Chapter 2034: Going Dungeon Diving With Aquarina

-----

After Aquarina called for him, Pyuku quickly manifested before us, looking slightly surprised. "Ah, sorry. I’ve been meditating and resonating with the cosmic energy of the universe," he said. "How long has it been since I went to meditate?"

"Like weeks?!" Aquarina asked angrily.

"Ah... sorry..." Pyuku apologized.

"It’s been a while, Pyuku!" I said, hugging him—or her. "You look so cute! Aquarina told me you were really active in everything that happened there. Thanks a lot."

"Oh," he smiled. "Yeah, those were the best years of my life. It was so fun..."

"Though things have changed a bit since then..." Aquarina added. "Ah, right... you’re still indecisive about your gender?"

"I like being called a boy, but I don’t mind any other way either," he shrugged. "Call me a girl or a boy... I technically have no sexual organs to identify as either."

"Eh, you should talk with Ruby," I said. "Sexual organs don’t define everything. She said she was a girl in her heart and soul even though she was born a boy. Haven’t you heard?"

"Uh? I haven’t... Damn, I think I’ve been too absent. Sorry," he sighed. "I’d like to know her. I have never heard of such ideologies before. So you can identify as those things anyway? Well, I guess it goes the same for me either way. Perhaps I just don’t have any particular attachment to the concept."

"Well, whatever," Aquarina shrugged, patting his shoulder. "Now go talk with everyone else and stop being a loner!"

"A-Ah! Okay..." Pyuku sighed and walked back toward the group. "Hi, sorry for being away for so long."

"Pyuku!" Furoh celebrated. "Hello!" He quickly turned into a perfect copy of him.

"Furoh, I missed you," Pyuku smiled.

"Pyuku!" Violet smiled at him, waving her slimy hands.

"Hey," he greeted her rather casually.

Leaving them together, I noticed Naturia standing by my side alongside Yggdra.

"Master, are you finally evolving my daughter?" Yggdra asked.

"Yeah, sorry for delaying it," I nodded. "Hmm, I think you could provide enough materials?"

"Yes, I have prepared everything," she replied, snapping her fingers. Several items dropped from a portal leading to the dungeon and landed in front of me. "I have prepared my branches, wood, fruits, roots, sap, fragments of my crystallized divine spirit core, and more. You can add the rest from the items you obtained by defeating the monsters, right?"

"Yes, I’ll add... Hmm, perhaps quite a lot more," I nodded, making mental calculations based on her energy output, production, and entire structural divine and spiritual form. "Okay, I think we can use two hundred Spirit Orbs and Soul Orbs. That should be enough for her. Also... Glutton, come here, boy."

After summoning Glutton, I inspected the inventory.

I had obtained many dropped items from the divine spiritual beasts but had little time to check them until now.

Aside from the useful Spirit Orbs and Soul Orbs, which could serve as excellent materials to evolve familiars, upgrade equipment, or absorb to increase my own power, there were other valuable items.

"How about these?"

I took out large crystallized hearts I had obtained. They were fragments of Divine Beast Hearts, but by combining four or five, it was possible to form a complete one.

I had roughly five hundred fragments, so I could create at least one hundred and fifty complete hearts. Sometimes four fragments were enough, other times five.

Nonetheless, even one already exuded immense power. Naturia’s eyes gleamed as she saw them.

"I think that will help me, Master," she said cutely.

"I know. How many can you take, though?" I asked.

"She can probably handle at least five," Yggdra calculated.

"Five... okay, let’s give her six then," I nodded.

"I guess six is the limit," Yggdra said.

With that settled, I inspected the rest of the dropped items and quickly noticed a couple of treasure chests. I retrieved them and opened them. Several pieces of very rare equipment appeared, along with skill scroll fragments and even...

"Wait, what is this?!"

It was a fragment of a scroll type I had never seen before.

"Ah, that is a Cultivation Method fragment," Alice explained. "The System has fully assimilated the concept of cultivation methods, so dropped items can now include cultivation method scrolls. Unlike skills, however, you must learn their principles and master them on your own."

"Still, that sounds great!" I said. "Nice. And I have quite a few... Yggdra, what do you think? Would equipment benefit her if I combine it with her evolution?"

"She is not like Scarlet and Sapphire, but... I think it might," Yggdra replied. "If she could evolve into something like a Pseudo Spirit Armament, wouldn’t that be even better?"

"Oooh?! Can I? Wait! What’s that?" Naturia wondered, curious and confused.

"I see. What do you think fits her best?" I asked, showing Yggdra ten equipment items I had obtained from the latest treasure chests.

"Hmm..." Yggdra inspected them for a moment and then nodded. "The Staff of Spirit Mending, the Crown of Spirits, and the Armor of Spirit Beasts would all be good for her. More than that and she might not be able to handle it. But those could likely help her evolve into something very unique."

"Ooohh!" Naturia exclaimed excitedly. "Can we begin? Can we start already? I wanna evolve! I wanna evolve! Evolve! Evolve!"

"Calm down," I laughed. "One last thing I want to try is using this as a material."

I showed the scroll to Yggdra.

"Hm? A scroll?" she asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to use a Skill Scroll as a material. I’ve always wondered what might happen," I said. "Is it bad?"

"Hmm, no, I don’t think anything bad could happen. But it is interesting. What powers could she develop if she fused with a skill scroll?" Yggdra wondered. "I am sure she won’t grow weaker or suffer, so it is fine with me."

"Alright then," I nodded. "Ah, right! Why not use these too?" I showed her a large quantity of Dragon Fruits I had created using my skills. "Let’s use all my Dragon Fruits as well."

"Hm! That sounds like a great idea," Yggdra said.

"Waow, I am going to get stuffed! Hehe!" Naturia chuckled, flying around us excitedly. "When do we begin? I wanna evolve!"

"Alright, let’s start now," I nodded. "Alice, begin Rank Up Evolution."

"Understood."

Ding!

[You have gathered all necessary materials.]

[Do you wish to evolve your Familiar: [Naturia]?]

[Yes] [No]

I pressed yes without hesitation, and the evolution finally began. Naturia absorbed the materials one by one as she floated gracefully in midair.

-----