97: Chapter 97: I Choose You—The Beast of a Thousand Transformations!

Gu Changming watched quietly.

After the Mimic Beast completely detached from the cocoon, it lay limp on the rock surface, resembling a blob of semi-solid black gelatin.

A few seconds later, its body began to contract and shape itself, its outline quickly becoming clear.

Eventually, it transformed into a creature the size of a house cat, entirely pitch-black, squatting on the crimson rock and yawning lazily.

Seeing this, Gu Changming immediately opened its panel, wanting to observe its changes.

【Beast of a Thousand Changes】

Gu Changming raised an eyebrow slightly.

"The name changed, from 【Primal Saliva】 to 【Beast of a Thousand Changes】."

"But it feels like the prestige has dropped a bit," Gu Changming evaluated to himself.

His gaze continued downward to the ability column.

The moment he saw it, Gu Changming's eyes flickered.

【Ability: Unknown】

"Unknown?"

After staring at the word "Unknown" for a moment, Gu Changming closed the panel and returned his gaze to the Mimic Beast.

The cat-like form of the Mimic Beast was currently looking up at him as well.

Gu Changming stared back at it for a few seconds, then snapped his fingers.

The Mimic Beast's body trembled. The next second, its form was kneaded and reshaped as if by invisible hands. In the blink of an eye, it changed from a black cat into a crow, flapping its wings to land on the edge of the rock, still tilting its head to look at him.

"Huh?"

Gu Changming frowned. This change... it was no different from before.

It could still change its form; although it was now called the Beast of a Thousand Changes, its ability was no different from the previous Primal Saliva.

He withdrew his gaze and turned to look at his surroundings.

His Mental Power spread out silently, sweeping across the scorching plain like ripples in water.

A moment later, he locked onto a target three hundred meters away: a constantly churning lake of molten lava, its surface bubbling and gurgling, the heat haze distorting the air.

Gu Changming raised his hand and hooked his finger in the air.

A head-sized crimson rock near his feet floated up and drifted in front of him.

He flicked his finger forward.

The rock turned into a blur, tearing through the air and smashing heavily into the center of the lava lake.

"Boom!"

The lava exploded, scorching liquid splattered everywhere, violent waves rippled out, and the lake surface churned.

A few seconds later, the tremors gradually subsided, and the lava seemed about to return to its original state.

But at the very last moment.

"Splash!!"

A massive head covered in dark red scales abruptly thrust out from the lava!

It was a Fire Lizard with a shape similar to a dragon, its head alone half a person's height.

It shook its head, opened its mouth, and let out a low hiss, turning its head and scanning its surroundings with burning pupils.

It wanted to find the culprit who had just thrown a rock at it.

Gu Changming was not surprised to see it appear.

He had just thrown that rock specifically to lure the creature out of the lava.

Subsequently, Gu Changming reached out, his movements natural, and grabbed the crow that was squatting on the rock, tilting its head to look toward the lava.

Then, with a wave of his arm, he threw the Mimic Beast violently toward the Fire Lizard, just as one would throw a stone.

The black form of the Mimic Beast traced an arc in the air.

Just before it was about to land, its body suddenly expanded and deformed!

The black feathers disappeared, its body elongated and thickened, and dark red scales covered it layer by layer. A massive "Molten Poison Serpent," almost twice the size of the Fire Lizard, landed heavily on the ground.

The Fire Lizard's hiss stopped abruptly, its pupils instantly locking onto this uninvited guest that had suddenly appeared in its territory.

Without any hesitation, it immediately clawed at the edge of the lava lake with its four limbs, its massive body clambering out of the scalding lava with a violent jerk!

Then, with a low roar, it brandished its sharp front claws and lunged at the Mimic Beast!

The Molten Poison Serpent, transformed from the Mimic Beast, reacted extremely quickly. Its thick, long body twisted nimbly, avoiding the frontal claw strike. At the same time, its long tail whipped out with a whistling sound, striking the Fire Lizard's flank heavily.

"Smack!"

The Fire Lizard staggered, almost knocked to the ground by the lash.

The Fire Lizard hissed angrily, opening its mouth to spew a stream of scorching fire.

The Molten Poison Serpent, transformed from the Mimic Beast, did not dodge this time but charged straight into the flames. Unharmed, it closed in on the Fire Lizard, its body coiling around it like a giant python, and tightened its grip violently!

The Fire Lizard let out a pained, muffled roar, struggling frantically, but it could not break free from the tightening constriction.

The battle was almost one-sided.

Not far away, Gu Changming, who was observing the battle between the two, still had his brows tightly locked.

After the Mimic Beast re-hatched, the Molten Poison Serpent it transformed into was indeed much stronger in strength, speed, and reaction time than before.

Its size was also a circle larger than the Molten Poison Serpent he had swallowed previously.

"But... was that it?"

There was an improvement, but it wasn't revolutionary.

One could even say it was a bit too mediocre.

During the previous Assessment, he had taken it to hunt down dozens of Beast King-level exotic beasts, accumulating so much energy and foundation, yet the result of its evolution was just this?

It didn't meet his inner expectations.

Just as Gu Changming was deep in thought, a sudden change occurred in the arena.

The strangled Fire Lizard let out a pained, death-like hiss, and then, the lava lake beside it, which had previously only been slowly churning, suddenly began to boil violently!

"Splash! Splash!"

Several breaking sounds rang out in succession!

Then, four or five Fire Lizards of similar size, their bodies flowing with dark red lava, crawled out from the lake one after another!

The moment they emerged, their pupils locked onto the Mimic Beast that was strangling their kin.

Immediately after, they all let out angry hisses in unison, pushed aside the lava, and lunged at the Mimic Beast.

Gu Changming's eyes narrowed, his wrist flipped, and night erosion was already in his hand.

The Molten Poison Serpent form of the Mimic Beast was indeed powerful and could easily crush that one Fire Lizard, which was at about C-rank strength.

But if five more came, and it was surrounded, even if it could win, it would likely have to pay a significant price.

Gu Changming gathered his Mental Power under his feet, ready to step forward to assist, disperse the combat power of those Fire Lizards, and then cooperate to slay them.

However, just as he was about to move.

In the arena, the Molten Poison Serpent that was tightly strangling the Fire Lizard suddenly loosened its body, and immediately after, its entire form instantly disintegrated!

The dark red scales disappeared, and the massive snake body reverted in the blink of an eye into a pitch-black, amorphous, jelly-like substance.

After returning to its original form, the Mimic Beast leaped lightly backward, putting a distance of more than ten meters between them, and landed on the ground.

The moment it landed, it didn't immediately transform to attack, but instead began to wriggle and expand violently! Its volume increased by nearly double in the blink of an eye, like a black water balloon being inflated.

Gu Changming's movements instantly stalled, and the color in his eyes stirred again.

"Is it coming?"

Following that, under Gu Changming's focused gaze, a large lump suddenly protruded from the surface of this expanding black gelatin.

This protruding part seemed to have a life of its own, peeling itself off and "detaching" from the main body!

And the large mass of black gelatin that had split off, the moment it detached from the main body, began to shape itself at high speed, elongating, covering itself in scales, generating a head...