“Are you surprised that its power now is weaker than you expected? Heh heh, it does not surprise me. The Holy Mark Beast’s strength does not lie in the power it holds itself, but in its power of transformation. To help you beat that dark fiend earlier, I had no choice but to guide it into pouring all of its power into you… so it is now as feeble as a newborn. Still, so long as it can exist inside the Holy Mark, its ability should come back quickly. And the fastest way to make it strong is devouring.” The Phantom Beast old man’s voice came slowly at his ear.

“Devouring?” That “Holy Mark Devour” skill really had given Ye Tianxie a start.

“That is right — devouring. After you have beaten an enemy, and especially a powerful one, be sure to remember to have the Holy Mark Beast devour the corpse. For every spirit-body it devours, it will gain the corresponding power of transformation, and it can gain all of that creature’s skills… all of them.”

The old man’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s whine by now. It seemed that after existing this long, his divine consciousness had finally come to the edge of dispersing.

“I understand.”

One Holy Mark Devour had bumped this pitifully weak little Holy Mark Beast straight up to the “terrifying” grade. It was hard to imagine what it would mean if he had an ability like that himself…

“Then… goodbye… you must be sure to…”

“……” The voice broke off all at once. Ye Tianxie looked up and ahead, and could no longer feel any spirit-body there at all. This last member of the Phantom Beast race — who had perished along with his people ten thousand years ago, and had left one thread of divine consciousness attached to the Holy Mark Beast — had finally seen his wish fulfilled and scattered without a trace.

Everything around him went quiet. Ye Tianxie put out his left hand and said lightly, “Kaka.”

A flash of white light, and the round, roly-poly Mashimaro with her stubby limbs appeared in front of him. She had only just started to lift her head in greeting when she nearly went over backward from the imbalance, and it was all she could do to get steady.

…A rabbit that could not even stand up straight was supposed to be a mount?

@#$%…

Since she had to grow by devouring, then…

Something moved in Ye Tianxie’s mind, and at once a small knot of dark purple light showed in front of him, and a beast’s corpse appeared on the ground. Its body could still be called small and neat, with the head of a lion; what caught the eye most was that three pairs of wings spread upward from its back, and its body was not gold, nor the brown a lion ought to be, but an impossible dark purple. It was the first — and the only — Immortal Spirit beast Ye Tianxie had ever cut down in the world of Fate: a juvenile Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion. The one difference was that the horn on its head had vanished — he had helped himself to it without the least ceremony.

How long a beast’s corpse lasts after death depends on its grade. An ordinary monster’s corpse stays on the ground for one minute, a one-star elite’s for two, a two-star elite’s for three, a three-star elite’s for five, and a Lord BOSS’s for ten. But the corpse of an Immortal Spirit BOSS, or anything above that grade, will not vanish at all unless some outside force acts on it. That was why Ye Tianxie had been able to keep this one in his pack all this time.

She needed no prompting from Ye Tianxie. The moment the little Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion’s corpse appeared, Kaka — who had looked half asleep — came suddenly alive, took two steps up to the lion, and opened that mouth of hers wide — a mouth not much different from a real rabbit’s…

Her devouring was not simply a matter of eating. With her mouth open wide, a light of flawless white came out of it and settled over the little Sky-Treading Lion’s corpse. And at once came a sight that left Ye Tianxie staring… The little lion’s body was wrapped in white light, and the light grew stronger and stronger, thick enough at last that the body began to blur, and then, out of that blur, it suddenly misted away into scattered knots of white glow, which were dragged along the line the light had come from and drifted into Kaka’s mouth.

Two seconds, three… five… Under Ye Tianxie’s eyes, Kaka took only those five seconds to devour that little Immortal Beast whole and entire. When her mouth closed and the white light faded, the ground where the Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion had lain was completely empty. Never mind fur — not the faintest trace that anything had been there was left behind.

“Ding… Your mount has used ‘Holy Mark Devour’ to devour the corpse of a Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion (juvenile). Lightning resistance +5%. The talent skill ‘Phantom Spirit Transformation’ is unlocked. It may currently transform into a Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion; after transforming, Lightning resistance is raised by 30%, physical attacks carry 30–50 points of Lightning damage, and it may Sky Dash below two meters for roughly 10 seconds. Skills obtained: ‘Flash Thunder Charge,’ ‘Lightning Summon,’ ‘Electromagnetic Domain,’ ‘Flash of Lightning,’ ‘True Electromagnetic Storm.'”

【Author’s note: Now you know why the Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion’s skills got listed out in that much detail earlier, don’t you? Anyone who’s forgotten the skill descriptions, please page back.】

Kaka finished devouring and patted her belly in excitement. Whether it was a trick of the eye or not, Ye Tianxie had the vague feeling she had grown a little taller. And although he had been braced for it, that prompt still gave him a start — having devoured a Lightning-property Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion, she had not only raised the matching attributes but had actually moved every one of its skills onto herself. Even its extremely limited Sky Dash had been copied across.

