Chapter 65: Chapter 59: Yonggi
Two weeks passed, and the egg finally showed signs of hatching. In these two weeks, Zeke had drawn tiny Totems on it with his blood everyday. Then, he would channel what little Faith he could into the egg. Just like the first time, the Totems would glow before sinking into the egg and disappearing. He was doing this for two reasons.
One was to make sure that it wasn’t facing any deficiencies due to the strong bloodline that had entered it. Second, he was creating the Blood Bond that he had mentioned to its mother. During infancy, if a Bloodborne Unicorn drank a living being’s blood regularly for nine days, it would create a bond with them.
A bond that would last a lifetime. They considered the beings that they formed the bond with as their closest kin apart from their mothers. Unfortunately, more than one Bloodborne Unicorn had been tricked by humans into forming Blood Bonds with them and had suffered from humans’ greed. That’s why she was initially so against it.
Coming back to the present, Zeke looked at the violently shaking egg. A little human hand broke out of the shell. Zeke was once again shocked. He thought, ’A human hand?’
Then another hand broke out of the shell. The two hands broke apart the egg shell revealing a humanoid infant inside. He looked like a normal human baby except that he had a horn in the center of his forehead and a pair of feathered wings sprouting from his back. His hair was mostly black with red tips but if one looked carefully, they would be able to see a hint of dark purple in there.
His face looked strangely similar to Zeke. The baby looked at the egg shells around him and started feasting on them. Zeke said, "What the fuck?"
The sky was suddenly covered in storm clouds. These clouds were shaped like beasts. Divine Beasts. All of them were looking at the baby. Then, a horned pegasus condensed among the clouds. It roared at the clouds before disappearing with them.
The baby in question was too busy munching on the egg shells to notice the commotion that he had just caused. After the baby was done eating, his body grew into that of a 4-5 year old. Then, he sat there with a smile on his face, until he saw a butterfly.
He tried to catch it but it evaded him and flew away. Taking it as a challenge, the boy tried to fly but was unable to. While he was trying very hard, his body suddenly changed into that of a foal, but with wings and horns. It started galloping in circles, trying to move his wings.
And then it happened. He started flying. But just for a few minutes before it fell down. Then he finally looked at Zeke. Zeke felt an intense connection with the foal. The foal transformed back into his humanoid form and ran into Zeke’s arms.
Zeke instinctively picked him up. After a few minutes passed, Zeke realized that the boy had fallen asleep. He carefully put him on the heap of leaves that he had been using as a bed and took a deep breath.
He tried to calm himself down, calling upon his spirit as a scientist, so that he could analyze the situation. That only made it worse. Because he realized that the situation was much more serious than he had anticipated. The foal, maybe because of the faith, had completely transformed into a Divine Beast cub. He had evolved into a Bloodborne Horned Pegasus.
Like other Divine Beasts, the Bloodborne horned Pegasus also had its story. According to legends, two Divine Beasts, the Pegasus of Purity and the Holy Unicorn, wanted to have a child. Divine Beasts did not have children.
Because they were unique. The Infernal Slumbering Bear was the only bear, the Sky Tiger was the only tiger and so on. It was a Heavenly Law. They were also very prideful and looked down on every other Divine Beast.
But the Pegasus of Purity and the Holy Unicorn were different. Their existence broke this law. They were both horse type beasts and their abilities were very compatible with each other. After much effort, they somehow succeeded. The Holy Unicorn became pregnant.
Unbeknownst to both of them, it wasn’t a coincidence. When she gave birth, the child devoured their bloodlines and became the only horse. The Heavenly Law had been implemented.
Their child, bathed in his parents’ blood, had changed. Their dried blood had changed his white hair to black. The blood still dripped from the tips of his mane. He had a crimson horn on his forehead and a pair of reddish black wings. He who was born in blood was therefore named Bloodborne Horned Pegasus.
It was a painful story. Zeke didn’t know if it was fate but the baby and the Bloodborne Horned Pegasus’s story was very similar. Unfortunately, the fact that he had evolved into a Divine Beast wasn’t even the worst part.
