After two hours, Lohan and Lisa were already getting sleepy, tired of dealing with this dungeon, when Lohan finally finished digesting the Beetle Queen’s body.
[Body of a consumed Prey, absorbing an Evolution...]
[New Evolution acquired - Hive Mother Lv 1: Allows you to channel part of the refined Biomass and Mana to linked allies, drastically reducing evolution bottlenecks and strengthening companions’ natural defenses in real time.]
[The Devourer (Mythic) class has detected absolute compatibility between [Hive Mother Lv 1] and [Magical Weaving Lv 3]. Initiating Fusion and Qualitative Evolution...]
[New Evolution obtained: Weaver Mother Lv 1] - 500 Bio
[Allows the creation of biological threads fused with Mana. The filaments are extremely resistant and adhesive, capable of immobilizing targets and passively draining the magical energy of any living being in direct contact with the web.
In addition to immobilizing and draining energy, the Mana-infused threads act as bidirectional conductors. This evolution allows for the direct injection of Mana and refined Biomass into the system of any being entangled by the web or in symbiotic contact with the user.]
Reading the description of this skill, if Lohan had eyes, they would be shining with excitement right now!
’This is the skill the Queen used to strengthen the Beetles and Pip to fight against us!’ he thought excitedly. ’The problem is... why is it called Mother Weaver? Couldn’t it be Father Weaver?’
But with the mindset of not being ungrateful for something so good that had fallen into his lap, he ignored it.
’As long as I don’t tell other people the name of this skill, no one will ever know, right?’
"Lisa, come here, let me test something." Lohan said as he approached her, extending his tentacles forward and projecting some Magic Webs
Lisa looked at that strange scene, but having already been through worse situations with this Slime, she didn’t mind and approached him, letting his Magic Webs touch her.
When the webs came into contact with her hair, Lisa felt a sensation of weakness wash over her for an instant, only for it to disappear the next second.
"Sorry, force of habit," Halon said, stopping the Web from draining her Mana. Since he used this all the time in combat, he was already accustomed to keeping the Mana drain active at all times.
Before Lisa could say anything, she felt as if the energy that had been drained in that instant was returned immediately afterward, surprising her.
The speed at which the energy was returned was slower than the speed of the drain, taking 5 seconds to return the energy it had stolen, but after those 5 seconds, the energy didn’t stop flowing, and slowly her body felt a very comfortable sensation, as if she were stepping into a cozy hot tub on a cold day.
Unlike the Natural Energy that Halon had poured into her earlier, this energy she was receiving now seemed denser... more nourishing.
"Tell me, what are you feeling?" he asked through their mental link.
Lisa was pensive for a moment, still processing this sensation and trying to find a way to describe it to him in words.
"I think the best way to describe this to you is as if I were submerged in a chamber of nutrient solution, with it nourishing every cell in my body and strengthening me little by little... what is this, Halon?" she asked curiously, looking at her partner with even greater interest.
’You never cease to amaze me, Halon...’ she thought.
"This is the skill I gained by digesting the Beetle Queen. Do you remember how she nourished the beetles and how she nourished Pip to make him stronger in a short time? Apparently, by gaining this skill from her, I can now do that too, but tell me, how intense does this feel to you?" Halon asked.
"Hmm..." Lisa murmured thoughtfully. "The improvement is very slow, but steady and very satisfying... maybe it would take at least an hour of you injecting this into me for me to notice any noticeable physical difference."
"Hmm..." Halon became pensive, even forming a small hand and placing it where his chin should be, without realizing how funny that scene looked. "It seems my skill level is lower than Queen Beetle’s... An hour of injecting biomass into you would be too high a cost for me. We’ll have to run some tests to see how viable using this skill will be in the future."
Since it wasn’t his own body, Lohan couldn’t precisely gauge how significant this noticeable physical change Lisa was talking about actually was.
He was consuming a rate of 1 Biomass per second on Lisa, which would mean a cost of 3,600 Biomass in an hour.
And from what she was saying, perhaps he would inject those 3,600 Biomass into her and she would receive much less than that, losing a large portion in the process.
At his current digestion rate, that was 7 times more than what he digested in an hour, and 2.17 times more than his digestion rate with [Hemolymphatic Tissue] active.
Looking at the high evolution cost involved, Lohan gritted his teeth and spent 500 Biomass to evolve this skill.
[New Evolution Obtained: Weaver Mother Lv 1 → Lv 2] - 750 Bio
’Damn, the price to level this up has gone up by 50% again, just like the previous Magic Weaving...’
But the difference was clear, both to Lohan and to Lisa.
Even without him mentioning that the level of this evolution had risen, the fox’s eyes widened at the sensation she was feeling.
"Halon, I feel like this is stronger! Did you increase the injection speed?!" she asked excitedly.
"Yes, how is it feeling different to you?" he asked.
He was still maintaining the same injection rate of 1 Biomass per second.
Closing her eyes to feel the changes more closely, Lisa didn’t realize her cheeks were slightly flushed from how much more pleasant that sensation had become.
Fortunately, she had white fur covering her face, which prevented Lohan from seeing the blush on her cheeks.
"It’s hard to pinpoint this change, but I feel as if the amount of nutrients entering my body has increased by 10% to 20%... But I can’t say for sure; maybe it’s a little more or a little less than that range," she said, finally opening her eyes.
’Hmm, so the efficiency doesn’t increase as much as I imagined. Even though the price has gone up by 50%, the improvement in efficiency is several times less than that. But on the other hand, I feel like I can now increase the injection rate even further.’
Deciding to test this, Lohan said nothing and doubled the biomass injection, raising the rate from 1 biomass per second to 2.
Lisa noticed this instantly, feeling as if her body went limp for a split second, her eyes widening in shock at the overwhelming sensation she was feeling, and without hesitation, she leaped backward while generating flames across her body to sever her connection with Halon.
At that moment, for some reason Lisa became enraged and a fireball formed in her mouth, ready to fire at Halon, leaving him even more confused.
"Wait, WAIT! What are you doing?!" He asked, startled, retracting his tentacles and Magic Webs while donning his obsidian armor, preparing for the attack even without knowing the reason for it.
Seeing his confused and frightened reaction, Lisa realized he hadn’t done it on purpose, and after a few seconds with her mouth open, she finally retracted the white flame and looked away from the Slime, not wanting to speak to him.
Lohan: ???????