Chapter 415: Leap of Faith (2)

A golden electrical jolt surged through the small bipedal reptilian figure's thin and wrinkly frame, causing Thuk's muscles to spasm for a while. His small figure trembled and shook uncontrollably for a few seconds, as the golden bolts of lightning traversed inside and even outside on him.

As the seconds passed, the coursing energy only increased in volume instead of calming down, the brewing storm inside his lackluster core overloaded, causing its thin crystal walls to no longer be able to withhold all of it. 

His dark, green, wrinkled skin slowly began to glow, radiating the underlying massive torrent of the golden sea, before, in a few more seconds, his entire small frame was surrounded by a thin film of energy. 

The layer of protective energy took the shape of an egg, roughly the size of the elder's height. The cocoon continued to rhythmically thump and send out a wave of its overloading energy.

Time passed on with great silence as everyone was keenly focused on the glowing golden egg as it kept pulsing. Life was being reformed inside of it. Apart from Aiden, Lily, and Galina, nobody knew what was exactly going on, but for the royal siblings, their doubts and concerns were slowly wafted away. As Drake kept his gaze shifting between the black-haired boy who held countless mysteries inside him or the strange glowing egg, he was slowly starting to accept his decision and cast away the last lingering clouds of his past doubt. 

Whatever happens from now on, he knew he was destined to experience it at the side of this strange, enigmatic friend of his. He was keenly aware that after witnessing these secrets he was showing to them, going their separate ways would no longer be possible. 

Not that it mattered as without this strange band of misfits they now proudly call a team, Drake and even Scarlet were certain, they would never be able to see their lost brothers ever.

Whilst the crowd was fully focused on the grand spectacle outside, inside the thin layer or energy shell, the initial stages of the evolution were slowly coming to completion.

The previously battered, tired, and weary old frame of Thuk, the variant Chameleon species of the Skinks was fully melted, together with his pathetic small old core of his, leaving nothing behind but a swirling mass of fluids. The ball of viscous vibrant liquid continued to rapidly whirl and twist in its place, at the center of the egg, before even more golden strands of energy began to fully fill the space in the cocoon. The roaring, tumultuous amount of [Soul Power] swiftly filled up the remaining space. Steadily, minuscule amounts of the almost endless sea of this higher tier of power mixed together with Thuk's globe of life energy, causing its color to gradually change.

From the original dark green-colored liquid with the golden seed at its center, it gradually began to brighten as it took an orange hue.

Seconds formed minutes as the transition seemed to come to an end. The last bits of the filling golden spiritual sea vanished into the ball of the essence, there was an obvious and clear change from its initial state.

The dark green was now glowing with an orange luster, the small, golden grain-sized seedling was now the size of an almond at its core. Also, the whole ball had a solid substance, dropping its previous hazy outline to something thicker… denser.

As the first phase came to a conclusion, Aiden was jolted to a surprise when suddenly he heard the bell sound in his mind. 

Focusing his attention, he saw the so far unchecked 'Activities tab flash, grabbing his attention immediately. As he selected the tab, the new interface of logs and as it turned out,  Quests sub-option revealed itself for the first time. Although the strange third tab, the 'Assignments' was something Aiden had no idea what it could have been, he had no time to check.

His newly accepted family member, Thuk was still in the process of completing his evolution, and besides, his attention was frozen on the shocking, never-before-seen display of messages that kept rolling down on a seemingly endless list.

*Ding!*

[ Status | Lab | Domain |  *Activities* ]

[ *Message Log* | Quests | Assignments ]

[——————————————————————]

[Minion Evolution Stage 1…. Complete!]

[Core has been reformed and restored to Prime State.]

[Searching database for Skin's Evolutionary Tree…]

[Processing results… Candidate found.]

[Initiating Stage 2… Evolution Target: Lesser Primal Saurling]

Skimming through the messages, Aiden was stunned. Are these messages that he could now see, also an effect of the latest upgrade? Just how many areas did this whole downtime affect? Were these steps also taken when Roas, Gob, Glohn or Galina took their evolution? Was it similar to the case of Galina's second 'awakening'?

Also, it seemed (at least based on the name in the system) that whatever form Thuk was going to take, it will have little to do with his origins.

'Lesser Primal Saurling? Just what is that?' Aiden muttered inwardly, his eyes not leaving the twitching eggshell in front of him. As the minutes continued to pass, the twitching and occasional spasms kept on repeating. 

Just from the name alone, Aiden could guess that, like with the others, Thuk's selected evolution also wasn't normal. If he were to gather the necessary energy and fill up his core himself, most likely he wouldn't be stepping on this ancient and forgotten path. The system altered its path and with it, forever changing his destiny by mixing Thuk's life essences with the much more potent, Primal energies. 

Taking a peek at the calm-looking and smiling Galina, Aiden was certain that once more, his own energies created yet another miracle and brought back a race that shouldn't be walking on today's Eora at all.

Still, this fact, this result only caused a smile to slowly creep up on his face. Dismissing the system screen from his vision, his eyes wandered back on the cocoon in front of him. From the increasing volume of the twitches and growing violence in the shell's trembling, he and the others were looking with an even greater focus on finishing the evolution and to see what or who exactly would emerge from its depths.

Back inside the egg, the ball of energy was no longer rounded but was slowly morphing its shape twisting. Four distinct tendrils shot forth from its mass, slowly gaining more and more lab, and turning into the shape and form of 2 pairs of appendages.

The transformation continued on, a few seconds later another tendril shot forth, this time alone, without a pair, gaining a bit more weight whilst small serrated protrusions began to form at its back, turning it into the shape of a tail.

As time kept passing relentlessly, so did the shape of something unique, something that only the most precious, priceless artifact-level history books might entail.

As the transformation finalized, so did Aiden's Message Log revealed yet another update, signaling that the second stage of Thuk's evolution has finished as that his newest member of the Voragon family was about to emerge.

*Ding!*

[ Status | Lab | Domain |  *Activities* ]

[ *Message Log* | Quests | Assignments ]

[——————————————————————]

[Minion Evolution Stage 2…. Complete!]

[Minion Evolution Complete… Resuscitating Subject…]

[Initiating Emergence Protocol…]