25 (25) Egg
As the sun rises from the horizon, the world's inhabitants also rise from their slumber. Ritsuka, the last one to guard, woke everyone up as they went their way back to the lake.
"Even in the daylight, this lake is still so beautiful." Mash praised.
"It is, I just hope this place is safe for us to make our base though."
"Don't worry, senpai! I'm sure this place is safe-"
"Enough mash," Alexander interrupts gently, "Your words will raise a flag. For now, let's just focus on exploring this place more carefully."
Mash was a bit flustered but she nodded as an acknowledgment.
("Tamamo, can tell us where is the cave you guys were talking about?")
"It's located at the bottom of that hill." She pointed at a medium-size hill that is on their left. It's a few kilometers away so it takes a few minutes to get there.
Arriving, they were now standing in front of a big cave. It has a diameter that is big enough to fit three elephants side by side. The entrance of the cave is coated in thick moss and vines. It's quite a bizarre sight due to the hill's composition which is mostly made of rocks and no sign of vegetation making this cave stand out. This weird phenomenon was the reason how Tamamo and Alexander found this spot. They were sure that there was a ley line the moment they approach the cave yesterday.
"Is the leyline inside?"
("Yes") Romani answered. ("I'm receiving readings a huge supply of mana in front of you. It is most likely to be inside the cave.)
"Well, one way to find out."
Summoning Gae Bolg, he carefully guides the group inside. The sound of their echoed throughout the cave as they slowly creep inside. The morning light of the sun gave them some form of light to see what was inside. Its interior is somewhat what you might expect from a typical cave with Stalagmites dominating the ground and stalactites that dominate the ceiling. There is even a form of vegetation near the entrance.
"Is this cave man-made?" Ritsuka asked, breaking the silence.
"I believe that this cave is neither man-made nor does nature creates it."
"What do you mean, Tamamo-san?"
("What she was probably implying is that the cave is not caused by any form of human activity specifically. Its formation could be caused by some kind of phantasmal being in the past.")
"Oh, that kinda makes sense."
"Fufu, you should study to learn more about the world around you, Fujimaru."
"Hai,"
("That's a good suggestion. You should do the same, Mash. You will never know when the information you learn will be useful in the future.")
Like the obedient girl that she is, Mash nodded with determination.
"My, such cute kids..." Tamamo mumbled.
Alexander, who is been silent for a while, heard her mumbling as he smirked, "Your speaking like an old lady, Tamamo."
Contrary to what he expected, Tamamo seems devastated by his teasing.
'Did I went too far?'
("Alex, never teased a woman about her age. It will backfire on you if keep that up.") Anna's cold voice ringed in his head as she reprimands him.
'So, never mess with a woman's aged? got it.'
Would you look at that, it seems he learned a new crucial piece of information today.
*
("The Ley line is 500 meters ahead of you. There are no visible signs of life on my end but still, be mindful of your surroundings.")
Everyone nodded as they carefully made their way to the ley line. The environment in their surroundings stays mostly the same.
500... 400... 300...
When they reach the 200 meters milestone, the temperature in the air decrease significantly. This was apparent when the warm air of their breath was visible through the naked eye.
That was not the only difference as their surroundings also began to change, the rocks in their surroundings began to freeze as their color change from light brown to blue.
Due to their body being mostly servants; Mash, Alexander and Tamamo were not affected by the cold. Fou has a thick layer of fur so he was unaffected, Ritsuka on the other hand...
"So cold!" His body began to shiver as he began rubbing his hand together.
"Master are you, Okay?"
"D-don't w-worry about me mash... what about you, aren't you c-cold?" His eyes wander around Mash's entire body. Her attire exposes a lot of her skin to the element but she doesn't seem to be affected.
Mash was embarrassed being eyed like that but she respond while blushing, "That... it's because I'm a servant, remember? I have a high resistance in the cold air."
"Ah, I forgot..."
Alexander, who is been listening to their interactions, narrowed his eyes. Ritsuka may be a naive-looking guy, but he is not the type of person to forget something so crucial as to forget about Mash being a servant.
'Does the temperature have something to do with it?'
("Not good! Ritsuka's body temperature is decreasing fast! You have to get him out of there!")
"There is no need to panicked."
*Snap*
With a flick of his fingers, a black Faux fur jacket with a fur hood dropped in Ritsuka's head.
"Wear it, it is embedded with cold resistance mystic codes. It should help to warm your body up."
Ritsuka nodded as he immediately put the jacket on. The moment he did so, his body stop shaking as his body temperature began to stabilize.
"Worthy of being a treasure... How do you feel?"
"Hm, I feel warm and fuzzy." He said as satisfaction could be seen all written on his face.
"That's great, Romani, any problems on your end?"
