After the evolution was complete, Li Qian discovered through his Eye of True Sight that Jinfeng’s Racial Potential had reached Tier Two Emperor, not the Tier One Emperor he had anticipated. After a moment of shock, he quickly understood this was likely due to individual variation.
Individual variation tended to be more common the higher the Racial Potential. For those with low Racial Potential, such variations were insignificant even if they did occur.
For instance, the difference in Racial Potential between a Tier One Commander and a Tier Two Commander was practically worthless to Li Qian.
It only held significant value for a Pet Beast at Jinfeng’s level, where every minor advancement was incredibly difficult and breaking through the Racial Potential Limit was harder still.
Seeing Jinfeng’s Racial Potential, a look of delight unconsciously spread across Li Qian’s face. He was genuinely happy for it.
In stark contrast to Li Qian’s delight, both Sun Ruirui and Ah Hai wore grave expressions.
They didn’t dare relax before the final outcome was certain, afraid their hopes would be dashed once again.
Li Qian glanced at the two of them, then looked toward a spot not far away, where someone else was also staring intently.
That person was none other than Elder Liao, who watched over Sun Ruirui as if she were a porcelain doll. At this moment, his expression was complex and his face held a strange look, making it impossible to know what he was thinking.
Time crawled by. To Sun Ruirui, Ah Hai, and even the distant Elder Liao, it felt as if time was moving too slowly. Every minute, every second, was an agony.
Half an hour passed. Jinfeng remained motionless, floating silently on the water’s surface. Not a single thing about it had changed; it still maintained the form of a Tidal Sea Spirit.
Half an hour had passed, and still, Jinfeng showed no signs of changing. The looks of anticipation on the faces of everyone and every Pet Beast present—except for Li Qian—only grew more intense.
Of course, there was one other person—or, to be more precise, one humanoid Pet Beast—whose feelings were also different from the others.
That’s right—it was Jinfeng, the newly minted Tidal Sea Spirit! Unlike Li Qian’s calm composure or Sun Ruirui and the others’ anxious anticipation, Jinfeng’s heart was currently filled with boundless excitement and ecstasy.
If everyone weren’t waiting so quietly, it would have been unable to stop itself from causing a commotion.
Unlike the others, who were filled with doubt and scrutiny, Jinfeng was the one who had actually evolved. It knew with absolute certainty that there was no problem with its evolution this time.
It felt better than it ever had before. If it weren’t for the fact that it had just evolved and hadn’t yet learned human speech, it would have already spoken up to express its joy to Li Qian.
However, seeing that Li Qian said nothing and simply stood there quietly, it managed to restrain itself.
It glanced at Golden Rain, who was floating nearby, and without the slightest hesitation, cast Life Dew.
Having sacrificed its Golden Pearl, its very essence was destroyed, leaving Golden Rain in a terrible state.
To say it was merely listless would be an understatement. However, after receiving the effects of Jinfeng’s skill, its condition improved significantly.
Li Qian saw this and nodded in satisfaction. The fact that Jinfeng didn’t forget Golden Rain’s sacrifice and was now repaying the favor sat very well with him.
And just because of this simple act of using a skill, Li Qian’s opinion of Jinfeng improved considerably.
Jinfeng’s seemingly normal action, however, stunned Sun Ruirui and Ah Hai. In the past, Sun Hongyi had also managed to evolve a Tidal Sea Spirit, but the evolution could never be maintained for long; it would inevitably degenerate back after a short time.
Furthermore, using any skills during that process would drastically accelerate the degeneration.
That was precisely why they couldn’t help but look shocked when they saw Jinfeng cast Life Dew.
The shock quickly gave way to overwhelming joy. They saw that after casting the skill, not only did Jinfeng not degenerate, but his state didn’t even seem to be affected in the slightest.
What did this mean?!
It meant... Li Qian had very likely fixed the flaw in the evolution method from Golden Pearl Bud to Tidal Sea Spirit!
That he had truly, completely mastered this evolution method!
To confirm it, seeing that Jinfeng was about to stop using the skill, Sun Ruirui immediately cried out, "Don’t, don’t stop! Keep going!"
Upon receiving the order, Jinfeng didn’t obey immediately. Instead, he instinctively looked toward Li Qian.
Seeing this, Li Qian chuckled. "Go ahead. Give Golden Rain some more. It’ll also help you raise your skill’s proficiency."
Hearing that, Jinfeng no longer hesitated and once again cast Life Dew, continuing to restore what Golden Rain had lost.
As Jinfeng continued to cast the skill without pause, neither Sun Ruirui nor Ah Hai could contain their joy any longer. Their faces were alight with excitement!
"Brother Qian... you... you really... perfected... the evolution method..." Sun Ruirui was so overcome with excitement that her voice trembled and stuttered.
Li Qian was a bit baffled by this. "It hasn’t even been an hour, has it? You’re already sure?"
Li Qian himself had no doubt the evolution was a success, but he seemed to recall Comrade Lao Sun saying that past Pet Beasts had maintained their evolved forms for over an hour before.
’After such a short time, weren’t they worried this was just another false dawn, same as all the other times?’
"There’s no need to wait any longer. We can be certain!" Ah Hai explained, seeing Li Qian’s confusion. "If this were just a temporary evolution, the Evolutionary Form would have definitely collapsed by now after using a skill for this long."
At his words, an expression of sudden understanding dawned on Li Qian’s face.
’So that’s why!’
’No wonder Sun Ruirui was so eager for Jinfeng to keep using his skill!’
"You kid... you’re really full of surprises..." After making his judgment, Ah Hai looked at Li Qian and said with a sigh of emotion.
Li Qian quite enjoyed the compliment, which was clearly tinged with disbelief. A self-satisfied smile touched his lips as he said, "It was nothing special."
"Still a bit of a gap between me and Comrade Lao Sun, though."
He was purely throwing shade at Sun Hongyi. As Sun Hongyi’s Pet Beast, Ah Hai couldn’t help the corner of his mouth from twitching when he heard that.
Not wanting to dwell on it, he immediately changed the subject, turning to Jinfeng. "How do you feel right now?"
Jinfeng looked to his big bro—the undisputed king of the cove—and, finally able to release his pent-up emotions, let out a series of joyous cries.