Chapter 77
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Chapter 77: After All This Trouble, Still Just a Fish
【Current Form: Pander Fish】
【Status: Not Hungry】
【Magic Power: 3300/3300 (Regenerates 50 per minute)】
【Chaos Energy: 922/1000 (Insufficient Chaos Energy for evolution interface)】
【Skill 1: Flip the World Off (100 Magic Power cost)】
【Skill 2: Ball Joint Armor (100 Magic Power cost)】
【Skill 3: Dance of Bacteria and Archaea (Magic Power cost varies)】
【Special Skill: Whale Fall Aura】
【Spawn 1: Trilobite (Equipped Smashing Claw, True Social Insect Colony Pheromones)】
"The species changed."
"Changed perfectly!"
The name Pander Fish might sound unfamiliar. This Devonian-period creature represented a transitional form between flesh-finned fish and amphibians.
Some features—especially its head—had diverged from typical flesh-finned fish characteristics, leaning toward terrestrial animals.
Yet this "leaning" didn’t mean its fins had become legs. The real transformation happened internally.
Trilobite’s purchased "evolution accessories" followed similar principles.
He hadn’t prioritized terrestrial mobility. Instead, he made minimal modifications to the fins: spending 1000 Chaos Energy to ossify them further, then another 1000 to lengthen them—optimizing them for digging rather than walking.
Simply put, he’d bought two upgrade DLCs.
The true enhancements were in the lungs and head!
"Last battle taught me fish skulls are flawed. Limited muscle attachments, suboptimal torque mechanics, and poor structure for powerful bites."
"Land movement also exhausted me quickly—likely due to my pathetic swim bladder respiratory system."
Trilobite excelled at criticism and problem-solving.
Guided by these insights, he invested heavily in modifying his swim bladder and head.
The swim bladder adjustments were straightforward: more capillaries, a thickened wall, and added membrane structures to expand gas exchange surface area.
Head modifications proved more complex and costly, intertwining with swim bladder changes.
First: nostrils.
Fish do possess nostrils, but most can’t breathe through them. These primarily serve smell detection, unconnected to the pharynx.
Exceptions exist among lungfish and advanced flesh-finned fish.
Logically, true finned fish should share this trait.
But Trilobite’s nostrils—inherited from Carcharocles—remained typical fish nostrils.
This forced him to pause for breath while eating on land, thoroughly ruining his dining experience.
Thus, nostrils required remodeling!
Moreover, he couldn’t bear to part with his Olfactory Membranes, making the nasal cavity modifications particularly painful.
Therefore, to keep both the Olfactory Membranes and Lorentz Jar while making the nostrils part of the respiratory system, Trilobite spent Chaos Energy to buy a five percent Increase Size upgrade.
After this costly investment, nostrils capable of independent breathing finally appeared!
To prevent water from entering his nostrils while swimming, Trilobite also purchased a "Nasal Closure Muscle Group" – the same mechanism sperm whales use in the deep sea.
Trilobite also made extensive "corrections" to his skull shape and bones, consuming vast amounts of Chaos Energy.
His head now featured a wider rear and a narrower front, with a distinct "long snout," completely unlike the fully fish-shaped true finned fish.
In other words, Trilobite now possessed a head resembling terrestrial vertebrates, particularly later ichthyosaurs!
This actually fit well with the appearance of the Pander Fish.
Trilobite had no intention of going ashore; he merely made a series of adaptive changes to his form based on his environment.
Yet by sheer "coincidence," he ended up following the same path as his ancient ancestors.
Many people imagine vertebrate land colonization starting with a fish head: creatures slowly crawling onto land using fleshy fins, only later evolving other bodily changes.
In popular imagination, the transitional form between fish and terrestrial vertebrates is depicted as a creature with a fish head, stubby limbs, dragging a heavy body.
However, recent research suggests this view might be incorrect.
Features characteristic of land animals might have already been quite pronounced in vertebrates before they ever crawled ashore.
And these features weren’t prepared for land at all!
The vertebrate transition to land might not have been as simple as people think.
"I am now just a fish," Trilobite reflected, swimming in the depths of the "lake" and observing his body. "I’ve transformed my swim bladder into a primitive lung, I have the head of a terrestrial vertebrate, but I’m still quite poor at moving on land."
"Indeed, for now, drifting in the water suits me best."
"This body retains its streamlined, water-suited shape, like an elongated torpedo; as for movement on land…"
After his recent upgrade, Trilobite had tried moving on land.
He discovered his movement resembled a loach wriggling through mud.
"However, the hardening, lengthening, and surface expansion of my fleshy fins aren’t useless. While my dry-land mobility hasn’t improved much, I can slide and swim through mud relatively quickly."
"And I seem to have gained decent burrowing capability, much like lungfish!"
"But I’m different from those lungfish!"
"I possess the Lorentz Jar for sensing electric fields, and Olfactory Membranes! I have intelligence! I can plan my digging routes and targets!"
"So, the next goal…"
"Boom—Splash—Boom—!"
Trilobite dug frantically into the muddy ground with his fleshy fins, hurling great gouts of mud behind him.
A huge area of murky water formed in this "saltwater lake"!
Fortunately, the troubled City of Dimensions crater wouldn’t suffer this time; Trilobite was digging where the "lake water" grew shallow.
This area was actually the "continental shelf," quite close to the coast.
As for why he chose this direction…
Simply because his Olfactory Membranes detected vast numbers of microorganisms and the "fresh scent" of new water along this steep lakeshore.
However, his digging proved disastrous for the land directly above his head.
"Boom—Boom—Boom—!"
The earth shook violently, terrifying cracks splitting open; a tsunami swept across the land, scouring the chaos-ravaged soil.
"Earthquake! Tsunami!"
"It’s the Giant God! He’s digging beneath us! The Giant God is angry!"
"Quick, evacuate the people immediately!"
"Everyone, to the boats!"
"Head for higher ground!"
…
On the continent, the recently built makeshift town lay shattered into ruins!
Tall Ashen Knights busily pulled humans from the wreckage.
Thankfully, this "makeshift town" was merely a settlement, its structures crudely built from wooden planks. Collapses usually caused only cuts and bruises.
Still, seeing their hard-rebuilt homes destroyed again – this time by their supposed "savior" – filled the people with deep sorrow.
Some even wailed in anguish.
"Why! Why!?"
"We just wanted to come home!"
"What do we do now…"
…
Refugees huddled on high ground, watching the tsunami and earthquake obliterate weeks of labor and future hopes. They complained helplessly; some wept bitterly.
Just as the grief deepened…
A voice thick with outrage suddenly rose from the crowd!
"Is this the so-called savior?! How ridiculous!"
