Four months later, William arrived at an isolated incubation chamber within the Divine Domain.

  Lying in the center of the room was a massive cocoon nearly two meters long, its purplish-red surface covered in web-like orange-red patterns that pulsed faintly across the fleshy membrane.

  Standing about five meters away, William gazed at it with barely restrained excitement, silently waiting for the creature inside to break free.

  Thanks to the integration of [Flame Demon] transcendent genes, the self-detonating jumper had grown far faster than William had initially estimated.

  From a single egg to the verge of hatching, the process had taken just half a year.

  The larva had spent nearly three months accumulating energy before entering the cocoon stage, which itself lasted over three more months.

  For comparison, a Thunder Wyvern with a 20-meter-long body only needed two years to mature from egg to adult.

  So for a genetically enhanced self-detonating jumper to reach this stage in merely half a year only meant one thing—

  The base genetic template of the self-detonating jumper was fundamentally incompatible with the sequence of transcendent genes introduced from the Flame Demon bloodline card.

  William knew he would have to design an entirely new unit template to accommodate this alien gene sequence.

  He had anticipated this, of course. After all, Flame Demons and elemental fire lifeforms were vastly different entities.

  Trying to merge the Flame Demon’s explosive ability and the long, tumor-like transcendent gene chain into a single coherent lifeform was an extremely low-probability endeavor.

  The species themselves were fundamentally incompatible!

  Just then—shrrrip—a faint tearing sound reached William’s ears.

  The fleshy membrane of the giant cocoon had been pierced from within.

  Using every ounce of its strength, the creature inside began clawing its way out.

  It took five full minutes before the creature finally emerged.

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  The upper half of its body—head and torso—retained the segmented structure of a self-detonating jumper, and though still under a meter long, the skin had turned a bloodier shade of red.

  A pair of massive, curved demon horns now flanked its frontal spike, and the entire head looked significantly more grotesque than before.

  Its previously weak and stubby limbs, though still short, had grown thicker under the influence of the Flame Demon genes, and sharp claws now extended from its formerly adhesive fingertips.

  The most dramatic change was in the lower half of its body.

  What was once a 30-centimeter abdomen had ballooned into a grotesque, bloated structure over 1.5 meters long.

  Covered in glowing orange-red patterns that pulsed rhythmically like breathing, the abdomen radiated intense heat.

  Its back wings were also changing—tending toward a bat-like, leathery structure.

  But given its enormous abdomen, what once were decently-sized veined wings now seemed tiny and inadequate for flight.

  This was why it had taken so long just to crawl out of the cocoon.

  The creature now resembled a grotesque juvenile—its upper body barely 40 centimeters long, dragging a massive 1.5-meter abdomen behind it.

  Forget flying—just moving was already a monumental task.

  If not for its now-thickened limbs, it might’ve needed assistance from other units, like a queen ant being carried by her colony.

  William couldn’t help but furrow his brows.

  He had a strong hunch that designing a new compatible unit template would not be something accomplished in a short timeframe.

  After scanning the creature’s internal genetic structure, his suspicions were confirmed.

  The current self-detonating jumper template could barely sustain the creature’s life—it was completely unsuitable for integrating the Flame Demon’s transcendent gene sequence.

  If he wanted this new organism to function in combat,

  he would have to entirely redesign the original genetic template from scratch.

  William stood in place, brows tightly knit, and muttered inwardly:

  “Damn, they’re really not letting me take any shortcuts.”

  “I don’t even have access to the base genes of the original Flame Demon species.”

  “No reference materials—just whatever I’ve got in the gene archives. This is going to be another massive project.”

  “Still, at least it’s alive. That’s already better than the last time with the self-detonating jumper—it could barely survive.”

  “From that perspective, this is at least a small victory.”

  “As for the rest—the organs and abilities—those can be redesigned and optimized. It’s just a matter of time.”

  With that thought, William exhaled slowly and rubbed his temples.