Above the mage!

Chapter 537 Ethernet (Part 1)
Gao De nodded slightly, but his gaze remained fixed on the eggshell.

At this moment, the ripples on the raccoon egg were even more pronounced, practically visible to the naked eye.

Then the interval time has been shortened from the fifteen minutes Elder Gain mentioned at the beginning to less than one minute now.

In Gaode's view, it's more like a living heart beating slightly.

Each rise and fall is accompanied by a faint humming sound.

The buzzing sound came from inside the eggshell, from the raccoon dog about to hatch, carrying the tenderness of a newborn life, as if the little creature was gathering strength to break out of its shell.

Suddenly, the raccoon eggshell contracted violently, more violently than any of its previous contractions.

Immediately afterwards, a dazzling five-colored light burst forth from the top of the eggshell.

At this moment, the eggshell became as transparent as glass due to the translucent multicolored light, so that Gaode could clearly see the scene inside the eggshell.

A small creature, enveloped in the energy of the five-colored astral plane, was curled up in the center of the eggshell, its outline already faintly visible.

The moment Gaode saw its outline clearly, the creature inside the eggshell suddenly moved.

It first slightly raised its head, and a pair of eyes surrounded by colorful star patterns vaguely appeared in the light.

Then, it placed its little claws on the inner wall of the eggshell and gave it a gentle push.

With a soft "crack," the crack at the top of the eggshell instantly widened.

The little creature seemed encouraged by the crisp sound, lowered its head slightly, used its head to support the eggshell, and exerted force with all four limbs at the same time.

"boom!"

With another soft sound, a fragment broke off at the top of the eggshell, revealing a gap large enough for it to peek out.

"It's coming out," Elder Gain couldn't help but whisper.

Gao De's breathing also paused slightly.

Immediately afterwards, a fluffy little head peeked out from the gap: its nose was pale pink, it gently sniffed the surrounding air, and its ears trembled slightly with curiosity, as if it were sensing this unfamiliar world.

It resembles a fox, with a round body covered in a layer of fluffy fur that could bury itself in.

However, the down was not a solid color, but rather shimmered with flowing, multicolored starlight.

The ears are slightly pointed, with a few sparkling, multicolored particles adorning the tips;

Four short legs were curled up under the abdomen, and the claws were pale silver with a faint purple tinge at the tips.

Her eyes were still closed, but the star-like patterns around them were shimmering gently.

Most strikingly, it trails a tail that is far beyond its body proportions.

When fully extended, it is a whole circle wider than its body.

The next moment, the raccoon seemed to sense a familiar presence. It turned its head toward Gao De's direction and slowly and laboriously fluttered its eyelids a few times, as if trying to break free from the weariness of newborns.

Finally, it opened its eyes.

Those were a pair of bright, round eyes with ever-changing pupil colors, staring intently at Gao De without blinking.

His eyes were full of pure curiosity and affection, without the slightest bit of timidity.

It was not afraid of people. It lingered on the eggshell for a moment, then carefully placed its front paws on the edge of the eggshell, gently stepped on it with its paw pads, and with a gentle push from its hind legs, its whole body landed on the branch of Yugathira like a feather.

The moment it landed, it turned around and let out a soft call to the still-fragmented eggshell.

The voice was soft and sweet, with a hint of childishness, like a kitten whining.

With its cry, a loud crash rang out, and the remaining eggshells shattered completely.

Colorful stardust and tiny particles of light burst forth from it, forming a small "astral halo" around its body.

As the halo dissipated, the strange fox turned around again, tilting its head towards Gao De's direction, its round eyes gleaming softly as if it were recognizing the person in front of it.

A moment later, as if it had completed some kind of facial recognition, it lightly leaped towards Gaode Maps without hesitation.

Gao De immediately reached out his hands and caught it steadily in his arms.

The first thing your fingertips touch is that fluffy tail, which is incredibly soft, like the finest silk, and feels absolutely wonderful.

Looking at the lively little creature curled up in his arms like a tiny ball of fur, its big tail gently resting on his wrist, Gao De understood:

It was the magical mark he had imprinted on the little raccoon when it was still an egg, according to the method of the Azure Wave Garden, that took effect, causing the newborn raccoon to instinctively be close to him.

