C15 The Evolution Route of the Stone!

Dawn was breaking.

"Ahh," Lin Yi yawned, rolling over to catch more sleep.

He was supposed to attend class today, but the hatching of his Familiar Egg warranted a leave of absence from school.

In this world, schools readily grant various types of leave, such as personal and special leave.

The nurturing leave Lin Yi requested fell under personal leave and was given high priority. Within minutes, the school had granted him a five-day leave last night, with a message to return once he'd finished hatching his Familiar.

After some more sleep, Lin Yi felt an itch on his face, accompanied by a cold, smooth sensation.

It felt like... what on earth?

Half-asleep, Lin Yi jolted awake, his mind snapping into focus as he grabbed the object on his face and flung it aside, sitting up with lightning speed.

He seemed to have a knack for this.

"...What in the world is that?" Now Lin Yi had a chance to see the cold, elongated creature he'd tossed beside the bed.

A young snake, over ten centimeters long and as thick as a little finger, shimmered in pale blue. It cocked its head and flicked its tongue, looking at Lin Yi quizzically.

It must be wondering: "Why is my master acting so strangely? Why did he throw me out?"

Lin Yi exhaled in relief. "Ah, it's just a little snake... You gave me quite a scare..."

It turned out to be the Familiar that had hatched the previous night. He had only frightened himself.

Lin Yi had always slept alone since he was young, and the idea of sharing his bed with a snake was somewhat unsettling. So, he had placed it in the Familiar Book before going to sleep.

But without any restrictions set, some clever Familiars could escape from the book on their own...

And that's how he ended up with this morning's surprise.

Seeing the little snake's forlorn expression, Lin Yi patted his stomach and asked, "Are you hungry?"

"Hiss, hiss~"

The little snake flicked its tail and cozied up in Lin Yi's embrace.

"Hey~" Lin Yi stroked it, finding the sensation cool and smooth, quite soothing.

"Alright, let's see what we've got to eat." Saying this, Lin Yi cradled the little snake and walked out of the room.

The living room was silent, empty.

His mother had left for work, and his father had been staying at a friend's house for the past few days. Lin Wushuang was at her classes. Only Lin Yi, who had taken the day off, was rummaging around for something to eat.

After a while, Lin Yi sprawled listlessly over the dining table.

"This is the last thing..."

He presented a slice of beef to the little snake.

"Hiss, hiss~"

The snake shook its head and nudged the meat away with its tail.

"You won't eat vegetables, you turn up your nose at fodder, and now you're refusing meat too? So, what do you want to eat?"

Lin Yi was at his wit's end.

He had scoured the house for anything edible, but the little snake was unimpressed and rejected everything.

"Hiss, hiss~" The little snake seemed to sulk, clearly displeased.

At that moment, Lin Yi, feeling in his pocket, exclaimed, "Ah! If you won't eat meat, how about stone?"

With a playful air, Lin Yi took out two stones and placed them before the little snake.

As Lin Yi was about to search on his phone for what common water snakes usually enjoy, he caught sight of something unexpected...

The little snake was ecstatically entwining itself around the water essence stone, even attempting to swallow the stone that was three times the size of its head.

Lin Yi was stunned.

"You're actually trying to eat it!" Lin Yi quickly grabbed the spar, trying to pry it away.

But it was futile; as he lifted the spar, the little snake clung to it even more tightly.

And it gazed up at Lin Yi with big, watery eyes, looking utterly pitiful.

"You can't eat this!"

Lin Yi was puzzled. Attribute spars weren't meant to be eaten; they were meant to assist in hatching Familiar Eggs or for the energy cultivation of other Familiars.

Familiars require nutrition to grow, and they generally need to consume the right food to develop healthily. After all, energy can't replace nutrition, can it?

Could it be an issue with aptitude?

At this thought, Lin Yi's face underwent a dramatic change.

"Test!"

"Beep! Testing..."

Name: Mutant Water Snake (Weak)

Species: Reptilia

Attribute: Water, ?

Level: Bronze Three Middle Period

Status: Youth Phase, Excited

Quality: Perfect

Potential: Four Stars

Skills: Entanglement, Gaze, Spunlace, ?

Evolution Route: 1. Common Evolution: Crystal Snake (Not satisfied), 2. Reversion Evolution: Anaconda (Not satisfied), 3. Mutated Evolution: Rock Snake (Not satisfied), 4. Epic Evolution: Feathered Serpent (Not satisfied), 5. Bloodline Evolution: Woodland Serpent (Not satisfied)

Description: Within Tiny's small body lies a trace of a mysterious bloodline. It's as if a mysterious power is calling out... However, its birth was marred by insufficient nutrition, leaving its body rather frail. By supplementing with enough water and wood attribute spars, its weakness can be compensated for.

Lin Yi nodded in satisfaction upon seeing the impressive attribute panel.

This was befitting of his exceptional status.

Then, he turned his attention to the description, his face lighting up with understanding.

"So it's a lack of energy at birth that's the issue. No wonder it craves attribute spars..."

Finally, Lin Yi's gaze landed on the evolution route.

Stroking his chin, Lin Yi mused, "Bloodline evolution is a first for me. It seems incredibly powerful, though I suspect the conditions will be tough to meet."

Nevertheless, Lin Yi was determined to strive for it, regardless of the challenge. Bloodline evolution was simply too valuable and rare to pass up. Opting for a common evolution just to make things easier would likely be a lifelong regret.

"Ah, right, there's also Tiny's evolution route!"

Thankfully, apart from the more challenging Mutated and Epic Evolutions, the conditions for the other evolution routes were quite straightforward.

Yet, the Epic Evolution into the demon dog remained Lin Yi's most coveted transformation. With such a cool name, it had to be formidable.

Lin Yi shook his head, dismissing further speculation for the moment.

I had thought that taking a rare day off would allow me to relax for a couple of days, but I suddenly found myself swamped with so many tasks.

Ah well, no use complaining. I've only got myself to blame for cheating, right?

And what's the point of having cheats if you're not going to use them to get stronger?

"You rascal!" Lin Yi stroked the scales of the little snake.

"Just you wait!"

...

A short time later,

Lin Yi, with a stone pestle in hand, kept pounding away with effort.

Before long, Lin Yi wiped the sweat from his brow and remarked, "This spar is incredibly tough!"

"Hiss!"

The little snake, coiled nearby, let out a contented hiss, its small section of tail visible and wriggling with delight.

Lin Yi laughed joyfully as well.

"You, my friend, since the first thing you ate was a stone, your name shall be Stone..."