A Strange Shape
The sun was about to rise.
A blanket of morning light shone deep into the valley, which was filled with great mountains and thick. lush forest.
A misty, white fog enveloped the entire valley, just like it always did.
It was like thin muslin or a veil.
Witnessed from afar, it looked like paradise.
The fog was thickest at a small lake in the middle of the valley.
A gigantic bamboo plant with many branches stood next to the small lake. It was waving about continuously between the sky and earth, much like a frenzied dance of demons and monsters.
By the time the fog had spread from the small lake, Lin Ming had already given his surroundings a good look.
The battle last night with the beasts and insects had him emerging with the ultimate victory.
The insect wave had been completely obliterated while only a minor portion of the beast wave was killed. After he had taken about a dozen animals captive, the rest fled in fear.
The carcasses of the insects, fish, shrimp, crabs, and some of the dead animals' broken limbs covered most of the ground around Lin Ming. He was the one who had the last laugh in this fight for life or death.
The powerful win and the weak are eliminated. Lin Ming was even more convinced about how important it was to be powerful after experiencing this.
This was the law of nature, which was a law that also suited the Reawakening of the Spiritual Aura.
Surviving was the most basic goal.
Becoming powerful was the only way to ensure never being defeated.
He collected his thoughts and looked around. The nearby terrain had completely transformed after the huge battle.
The small lake was originally long and narrow. In the process of Lin Ming swatting the mutated insects, he had destroyed one side of the lakeshore. The breach had allowed lake water to flow into the new crevices, gradually encroaching into lower ground and forming the lake as a huge oval shape.
The same thing was happening on the other side, which looked almost identical.
In comparison to the original elongated shape of the lake, the entire lake now looked quite odd.
Hmm… the lake's shape was now quite difficult to admire.
Lin Ming intentionally stopped thinking about that as he continued to look around.
Besides the lake, other areas looked like an explosion had occurred there as well. Every corner was filled with gigantic fallen trees, pulled-out weeds and numerous stones.
The ground had been dyed a deep yellow and green by the fluids of the dead insects, which looked quite terrible.
Lin Ming considered giving the nearby locations a complete makeover.
Before that, however, he would need to inspect the results of the fight.
He decided to ignore the creatures trapped in his cage for now, and check his Evolution Points first.
He quietly summoned the personalized dashboard and a new notification appeared in front of him.
[Lineage: Mutated Moso Bamboo]
[Evolution Points: 3749]
[Stage: Rank-1 Grade-7]
[Abilities: Level-2 Razor Leaves (300 daggers). 100-meter Effective Range, 30 Damage (evolvable), 200-meters/second Attack Speed (evolvable), can be deployed at the same time, can deal either single-target damage or AoE damage. Level-2 Mutated Bamboo Whips (100 whips). 20-meter Effective Range, 100 Damage (evolvable), wherever the whip points will become barren! Spiritual Fluid: Boosts the evolution speed of dependents.]
[Learnable skills:
Ultimate Regeneration: Able to recover completely even when severely injured. Evolution Points required: 1000
Aura Concealment: Hides own spiritual aura and blocks aura detection. Evolution Points required: 2000]
To be honest, Lin Ming was a little surprised.
He had killed so many insects and yet gained only about three thousand and seven hundred Evolution Points. Lin Ming felt his work did not match his 'reward'.
If he had gained so much before evolving, would that mean he would not be far from invincibility?
Though on second thought, if he attacked so many insects and beasts pre-evolution, there was no way he would be able to sustain it for even a second.
Either way, he could now use the Evolution Points to learn both skills together. It was all coming together.
He moved his consciousness, and the System reacted quickly in response.
[Consumed 1000 Evolution Points, you have learned the Ability: Ultimate Regeneration, Novice-Grade Level-1]
[Consumed 2000 Evolution Points, you have learned the Ability: Aura Concealment: Novice-Grade Level-1]
Lin Ming looked at his List of Abilities. These two new skills he just obtained stood out from the rest.
He was quite happy about this. At least he could have basic protection in the future if he had to go through a wretched development process.
As for his two skills, he did not want to try them out now. He planned to use them at a later time.
"The next step should be to…"
Lin Ming looked around him, trying to locate Adorable Little Snake and the wolf pups.
Their performances in the battle had been outstanding. To be honest, Lin Ming did not have high expectations of them at first. After all, with the sheer number of insects and beasts, it would be quite a risk for them to rush into battle with their current abilities.
However, the Adorable Little Snake and the wolf pups had destroyed their fair share of insects and beasts. Not only did they exceed his expectations, but they had also grown up delightfully!
After searching for a while, Lin Ming finally found Adorable Little Snake. However, when he spotted it, he was slightly doubtful if it was the same snake he knew.
It was lying down on the rock next to the lake that Lin Ming had almost completely covered with marks. Its body had also grown a few times bigger than its normal frame as a 'little snake'!
It was now as thick as a human's arm and close to 1.5 meters long. It looked like it had just eaten, and was now curled up comfortably. The patch of green beneath its silver-white skin near its eyes had suddenly grown to ten centimeters and looked quite pretty.
Adorable Little Snake's body now looked completely different from before. He thought back to the time he had compared it to the size of an earthworm.
He checked its personalized dashboard. Lin Ming was sure that the little guy's level had evolved, which was why there was such a big physical change.
[Lineage: Albino Bamboo Viper]
[Stage: Unranked Grade-5]
[Ability: Lethal Venom Level-3. Fangs can instantly kill opponents ten times larger than oneself.]
[Special Ability: Charm Fragrance Level-3. The body will emit a wonderful fragrance that can incapacitate enemies, currently has a good grasp of control and can use it as an aid for hunting.]
The Adorable Little Snake has now grown from Unranked Grade-1 to Unranked Grade-5. The increase was quite a nice surprise.
Its Ability and Special Ability had grown quite a bit too.
It looked like the Adorable Little Snake could really hold its own now.
He turned to look at the wolf pups, though it was almost like looking at other animals entirely. They were drinking water by the lakeshore, and he could see that their size and physical appearance had also drastically changed.
The pups' bodies were no longer 'normal'. Before the battle, they were the size of and practically the same as normal wolves, besides slightly longer fangs.
However, they were now the size of claves. Their long fur was smooth and shiny, and each had sharp fangs adorning an array of other pointed teeth. It was as if they had daggers in their mouths, and the fangs were short swords.
Lin Ming felt like if they had joined the chaos last night in their new bodies, these seven pups — no, seven wolves now — would be the strongest fighters in the battle.
Their personalized dashboard seemed to confirm this as well.
[Lineage: Wild Forest Wolf]
[Stage: Unranked Grade-8]
[Abilities: Diamond Fangs Level-7. Their toughness can crush rocks with just a bite. Howl Level-5: Able to call out companions a few kilometers away. Its sound is capable of rupturing eardrums and destroying an enemy's senses.]
[Special Ability: Wolves of Septenary Level-7. When operating jointly with companions, combat effectiveness is increased by 70%.]
Unranked Grade-8. If that was the case, they should be able to upgrade to Rank-1 soon with a little bit more additional nurturing.
Lin Ming felt glad. It looked like his dependents were all coming into their own abilities and power.
He looked at the animals and birds he had captured struggling in vain within the bamboo branch cage. Lin Ming had a new plan for them, now.