Slime Evolution

Chapter 437 - Lisa’s Growth

The next day, excited about the discovery, the two decided to repeat the process before they even went out to hunt.

"Let’s see if the pain shows up again at the same point..." Lohan remarked, already forming the filaments around her.

Contrary to their initial expectations, the process passed the 10 Biomass mark without any reaction of discomfort from Lisa.

"Still fine," she reported, surprised. "I thought it would hurt again at that point."

Lohan continued, keeping the flow controlled, paying close attention to every response from her. They passed 12, then 14 Biomass, and the pain still hadn’t shown up.

It was only when he got close to 16 Biomass that Lisa winced and raised a paw, signaling him to stop.

"There it is," she said, shaking her head. "This time the twinge was a bit stronger."

Lohan stopped immediately, pleased with that result.

"16 Biomass today, versus 10 yesterday," he calculated out loud. "That’s a considerable difference. It seems the limit isn’t fixed, it expands over time, probably as your body adapts and assimilates the previous gains."

Lisa tested her own muscles again, with the same satisfied smile as before.

"I think today’s gains were 1% to 2%," she confirmed, happy. "Halon, this is incredible. If this limit keeps growing like this, who knows how far I could get?"

"Let’s take it easy," Lohan cautioned, even though he felt the same excitement as her. "We still don’t know if this is going to keep growing forever or if it’ll stabilize at some point. Better to test carefully every day, not to mention if the biomass cost also keeps growing at the same rate, in a few days I won’t be able to sustain you anymore."

"Sustain me?" Lisa looked at him, surprised, with a subtle amusement at his choice of words.

Considering she was Isabella Vance, probably one of the wealthiest young women in the entire Human Federation, it was ironic that one day she would hear that from someone her own age.

But surprisingly, Lisa didn’t dislike it.

On the third day, the same routine repeated itself, and this time the limit reached 26 Biomass before the pain appeared, once again bringing with it the same 1% to 2% gain in her muscles and spiritual core.

Fortunately, from what Lisa observed, even though the gain seemed constant, just like with Lohan’s growth, this gain was incremental, meaning it was a 1 to 2% gain based on how she was today before the session, not from when she first started the process.

Even though the biomass cost was increasing, her growth was also increasing daily!

"Ten, sixteen, twenty six," Lohan murmured, pleased with the growing pattern. "Even though the biomass cost is rising a lot, with your gains also increasing at a corresponding rate, we’re not coming out at a loss."

"It’s been a while since I’ve seen you with that mad scientist expression with your mind working nonstop on calculations..." Lisa teased, laughing quietly.

"Mad scientist? I prefer to think of myself as an investor analyzing whether my investments are profitable or not." Lohan shot back, feigning indignation. "Every bit of Biomass I put into you is like buying an extremely high value stock, but one I have to make sure is trending up or down."

"Ohh, so how’s the trend on my stock looking?" Lisa asked, a mischievous glint in her golden eyes.

Lohan blinked with his small white eyes, looked at her, and made a small mouth smile at her. "Definitely the best I’ve ever known."

Lisa huffed, but the relaxed shape of her ears gave away just how much she liked that answer.

On the fourth day, eager to see how far that growth would go, they repeated the process once more. This time, the limit stretched even further, reaching an incredible 44 Biomass before the pain finally appeared.

"Wow, almost double yesterday’s," Lohan remarked, pleased with his own calculation.

But when Lisa tested her own body afterward, her smile faltered.

"Wait," she said, furrowing her brow while feeling out her own muscles and her own spiritual energy. "Today’s growth feels... smaller. It’s still a gain, but it doesn’t feel as sharp as the previous ones."

Lohan stopped, processing that carefully.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Maybe it’s just an impression."

"No, I’m sure," Lisa insisted, testing a few agile movements and kicks in the air, comparing the feeling to yesterday’s. "I still felt an improvement, but it’s subtly weaker than the previous ones, even with you having invested almost double the biomass today compared to yesterday."

That made Lohan stop completely, his gelatin going momentarily still as he pieced together that puzzle.

"Wait," he said, slowly. "If the daily biomass limit keeps increasing, but the power gain per session is starting to decrease... that means it’s not just the amount you can receive per day that has a rising ceiling, the total amount of improvement your body can absorb over time must also have some kind of limit."

Lisa stayed quiet for a moment, taking in that conclusion.

"So this won’t last forever." she said, her voice coming out quieter.

"Probably not," Lohan admitted, a little disappointed. "It seems like there’s some kind of total saturation, not just a daily one. Maybe your body can only absorb a certain amount of improvement through this method before it simply stops reacting to it, even if I keep trying to inject more."

Hearing that, Lisa laid her head down over her own paws, in a gesture of tiredness and resignation, but after a second she lifted it back up, her eyes shining in a calmer way.

"Well, looking on the bright side," she said, "even if this has a limit, I’ve already gained a good boost of power these past few days. It’s not like we’re losing anything, just finding out how far this gift goes."

"That’s true," Lohan agreed, feeling a mix of relief and disappointment similar to hers. "I just wish this could keep going forever. It would be too perfect if I could just keep pumping biomass into you forever and make you practically invincible."

"Nothing in this world is that easy, Halon," Lisa remarked, with a sad but sincere smile. "But it’s fine. I feel stronger, faster, and that’s already quite a win considering it came practically for free for me."

"Let’s keep trying until this limit is completely used up," Lohan decided. "Even if the gain is shrinking, it’s still a positive gain. We’ll just have to accept that, at some point, this is going to stop working."

Then a possibility came to his mind. "Sure, considering that every time we level up our body improves in every aspect, maybe leveling up will push this limit forward too?"

Hearing that, Lisa’s eyes lit up. "Yes... that’s entirely possible. Maybe this is just my current limit at Level 15, but maybe at Level 16, or even at Level 21 after the next evolution, this limit will go up again!"

Lisa nodded, satisfied with that conclusion, and the two of them headed off for another day of hunting, this time with an even more ambitious plan sprouting in Lohan’s mind to deal with her growth.