He had used Zeke’s blood as a catalyst to take human form. Spirit Beasts cubs with a pure enough bloodline could do that but they needed a catalyst. That catalyst was usually their parents’ blood. No weak Spirit Beast’s cub would have a pure enough bloodline in this age. So they would satisfy the conditions of the catalyst, a humanoid’s blood.
But that wasn’t the case for the foal. His mother was just a First Transformation Spirit Beast. So he chose the only option that he had. Zeke’s blood. Not only had he formed a Blood Bond with him, but also used it to take on a humanoid form. Due to this, Zeke could be considered the foal’s father.
This would have been fine, had he not evolved into a Divine Beast cub. All Spirit Beasts above the Seventh Transformation must’ve already sensed the birth of a Divine Beast. And they would come for him. Then they would also sense the Bloodline Imprints on Woong, Woo, and Bum’s bodies. He had to do something but realized that he couldn’t. There was nothing that he could do but wait.
So that’s exactly what he did. He waited and waited. But nobody came. By this point he wasn’t even shocked. He wondered if this is how Dean and the others felt around him. He just guessed that there must’ve been something that either prevented them from coming or that something had covered the heavenly phenomenon up and prevented them from sensing anything.
There was only one person that possessed the abilities to do either. The Heavenly Demon.
(I’m switching to Heavenly Demon from Cheonma. I don’t know why but Cheonma just doesn’t give the same feeling.)
Zeke looked at his surroundings. Then, he bowed his head and said, "I greet Lord Heavenly Demon."
He waited but he received no reply. But he still said, "I thank Lord Heavenly Demon for this grace."
He waited but he still didn’t receive a reply. He then sat down and started thinking about his future plans. He looked at the sleeping boy and thought, ’The bloodline memories should activate in the next few days. He’ll achieve mental maturity soon after. Then he will understand that I am not his father. I’m still a kid myself. How could I be anyone else’s father?’
[I mean...It is possible. And no you perverts, I’m not talking about what you were just thinking. I don’t have any illegal ’tastes’. I’m talking about test tube babies.]
(...)
[You’re judging me right now, aren’t you?]
(...)
[Dumb Realm_Weaver, you better reply and you better not be judging me]
(Why? What would you do? Kill me? Can you do that? After all, I’m just a dumb mortal who just happens to reside in a forbidden zone. You said so yourself.)
[You!!]
(Can I get back to the story now? Thank you.)
Shaking off the strange thoughts that were popping in his mind, Zeke started cultivating. Another two weeks passed and the boy had grown rapidly. He slept for a majority of the two weeks. He now looked similar to Zeke’s age. They looked like siblings if you ignored the horn and the wings. In his beast form, he had now grown into the size of an adult horse. The boy was currently sitting cross legged. He opened his eyes and looked at Zeke. He said, "Hyung, what will we do now?"
Yup, he had achieved mental maturity a few days ago and had started calling Zeke, ’Hyung’.
Zeke said, "Yonggi, has your rapid growth ended?"
Yonggi hummed and said, "All thanks to that energy that you channeled in me. If it weren’t for that, it would have taken me months, maybe even years. Right now, I’ve already reached the level of a First Transformation Spirit Beast."
(In Korea, men address other older men that they are close to as Hyung. It can be roughly translated into big brother.)
Zeke had named the boy after his mother. Yonggi meant courage.
Zeke said, "Then we’ll traverse this forest. We both need combat experience and natural treasures. You may be a Divine Beast but you are still just a cub. So do not overestimate yourself."
Yonggi transformed into his beast form and motioned at Zeke. Zeke asked, "What?"
Yonggi said in his mind, "Get on."
Zeke replied, "No. You are not a mount."
Yonggi replied, "But it’ll give more experience in the air."
Zeke asked back, "We’re flying?"
Yonggi replied, "Yup. It’ll be easier to spot opponents from the sky. Come on, it’ll be fun."
Zeke knew that if he didn’t agree then they wouldn’t be able to leave. He didn’t know about pride, but Yonggi definitely had the stubbornness of a Divine Beast. He got on his back and rubbed his neck. Yonggi neighed in satisfaction and said, "Get ready."
Then he lept into flight.
