Chapter 60 Snow Cake’s Transformation

Chapter 60: Chapter 59: Snow Cake’s Transformation

Han Ning panted, exiting his fully transformed state. In just over ten seconds of combat, more than half of his Spiritual Power had evaporated. His clothes had completely burst apart. Using the fog as cover, he picked up the backpack he had dropped nearby and changed into a fresh set of clothes.

"I need to use this full-power state at my discretion from now on," Han Ning said, wiping the water from his forehead. Going all out felt great, but the toll it took was immense.

A cluster of pure blue Energy flew out from the dead Tuna and drilled into his body. Instantly, a surging warm current swept through him. This was the first time he had experienced over two hundred points of Energy pouring into his body all at once.

"Ugh..." His entire body felt as if it were soaking in a hot spring. It was more exhilarating than soaring through the sky.

[Druid growth progress +225] (Current Level 5, 226/2000)

[Mental Power +0.2] (Mental Power: 2.2)

With the death of the Coral Monster, the surrounding battlefield became even more chaotic. Having lost its terrifying mental suppression, some of the remaining monsters seemed to awaken suddenly, fleeing the waters in a panic. However, many more maintained their frenzied state, fearlessly lunging at the Awakened squad.

"Hold the line! Don’t let them scatter our formation!" a burly man in a camouflage vest roared, commanding the remaining Awakened to fight back with all their might.

Han Ning glanced at the grueling battle. With fewer monsters, the group could barely hold off the swarm. Satisfied, his attention returned to the Coral Monster beneath him. He had already absorbed the Energy of the Tuna. Now that the Coral Monster’s main body was dead, why hadn’t any Energy scattered from it?

"Could it be... it’s not completely dead?" he muttered, recalling his first encounter with the Mirage Insect.

The moment this thought surfaced...

CRACK... CRACK!

Several fine cracks suddenly burst open on the surface of the scorched Coral remains, and a faint tri-colored halo radiated through the fissures.

Han Ning’s gaze sharpened. He whipped out a vine and flipped through the debris.

RUMBLE~

A Crystal Stone about the size of a baby’s fist rolled out. It was an irregular sphere, its surface covered in dense, fine cracks. Its exterior was wrapped in a jelly-like substance, and at its core was a flickering cluster of tri-colored light. Although it had been scorched by the high temperatures of Han Ning’s Hot Breath, leaving its surface slightly blackened, the interior suffered no major damage.

With the appearance of the Crystal Stone...

"HOWL! HOWL!"

His companion, snow cake, who had been guarding by his side, became inexplicably agitated and continuously paddled around Han Ning.

"AWOO!"

As it swam, its yellow slit pupils locked onto the tri-colored crystal. An intense craving was transmitted through their Soul Contract, as if the crystal possessed a fatal attraction to it.

"You want to eat this?" Han Ning asked, looking at snow cake’s uncharacteristically urgent demeanor, and curled his vine around the Crystal Stone.

"AWOO! AWOO!" the frantic snow cake responded.

Han Ning pondered for a moment. This crystal was likely the condensed core essence of that Coral Monster. Since snow cake was his Animal Companion, if it devoured the crystal, the majority of the Energy essence would ultimately feed back to him through their contract. Given snow cake’s intense craving, perhaps eating it could bring about some extraordinary changes?

"Alright."

He controlled the vine and tossed it into snow cake’s wide-open mouth.

In a flash, snow cake swung its neck and caught the flying crystal in its jaws. The Crystal Stone, flickering with its tri-colored halo, disappeared into its mouth. Visible gulps showed as snow cake’s throat bobbed, swallowing the tri-colored Crystal Stone down into its stomach.

The next second, a sudden mutation occurred.

"AWOO, AWOOOOOO!"

Having swallowed the Crystal Stone, snow cake’s eyes glazed over. Its mouth opened wide as it began to let out unceasing, miserable howls. Its formerly energetic body suddenly stiffened like a rat that had eaten poison, and it collapsed into the water with a heavy SPLASH.

Seeing this, Han Ning couldn’t help but take a step forward, thinking something terrible had happened to snow cake. However, judging from their Soul Link, the guy’s life force was still extremely vigorous.

"AWOO!"

After plunging into the stagnant water, snow cake’s body began to convulse violently. Blinding blue, purple, and red light burst forth from the gaps in its grayish-white scales. The light pierced through its flesh and bones, even illuminating the churning white mist around them with a bizarre, kaleidoscopic glow.

"GURGLE GURGLE..."

Struggling in the mud, snow cake’s eyes lost their focus, and thick streams of saliva poured from the corners of its mouth. Its robust limbs flailed unconsciously, churning the muddy water.

"%...#￥...! ROAR! ROAR!"

After the halo spread across snow cake’s entire body, Han Ning acutely sensed an endless stream of destructive, tyrannical emotions emanating from the depths of snow cake’s soul. That brutal aura belonging to the Black Tide was affecting snow cake once again!

Mixed within the tyrannical emotions was a trace of an insatiable thirst for life. It was like a carp desperately yearning to leap over the dragon gate and transform into a dragon.

Clearly, the Crystal Stone contained the aura of the Black Tide.

Understanding the situation, Han Ning immediately activated Natural Blessing. Under the empowerment of the Earth’s blessing, a rich emerald-green light diffused from his palms, enveloping snow cake.

HISS HISS HISS!

At a visible rate, snow cake’s scales lost their luster, becoming scorched and curled. Large swaths peeled off its body, revealing the bright red flesh underneath. When the turbid floodwater touched these exposed wounds, it was like drops hitting a red-hot iron, steaming up large clouds of white mist. Wisps of black gas, barely visible to the naked eye, mixed into the white mist and scattered outward.

Under the continuous Purification and nourishment of the Natural Blessing, the tyrannical emotions deep within snow cake’s brain were gradually dispelled.

"WOAR!"

Suddenly, snow cake’s shriek rose in pitch, morphing into a deep, resonant roar that Han Ning had never heard before. Its flesh and blood continuously tore apart and reconstructed.

Finally, the speed at which its scales peeled away began to slow down.

Over its bare flesh, a white layer of keratin with a warm, pearlescent glow began to grow. This newborn skin rapidly hardened, soon transforming into closely arranged, pure-white Scale Armor as fine as porcelain. The new scales were smaller and smoother than the old ones, with a faint tri-colored fluorescence flowing along their edges.

Its snout shortened slightly, the contours turning sharp and robust. Right in the center of its brow, a Tri-Colored Crystal Scale no larger than a fingernail appeared. This scale formed a perfect diamond shape, appearing as though it had been meticulously cut from the purest of gems.

"HOWL..."

A low shriek rang out, carrying the metallic texture of grating iron.

With effort, snow cake supported its body and slowly stood up from beneath the murky water. Water droplets slid down its porcelain-white frame, revealing the newborn Scale Armor covering its entire body.

Right now, snow cake’s shoulder height approached 1.5 meters, and its body length was just over 4 meters. Its overall height sloped downward gradually from head to tail, exuding a profound sense of power throughout. Its limbs had grown thicker and longer than before, and the tips of its five claws glinted with a chilling, cold light. A row of fine, serrated bone spikes protruded from its long, narrow tail, allowing it to swish nimbly through the water like a white bone whip.

The Tri-Colored Crystal Scale on its brow flickered with light in time with snow cake’s breathing. Its eyes had transformed into a peculiar state akin to glazed Crystal. They remained predominantly brass-colored overall, but around the edges of the pupils, an almost imperceptible layer of intertwined purple, red, and blue lines had emerged.

A faint, oppressive Spirit scattered from its body.