Chapter 124: Return and Harvest

Following his command, the newborn Queen crawled out of the subterranean chamber, and the massive Anos God-Eagle descended, snatched Kerrigan up, and beat its wings to fly toward the southwest.

Moonchild placed Irene and Lan on the ground, then launched its immense body toward the ceiling of the underground space, transforming into an agent of violent demolition. With its terrifying strength, under Shael’s mental control, it struck various points across the cavern, carving out hole after hole. It excavated and hollowed out the solid rock dome that lay above the underground chamber from all sides, eventually severing its support points. Unable to withstand such colossal forces, the structure collapsed.

Boom!

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of tons of rock and soil came crashing down, utterly burying the original subterranean space. To excavate it now would require an astronomical amount of effort. The entire island shuddered as if struck by a magnitude-six earthquake, leaving the many Spirit Masters who had fled to the coast in a state of bewildered alarm. They could only watch as terrifying tremors erupted from the center of the island, with plumes of dust and smoke rising to shroud the area entirely. It was as if a bottomless black hole had opened up, pulling down rows of tall trees along with the falling stones.

Having destroyed all evidence, Moonchild reverted to its harmless, one-meter-tall form and walked silently to Shael’s side.

Firefly stood on the ground, its formidable mental energy gently soothing the mental trauma Irene and Lan had suffered. They quickly recovered, opening their eyes one after the other.

"Shael, are you alright?" Irene’s first words upon opening her eyes were to him.

"I’m fine. Moonchild displayed its might earlier and took out that horrific monster. Come, we need to head back," he replied with a smile. He turned his head toward the bewildered youth at his side. "Keep this a secret. Can you act as if nothing happened?"

Lan hesitated, but under the influence of a mysterious mental fluctuation, he immediately nodded. "I promise I won’t tell anyone!"

"Good, then it’s time to leave," Shael said with a wave of his hand.

He had the power to keep everyone there, but killing them would not necessarily bury the truth of what had occurred. After all, many knew that these dozen or so students had arrived at the island. If they died and he were the sole survivor, suspicion would increase tenfold. It was better to let everyone return; even if the academy’s higher-ups came to investigate, he could stall for time—collapsing the underground chamber was precisely for this reason.

Once he delayed them for ten days or half a month, he would be far away from Morent. By then, he would be free to soar like a bird, and no one would be able to pin anything on him.

"Hey, where did you guys go?" someone shouted as the three of them reached the agreed-upon shore. The whale-ship was still circling nearby, clearly waiting for them.

"We ran into some terrifying insects and barely made it back, but we finally managed to escape," Shael said with a helpless shrug and a sigh.

"You encountered those bugs too? Did they suddenly retreat for you as well?"

"Yes, you too?"

After boarding the whale-ship, Shael chatted with the people who gathered around, showing no signs of anything amiss from start to finish, as if he had truly just escaped death. This caused Irene and Lan to look at him with rather awkward expressions. However, they naturally said nothing, not even mentioning that Moonchild was a Final-Form entity, merely echoing Shael’s words. In truth, both of them had fallen unconscious the moment they entered the cave and had not witnessed what followed. If they had seen Shael kill the creature, Shael would have had to reconsider how to deal with them.

...

Upon returning to the academy, they were, as expected, subjected to an inquiry. After all, two people had died miserably on that island, which had thoroughly alarmed the academy’s high-ranking officials and spread to the ears of countless students, prompting various self-important Spirit Masters to form groups and head to the island themselves. To a Spirit Master, unknown creatures were the most precious wealth, providing more diverse evolutionary paths and richer inheritance factor maps, allowing them to possess even more powerful totems.

As a powerful Enforcer who had completed dozens of missions, Shael was released after submitting his account of the events on the deserted island.

At night, he sat on the rooftop, gazing up at the vast night sky. A moon hung in the celestial dome, larger than the one on Water Blue Star, with its high peaks and deep valleys faintly visible. The bright, clear moonlight spilled down. Firefly lay across his lap, its fur glowing with a soft, iridescent sheen, as if dusted with fluorescent powder. Wisps of moonlight converged upon its body, making it look like a mythical spirit from the legends of the Middle Kingdom, coming out to feed on lunar essence every night.

"It’s a pity it cannot shapeshift..." Shael felt a cool, warm energy feedback from its body, flowing through his own and slowly strengthening his physical constitution.

With Firefly’s completion of its Final Evolution, the greatest benefit he gained was a massive surge in his mental strength.

"Shael Mesterlin: Spirit 13.5, Strength 1.8, Constitution 2.9, Agility 1.9."

Without practicing martial arts or consuming supplements, 1.0 was the upper limit for an ordinary person. There was no doubt about this; even a General-level martial artist barely approached 3.0, as that was the human limit. Anything beyond 3.0 represented an completed evolution, a breaking of the original shackles. Until now, only Spirit Masters could achieve this through the feedback of spirit arts and totem power. Of course, there was also the emerging profession of "Evolutionary Warriors," who could fundamentally alter the fragile human body, gaining the qualification for infinite evolution.

"It’s time to start making myself stronger as well. I’ll find a way to get my hands on evolution reagents; even if I don't use them myself, I can use them for research," Shael mused.

For him, it was difficult for Firefly, his primary totem, to achieve "Super-Evolution," so he could not simply sit and wait. While collecting the rare resources needed for its super-evolution, he would use the opportunity to complete his own evolution, perhaps even walking a path where brute force crushed everything. Though he didn't particularly enjoy savage hand-to-hand combat, he would not hesitate to roll up his sleeves and face anyone head-on when left with no other choice.

Next, he tallied his gains. The greatest harvest was undoubtedly the Evolution Points; this trip to the deserted island had netted him 1,350 points, far exceeding all his previous gains. He had never expected such a massive insect nest to exist there. Speaking of which, he had that fellow Clark to thank. He didn't know what exorbitant price the man had paid or how many years of secret effort had gone into accumulating that wealth, but in the end, it had all been snatched away by him.

The explosion of Evolution Points had allowed him to boost his spirit attribute recklessly and had enabled three of his totems to achieve Final Evolution!

"Now, at last, I am qualified to intervene in that matter!"