On the following days, the bets were raging outside of the building. Many were going for the creatures of the more renowned Limited in the mayor Tiers. This season's favorites were Beo'Tair, Oruleth, and Roghat. There were others whose names were not pronounceable for physical beings. The creatures they selected were almost by theme and got many advantages over the others in each season.

In one betting room was Mardok. Besides him was Z'shara. She was a bipedal beast with bronze fur and bird-like characteristics. The four wings that were in her back and her talon-shaped feet were the best examples. She was looking at who Mardok would bet his Asther today. He chose the number S-589, which was the number of Evalyne. She knew that Evalyne got problems with Mardok before because of a loan he gave to her, which ended badly.

"Why are you betting on her? Did you not beat her up for the last time?"

"I did, but that is not the question. I am not betting on Evalyne but her champion."

"Her champion? Was it unique or something?"

"Not exactly, It felt weird. I didn't touch the soul-orb but could feel the fear it had within. And if I learned something is that the creatures with fear in them live more. That at least has to get it some achievements at late and some interesting ones early."

"I see. Well, I will put twenty thousand for Oruleth. That guy always takes some nasty creatures in his repertoire, abyssal shit and all those creepy things."

"Be my guest. I will see from here how the little one develops."

Inside a Drone was an orb filled with our little guy's soul. And it was approaching the orbit of the planet as many more alongside it. Everyone got their destiny marked. Some were going to volcanos, others to purple woods, the ocean, the arctic zones, etc. But our gecko was going to a different place, below the surface of the planet.

The drone entered a crevice and was getting deeper into the labyrinthic caverns. The drone at the end reached a small biosphere. Mushrooms of different sizes and crystals of diverse energy filled the cavern, giving them distinct blue and purple colors.

Against the walls in a small cavern separated from the main ones was a small capsule with an egg. The drone got near it and, with an injector, inserted the soul inside the capsule. It did it slowly so the soul could merge with the blank one inside the egg, overlapping it. The egg began to move with tiny ticks, and from inside, a cracking sound reverberated. At the same time, Evalyne was seeing how the little one was being born. She decided to name it, so it could be simpler to track it. The new creature was male like his original soul.

"Your name will be Basil, little one, be brave because you are my last chance."

Basil was getting accustomed to sensations again. The egg inside felt warm and cozy, but the hunger was there as motivation to get out. He started cracking the shell until it broke, and with force, got out of it. He was gray, with weak scales and a little triangular white gem embedded in his head and another in his chest.

He looked in physical appearance like a leopard Gecko, with the eyelids even. That removes the need to lick his eyes like other reptiles. Everything seemed huge around him. The only thing that he could visualize was a cavern with a blue light at the end of it, and on the other side from where it hatched, a machine with his egg.

The egg looked like food in his eyes, but his curiosity was in the machine that held the eggshell. He started sniffing it with interest and tried to bite it, to no avail. He gave up and took the eggshells to eat. If he got his teeth harder, he could nibble on it.

After eating the shells, Basil began to feel more stable and not as a mass of meat without bones. He began to move towards the blue lights and found himself looking at a forest of mushrooms. Basil could sense other creatures in there.

That place was dangerous, but the eggshells did not satiate Basil's hunger, and he needed more sustenance. He advanced towards one of the mushrooms and trekked to the top. Basil yanked a piece of the fungus and ate it. It had a weird taste, but it was not enough, so he kept eating until he felt almost satisfied. The top of the fungus looked like a safe place to stay, but something in his mind told him that could not be the case.

After some minutes, Basil began to scout the area for things of interest. His instincts told him that he should look for a place to sleep safely and gather stuff to eat. Still, there was a problem because Basil began to feel dizzy. He looked around for an answer, nothing was attacking him, but he noticed a hazy green glow from his two gems. What was the shiny thing trying to say to him? It should be safer to return to the cave and wait for the green glow to disappear.

But he didn't get the chance. A long and yellow fleshy worm came out of the ground in front of him and showed its teeth to what it thought was prey. Basil was not prey. He skittered out of the way to evade the worm that tried to lunge at him, but he used this chance to bite the side of the worm and cling to it. The worm started trashing at the pain it felt, but Basil had a firm grip on this thing. He started biting more, reaping chunks of meat and leaving green saliva behind.

The worm was starting to lose more meat than it thought it would get from the little creature. Basil didn't look satisfied and started biting inside the worm's body, painting the mossy floor with blue liquid. Basil introduced his head inside the worm and found his innards. He started trashing inside the worm. And with mushy sounds coming from the thing's mouth, it stopped moving.

Basil started eating its prize but stopped after some time, noticing that he better got to the cave. Other creatures might come for the giant bug and also him if he stayed there. Basil ripped a big chunk of the thing and ran towards the cave, reaching it with success. He looked outside the next moment, only to see a thing with tentacles taking the bug and ripping it to shreds. It was eating it with delight by the sound it made. The creature had no face nor head but felt like it saw you from every side. Recoiling at the sounds of crunching and consumption of flesh, Basil rapidly got to the end of the cave with fear.

Basil was still feeling dizzy, but less now. He decided it was better to rest and wait for the mass of tentacles to go away.

Meanwhile, Evalyne looked at everything with horror on her face. If she could sweat, she would be filling a bucket now. The games have started. And a creature of Oruleth was the first showing itself on-screen eating at the worm Basil hunted. That could be a problem in many ways.

"The system did say something about being born in an underground area. I didn't expect it to be a fungal forest. While Basil is resting, I check his vitals and status."

Specimen Name

Basil

Specimen Species

Core Gekkonidae

Lifeforce

43/50

Stamina

25/80

Energy

85/100

Abilities

-Energy Absorption [Tier 2] [Layer 1]

-Energy Control [Tier 0] [Layer 1]

-Voracity [Tier 0] [Layer 1]

-Adaptability [Tier 3 potential of 8] [Layer 2]

-Metamorphosis [Not capable now]

Physical Statistics

-Strength [Tier 0] [Layer 4]

-Agility [Tier 1] [Layer 6]

-Intelligence [Tier 2 potential of 7] [Layer 3]

-Endurance [Tier 1] [Layer 1]

-Energy [Tier 1] [Layer 8]

Traits

-Bloodthirsty

-Curious

-Survivalist [From Perfectionist]

Energies

-Pure [100%] (Natural one)

-Toxic [5%] (Digesting energy, needs more samples to attain control)

"He already started getting new energy... That must be from the mushroom. He has a long road ahead as he needs to learn to survive in this environment. When it grows a little more, he can eat the capsule. That could give him some advantages, while it rests, I better look for ways to help him from here."