Abnormality

Time flies like a shuttle, and in the blink of an eye, ten years passed quietly.

On this day, inside the stone training chamber, Leian was circulating his cultivation technique to recover his Battle Qi when suddenly, his brows arched, and a look of joy appeared on his face.

Is it finally time to break through? Leian thought to himself.

Just a moment ago, as a surge of newly generated Destruction Battle Qi flowed back into his dantian along his meridians, Leian discovered that the liquefied Destruction Battle Qi within his entire dantian had suddenly begun to surge like a tidal wave.

Rumble—

Amidst the violent changes, more and more Destruction Battle Qi was refined into his meridians, and then, under Leian's urging, it poured into his dantian like a great river. Before long, the Destruction Battle Qi in his dantian had returned to its peak.

Immediately afterward, his entire dantian shook violently, and a formless power seemed to expand outward from within the vast ocean of Battle Qi, supporting the dantian as it stretched outward once more.

In a short while, the entire dantian had increased several times in size, and the Battle Qi within had become significantly more robust.

"Is this the Saint Realm?"

Feeling the changes in his dantian and Battle Qi, a smile finally appeared on Leian's face.

However, just at that moment, an unexpected change occurred: a purple-black energy suddenly sprouted from Leian's heart and began to flow along his meridians toward his limbs and bones.

"Ugh—"

Wherever the purple-black energy touched, Leian felt a searing pain in his flesh, muscles, and bones, as if he were burning. This agony was no less intense than the pain he had felt when fusing with the Magic Beast core, but to avoid attracting the attention of his parents and others, Leian gritted his teeth and refrained from crying out.

Under the intense pain, Leian could no longer care about his image, and he collapsed onto the ground like a dead dog.

At the same time, patches of purple-black dragon scales began to sprout from his skin, and Leian's entire body began to transform into that of a Magic Beast involuntarily.

Seeing this, Leian realized immediately that the physical changes were coming from the Magic Beast core he had fused with earlier!

Although he did not know the reason, he was fortunate that, aside from the excruciating pain throughout his body, there were no life-threatening injuries.

He did not know how much time had passed, but when the pain finally vanished completely, Leian slowly opened his eyes. After resting for a while, he pushed himself up from the floor, preparing to examine his own changes.

However, the moment he moved, he felt something was wrong; after bracing his hands on the ground, he suddenly found that he could not sit upright.

This terrified Leian, and he hurriedly looked down to check.

What he saw was shocking: Leian discovered that his entire lower body was no longer in the partial Magic Beast form he was used to, but had transformed into a true beast shape.

Seeing this, Leian was startled at first, but then he recalled the situation regarding the Elves and their fusion with Magic Beast cores.

According to the records on that secret scroll from back then, after an Elf completely fuses with a Magic Beast core, they are capable of transforming into a true Magic Beast form.

Perhaps this was the case for him now!

Thinking of this, Leian subconsciously projected his spiritual energy to observe his own condition.

At that moment, a miraculous Magic Beast with a dragon's head, a lion's body, covered in dragon scales, and possessing hooves like an ox appeared in his mind.

"It really is so!"

Seeing his current physical form, a flash of realization dawned on Leian. His current appearance was exactly the same as the "Qilin" that had appeared in his mind when he had first fully fused with the Magic Beast core.

This proved once again that the recent changes were indeed caused by that Magic Beast core.

I wonder if I can still turn back into a human?

As this thought crossed his mind, Leian felt his body begin to change as if by instinct. In less than a single breath, he had recovered his original human form.

At this moment, as if struck by a sudden inspiration, Leian fully understood his own situation.

From now on, he would possess three forms.

The first was his normal human form; the second was his Magic Beast transformation, possessing a human shape with Magic Beast characteristics, similar to Linley's Dragonform; the third was his true Magic Beast form.

Across these three forms, his strength, speed, and defense progressed from weak to strong, meaning he was weakest in human form and strongest in Magic Beast form.

Of course, after the ordeal he had just endured, Leian's entire body had been reinforced once again, and even in his human form, he was several times stronger than experts of the same level.

Right now, his raw physical strength alone was comparable to an average ninth-rank expert.

Regarding these changes, Leian felt both joyful and puzzled.