("Uh, no... But this is unbelievable. Ritsuka's body temperature returns to normal.")
"What's unbelievable about that?" Alexander asked.
("Actually, never mind.")
"Well, if you say so..."
They continue to head deeper and deeper into the cave.
200...100...
When they hit the 100-meter mark, the temperature began to decrease even more. It is low to the point that even Tamamo and Mash were having a hard time moving. Alexander could still resist the cold. He saw this as an opportunity to strengthen his resolve so after giving the ladies another pair of feminine jackets. He asked Fou if he needed any protection but the little guy just shook his head. With that, they continue their journey inside.
As they got closer, reaching the 50-meter mark, they saw a frozen pond. Crystals with different shapes and forms could be found on top of the pond. If not for the freezing temperatures, they would have enjoyed looking at the mystical looking place.
"Look, something there is something in middle."
Looking where Mash was pointing at, they saw an oblong thing embedded within the frozen pond. Its color was blue making it hard to spot in this frozen place.
("That must be the source of the large quantity of mana. It's a bit disappointing that it isn't a ley line but it could be something useful. But be careful if you want to investigate it.")
"Got it."
Alexander first made sure that the surface of the frozen lake was safe before they walk carefully to the mysterious object.
Now that they were closer, the mystery of the object was revealed before their eyes...
"An egg?" Ritsuka asked in bewilderment.
"Fou! Kyuu!" Jumping from Mash's shoulders, Fou went near the egg as he cutely taps the egg a few times.
The egg, however, has no noticeable response.
"Huh, this pattern seems similar to a rune." Alexander easily recognizes the pattern the moment he sees it.
"Could you recognize its uses?" Tamamo asked. Although she knows the basic understanding of runes. Her knowledge is much more limited compare to Alexander who spends a lot of time learning from Scáthach.
"No. This is my first time seeing such runes. Or if it's even runes to begin with..."
Since it's pointless thinking about something he does not know. It's more appropriate to ask a more knowledgeable person.
"Hey, Romani! Could you call Scáthach for me-"
("That's Shishou for you, you idiotic student of mine.")
""Shishou?!"" All four of them answer in unison.
"How the hell did you know that we needed your helped?" Alexander asked.
("Intuition.")
Her response made Alexander twitched, 'intuition my ass! you are observing us from the start. This tsundere of a woman...'
As much as he wanted to tease the woman about this side of her, he does not want to suffer more about her so-called "Training".
("...Um, Scáthach-sama. Would please be careful when touching the keyboard, they are quite vulnerable and easy to break...") Although quiet, the voice of Romani who's in a state of panic could be heard in the background.
Scáthach unfortunately, ignores him.
("Send some data for me to analyze.")
In contrast to Romani, her words were cold and straightforward. Mash did not make her wait as she used the previous method of taking a picture and sending back the data.
Just a few seconds of silence, ("Those are not runes. Albeit similar, they are completely different forms of magecraft. Unfortunately, I could not provide useful information.")
"Then what do you recommend us to do with it?"
("You are the master, right? Do as you fit.")
Even after some time of being near her presence, it's still quite uncomfortable for Alexander and the others to interact with her due to her cold personality. Even so, they still respect her for her knowledge and strength.
"I see, thank you for your response, Shishou."
She only let a cold grunt as a response before going completely silent.
"What should we do with it?"
"I don't know, what do you think, Alex?" Ritsuka asked.
Alexander shrugged as he bend his knees, crouching, as he eyed the egg one more. He touches the patterns in the egg as he slides his fingers across its surface. It was cold but smooth like butter. Out of curiosity, he sends a small amount of his mana at the tip of his fingers to see what happens.
The moment the mana reach the tip of his fingers, the mana suddenly was sucked out and disappeared within the egg.
Alexander's eyes widened at this discovery.
"Is something the matter, Master." sensing a burst of emotions from her master, she was concerned.
"I'm fine, but stay back for a bit. I wanted to try something."
Although they were confused, they comply with his request as they retreated a few meters away.
Alexander takes a deep breath and closed his eyes as he delivers a small quantity of mana bit by bit to the egg. He started with a small amount but continued to add more and more as time goes by.
A minute passed as Mash, Tamamo, and Ritsuka were getting a little impatient as there was no change or response from Alexander.
As another minute passed by, their impatience and concerns were replaced by shock as the egg begin to lit up bit by bit.
Sweats started to form on Alexander's forehead as he tried his best to concentrate. The act of transferring mana to your fingertips is an easy task. The problem was is that the amount of mana that he had to transfer. He transfers more than half of his reserve to the egg for it to have some form of reaction.
But from the look of it, it appears that he will need to add even more mana for something drastic to happen, so he continues...
