Abnormally so, the odor of the charred flesh on his side which had been hit by the thunder, stimulated Xeno's appetite. However as he was about to indulge himself into the human corpses, they suddenly disappeared.

'A pity, they seemed rather succulent both as food and experiment material.'

While thinking this, a robotic voice he did not hear since the beginning of the trial echoed in his mind. It was none other than No.2345.

[Do not worry, young Azoth, those humans will be essential for the last part of the trial.

Before that, I must warn you about your next and last opponent. Be careful.]

Even if he got both interested and cautioned by the robot thoughtful words, Xeno did not have much time to think. As just after this warning, another one had quickly followed.

[Second part of the proof of strength has been completed. Preparing for the last enemy, please wait…]

Soon enough, a humongous beast made its appearance, towering over Xeno as it was about double the height of the alien.

Through his senses Xeno perceived it as a big strange lizard, with silver like thick scales, a more elongated and elegant mouth, a longer tail compared to that of its kin. Finally its two front limbs were combined with a kind of wing membrane, making the creature bipedal.

One could recognize it as a dragon, or even better as a wyvern, a kind of subspecies of the first mentioned.

Its big orange eyes were carefully fixed on the dangerous individual that was already taking some distance from the wyvern's position.

In fact Xeno had remained quite shocked in front not only of the sheer size of his enemy, but it actually possessed a nano-heart like himself. Thus boosting the level of danger of the beast greatly, this beast was various times stronger than the group of humans.

Xeno had understood that this one will be a though fight, even if he managed to triumph over the big reptile he probably would end up heavily wounded.

As the alien was laterally taking his distance from the wyvern, he suddenly stopped, and following his instincts lunged forward a loud screech. However Xeno did not infuse it with energy, as it wouldn't have any real effect with such distance. This scream held meaning more inclined toward his morale, he both give himself more courage and at the same time declared to the beast of being ready to fight to the death.

Soon enough from the position of the wyvern a loud response had been launched in the form of a decisive roar.

Without any further ado, Xeno concentrated blue energy on his legs and rushed forward. Albeit, he quickly noticed an energetic ripple accumulating into the mouth of the reptile.

Instinctively he charged even more his hind legs with deep purple energy and quickly escaped from the range of the probable incoming attack of the wyvern.

Then an intense explosion of incandescent blue flames irradiated in a conic area from the beast's jaw, which had just opened wide.

Xeno mentally sighed thanking his keen senses for having escaped such danger. He quickly rushed forward and leaped high, aiming his sharp purple glowing tail at the right eye of the wyvern. The beast had promptly defended itself with the thick claws of its front winged limbs, which had been enhanced with pure purple energy.

Being of a superior layer of strength, the more condensed energy of Xeno permitted him to slightly penetrate into the hard defenses of the wyvern. Yet he had been only able to crack a few scales, making the beast lose a minimal amount of blood. Although, the reptile had been so concentrated on their sparkling clash of energies that it didn't notice the now pulsating with energy, but still coiled tendrils of the alien. In fact Xeno had just started to charge them, but had limited their luminous effects not to alarm the enemy.

Then they suddenly unwrapped from his forearms, and jerked out toward the left eye of the beast. As the pointy extremities of the tendrils reached the tender and vulnerable eyeball of the wyvern, the latter roared in anger and pain.

Completely enraged it lunged forward with its massive jaw filled with razor-sharp teeth, trying to directly bite off Xeno's head. Perceiving the dire situation Xeno immediately recalled his tendrils and blocked the massive mouth from snapping right above his head.

The combined effort of both his arms and tendrils, even with the steady supply of energy, could barely hold the wyvern's mouth in place, while still madly quivering.

However just as they were in a momentary stalemate another foreign object was rapidly moving toward Xeno's back. He had sensed it as the long pointed tail of the beast, facing the risk of a heavy wound, Xeno decided to tap once again at the energy remaining in his small nano-heart. His arms glowed purple, giving the chance for his tendrils to move around and block off the tail of the beast.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Even if he was prepared for the upcoming impact, as the bony point of his enemy pierced through his tightly packed tendrils, it still did hurt a lot.

While feeling the warm purplish blood flowing down on his back, Xeno sensed a few parts of his tendril detaching themselves and falling to the ground.

To his discomfort the wyvern didn't give him time to recuperate, as less then a meter in front of him the alien perceived a new incandescent breath getting shaped inside of its mouth.

As such he had been cornered to accomplish a desperate move, Xeno quickly let go of his right arm from its hold, thus for a split second he could sense the now free lower jaw chomping and tearing off his left arm. A spray of purple blood gushed out from the now amputated limb.

While trying to suppress his excruciating pain, Xeno knew he needed to act fast, as the mouth of the beast was momentarily closed, he jumped over the scaly elongated mouth of the beast avoiding the incoming breath of fire.

