CHAPTER 132: THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET BUSY

Things are About to get Busy

As soon as Osho completed the process, something surprising happened to Lyra.

The branches and roots went still and drooped, as though sleeping. He considered just waiting there when suddenly, a bright green cocoon started to cover the small willow tree.

He was startled, but the feedback he got from his ability let him know that he did everything right, so he simply watched and waited as the tree was fully encased in verdant energy that almost resembled a closed petal.

Osho expected it to take a while, but just a few minutes later, the petal started to unfurl, and he watched expectantly.

’Seeing as the cocoon took the shape of a petal, is it gonna be a really big flower? Perhaps a tree covered in them,? Or—’ His thoughts were cut off when the petal fully unfurled to reveal what was inside.

’... Eh?’ He blinked a few times as he saw what was revealed. There was no tree, no plant, nothing. Instead, a small girl the size of a toddler sat there. Her skin was green, and her hair resembled vines with flowers in some parts of them. She also wore a green dress that looked to be made out of leaves.

Through his mask, Osho’s nose picked up a very nature-like smell, as though he was in the middle of a forest, pleasant fragrances dancing around him.

The little girl, Lyra, stared at him with big, adorable green eyes that shone like green gems. She stared at him for a moment before raising her arms towards him. Her expression didn’t change, but her intent was clear.

Unconscious, he reached forward and picked her off the counter. To his surprise, she was quite heavy, heavier than she had been as a tree, at least.

As soon as he carried her, she buried her head in his neck, and he stood there for a few seconds, taking it in.

’... Huh? That isn’t what I expected at all.’ He finally thought as he inspected the girl in his arms. He wasn’t surprised by the sudden show of affection. The same had occurred when he’d evolved Sugil, and Hydro—Fredrick’s beast—had certainly been happy when Osho evolved it.

Still...

’Aren’t humanoid beasts like... unbelievably rare? I thought that only happened when they broke through to the...!’ His eyes widened as he looked down at Lyra again. Specifically, he focused on her aura.

Bright green, matching the rest of her appearance, with...

A faint red undertone.

It was flickering, but it was most certainly there.

Elite rank.

Just like that, Osho had helped produce the first Elite-ranked Beast in the history of the Blossom Citadel.

He felt his heart start pounding, but he took a deep breath to calm himself.

’Lyra was already at the peak of the Expert Rank, having reached the limit of her previous potential, so evolving her simply gave her the push she needed to cross that boundary. It’s to be expected.’ He thought rationally, even though a big grin made its way on his face. Good thing he wore a mask.

’Right, they must be waiting.’ He remembered, and with some effort, he carried Lyra to the door and slid it open.

Hence, the current scene of everyone staring at Osho like he was an alien, their gazes flicking between him and Lyra like he’d just done something to destroy their perception of what they thought was possible.

Which he had.

They only snapped out of it when Lady Haggai, who was similarly stunned, unintentionally released her aura as it surged to match what Lyra had achieved, the Elite rank.

"You... You just..." She exclaimed, and Osho just stared at her.

’Come get your beast lady, she’s heavy.’ He thought inwardly. A bit insane to think that an apprentice Rank human was struggling to carry a toddler, then again, Lyra wasn’t an ordinary toddler by any means.

She seemed to understand the message and walked forward, her arms trembling slightly. Osho gently nudged Lyra who looked up at him with her bug eyes, then she turned and saw Lady Haggai with her arms outstretched. Her eyes seemed to light up and she immediately reached for her. Osho happily obliged as the Beast was reunited with her Tamer.

"... Even though I’m seeing it with my eyes, it’s hard to believe." Princip Timothy mumbled as they watched Lady Haggai hold Lyra with a fond look in her eyes, with Lyra finally showing an expression via smiling.

"I’m pretty sure her potential got boosted to the peak of the Elite rank, a rank above what she previously possessed." Osho broke the silence, and everyone looked at him.

"So you’re evolutions increase the potential of a beast by a rank each time?" The Citadel Lors asked, his tone noticeably less wary and more excited than before, which wasn’t surprising, if you considered the implications of what Osho just revealed.

