The subterranean silence of the grotto didn't just break; it dissolved.
Lucas sat cross-legged, his fingers digging into the stone floor as the Blue Grimoire hovered before him, vibrating with such intensity that the air around it began to hum. He felt the familiar weight of his Dantian Pagoda—the spiritual skyscraper that defined a Spiritas's capacity.
In this world, a Grimoire was the house, providing slots for the beasts, but the Pagoda was the foundation. While most Blue Grimoire geniuses started their journey with a mere three floors, Lucas's soul had manifested six crystalline floors—a staggering anomaly. Each floor was a sanctuary, a library where the echoes of his contracted beasts' souls resided, allowing him to pull their skills into his own nerves.
Currently, the first floor was a blazing furnace. It was occupied by the restless, primordial energy of the egg, and as the shell began to fracture, that energy turned into a violent siphon.
The Mana Vortex
"Moxie, get back!" Lucas gasped, but his voice was swallowed by a sudden, rising gale.
The egg didn't just hatch; it claimed the room. A massive mana vortex formed around the Grimoire, pulling the visible, glowing mist of the cave into a spinning cyclone. The Primal Mana Crystals lining the walls began to flicker and dim, their ancient reserves being drained in seconds to fuel the birth of a myth.
The pressure in the room tripled. Lucas felt his Pagoda groaning. As the master, he was the bridge. The mana didn't just go into the egg; it surged through him. Forced into a state of deep, involuntary cultivation, Lucas felt his sixth floor solidify, the crystalline walls turning as hard as diamond.
But he wasn't the only one being affected by the storm.
Moxie was caught in the center of the mana stream. Because she was at a bottleneck, the sudden influx of hyper-dense mana—combined with the "Unknown" golden light leaking from the cracking egg—acted as a catalyst. Her fractured core, already 92% healed, didn't just close; it fused with the ancient energy of the grotto.
The Ethereal Sphinx
Lucas watched through his Eye Skill, the data streaming across his vision in a blur of gold and violet.
[ EVOLUTION TRIGGERED: WISDOM FELINE -> ??? ]
[ CRITICAL MANA DENSITY REACHED. ANCESTRAL LIMITERS: OVERRIDDEN. ]
Moxie's small, three-pound body began to stretch and glow. Her white fur, once soft and mundane, became dense and polished, shimmering with an iridescent, pearlescent sheen that seemed to repel the shadows of the cave. She grew, her frame lengthening until she reached the size of a mature, healthy cat, her muscles rippling with a newfound, ethereal grace.
A second tail sprouted from her base, the two appendages swaying in perfect, hypnotic synchronization. She looked nothing like the dusty legends of the Ancestral Sphinxes—she was sleeker, more dangerous, and radiated a cold, psychic authority.
[ EVOLUTION COMPLETE: VOID-SIGHT SPHINX (VARIAN) ]
[ RANK: SILVER (LEVEL 1) ]
She landed silently on the stone, her paws leaving faint, glowing imprints. She looked at Lucas, and for a moment, their minds were one. He didn't just see her; he felt the vast, silent ocean of her psychic power.
But the "Double Surprise" was only halfway finished.
The Daughter of the Morningstar
The Grimoire let out a final, deafening crack. The first page disintegrated into a shower of golden sparks, and the egg shattered.
The vortex vanished instantly, leaving the cave in a vacuum-like silence. Standing on the open book was not a beast, but a small girl who looked no older than four or five.
Lucas froze.
She had snow-white hair that fell to her waist, shimmering like the mana mist of the cave. Her skin was as pale as moonlight, and she was draped in a gossamer-like white silk that seemed to be woven from light itself. But the most striking feature was her eyes—a deep, majestic violet—the exact color of Moxie's evolved gaze.
Slowly, she stepped off the book. As she did, the air around her chilled, and faint frost formed where her small feet touched the stone. She was a White Dragon in humanoid form, the pinnacle of draconic purity and power.
"Papa?" she whispered, her voice like small silver bells.
[ CONTRACT ESTABLISHED: MYTHICAL ENTITY ]
[ NAME: NYXIA ]
[ SPECIES: CELESTIAL WHITE DRAGON (HUMANOID FORM) ]
Lucas reached out, his hand trembling. As he touched her cheek, a surge of information flooded his Dantian's first floor. The "Library" of the soul pagoda filled with ancient, complex scripts—skills he hadn't even begun to understand, smelling of frost and starlight.
"Nyxia..." he breathed.
He looked from the little girl to the twin-tailed Sphinx standing guard beside her. Both of them shared the same striking color palette: white fur and hair, violet eyes that pierced through the soul.
"Is it a coincidence?" Lucas wondered aloud. "Or is my soul... molding them into something else?"
He looked at his hands. His Pagoda was stable, his core was healed, and he was now the master of a Silver-rank Sphinx and a Mythical Dragon. He was no longer just a survivor hiding in a hole. He was a force.
"Nyxia, Moxie," Lucas said, his voice hardening with a new authority. "We've been in the dark long enough. It's time to see what's left of the world above."
Nyxia giggled, grabbing Lucas's hand with surprising strength, while Moxie let out a low, vibrating hum of psychic energy. The Last
Morningstar was no longer alone, and the "Double Surprise" was just the first note in a symphony of vengeance that would soon reach the ears of the Wingshton Empire.