After all, apart from the Elves, he had never heard of any human who could fully transform into a Magic Beast after fusing with a Magic Beast core.

Could it be that my body actually flows with a portion of Elf blood?

Or is this simply a change brought about by that Magic Beast core?

After pondering for a long time, Leian could not come to a conclusion. Fortunately, these changes were beneficial and harmless, so he decided not to overthink it.

"Since I've made a breakthrough, I might as well rest for a few days."

After regaining his composure, Leian intended to relax. It was only then that he noticed his clothes had been torn in several places due to his transformation. Fortunately, he had spare clothes in his spatial ring, so he immediately took out a set and changed.

Rumble—

The stone door was pushed open from the inside by Leian. The moment he stepped out of the chamber, he saw the figure of Selina, who was, quite unusually, sitting in front of the door waiting for him.

The next moment, Selina's voice echoed in his mind.

"You broke through to the ninth rank and became a Saint Realm expert?"

Her voice was hurried, yet carried a hint of anticipation.

"Yes."

Leian nodded. Looking at Selina's expectant gaze, he had a guess in his heart and asked, "What is it?"

Leian was not at all surprised that Selina had rushed over to ask him immediately; with the master-servant contract in place, Selina could vaguely sense the changes in him.

"Can you get me a Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core? A dark-type one!" Selina asked, looking somewhat nervous.

Hearing this, Leian thought to himself that it was exactly as he had expected. After a moment of contemplation, he smiled and said, "I could, but before that, shouldn't you tell me about your background first?"

The reason Leian asked this was that he had discovered Selina was very familiar with human life, as if she had lived in human society before.

Furthermore, ever since they signed the contract, Leian had never heard Selina call him "master," which was clearly quite unusual.

Selina fell silent. After a long while, she replied, "Actually, before I met you, I had another master. It was Margaret, whom you encountered while training in the Youquan Mountain Range."

"Margaret?" Leian's mouth hung open, his expression one of astonishment.

"Yes!"

Selina nodded, and then she began to recount her past experiences.

As a Magic Beast, Selina's lifespan was much longer than a human's. According to her, she was born over three thousand years ago.

Not long after she was born, her parents were killed by a level-nine powerhouse. She had been lucky enough to escape with her life, and then she met Margaret, who was a level-nine warrior at the time, and became her magical pet.

As a disciple of the Goddess of Dark Night, Margaret was not only highly talented but also powerful. As her magical pet, Selina never had to participate in battles; she only needed to be cute.

In her youth, Selina followed Margaret and lived a very comfortable life, and the relationship between the human and the beast was very close.

However, Selina never forgot to avenge her parents. After Margaret reached the Saint Realm, she begged Margaret to get her a dark-type Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core to help her break through to the Saint Realm.

The reason she insisted on becoming a Saint Realm beast was that the level-nine human powerhouse who killed her parents also possessed great talent and had long since broken through to become a Saint Realm powerhouse.

Originally, with Margaret's strength, obtaining a Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core would not have been difficult, but for some unknown reason, she never agreed.

Later, whether it was because Selina had begged too many times and annoyed Margaret, the latter directly dissolved the master-servant contract and sent Selina back to the Youquan Mountain Range.

From then on, Selina lived alone in the Youquan Mountain Range until she met Leian and became his magical pet.

Leian had never expected Selina to have such a history. Thinking about how he had already promised her a Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core, he felt a bit of a headache coming on.

As for why Margaret did not help Selina, Leian could guess a few reasons.

According to Selina's account, her enemy's name was Jabir. Leian had heard of this person; he was apparently a peak Saint Realm powerhouse.

With Jabir's strength, even if Selina became a Saint Realm Magic Beast, she likely wouldn't be a match for him. The reason Margaret didn't help her was probably because she didn't want her to throw her life away for nothing.

Thinking of this, Leian told Selina his speculation truthfully.

Upon hearing this, Selina immediately wilted like a frost-bitten eggplant.

The reason she had agreed so easily to become Leian's magical pet back then was that she saw Leian had extremely high talent and could become a Saint Realm powerhouse, thereby allowing her to obtain a Saint Realm Magic Crystal Core.

Unexpectedly, despite all her calculations, she hadn't accounted for the strength of her enemy.