Did that mean that if what she devoured could fly, or could live underwater, Kaka would be able to work the air and the water freely as well?

Still, it had to be said that although Kaka had gained all of the Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion’s skills, her own attributes were simply too low. These skills did their damage off magic attack as a base, and on the Sky-Treading Lion their power had been terrible; on Kaka as she was now, the effect could be ignored entirely. She did not even have enough magic to cast them. And even if she transformed into a Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion, the base attributes she would have would still be her own.

“Ka… ka…”

Kaka patted her belly again, and seemed to let out a satisfied belch. And just then, the reaction that had been slow in coming set rings of white light rising off her, one after another.

“Ding… Your mount ‘Kaka’ has risen to level 1…”

“Ding… Your mount ‘Kaka’ has risen to level 2… and evolved into a grade-two mount.”

“Ding… Your mount ‘Kaka’ has risen to level 3…”

……

……

“Ding… Your mount ‘Kaka’ has risen to level 10… and evolved into a grade-four mount.”

An Immortal Spirit beast is an Immortal Spirit beast in the end. What it handed over sent Kaka, sitting at the absolute floor of ability, shooting upward as fast as a rocket. She went up ten levels straight, and her grade went from one all the way up to four.

Kaka. Grade-four mount. Level: 10. Attributes: Health: 400. Magic: 400. Attack: 40. Magic attack power: 40. Defense: 40. Accuracy: 10. Evasion: 10. Movement speed: 40. Attack speed: 50.

Talent: Phantom Spirit Transformation. Beast spirits available for transformation: Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion.

Skills: Holy Mark Devour. Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion transformation (Flash Thunder Charge, Lightning Summon, Electromagnetic Domain, Flash of Lightning, True Electromagnetic Storm).

Kaka’s attributes had changed by no small amount. And against that change, nothing was more startling than her own particular talent, “Phantom Spirit Transformation.” Anything devoured through Holy Mark Devour, she could turn into by way of Phantom Spirit Transformation, with all of that creature’s abilities… on the understanding that the base attributes stayed her own.

“Kaka, Phantom Spirit Transformation.” Ye Tianxie gave the order, and then looked at her full of expectation.

“Ka…”

Kaka took the order and answered happily, raised both stubby paws, and white light flickered over her. All at once Ye Tianxie’s vision blurred, Kaka had vanished, and the Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion he had cut down — the one that had left so deep an impression — was standing in front of him.

Kaka’s Phantom Spirit Transformation took no more than an instant.

The Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion standing there was identical in shape and in size to the one in Ye Tianxie’s memory. Even the crystal horn he had helped himself to had appeared on its head again.

Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion (Kaka’s Phantom Spirit Transformation). Attributes: Health: 400. Magic: 400. Attack: 40. Magic attack power: 40. Defense: 40. Accuracy: 10. Evasion: 10. Movement speed: 90. Attack speed: 100.

Talent: the Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion’s original talent.

Skills: all of the Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion’s skills.

After the Phantom Spirit Transformation, Kaka’s movement speed and attack speed had become the same as the Six-Winged Purple-Scaled Sky-Treading Lion’s, and her other base attributes were indeed still her own. So apart from those, Phantom Spirit Transformation gave Kaka the full talent, skills and traits of whatever beast she had turned into.

Looking at Kaka now, one very wicked thought flashed through Ye Tianxie’s mind… what if Kaka devoured Yaoyao and Xiaobei as well…

Mm… only a wicked thought, and nothing more.

But Ye Tianxie had seen clearly where Kaka’s strength lay. Her own attributes were not strong, and she did not stand out among pets of her grade. Still… so long as he could give her enough beasts to devour, her abilities would get stronger and stronger, and more and more numerous — attacking, supporting, controlling, moving… even healing.

She was an ultimate freak who looked utterly unremarkable and could hold no end of things. No wonder she could be the beast of legend the Phantom Beast race had guarded down the ages. Endless power of transformation — an ability others could beg for and never get, an ability the whole Phantom Beast race had to spend considerable power to work. On Kaka it was as simple as walking or eating, and cost her essentially nothing at all.

Yaoyao, Xiaobei… and now this Kaka who had come to his side. He suddenly noticed that these companions around him were each more out of the ordinary than the last. Every one of them had abilities that shocked people, or left them staring outright; every one of them was born an oddity, and every one had origins either mysterious or powerful.

They were like him. They did not belong in this world.

Ye Tianxie put Kaka away and began searching this half-wrecked space. This had been the Phantom Beast race’s dwelling once, and the Dark Nether Ghost King had hidden here for several years on top of that. Might there not be something unbelievable left behind…

(End of Chapter 253)