"Yup... well, I’m pretty sure. When I evolved Gale as an egg and hatched him, he had Master Rank potential. I evolved him two more times after that so now he has Legendary Rank potential. Fredrick and Hydro also got buffed up to Expert rank when I evolved him, so I’m pretty sure that’s the case. So if we were to check Sugil’s potential, I’m pretty sure we’d see Master Rank." He explained.

"Hm, I suppose that makes sense." The Citadel Lord nodded thoughtfully.

"Anyway, with that said, do you guys believe me now?" Osho asked, trying—and failing—to hide the smugness in his face.

"I’m next." Mrs Jane didn’t reply and instead stated so quickly that it took everyone by surprise. They looked at her with shock and she just shrugged.

"What? He verified his ability, and I’m his teacher. It’s only natural I get to go next." She said flatly.

"Hold on... that’s not how that—" Before the Citadel Lord could finish, Principal Timothy cut him off with a chuckle.

"Well, Jane said it first. So that’s that." He shrugged.

The room was silent for a moment, then it became a situation of them trying to say who would go next after Mrs Jane.

Osho and his friends shared a glance as they watched two of some of the most important people in the Citadel argue like a bunch of teenagers trying to get into a line.

The Citadel Lord argued that, as the leader of the Citadel, he should go next as the stronger he is, the more influence he has.

Principal Timothy argued that he helped in raising Osho and was just short of being a parental figure in his life, so that’s where his priorities lay.

While they argued, Major Thompson approached Osho, looking oddly... embarrassed.

"Not asking if I can go next or anything, but is it fine to just evolve an egg for me?" He asked, and Osho looked at him curiously.

"Can I ask why?" He inquired and the man hesitated.

"Well, my beast died quite a while ago. I never hatched a new one because, well, the uncertainty. But with you here, I was hoping..." He trailed off, and Osho understood.

He’d always wondered why he never heard much about Major Thompson or his beast. Turns out it died a while ago. However, Osho didn’t feel pity, but immense respect.

Respect at the fact that despite his beast dying, the man didn’t sit down and fold his arms. Instead, he managed to become the greatest commander within the Citadel. Calling it impressive was an understatement.

"You don’t have to ask. Hell, Mrs Jane has three beasts that I’m aware of, and I intend to evolve all of them. I wouldn’t complain even if you brought ten different eggs for me to evolve." He smiled, and he wasn’t exaggerating either.

A small part of him wanted to convince them to hatch and bind as many beasts as they could to themselves, and then evolve them like crazy.

Most people could only have a single beast per rank. So one in the Novice rank, two in the Apprentice rank, and so on. Though most people never bothered to hatch another beast when they broke through to the next rank as, again, it was never certain if he beast would be talented or not. So it wasn’t exactly encouraged or dissuaded.

Mrs Jane was seen as an outlier as not only had she wasted no time in hatching another beast when she was able to, similar to her Salamander, Nora also had Expert rank potential which she soon reached, making her the only beast Tamer in their Citadel to possess two Expert rank beasts.

Osho would be more than glad to have them hatch as many beasts as possible and hatch them all. Now that he revealed his ability, he didn’t plan to be humble with it.

’What a sight that would be. Like, 9 people with Elite rank beasts and above protecting a single Citadel.’ The thought made him grin behind his mask.

Seeing him agree so readily, Major Thompson let out a relieved sigh and just nodded.

"Hey so... can you evolve Blackie too?" Irene nudged him with a small smile, and Osho rolled his eyes.

"Everyone who is here now is gonna get their beasts evolved. Just chill." He chuckled.

"Good, because I want Inagi to turn into something akin to a giant poison dragon, or something along those lines." Irene joked.

"That’s not ridiculous. That’s not ridiculous to say." Kurt cackled.

Osho just let out a playful huff as they ribbed him. Then he caught Ellie’s eye and felt oddly nervous. He knew she wouldn’t be happy knowing he’d kept such a large secret from her, so...

She just gave him an earnest smile.

’Phew, I’m forgiven.’ He exhaled inwardly.

’Don’t worry. I’ll tell you everything, just bit by bit.’ He thought and scratched his neck.

"Till then, I’m gonna be very busy." He mumbled to himself. Needless to say, he was going to be doing a LOT of evolving.