Borderlands: Unnatural selection

Did I NEED a fucking dragon? Absolutely not! But not a damn person will ever convince me that it's not the biggest fucking flex either! Obviously I understand that my monster won't actually be a true dragon but if I had my way ain't nobody gonna know the difference, well unless an actual dragon shows up but that's just downright improbable. The trick here though was I had to figure out HOW to add wings and an extra set of legs to the thing in the egg to make my artificial dragon.-

I remember quite clearly that none of the quadrupeds I killed so far had any traits called [Quadruped] so I had a sneaking suspicion that either there was a secret layer of traits that I hadn't found yet or traits that made up the core of a thing were not a thing. Thinking back however there WAS one creature that had that a trait based on it's body design, a Slashbug from Baal 3. [Multilimbed-Common grade] was the trait in question and thanks to me keeping the pleasant looking sword-horned head of the bug I happened to have access to the thing.-

I held up the head and focused my powers on the small head on my palm and my siren tattoos glowed a bright green but I ignored that as I locked my full attention on this single trait. I wasn't trying to [Graft] it though but rather trying to change it to fit my will. This was DEFINITELY not something stated within my powers understanding from when I first got them in that vault. It wasn't even like the other unexplained uses for my powers that I had discovered that were in fact more like reversing a facet of my powers to give rather than take.-

This was flat out trying to fucking jailbreak my powers into doing something that they should in theory be able to accomplish but weren't programmed for. Where did this theory of mine come from? [Fuse], the part of my powers in charge of fusing traits of similar types together to get a better outcome. See at first glance [Fuse] had a very easy to understand use but I knew biology so I knew that this wasn't even fucking close to as simple as it appeared. Standard evolution was for a creature to over several generations of exposure to a stimulus such as an environmental factor or new predator mutate to better handle this new stimulus.-

This meant going through different failing or succeeding mutations over generations to create a final outcome that was perfectly designed for that particular stimulus. [Fuse] accomplished something similar in a matter of moments in exchange for lifeforce, the ultimate genetic stacking of the deck as it were. My theory was that since this was the case I might be able to choose the direction a trait mutates towards. Attempting this feat however was clearly not a simple matter as I could feel an ungodly amount of strain on my powers that was by extension costing me dozens of lifeforce per second as my powers tried to do what I wanted.-

If I had to describe what it was like I would say it was kinda like trying to deadlift your own body weight without working out a day in your life, all while you had a cold. Needless to say I looked downright demonic as my eyes glowed green and had veins protruding all over my face and neck as I snarled in stubborn fury against the trait.-

It was like a dam burst however when I finally forced my way upon the trait that had been overloaded and cowed into submission, all that pressure just vanished. This made me fall over as all that tension in my body had to go somewhere after release. 

"Ha ha.... hahahaha!" I panted for a moment on the ground before breaking into uncontrollable cackling like a mad hyena as I felt the trait waiting for my input to decide how it would change.

Right now the trait was primed to simply give an extra set or two of legs like the six limbed insect I got it from.

Obviously that wasn't what I had in mind at all and instead wanted the trait to give an extra set of useable wings as well as making the four already existing limbs of the creature in the egg more equal in size and function effectively turning it into a winged quadruped. The trait making the two existing legs roughly the same size without making the creature have freakishly disproportionately long legs was easy if quite expensive lifeforce wise at 10,000 units. The issue came in with the fucking wings. The trait couldn't understand what I wanted as it was meant for legs or arms, not wings.-

It was only after I chose to be REALLY daring and attempted to fuse [Aerial expertise-Common grade] into the trait that things got weird as shit. In a split second I got thousands of years worth of mutations and variation in data regarding this fusion which sort of short circuited me so I didn't see the end result as I went unconscious in my brains attempt to self preserve itself. Three Edenian days, I was in a fucking coma for three whole days and nights, a full ninety hours given the thirty hour length of the days here.-

"Ugh, did someone get the number of the bitch that hit me?" I asked with a groan when I finally regained consciousness.

It didn't need to be said that I was bloody starving by this point and had a throbbing headache I would have strangled a person with a sock to get rid of so I won't say that. Still I felt, looked and smelt like shit which was mostly to do because I had while I was out. Not a pleasant experience at all for me but I got what I wanted if rather annoyingly priced.

