The golden cocoon inside Nial's Soul Space dissolved slowly.
It had been quite a while since Goldy's evolution had been initiated and it was about time for Nial and his Familiar to take the next step.
But before that, Goldy had to complete the last step of his evolution- devour the final remnants of the golden cocoon.
Goldy was tirelessly absorbing the golden cocoon to break out of it and today would be the day it happened. Nial was confident in Goldy's foundation and strength. He was certain that Goldy would overcome the evolution without issue, and he couldn't be more right.
Goldy finished the evolution in less than two months, evolving from an ordinary Goldscale Serpent into a Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon.
The name might sound a little weird and it was much easier to consider Goldy as a Flood Dragon with golden adamantian scales.
Goldy's size expanded drastically, reaching a shocking length of over thirty meters, and large black horns jut out from the sides of his head.
To Nial, Goldy felt the same as before but the same couldn't be said about the people around him. Celine, Ayase, and everyone else was shocked to the bones when they got to know that Goldy evolved to a Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon.
Not only was this type of Flood Dragon exceptionally rare and almost impossible to bind to a Summoner's Soul Space, but it was unthinkable that a Goldscale Serpent evolved into a rare and powerful being such as a Flood Dragon.
However, that was not all. Goldy's presence turned a big change as well.
If Goldy had little to no presence before, the current existence of Goldy was a might that had to be reckoned with.
Goldy had advanced to a Deux-ranked mythical creature with a mighty presence that was strong enough to suppress most beings at the same rank.
Even beings of a higher rank wouldn't recklessly act in front of Goldy.
It was eerily similar to the presence of Rex, the Blaze Dragon, released naturally. Rex was a Blaze Dragon, and Nial was pretty sure that Goldy could turn into a True Dragon as long as he evolved one or two more times. Others may be skeptical about something like this but it was not as if Nial listened to their words.
[Come back home…]
Nial's eyes widened. The whisper of a woman rang through his ears.
[Please…come back…]
He was just staring at Goldy, who had just evolved when another voice flashed through his entire being. This voice was not the same as before.
[Your rest was long enough. You should come back to us…we miss you…]
A third voice appeared.
Nial's voice widened. He had no idea what was going on.
Wasn't he just looking at Goldy, all by himself?
Looking around, he couldn't see anyone. There were not even manipulated mana traces around him, indicating someone transmitting mental messages.
[Wake up…your people need you. We need you.]
'What is going on?!'
[Nial Orin…it's time to let go.]
Nial stood in his single room, his feet rooted to the ground. Goldy was coiled around him, hissing in joy and happiness.
Nial had been happy as well. Goldy's cultivation rank increased as the Goldscale Serpent evolved. It was not even a normal evolution.
Goldy's talent was big enough to become a True Dragon, otherwise, he would have never become a rare kind of Flood Dragon, just like that, in the first place.
True Dragons were different from Elemental Dragons, or a Blaze Dragon. Their power was a whole level above beings of the same rank.
After all, they were mythical creatures with the purest talent.
Considering that Goldy could already be labeled as a Half-Step Dragon, it should be great news for Nial. After all, his strength increased drastically. Due to his firm Soul Link with Goldy, Nial's Soul Share had increased quite a bit. Thus, Goldy increased Nial's strength much more than the young Summoner had anticipated.
Unfortunately, Nial was not in the mood anymore.
The voices in his head had terminated all somewhat positive emotions.
'What were they talking about?'
…
'Come back? Wake up? Rested long enough?'
He never really rested since he was always working hard. So what were those voices talking about?
Nial was also a Lacardia and not a Nial with the surname 'Orin'. Were those voices mistaken him?
That shouldn't be possible. It was not really feasible that someone living far away from the dense forest was able to send messages via mental transmission to him.
He was in the deepest parts of the dense forest and well hidden from the realm's eyes thanks to the extraordinary means applied by the Silver Eye Clan.
Nial was sure that nobody except the Empress was able to find the Silver eye Clan, in the first place. As for whether she was able to send a message straight into his mind from her location, Nial doubted it.
Not only was it way too difficult but he was also certain that the Empress would have used a Mental Transmission technique if she was able to reach him.
That was why Nial didn't really have an idea what was actually going on.
Did someone from within the Silver Eye Clan send him a mental transmission to prank him? That was unlikely. Everyone liked him, and the members of the Silver Eye Clan were unlikely to joke around. In fact, they were very serious.
Furthermore, he heard three different voices, shortly after each other.
The fourth voice sounded like a mixture of the three…and Nial felt chills running down his spine as he recalled the overlapping voices.
The overlapping voices sounded like Celine, after all.
But he was certain that it was not Celine.
She was sleeping next door…
"I must have fallen victim to an illusion spell. Or maybe someone actually pulled a prank on me! … But I would have noticed that…
Goldy evolved and the voices appeared after that. Did his evolution trigger something? A trap that had been installed inside me? No, that cannot be it either."
Nial started to doubt himself, his existence, and his current state.
Meanwhile, the twists of fate started to roll.
He had actually fallen victim to a trap, after all.
But this trap was not from the Silver Eye Clan, forget about anyone in the Lacardia Empyrean Void.
This trap had been meticulously installed by the Advocate of the Pryard herself.
As for the plan's efficiency.
It was much greater than expected.