I got a good scolding by Puyo when I returned. There were even some half-formed words of Low Dragon among her angry chirping that only abated when she was busy scarfing down a piece of meat. After her angry meal, she once again wraps herself around my neck, just a little too tightly for it to be comfortable.
I sit with the basket of eggs in front of me. Each of them is a non-descript, oval shape with a cream color. Only by using my ability of inspection can they be told apart. Puyo gently preens my mane, though I can tell she's eyeing the eggs with interest.
"They're your siblings." I tell her. She pauses for a moment, her cat-like pupils dilating as she views them with renewed attention. "I'm going to be hatching them soon, so you need to be a good older sister to them." I gently stroke her chin, being rewarded with a strange cooing.
Actually, I'd need to leave her with Delpha or Huldr whilst I do that. I don't want to hurt her by exposing her to the high levels of Magic I'll have to apply to make them hatch. I gently untangle Puyo from my neck and hold her in front of me.
"I know you want to be with me right now, but it's dangerous. I promise I'll be with you lots afterwards, okay?" Puyo responds by puffing her feathers and giving an angry squawk. She then looks at the eggs again and pauses. Her eyes fill with conflict for a moment, before her feathers flattens down again and she nods.
I smile, and head outside to leave her in the care of Delpha. She's currently... having a staring contest with the Plant Dragon. Huldr seems to be a somewhat unwilling referee in this intense match between human and Dragon. The Plant Dragon's third eyelid is twitching, and their jaw hangs slightly agape in concentration.
I watch for ten more seconds before the Dragon yields, looking down and away in shame as they rapidly blink to ease the discomfort of dry eyes. "Delpha... win." Huldr announces in her slow and methodical manner of speaking Common. Delpha throws up her hands in victory, tears filling her slightly reddened eyes.
"H-How long have you two been at it?" I ask, quite bemused. "Two minutes? Maybe?" Delpha replies, her cheeks flushing red as she notices my presence. "Could you take care of Puyo for a little while? I want to hatch her siblings, and that involves a lot of Magic." I hold forward a small Quetzalcoatl that eyes her new caretaker with contempt.
"Ah, and also, don't enter the cave, no matter what happens, okay? If things get scary outside, hide in your house, okay? I don't want to harm any of you by exposing you to the Magic I'm going to use." I warn as I hand over Puyo. Delpha nods.
"Actually, where's Grandma?" I suddenly notice she's not here to watch over Delpha as she usually is. "She said she had some things to do in the village, so Bug escorted her there." Delpha responds. Bug was the nickname chosen by the biggest of the Jotun. Aparently it's short for Big Ugly Guy, something he though was a nice description for him.
I don't quite understand it, but I guess less handsome is better for Jotun? Who am I to judge though, with my human sensibilities. "I see. She should be fine if she's with Bug." I don't worry for her being harmed by the inhabitants of my Domain, I'm more worried about humanoids, particularly any associated with the Aurellium.
Now that Puyo is safe, I retreat to the cave to prepare. First, I weave a dome of neutral magic over the basket. This should shield the other eggs from the worst of the magic I'll unleash. Next, let's begin with the Lampetia, they should be of the most even temper.
I bring the egg out of the basket, into a little silk bowl I've constructed to hold it steady as it hatches. I then begin gathering Light Element from out of the ambient Magic. The egg glows and shimmers a golden white, and I have to shut my eyes tightly to not go blind from the dazzling light emitting from it.
I try to scale it back from the time I hatched Puyo, where I cranked it to max. I'm fairly certain that much isn't needed. I just need to gather enough to get an reaction from the egg.
'Crik'
Ah, it's cracking. I chance a peek, and deep cracks have appeared in the egg, an even more intense light coming from within.
'Crick Crack'
A sudden burst of light threatens to blind my one opened eye as the egg shatters completely. I cry out in pain, grabbing for the damaged eye as if that would help.
'C-cyu~?'
I open the lower pair of my four eyes, and behold my newest child. A slender, long legged body built for quadruped movement, with frills covering their legs and back. A large collar-like frill adorns their head, and several long whiskers sprout from their snout. At the moment they're laying flat against their body, but once they're dry I'm sure they'll sway elegantly as they move.
A multitude of luminescent spots on their body lights up, one by one, as the hatchling Lampetia struggles to stand. They get halfway up before their legs splay outwards and they hit the ground again with a thunk. Slightly dazed and panting, they look at me for the first time in their life.
Eyes fill with awe, and the newborn Pseudo-Dragon crawls over to me, snuggling up between my front pair of legs. I slowly, almost hesitantly, bring my hand over to their head. They sniff it carefully before leaning into my touch. All the while, the lights dotting their body continue to grow in brightness.