[Multilimbed(Winged quadruped)-Legendary grade]- 100,000 units

In addition to the 14,710 that it took JUST to create the trait that extra price tag stung a whole fucking lot but I paid it anyways. Feeling my lifeforce drop so drastically did NOT help my hunger at all and if anything made me even hungrier. I once again took a shower while setting my skinsuit aside for cleaning while trying my best to ignore the gnawing hunger in my gut. Once I was clean I threw the skinsuit in a special cleaning solution that was harmless to the suit but broke down anything organic it came into contact with.-

I then went over to the food maker thingy and ordered me enough food to feed a small family. I specifically chose as much nutrient dense foods as possible for this meal. Liver, kidney, kale, carrots and fatty wagyu brisket for the oil. Once I was satisfied and stuffed like a turkey I went to check on my egg to see if I could add the new trait I got just for it yet or if it needed more time to "digest" the previous traits I gave it.-

{Tyrant egg(Aberration)

Lifeforce: 2130(developing)

Traits:[Aphrodisiacal sweat-Rare grade]- 5000 units, [Omega body-Rare grade]- 5000 units, [Armored hide-Uncommon grade]- 1000 units, [Strong bones-Uncommon grade]-1000 units, [Flame breath-Uncommon Grade]- 1000 units, [Minor regeneration-Epic grade]- 20000 units, [Enhanced vitality-Rare grade]- 5000 units, [Clever mind-Uncommon grade]- 1000 units, [Imprint-Common grade]- 500 units, [Precise vision-Rare grade]- 5000 units, [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade]-1000 units }

'The traits I added now have prices next to them but the total lifeforce of the creature has dropped. Perhaps it burned through the lifeforce in order to integrate the traits since unlike my powers it isn't optimized for new traits like this.' I thought seeing the situation.

Still I was getting a feeling of emptiness from the egg which I attributed to it's lifeforce being lowered from what it was before as well as it's traits being successfully integrated. I wasted no time at all sending in the new trait I had for it only to be surprised to find that I got a sort of sense of connection forming between myself and the egg. I couldn't even begin to describe how it felt but what I can say was that through the connection I felt a demand for lifeforce, not a forceful one but more one of desperation.-

I quickly pumped in lifeforce which immediately eased this feeling of need I was getting from the connection. By no means at all did it get rid of it but it greatly lessened the sensation.

'Perhaps this was the eggs way of telling me that it would need more lifeforce to integrate the new trait I gave it. A sign of the [Imprint] and [Clever mind] traits already showing dividends I believe.' I thought with a pleased smile.

Originally [Imprint] only worked AFTER the creature had been born but it wasn't too much of a stretch to think that thanks to the [Clever mind] trait the developing egg had recognized my energy signature after repeated exposure and come to associate it with a source of lifeforce or perhaps it's parent caring for it. With this not entirely inaccurate understanding [Imprint] may have created the connection through my energy channeling. Honestly speaking I was perfectly fucking stoked about it as it just meant after it was hatched training it and teaching it the do's and don't would be WAY easier.-

If it already sees me as it's parent then taming it wouldn't be needed since it would by nature defer to me to begin with. Training it not to shit and piss everywhere and not eat people I know would come easy after that. As a bonus since it's base species was a tyrant saurian it should only get about the size of a small elephant at most. I honestly had no plans to try and give it a giant trait either as while I firmly believed size played a part in the animal kingdom I also knew that it could be as much of a detriment as it was a blessing.-

The Colossus was a good example of this as while it was huge it's vulnerable parts, i.e. the eye, got even more easy to hit and for all it's strength it was slower than molasses. The bigger the animal in my experience the harder it became for them to move quickly and deal with their own bodies weight. With the traits it currently had this wasn't going to be a problem at the size I expect it to reach but if it got bigger it would be.-

Also it wouldn't fit through the door of my house if it got bigger than that which for obvious reasons was a fucking problem. Anyways with that taken care of more or less I left my house and got started actually researching what planet I was going to next. I was already down by three days and this put a bit of pressure on me as I had a LOT of options to choose from. What I needed to do to narrow it down was figure out exactly what I wanted out of the planet I chose.

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https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro

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Alexander Drake

Lifeforce: 50,967

Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Uncommon grade]X3,[Enhanced senses-Rare grade], [Omega body-Rare grade]x4,[Superior bones-Rare grade],[Armored hide-Rare grade], [Fire resistance-Uncommon grade], [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Minor regeneration-Rare grade][Iron stomach-Uncommon grade], [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade]

Stored traits: [Amphibious lungs], [Water resistance]