The existence of the Mutagen was ingrained in his consciousness. He then opened the Mutagen Socket section of the Basic Tentacle. Because of this, he knew that he could just open it with just an intent on his mind.
[Mutagen Sockets>
Socket: Empty
Socket: Empty
Socket: Empty ]
[Insert Mutagen {Rock} onto the Socket One?]
"Righty'o!"
[Socket: Mutagen {Rock}]
His tentacle's inside became shiny for a second, as the sky texture was a little bit translucent. Before he knew it, he arrived at the river.
"Sweet macaroni! Also, how will the Mutagen affect my tentacle?"
[After the Mutagen Socket is inserted, it will stimulate and push an evolutionary trait to the corresponding Tentacle. The mutation will be affected with the nature and element of the Mutagen, and also the Aggressiveness of the Tentacle_
[Currently, your Basic Tentacle's Aggressiveness is at 12 value. So your Tentacle's evolution will take a peaceful turn with less combat oriented ability.]
"Ooooh~!" Jack put on a satisfied smug face as he started to sharpen his rock using the whetstone he picked up from the river. "Well, I'm a peaceful old man until someone throws their spear upon me. I'll probably see if I can stimulate the Basic Tentacle to be long enough for universal use, and making it grab something does the job pretty well."
Grabbing his tool before continuing what he was doing again, he silently moved from place to place as if he was doing an activity in guerilla tactics. There were too many gnarly beasts roaming around and strange plants that he was afraid to aggro.
He then finally found a mild slope of vast glade with a flat platform on the feet. There was no hint of another beast's smell occupying the space, so Jack decided to mark this place as his own territory.
Surprisingly, all of this was done by instinct.
"Oya, Sephiroth, can these equipped Mutagen Sockets be replaced when I need it?"
[The act of replacing a Mutagen from the Socket was possible but the item will be lost forever.]
"Aight, put two more rocks there on the last two remaining sockets."
[Your fixation on rocks is morbidly terrifying, Jack.]
[Mutagen Sockets>
Socket: Mutagen {Rock}
Socket: Mutagen {Rock}
Socket: Mutagen {Rock}]
"Beautiful!" Jack gave himself a small applause. "I can imagine that my Basic Tentacle is too much of a sushi material. More rocks means more toughness! When the time comes, it might acquire the ability to turn itself into a healthy young man who's as hard when facing a Medusa! Ahaha!"
[Your analogy becomes more and more clustered, Jack.]
"Time waits for nobody." He smirked. "At day time I might be blessed by the caring tenderness of the sun, but when the night devours the world, crazy stuff can happen, you know?"
[I assume that you're wary of the nocturnal creature within this biome.]
"I think I remembered some quote that I randomly spewed back in the day." Jack tilted his head. "What was it again? I think it's close to 'The night preys upon the living in both worlds, whilst the day eased their temper before they sharpen their fangs' or something."
[You muttered words excessively in a short period of time when the situation allows. Some of that data was damaged when I'm transporting you to this world.]
"I see, I apologize if you're harmed in any way when trying to reincarnate me." Jack nervously grinned. "Though, hope that I'm not that 'user' you mentioned about ending the war or stuff. I'm tired of that."
[As if I'm going to choose an old fart like you to fight in an important war that will determine the fate of the entire galaxy. I'm actually the same as you, Jack, old and retired.]
"Ohoho! Why don't you say so!" Jack chuckled like crazy. "Save that line for later. It's still not a retirement if we have nothing here other than leaves, vines, and wooden sticks laying around."
[The Project Sephiroth is nothing more than a corroded piece of gear upon this massive clock tower of a world. I admit that I have nothing much to give other than a single Roots Feature_
[I'm basically just a lone and weak starling trying to keep my buffalo free of ticks and leeches. Only the big man can steer the wheel. With all of that done and said, I'll be counting on you, partner.]
"Partner, ey? You didn't turn on your cringe inhibitor for that?"
[It's not cheesy if I'm the one who says it.]
"Cheeky double standard."
Aside from preparing a sharpened wood or two, Jack passed his time by crafting some improvised clothing made out of huge leaves and vines. He already had the needed tools such as a carved stone knife and a puncturing stone. So most of his tasks were easier to accomplish rather than having nothing at all.
He also tried to use the Basic Tentacle on his back as much as he could to stimulate some changes, to the point that he began training the tentacle flexibility in motoric action such as trying to cut some vines.
[Basic Tentacle> Length: 103cm(+4) | Weight: 15kg(-1) | Wide: 28cm–12cm(-1/+2) | Kinetic Strength: 22kg(+1) | Intelligent Quotient: 42(+1)]
Certainly, the Suction Pads contributed a lot, or else it couldn't grab anything as the other layer part was smooth and slippery. There was some mucus excreted with every action, but Jack eventually got used to it.
"Ohoho! Sephiroth, How did I look?" Jack said with a grin, opening his arms to showcase his forest vines knitting skill.
[I see that you're starting to imitate a tree as a hobby.]
"Hahaha. Though, I wonder if I can acquire something more comfy than these itchy sheets of plants. At Least I'm not running around naked anymore."
[You don't have any private parts to hide though. No need to thank me.]
"As if!"
Dusk started to creep on the horizon. The sky became yellow and Jack didn't know whether he would love to survive the night unprepared with what he had.
"This forest." Jack tightened the sharpened stone's vines on a long wood. "I got another notification telling me that level 200 is recommended for something before we entered this forest. Do you have any clue, Sephiroth?"
[It seems like every living being within this world is valued for their strength and capability in a numerical worth called 'Level'. Not a strange concept to be universally distributed, but it's clear that this world is not a normal one.]
"How about me? Can you tell me what my level is?"
[The universal system quotient on this world hasn't touched you and so I don't have any reference upon the system to determine your Level.]
"Huh, my two cents hope is on the goddess of fortune, then. If a level 1500 is as powerful as that giant worm back in the desert, then level 200 is still genuinely as terrifying."