Chapter 2: Cosmic Beast Egg

Pain

Pain

... and even more pain!

The face of the young man sleeping on his bed contorted from the extreme pain he was experiencing. His body feels like a wreck, no part of his body is not experiencing pain!

"This again!" The young man thought in his head as he mobilized his strong willpower to regain consciousness.

This experience was nothing new to him. He already lost count of how many times it happened.

Every time he pushed himself in training, he would be unconscious for days and when he finally regained some bits of consciousness, the first thing that he would experience was unimaginable pain.

The first time was unbearable, the second time was also unbearable, and the third, fourth, fifth, and so on times were no different. However, after experiencing it countless times, the youth slowly gets used to it to the point that he can forcefully regain his consciousness despite the pain.

This time was also no different. After using his willpower to forcefully regain his consciousness, the first thing that Zaven saw was the familiar ceiling in his room.

"How many days was I unconscious this time?" Zaven muttered to himself while frowning at the pain all over his body. This might have happened countless times but pain is still pain

"When will this cycle end?" He said as tears gathered around his eyes.

It was always like this!

He would wake up after over-exerting himself and then once he recovered, he would continue training again just to fall unconscious once more. This was a never-ending cycle!

"When I awakened my innate talent and gathered cosmic energy, I was at the Village-level. Now, even after years and years, I am still at the Village-level. Every time that I try to cultivate and absorb the cosmic energy of the cosmos, due to my weak constitution, I would be in pain to the point that I would simply pass out without being able to absorb even a speck of cosmic energy"

"I spent years of effort yet not to mention the City-level, I haven't even reached the Town-level. I am stuck at the Village-level no matter how hard I work! This is too unfair!"

"As for my cousin on the other hand... I heard that when he awakened, his cosmic energy was at the very least at the Town-level! There were even some rumors that he awakened City-level cosmic energy! How can I compare to that?"

Due to the bitter reality, Zaven clenched his fists so hard to the point that his palm bled. However, this little bit of pain was nothing compared to the pain that he is experiencing even until now

"No! Crying here won't do anything! I have to continue training my physical body so that I can succeed in cultivating and absorbing cosmic energy!" Zaven said resolutely while wiping the tears that gathered around his eyes. He was about to stand up when the door of his room was suddenly swung open

"Zaven! Zaven! Wake up! I have a piece of very good news for you!"

When Zaven turned to look at the door, he saw his father's excited expression causing him to narrow his eyes.

"What is it, dad?" He asked curiously and at first, Belthric was surprised that his som already regained consciousness but he immediately recovered.

Although he was worried every time that his son would fall unconscious for days, since this happened an uncountable number of times already, Belthric couldn't help but be a bit numb to it. Once something has become a common occurrence, it changes the mentality of the people who experience it.

"Look at what I got for you! This is the egg of a City-level cosmic beast and is very suitable for you! The cosmic beast inside is a Butterfly-type cosmic beast! With your innate talent, you can definitely control the egg and once it grows into its fullest potential, other than you, who would be worthy of becoming the Dragonhead City's City Lord?"

As a City Lord with rich political experience, it was easy for Belthric to say the most effective words to his son. As expected, as soon as Zaven heard those words, his eyes lit up.

The pair of orbs that once held endless despair is now burning with hope!

Behind Belthric was another familiar face that was also excited just like the other two.

"Cousin! Quickly recover your strength so that you can contract the beast inside the egg as soon as possible! Once you successfully contract the beast, Uncle will help you hatch it!" Raven said excitedly as he could already see his cousin returning to how he was before he fell into despair.

"Dad, is that right? Is that really the egg of a City-level cosmic beast?" Zaven asked with a trembling heart and his father immediately nodded his head.

"When did I lie to you? Your dad put a lot of effort into securing this cosmic beast egg! Hurry up and recover so that you can contract with it as soon as possible!" Belthric said with a nod and with shaking hands, Zaven took the egg and held it in his chest. He was treating the egg as if it was the most precious treasure in the world.

"I will definitely recover as soon as possible!" Zaven said resolutely. This time he was not stubborn and insisted on contracting the beast immediately.

As a descendant of the Belthric Family with a lineage that has affinities with cosmic beasts, Zaven is aware that contracting cosmic beasts is not an easy feat.

He should be in the best state before he even attempts it!

The cosmic beast might still be inside an egg and hasn't even hatched yet but that is still a cosmic beast with City-level potential! It's not easy to contract it.

Not to mention, someone at Zaven's level can only contract it while the beast is still an egg. If not, someone at his level would simply fail and even receive a backlash.

With Zaven's constitution, he might even die if he were to receive the backlash from a failed contract!

