Basil, noticing there was nothing else to do with the cube now underwater, chose to inspect the massive orb that was still floating. A weird smell permeated the object, but Basil didn't get deterred by it in the least. The lizard got near the sphere, making it open slowly so that Basil could see a purple, glowing, and viscous liquid in it.

The "bubbling soup" didn't look appetizing at all, but the smell was enrapturing for Basil. When you smell vanilla extract, the scent is delicious, but the flavor makes you think twice about your life decisions. That's how Basil saw it.

Basil was a bit concerned about what this stuff could do. The last time he ate one of the orbs gifts, he thought he was dying. This situation nagged Basil greatly because he could feel the liquid was beneficial but didn't know what pain it would bring.

The Gekkonoid observed the bubbling liquid with distress in his eyes as he began to think of what this could mean for him in the future. The cavern creatures almost killed him, and he lost a leg that was still trying to grow back, and to complete, his only friend was shattered and encapsulated in that thing.

Noticing his weakness against the world, Basil decided to consume whatever meant growth for him, no matter the pain he would have to suffer to achieve it.

Your creature obtained the [Determination] trait!

"There are always questions to what we are doing with our lives, and we may or may not find those answers, but something will always be constant, and that is we have to forge our path with perseverance."

Learn to persevere and make decisions with certainty so that you can see your limits and make your path in life with confident steps.

Your creature obtained the [Steel Resolve] trait!

"In life, you will find crisis, and your world will collapse many times, but with each destruction you survive, your capacity to rebuild will grow stronger, and so do you."

Learn to grit through suffering so that with each challenge that presents, you grow strong no matter the pain.

Your creature Soul has developed and with it has gained new characteristics!

-The [Determination] trait gives Basil the capacity to persevere through problems and don't give up even if the challenge seems to be impossible (Notice: This characteristic works in mysterious ways when a complex challenge presents.)

-The [Steel Resolve] trait gives Basil the means to ignore pain, suffering, and agony in extreme cases, only if he is confident he can develop, mutate or evolve after the distressing process, battles, or other grievous challenges. (Notice: This characteristic doesn't exempt the creature from receiving a mental or physical backlash as the body has a limit of how much torment it can withstand.)

Evalyne saw the notifications with a blank face because she didn't expect Basil to get two traits out of nowhere. That was ridiculously fast for a creature that is just becoming self-aware of itself.

"How?" — Muttered Evalyne, really scared of Basil's development speed.

"The power of love?" — Said Bik with a grin on his face.

Mardok slapped his face in embarrassment. — "You have a problem with the love stuff. You know that, don't you?"

"What? You want me to be a warmongering asshole all the time because that's what I did most of my life before the ascension. I don't think so, green chum."

Moraeus was laughing on his couch but stopped after he noticed something. "Guys, where is Dusanog? She should be here by now. It has been hours after she said she was going to do something in the city."

"That's right, where is the wisp?" — Asked Evalyne regaining her composure from the notifications.

Bik and Mardok found it strange too and were looking at each other. Mardok reacted first and proposed something.

"Let's give her a call then." — Mardok pulled up his screen and asked for a call with Dusanog to the operator. A wisp appeared on the other side of the screen.

"Well, I hoped you didn't notice my absence, but that was a longshot." — Spoke Dusanog while looking at Mardok face from her side.

Mardok put the video on the large screen floating in the center of the room. — "What do you mean, Dusanog?" — Asked Mardok with some worry.

"Look, to be frank, I don't think your little association is going to achieve nothing. That creature Evalyne has, it's hers, not yours, and when she fails, she fails alone. I advise that all of you terminate your agreement with her as quickly as possible." — Responded Dusanog through the screen.

Evalyne noticed the malice in her words — "What did you do? You soul-eating bitch." — Evalyne questioned with anger flowing through her.

"Whatever I need to do to advance in this fucking place, even going to the shadows if necessary." — Voiced Dusanog.

Evalyne was mad at this point. — "You... I will fucking exterminate you when I get to you, fucking asshole."

"This is nothing personal, Evalyne, "Basil" presented an opportunity, and I took it, good luck." — Dusanog terminated the connection.

Evalyne was agitated and walking around the room, trying to breathe, even if she didn't need to.

Moraeus was the first to ask. — "Can any of you explain what just happened."

Mardok opened his mouth first. — "Basil's information got sold in the Shadow Stròmata."

Basil, with renewed confidence, approached the container and touched the liquid with his leg. The liquid felt hot and had some acidity to it because Basil's paw got burned. How was he supposed to take this thing, if it caused harm if touched, was he supposed to ingest it like that?

The gekkonoid was still adamant about this, but he acted without waiting for his fear to act first. Basil put his head inside the container with the liquid and slurped as fast as possible with his new resolve.

Basil was now consuming a Mutagenic ooze, a liquid that perfected the DNA or reinforced the body of a specimen without turning it into a monster. An alien race designed this Mutagenic in a strange dimension, and this was a perfected version of past samples.

The ooze burned Basil's scales, skin, and throat at a slow pace, but he endured it without wincing. After drinking all the mutagen, Basil began to feel sick as his stomach tried to digest the stuff the better it could.

Basil submerged inside the pool as the heat from the water at least diminished the discomfort he was feeling inside his body. The mutagen worked fast, expulsing from inside Basil the defective genes he could have, excreting a black and red goo that the water washed away.

This process made Basil lose weight and some bulkiness he had before in his torso. Basil's muscles got more reactive, denser, and flexible. The rooted stomach became more acidic and absorbent of nutrients. The mutagen didn't touch the bones, but Basil's brain processes got accelerated. His skin got a bit rougher below the scales.

Basil didn't grow a new arm out of the blue, but he could feel that the regeneration rate was faster as his body tried to maintain itself. Basil, to sustain itself, slurped the hot spring water because his body demanded nutrients he didn't have at hand, making him lose more mass.

After a while, all stopped or seemed like so. The mutagen was still active in Basil's body because some of his organs tried to change, but the resolution of the reptile did not allow the process to continue, or he would be consumed when all ended.

Basil needed meat, and he would have to seek it around these parts. So like this, his exploration of the pools began. Basil descended the mountain of ponds, but there wasn't any fish at sight. There seemed to be hundreds of small banks, but a pond collected all the water below all of them.

Basil could see some creatures with a yellow color moving in the pond, which meant food for him. Basil descended quickly, and when he reached the bottom, animals with the appearance of crustaceans frolicked outside and inside the water. The crustaceans had the shape of a trilobite but with tiny yellow crystals on top of their carapaces.

These crustaceans were called Salpabits and consumed sulfur as a source of food. Basil began stalking the one near him and pounced when the creature stopped to eat. The beast was alerted and tried to make himself a ball covered on cristal spikes, but Basil didn't give it any time and smashed it where the head would be located, killing it instantly.

After the creature perished, a nasty odor was expulsed with his fluids. This scent was concentrated sulfur, but Basil didn't bate an eye and started eating. The Salpabit had a spicy taste on its meat, making Basil feel delighted if we don't count the foul smell. And so Basil's all-you-can-eat began.