Time always flew by in the blink of an eye.
The sun rose and set.
The tides came in and went out.
In the blink of an eye, time passed once more.
Ever since his father's death,
Ned often came to the seaside, just as his father had when he was young. He would watch the golden morning light shimmer across the sea, its ripples gleaming with a captivating radiance.
Over the past few years,
the Rot Spirit Flower had not once again controlled the ants to pass along any warnings of Sea Monster invasions.
This had left the people of the tribe feeling reassured and at ease.
It had also made his longing for the sea grow stronger with each passing day.
"God chose you because everything you've done has meaning."
"Don't waste the power God gave you, and don't let down your younger brother, who took on the burden for you."
Ned gazed at the sea, his expression utterly calm.
But whenever he recalled his father's words,
his heart surged like the tide.
And here,
he often met someone.
An old man who shared his deep interest in the sea.
"You're here."
Hearing a sound behind him, Ned turned around and smiled.
The newcomer was a respected elder—or, more accurately, an Artisan.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
A hint of a smile touched Blair's face. Leaning on his cane, he stood by the sea, watching the churning waves and the rising sun, which scattered ever more flecks of gold across the water. His aged face held a look of wonder.
"Your father used to love standing here and watching the sea, too. This is the best place to watch the sunrise over the water."
Ned smiled.
He stood quietly beside Blair, enjoying the captivating sight with him.
After Blair resigned as an elder,
the wise man, revered by all and the tribe's finest Artisan, had moved back to his little seaside hut. He no longer took part in tribal discussions, and, as he had in his youth, he kept to himself, living a solitary life away from the world.
Blair had no wife.
Naturally, he had no children, either.
The Artisan had spent most of his life in the company of wood and stone.
Even when he did work alongside others, they were merely the apprentices and Artisans who worked with him, devoting themselves to inventing and creating things for the tribe.
That was also why Ned respected him so much.
Ned chatted with Blair about the past and all sorts of things.
However,
just as he was weighing his words, about to ask Blair something that had been on his mind, he suddenly sensed something.
"Hm?"
Ned abruptly looked down.
The Rot Spirit Staff in his hand was glowing with a steady, pale blue light.
At the same time,
he could feel his perception of the insects shifting, then beginning to fade away.
"What is this...?"
Ned's expression changed.
This situation
clearly meant that the Rot Spirit Flower in the forest was undergoing a major change.
He hurriedly said goodbye to Blair for the moment and rushed back.
At the same time,
the guards watching over the Rot Spirit Flower in the forest also noticed the strange phenomenon in shock.
The pale blue light that had once dimmed was growing brighter and brighter.
When Boer and the elders hurried to the Rot Spirit Flower's location,
they came to a gradual stop. One after another, they all looked toward the glowing plant, their faces full of surprise.
The Rot Spirit Flower had been wrapped in a thick layer of stone.
At some point, its hard outer shell had quietly cracked apart.
The true flower, with its beautiful indigo-blue petals, had unfolded.
A dazzling blue light that seized the soul flowed across its soft petals.
At the same time,
the six crystal-clear stones growing on the mycelium began to crack.
As they continued to split,
something seemed to crawl out from within, revealing a bizarre head.
Only then did the people realize what they were seeing.
Those were not some kind of miraculous, blue-glowing stones after all.
They were... giant insect eggs created by the Messenger of the Gods.
Now,
the newly hatched insects, each strange-looking and different in form, slowly crawled out before the astonished eyes of the people.
Mona's gaze also fell on the Abigail Flower.
After years of gathering strength,
the Abigail Flower had finally passed through its embryonic stage and officially entered the next phase.
On this day,
the Apostle could truly be said to have been born into the world, becoming a newborn child.
He soon noticed the change in the Abigail Flower's soul colors as well.
After this growth,
the color of [Evolution] had become much stronger in the Abigail Flower's life colors.
It seemed to have truly mastered the secrets of Evolution.
And it had also successfully combined that power with [Creation], giving rise to the ability [Create Kin].
[Plant lv5] Abigail Flower
[Age]: 17 years
[Talent]: "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 evolving, it gained the colors of Life Fusion and Insect Kin Creation."
Mona saw the colors within its soul, and interest showed in his eyes.
[Life Fusion lv1]: The Abigail Flower can learn the life structures of certain ordinary creatures by devouring them. It can then rearrange and combine fragments of their lives to create new life materials.
[Kin Creation lv1]: Using the life materials it has created and its ability to control insects, the Abigail Flower can create new insect kin. It can create no more than two kinds of kin.
He had already realized what was happening when the Abigail Flower created those two insect eggs in the forest.
Even so,
seeing the eggs actually hatch still filled him with delight.
The Abigail Flower had not let down the wisdom it had gained from the people or the vital essence of the many Hermit Crabs.
Although the Abigail Flower could not reproduce and could not have a species of its own,
it had used the powers of [Creation] and [Evolution], along with its understanding of insect life structures, to create two peculiar kinds of insect kin and make up for this shortcoming.
"Looks like you're not alone anymore, either."
Mona smiled.
Beneath the blue light of the Abigail Flower,
the four newly born blue insects seemed to have received some kind of summons. They slowly crawled toward the place in the void where God resided.
At that moment, they were slowly wriggling across the ground.
Though they were all kin of the Abigail Flower, they looked completely different from one another.
One of the insects
had a streamlined body like a fish, covered in segmented shells. It looked like a giant shrimp with a sleeker shape, and two long, sharp crab claws gleamed at the front of its body.
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