He locked his door, and the quiet click made him feel cut off in the simple room. Nothing could bother him now. If he made a mistake or lost focus for even a second, his brain would be destroyed.

He sat cross-legged on the floor, the open case from Seraph before him. The Gale-Raptor Egg pulsed with a calm energy. The two essences, however, were another story.

The Glimmer-Moth’s silver light moved in a captivating way. In contrast, the Armored Slug’s brown essence was a heavy, unmoving mass. They felt like two people who had been forced to sit at the same table and were refusing to make eye contact.

“Alright,” Jonah muttered to himself, trying to sound more confident than he felt. “Let’s introduce you two.”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, sinking into the familiar darkness of his mental Workshop.

The space was no longer just an empty black void. Now it had a purpose. He willed the Gale-Raptor Egg into existence, and it appeared before him, a glowing orb of potential, his canvas.

Next, he focused on the essences. He carefully drew the two motes of light into the Workshop, keeping them at a distance from each other. The moment they were in the same mental space, he felt a subtle push, a repulsion. It was like trying to force two opposing magnets together.

The synthesis for Shard had been like weaving with a single, rough thread. This… this was psychic surgery. He had to take the very concept of the Glimmer-Moth – its evasiveness, its light-bending properties – and stitch it directly into the concept of the Armored Slug – its toughness and solidness.

He nudged the brown essence towards the core. The moment it made contact, a new system message flared in his mind, sharp and urgent.

[Begin Grade-2 Synthesis? WARNING: High risk of synthesis failure and psychic backlash. Proceed?]

Jonah’s heart hammered against his ribs. Psychic backlash. The idea of two essences turning on him, tearing his mind apart from the inside, was terrifying.

But the other option – letting Seraph and the Headmaster down, and remaining stuck as someone with just that one strange power – was even worse.

He focused on the prompt. Proceed.

The backlash was instant.

The essences weren’t just pushing; they were fighting hard against each other. They burst with light, and a wave of confusing thoughts hit his mind. His head hurt badly, a strong, beating pain behind his eyes. The ideas of being tough and being tricky, which he was trying to hold, got all jumbled. The Glimmer-Moth’s essence tried to slip past the Armored Slug’s, but the slug’s energy tried to crush the light.

His vision blurred. The clear shapes of his Workshop twisted into a sickening mess of colors. He was losing control. The silk was tearing apart against the stone, exactly as Vanessa had warned.

The silk would shred…

Vanessa. Her face flashed in his mind, surrounded by diagrams on his chalkboard. He remembered her tracing a pattern in the air, her voice clear and focused.

“It’s about stability, Jonah! You can’t just crash them together. You need a loop, a way for the energy to flow from one to the other and back again without conflict. A stabilizing circuit!”

A circuit. A loop.

His focus was breaking apart, and his mental energy was draining away fast. He couldn’t force the essences together. But maybe… maybe he could guide them.

Ignoring the blinding pain, Jonah stopped trying to force the essences together.

Instead, he visualized his own mental energy as a third thread. He recalled Vanessa’s teaching, changing his focus from forceful pushing to gentle guiding. He used his pure will to create a linking path, like a figure eight, between the two essences.

He wrapped the loop around the Glimmer-Moth’s energy, then guided it to flow into the Armored Slug’s essence. For a split second, the conflict intensified, but then Jonah completed the loop, pulling the combined energy back towards the Glimmer-Moth.

It was working. The harsh fighting stopped, and a deep hum of great power took its place. The two opposing forces weren’t battling anymore. They were flowing and moving through the loop he’d created, keeping each other balanced.

With one last, big push, he forced the steady, swirling energy into the Gale-Raptor Core.

There was a blinding flash in his mind. The synthesis was complete.

A new cocoon appeared in his Workshop, but it was different from Shard’s plain, rocky shell. This one had two clear colors twisting together – a strong, earthy brown mixed with a shiny, rainbow-like silver light.

Another prompt appeared, the text a welcome relief.

[Incubation Time: 4 Hours]

Jonah didn’t even have time to feel triumphant. The mental strain hit him like a physical blow. The world tilted sideways, the darkness of his Workshop consumed him, and he passed out cold on his dorm room floor.

________________________________________

Jonah woke up with a light pain in his head and the taste of old instant noodles in his mouth. He blinked, then pushed himself up from the floor. How long had he been unconscious?

A faint crack echoed, not in the room, but in his mind.

He quickly stood up, no longer feeling tired. Four hours. That’s exactly how long it had been.

He dove back into his Workshop. The beautiful, swirling cocoon was covered in a web of fine cracks. As he watched, it trembled and then shattered, dissolving into motes of light.

In its place stood his new creation.

It was amazing. About the size of a large dog, it had a body like a beetle. Its six legs were thick and strong, ending in sharp claws. Its shell wasn’t just tough brown; it was a mix of earthy plates that glowed and shifted with a soft, inner light, making its exact form hard to see. Two thin, clear wings were tucked tight against its back.

It wasn’t a monster made only to fight. It was a watchful guard. A protector.

A final, glorious system prompt bloomed in his mind.

[Progeny Created: Glimmerwing Striker (Grade 2)]

Skills: [Fortified Carapace (Passive)], [Disorienting Dust]

[SYNERGY SKILL UNLOCKED: Phantasm Guard]

A synergy skill. Phantasm Guard.

The name itself sent a thrill through him. It was proof. He hadn’t just stuck two things together; he had created something entirely new from their union.

The Glimmerwing Striker turned its head, its insect-like eyes watching him with quiet understanding. Like Shard, it had no thoughts of its own, but its job was obvious. It was a shield. His shield.

He reached out to it telepathically, giving it its first command, its name.

“Nyx.”

The creature’s antennae twitched in understanding. Jonah felt a wave of pride so powerful it chased away the last of his headache.

He had done it. Project Chimera was a success. He had his proof.

Now, he just had to wait for the Sergeant to come and see it.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep