Ding!
[Starting bodily evolution process…]
[Leveling up all bodily enhancements…]
Ding!
[Please choose your familiar's bodily evolution enhancement:]
『 Enhancements: 』
[(Reinforced Jaw): Reinforces the teeth, as well as the bony and muscular parts of the jaw, thus enhancing the bite.]
[(Ice Fangs): Bites now inject freezing energy.]
[(Ice Blessing): Strengthens ice affinity and powers, as well as enhances skin/fur resistance with ice properties.]
"All the enhancements shown are very good," analyzed Alexander. "The best for Ocean, without a doubt, is (Ice Blessing)."
When Ocean's evolution truly began, Alexander deactivated his transformation, broke the ice dome, and went to Diana's side to give Ocean more space, who began to radiate a blue light.
Less than 1 minute after the evolution began, the light's color turned red, the glow intensified, and the temperature began to drop.
The reddish hue didn’t last long, as it soon took on an icy bluish hue.
Once the light changed color, Ocean began to grow.
After about 10 minutes, her body, which was considerably larger than before, stopped growing. This wasn't the end of her evolution.
The moment Ocean's body stopped growing, the glow around her intensified and the light changed color once again.
This time to a beautiful crystalline greenish hue, like that of a Paraíba Tourmaline.
As soon as the light changed color, Alexander began receiving several important notifications among the common ones—which he had been ignoring.
Ding!
[Your familiar's enhancement (Poisonous Body II) generated the enhancements: (Poison Resistance) and (Freezing Poison)]
Ding!
[Due to modification in your familiar's bodily structure, the enhancement (Frozen Water Heart II) was modified to (Thawing Heart II)]
Ding!
[Due to the enhancement (Blessing of the Waters III), (Ice Blessing) was enhanced to (True-Ice Blessing)]
Alexander had no idea—and never expected—the enhancements to interact this well.
Discovering this left him extremely excited.
Even enthused, he remained focused on Ocean's evolution.
Ocean's evolution took a little over 15 minutes, but the changes it caused were profound.
As the light enveloping her diminished, her new appearance was revealed—and it was beautiful.
She grew to 1.6 m at the shoulder, and almost 2.3 m long, not including her tail. Her fur became greenish, like a Paraíba Tourmaline.
Her changes weren't limited to increasing her beauty. Her physique also became much more robust and intimidating—which contrasted greatly with the friendly and intelligent look she directed at Alexander and Diana.
"She's beautiful," praised Diana, completely dazzled.
"Yes. Even I was a bit surprised," confessed Alexander. "But it's not over yet."
Alexander approached Ocean, petted her head, and explained his idea: "I can make you even stronger, girl. But—since this will cause you pain—the choice is yours."
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"Woooolf," replied Ocean, agreeing without any hesitation.
Alexander knew it would be like this. He understood the intensity of her desire to become stronger.
His question was practically a warning for her to prepare herself.
With Ocean prepared, Alexander stepped back a bit and spent his last 4 points to enhance her even more.
Ding!
[You gifted the familiar {Ocean} with the enhancement (Dual Core)]
[You gifted the familiar {Ocean} with the enhancement (Growing Energy)]
The moment Ocean received the enhancements, her body collapsed and began to have spasms.
Seeing her fall, Diana tried to help her, but Alexander prevented her. "I understand your intentions, but 'helping her' could interfere with the process—which could kill her."
Alexander still tried to comfort Diana by saying everything was fine, and that Ocean was strong, but he could still see her biting her lip in frustration.
Her frustration only worsened when Ocean began to whimper softly in pain.
Alexander couldn't say how long the process took to finish—as he was completely focused on Ocean—but as soon as it ended, Ocean stopped having spasms and got up with a bit of difficulty.
"You did very well, girl," praised Alexander while petting Ocean's head. "Now let's sleep. You need to rest."
Aware of Ocean's condition, Alexander wanted to provide her with the best possible sleep.
For that, he spread a thick 2nd evolution bear skin on the ground, to block the moisture, and placed a large bed on the skin.
Sensing Alexander's intention, Ocean affectionately rubbed her face against him and climbed onto the bed to lie down.
The bed, in turn, groaned in protest, because Ocean was easily weighing over 500 kg at that moment, but it still didn't break.
With Ocean nestled in bed, Alexander turned to Diana and said: "The bed probably won't support the addition of my weight, but it should support yours."
Diana hesitated a bit, but ended up accepting the offer and went to sleep beside Ocean in the bed.
As Alexander had predicted, the bed protested again, but didn’t break.
With both lying down, Alexander lay beside the bed on the bear skin and took the chance to check Ocean's status. But he was startled, because her status had become monstrous.
