Chapter 120: Mirage’s Evolution [1] Moon’s began to think aloud, "The problem is identifying which vessel leads to the gills versus which ones lead to other organs. If we choose wrong, we could end up in its digestive system, or brain, or somewhere even worse than here. Just because we are safe here, doesn’t mean that we are somewhere else." Selene nodded, acknowledging the risk. "True. But we can make educated guesses based on flow patterns and vessel size. The largest vessel carrying de-oxygenated blood away from the ventricle should be the ventral aorta—the main artery leading directly to the gills." She pointed at the largest of the four openings, where blood surged outward with tremendous force during each heartbeat. "That one. It’s the primary outflow vessel. Following it should take us to the gill arches." Moon examined the vessel opening she’d indicated. It was indeed massive—easily large enough for all three of them to swim through, even with Mirage. The blood flow was powerful but not impossibly violent, especially during the brief relaxation phase between heartbeats. "How confident are you in this theory?" Moon asked directly. Selene met his eyes seriously. "About seventy percent confident. I studied basic anatomy of most beasts during my training, and this matches the circulatory model of creatures under the water. But I’m not a biologist, and this creature is orders of magnitude larger than any normal fish. There could be anatomical variations I’m not accounting for." Seventy percent odds. Better than random chance, but far from certain. Moon looked at Mirage, who had recovered substantially during the rest period. The horse’s eyes were still closed, his breathing steady. "Alright," Moon decided. "We go with your theory. Following the main outflow vessel toward the gills gives us the best chance of finding an exit. But we stay alert for any signs we’ve chosen incorrectly, if the environment starts looking like digestive tissue or if we encounter hostile immune responses, we turn back immediately and try a different route." Selene nodded agreement. "One more thing, the gills will likely have some form of filtering or protective mechanism. We might encounter barriers designed to keep foreign objects from entering through the respiratory system. We’ll need to be prepared to force our way through or find gaps." "We’ll handle that when we reach it. First priority is navigating the vessel and surviving the blood flow." "Before we leave, we can’t forget to fill our storage rings with the blood of this beast. This is more precious than liquid gold, it’s too wasteful to leave." Selene smirked, before doing the same thing. Filling her own storage ring with the precious blood of a beast so powerful that it made them appear like weaklings. Within a few minutes, they’d harvested as much as their spatial storage could reasonably accommodate without worrying about a response from the beast. Moon took one last look around the massive heart chamber—the place that had nearly killed them but also provided extraordinary benefits. Then he turned toward the largest vessel opening, where blood surged outward toward what they desperately hoped was freedom. Moon moved to guide Mirage toward the vessel, placing a hand on the horse’s neck. "Come on. Time to move." But to his surprise, Mirage wouldn’t budge. The horse remained perfectly still, his eyes closed, though his breathing continued steady. "Mirage?" Moon muttered, confusion creeping into his voice. His normally obedient mount wasn’t responding to his touch or voice at all. Moon tried again, applying gentle pressure to encourage movement. "Mirage, we need to go." There was no response, the horse might as well have been a statue. Moon immediately became worried. He’d thought Mirage was simply resting after their ordeal, recovering strength for the journey ahead. But this stillness seemed much more profound than simple fatigue. "Wait... Moon, your horse...It might be evolving," Selene’s voice carried a note of wonder. "What?!" Moon’s head snapped toward Selene, his eyes wide with shock. Selene approached slowly, her eyes glowing softly as she examined Mirage. Her expression showed pure fascination mixed with disbelief. "I know it sounds incredible, but beasts can evolve," Selene explained, her gaze never leaving Mirage’s body. "Not in level, that’s different. I’m talking about evolution in grade or tier. They can undergo transformations that make them fundamentally more powerful, gaining new traits or physical features that elevate their entire being to a higher classification, just like humans with normal and unique classes." Moon’s head swiveled back to stare at Mirage, seeing the horse with new eyes. If Mirage could truly evolve after this, it would solve a big issue. Moon had began to worry that Mirage could no longer stay with him, once he ascended, the beast won’t be able to ascend, and it would stay in the first sanctuary. They would no longer be able to see each other. However, if Mirage could evolve, his chance of ascending to the second sanctuary would be a lot higher. "What do we do? How long does this process take? " Moon asked urgently. Selene shook her head, her expression shifting from wonder to uncertainty. "I’m not sure. I’ve never actually witnessed an evolution before, this is my first time. I only heard about the phenomenon once from..." She stopped herself abruptly, clearly about to mention someone’s name before deciding against it. After a brief pause, she continued, "The person who told me about it didn’t provide extensive details about the specifics." Moon felt worry tighten in his chest. "So we don’t know if this takes hours, days, weeks?" "Yes, there is no concrete time-line. Beast evolutions are unpredictable, and very scarce. There isn’t enough data to draw out a conclusion, at least I don’t have that data." Moon’s mind raced through Selene’s words, if Mirage required days or weeks to complete his evolution, they couldn’t possibly stay in this heart chamber that long. Even setting aside concerns about food and water, which they had limited supplies of in their spatial storage, Moon was deeply uncertain whether the mysterious creature would eventually detect their presence inside its body.