To strengthen this bond, he will keep the raccoon by his side for the next two months, personally caring for it and feeding it food containing his blood, so that it will completely recognize him as its master.

As he thought about it, Gao De gently stroked the top of its head with his fingertips, while his other hand gently combed its large tail.

The baby raccoon has just been born and is still very young and sleepy.

Under Gaode's caress, it let out a soft, comfortable hum, its round eyes slowly closed, and its large tail behind it gradually relaxed, resting gently on Gaode's palm.
Her breathing gradually became steady, and soon she curled up in Gaode's arms and fell asleep.

Even more strangely, after it fell asleep, as if an automatic defense mechanism had been activated, faint five-colored astral energy suddenly surged from its fur and large tail, almost completely enveloping its small body and large tail.

The part of the body covered by astral energy gradually became transparent and no longer visible to the naked eye.

However, its astral energy is unstable and will occasionally be drawn back into its body, at which point its vanished body will reappear.

This repetition is almost like modeling constantly getting stuck due to network latency.

It's obvious that because it has just hatched, its state is not stable enough, and the astral energy is somewhat disordered.

Seeing this, Gao De pondered for a moment and decided to stay in Flora Forest for a while until the strange fox's condition stabilized.

In this way, if any abnormal situation occurs, with the powerful "Yogathhira" who can draw energy from the astral plane, they can come to the rescue in time.

The little fox was much sleepier than Gao De had expected when it was born. After falling asleep in his arms, it didn't wake up for quite a while.

The little fox slept for more than twelve hours before finally opening its eyes.

The first thing it did upon waking was to alertly prick up its pointed ears, look around, and quietly raise its large tail.

It wasn't until it saw Gaode intently drawing basic runes that its perked ears drooped and it felt at ease.

The faint, multicolored astral energy surrounding its body was drawn back into its body like a tide, revealing its round, plump form. Even its large tail rested lightly on the edge of the table, no longer taut.

It was actually woken up by hunger.

However, the little fox was unusually sensible, seemingly able to tell that Gaode was busy, and did not make a sound to disturb him.

It quietly shifted its body, crawled from one end of the table to a position close to Gaode, curled up its four short legs, tucked its big tail under its belly, and waited quietly.

This wait lasted for nearly an hour. It wasn't until Gao De finally finished the last basic rune, put down his rune pen, stretched, and subconsciously turned to look at the little raccoon beside him that he noticed the little guy staring at him with wet eyes.
Although Gao De had not systematically studied animal taming, his experience with Flora and Tuanzi made it easy for him to understand what the little raccoon meant.

He smiled apologetically at the little raccoon and gently rubbed its head. "Are you hungry?"

As Gao De spoke, a faint magical fluctuation emanated from his fingertips as he cast [Divine Berry Spell+], instantly conjuring a handful of plump divine berries.

No matter what type of animal it is, feeding it with Divine Berries is always a good choice.

The allure of the divine berry caused the little raccoon to widen its eyes, the colors in its round eyes rapidly changing among the rainbows, and its large tail couldn't help but sway gently.

"Please wait a little longer," Gao De said softly, trying to reassure her.

According to Biboting's animal taming tutorial, for the next month or two, he would add his own blood to the food he fed the raccoon to further strengthen the bond between him and the raccoon.

Gao De picked up the silver needles prepared on the table and, without changing his expression, gently pressed the needles against his fingertips.

With just a little force, the needle tip pierced the skin.

A tiny bead of blood seeped out.

Due to adaptive evolution, his blood possesses some supernatural properties, including mild detoxification and the ability to accelerate wound healing.

Even their appearance differs slightly from that of ordinary people due to differences in blood type.

The blood that seeped out was not a dark red, nor scarlet, but rather a translucent red, somewhat like a ruby, with a warm luster.

It also contains a very faint fragrance, rather than the smell of blood.

In his previous life, it was said that the blood of Buddhist Arhats and Vajras was golden. If he continued to evolve like this, would he also have golden blood? Gao De muttered to himself, while quickly spreading the blood droplet evenly on a divine strawberry.

Ruby-like blood droplets flowed slowly along the veins of the divine berry, not in a jarring way, but rather as if adding a border to the berry.

Having done all this, Gao De placed the blood-stained Divine Berry in his palm and handed it to the little raccoon: "Eat it."

