Evolution!! First Order-Flowers, Please...

Hardening his resolve, he sent the other eight enormous black spears tearing through the air and driving viciously into the Golden Giant Eagle's body.

The Golden Giant Eagle's wings were indeed impossible to deal with.

But Yu Ziyu refused to believe that the other places, where no feathers covered it, could have the same defenses.

Thus, the other eight spears struck more or less toward the Golden Giant Eagle's abdomen.

That was a bird of prey's most vulnerable part.

"Cree..."

The Golden Giant Eagle's piercing cry of agony suddenly rang throughout the valley.

Flapping its wings, the Golden Giant Eagle attempted one final struggle. Blood sprayed from its wounds as it kept pulling its body backward.

But Yu Ziyu, determined to kill it in one strike, could hardly let such an opportunity slip away.

"Burst!"

With that furious shout, the power previously stored in the nine enormous black spears, which had been twisted to a certain degree, suddenly erupted.

This drew on the principle of a torsion spring.

The earlier rotation had stored up power.

Then, once they pierced deep into the Golden Giant Eagle's body, that power was fully unleashed.

This would also maximize the secondary damage inflicted on the Golden Giant Eagle.

With a wet tearing sound, the rapidly spinning enormous black spears brought forth a shower of blood.

Unable to react in time, Yu Ziyu was even drenched all over.

But just then,

With a crisp ding, a cold system notification suddenly sounded in his ears.

"Ding! You killed an Entry-Level level seven mutated golden eagle. Evolution Points +70."

"Ding! First Order evolution requirements met. Current Evolution Points: 70/10. Begin the next stage of evolution?"

First Order? Evolution?

A surge of delighted surprise flashed through Yu Ziyu's heart as he realized something.

Sure enough, just as he had guessed, there was a First Order.

And beyond that, if he was not mistaken, there should also be a Second Order, Third Order, and so on.

At this thought, Yu Ziyu glanced at the golden eagle, now thoroughly impaled in midair by the enormous black spears and devoid of any signs of life. Slightly reassured, he then whispered inwardly:

Confirm evolution.

As the words fell, Yu Ziyu suddenly felt a surge of energy pouring into his body.

This energy was so fierce, so overwhelming, that Yu Ziyu's entire body shuddered the instant it rushed in.

Crackle, crackle.

Amid the rapid, brief sounds, Yu Ziyu's bark kept bursting apart.

Even more unbelievably, his entire trunk kept expanding. In the blink of an eye, it had grown so thick that it would take two people to encircle it with their arms.

That was not particularly thick.

But the problem was that only a few breaths had passed.

And the transformation was still continuing...

Yu Ziyu could distinctly feel every inch of his body constantly strengthening. The surging energy destroyed his cells, then a warm current passed through and repaired them once more.

And the repaired cells were even stronger.

Vaguely, a transformation in the very essence of his life had already begun.

Indeed, the evolution Yu Ziyu was undergoing now was a leap in his existence.

His branches lengthened one after another, reaching into the sky like flailing claws. Yet they grew ever greener, and a faint starlike radiance even shimmered over them, just as it had when he strengthened his branches before.

Only now, it was clearly visible even in daylight.

From afar, at the bottom of the gorge, a giant tree that appeared twenty or thirty meters tall shimmered with light like the stars.

And as that light flickered, its countless branches seemed to churn across the sky.

For a time, the entire gorge was illuminated by a radiance uniquely his.

Birds took flight, and beasts trembled...

As if in a dream, a true overlord of the gorge was rising.

And where the world could not see, an even greater transformation was sweeping through.

Yu Ziyu's countless black secondary roots kept spreading, growing at a tremendous pace.

They turned the soil over and burrowed into it again, like an earth dragon rolling over. For a time, furrows could be seen rising throughout the gorge.

But those were merely his secondary roots.

Yu Ziyu's lifeline—his Main Tree Root—was where the greatest change lay.

His Main Tree Root kept pushing deeper underground. Hard rock could not stop its advance. As the gorge shook, his Main Tree Root only stopped after reaching roughly a hundred meters underground.

"Rumble..."

At the slightest contact, Yu Ziyu could clearly feel a chill.

Is this an underground river?

Amid his surprise and uncertainty, Yu Ziyu's heart gave a slight jolt.

But a moment later, within his perception, the countless little rootlets of his Main Tree Root clung tightly to the rock like a spiderweb, covering an area of roughly fifty meters.

Immediately afterward, an even greater chill came pouring in without cease.

It was more than just an underground river. Yu Ziyu could clearly feel an unending stream of unknown substances rushing in.

Could this be one of those Spiritual Rivers containing large amounts of unknown substances?

His heart jolted, and Yu Ziyu formed a guess.

It was a hundred meters underground and contained large amounts of unknown substances. Calling it a Spiritual River was not unreasonable.

But this was not the time to dwell on that.

Because...

Screech, screech, screech...

Accompanied by cries that could pierce metal and split stone, the eight peregrine falcons in the washbasin-sized nest nestled in Yu Ziyu's crown began swelling in the wind.

It was as though Yu Ziyu's evolution had affected them as well.

But that made sense.

With Yu Ziyu's tree body at its center, something like a whirlpool-a small storm of "spiritual energy"-had already formed.

And as the ones closest to Yu Ziyu, the peregrine falcons naturally benefited greatly.

Not only the peregrine falcons, but a red fox beneath the tree also began a new round of transformation.

Its sharp claws lengthened little by little, and the fiery red deep within its eyes grew ever more brilliant...

Its fur also kept growing, becoming noticeably more lustrous.

From afar, this red fox, already comparable in size to a calf, looked as though it were bathed in flames.

Both sacred and terrifying.

"Awoo..."

A long howl suddenly rang through the gorge.

The red fox bathed in flames sprang up and landed on a boulder. Then its cold eyes swept in every direction across the gorge, as though it were keeping watch against something.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

"Screech, screech, screech..."

As piercing cries rose one after another, the eight peregrine falcons, seemingly fully grown, with bodies around seventy centimeters long and wingspans reaching one or two meters, spread their wings and rushed into the sky.

"Screech..."

Another piercing cry rang out in unison, truly powerful enough to pierce metal and split stone. Even the gorge shook.

The eight peregrine falcons took up positions in eight directions, their eyes as cold and sharp as an eagle's, searching every corner of the gorge without rest.

(*^▽^*) I saw it!

I really saw it. Thank you for the tips, and thank you to everyone supporting me.

I'll definitely work hard.

I stayed up late last night and slept until now...

Time to get to work...

In a bit, if I have time, I'll organize the list and post individual chapters to properly thank you all one by one.

(Event period: June 12 to June 14)