We sit like this for a few minutes. I'm uncertain as to the nature of our bond, as I'm not their mother, but it feels as if I might as well be.
Once the Lampetia is dried off, their frills and whiskers flow elegantly, and they seem to have gathered the necessary strength to put their feet in order. Although there's a slight wobble to their step, they eagerly follow me outside.
"The Lampetia. Please take care of her whilst I hatch the others." I rub the eye that was open when the Lampetia hatched. It's sore and the field of view of it is more or less just one bright white spot, but my Regeneration should take care of it soon enough.
"I suppose you'll bring out the children as you hatch them?" Delpha asks, holding out a hand to the Lampetia, who sniffs it briefly before huffing and holding their head high in dismissal. "That's the plan. I hope it's alright. I'll do this as quick as I can and then take over caring for them afterwards. It's just this bit that's hazardous."
I pause for a moment, watching Puyo snake her way out of Delphas hair to greet their new sibling. They exchange glances at each other before the Lampetia raises their head frill and hisses. "No, be nice. That's your older sister." I sternly tell them. Hesitantly, The Lampetia lowers their frill and lets Puyo sniff them.
"I'll be as quick as I can." I repeat, not at all worried that Delpha might be unable to tend to any tensions that might arise between my children.
"Our children..."
I... I guess that's more or less what they are now? They'd die in their eggs if not for us. Let's not leave Delpha alone with them for too long. I hurry back inside the cave to hatch the next egg. Now... let's do the Bidra next.
I reinforce the neutral Magic weave surrounding the eggs, as it decays over time, the strands of Magic slithering out of their place and rejoining the ambient flow. Next, I pick up the Bidra egg.
Securely placing it on the silk pile, I start gathering Water magic. The air thickens with vapor, before entirely forming a bubble of water around us. As the bubble forms, the egg glows a dull marine blue and swells in size from roughly that of an orange to that of a basket ball. Shimmering patterns of light blue start dancing upon the eggs surface, not unlike sunlight dancing on a body of water.
As the patterns widen and begin to overtake the dark marine blue, the eggshell seems to dissolve into the water, revealing a peculiar monster. Once fully revealed, I slowly ease the Water Element back into the ambient flow. The newborn Bidra unfurls their necks, atop which sits uncanny looking, wide-mouthed arapaima-like heads.
They both yawn, revealing a second set of jaws within their mouths, like those of a moray-eel. Their teeth are long and needle-like, angled inwards to prevent slippery prey from escaping their maws. Almost glowing yellow eyes study me with interest.
Their necks join into one wide, crocodilian body, though their finned legs are more suited for walking than swimming. Two tails coil and twist around each other, more akin to tentacles than actual tails in how they move. A cream-colored belly is complimented by a mossy green topside, with the occasional spatter of dark blue blots.
It seems the heads have discovered each other, and are engaged in a hissing match to determine who's the boss.
"Reminds me of Us."
Except we've always been clear on who's the boss and who's the tag-along, hm?
"... Yes. I suppose."
Shadow does the telepathic equivalent of a sigh.
Now, let's see if they will follow me outside... Getting up, both heads are immediately trained on my every movement. As I move further away, they amble behind me, keenly taking in my every move.
'Puyow Pyow'
Sounding like baby gators, they happily chirp at me as I move towards Delpha. The Lampetia is writhing in the playful grip of Puyo, who's using her larger size to her advantage. Squeaks of protests ensue as Puyo insist on preening them, no doubt to get at the dried remnants of egg-white still covering the Lampetia.
Delpha looks on helplessly, holding a finger in her mouth. "I- I tried to get her to leave them alone, but she just nicked my finger before continuing." She explains, exasperation evident in her face. "I'm never going to have children if this is what it's like" She murmurs under her breath.
"I'm so sorry. Uh- this is the Bidra." I introduce the newest hatchling before calling over Huldr and a Gyger to assist Delpha in handling them. The Bidra sniffs Delpha with great curiosity before settling down next to her and wrapping their necks around her, dragging her into their embrace. They give a challenging glare to the two others, and the Lampetia somehow manages to make some distance between themselves and the Bidra, despite being restrained by Puyo.
"I- I think they like me?" She hesitantly reaches out a hand towards their back. Both heads follow it with their eyes before closing them in enjoyment as she starts stroking their back. "It feels weird." She remarks whilst smiling, clearly happy at least one(two?) of my children like her.