"It's getting brighter..." Mash murmured.
"This light is similar to a summoning, could it be a coincidence?" Tamamo said.
They watched as the blue egg becomes brighter and brighter until...
*Boom!*
The blue egg exploded. The Explosion cause a strong force of wind that pushed Alexander away from the source. His momentum halted when his body hit a wall.
"Arg!"
"Master!/Alex!/Fuu!"
The Chaldeans ran up to him as they carefully removed his body which is embedded in the wall.
"Are you okay?! Are hurt anywhere?"
Tamamo, who is mostly calm and quiet went to a panicked mode as she check every inch of his body to make sure he was ok.
"Don't worry, I'm okay... This pain is nothing compared to Scáthach's beatings."
("...hey... anyone... hear...")
As Alexander began to recover, he heard a static noise in his wrist. He notices that the bracelet that is used for communication broke because of the impact. Thankfully, everyone has a bracelet of their own so this won't cause much trouble.
"Hello, Doctor?... Ah yes, don't worry, everything is fine..."
While Mash was informing Romani, he wiped away the dirt that covered his body as he made his way back to the egg... Or at least it was used to be...
Rather than an egg, a baby dragon lay on the frozen pond's surface.
'It's small... and kinda cute?'
The baby dragon is small. From head to tail, its length was only about 8 inches long. It has a blue crystalline skin that seems to sparkle even at night. It had a little horn on its forehead combine with tiny wings at its back made the baby dragon look adorable.
The baby dragon seems to notice his gaze as it opens its eyes and looks at him.
"Kyu~"
Contrary to what a dragon would produce, the little thing generates a cute noise as it tried to walk using its tiny legs. Maybe due to it being a newborn, after standing up, the little dragon loses its balance and tumbles shortly after, rolling like a ball.
"Kya?! what is this cute little thing?"
Tamamo squeals. She crouches near the baby dragon as she gently picks up the cute thing with her hands. Mash, Ritsuka and Fou joined her as they admire the creature at hand.
"Is this what baby dragons look like? It's so cute."
("it may be an infant dragon for now. But be reminded that it is still a powerful phantasmal beast.")
"We could think about that later, for now, what should we do with it?"
"That will depend on you, Alex-senpai. You were the one who hatched it, right?"
"I guess..."
The baby dragon once again looked at Alexander. Its eyes brighten up as its wings flapped, seemingly trying to fly towards Alexander.
"Fufu, he seems to attach to you, Master."
"He?" His eyebrow rose in surprise.
"Yes, I already confirm his gender."
"I see..." Alexander wanted to ask how she confirmed it, but stop himself from asking.
Lifting the baby dragon by its armpits. Alexander then began to observe the dragon as he activated his (Clairvoyance)...
*Ting!*
As he was doing so, he heard a clinging sound in his head.
(A phantasmal being near Alexander ones to initiates a contract, would Alexander agree? Yes/No?)
'A contract?' Alexander asked in shock.
("Yes, I must say, Alex. You are quite fortunate to meet a dragon this early in your journey.")
'Early? What do you mean by that?'
("...")
Sensing no response, he could only sigh as he accept the contract. The moment he did so, he felt another connection similar to Tamamo and Scáthach.
'This contract...'
("Yes, it's similar to the bond that connects your lovers to you.")
He ignore the lover part of her words as he nodded. This contract with a potentiality-powerful companion made their journey to this cave worth it.
Opening his status, he went to his servant section of the system. At the bottom, he saw (???) below Medusa's name and click it.
------------------
Name: ???
Title: None
Species: Dragon
Gender: Male
Age: 0
Class: None
Talent: None
Armament: None
Alignment:???
Hidden Attribute: Heaven
[Parameters]
Strength: E
Endurance: E+
Agility: E+
Mana: D+
Luck: D-
Np: -
[skills]
• (Magic Immunity) Rank: B (Passive) = This skill allows the user to have immunity to any form of magecraft below its rank.
• (Ice breath) Rank: D- (Active) = This skill allows the user to use breath ice elemental attacks in a wide area. The temperature of the dragon breath depends on the rank, the higher the rank, the lower the temperature.
------------------
For just being a newborn, dragons are truly overpowered creatures. These stats are the proof of it.
"What should we name him?" Ritsuka asked.
"That's a good idea, Senpai. The first sound he made is Kyuu... Should we name him that?"
"Fou! Fouu!"
"Fufu, that the name sound fitting but if he grows to an adult someday, the name would no longer fit him."
"That's true..." Mash said dejectedly. "What do you think, Alex-senpai?"
"Let name him-"
[An: Give me some name recommendation. I'm seriously bad at giving names so I would be glad if you guys could help me with this one. Oh and please, recommend that is appropriate for the context.]
