Chapter 3899: Perfect Copy (Part 2) "Long story short, as long as the tower is active and the Sage Staff in the Armory, floors of the tower like the Infirmary, the Grimoire, the Cannon Vault, and even the Thievery also benefit from the mind focusing abilities of the Yggdrasill wood." The room burst into an uproar so loud that, upon his arrival, Lith thought that Zoreth had died. "You guys gave me a heart attack!" He raised his voice enough to outshout everyone else. "What’s wrong with you guys? We have a patient to tend for, yet here you are, quarrelling like children!" "We are not quarrelling!" Solus said. "I have big news." A quick mind link brought him up to speed. "Well, thanks, Bytra. This should make things easier." Lith nodded. "As for everyone else, we are still on a deadline. The tower can wait while Zoreth can’t." "I couldn’t agree more with you." Baba Yaga replied. "That’s why while everyone freaked out, I finished revising the new and improved readings of the Infirmary." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖 "And?" Lith asked. "And the situation is dire." The Red Mother tormented her chin. "I don’t know if we can save Zoreth’s life, but I’m certain that we can’t save her unless we treat all four aspects of her life force." "I agree with you." Kalla nodded. "The problem is that we can’t even see them. The black hole must be Zoreth’s Eldritch life force, but where are the other three? Even assuming the white hole is the troll side, it should produce only light. "Where does the matter come from, and why is it so different from the fallen troll life force Quylla showed us?" "That’s not all. We also have to understand how Zor-, I mean, Xenagrosh’s human side evolved." Faluel refused to use the Eldritch by her Dragon name and corrected herself." We can’t risk it evolving again in the middle of the procedure." "Those are all good questions." Baba Yaga nodded. "I can’t answer those Kalla raised yet, but yours is not that hard, Faluel." "You know how Zoreth’s human side evolved?" Tista asked. "Yes, dear." The Red Mother replied. "It’s no different from what happened to you, Lith, and me, child." "Me?" Lith furrowed his brows. "Yes, Lith. It happened to you, too." Baba Yaga nodded. "Your human life force is evolved, yet you were born from human parents. How do you think that happened? How do you think I could go from a simple Odi woman to what you see today in a single leap?" "I have no idea." Lith replied, and Solus and Tista nodded. "The answer is adaptation, children." The Mother conjured a hologram of herself as an Odi with a bright violet core on the left and another of her Asura form on the right. Unlike the Odi Lith, Solus, and Quylla had met in Kulah, the Odi of the hologram had no translucent skin and bore a striking resemblance to Baba Yaga’s Mother form. It was shorter, less attractive, and her skin was a pale white. "In case you are wondering, the weird skin and ridiculous hair of the last living Odi were another of the foolish alterations my people inflicted on themselves." Baba Yaga said. "Displaying their inner perfection was a matter of pride to them as much as their outer appearance." "In case you are not, here’s your answer." She tapped her finger at the bright violet core, turning it white. "When I achieved the white core, my old Odi body couldn’t withstand its power, so I underwent evolution with Mogar’s help. "My life force adapted to the infinite mana flow coming from my core, subjecting my body to the equivalent of millennia of refining in a matter of seconds and turning me into the Odi’s apex form. "I never researched the Odi evolution, nor did I undergo any step. One moment I was an Odi, the next I was an Asura. Yet that’s only possible thanks to special properties of the white core that I’m not going to disclose with you." Baba Yaga referred to a white core’s body and mana core being one. The secret to their endless strength, apparent immortality, and quick evolution was the same. Upon reaching the white, every single cell turned into an auxiliary core. It thinned the border between matter and energy, allowing a white core to rearrange their life force freely and heal from any wound simply by absorbing the surrounding world energy and converting it into flesh and blood. "Tista, Lith, you two followed a different path, instead." The Mother conjured their holograms and continued. "Your evolution is due to the influence your other life forces had on your human side while you still were Wyrmlings. "Instead of being separated by a barrier, the different aspects of your life forces mixed, split, and rearranged themselves, growing together in perfect harmony. To not be overpowered by the Divine Beast side, your human life force evolved to become their match. "It’s one of the reasons you got your extra eyes one at a time and only once your human side had made significant progress. What happened to Zoreth is similar. Odi and humans have a common ancestor, and trolls are evolved Odi. "When Zoreth’s human side fused with the clone’s troll side, it had to evolve to at least what you call rank 1 as well or be destroyed. She’s no different from you, Lith. The flesh she possesses is that of a troll, but the energy that animates it belongs to a human." "It would make sense if she developed the four arms of a troll on top of the four eyes of an evolved human." Lith replied. "Why was there no change in her appearance besides her regenerative abilities?" "Who says there were none?" Baba Yaga countered with another question. "Have you ever seen a Balor with four eyes arranged in Zoreth’s pattern?" "No." Solus admitted. "You are forgetting a key point, children." The Mother patted their heads. "You are not hybrids anymore, and even back when you were, your life forces came together naturally. "Zoreth, instead, is an artificial hybrid whose life forces are still at odds with each other. Otherwise, healing her wouldn’t be so hard. We would only have to restore Zoreth’s life force to its natural state. Too bad there is nothing natural about her." "Wait a second." Quylla said. "If what you are saying is true, then what about Valeron the Second? What about Nalrond, my sister’s husband? Their human side shows no sign of evolution." "I expected better from someone as smart as you, child." The Mother gave Quylla a warm smile and booped her nose. "Think about what I just said and use that big brain of yours." "Of course!" Quylla’s eyes widened. "Nalrond didn’t evolve because a wall separated his life forces until the moment we find a way to merge them. As for Valeron, he’s still a baby. His human life force might evolve as he grows up." "Exactly." Baba Yaga nodded. "It’s too late for your friend Nalrond. His human side won’t change unless a miracle occurs. His children, however, might be different. Emphasis on might, just like for Valeron. "There is nothing certain when dealing with the first member of a new species. Sadly, the same applies to Zoreth and makes matters much harder for us."