I hurry back inside, eager to get this over with. Cursing my own impatience, I once again reinforce the shield before taking out the Tatzelwurm egg. Gathering Dark Element around us, even my True Nightvision fails to pierce the darkness that envelops me. In this perfect darkness, I become aware of every sound, and how it reflects.
In a way, I'm still able to see, thanks to Echolocation, though I greatly prefer being able to see normally. I focus on the egg before me. The reaction seems slow, so I increase the concentration slightly. A spot of even more complete black appears before me as the egg finally reacts.
As I sense the movements of something in front of me, I let the Dark rejoin the ambient flow, and sight returns to me.
Hm... I don't think they're supposed to look like that...
Before me lies the newly hatched Tatzelwurm. It looks a lot like a really long, scale-covered cat, actually. Their coloration, which from what the illustration in the encyclopedia suggested should be black with dark purple markings, is instead a light grey with pastel purple markings. Leucism?
I gently pick the Tatzelwurm up. They seem alert, looking intently at me whilst coiling their long tail around my wrist. Let's give you a thorough inspection.
Unnamed
Species: Tatzelwurm (Color Variation) (Pseudo-Dragonoid) EXRare
Gender: Male
Status: All Clear
Nothing wrong here... other than him having a Light Resistance Skill... Oh no. Ah- Could this be my fault?
*Estimating... There is a 55% chance this was a happenstance mutation, a 35% chance it was due to the long time spent dormant and a 10% chance the recent exposure to high concentrations of Light Element affected him somehow.*
*Scanning... No oddities detected with the still unhatched eggs, suggesting this was either a mutation or a result of a long dormancy.*
I... see. My anxiety over somehow having caused this lessen somewhat, though I'm still worried. A deep purring sound causes my hands to tremble with the vibrations it causes as the Tatzelwurm grooms himself. Let's keep a close eye on you for now...
I gently move outside, the Tatzelwurm takes no notice until I try handing him to Delpha. Immediately, he takes a threatening stance and hisses, laying his ears flat against his head. "Ah- be nice, this is Delpha, she's going to take care of you for a little bit." He turns to me, his eyes dark voids with just the thinnest sliver of amber-colored iris visible.
Oh jeez, not even five minutes old and already using the cat-no-jutsu which is so effective on me. Huldr moves closer for a better look at the tiny Pseudo-Dragonoid, which although bigger than Puyo when she was just born, is still not much longer than my forearm.
He trains his eyes on her, and mews, untangling his tail from my wrist. Before either of us can react, he has leapt from my hands and onto Huldr's chest. Quickly draping himself around her neck, he happily purrs as he resumes grooming himself.
"M-Master! Remove this..?" Huldr begins to protest, but is interrupted by the Tatzelwurm licking her cheek. Although the area licked reddens slightly in response to the (at this time) weak poison within it, it immediately melts any resistance Huldr might have had against him.
"... Nevermind, Master, your child, it is cute." She sounds completely enamored with him. I didn't see him having the Charm Skill, so perhaps Huldr is also weak to cat-no-jutsu, even if practiced by a snake-cat?
Most Goblinoids have an odd hatred or at the very least dislike to Pseudo-Dragonoids, most famously the eternal rivalry between Goblins and Kobolds embody this. I just hope she builds Poison Resistance if he keeps licking her...
I once again thank Delpha for being patient with me, and hurry back inside. Two to go... Judging by their description in the encyclopedia, the Salamandra might be best to hatch last, as I would then be able to keep an eye on them immediately. That leaves the Tarasque.
Picking up the egg after reinforcing the shield for the last time, I wonder about how high concentrations of Earth would look like. All the others have been fairly logical, but Earth could manifest in all sorts of ways. I shake my head and re-focus my attention on the task at hand.
Making sure the egg lies securely on the silk, I start gathering Earth Element. The cave floor around me starts to crack, pieces of it jutting upwards into the air, some of it splintering off and starts to... hover in the air? Does Earth also encompass gravity? I need to experiment further later.
Dust and gravel laying about the cave starts slowly being dragged towards a point between me and the egg, which has increased in size several times, its diameter roughly equal to that of a car-tire. As the mass between us grows, the egg shakes vigorously, cracks creating a spider-web pattern across it.
One clawed foot punches a hole through the shell, then another, and another. As I watch in amazement, the egg stands up on six heavily armored bear-like legs. The Tarasque strains against the egg, and it finally shatters, the pieces getting sucked onto and added to the grape-fruit sized ball of earth that's been created.
I ease the Earth Element back into the flow, and the cave floor slowly returns to normal, though deep cracks and gouges remain. The ball of concentrated dust, gravel and eggshell drops to the ground and breaks apart into an incredibly fine powder.
