Jiang Xing's eyes immediately locked onto the scene unfolding in the sky.
'Growth-Type Evolution...'
He quickly reached a conclusion.
Compared to the Rainbow Dragon Hatchlings, the first batch of evolved Rainbow Dragons had only grown significantly larger. Aside from their size, their appearance had not undergone any obvious changes.
In the Beast Taming World, that was itself a sign that their Attribute powers had not changed during evolution.
Evolution forms like these generally inherited the power of the previous form, merely raising the upper limit of their Species Tier.
Jiang Xing wasn't disappointed.
As a Pet Beast's Power Level increased, naturally completing a "Growth-Type Evolution" was already the primary method of evolution among Pet Beasts. Among all evolution forms, it accounted for at least seventy or eighty percent.
For true dragon Pet Beasts like Rainbow Dragon Hatchlings, whose default upper limit was an Overlord Tier species, the existence of a "Growth-Type Evolution Form" was practically guaranteed—
If evolution required extensive research and development, along with the discovery of various special conditions, then it wouldn't qualify as a "default Overlord" species in the first place.
But just as a second-stage Martial Panda could evolve into either a third-stage Panda Grandmaster or Panda Hero...
What Jiang Xing wanted to find was a stronger, hidden evolution form beyond ordinary Growth-Type Evolution!
'Come on, Little Dragon!'
Jiang Xing stared at the little dragon in the sky, feeling somewhat nervous.
As the Fearless Heart Dragon Hatchlings gradually exhausted their stamina and fell, completing their evolutions—
Little Dragon had already climbed from the middle of the pack into the leading group, taking a clear lead.
Hanging from its chest was a golden dragon pearl the size of an egg, continuously replenishing its stamina...
It carried Jiang Xing's greatest hopes.
At that moment—
As one of the Fearless Heart Dragon Hatchlings finally ran out of strength and fell, evolution light emerged around it.
Yet what flew out of the white radiance was not a golden true dragon adorned with dazzling rainbow colors, but a true dragon of azure-green hue—
Its scales had changed from gold to green.
The coral-like dragon horns atop its head had transformed into brown branching limbs resembling tree branches, wrapped with vines and tiny flowers.
The rainbow-like dragon whiskers drifting around its body had become azure-green light whiskers, radiating abundant vitality.
As it flew through the sky, it left behind a trail of azure-green light.
This was...
A Little Azure Dragon?
High above, the Azure Dragon, who had been watching from above the entire time while exerting Dragon Might upon the hatchlings, froze in surprise.
This little dragon's aura felt far too similar to his own...
If someone claimed this was his "base form," plenty of people would probably believe it.
He had clearly only agreed to help with the evolution process.
How had helping somehow turned into suddenly becoming a father?
Fortunately, the Azure Dragon's surprise lasted less than an instant before he sensed the power within the little dragon.
In addition to its Wood and Dragon Attributes, it still possessed Light Attribute power.
Furthermore, Light had exceptionally strong compatibility and naturally harmonized with Wood.
The two complemented one another, resulting in an aura remarkably similar to the Azure Dragon's.
'A Wood-Attribute Rainbow Dragon...'
Jiang Xing noticed the same thing, his thoughts stirring.
The fact that this Rainbow Dragon Hatchling had mastered Wood power and evolved into something resembling a Little Azure Dragon was obviously the result of being influenced by the Azure Dragon environment.
In other words, this was a Special Evolution Form that had emerged because of the Azure Dragon environment.
Which raised a question.
If they had all evolved in the exact same environment, why hadn't the other Rainbow Dragon Hatchlings been similarly affected and evolved into Wood-Light Dragons?
In an instant, Jiang Xing thought of a possibility—
The Azure Dragon environment contained not only Wood power, but also Dragon power.
And the latter was even more abundant.
The only difference was that Rainbow Dragon Hatchlings were already true dragon Pet Beasts, possessing extremely powerful Dragon Attribute power.
