Beast-Tamer: Limitless Evolution
Chapter 78: Introspection

Chapter 78: Introspection

Introspection

The following week was spent helping Osho rehabilitate.

While he was stronger than your average human, being unconscious for 2 weeks and being totally still for that duration would still mess him up a bit. As such, he underwent several exercises over the course of a week to get his bodily functions back under control. He and Gale.

The bird had an easier time, though, so it was mostly just Osho.

It was a bit weird, though. He was still within the military base, so more often than not, he encountered the soldiers residing there, and they were quite respectful to him despite his age. It was a given, considering what he’d done, but it was still weird watching people quite a bit older than you act like you were their senior.

Other than rehabilitation, though, Osho spent quite a bit of time experimenting with his ability. How? Well, after some closer inspection, he realized that the change wasn’t just him being able to know the names of the items he needed, and for him to see the ribbons without touching the beast.

He also knew why he did certain things now.

He’d requested that someone bring over the box of ingredients he wanted to use and evolve Sugil, and when he began mixing up what would end up being a single Vial of purple liquid that glittered like gems in the light, he actually understood the logic behind his tasks.

For instance, a step of the process required him to melt a stone with an extremely low melting point before pouring it into a liquid that was also a part of the process. As he did so, he became aware of the reason. Apparently, the liquid was meant to activate the molecules and Mana within the stone and cause a certain reaction, changing the two into something else, but it couldn’t do that if the stone was still a solid and the reaction would only progress halfway before failing. It was only through melting the stone that the molecules and Mana would be able to react accordingly to achieve the desired result.

This also caused Osho to start studying the ingredients he used more. Usually, he’d just get a brief understanding of their background before using them the way his ability instructed, but now that he started getting a proper understanding for how the mixing of ingredients worked, his interest was piqued, and he found himself researching a lot of materials whenever he walked past a beast and understood the items needed to evolve it.

From the point of view of the others, it looked like Osho was spending every bit of his free time outside rehabilitation to study and further his knowledge on various items related to beasts, causing their image of him to become even more favorable.

By the end of the week, Osho’s rehabilitation had been completed, and as soon as it was, he was informed that he wouldn’t be returning to his apartment.

The sudden change miffed him more than a bit, but when they explained their reasoning, he understood.

They were being cautious.

If the Harbinger was as artificial as they suspected, then Osho coming in to stop it from destroying the Citadel more than likely threw a wrench in the plans of whoever did this, so he was probably seen as a threat. Hence, they were going to keep him under strict supervision until he was taken away to college.

This information made Osho ponder quite a bit on the entire situation, with the fight causing the most introspection.

’I was lucky.’ He thought as he meditated. He’d gotten a higher form of the meditation techniques he already used, and he was cultivating dutifully at the moment.

’Gale managed to outclass the Harbinger. Actually, that’s wrong. The only reason things turned out favorably was because of just how advantageous the match-up was for Gale. Not only does Gale possess a bloodline that suppressed that thing so thoroughly, but he also has an affinity that was almost a direct counter to what the Harbinger had. Especially the part with the lightning and how storm magic technically falls under sky magic as well. The only area where they were truly unequal was speed in short, it was just a very, very advantageous match-up for Gale, and I doubt he could try the same thing against any other beast of such a high level. Acting as a distraction like I originally intended is probably possible against other beasts that strong, but anything other than that wouldn’t be smart.’ Osho acknowledged as he thought back on the fight.

When he sent Gale out to confront the Harbinger away and buy time, allowing him to engage it wasn’t a part of the plan. He only granted the request because Gale was genuinely confident and he trusted him. If it were with any other creature of such a level, it would be an instant no.

Osho was inclined to have this introspection because he didn’t want to start feeling as though he could confront Elite rank beasts left and right just for the fun of it.

’Heck, any of the Expert rank Beast Tamers within the Citadel would be more dangerous to me than that thing. Because in the end, it’s just a beast without a Tamer to lead it. Sure, it was smart, but it pretty easily fell for tricks that wouldn’t work on Beast Tamers at that level. For all its intelligence, it had shitty control over its emotions and was more focused on displaying its dominance rather than acting smartly. It just wanted to utterly overwhelm Gale in a show of strength, and that was its downfall. In comparison, they could probably read me like a book if I tried any tricks on them.’ He mused as he finished up his cultivation, and he had to say, this advanced version of the cultivation technique was quite a bit better than the one he was using before.

He reckoned he could punch through a several-inch-thick concrete wall if he wanted to, and easily run faster than the peak athletes from Earth and probably a few cars from there as well.

All in all, his improvements overall were nice, but he felt he could still do better.

He washed up and prepared to enter a study session when someone knocked on his door.

Curious, he sent his Mana forward to ’see’ who it was.

That was another change. After reaching the Apprentice rank, Osho unlocked his Mana sense, so now he could ’see’ people by extending his Mana outwards. It wasn’t perfect, though. Something that became clear as his Mana was immediately blocked by the door.

’Right, the room is made with Mana blocking materials to prevent detection.’ He remembered as he got up and went to the door. He lingered for a moment before opening it. The metal sliding to the side.

He had about 0.5 seconds to register it was Ellie before a small purple figure shot forward. He was about to react instinctively, but he felt no malicious intent, so he stood still as Sugil wrapped herself around his neck and nuzzled her head into his cheek.

He blinked and looked down, then his eyes widened slightly.

Sugil looked a little bigger. She was about the size of a small Corn Snake now. Her scales had also gotten more prominent. Actually, upon closer inspection, they looked almost like tiny crystals.

However, the most jarring change would be the small pair of wings on her back, which would explain how she’d flow from Ellie to wrap around his neck.

"She looks like an Amphiptere." That was the first thing he said as he brought his finger up to touch her head and she immediately nuzzled into it happily.

"That’s what I said." Ellie said happily as she stepped into the room. She wore a thigh-high skirt over a pair of safety shorts and a sleeveless turtleneck. Stylish as always.

"I gave her the tonic you made, and she went to sleep soon after. I was worried for a moment, but a few hours later, she looked like this! I expected a bunch of things, but wings?? That’s like... putting wings on a tiger! But it’s actually a snake!" She exclaimed with glee as she stretched out her hand and Sugil lingered for a moment before flying back to her and wrapped herself around her arm.

"Hm, her wings look way too small to support her weight, though." He commented, and the wings to body ratio didn’t make sense.

"Uh, okay? And Gale shouldn’t be able to move at supersonic speeds with such a small body but here we are." She scoffed.

Gale: (○_○)!!

The bird looked positively perplexed at being included in the conversation, but his confusion was momentarily removed when he finally seemed to take notice of Sugil and Osho immediately sensed his confusion at the size of her wings.

The bird made a chirp that could only be translated as ’That’s not right’ and Osho nodded, agreement.

"See? Gale gets it." Ellie rolled her eyes before narrowing them.

"Huh, so you didn’t know this would happen?" She said with a scrutinizing tone and Osho raised a brow.

"How could I have possibly known the tonic would make her grow wings? I was going for an overall enhancement you know." He stated matter-of-factly, and he technically wasn’t lying. He felt like evolutions mostly provided comprehensive improvements to a beast along with a few added perks here and there. He would have never even considered Sugil acquiring wings from the process.

’Something else my ability doesn’t do I suppose.’ He thought vaguely before Ellie huffed.

"Well, it worked out well in the end, so I guess it’s alright." She pouted before smiling mischievously.

"Still, I require compensation for being worried over my Beast’s health. What if something bad happened?" Hearing this, Osho rolled his eyes. Dramatic much?

"Fine, what must I do to appease the young mistress for my transgression of frightening her fragile heart?" The way her brow twitched at his elaborate vocabulary made him smile internally.

"Cough. Close your eyes." She said, sounding a lot more embarrassed.

He smiled outwardly now, but he didn’t protest and closed his eyes, choosing to observe her with his Mana sense.

He sensed her get closer and closer, until there were only a few inches that separated the two of them. He wondered what she was going to do when she suddenly closed the distance and placed her lips on his.

He froze for a moment before his body relaxed and he let her kiss him.

It was a short kiss, and she pulled back after just a few seconds which Osho took as a sign to open his eyes.

Her face was slightly flushed, but she had a satisfied smile on her face.

"There, I feel vindicated." She said almost triumphantly, and Osho stared at her for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

Her smile immediately turned into a pout, and she punched his shoulder.

"What?" She demanded, and Osho took a moment to calm down before saying.

"You... are absolutely adorable." The words slipped out of his mouth before he could think better of it, and Ellie went bright red before turning away.

"Screw you." She mumbled and Osho just laughed harder.

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