The Great Vajra and Shen Cong were evolving. The four-legged dragon was evolving. Even the Vajra-Ants and the Mechanical Vine were evolving.

The Vajra-Ant major worker he'd fed that fist-sized lump of fire-spirit medium slept soundly through the night, and its Talent ticked up from 0.634H to 0.635H — a flat 0.001H gain. That was almost the same rate Shen Cong got from devouring a full cubic meter himself, but given it was only a low-grade jin beast to begin with, the result wasn't exactly shocking.

Shen Cong himself was past Beyond-Four-Star Talent now, and every further step cost him dearly — this was a change to the very nature of life itself.

The Mechanical Vine had ticked up too, though by so little it was barely perceptible. The fire-spirit medium was still buried in its flowerpot, wrapped tight in countless thread-like roots, being devoured with quiet greed.

Elsewhere: under continued Firestarter-fragment irradiation, the four natural carrier vehicles were mid-transformation, climbing toward the 2H Activity Value ceiling.

Shen Cong's own Hell Plant Armor had likewise started devouring fire-spirit mediums, its 2.2H ceiling creeping upward — already at 2.3H, with a projected final cap somewhere around 3H.

The whole day revolved around devouring fire-spirit mediums. Dull work, by any measure.

But Shen Cong found life plenty good like this. Nothing intoxicated him quite like watching himself grow stronger. Especially since he could watch movies while he ate. At the moment he was working through a sci-fi show called Under the Dome, grumbling the whole time about how brainless the plot was — and enjoying every minute of it.

That was life.

Didn't need to be thrilling. Just needed to be his.

In a blink, the whole day had passed in the green-mountain cave.

Outside, the stars set and the sun rose — April 15 now.

Shen Cong threw together a simple breakfast.

These past few days, with his Talent surging, his body was hungry for nutrients, and his appetite had shot up accordingly — though the food still didn't taste like it used to. He could register sour, sweet, salty, spicy,…