The golden void was no longer a chaotic storm of clashing memories. It had settled into a vast, tranquil ocean of consciousness.
Mame stood at the center of his own mindscape, completely whole. He wasn't just a traumatized eight-year-old boy anymore, nor was he merely a confused modern soul trapped in a passenger seat. The two identities had perfectly synthesized. He possessed the hardened, desperate willpower of a slum orphan, combined with the analytical foresight and meta-knowledge of a modern man who knew exactly what kind of world he was living in.
And because he knew this world, he knew exactly how much danger he was in.
Gods exist here, Mame thought, the modern memories analyzing the lore of the Douluo Continent with chilling clarity. Asura, Rakshasa, the Sea God... they watch this world. They manipulate destinies. And even among mortals, there are Soul Masters who specialize in mental invasions. Illusions. Interrogations.
He thought of Tang San's Purple Demon Eye, a technique that could launch devastating spiritual shockwaves. He thought of the Spirit Hall inquisitors. If anyone powerful ever breached his mind and saw his memories of Earth—or realized he possessed the bloodline of a planet-destroying warrior race—he wouldn't just be killed. He would be dissected.
My body is strong, Mame realized, feeling the terrifying, dormant Saiyan power resting in his cells. But a strong body is useless if my soul can be shattered or my mind controlled. I need a fortress.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a massive, external wave of profound energy flooded into his system.
It started as a soothing, icy-blue current—Da Ming's Gentle Water Lotuses. But immediately after, a violent, scorching heat followed—the Crimson Yang Grass.
Mame's Saiyan instincts flared. Left to its own devices, his biology would have greedily devoured all of that medicinal energy, converting it purely into muscle density, bone strength, and raw, explosive Ki. It was the natural reflex of a warrior race prioritizing physical survival.
No, Mame commanded his own biology, his newly fused consciousness exerting absolute dominance over his instincts. Physical strength comes later. Secure the mind first.
Using the fundamental meditation techniques he had relentlessly practiced at Nuoding Academy, combined with his mother's gentle teachings on focus and his modern understanding of energy circulation, Mame seized control of the massive influx of medicinal power.
Instead of letting it flow into his limbs, he forced the energy upward.
He violently redirected the crushing weight of the thousand-year herbs straight into his own Spiritual Sea. It was a brutally painful process. Funneling physical, yang-heavy energy into the delicate pathways of the mind felt like pouring molten glass into his brain. But Mame didn't flinch.
He used the cool, soothing energy of the lotuses to coat his soul, and then used the blazing heat of the Crimson Yang Grass and the Iron-Bone Bamboo sap to forge a mental barrier around it. He layered it over and over, compressing the profound energy into an impenetrable, iron-clad vault around his memories and his consciousness.
This was the true reason Da Ming had been so astonished on the outside.
The Tianqing Bull Python had believed the boy's physical body was a bottomless pit, devouring herb after herb just to heal his muscles. In reality, Mame was taking ninety percent of that priceless, hundred-thousand-year medicinal power and using it to permanently expand and fortify his soul, leaving only ten percent to casually heal his physical wounds and stabilize his meridians.
By the time the last drop of the Star-Moon Blossom was absorbed, Mame's Spiritual Sea was completely transformed. It was no longer the fragile puddle of an eight-year-old. It was a vast, fortified stronghold, practically immune to low-level spiritual shocks, illusions, or mind-reading attempts. His soul was anchored to his body like a mountain.
The refinement was complete. The golden ocean in his mind began to fade into the darkness of true sleep.
Thank you, whoever is out there feeding me these herbs, Mame thought, his consciousness finally drifting. I owe you one.
Mame slowly opened his eyes.
The transition from the mindscape to the physical world was jarring. The air was incredibly thick and humid. He was lying naked in a crater of cracked mud, completely healed, though his body felt heavier, denser, and thrumming with an alien, tightly-coiled power. He felt the unfamiliar weight of the furry brown tail wrapped around his waist, instinctively flicking it.
He didn't panic. The fusion had completely erased his childhood terror. His mind was razor-sharp.
He slowly pushed himself up to a seated position, wiping a smear of dried mud from his cheek. He looked up, expecting to see the canopy of the forest or maybe the dead body of the Viper.
