[Moss Carapace Mantis leveled up!]
[All Stats increased:
Strength - 3 —> 4
Stamina - 2 —> 3
Agility - 6 —> 7
Vitality - 9 —> 10
Intelligence - 3 —> 4
Dexterity - 9 —> 10]
[+3 Free points]
[Moss Carapace Mantis reached level 3 successfully]
Now that Theo was not scared of his mantis being eaten by a high-level slime, he quickly looked at the notification that he had ignored after reading a little. It was good news that he could see later too, nothing urgent.
A sense of satisfaction fell over Theo when he looked at the level of the mantis in its status.
—————
Moss Carapace Mantis
Grade - Common
Type - Insect
Level 3
EXP - 5.59/350
Basic Physical Attributes:
Strength - 4
Stamina - 3
Agility - 7
Vitality - 10
Intelligence - 4
Dexterity - 10
Free points - 9
Abilities:
Metallic Strike: Executes a swift slash with its reinforced legs.
Level 0 (7% progress)
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Spore Lash: Whip-like attack that stuns enemies with paralytic spores.
Level 0 (2% progress)
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Regenerative Moss (Passive): Gradually heals minor wounds when in damp environments.
Level 0 (1% progress)
Beast Attributes:
Affinity - Metal, Nature
Favorability - 65% (Good)
Evolution Potential - Not detected
Evolution Information:
Next Evolution - Unknown
Requirements - Unknown
Evolution Traits - Unknown
—————
'Wait, its grade changed?!' Theo exclaimed and was going to shout, only to stop himself in time. They didn't need more slimes to come toward them.
The mantis, which had only been Ordinary grade, had reached Common with the evolution. Theo regretted not looking at the status screen sooner. He had been too engrossed just by its experience.
While Clara was quickly getting rid of the remaining slimes, the mantis was unable to handle those that were higher by two levels.
'You have grown a lot in just a few days... mantis,' Theo thought as his eyes warmed up. The mantis was looking toward him. Its eyes fixed in one place, Theo felt the same feelings from the mantis at a very primitive level through his bond, and a smile formed on his face.
When Clara was all done, she looked toward Theo, who had a satisfied smile on his face.
With a curious tone, Clara asked, "Did something good happen, young master?"
Theo happily replied, "Yeah, the mantis just reached level 3."
Clara's eyes widened in surprise. She inspected the mantis on Theo's hand, only to see the level too.
"Congratulations on the level up, young master. But wait, how are you leveling so quickly? I was here with you all along, you only killed slimes but... wait..." A frown formed on her face as she looked in the air.
"I was sure that the mantis was Ordinary grade, young master. When did that change?"
"You didn't look at the status screen too?" Theo asked with a chuckle. It seemed the appearance had shocked everyone so much that they didn't think of anything else.
"The mantis didn't give time, young master. Just when the pup found it, the mantis moved toward the slimes in the bushes. I didn't have time." Clara justified with little panic, seeing how this could make her professionalism look bad.
Yet Theo found it cute. He ignored her rantings and looked at the mantis's status one more time.
"No worries. As for your previous question, my mantis was only Ordinary grade, so killing Uncommon grade slimes gave it a bonus in leveling too."
When Clara heard that, Theo couldn't tell how she was taking this news.
"I don't know if I should be happy or leave it be, young master. But it's great that the grade of the mantis increased. It's a rare phenomenon that happens in very high-level beasts. But I must say, I have seen this for the first time with my own eyes," Clara stated, making Theo nod in understanding.
'Although mine didn't happen normally, it was because of the evolution...' Theo thought. The evolution affinity was proving very handy now, yet he still didn't know much about it.
"The mantis's stats have become quite better than before. Its strength reached 4 now, and I haven't even used the free points yet," Theo grinned proudly while saying.
Yet Clara didn't share the same emotions. "Just 4 points in strength?" she asked, yet kept a hand on her mouth to shut up.
Theo looked at her with a confused face. "I know 4 is not that good, but it's just the start. How about you, Clara? What's the strength stat of your boar?" Theo asked while patting the mossy head of the mantis.
"The boar's strength is at 42 now, young master. When I started my journey, it was 20." Clara tried not to sound smug, as she wasn't. Yet Theo was too surprised.
"42 is a lot... so that is why you are so capable of defending me, Clara."
Clara blushed and shook her head, yet there was a small smile on her face too, as if she liked it.
"Ironclad Boars have a lot of strength and defense from the start. It's only agility that they are not good at."
Theo wanted to start another topic on why the boar was so fast when they traveled on it, but he refrained for now. There was time to converse in the future.
For now, he looked at the skills of the mantis and went into thought.
Theo didn't feel disappointed by it. Hell, just a few days ago, the Metallic Strike percentage was just at one, but now? It was at seven percent.
Without wasting time, Theo commanded the mantis to start hitting the tree bark with its skill every five seconds again. He wanted it to improve as soon as possible.
The cycle of grinding started yet again. Theo did not benefit from killing level 2 slimes anymore, even though there was still the grade advantage.
The deduction was too much, so he only targeted level 3 slimes and made sure to try killing level 4s too, just for practice.
A few hours passed, and the number of slimes seemed to dwindle again.
Theo had killed five level 3 slimes this time. All the others were higher level, which he couldn't deal with.
Even the bonus of defeating something beyond the mantis's level was gone as it had reached level 3 again.
Yet for some reason, it still couldn't defeat a level 4 moss slime, making Theo research it, and he found some things out.