Ren had begun to glow, but it wasn’t the normal glow of a tamer. The lines of light coursing through his body seemed to respond to the Qilin’s pressure, as if something inside him recognized the power.
And then it appeared.
The tiny mushroom manifested atop Ren’s head, its large eyes observing Victor with what seemed like... hunger?
The expression was so unexpected on its chubby, childlike face that for a moment no one quite knew how to react.
The adults froze in place. The creature was absurd with its round cheeks and tiny arms, but there was something about it that didn’t match any known beast. A quality that defied classification.
The spore evolution they knew was different, much larger and thinner. This was something else entirely.
But then something even stranger occurred.
The energy flooding the room began to swirl, as if drawn to an invisible point. The lines of light in Ren’s body pulsed with ancient power.
The director and Julius also felt their beasts resonate involuntarily, the phoenix and the Qilin responding to the pressure of power far older than themselves.
The tiny creature opened its chubby mouth and... began to absorb.
Victor’s Qilin’s power, instead of pressing outward, started flowing toward the mushroom like water into a drain. The intimidating energy transformed as it was consumed, becoming purer, closer to the Qilin’s true nature: benevolence, wisdom, compassion.
The director’s phoenix resonated as well, its energy of regeneration and life being absorbed and purified until only its essence remained.
For a brief instant, in Victor’s eyes, the small mushroom seemed to grow, becoming majestic and enormous, like an existence that had witnessed the birth of the world itself. Ancient wisdom peered through those oversized eyes.
The prince stepped back, his eyes widening in surprise when his beast reacted not with aggression but with... reverence?
The lines in Ren’s body glowed more intensely as new energies flowed through his system. He could feel the changes: 10% more in fire control and regeneration, courtesy of the phoenix. Also 10% in earth control and vitality from the qilin.
Two slight improvements and two that, curiously, he couldn’t use... yet.
The mushroom, satisfied with its feast of power, opened its mouth again... but Ren felt that now it was to speak.
Ren, snapping out of his amazement, rushed to cover its mouth with his hand.
"Mmph!" the creature protested, its cheeks puffing up adorably, as if it hadn’t just defied every known law about beasts and mana control.
The adults observed in silence, their minds struggling to process what they had just witnessed. Victor especially seemed to be fighting between indignation and a strange sensation of respect he couldn’t explain.
"What... what just happened?" Wei finally managed to ask.
Victor took another step back. "What in hell is that?"
"Nothing," Ren responded quickly while wrestling with his mushroom. "Just my spore... My... first beast?"
"Another new beast path..." Wei muttered, his face pale. "And I could swear it looked like it was going to speak... I must be delirious... yes, delirious..."
"It wasn’t going to speak," Ren lied blatantly while the mushroom continued struggling against his hand.
Fortunately, everyone was so distracted by his beast that no one noticed the lie in his eyes.
Ren smiled nervously while keeping his mushroom’s mouth firmly closed.
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Julius leaned forward, fascinated. "That’s not a normal beast."
"Definitely not a spore anymore," Zhao added.
"It’s just a new cultivation path for the mushroom," Ren insisted. "A very normal and common mushroom that doesn’t..."
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