Chapter 53: The Right Egg
Kale sat in a chair and watched the 15 Dark Octagons like a hawk, without moving from that posture for more than half a day. The Gene Lab was sending mental signals to the Dark Octagons as if the beasts were pregnant.
Otherwise, the Beasts would not register the presence of seeds implanted in their ovary.
Even though these creatures were quite intelligent and knew they had not undergone the usual mating process, their beastly maternal instincts took over, and the artificial sperm cells were cared for, slowly developing into tiny eggs.
The Dark Octagons do not directly give birth; they produce hundreds of eggs at once, lay the eggs within their nests in deep seas, and protect them very proactively.
The Dark Octagons were placed in a state of consciousness and unconsciousness, with only their basic Beastly instincts operating their bodies; otherwise, if they were fully awake, the Beasts would realize that something was amiss after they produced the eggs.
They would struggle madly, and Kale was sure he didn’t have the power to contain these violent Beasts when fully awake.
But those were smaller problems, and the real reason behind his anxiousness was which of the eggs would have his desired complete DNA in it, whether the result would be acceptable or a disaster; that was something no one knew.
Finally, after another few hours of torturous silence, the Dark Octagons almost 15 of them started to squirm and let out packets of small, fist-sized egg sacks with fingernail-sized eggs within.
Kale ordered immediately, "Scan every single egg...."
[Initiating request...]
[Deciding the right method of scanning with the highest accuracy rate to find all necessary data]
[Factoring in the fragility of the newly produced eggs which must not receive any state of disturbance or harm]
[Scanning.... scannning...]
[The eggs containing the highest similarity with the original DNA sample have been marked and additional data have been displayed; Host must check...]
With excitement and anxiety in his heart, he examined each of the 15 egg sacks; the green light shone on the marked eggs.
Though the marked eggs seemed bigger and had special patterns on the outer shell of the eggs, Kale murmured, examining the marked eggs one after another.
This is not it,
Not this one,
Not this either,
Finally, when he reached the last one, his heart seemed to skip a beat; his very mana seemed to feel a calling towards this tiny nail-sized egg produced from the very last of the 15 Dark Octagons.
A sense of connection that was hard to describe; it was incredibly faint but also strong.
This egg was light green in color, with uneven black stripes; it was the same size as the normal eggs, but a strange power seemed to ooze from it.
In fact, if anyone else were there, they also would have been able to tell at a glance that this particular egg was much different from the other ones.
[Ding!! Congratulations, Host has unlocked a new function of the Gene Lab; you can now store living items within it.]
Kale snickered at the system’s prompt; it was about time this function was available, just as he was about to think of ways to hatch the egg as fast as possible and achieve his salvation.
A curse of misfortune seemed to fall upon him once more, as the system chimed,
[Warning!! Warning!!!]
[System has analyzed that the egg cannot be hatched through any artificial influence from the system.]
[The egg cannot be hatched through any of the conventional methods.]
[The lifeforce of the chosen egg is incredibly faint; it will die within three days]
[By the current conditions, the egg can’t hatch through any means.]
[Processing all data for possible countermeasures.]
[processing.... processing...]
[Possible solution has been identified]
[Redefining all parameters]
[Updating information of the mandatory quest]
[Ding!! Quest updated]
[Quest (Mandatory): Within three days, go to Tigerwood forest, place the egg within a designated area called swamp hatchery.]
[Failure punishment: Death]
[Reward: ?????]
Kale was stunned; he was so greatly stunned that he could not even believe the words displayed by the system.
Until an inconceivable storm of rage exploded from within him like never before; killing intent oozed out of him unconsciously. He had long been infuriated with the wretched system, despite its usefulness.
He could already tell that damn thing was constantly pushing him harder, threatening him with the possibility of death, drawing his doomsday closer and closer, deliberately.
In fact, he would not even be surprised if at one point the system started threatening him with his family; Kale’s eyes turned cold.
Unable to contain his overflowing rage and seething hatred, as well as the accumulating annoyance. He punched the walls of the room with all of his might.
Bang!!
Bang!!!
Bang!!!!
BANG!!!!
Despite how the chamber was slightly quaking with each of his punches, Kale forcefully stopped himself; his knuckles were bloodied and somewhat mangled.
He screamed, "Fuck!! Fuckkkk! FUCK YOU!!!! DAMNED SYSTEM!!!!"
He continued to curse with all the profanities he could muster on his lips, and only then did he finally manage to calm his unsettled heart.
At least Kale thought that he would have 10 days left, and with the fact that the most perfect egg was already in his hands, he had nothing else to worry about.
He had believed that his hurdles were over. But how could lady luck be so magnanimous towards him?
Kale flopped down to the floor, his back pressing on the wall, where he punched with his bloodied hands, his white coat now stained with traces of red.
His expression twisted into a hideous grimace; he was infuriated by the updated quest because Tigerwood Forest was one of the Outer Zones of the Ignis Empire.
It existed outside the borders of the Stonehelm region—an area controlled by Greenroot Tamer’s Guild.
Just the border areas of the five major regions were filled with dangers, as the Empire’s borders constantly faced Beast Horde invasions, so one could only imagine the catastrophic level of Beasts that roamed outside of the Empire’s borders.
And the sheer danger those human-controlled zones faced regularly was mind-boggling.
First of all, a mere Apprentice Artificer like him would never be allowed the permit to go into an Outer zone.
Second, Kale did not know how to convince his master to let him enter the Tigerwood Forest.
Third, Kale would never be able to reach that place in time through conventional travel speed. Perhaps only by using spatial gateways could he reach the place in time.
Fourth, Kale doubted that even if he could convince his master, Lazek probably did not have the authority to get him there through the spatial gateways.
Fifth, even if his master did have the authority or manage to gain access for it somehow, the Fleshcraft Grandmaster would still likely need more than a few days to arrange all of that.
Kale was bitter... extremely bitter about all of it. Yet, in the end, there was nothing he could do.
He would still have to plead his case to his master Lazek; he would have to reveal his desperation.
And only hope for the best from his master.
But to his horror, when he reached the Fleshcraft tower, the guard of that tower handed him a letter with his master’s insignia printed on it.
It contained a message written in his master’s handwriting. It read...
"Sorry, Kale, due to a very sudden Emergency I had to leave the capital."
"I will be back within one or two days, at most just three days. Though I doubt you will even come out of the experiment room to learn about this within the few days. Well... that would actually be for the better."
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