The Elementals and the Elemental Bilrox looked a little different from their lesser versions. The Elementals' presence was more intense and prominent. Their racial limit changed as well, but that wasn't visible. It was merely something Michael could sense.
Elemental Bilrox were sturdier than ordinary Bilrox. They weren't much more significant, but their physical traits were several times higher. Elemental Bilrox were unique due to their inborn ability to perceive and absorb elemental energy. They could hoard elemental energy and create elemental seeds in their energy pool. However, every energy pool had only a little space for elemental seeds. Therefore, most Elemental Bilrox focused either on one elemental seed to reinforce it as much as possible by refining it several times or they created two elemental seeds in their energy pools.
Their elemental seeds could be refined, which ordinary Pyro Bilrox and other mutants of ordinary Bilrox couldn't do.
Both Elementals and Elemental Bilrox were powerful creatures. They could advance to Tier-2 without any obstructions, and Tatjana was certain they could reach Tier-3 if they were given enough resources. However, Tatjana pointed out that the resources required to aid the Elementals and Elemental Bilrox breakthrough were probably too high. It wasn't cost-efficient.
Michael didn't consider the cost-efficiency too much right now. It was more important to understand the value of high-ranked monsters. The offspring of Tier-3 Elemental Bilrox were naturally stronger than the descendants of Tier-2 Elemental Bilrox. Their offspring with stronger parents would have a slightly higher inborn talent, which would make it much easier to reach Tier-3 with fewer resources.
The cost efficiency may be low for several generations, but it would be worth it after some time had passed. The investment would be worth it in the long term, especially with someone like Tatjana in his territory. The Elemental Bilrox didn't have many Evolution Paths, and most of them were dangerous as well. However, by strengthening the Elemental Bilrox over generations, the danger of the Evolution Paths would decrease considerably.
The Elemental Bilrox's probability of surviving the next evolution would increase with every generation. That was worth investing a small fortune--at least, that was what Michael thought.
But the Elemental Bilrox and Elementals weren't the only ones who needed more future investments. The Heavy Armored Elephant, Blood Oath Demon Monkeys, the Greater Eagles, and the Golden Stinger Bee also finished their evolutions.
Everyone was satisfied with their gains, especially the Blood Oath Demon Monkeys. Their power level had skyrocketed, and they were going crazy. Sun Demos was the only one who wasn't going crazy. He finished his evolution and surpassed his racial limit, but nothing significant about his powers or appearance had changed.
Sun Demos was the only one of his kind who didn't change much.
Even the Tier-1 Heavy Armored Elephant changed drastically. The Heavy Armored Elephant evolved into a Behemoth Elephant, triggering its breakthrough to Tier-2. Now that it was a Superior Existence at the 2nd Tier, purely focused on its incredible defense, the Behemoth Elephant couldn't be hurt easily anymore. Not even Elite Awakened at the 2nd Tier could injure the Behemoth Elephant anymore. They couldn't even reach its vital spots easily.
The Behemoth Elephant was close to 15 meters tall and covered in several layers of defense. At first glance, it was hard to see the layers, but the Behemoth Elephant was covered in a thick layer of hide covered in metal-like plates. The Behemoth Elephant would be shrouded in a semi-translucent hue as long as it circulated its original energy through its body.
The semi-translucent hue didn't block incoming attacks. The impacting force was distributed across the hue before it reached the Behemoth Elephant's monstrous defense. It required a considerable amount of force to pierce through the semi-translucent hue. Even Siegfried Dracoon had to use his special techniques to break through the hue only to fail to pierce the Behemoth Elephant's natural defense.
Sun Demos was frustrated just by looking at the Behemoth Elephant. However, the evolution of Greater Eagles and the Golden Stinger Bee made him feel even worse. How was it possible that everyone but him transformed into a powerhouse after evolving once?
Michael had pampered the Greater Eagles a lot. He provided various natural treasures to them even before Tatjana used Eye of Evolution to determine their most suitable Evolution Paths. The Greater Eagles were given options to choose from. Michael was glad to hear that they picked the Evolution Path with the most future potential. He looked forward to their next evolutions now that they transformed into Minor Typhoon Rocs.
Despite the Minor prefix, the Typhoon Rocs were massive. Their wingspan alone was already 50 meters. They were swift and could carry heavy loads on their backs. Once they unleashed their wind affinity, the Minor Typhoon Rocs could cross the distance to the center of the Savannah Region in no time.
Michael didn't have many Minor Typhoon Rocs yet, but their number increased slowly. Sooner or later, Michael would have a whole aerial army filled with Minor Typhoon Rocs—or their evolutions. That was something worth working for. The Minor Typhoon Rocs could advance to Tier-3 rather easily, after all!
Stinger, the MVP of the last several dozen of large-scale battles, didn't disappoint Michael either. He was already overjoyed with the Behemoth Elephant and the Minor Typhoon Rocs, but by far, Stinger's evolution was the best.
The Golden Stinger Bee evolved into the Golden Queen Bee. Michael had been sure that Stinger was a male, but he found out only now that the Golden Stinger Bee didn't have a gender. Why was that important?
It wasn't crucial to determine the gender of the Golden Stinger Bee beforehand. That changed now that Stinger evolved into the Golden Queen Bee. But why? The answer was simple.
Upon evolving into the Golden Queen Bee, Stinger learned to reproduce asexually. Stinger's evolution taught him an efficient reproduction method without involving a second parent. The offspring produced through asexual reproduction are usually exact copies of their parent, but it was a little bit different in the Golden Queen Bee's case. Tatjana said that there could solely be one Queen Bee of a kind. Therefore, the reproduced copy was reduced to its 'lesser' form, the Golden Stinger Bee.
The Golden Queen Bee could produce copies of Stinger before it evolved.
It was solely a matter of time before hundreds of Golden Stinger Bees joined Michael's territory. The strategies he had been forced to use with only one Golden Stinger Bee could then be used with hundreds of Stinger copies.
Michael never anticipated Stinger to evolve into the Golden Queen Bee. Initially, Stinger's Evolution Path was that of the Heir of the Queen Bee. The name was lengthy and sounded more like a title than the name of a race, but Michael did not care about that when he chose this path for Stinger.
The Evolution Path was perfect because it would possess allowed Stinger to transport instantly freely to all the places it had been before while still doing all the Golden Stinger Bee tasks. But the Forest Pixies and the Greater Nature Spirit connected to the Golden Stinger Bee and triggered a change in the evolution.
The Golden Queen Bee did not lose its powers. Instead, Stinger would be able to still do the same as before and transport instantly everywhere. Stinger would also be connected to its offsprings, creating a system for better coordination in future battles.
Michael looked forward to future combats as well. The future was bright.
Excitement filled his heart.