『 1st Familiar 』
Name: Ocean ♀
Species: Magical Beast
Race: Ice Wolf
Level: 25/45
Condition: Worn Out
HP: 378/487
Stamina: 129/319
Mana: 169/308
[Proficiency Skills]:
|Ambush (Advanced)| … |Teamwork (Advanced)| … |Run (Peak)| … |Claw Attack (Peak)| … |Bite (Peak)| … |Magical Refinement (Beginner)| … |Energy Refinement (Beginner)|
[Enhancements]:
(Alpha Body III)… (Blessing of the Waters III)… (Magical Boost II)… (Thawing Heart II)… (Bodily Harmony II)… (Bodily Development II)… (Poisonous Body II)… (True-Ice Blessing)… (Poison Resistance)… (Freezing Poison)… (Dual Core)… (Growing Energy)
[Titles]:
||Dungeon Conqueror||
Ocean's evolution was carefully chosen by Alexander based on a tripod of solid advantages:
1st: A very significant increase in her bodily resistance.
2nd: The possibility for Alexander to correct the biggest flaw of this evolution, thanks to the |Gift| skill.
3rd: The evolutionary line it unlocked.
The very significant increase in bodily resistance occurred because the {Ice Wolf} race was very special—basically the opposite of {Goblin Shaman}.
In other words, while their nature is inherently magical, their development focuses more on the energetic and bodily path.
The second advantage was even easier to understand: the {Ice Wolf} race almost doesn't develop magical skills, as it is geared more towards the energy path—and Alexander could correct this flaw with his |Gift| skill.
However, the most decisive point for Alexander choosing this race was the evolution it unlocked.
The natural evolution of an {Ice Wolf} is the {Frost Wolf}. But, in some cases, when the {Ice Wolf} is quite powerful, a rare and powerful evolution—with a self-explanatory name—is unlocked: the {Killer Frost Wolf}.
He was meticulous in planning Ocean's evolution, and his attention didn’t stop there. He was always thinking of ways to make her stronger.
Alexander didn’t give Ocean the entire {Tree of Good Fortune}, because he was afraid he wouldn't have time to get more growth points, to share more of his enhancements with her—in case she reached the evolution level at that moment due to the XP gain.
Despite so much pragmatism and care, Alexander only wanted to give Ocean the best evolution. He never expected to create an aberration.
Ocean’s growth became downright monstrous.
At some point, she even obtained the title ||Dungeon Conqueror|| without him noticing.
"Her growth is almost immoral. Some of the enhancements I gave her now became stronger than mine," thought Alexander. "If this continues, I'll be surpassed by her in our 3rd evolution."
With this perspective in mind, Alexander estimated his chances of defeating Ocean.
To his surprise, his chance of victory didn't exceed 70%—armed.
After a long and deep sigh, Alexander reaffirmed his conviction in his thoughts. "It seems my choice was right. If I don't opt for that 3rd evolution, I'll end up falling behind."
Alexander wasn’t being paranoid—70% was already a conservative estimate.
He couldn't visualize the attributes, special skills, and who knows what else Ocean had acquired.
Not wanting to prolong it further—as he was also tired—Alexander used |Appraise| on Ocean's new enhancements and skills.
Upon looking at Ocean's proficiency skills, he discovered that his skills had been adjusted for her—as the description of the |Gift| skill says—and transformed into |Magical Refinement| and |Energy Refinement|.
[(True-Ice Blessing): Strengthens ice affinity and powers, as well as enhances skin/fur resistance with the properties of True-Ice. True-Ice is ice that does not fear fire, thus nullifying vulnerabilities to fire and heat—transforming it into something extremely durable.]
[(Thawing Heart): Allows altering any ice elemental spell to its water equivalent when casting it. Limit: The Tier must be equal to or lower than this enhancement.]
[(Freezing Poison): Creates a gland that produces freezing poison, as well as the channels to secrete it through claws and fangs.]
[|Magical Refinement|: Enables improving, refining, and strengthening your magical skills. Cost: Mana. But the amount depends on the modification.]
[|Energy Refinement|: Enables improving, refining, and strengthening your energetic skills. Cost: Energy. But the amount depends on the modification.]
Alexander was surprised by the (True-Ice Blessing) enhancement.
He already expected most of that description, because he had done research on this evolution, and seen a brief introduction during Ocean's evolution. But the part about nullifying vulnerability to fire and heat was new.
"It must be because of the mutation she underwent," conjectured Alexander, who couldn't be more satisfied with this situation. "Fortunately that happened. It's one less vulnerability we have to worry about."
Happy with the discovery, Alexander covered himself with a soft pelt and went to sleep.