The little raccoon pounced without hesitation, carefully rubbing its nose against Gaode's palm as if to express affection.

Without hesitation, she opened her small mouth, and with a flick of her pink tongue, she rolled the blood-stained berry into her mouth.

The tip of its tongue lingered on Gaode's palm, giving a soft, satisfied "ee" sound.

Its round eyes squinted comfortably into crescents, and its big tail swept back and forth on Gaode's wrist with ease.

One Divine Berry can provide a medium-sized organism with its daily energy needs.

So, after eating this divine berry, the little fox, who was originally starving, suddenly felt incredibly full.

It lay comfortably with its snow-white belly exposed, sprawled out beside Gaode's legs, occasionally kicking its little paws, looking completely content.

While stroking the Starry Fox's large tail, enjoying the unparalleled feel, Gao De cast [Beast Link+] to establish a mental link with the little Starry Fox.

The moment the mental link was established, Gao De first sensed a surge of curiosity from the Star Fox's consciousness.

This seems to be the dominant emotion of all newborn creatures, filled with curiosity and a desire to explore everything in the world.

Without a doubt, the first thing to do after establishing the link is to give the Star Raccoon a name.

Gao De, who has a bit of a naming problem, had an idea this time and made up his mind immediately.

"From now on, you'll be called Ibu."

"Ee?" The little fox accepted the offer without fully understanding.

Eevee, who is less than a day old, has not yet learned to say no.

After deciding on the name, the next step was to communicate and confirm Ibu's abilities.

To be honest, even though it is very intelligent, it is still young, so it cannot fully understand Gaode's questions, let alone express its own meaning clearly.

However, after a difficult series of obstacles, Gao De managed to piece together a rough idea of ​​Eevee's abilities.

As a new form of Eevee that absorbs astral energy that has never been recorded before, Eevee's unique abilities are unmatched by any other form of Eevee.

First, as an Astral Fox, Eevee possesses the same ability as Yggdrasil to absorb astral energy.

Of course, neither the amount absorbed nor the efficiency is a drop in the ocean compared to Yugathishra's.

The astral energy it absorbs from the astral plane not only sustains its survival and activities, but also helps it transform into two special forms.

The first form, which Gordes named "Astral Stealth," is the form Eevee took when it was asleep.

When astral energy surges from within and adheres to Eevee's body, it allows Eevee to become ethereal, achieving long-term concealment.

Even in the daytime of the Wizarding Plane, Eevee in its Astral Stealth state is difficult to detect by conventional vision or magical detection.

Moreover, it can attach this astral energy to the surface of another life form (which requires contact), or carry tiny objects along with it.

However, the burden on Ibrahimovic will increase dramatically with the increase in mass and size.

At least for now, Eevee, who is less than a day old, cannot even completely hide himself, let alone carry any extra load.

The second form is the combat form, which Gaode named "Astral Blink".

In this form, Eevee can partially or completely become ethereal and briefly enter the Astral Rift.

In this state, it will be difficult to be hit by physical or conventional magical attacks.

However, this form consumes a great deal of astral energy. For example, for Eevee, the energy consumed in just one or two seconds of Astral Blink is equivalent to the energy consumed in several hours of Astral Stealth.

In addition, Eevee can use astral energy to briefly travel between the Wizard Plane and the Astral Plane, achieving an effect similar to a low-end version of Astral Teleportation. The teleportation distance is about three meters, and its advantage is that there is almost no delay in starting.

However, according to Ibrahimovic himself, he is currently unable to use this skill because he is too young and his abilities are limited.

The only drawback is that while Eevee's many abilities are truly remarkable, its offensive capabilities are far weaker than those of other forms of Buchara.

Perhaps it's because astral energy itself doesn't possess the destructive power of elemental forces.

So far, Eevee has only one attack method: condensing the converted energy into its claws or mouth and releasing a colorful stream of astral energy.

This impact does not have the burning or freezing effects of traditional elements, but it can directly shake the space around the target.

It can cause small objects (such as extraordinary equipment and magic circles) to briefly fall into a "celestial phase shift" state, becoming semi-transparent and untouchable, entering a malfunctioning state, and will only return to normal after several breaths.

Gao De calls it the Astral Impact.

Although it is called an attack method, it does not actually have any lethality or destructive power; it is more like a special skill.

(End of this chapter)