The Tarasque inspects me with their reddish eyes. A lion-like head, complete with a shaggy brown mane that's currently full of egg-white, and adorned with a pair of little nubs. They'll no doubt grow into magnificent horns in time. A heavy-looking tortoise shell covers their torso, and a disproportionately long and seemingly elastic tail tipped with a stinger lashes about behind them.
They move closer to me, and I recall what was said about feeding a Tarasque to tame it. I bring out one of my few remaining Tri-Ants, though I should be able to get more from the tunnels below where my Undead Servants are still hunting down the last few remaining Chimera.
Ripping it apart slightly, I offer it to the Tarasque. They sniff it curiously before ever so gently taking the meat from my hand. This carefulness is immediately rivaled by the incredible ferocity which they tear into the meat, crushing and shaking it, spattering me and the surroundings with bits of Tri-Ant.
Once done, they gently headbutt my hand, and I get the feeling that they've accepted me. I just hope that that acceptance extends to my Servants.
Bringing the Tarasque outside, I see several cauliflower-sized sheep meandering about the grove. Their torsos look like heads of lettuce tilted sideways, with the 'stem' ending in a tail and their head emerging from the middle of the bundle of leaves. Oddly elastic and bendy legs support them as they walk about, grazing.
"They just popped out of the earth! And the Lampetia began herding them?" Delpha explains. Sure enough, the Lampetia is bounding about the grove as well, keeping the odd monsters within the most sunlit part of it. "Those must be the Barometz." I mutter.
"Now? We kill now?"
I tremble as I reign in Shadow's bloodlust. No, we wait until the Lampetia is old enough to understand and give their consent.
"I- uh. Yes. Let's."
I feel Shadow retreating within myself. I'll not need to yell at her this time, I think.
"Are you okay?" Delpha asks, struggling to appease both of the Bidras heads with pats. "I- yes. I'm just a bit tired. There's just the last one now, I'll rest once that one's hatched." I suddenly notice just how drained I am from today's events. Just this last egg, then I'll rest...
I head back into the cave and pick up the last egg. It takes several tries to actually start drawing Fire Element, and once I do, it's hard to control. I keep a close eye on the Salamandra egg, and once it reacts, I try to hold steady. My mouth is dry and eyes sting from the heat, but the egg's new shimmering red and orange striping lets me hold on just a little longer.
It dimples, the shell becoming soft and pliable, and something's moving about inside. A slit is created, and a pale blue eye is barely visible behind it. a broad, flat snout peeks out for a few moments, before the gash in the egg widens and the Salamandra wiggles free.
My vision blacks out for a few moments as I ease the magic back, and I collapse onto my side. My last adoptive child 'meeps' worriedly at me. They're oddly cute... Looking like a giant salamander but with legs angled so their stomach is lifted off the ground as they move. Intense red and orange coloration is broken up by whitish blue stripes radiating from their underside, and large eyes observe me with an unexpected intelligence behind them.
I call for Huldr, telling her to bring the others to me, as I currently lack the strength to move at all.
"Oh jeez, Millibelle, you look half dead." Delpha remarks as she sees my pitiful form upon the cavern floor. "I feel half dead." I retort, not bothering to move. I've activated Manaphagy in its 'eat ambient Magic' mode, so I'm slowly recovering, but I think this is the closest I've ever been to running out of SP.
*Within the last twelve hours, the User has: Fought and killed a Six Stars Ranked Chimera, participated in all five Dragon Contests, survived heavy damage and used Magic without casting a Spell or using a Skill several times in a row.*
*Particularly using Magic without a Spell or Skill is highly straining, as the User is directly manipulating the World System in order to achieve those effects. Any other entity, or indeed, any other Soul, would have collapsed under the strain. The fact that the User is still alive, albeit tired is unprecedented.*
World Knowledge sounds equally impressed and exasperated about this. Wait. I directly manipulate the World System?
*Bypassing the normal rules and restrictions in place, the User is somehow able to directly dictate the flow of Magic. The 'gathering' of an Element is akin to the User typing 'set.ElementValue'Fire' 2' when the unedited value is meant to be 0.5*
*This Skill took the liberty of using the example that would make the most sense to the User.*
No, I understand. But I'm only able to do this with Magic, though. Not that I would want to do this with anything else...
As I slowly recover from my ordeal, I am slowly being buried beneath a pile of adoptive monsters. Even Osseous Slime, the Evil Eyes and the Tongue Leech joined in. Oddly, it makes me feel better than I have in a long while...