Time moved.
Nearly a year had passed since Lucien entered the Big World.
He was nineteen now.
He stayed hidden within his Divine Energy Core, deliberately laying low.
Lucien drifted through his inner realm, observing the results of patience rather than haste.
The Monster Cultivation Plan had reached its first true milestone.
Every original monster within his core, those that had survived the earliest, most unstable phase... had completed the same critical transformation.
Their souls had fully merged with their beast cores.
They were complete.
That fact changed everything.
A monster without a fused core relied on instinct. A monster with a fused core became self-sustaining. They were now capable of refinement, memory, and long-term growth.
Lucien allowed himself a quiet breath.
It had worked.
The Soilwyrms were the clearest proof.