Instead, he found himself staring directly into the massive, glowing cyan eyes of a bull-headed python the size of a fortress wall. Sitting right next to it was a colossal, mountain-sized ape covered in dark granite muscle, peering down at him with extreme curiosity.
Mame froze. His modern meta-knowledge instantly identified the two creatures in front of him.
Da Ming. Er Ming. The Kings of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Da Ming lowered his massive, terrifying head until he was only a few feet away from the boy. The sheer spiritual pressure radiating from the hundred-thousand-year beast would have easily crushed the mind of a normal Level 3 Spirit Scholar, causing them to faint or go mad.
But Mame just sat there, his newly forged iron mind completely unfazed by the pressure. He met the King of the Forest's gaze without blinking, his dark eyes—swirling with deep purple and a ring of silver—perfectly calm.
Da Ming's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"You are awake, little one," the Tianqing Bull Python's deep, telepathic voice resonated directly inside Mame's heavily fortified mind. "And you do not fear us."
Da Ming's cyan eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"You are awake, little one," the Tianqing Bull Python's deep, telepathic voice resonated directly inside Mame's heavily fortified mind. "And you do not fear us."
Mame sat in the mud, looking up at the two most terrifying entities on the continent. The oppressive weight of their auras was enough to crush steel, yet he felt a strange, natural calm. His newly refined spiritual sea hummed, effortlessly deflecting the passive pressure of the hundred-thousand-year beasts.
"Why should I be afraid?" Mame asked, his voice steady, though it still held the high pitch of an eight-year-old. "I don't feel any ill intent from either of you."
Er Ming let out a low, rumbling huff that vibrated through the soles of Mame's feet. The Titan Great Ape leaned closer, his golden eyes narrowing as if trying to figure out how something so small could possess zero survival instinct.
Mame looked down at his own chest. The brutal puncture wounds from the Viper were completely gone. The agonizing heat of his expanding meridians had vanished, replaced by a smooth, powerful river of energy. He could still taste the faint, lingering bitterness of the Crimson Yang Grass on his tongue.
"I know I was dying," Mame said softly, his dark, silver-ringed eyes looking back up at Da Ming. "And I know you were the ones who saved me. I can still feel the energy of the herbs you used."
With a quiet grunt of effort, Mame pushed himself to his feet. He was completely naked, his tattered academy clothes having been vaporized during his transformation, but he didn't care. He stood tall in the mud, his furry brown tail swishing gently behind him.
He took a step forward, placed his hands at his sides, and bowed at a perfect, deep ninety-degree angle. It was the formal bow of a grateful student, executed with perfect respect.
"My mother taught me that no matter how cruel the world gets, when someone reaches out to help you, you must thank them properly," Mame said, his voice echoing clearly across the tranquil surface of the Lake of Life. "You saved my life. Thank you, both of you. I will not forget this debt."
Da Ming and Er Ming exchanged a long, silent look. Spirit Beasts of their caliber rarely interacted with humans, and when they did, it was usually a bloodbath driven by human greed. To see a human child bow to them with such genuine, unwavering gratitude—speaking of his mother's teachings—was entirely unprecedented.
Mame slowly straightened up. He looked at the massive crater he was standing in, then up at Er Ming, noting the faint scuff marks on the Titan Great Ape's incredibly dense granite arms. The modern memories of his rampage as the Oozaru flashed briefly in his mind.
Mame awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish, decidedly human expression crossing his face.
"Also..." Mame muttered, his tail drooping slightly in embarrassment. "I'm really sorry for any inconvenience I caused while I was in that giant ape form. I... didn't exactly have control of the wheel at the time. I hope I didn't break anything too important."
Er Ming blinked. The colossal hundred-thousand-year King of the Forest, a being worshipped as a god of destruction by ordinary humans, stared at the tiny boy in utter bewilderment.
Did this fifty-pound child just apologize for punching him in the face?
Suddenly, Er Ming threw his massive head back and let out a booming, earth-shaking sound. It took Mame a second to realize the giant ape wasn't roaring.
He was laughing.
The booming laughter echoed through the inner circle of the forest, sending a fresh flock of spirit birds scrambling into the sky. Da Ming's massive bull head let out a soft, huffing sigh that ruffled Mame's wild hair, the python's eyes crinkling in undeniable amusement.
