Chapter26-Hatching Secrets

Jack now spoke with a lisp and an accent, his whole body trembling slightly, clearly terrified of Owen.

It looked particularly ridiculous and laughable.

Owen raised an eyebrow and clenched his fist again.

But before he could strike, Jack was already shouting!

"Take it, take it!"

He tried to suppress his heartache as he shakily removed the silver ring from his finger and placed it in Owen's hand.

Owen took the silver ring and examined it.

Sure enough, it was a storage ring.

This haul wasn't bad after all. He gently patted Jack's face. "Next time, be more careful about who you mess with, got it?"

Jack, like a frightened little chick, curled up and nodded frantically.

The others around them, seeing how Owen had beaten Jack like this, didn't dare say a word!

They shrank back, not even daring to look at Owen!

An ordinary guy?

Nonsense!

Have you ever seen an ordinary guy who could beat a bronze-tier swordsman like this?

If ordinary people were this strong, who would bother training in magic?

Having a storage ring made it much easier to carry these items.

Owen didn't inspect them closely and just stuffed everything into the storage ring.

But when he tried to put his backpack in, he keenly felt a sense of resistance from the snake egg.

He hesitated a bit, but ultimately decided to keep the backpack on and head back to town.

Watching Owen walk away, the others shakily gathered around Jack.

"Boss, what do we do now?"

Jack, already in pain from the beating, was infuriated by this question.

He angrily kicked the man's shoulder, knocking him over!

"You ask me? Who should I ask?"

The words came out with his lisp, making him feel even more humiliated!

The others were scared but didn't dare say anything, only helping him up shakily.

The group limped back towards the town. Even the guards at the gate looked at them in surprise.

These people were notorious for their misdeeds, so much so that even the mayor didn't dare cross them.

Yet today, they had been beaten so badly?

Jack could feel the stares of the people on the street, making his face burn with shame!

He cursed Owen in his heart but didn't dare show it, slinking back to his residence.

After returning to town, Owen found an inn and settled in. The first thing he did upon entering his room was to carefully examine the contents of the ring. He hadn't had a chance to look closely when he took the ring, but now he saw that it contained several high-quality tier-5 beast cores, over thirty gold coins, and a tattered book.

No wonder Jack had thrown out everything else so readily but was reluctant to part with the ring; all the good stuff was inside. Owen chuckled and took out the book. It was in terrible condition, with the title partially obscured. The cover was made from an unknown spellbeast hide, and only the word "Hatching" was faintly visible.

If Jack had cherished this book so much, it must be something special. Curiosity piqued, Owen opened it to the first page.

"Spellbeast hatching requires a natural environment suitable for the spellbeast's survival and a large number of beast cores…"

It turned out to be a book about hatching spellbeast eggs!

A thought struck him; he had been wondering how to hatch the snake egg.

His mentor had given no guidance on how to care for the corevenom.

In the Tarkun Kingdom, spellbeasts weren't highly valued, used mainly for hunting and entertainment.

There were only a handful of tier-7 or higher spellbeasts in the entire kingdom, so in his past life, Owen hadn't paid much attention to these magical creatures.

However, he had heard that in the distant archipelago, spellbeasts were truly at home.

It was said that spellbeasts there had extremely high magical prowess, with some capable of destroying a city with a single blow.

This world was vast, and he had missed so much in his previous life.

Reflecting on this, Owen continued reading:

"If a natural environment is unavailable, an incubator is typically used as a substitute…"

Owen read carefully and gradually understood the spellbeast egg hatching process.

To hatch a spellbeast, one needed a substantial amount of energy, provided by beast cores, and preferably an incubator to guide the process.

A good incubator could even enhance the initial tier of the spellbeast hatchling.

But where could he find an incubator? Owen felt a headache coming on, but he suppressed his curiosity and continued reading carefully.

"If an incubator is unavailable, then you can also…"

Owen's heart skipped a beat, wanting to read further, but there was no more text.

He couldn't help but laugh; it turned out to be an incomplete book.

And it just had to cut off at the most crucial part!

Feeling helpless, he put the fragment into the storage ring.

Oh well, at least he had some information.

Now he knew that an incubator could help hatch spellbeast eggs.

He'd have to look for one later.

Perhaps the Imperial Capital would have incubators for sale.

Since the snake egg didn't want to go into the storage ring, he placed all the beast cores he got from those thugs around the egg.

The egg shivered slightly and nuzzled Owen's finger gently, seemingly very satisfied with the current setup.

The faint purple light on the egg pulsed more rapidly, and the surrounding beast cores' energy was being absorbed faster than before.

"Then hatch well, little guy," Owen said with a smile. He closed his backpack and stopped looking at it, beginning to plan his next steps.

Thanks to the gold-coin-dropping thugs, he now had 34 gold coins and a few hundred silver coins.

That was more than enough to cover his travel expenses to the Imperial Capital.

Tomorrow, he would check the Bounty Hunters' Guild to see if there were any tasks he could do along the way.

After all, making some extra money wouldn't hurt.

He looked at his hands and sighed slightly.

He didn't know when he would break through again.

Only by making more money could he afford the rare materials needed to break through his body's limits.

These 34 gold coins were just a drop in the bucket.

Owen lay in bed and had a good night's rest.

…

The next day, he headed to the Bounty Hunters' Guild with his backpack.

"Honorable Hunter, good morning."

The same receptionist from yesterday brightened up when she saw Owen, greeting him with a polite smile.

She had a strong impression of this hunter!

He had accepted a mission and completed it almost immediately—such speed was unprecedented.

"Hello, I'd like to take on a mission."

"Daily mission updates can be checked using your identity token. Just inject a bit of mana," the receptionist said warmly.

Owen, a bit puzzled, took out his identity token, which was marked with the lowest rank, F.

As he infused it with mana, a semi-transparent panel appeared in front of him, displaying all the available missions for the day from the Bounty Guild.

Owen curiously examined the transparent panel.

It seemed the token was now connected to his mana, meaning he wouldn't need to visit the Bounty Guild to accept missions anymore.

He opened the mission list:

Top 1: [3S+ Mission 1: Kill the Ice Dragon of the Northern Expanse, retrieve the Dragon's Reverse Scale, and Dragon Core. Reward: 100,000 amethyst coins!]

Top 2:[2S+ Mission 1: Collect ten thousand-year-old Frost Herbs. Reward: 30,000 amethyst coins!]

They actually used amethyst coins for rewards!

An amethyst coin was equivalent to a hundred gold coins, so 100,000 amethyst coins were a staggering 10,000,000 gold coins! 10,000,000 gold coins!

The entire income of a small village for a year wasn't even 1,000,000 gold coins!

Owen couldn't help but sigh.

If he had his strength from his previous life, he wouldn't hesitate to turn the entire Northern Expanse upside down, let alone hunt an Ice Dragon. But now...

He shook his head silently and jumped to the last page, searching for missions suitable for his current level.

After scrolling through several tasks, Owen's hand suddenly paused.

[F-level Mission: Escort Miss Iris to the Imperial Capital. Reward: 300 gold coins.]**

Hmm? An escort mission? 300 gold coins? Could there really be such a good deal?

Owen immediately pressed the accept button.

It was on his way, he would earn gold coins, and most importantly, escort missions usually included meals and accommodations.

Not taking advantage of this would be foolish!

At that moment, he heard murmurs nearby.

"Did you see that? Someone actually took Iris's mission," an archer said, pointing at his token.

"Must be out of his mind. I wouldn't take that mission even for 1,000 gold coins."

"Must be a newbie. What a pity, what a pity."