Understanding Aspect and Studying Beast Core

Currently, the figure of Torus could be seen within a forest clearing, a large body of a snake laid out before him. As he sat directly next to the head of the creature, Torus would occasionally let out a hum of interest or a grunt of irritation. 

If one were to look more closely at what he was doing, they would find a core within his hands, something he seemed to be examining with closed eyes.

What this object was, is what is known as a Beast Core, it is essentially a core grown by a Ferocious Beast to contain their energy. 

Unlike members of the Divine race, Ferocious Beasts naturally absorb energy from the outside world, which is then slowly converted into their own unique form. Among species, this form typically follows a specific pattern.

Not only is this pattern followed depending on species but also on the way that one evolved over time. For example, a species of lizards from the past could've diverted into two branching evolution paths over time, one that developed the ability to breathe fire, and another that developed the ability to breathe ice. 

If one were to check the energy within their core, they would find a distinct difference between the two.

This is caused by a difference in which they evolved, which facilitated the need for a change in how they hold energy and what type of energy is required. 

Energy from the world itself has no typing, it only gains such through the usage of people or beasts. So, to cause the development of energy into becoming fire aligned, one would follow a different process than if one were to make it ice aligned.

The Barb-Tongued Boa was a species with no natural alignment to an element. Instead, they simply used the collected energy to harden themselves, allowing for their bodies to become tougher. 

And the unique way in which this boa, in particular, evolved was to use this energy to harden their tongue, something that had naturally evolved to gain spiky papillae.

Using this very hardened and sharp tongue, this species constricted its enemies before slowly devouring them. 

What Torus hoped to gain from studying this particular Ferocious Beast, was to gain an understanding of the changes that a species core would undergo once it evolved from a lower-grade Ferocious Beast to a higher one, as well as how their energy in particular hardened their bodies.

From studying this, Torus could hopefully not only facilitate a similar evolution in himself, but also bring it about in other species. Not only that, but if he were able to keep ahold of a specimen of this species, he may even be able to further evolve it!

Just thinking of all these possibilities filled Torus with a newfound excitement and wonder toward his Aspect. However, if one were to examine the snake lying next to him, they would find it to have long since passed away. 

The truth was, Torus didn't believe he currently had the capacity to facilitate evolution in any species, and that it would take him many iterations of testing to be able to do so effectively.

And considering just how massive the Barb-Tongued Boa truly was, he simply didn't believe it was as important an asset alive as it would be to study it once it was dead.

Humming with interest, Torus slowly pulled his senses back from the Beast Core within his hands, mumbling to himself, "Hmm, it seems the way the energy runs through the Beast Core is completely different to how it circulated in my God Seed. 

Rather than acting as a container only, what my God Seed does, it seems to act more along the lines of a container and converter, gathering the energy from the outside world over time before slowly converting it." Torus exclaimed, a look of realization within his gaze.

He understood that this must be the distinct difference between the two and the reason why the members of the Divine race have the same power in comparison to beasts which have a wide variety of different ones. 

Essentially, the conversion aspect of the Beast Core allowed for them to convert their energy into different forms, before using their evolved bodies to facilitate the usage of it in unique ways.

For instance, one of the most powerful of the Ferocious Beasts, the Phoenix, was known for its ability to light its entire body aflame. However, even though this was the way they used their converted energy, other fire-type beasts couldn't do the same, such as Dragons. 

The reason for this difference was rather simple - the way the two species had evolved. Phoenix's had evolved to gain a body not only resistant to, but also absorbent of heat. What this allowed, was when they sparked flames from their Beast Core, it would then spread across their form.

However, this didn't mean they couldn't send out these flames as attacks as well. The method in which they did this, was to send the flames out through the air. That was where the fame of a Phoenix Cry came about, as whenever they let out a cry in battle, it was to release the flames through the strong airwave created.

However, Dragons were utterly different in this capacity, instead having evolved a gland within their throat, something that they could expand and fill with converted energy, and breathe out.

While this produces similar results, the differences in their methods can be seen in both the power of their attack and the way they physically appear. 

A Phoenix's attack appears more like a sweeping wave compared to the veritable stream of flames sent out by a Dragon.

Essentially, what it all came down to - was how one's energy reacted in accordance with their evolutionary traits.

And after studying the Beast Core of the Barb-Tongued Boa, Torus' gaze slowly turned to the body of the beast. Now that he had a basic understanding of how the evolution of the creature was facilitated by its energy, his next goal would be to examine the creature for any noticeable differences between it and what he knew of the Grade-Five version. 

Whatever difference he found, would be the next way the creature would evolve. 

This was where things started to get very complicated, as there are a multitude of ways for a single species to evolve to the next grade. What this led to, was differences even among the same species and rank once they had evolved past Grade-Five. 

However, while this was where things became more complicated, it was also the point where Torus found the most interest. As somehow, these species could essentially speed up their development drastically in a very short period through simply reaching a higher grade.

Considering what he knew about evolution, this was the one point that Torus found the most strange about Ferocious Beasts. 

Somehow, they had managed to find a way to rapidly evolve in a very short timeframe, something that should only be possible for much simpler organisms.

Aside from studying the Barb-Tongued Boa, there was one other thing Torus was paying attention to - the energy within his God Seed. He had very quickly noticed that his studying of the Barb-Tongued Boa had somehow been increasing his Mind the entire time, as if it was furthering his understanding of his Aspect in some capacity. 

From this, Torus could pretty much confirm what he already knew to some level - his true Aspect was on Beastial Evolution!

Rather than what he had previously thought, his Aspect wasn't about him turning into a beast - that was only the Body aspect of it. 

Instead, his Aspect revolved around the studying and understanding of beasts, as well as the facilitating of their evolution. However, this new discovery, rather than filling him with a sense of disappointment, instead had Torus feeling an all-new excitement.

Now that he knew what his Aspect truly was, Torus was excited at the prospect of studying and learning more about beasts. Not only was this something he was already interested in, now doing so would quite literally increase his strength. 

And even further, if he were to ever succeed in understanding how these species evolved, he could use the knowledge to artificially evolve species in ways that he found beneficial.

Say there was a zealous species known for hoarding treasures and attacking those that try to take it. 

What if he could evolve them to slowly increase the effectiveness of these treasures over time, turning what would originally be a detrimental species into a boon in and of itself?

This was only a very simple application of how he could use this Aspect in the future. The more he thought about it, the more excited Torus became at what his future would entail. 

One thing he noted with the discovery of his Aspect, was now that he knew such an Aspect existed, he theorized that somebody may have had such an Aspect in the past as well.

To him, this made the most sense as to how Ferocious Beasts had the ability to so rapidly evolve. Someone must've facilitated it somehow - and it would make a lot of sense if it was somebody with an Aspect like his own.

With the ability to literally mass-evolve millions of species in his future, it was now wonder Torus was so excited to see what he would become!