Lith rushed to the crystal tank, his readings identical to those he had obtained in his other forms. The shape of his life force, however, couldn’t have been more different.
It still looked like a colossus, but made of countless prismatic threads. The seven elemental spheres had now moved to his head, and six vortices connected the colossus’ back to his chest.
Six atrophied mana organs could be seen where his brain, lungs, kidneys, and liver were supposed to be. A small, flaming black star replaced the heart and contained the compressed life forces of the Void and the Voidfeather Dragon.
The heart absorbed the world energy coming from the wings and transmitted it to the eyes and the mana organs through the prismatic threads.
Unlike the other evolved humans that the Infirmary had examined so far, the threads of Lith’s life force had no fixed color. It changed according to which of the seven elements they carried and reverted to the same deep red of his skin once the flow ended.
"Do you see that?" Baba Yaga said. "That’s what a proper evolution should look like. It displays both deep and superficial changes, just like I told you. The life force of a rank 0 human is too stiff, making it hard for them to shapeshift or cure a congenital disease.
"My hypothesis is that going from human to Red Human-"
"Hey!" Lith cut her short. "The more you call my evolved human form like that, the more likely the name will catch on."
"How should I call it, then?" Baba Yaga crossed her six arms in front of her chest.
"Indech." Lith replied, knowing that Kamila and Solus would probably never let him hear the end of it.
"What does it mean?" The Red Mother asked in puzzlement.
"Absolutely nothing." Lith lied through his teeth. "But at least it’s not as lame as ’Red Human’."
"I can’t argue with that." Baba Yaga nodded and resumed her explanation. "As I was saying, my hypothesis is that going from human to Indech requires replacing the clunky blocks with the fluid threads.
"They conduct the mana better and can accommodate the mana organs needed to filter and process the elements." She tapped on the whirlpools, the elemental spheres, and the various mana organs in the making that belonged to the different ranks of evolved humans.
Lith’s life force exhibited more mana organs than Ryla’s, but they were either atrophied or incomplete. Six of the Fomor’s mana organs were fully developed, while the rest still showed signs of growth.
Urhen possessed only a few mana organs, and they were fully functional.
"And your theory matches my findings." Quylla said. "I noticed different parts of Ryla’s life force becoming thinner and smoother as her treatment advances, but I expected it to result in some sort of blood circulatory system that would support the existing framework, not replace it."
She highlighted and zoomed in on the sections of the Fomor’s life force that had experienced the most evident changes since Quylla had started working on a treatment.
They still looked more like building blocks than threads, but the resemblance to Lith’s Indech life force was undeniable. The impression the two evolutionary stages gave while displayed side by side was that of a finished product compared to an early prototype.
"If you are right, Yaga, then I can expect Ryla’s unfallen life force to be similar to Lith’s. Just with fewer threads and mana organs." Quylla pondered.
"Is this useful for your research?" Ryla asked.
"More than you think." Quylla nodded. "I still have a lot of work ahead, but this data gives me a clear direction. Until this moment, I was going blind, whereas now I know what your life force should look like and the level of complexity it should reach."
She pointed at Lith’s Indech life force first and then at Morok’s.

’Calm down. Urhen and Ryla are just happy.’ Quylla and Kamila never stopped smiling, yet they clenched their hands so hard that their knuckles popped. ’There is no reason to throw a fit. Think of the baby/ies.’

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