Chapter 85: Quadrallis Butterfly I

Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Quadrallis Butterfly I

Eric leaned forward over the polished alloy examination bench, his breath held tight within his chest as his dark eyes stayed glued to the glass nursery pod.

The oblong chrysalis, woven from dense, shimmering threads that subtly mirrored four distinct elemental shades, began to twitch. The faint, intermittent shudder quickly accelerated into a violent, rhythmic tremor, the pressurized silk straining outward against an internal force before suddenly falling dead still.

Seconds stretched into agonizing, breathless silence.

"Come on, Moon," Eric whispered, tapping the glass with gentle encouragement. "You’ve survived the fusion of four opposing elements. Break the shell. You’ve got this."

Whether stirred by his voice across the ambient air or purely driven by biological instinct, the chrysalis shuddered once more.

*CRACK.*

A fine, hairline fissure split the shimmering silk from crown to base. A soft, incandescent luminescence seeped through the breach, illuminating the interior of the glass pod with warm, kaleidoscopic radiance.

Two slender, segmented antennae tipped with tiny crystalline spheres pushed through the gap, followed by a delicate, ivory head. With a final, determined push, the creature slipped entirely free of its casing, clinging to the dry clover stem as it unfurled its damp, folded wings into the warm, climate-controlled air of the lab.

Eric’s breath hitched in genuine awe.

It was breathtakingly gorgeous.

The wings spanned roughly fifteen inches from tip to tip, neither excessively bulky nor fragile, scaled to absolute aerodynamic perfection. The base of the wings shone with a polished, sterling-silver luster, overlaid with intricate, geometric filigree patterns.

Crimson ember whorls blended seamlessly into cerulean wave-crests, flowing outward into pale-emerald zephyr bands, all framed by dense, warm amber rims representing the enduring bedrock of earth.

*Screeee—*

The newborn butterfly trilled a soft, bell-like chime. Catching sight of Eric through the glass, it didn’t display the slightest hint of insectile fear. It fluttered its silver wings, effortlessly lifting into the air, and darted straight toward him the moment Eric unlatched the pod’s lid.

Landing softly upon his left shoulder, Moon tucked her wings and rubbed her fuzzy cheek against his neck, radiating overwhelming warmth and affectionate attachment.

"Woah, hey! Slow down, Moon!" Eric burst out laughing, tilting his head as the ticklish brushing sent shivers down his collar. "Hahaha! That tickles! Good girl... look at you."

He focused his pupils, letting his ocular talent wash over her form.

*Appraisal.*

│ Race: Quadrallis Butterfly

│ Rank: C

│ Stage: Mortal

│ Level: 5

"Mortal Level 5?!"

Eric blinked in stunned delight.

The biological baseline of the Green Caterpillar was a meager, elementless Rank-F at Level 1. Not only had the four elemental stones and the neutral buffer of Moonlight Lily extract shattered the genetic bottleneck to crown her as an authentic Rank-C creature, but the violent compression of four clashing elements during metamorphosis had catalyzed a massive surge of pure vitality, catapulting her directly across four level thresholds upon emergence.

"You’re incredible, Moon," Eric beamed, gently stroking the soft fur between her wings with the tip of his finger.

*Screee~*

Moon let out a purring hum of deep satisfaction, her delicate antennae curling happily against the lobe of his ear.

"Now... the real dilemma," Eric murmured, scratching his chin as pragmatic reality settled back in. "What am I going to do with you in the meantime?"

He couldn’t parade a fifteen-inch, quad-elemental silver butterfly through the central campus courtyards or back into Dormitory Building 17. The moment an upperclassman or a passing faculty researcher laid eyes on her, dangerous questions would explode across the institution.

"You’ll have to stay nestled right here in the lab for the next three weeks," Eric decided, looking around the secure facility. "With the reinforced wards, climate controls, and private locking arrays, you’ll be safer here than anywhere else on campus."

He walked over to the supply vault and selected a high-grade, Mortal-rank mana stone.

"Here’s your celebratory feast."

Eric quickly realized Moon wasn’t built like Coal. Where the Bonepecker Crow possessed an iron-hard beak capable of cracking and swallowing solid mineral chunks whole, Moon’s delicate, coiled proboscis was strictly designed for fluid and powder intake.

Pulling down an alchemical mortar and pestle from the wall rack, Eric crushed the crystalline stone into an ultra-fine, shimmering powder and sprinkled it across a clean ceramic saucer.

The moment the dish touched the counter, Moon fluttered down from his shoulder. Her coiled proboscis unrolled like a tiny whip, vacuuming up the glowing mineral dust with ravenous, unladylike ferocity.

On the other side of the counter, Coal sat atop the brass stand, quietly digesting his own soldier-rank mana stone while eyeing the newcomer with cool, older-brother indifference.

Seeing both of his companions quietly engrossed in their meals, Eric pulled up a fresh terminal document and picked up his institutional stylus.

Now came the tedious, essential foundation of academic legitimacy: documentation.

Every variable had to be cataloged with surgical exactness. Eric methodically drafted the lab log, detailing the exact milliliters of Moonlight Lily extract applied per gram of body mass, the vascular elasticity shifts recorded across the first seventy-two hours, and the precise mathematical sequence of elemental ingestion of Fire, Water, Wind, then Earth. He recorded core temperatures, ambient humidity, and the metabolic pulse frequency during the cocooning phase.

By the time he stamped the final experimental annex and saved the encrypted file into his private CRI research folder, all he had to do was wait out the three-week period before hitting the submit button.

Eric set down his stylus, rolling his stiff shoulders with a deep groan.

He glanced toward the high arched window.

The vibrant afternoon sunlight had vanished entirely. Outside, the sprawling capital was bathed in inky darkness, broken only by the distant, glowing runes of the institution’s boundary walls and the cold light of the twin moons hanging overhead.

"Pitch black already?" Eric muttered, checking his wrist chronometer in mild disbelief. "Did I really spend eight hours straight drafting that paper?"

He shook his head with an amused sigh. "Well, the groundwork is completely laid out. Time to get my own engine turning."

Eric had successfully shattered the barrier to Soldier Level 3 a few nights prior. Yet he had no intention of resting on his laurels.

In this world, genius was cheap, and commoners with high-order secrets walked on thin ice. Between the unfathomable depth of the powerhouses of the continents and the predatory beasts lurking beyond the frontier walls, raw personal strength was the only absolute shield against disaster.

Eric took his place on the woven meditation mat in the center of the room.

Closing his eyes, he engaged the *Seven Star Mana Circulation Manual*, drawing the rich capital energy through his seven stellar gates as the quiet hum of the laboratory dissolved into the rhythm of his breath.