about the monster.

’Hmmm! What is going on... on one side the monster couldn’t use its skill efficiently but on the other side it was smart enough to create such an elaborate mutation that each one of them is benefiting the other... they are so syncronized with each other’

Thinking this, Dhruv couldn’t help but bring out his notepad and began to write the names of the mutations.

"Better Invisible Skin, Adaptive Refractive Camouflage, Efficient Thermal Shielding, and Sonic Dampening are all the mutations that help it keep itself invisible as much as possible. It is so perfect that almost every aspect that could make it visible had been solved by the monster.’ Dhruv couldn’t help but praise the anatomy of the monster.

If it were only that the defensive part of the mutations was perfect, he would have scoffed it off as a coincidence, but that wasn’t the case. Even the offensive part of the monster’s mutations was perfect.

’How was it able to afford all these mutations...’ Thinking, Dhruv looked at the description of its offensive mutations. While reading the description, he couldn’t help but question the fairness of the cosmos.

...

[Neural Linkage: After connecting the tentacles with the victim, the monster could establish a somewhat connection to the victim’s neural network.]

[Memory Siphon: With the help of its tentacles, the monster could extract and manipulate memories through the tentacle link.]

[Emotion Manipulation: After releasing some pheromones, the monster could influence the emotions and feelings of connected victims.]

[Telepathic Communication: With this special mutation, the monster gains the ability to communicate through thoughts over the tentacle link.]

[Psychic Drain Tentacles: With the help of these evolved tentacles, the monster could gradually siphon the psychic energy of connected individuals.]

...

’Man! It almost seems like there is some guide that was directing the monster and letting it know which evolution it should choose and which one to leave... But that couldn’t have been the case, right? RIGHT?’ Dhruv couldn’t help but think that someone was scheming against him, but he couldn’t figure out who that could be.

After having satisfied with the knowledge he got from the monster’s status, he put the notebook back in his inventory and closed the status as well.

A smile appeared on his face as he summed up the monster’s situation in the perfect way, ’Sigh! I guess even being perfect isn’t always enough...’