Silverlight Zephan, seeing the growing tail, understood at once. "Has she consumed a Synergy Crystal?" he thought, recognizing it as one of the spoils Thalira and others had taken from the Legacy Domain.

His eyes shifted to Adyr, and a new realization settled over him that Adyr must have more than one Synergy Crystal, and one of them now rested in Liora's stomach.

"Stupendous, right?" Soulforge Throgar's voice reached him as the ogre pieced the same short story together. "He gives an extraordinary resource so casually to someone."

That very item had been the key that fully awakened Brakhtar Gorat's elder bloodline by materializing his second head, so its value for the Gorathim race was beyond measure. It was the kind of resource they would trade anything to obtain.

Zephan glanced briefly at the seated ogre and caught a hint of melancholy on his face, then turned his gaze away without comment.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd as thoughts they had kept inside finally leaked out. But nothing of it reached Liora, as she was already at the peak of her transformation.

A tail, thick with dark brown fur and nearly one meter long, had already torn through her trousers and swung free, lashing like a whip.

Faint scars that had dotted her bronze skin grew more pronounced; the most obvious cut crossed an eyebrow, adding another layer of intimidation to her already rugged face.

Adyr watched the new marks and realized they were not ordinary battle scars, the lines too deliberate and evenly placed to be leftovers from fights.

They were hereditary marks from the Sparks she had taken—signs of evolution that read like birthmarks rather than wounds, faintly raised and a shade deeper than her natural bronze skin.

Her muscular frame grew firmer and more defined, the lines of her body filling out until she looked noticeably stronger, shoulders and thighs tightening with clean, functional mass.

Her chest swelled another degree, leaving onlookers wondering how it could grow any larger, the fabric drawing taut for a moment as the change settled.

Upper canines lengthened beneath her lips, their tips pushing outward and lending her face a more ferocious aspect, the points briefly visible whenever her breath parted her mouth.

As all eyes followed the changes, a single question crossed many minds: would her height increase too, or would the power settle without altering her stature?

When the transformation passed its peak and began to subside, they felt a brief flush of disappointment.

Her height had not changed—not even by 1 cm.

Even a high-potential resource like the Synergy Crystal could not override the Velari's stubborn genetics and their short stature.

When the energy ripples and flesh shifts finally ceased completely, she opened her eyelids slowly, revealing two black-slit yellow irises inside her eyes.

"This was more intense than I expected." She raised her hands to inspect the new alterations.

She flexed her fingers, stood, and hopped a few times. Then she turned and checked her back, testing the newly grown tail, swinging it left and right as if gauging whether it could be used as a weapon.

"Sis, are you out of your mind?" Mirela appeared at her side, scolding in a sharp tone while holding out a garment and quickly dressing Liora.

"You're shaking your bare butt for all to see. I can't believe this." Mirela, visibly angry, furrowed her brow while fitting the clothing over the new tail and trying not to give the onlookers any accidental flashes.

"Who cares?" Liora laughed, genuinely amused, but still let her sister pull the garment on.

In any case, no one paused to admire her body. All they were thinking about was how strong she had become.

"Liora the Earthshaker, congratulations." Zephan stepped forward and offered calm, measured praise.

"Your power now stands at the apex among the Outer Region," Throgar added in his own gruff way.

"Really?" Liora lifted her head and laughed, pleased by the compliments.

"Do you want to see how powerful I've become?" she asked, grinning as her body suddenly began to swell in height and mass and dark fur sprouted across her skin.

Seeing her using her skills to take on her full Giant Ape form, Zephan moved to interrupt. "Stop."

She was still standing on the head of the Silver Whale. Had she completed the giant transformation there, she could have harmed the Rank 4 Spark and endangered everyone.

Fortunately, someone else halted her reckless attempt before she gained any weight.

Mirela slapped her hard on the head, voice harsh. "You will tear your clothes again. Stop this."

"Boring." Liora scowled, showing her disappointment while her body shrank back to its previous size.

Then she looked at Adyr, and her face softened into gratitude. "Thank you. I will use this power to crush those bastards and make Sevrak curse the one who bore him," she said with fierce sincerity.

Adyr chuckled. "I do not doubt that."

He could see her words were earnest and matched the shift in her character.

She was impatient to test her new strength; leave her amid enemies, and she would become a walking slaughter weapon without hesitation.

Not only did her strength increase, but her mentality also aligned with the weapon her body had become.

With his new trump card readied, Adyr looked to the horizon, where small structures were starting to show: long stone walls, and within them Velari architecture lit by small lights that brought life to the night, drawing closer and closer to their vision.

And a little farther beyond the kingdom's walls, his enhanced eyes picked out a small zone lit by torches where many Velari workers were still busy in the mining area, their silhouettes moving steadily under the dim, flickering light.

Though he saw no hoverjets or the STF soldiers he had ordered to stand by, he knew they were only a single command away from his Earth-side body.

With everything in place, his plan to erase the Umbraen kingdom and establish a human realm drew nearer with each passing moment.

Of course, if no unseen mishap appeared to throw a stone in his path. As it was a world with so many unknowns, you never knew when or where one would appear.

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