Goblin Dependency

——"Medium sized Hunter", "primarily feeds on hares, small rock sheep, and marmots".

This clearly indicates that the Wolf-Light Winged Beast is not large in size, and its strength and combat ability are noticeably lacking.

Of course, there might be other attributes on the attribute panel that haven’t been highlighted, supporting its overall combat ability.

But evidently, just like the Petrified Lizard, the Challenge Level of the Wolf-Light Winged Beast mainly relies on a certain physical trait to hold up, rather than being powerful in all aspects.

Not a great choice.

As for the Wide-skull Green Forest Jackal...

From a certain perspective, this creature is actually the most suitable option for Xia Nan’s current situation among the three choices.

The Primitive Forest environment can be said to perfectly match its habitat, allowing the Wide-skull Green Forest Jackal to fully utilize its abilities.

However... the attribute panel actually makes it very clear.

This Forest Spirit is a full-on casting type monster, whose main combat method is manipulating thorns and vines.

This is a field Xia Nan had never ventured into before.

Since transmigrating, although he’s beheaded many Spellcasters and has some insights on how to handle this profession during combat, he often uses Class Magic abilities like Gravity Control.

But essentially, he’s positioned as a wandering Swordsman focusing on mobility and explosiveness.

He is neither skilled in, nor does he possess, any casting abilities.

The Wide-skull Green Forest Jackal’s lowest compatibility among the three attributes at 59% is enough to demonstrate this point.

If it were a game where failure and death carried no consequences, he might be quite interested in trying such a novel evolution type, attempting to learn Natural Magic.

But facing numerous adventurers in the Secret Realm waiting for him to harvest their Human-shaped Combat Skill Proficiency, such a choice would be too risky.

In summary, the Wolf-Light Winged Beast has weak flying abilities and insufficient combat power, while the Wide-skull Green Forest Jackal focuses on casting abilities completely unfamiliar to him.

Compared to these two evolution paths, the Winter Wolf, which has no particular strengths or lethal weaknesses and is overall balanced and comprehensive, becomes Xia Nan’s best choice.

As for the environmental temperature impact...

At least it’s a powerful demon with a Challenge Level as high as Level 3, it’s unlikely to suffer heat stroke just because it came to the forest from the polar region, right?

Even if it’s unbearable at first, it’s likely to adapt quickly.

Moreover, after Xia Nan makes his choice, it’s not like he will live as a Winter Wolf until the ritual ends.

Who knows, maybe he’ll encounter a few adventurers in the next couple of days and experience a Third Evolution.

He hopes to use the Winter Wolf as the critical node before the fork in the tree.

Starting from there, he will continue to develop in this comprehensive and powerful direction.

There can be some bias, but it cannot be as extreme as the Wolf-Light Winged Beast and the Wide-skull Green Forest Jackal.

With these thoughts in mind, Xia Nan had made his decision.

His mind lightly touched the evolution path of the Winter Wolf on the attribute panel.

"Buzz..."

With the influx of blue light into his body, the turbulence fixed in various parts of his body seemed to be guided by some invisible force.

Changing from its original chaotic state to rushing toward several fixed directions inside his body.

"Zzz..."

Muscle fibers tore and reformed, the spine twisted and elongated, and the body was stretched as if being pulled by two opposing forces from front to back.

The Wolf Mouth became broader and thicker, with one molar growing from the innermost of each side, and the wolf eyes, not long filled with gold, were once again covered with an icy blue akin to a polar frozen lake.

And the most noticeable change all over his body was naturally the cold snow-white color spreading from the roots of his fur outward, gradually driving the black to the tips.

Ssnk——

Xia Nan subconsciously snorted.

The chilling mist spewing from his Wolf Mouth and nostrils condensed into a layer of crystal frost that scattered white smoke on the green grassy meadow in front of him.

His long tail swayed behind him as Xia Nan lifted his wolf paw, pacing back and forth slightly on the spot, carefully feeling the changes in his body, feeling the sturdy strength that finally moved away from its original frailty and gradually approached that of a human body.

It seemed like the internal pressure within his heart also eased slightly as his body grew stronger.

It’s worth mentioning that, relying on the powerful effect of "one proof, eternal proof" from the attribute panel, Xia Nan, who uses Battle Skills from the human body to give other adventurers in the Secret Realm a dimensional strike, keenly noticed.

The Battle Skill Proficiency provided by those two adventurers just now was somewhat different from what he had imagined.

If calculated by the Skill Level value given by the Wild Boar adventurer from the Furious Tide Battle Gang at the start.

Killing two adventurers should have added two more Skill Levels to his Gravity Control and Embers Resonance respectively.

However, currently, the Skill Level increase for Embers Resonance was actually three points.

Even Heavy Tide gained ten more Skill Levels than expected.

The reason for such differences, Xia Nan speculated, was partly due to the quality difference of the Battle Skills themselves.

This is quite understandable, as higher quality, to some extent, can also be relatively harder to train, with slower increases in Skill Level.

On the other hand, it might also be because that mongoose had already completed an evolution upon absorbing the blue light of the goblin adventurer.

Perhaps... the more evolutions, the higher the life level, the more Battle Skill Proficiency it might provide upon death?

Xia Nan pondered in his mind, but his gaze was looking upward.

On the treetop, that brown-feathered sparrow was still patiently waiting for him, just as before.

It was precisely this companion that helped him during the battle just now.

Evidently also an adventurer drawn into the Secret Realm, but their specific identity...

Xia Nan initially thought it might be Half-Elf Alton, but then he realized, with the small one’s personality, upon seeing him as he is now, would have already been fluttering over with wings bustling noisily.

Impossible to possess such patience as displayed right now.

So... could it be Druid Hai Yin, or Lorin, or perhaps other unknown adventurers unfamiliar to him?

With caution, Xia Nan’s Wolf Mouth slightly opened, cold mist diffusing in the surrounding air.

The unique throat structure of the Winter Wolf, similar to that of an intelligent creature, allowed him to regain speech capability once more:

"Who are you?"

His voice low and husky, yet clear enough for anyone to hear.

To this, the small brown-feathered sparrow perched on the branch ahead couldn’t speak, but at least had no listening issues.

Upon hearing Xia Nan articulate human words, it was startled, hopping twice on the treetop.

Then realizing it was due to the blue light absorption causing dramatic changes in his body.

It flapped its wings, flew down from the tree, and landed on the ground.

Finding a spot where the grass was relatively sparse after the battle, its slender bird claws scratched out a familiar name to Xia Nan in Universal Language:

——Sarisa.

Hmm?

Xia Nan paused in his thoughts.

He truly hadn’t anticipated that the small sparrow before him would turn out to be her.

He recalled this archer from the Black Tide Hunter Fleet that had been completely wiped out, was supposed to be monitoring the ship at the port when the curtain fell.

Unexpectedly, she too got drawn into the Secret Realm now.

Suddenly, as if recalling something, Xia Nan asked aloud:

"How’s the Vengeance Blade Blade over there, has anything unexpected happened?"

Unable to speak aloud, Sarisa could only respond by writing on the ground, seemingly with difficulty:

[Encountered a Fishman attack, but there are basically no casualties on board.]

[Other than Rein and Gordon, all other members have been drawn into the ritual.]

Seeing the response, Xia Nan sighed slightly in relief, but in the very next second, he noticed something odd:

"Did you descend nearby? I thought the birthplace was related to the position in the real world."

Hearing this, Sarisa’s sparrow face clearly showed uncertain expressions.

Pausing for a moment, she seemed to ponder how to explain in her mind.

Only then did she extend her slender, delicate bird claw, start to scrawl on the ground again.