Ren observed the four eggs aligned on his bed with a thoughtful expression, his mushrooms pulsing softly as he analyzed each one. The hydra egg shone like a cut diamond, its perfect geometric patterns capturing and refracting light in mesmerizing ways. The wolverine egg displayed a prismatic multicolor glow, shifting like aurora. The mantis egg reflected light like a faceted green mirror, while the ambush bug egg maintained an opaque hue with threatening plates. Behind him, Min, Taro, and Liu's jaws had dropped so low they seemed in danger of detaching completely. They noticed something else, their necks turning mechanically between the newly formed eggs and the corner of the room where dozens of identical "prince's nests" waited. The three boys resembled poorly articulated golems in their shock. "This... this is impossible," Liu finally found his voice. "Cores don't turn into eggs. They can't. It's... it's..." "Impossible?" Min completed automatically. "Like a spore being useful?" "Or a digger beetle evolving differently than documented in the last 500 years?" Taro added, his shell manifesting slightly with excitement. "But this is different!" Liu gestured wildly toward the corner full of nests. "Those are like fifty scorpion cores! Are they all going to...? How even...?" "Wei is going to have a fit when Taro evolves," Min whistled softly. Ren barely heard them, focused on his decision. The knowledge flowed: each egg had unique potential, specific advantages and disadvantages that only he could see. "How?" Liu was still trying to process what he'd just witnessed. "How did you make the cores transform? They're supposed to be just... just..." "Trash?" Ren smiled without taking his eyes off the eggs. "Most people assume that because they don't know what to do with them." His friends looked back at the nests in the corner, as if expecting them to start transforming at any moment. "So..." Taro swallowed. "All those scorpion cores...?" "Will also become eggs, yes," Ren nodded. "Though it'll take a few more days. And I'll need to wait for more materials for the last nests." "More nests..." Min collapsed onto his bed. "More crystal investments..." "Actually, yes, I exchanged the three hundred thousand crystals the prince gave me for the nests," Ren smiled while his mushrooms pulsed. "But I managed to save quite a bit." "Save?" Liu blinked in confusion. "How can you save when each nest costs over 10 thousand and you have like 50?" "The defense rune is the most expensive part," Ren explained while examining the hydra egg. "But I can use the same one to hatch all the eggs..." "...Unlike when ranking up, you only need the mark near the egg, not actually absorbing it. The main expense was materials and rune writing fluid... Though with more runes I could hatch faster, but I'm not in a hurry." Taro made quick mental calculations. "But still, with so many nests..." "I still have almost two hundred thousand of those crystals," Ren shrugged. "And five hydra plates that are mine." "You're not going to sell those too?" Min asked, leaning forward with curiosity. "Jessy would pay a fortune for them." "No," Ren caressed the hydra egg carefully. "I think I'm going to need them. I've made my decision." His friends observed the brilliant egg Ren had chosen. "The hydra?" Liu whistled softly. "Ambitious." "It has the best initial mana resistance potential," Ren explained while his mushrooms pulsed. "Besides, even if I don't sell them, tomorrow's report will be interesting." "Why?" Taro asked. "The first plates the prince gave me, the ones I didn't use in the scorpion nests, count as materials I obtained myself," Ren smiled. "When his beast left me at the entrance, the guard registered them and Julius apparently asked the director to count them as my acquisition... The report will exceed three hundred thousand." Min nearly fell off his bed. "Theodore is going to have a breakdown!" "Finch will clean his glasses like crazy," Liu mimicked the compulsive gesture. "No, Finch will squeal so high only your bat can hear it!" Taro added, laughing. Enjoy new chapters from Freewebnovel "Theodore will probably add a new page to his notebook of 'mushroom magnate' theories," Min held his stomach from laughing. Ren watched amused as his friends imagined the banker's reactions. "Oh!" Min straightened suddenly. "We have to be there when you deliver the report tomorrow!" "Yes," Taro nodded enthusiastically. "I want to see Theodore's face when he has to write all those zeros!" "And hear the new nicknames Finch invents," Liu added. Ren let his friends continue with their jokes while returning to examine the hydra egg. The diamond-like glow seemed to respond to his touch, as if recognizing its future tamer. 'First the report, then Taro's evolution,' he thought while his mushrooms pulsed. 'And then...' Ren smiled. Tomorrow would be an interesting day at the bank. ♢♢♢♢ Wei frowned as he walked through the academy's halls. The students' whispers had been bothering him all week. "Did you see how the mushroom boy held against Klein?" "They say he managed to hit him..." "I heard even the prince..." Nonsense. It had to be nonsense. But the rumors persisted, and Wei found himself attending the first-grade finals more out of irritation than real interest. He needed to see for himself what was causing such commotion. The battle had been... interesting for iron-rank children. Wei thought the Goldcrest boy was an idiot for letting himself be humiliated by someone with a spore... If that was the case, he'd see a clumsy battle that would reveal the boy's flaws. But it wasn't what he expected... Klein's group lost, yes, but not in the way rumors suggested. The Starweaver girl's shadow wolf had demonstrated excellent coordination with her companions. The strategy, timing, synergy... everything had been exemplary. 'A perfectly normal execution for rich kids from big name families,' Wei thought as he headed to the bank to deposit his monthly report. He saw his juicy payment on the paper that would multiply by 10 at the end of the semester. Wei stared fantasizing about taking his girlfriend somewhere nice when he finally withdrew the support from Ren at the end of the semester. A satisfied smirk played across his lips as he considered the possibilities. 'The tournament finale was somewhat crude, but did Klein have diarrhea in the semifinals then? It made no sense... How could that crazy spore kid, with the most pathetic beast in existence, and his team of a mediocre beetle and a support snake possibly deal with…' A high-pitched squeal interrupted his thoughts, making him jump. "Theodore!" Finch's voice pierced through the hallway like a drill. "THEODORE! Bring the special calculator! The one we use for big accounts!"