Combined with the naturally inclusive nature of Light Attribute power, Rainbow Dragon Hatchlings did not lose their Light Attribute when they evolved. They retained the Rainbow Dragon form, merely converting the environmental influence into greater Species Tier potential...
'Using Pokémon terminology, the form didn't change, but the base stats became higher.'
Testing that hypothesis would actually be quite simple.
Although external influences during a Pet Beast's evolution could sometimes alter its form, they did not necessarily change its Attributes.
For example, a Golden-Patterned Koi could evolve into a Great-Tail Golden Carp, or use a Lightning Secret Realm Stone to evolve into an Electric-Patterned Koi.
These two forms differed only in their Attributes; their Species Tier was identical.
The Azure Dragon environment, however, was different.
It contained the power of a Mythical Pet Beast.
Under such circumstances, any Special Evolution Form born from that environment should theoretically be stronger than an ordinary Growth-Type Evolution.
Its Species Tier should be at least one sublevel higher.
If testing showed that Rainbow Dragons and Wood-Light Dragons possessed the same Species Tier...
Then it would mean that Rainbow Dragons themselves had likely been influenced by the Azure Dragon environment, raising the upper limit of the entire species!
'The Azure Dragon is a Mythical Pet Beast—and a high-level Mythical one at that!'
'If its power can influence the Species Tier of lower-level Pet Beasts... that's not really surprising.'
Having understood the reason behind the emergence of the two forms, Jiang Xing quickly developed a new line of thinking—
Environment was only one of the factors involved in evolution.
It wasn't something that would necessarily affect a Pet Beast's evolution.
Otherwise, what would be the point of researching evolution forms?
Just find a top-tier Dragon Attribute environment, throw every Pet Beast into it for evolution, and the entire world would be full of dragons.
Much like the Death Secret Realm from before—only Howl Hounds could revive as Undead Guardian Hounds. Pet Beasts such as Keen-Eyed Falcons and Shield Rocks could not undergo the same revival.
For a special environment to take effect, the Pet Beast itself had to possess the corresponding potential.
Since Rainbow Dragon Hatchlings could be influenced by the environment and evolve into either Rainbow Dragons or Wood-Light Dragons, that meant they possessed a similar kind of potential—
Perhaps, like the Everchanging Chocolate Chicken, their power was particularly susceptible to external influences.
If that was the case, could Jiang Xing alter the external conditions and make Rainbow Dragon Hatchlings evolve into even more Attribute variants?
For example, could he use an Eternal Thunder Stone to evolve a Rainbow Dragon Hatchling into a Thunder-Light Dragon?
Or use the Death Secret Realm to evolve one into a Death-Light Dragon?
Compared to simply modifying the "Dragon Gate structure," this method of influencing evolution through external power offered far greater possibilities!
'Wasn't this supposed to be a shiny Gyarados?'
'How did it turn from a shiny Magikarp into a shiny Eevee instead?'
'Your evolution path is pretty random.'
The birth of the Wood-Light Dragon gave Jiang Xing countless new ideas.
However, the evolution process was still ongoing.
Suppressing those thoughts for the moment, he continued looking toward the sky.
Even though the Unceasing Heart Dragon Hatchlings possessed an incredible ability to keep getting back up, repeated comebacks had finally pushed their stamina to its limit.
One after another, they fell from the sky and completed their evolutions in that exhausted state.
They grew into Rainbow Dragons or Wood-Light Dragons.
Yet with no changes to the external environment, none of them displayed additional Attribute evolutions beyond Wood and Dragon.
This indirectly confirmed Jiang Xing's theory—
The Wood-Light Dragon was an evolution form exclusive to the Azure Dragon environment.
The only question was whether some other method could replicate the Azure Dragon environment's effect...
Otherwise, if Beast Tamers wanted to raise Wood-Light Dragons in the future, they would have no choice but to wait for the government to successfully recreate the Azure Dragon environment.