——

Two weeks passed and only then did everyone in Zaven's family let him contract the cosmic beast. Since his body was naturally frail, it naturally took him a long time to recover compared to normal people.

This was even with the aid of Healing-type innate talent! Without a doctor treating Zaven, the time it will take for him to recover would be longer!

Since this is an important occasion, the small family of four all gathered in Zaven's room.

This family is only composed of Zaven, his father Belthric, his mother Elena, and his cousin Raven. The four of them gathered to watch Zaven contract the beast and make sure that nothing would go wrong.

Once Zaven successfully formed the contract, they would then help him hatch the cosmic beast.

Out of the four, it was undoubtedly Zaven who looked forward to this moment the most, and with the go signal of his family, he pricked his finger with a needle and let his blood drop on the egg.

As soon as Zaven's blood landed on the egg, the egg immediately absorbed it he felt a connection to this egg.

The Village-level cosmic energy that Zaven possessed was immediately stirred and was absorbed by the egg as his consciousness was suddenly pulled by something.

——

Inside Zaven's consciousness, his confused spiritual body could be seen. Based on the things he studied, the method to contract the beast does not include this situation.

The process was actually simple. First, the contractor will let the egg absorb a drop of their blood. After that, they will form a connection with the consciousness inside the egg and a struggle will then occur.

As the consciousness within cosmic beast eggs is fragile, even someone like Zaven can definitely contract with a cosmic beast. He just has to use his will and cosmic energy to crush the resistance of the cosmic beast.

City-level and below-cosmic beasts when they are still on their eggs don't have a strong level of consciousness. Even City-level cosmic beast eggs could be contracted by a Village-level cultivator albeit with the aid of some resources.

The struggle for consciousness that Zaven was expecting did not happen. He was instead dragged into this unfamiliar world in confusion.

At someone at his level, he didn't have enough knowledge to know what was happening but he soon didn't have enough time to mind that.

In this world of endless pitch darkness, a single point of bright light suddenly appeared without any warning.

In shock, Zaven tried to move away from that light but he found himself unable to move and he could only helplessly watch the next things that happened.

The bright light suddenly exploded into thousands, millions, billions, and even more than trillions of pieces with even the smallest pieces infinitely larger than Zaven.

These pieces were very peculiar. The bigger ones created stars, moons, planets, and formed solar systems, galaxies, and even a universe! As for the smaller ones, they created asteroids. However, aside from these celestial bodies, the fragments also birthed gigantic creatures.

Zaven can see what looks like cosmic beasts that are not smaller than even gigantic stars with some even way larger than them and he can't help but feel fear upon seeing them.

He was no different than a speck of dust compared to those celestial bodies and cosmic beasts. Even the word insignificant is not enough to describe how insignificant he was!

Soon, the scene focuses on one of the cosmic beasts that cause Zaven's heart to tremble.

This cosmic beast was simply too beautiful. Its body was the combination of blue, red, and purple, on a black backdrop. It was like a constellation of galaxies in the shape of a butterfly!

Every single flap of its wings would move it countless light-years away from its original location.

Such a beast is not something that even the word big or large can describe. This is a being that's even larger than the galaxies themselves!

It was beautiful yet dangerous at the same time! As the saying goes, in beauty, there is danger!

Everywhere that this cosmic beast moves, the stars and planets would either be destroyed or be pushed out of their original orbit! It was simply an unbelievable scene!

Zaven cannot even utter a single word while watching this scene! It was so surreal and felt like something that came out straight from a sci-fi movie! Even if he were to tell this story to other people no one would believe him.

After all, how could a butterfly possibly be bigger than even galaxies? That simply does not make any sense!

Just as Zaven was still immersed in this scene, he heard familiar voices calling him.

"Zaven!"

"Zaven!"

"Zaven!"

These voices are too familiar to him. They all came from his family. Just as Zaven was trying to think of a way to return to reality, the scene instantly vanished.

The endless expanse of the universe was no more and what greeted him was the familiar faces of his family painted with worry.

"Are you alright? Did something wrong happen? Quick, take this Clearmind Grass! It will help you recover and aid you in contracting the cosmic beast!"

Even if the cosmic beast was still in an egg form since it has a City-level potential, normal people still needed the aid of precious resources to contract them, if not, there is a high chance that they would fail.

At first, Zaven is still disturbed by the scene he just witnessed and he doesn't know why and how he experienced such a thing. However, his father's words brought him back to reality.

Is that scene even more important than his future which was precisely the cosmic beast egg that is upon maturity would give Zaven a City-level power? No! Nothing was more important than that!