Nonetheless the wyvern sensed the added weight over its face, to avoid of losing its remaining eye, it interrupted its flame and twisted its body, lunching with great momentum its tail at Xeno.

Perceiving the danger rapidly approaching, the alien concentrated one of his last portions of deep purple energy on his bladed tail to resist the bigger one of the beast. Yet at the moment of the impact sparkle of intense light emanated from the clash, purple against purple, they were evenly matched.

In fact, even if the energy of Xeno was more dense, the tail of the wyvern was a lot bigger and carried a strong momentum generated from the previous twist of the beast.

Apparently the huge reptile did not possess such wisdom as his main species was famous for. As it had been tricked once again from the tendrils on the remaining arm of Xeno. He had slowly slithered them toward the right eye of the wyvern, achieving the feat of completely blinding the beast. Red warm blood flowed down from the eye sockets of the reptile, giving more hope and confidence to the alien.

Yet it didn't last long, as the pointed tail of the monster contained an extremely potent poison. In truth venom and poison aren't elements that useful against an Azoth like Xeno. However, this one, is one of the deadliest and toxic that can be naturally produced in nature. As such the alien only perceived a sort of paralyzing effect, rending his movements more heavy and sluggish.

After being completely blinded the wyvern entered a frenzied state, madly moving and flapping his arms before it finally took flight.

The anomalous and crazed flight of the beast threatened Xeno of falling off multiple times, however he held firm on the wyvern forehead, trying through every mean possible to penetrate through it and finally kill the reptile.

The alien utilized every single ounce of purple energy left the penetrate the thick scales and skull of the beast, he exploited his now dented tail, his remaining arm and tendrils, his sharp mouth and acid saliva, slowly carving his way toward the enemy brain.

Roaring with the pain caused of having its head almost drilled through its insides, the flying beast adopted its last measure, trying to take down the alien with itself. In truth, the wyvern had previously tried to hit Xeno with its still free tail, yet he seemed to often predict where it intended to hit. Furthermore without eyes and the poor sensibility of its scales, the wyvern had troubles in finding the pest.

BOOM!

As the body of the huge lizard hit the hard ground of the arena, a loud sound echoed through its walls. Yet not a single dent was present on the hard biological ground of the battle zone.

While walking out from the area of the impact, Xeno analyzed his situation, as before the crash he had propelled himself out of the beast's face with the help of his tail. However it had not been soon enough, thus he still got his tail and part of his right leg munched under the weight of the upper back of the wyvern. Soon after he had reached the almost cracked skull of the dying beast, finally ending the fight.

Slowly limping and profusely dripping with blood, the alien had amputated himself the munched remaining of his missing tail, arm and leg, to let them fully regenerate after a good meal he was planning to do.

Just as he was about to take out from his space a few goblins, the huge body of the wyvern disappered, and the robotic features of No.2345 took its place.

[Well done, young Azoth! You have survived the proof of strength. Now you just need to pass the last test of the trial.

This one though, does not really depends on your abilities. The proof of evolution, does only require your genes to be strong enough to allow you to reach the next evolutionary stage of your species.

Furthermore, I advise you not to heal your wounds as they may even boost your chances by a small amount. You can start it anytime, just give me the signal.]

A bit perplexed from the information that were being transferred into his head, after a few seconds Xeno felt himself ready. Insecurity could not insinuate into his solid decision, since the first test he had started to think this as an important choice of his. He had decided to be the new beacon for his species since he left his past self behind, now he was going stick with this choice until the end.

[I feel myself ready, just excuse me a minut-]

Having anticipated the thoughts of the crazy alien, the robotic lesser stopped him on his steps.

[Hurting yourself more isn't necessary, you are already heavily wounded and it's more than enough.]

Listening to the advice, Xeno dispelled his already blue empowered claws.

[Alright, we can start]

Acknowledging the Azoth's statement, the robot quickly teleported them into a completely white rectangular room, similar to the one Xeno had woken up in.

There Xeno sensed the presence of a single object, it was a big metallic cylindrical container. Through his senses he perceived a weird mixture of substances present inside of it.

[This will be the passage that will permit you to pass through your first evolution.

It's called the 'Bath of blood and bones', as you may have already realized, in there are present the blood and various insides and bones of the humans and wyvern you have just killed.]

Soon after it swiftly signaled to Xeno with a hand gesture toward the metallic container, hinting for him to enter inside.

Without further ado, Xeno limped and then threw himself inside of it.

'It is quite warm and comfortable, yet I had to shut down my smell related senses, since the odor of this mixture is worse than that of the slums.'

Just as the alien was almost starting to relax himself, No.2345 levitated towards him and poured a little purplish vial inside of the mixture.

Soon after Xeno felt his body quickly burning up and absorbing all the substances and fluids around it. Then the alien felt himself in a situation simile to the one of more than two years ago, inside of a cocoon.