Beast-Tamer: Limitless Evolution

The Truth

'Osho? What happened?' Gale asked with confusion as he glided to match Osho's running pace.

'Something very exciting.' Osho just replied with bright eyes.

He knew in the back of his mind that he had another lecture to attend, but he couldn't bring himself to care too much about that. He could always attend the same lecture later in the day anyway.

Bedrock let out slightly dissatisfied sounds at their rapid departure, seeming unhappy at the rapid change from relaxed to running.

Without much thought, Osho recalled Bedrock into his beast space.

'Gale, carry me.' He said and raised his hands. Gale flew just above Osho and allowed him to grab onto his talons.

As soon as he did with a firm grip, Gale suddenly lifted Osho despite his smaller frame, and with speed surpassing what should have been possible with the size difference, Gale shot forward with Osho holding onto him above the other students.

At such speeds, they managed to reach the different teleportation formations, and in virtually no time, they were in front of Osho's residence.

Osho practically ran into his residence, his eyes bright as it took him all his willpower to stop himself from trembling with excitement.

'It was so obvious. How did I not see it? If I'm right and I can make this work...' His mind spun as he quickly made his way down to his lab.

He released Bedrock from his beast space and allowed his beasts to do whatever. The two of them also seemed to realize that Osho was having a moment and decided to go and do something else.

As soon as Osho entered the lab and closed the entrance, he wasted no time in putting on the required attire before grabbing an egg from one of the corners of the lab.

'Conduits. Conduits are what allow beasts to do many things. Ingest natural resources, touch upon concepts, and so on, and they are directly tied to a beast's potential. The higher the complexity and strength, the more things they can do.' Osho paced as he grabbed a tablet and started writing down his thoughts.

'What if that's what these ribbons are? What if conduits are far more important than we realize? The ribbons show me what I need to evolve a beast, but if the conduits are also major determinants of a beast's potential and are what they need to do a variety of things, what if the two are directly linked? After all, those cracked ribbons meant that there was a limit to how much I could evolve a beast, and when I fixed them, the potential of the beast within was far higher than what I would have expected.' He paused mid-stride, the tablet nearly falling out of his hand as his eyes widened.

"No... no, that's it!" He practically slammed the tablet down on one of the tables and went to grab several more eggs, all of which had cracks in the ribbons that only he could see.

He placed them in a row and traced his slightly trembling hands across their surface despite not being able to physically interact with them.

"The ribbons don't just show me what a beast needs for evolution. They ARE the conduits. That's why the cracks mean evolving them past a certain point is impossible! And that's why repairing them worms. I'm not just mending the cracks, I'm restructuring the entire framework of their growth!" He began to pace faster, muttering almost feverishly.

"Every beast... every single one of them relies on their conduits. They are the reason beasts can absorb Mana, whether through the atmosphere or by ingesting items. They are the reason the possibility of evolution is a thing, the reason why they can even dream of touching a concept. If conduits collapse, evolution past a certain point is impossible. If they are flawed, growth is stunted. If they are capped, potential becomes limited." His eyes burned as he stared down at the ribbons.

"And what have I been doing this whole time? Not simply patching or fixing. No, I've been rewiring the very code of their existence, opening paths that shouldn't even exist!" Osho grabbed a stylus from somewhere and started scribbling notes, half-coherent diagrams of ribbons, conduits, and energy flows spreading across the tablet.

"Which means... if I can repair them, I can change them. Design them. I can decide what oaths open, what affinities emerge, what concepts a beast might comprehend. This... this isn't just evolution, it's creation." He froze, the full weight hitting him like a ton of bricks as he whispered.

"... I could make beasts that shouldn't even exist."

For a moment, the lab was silent, with the only sound coming from the hum of equipment, and his pulse which he was certain could be heard.

Then Osho laughed. It wasn't loud, but it bordered on hysterical.

"Conduits... ribbons... potential... all of it. It was here the whole time, right in front of me. And I..." he gripped the styles hard, and if he had lighter skin, his knuckles would have gone white. "... I'm the only one who can see it."

He stared at his hand for a few seconds before exhaling.

"That said, this is all purely theoretical, and I need to do a LOT of tests before I can be sure. Still, I'm fairly certain it is the case." He muttered to himself as he grabbed the closest egg.

Its surface was Crimson red with an oddly fleshy texture to it. It wasn't fire, but something a lot more... organic.

Blood Affinity.

Osho had no intention to hatch another egg. Heck, he couldn't right now as he was still at the Apprentice rank, but that didn't stop him from performing experiments.

Now that Osho had thought about these things, it was like a completely different avenue of his ability had been opened up, and his previous scope of exploration had been too small, too... limited.

But now he realized just how small he'd been thinking. With something as insane as this, he couldn't afford to restrict his scope.

No, the only way to do it justice would be to go big.

As in, BIG

Osho looked at the ribbons again, and then he blinked.

It was like something... clicked.

And then he could suddenly see them.

They were small, so small that even with his superhuman vision, he still had to squint, but they were there.

On the surface of each ribbon, there were small intersecting lines, running along. It sort of reminded Osho of circuits, or...

'Conduits...' He realized, and a wry smile found its way on his face.

Those hadn't been there before. Osho was certain about that. After all, he'd spent who knows how long inspecting them before, and they were typically consistent in appearance and shape.

These were new, and there was only one explanation.

'It would appear that ascending the ranks isn't the only way for me to 'unlock' a new ability related to, well, my ability.' He thought as he began to inspect these conduits.

They were... complicated. Extremely so.

But also beautiful.

When Osho focused on them, similar to how the ribbons automatically told him what they were leading him to, these conduits also told him their purpose, and... it was a lot.

They weren't random scratches or meaningless patterns. The conduits were alive in their own way, etched into the ribbons like veins carrying the essence of possibility itself. Each one linked to another, branching, twisting, layering upon itself in ways that defied simple geometry. It was less like looking at a diagram and more like staring into the nervous system of a universe compressed into strands thinner than hair.

And when Osho listened, because it wasn't just seeing, it was listening, he could almost hear them hum with something.

Purpose.

The word slammed into his mind as he focused on them intentmh. They weren't just passive channels. They were translators, converting raw essence into growth. They regulated what a beast could absorb, how it could adapt, its ability to evolve. They determined limits and unlocked doors, even ones that should never open.

Osho's mouth went dry.

"If the ribbons show me the path forward, then the conduits… they're the omes that create the path and tar it."

He laughed quietly, rubbing his temple as his eyes remained fixed on the glowing latticework.

"This is insane. It's like staring at the blueprint of a living engine. And if I can see it... no, if I can touch it…" His breath stuttered as the implications struck him all over again.

He looked down at the crimson egg in his hands, its fleshy surface pulsing faintly.

"… then I'm not just passively observing and including my input by helping the eggs evolve. Nah... I'm an engineer now.

The thought sent a shiver down his spine. His ability had always been about guidance, about nudging beasts toward their best selves. But this... this was surgery on existence itself.

And the most terrifying part was how natural it felt to him.

Osho smiled, equal parts exhilarated and afraid.

"Alright then," he whispered. "Let's see how deep this goes."