"Inconvenience," Da Ming echoed telepathically, his deep voice carrying a warm, rumbling chuckle. "You possess the power to level mountains, little one, yet you apologize for the mess like a guest spilling tea. You are a truly fascinating contradiction."
Da Ming lowered his head until his snout was mere inches from Mame, his tone turning gentle but serious. "What is your name, child? And what manner of Martial Soul allows a human to command the primal fury of a King Beast?"
The laughter of the forest kings gradually subsided, replaced by a heavy, expectant silence. Da Ming's giant cyan eyes remained fixed on the boy, waiting for an explanation that defied the laws of the continent.
Mame sat back down on a smooth stone at the edge of the crater. He didn't hide anything. He looked at his brown, furry tail—the physical manifestation of his new reality—and began to speak.
"My name is Mame," he began, his voice quiet but echoing with a weight far beyond his eight years. "When I was six, I awakened what everyone called a 'trash' soul. A scrawny Brown Monkey. My Spirit Power was so low it barely registered. My father, a high-ranking official in Spirit Hall, threw my mother and me away because we were a disgrace to his name."
As Mame spoke, the air around him seemed to grow cold. He told them about the years in Nuoding, the grueling labor in the lumber yards, and the biting humiliation from the Grandmaster. He described the cold, indifferent eyes of Tang San and the ultimate betrayal—how his mother was framed and left to die in a dark cell while he was powerless to stop it.
"I worked until my bones ached just to save enough money to come here," Mame said, his fists clenching until his knuckles turned white. "I hired those men to help me get a simple ten-year ring. Instead, they hamstrung me. They tossed me into the ferns like a piece of raw meat to lure out a Ghost-Marked Viper. They stood in the trees and laughed while I was bitten, waiting for me to die so they could harvest the snake."
Er Ming let out a low, dangerous growl, his granite fists cracking the ground. As a beast, he understood the law of the jungle, but the calculated cruelty of humans always stirred a different kind of fury in him.
"I lay there dying," Mame continued, his silver-ringed eyes flashing with a dormant, purple fire. "And all of it—the hunger, the rain, the Grandmaster's sneer, my mother's face in that cell—it all just... exploded. I looked up and saw the full silver moon. It felt like a beacon calling out to something hidden deep in my blood. My martial soul didn't just appear; it screamed. It evolved into that giant form you saw. I didn't choose it. I was just... gone. Lost in a sea of red."
He looked up at the two kings, his expression a mix of exhaustion and newfound clarity.
"I think the rage changed me. Not just my soul, but my body too," he said, gesturing to his wild, silver-streaked hair and his tail. "The 'trash' monkey is gone. Whatever is left... it's just me."
Da Ming remained silent for a long time, his massive head swaying slowly. As a hundred-thousand-year beast, he could sense the truth in the boy's spirit. He didn't feel the oily, deceptive aura of most humans. He felt a soul that had been hammered on an anvil of suffering until it became something harder and purer than steel.
"A mutation triggered by the moon and absolute despair," Da Ming mused telepathically. "To evolve through rage is the way of the most ancient beasts. You were a human who was treated like an animal, and so, the heavens allowed you to awaken the king of animals within you."
Er Ming reached out, a single finger the size of Mame's entire body hovering near the boy. He gently poked Mame's shoulder, a gesture of grudging respect. He had fought that "rage," and for a moment, he had felt a spark of a true warrior's spirit—a spirit that didn't know how to submit.
"The humans of your city were fools," Da Ming stated, his voice booming with authority. "They threw away a dragon because it looked like a worm. But their loss is our gain."
The great serpent's eyes shimmered with a new light. "Mame, you said you have no family left. No home to return to. In this forest, we do not care for 'trash' foundations or human titles. We care only for strength and heart. If you are willing, you will stay here. We will help you master this new power."
Mame looked from the giant bull-python to the mountain-sized ape. For the first time in two years, he felt a sense of belonging that didn't come with a price tag or a condition.
"I'll stay," Mame said, a small, determined smile finally touching his lips. "I want to be strong enough that no one can ever look down on me—or anyone I care about—ever again."