Kale walked out of the swamp hatchery with a deep, thoughtful look in his eyes; he was, in fact, examining the details displayed on his status window, hovering at the corner of his eyes.

Beast Mutation System

~

Host: Kale Ardentis

Status: Cursed (World Dragons Seal - Circumvented)

Species: Hexarion Human (Reincarnated)

Class: Genetic Engineer (Ultimate)

Awakened Pathways: Tamer (Artificer)

Dormant Pathways: (Psion, Martial, Elemental, Diviner)

Ranks —

Apprentice Tamer (Lesser)

Apprentice Artificer (Lesser)

Mana: 400

Beast Force: 200

~

Skills —

Lesser Mana Manipulation (lv1): Allows for the advanced sensing, enhancement, and control of mana both within the body and in the surrounding environment.

Trinity Crafting (lv1): A unique fused skill that grants the host 100% affinity and peak proficiency in Toolcrafting, Pillcrafting, and Fleshcrafting simultaneously.

~

Tamed Beasts —

NEO (Lesser Feral rank, Nemesis Hydra)

Beast Inherited Abilities —

Gaze of the Monarch: The ability to strike fear into your opponents with one look.

Beast Inherited Trait —

Absolute Affinity: Refers to perfect affinity with all six awakened paths.

Titles —

Dragon Bane: Grants a 20% passive boost in constitution and all senses, which increases to 50% when facing Draconic species.

Gene Lab (Unlocked) ▽

The Lab now possesses computational pre-project paths to success in any Gene research project, using small data fragments.

~

Current Quests —

Quest-1: Find a method to circumvent the curse and become an Apprentice Tamer. — COMPLETED.

Reward: Gene Lab is fully unlocked; system has been updated with specialised Beast Traits and Stat Boosts.

***

The first thing Kale checked was whether the Quest time limit’s doomsday clock had been removed.

He heaved a sigh of relief, as his nerves relaxed. That thing had truly cast a bad shadow on his mind, constantly reminding him of the impending death.

Then he turned to the other details and nodded with a smile, extremely pleased with the various skills and traits he had gained. The biggest of all was obviously the ’Absolute Affinity’, allowing him to progress on all paths with immeasurable talent.

And because of that Beast-inherited trait, something strange had happened; he saw that the Partial Pathway Tag was gone. The Tag of Dormant Pathways replaced it. Meaning all six of the paths were equally his main paths of power.

Dividing between Pathways that he cultivated and Pathways that he did not.

Which was why there were two ranks he had, both Tamer and Artificer of Apprentice rank.

Gurrrr, gurrru, gurrruuuuuu.....

Suddenly, Neo on his shoulder whispemed. Seeing that his master was not paying attention to him, Kale chuckled and stroked the hydra, and all three of its heads showed pleased expressions.

Kale was having trouble understanding whether all three of their heads were the same or they were different personalities. Sometimes they seemed different and sometimes seemed the same.

He whispered to the system, "Give me an X-ray scan and MRI scan of Neo..."

He ordered, "Neo, good boy, go and stand on the ground for a moment and stay still."

Neo seemed somewhat reluctant at first, but it still did as its master had asked, and the Gene Lab scanned the hydra with various colours of light, displaying its details.

And when Kale finally looked at the result, he was not merely shocked; he was in disbelief. Even though he had expected it, this was actually more nonsensical.

The Nemesis Hydra had four hearts: one main heart, and the other three seemed near the spot of its three necks.

Four brains, in a similar pattern: one main central brain existing inside its body, near the main heart and the other three sub-brains all in the three heads.

Two livers, two kidneys. There was also the fact that its blood was green.

While it looked somewhat like a tiny, cute dragon with only three heads, within that body was utter monstrosity, and, considering how Kale had made the creature, its insides and bodily functions would grow even more horrendous as it became more powerful.

He sighed, "Show me the Beast Panel."

The system obliged by flashing the details...

Beast Panel

~

Name: NEO

Race: NEMESIS HYDRA

Rank: Feral (Lesser)

Master: Kale Ardentis

Gene Compatibility: 99.99

~

Beast Traits —

Absolute Affinity: Possesses perfect potential for all six elements (Wind, Earth, Water, Fire, Light, and Darkness) and all five Awakened Pathways.

Octagon Trait: Inherited from the Dark Octagon; grants the beast extreme self-regeneration and high adaptability, allowing it to survive and thrive in nearly any environment.

Draconic Body: Bestows the legendary physical strength and impenetrable defence characteristic of the Dragon race.

Mental Bastion: Provides incredible defence and resistance against all forms of mental attacks.

~

Beast Abilities —

Monarch Beast: An innate aura of supremacy that allows the hydra to strike absolute fear into opponents and exert command over any beasts with rank and weaker mental fortitude.

All Devour: A predatory ability allowing the beast to consume the flesh, blood, or cores of other creatures to permanently absorb and integrate their unique qualities, affinities, or traits into its own genetic code.

~

Current Growth Status —

Elemental Affinities (Dormant): Currently possesses no active elemental powers; the beast must devour creatures with specific elemental qualities to activate and develop these affinities.

Artificing Quality (Dormant): Genes for crafting and creation are currently dormant; requires consuming intelligent beasts to develop this quality.

~

Description —

A palm-sized, three-headed winged hydra with green shimmering scales and four lizard-like legs. Created through 1.1 million failed simulations, it is an ultimate predator with racial potential that stands even beyond the throne of the Dragons.

***

"Holy hell, okay this is kind of overpowered," Kale said, giving Neo another scrutinising look.

The Hydra looked at him confusedly, not understanding what its stupid master was implying.

Kale put the creature on top of his head and mumbled, "You’re strong, at least from the looks of things you should be pretty damn strong, and I’m itching to test you out, you little monster."

Kale, since coming out of the Swamp Hatchery, was too focused on reading the details of his and Neo’s status windows. So, he only noticed now that something was amiss.

The Cursed Tamer frowned, looking towards the skies, "I entered the place when it was bright noon, and considering the hours I spent inside, it should be afternoon at best. So, why is it morning?"

"I definitely did not spend a whole night in there," he stated, as his confusion only increased.

"System?" he prompted.

[Scanning Host’s memories]

[Evaluating the difference between the state of the surrounding forest at that time vs now]

[Evaluating the trajectory and light of the sun]

[Calculation completed, 9 days have passed.]

An unnerving and ominous feeling washed over his head as Kale mumbled, "Did that damn Ancient-rank Jellyfish mess with my memories or something??"