The Apostle's Growth

Time always passes in the blink of an eye.

The sun rises and sets.

After the tides ebb and flow.

In an instant, time passes once more.

Since his father died.

Ned often came to the seaside, just like his father in his youth, watching the golden morning light shimmering and sparkling with a moving radiance across the sea's surface.

In these past few years.

The Rot Spirit Flower had not again controlled the ants to deliver any messages of Sea Monster invasion to the people.

This filled the tribe with a sense of inspiration and peace.

And it also deepened his longing for the sea, day by day.

"The gods chose you precisely because everything you've done has meaning."

"Don't waste the power the gods gave you, and don't let down the brother who shouldered the heavy burdens for you."

Ned's gaze was utterly calm as he looked at the sea.

But whenever he recalled his father's words.

His heart would surge and churn like the ocean tide.

And here.

He often encountered someone.

An old man who also held a deep interest in the sea.

"You've come."

Hearing a sound behind him, Ned turned around, a smile spreading across his face.

It was a venerable elder, or rather, an Artisan.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Blair's face showed a hint of a smile. Leaning on his cane, he stood at the seaside, watching the endlessly rolling waves and the rising sun scattering more and more flecks of gold, a sigh of admiration on his aged face.

"When your father was alive, he also liked to stand here and watch the sea. Watching the sunrise over the sea from here is the best."

Ned smiled.

He simply stood quietly beside Blair, together appreciating the moving scene.

Ever since Blair resigned from his position as elder.

This wise man respected by all, the tribe's most outstanding Artisan, had moved back to his seaside hut, no longer participating in tribal affairs. Like in his youth, he lived a solitary life, detached from worldly matters.

Blair had no wife.

Naturally, he had no children.

This Artisan's life had mostly been spent in the company of pieces of wood and stone.

Even when he worked with others, it was only with the apprentices and craftsmen who toiled alongside him, dedicating themselves to the tribe's inventions and creations.

And it was for this reason that Ned held him in such respect.

Ned smiled and chatted with Blair about the past, about many, many things.

But.

Just as he was weighing his words, about to ask about something that concerned him, he suddenly sensed something.

"Hm?"

Ned looked down abruptly.

The Rot Spirit Staff in his hand was steadily emitting a faint blue glow.

At the same time.

He could feel his perception of the insects beginning to shift and even fade away.

"This is..."

Ned's expression changed.

This situation.

Clearly meant that the Rot Spirit Flower in the forest was undergoing a momentous change.

He quickly bid Blair a temporary farewell and hurried back.

At the same time.

The guards watching over the Rot Spirit Flower in the forest were also startled by the strange phenomenon.

The faint blue glow, which had dimmed before, was now growing brighter and brighter.

When Boer and the elders arrived at the location of the Rot Spirit Flower, one after another.

Their footsteps gradually came to a halt, and one by one, they all turned their gazes toward the plant radiating light, revealing expressions of astonishment.

The Rot Spirit Flower, which had originally been wrapped in a thick layer of stone.

That hard outer shell had, at some unknown moment, quietly cracked apart.

The true, beautiful indigo petals that had been encased all along now unfurled.

A dazzling, soul-capturing blue light flowed across the soft petals.

At the same time.

The six crystalline stones that had been growing on the mycelium also began to crack continuously.

After constant fracturing.

Something seemed to burrow out from within, revealing an extremely bizarre head.

Only then did the people suddenly realize something.

It turned out that those were not so-called magical fluorescent stones glowing with blue light.

But rather, giant insect eggs created by the Messenger of the Gods.

Now.

The newly hatched insects, several of them strange in appearance and differing in form, slowly crawled out under the astonished gazes of the crowd.

Mona's gaze also fell upon the Abigail Flower at this moment.

After years of accumulation.

The Abigail Flower had finally successfully passed the embryonic stage and formally entered the next phase.

On this day.

This apostle was truly born into the world, becoming a newborn infant.

He quickly noticed the change in the soul's color of the Abigail Flower.

After this growth.

In the life color of the Abigail Flower, the hue of [Evolution] had become much denser.

It seemed that it had truly mastered the secrets of evolution.

Moreover, it had skillfully fused this with the ability of [Creation], thereby deriving the ability of [Create Kin].

[Plant lv5] Abigail Flower

[Age]: 17 years

[Traits]: "Spirituality lv3" "Parasitism lv2" "Growth Potential lv4" "Longevity lv3"

[Knowledge]: "Insect Manipulation lv4" "Life Fusion lv1"

[Habits]: None

[Sequence]: None

[Skills]: "Rot Spirit Manipulation lv3" "Kin Creation lv1"

"After evolution, the colors of Life Fusion and Insect Kin Creation have been added."

Mona saw the colors within the soul, a hint of interest in his eyes.

[Life Fusion lv1]: The Abigail Flower can learn the life structures of ordinary creatures through devouring, then rearrange and recombine their life fragments to fuse new life materials.

[Kin Creation lv1]: The Abigail Flower uses the life materials it creates, along with its control over insects, to create a new type of insect kin. It can create at most 2 types of kin.

As early as when the Abigail Flower created those two insect eggs in the forest, he had already known something.

But even so.

When he actually saw the eggs hatch, he still felt pleased.

The Abigail Flower had not disappointed the wisdom gained from the people, nor the vast life essence of the hermit crabs.

Although the Abigail Flower could not reproduce and could not have its own race.

Yet, through the power of [Creation] and [Evolution], along with its understanding of insect life structures, it had created two very peculiar insect kin, thereby making up for this flaw.

"It seems you are no longer alone either."

Mona smiled.

Under the blue light of the Abigail Flower.

The four newborn blue insects, as if receiving some kind of summons, slowly crawled toward the direction of the deity in the void.

At this moment, they were slowly wriggling on the ground.

Though all were kin of the Abigail Flower, their forms and appearances were completely different.

One of the insects.

It had a streamlined body like a fish, yet its body was covered in segmented carapaces, much like a giant shrimp with smoother curves. At the front of its body, two extremely long and sharp crab pincers gleamed with cold light.