The last vestiges of light from the evolution faded, leaving only the quiet hum of the lab equipment. In the charged silence, Lin Ke and his newly evolved partner just stood there, a moment of breathless, silent communication passing between them, a creator meeting his creation.
The Terran Titan Vole, now standing as tall as Lin Ke's waist, took a deliberate step out of the containment pod. Its movements were no longer the quick, skittering motions of a small creature; they were the heavy, grounded, deliberate steps of a being with immense power held in quiet reserve. It walked over to Lin Ke and gently nudged its massive, obsidian-plated head against his hand. The form was intimidating, monstrous even, but the look in its intelligent amber eyes was the same. Absolute loyalty. Unconditional affection.
"You're incredible," Lin Ke breathed, a wide, proud grin spreading across his face as he ran a hand over the smooth, rune-etched armor on its back. "Just... incredible. But let's see what you can really do. C'mon. To the training yard."
He led his partner up from the basement lab and into the bright, warm sunlight of the Jamaican day. And the full, staggering impact of the transformation hit him. The little creature that used to sit on his shoulder was now a genuine monster, a guardian of the earth that looked as if it had clawed its way out of the planet's very core. Holy crap, he thought, a jolt of pure awe running through him. What have I made?
"Okay," he said, shaking off the awe and shifting into his familiar role as a researcher. "First, let's see the new engine. Sprint. From here to the far wall."
The Titan Vole crouched, its powerful hind legs tensing. With a push that literally cracked the earth beneath its feet with a sharp thump, it launched forward. It wasn't a blur of speed, but a rumbling, unstoppable earthquake of a charge, covering thirty meters in a few short, ground-shaking seconds. The raw power was a visceral force he could feel in his own chest.
"Excellent," Lin Ke nodded, his mind racing. "Now, the new armor. Show me Advanced Rock Harden."
The Titan Vole stomped a heavy foot. The amber runes etched into its obsidian plating flared to life with a low, resonant hum. A thick, crystalline coating, far denser than before, enveloped its body, catching the sunlight and refracting it in a thousand tiny rainbows. It looked less like hardened rock and more like a suit of polished, magical armor. Lin Ke instinctively knew its defensive capabilities had gone through the roof.
"Okay, okay… now for the new toy," Lin Ke said, his excitement growing. He pointed to a reinforced training dummy at the far end of the yard. "That thing. Use Earth Spike."
The Titan Vole turned, raised a heavy front paw, and simply slammed it down on the ground.
THOOM!
The ground itself erupted. A line of sharp, jagged rock spikes, each over a meter tall, shot up from the earth in a violent, rapid sequence, tearing across the yard with a sound like ripping stone. They impaled the training dummy from below with brutal, absolute finality, lifting it into the air on a bed of newly-formed stone spears.
Lin Ke just stared. A powerful, ranged, ground-based attack. You're not helpless against flyers anymore. Not by a long shot. He didn't just have a tank; he had a battlefield controller.
Finally, he remembered the new passive skill. Editor, analyze 'Titan's Will'. He focused his perception on his pet. He didn't see text; he saw a constant, low-level energy field shimmering around the Titan Vole, an almost invisible aura of pure resilience that seemed to dampen the very air around it. His mind interpreted the data: an innate fortitude that heightened its resistance to pain and mental effects, while passively mitigating all incoming damage by a flat twenty percent.
Lin Ke let out a low whistle. Are you kidding me? A tank that came with its own built-in armor, on top of its actual armor.
With its insane defense, a game-changing ranged weapon, and a ridiculously powerful damage-reduction passive, his Terran Titan Vole was a true A-Rank potential powerhouse. His plans, which had seemed so distant just a day ago, suddenly felt terrifyingly close. His gaze drifted to his terminal, where the note about the 'Starfall Auction' was saved. An auction like that… it's a rich man's game.
He looked at his new partner, who was now calmly pulverizing a small boulder with one casual stomp of its foot. But we can get there.
A new plan clicked into place, sharp and clear. Before he returned to the wilderness to hunt for the god-egg's fuel, he needed to build a war chest. And the best way for a tamer to make money is to take on missions. With this new powerhouse by his side, the "dangerous" C-Rank quests on the mission board now looked like a lucrative to-do list. The only problem was that a creature this powerful was bound to attract attention, the kind he'd been trying so hard to avoid. It was a new, dangerous variable to manage.
A problem for later, he decided. It was time to get to work. It was time for the world to see what the "trash" from the welfare district could really do.