"I spit on you!"
Although his speech was slurred, the meaning the red-haired boy wanted to convey was very clear.
"Heh!" Lynn chuckled, not getting angry. His gaze shifted downward to the boy's bare bottom—yes, neither Lynn nor the red-haired boy had put on any clothes yet. Given that they both looked about seven or eight years old and there was no one else around, Lynn didn't feel embarrassed.
At this moment, feeling provoked by the boy, Lynn looked at the boy's bare bottom and showed a mischievous smile, then raised his hand.
"Smack—smack—"
Two slaps landed on the boy's buttocks, just hard enough for a mythical creature's child but too heavy for an ordinary child. If it were an ordinary child, they might have cried out by now. But the boy was clearly not an ordinary child; he didn't even blink and instead showed a disdainful expression towards Lynn:
"Is that all?"
His tone was provocative, carrying a mocking flavor, looking very punchable.
Lynn raised an eyebrow at his words. He wasn't really planning to argue with a child; the slaps were just a symbolic punishment.
But faced with such provocation, Lynn did feel the urge to make the boy cry.
'No, Lynn, you can't really hold a grudge against a child.'
Lynn reminded himself inwardly, then took a deep breath and smiled, "Yes, that's all."
Then he slapped the boy's butt ten more times, each slap heavier than the last.
He really did hold a grudge!
After all, a brat needed to be disciplined.
After finishing, Lynn looked at the red-haired boy, who was now silent but clearly upset and not as unfazed as before. Lynn felt a sense of satisfaction.
However, Lynn also checked the boy's buttocks and, seeing that they were only slightly red without any swelling, he was relieved.
Indeed, mythical creatures had tough skin.
With that thought, Lynn released the red-haired boy and smiled, "If you're really not convinced, you can come back and beat me up when you have the ability."
"But for now, call me brother."
"Hmph!" The red-haired boy snorted, got up from the ground, glanced at Lynn, and actually called out:
"Brother."
Though his tone was quite unfriendly, it was clearly not perfunctory.
Hmm?
Originally saying that as a joke, Lynn was taken aback. He glanced at the boy beside him and suddenly realized something.
—The boy was a naturally born mythical creature.
Unlike normal children, survival of the fittest was a rule ingrained in the bones of mythical creatures. The initial provocation, the subsequent fight, and even the final taunt were deliberate.
Although it might seem strange compared to normal thinking, he was actually testing Lynn's strength, confirming whether Lynn was qualified to live as his brother, and assessing his safety and danger.
If Lynn had shown weakness or had murderous intent due to the boy's provocation, the outcome would have been vastly different.
However, having passed the boy's test, the proud mythical creature child lowered his head and acknowledged Lynn's status.
"This really is..." Lynn didn't know what to think for a moment. He finally felt the reality of not being in a civilized society. Looking at the red-haired boy, he finally sighed and said, "Well, no matter what, in light of you calling me brother, I'll take care of you in the future."
After all, he was his brother in this world and a genuine child. As long as it was within his capability, Lynn couldn't just leave him.
That would go against his principles.
"Heh, who's taking care of whom is still uncertain!" The boy pouted, still sounding provocative.
—Alright, it seems the test was real, but so was the provocation.
Lynn glanced at him but said nothing more. He then surveyed the surroundings.
They were currently in a man-made cave, which seemed to have been damaged. Lynn saw many broken pieces of furniture, with only a few intact items in the corners.
However, before the damage, the place was well-decorated, even resembling a palace.
Lynn stopped examining the surroundings and then checked his own state. Confirming that there was still a long time before any significant divine corruption would appear, Lynn made a decision.
He wanted to test his Beyonder abilities.
Like every naturally born mythical creature, Lynn's smurf account No 1 also had knowledge about the "Sage" sequence. After absorbing this knowledge, Lynn eagerly pondered for a moment, and his body began to become visibly illusory.
Lynn suddenly felt as if he had fallen into a data stream of information, with his being disintegrating into various pieces of extensive knowledge. Everything around him lost its sense of reality, reduced to the most fundamental forms of information.
To be honest, in this state, if one's will was not strong, it would be easy to get confused or lose oneself due to the external information bombardment. However, Lynn felt inexplicably comfortable, stabilizing himself effortlessly despite having no reliable anchor.
'Is this a benefit of transmigration or a characteristic of a naturally born mythical creature?'
As Lynn pondered this, he looked down at the monster's corpse beneath him. The once terrifying monster now appeared as a stream of clear information.
Lynn suddenly understood why his avatar was a "Sage" of the Mystery Pryer pathway, while his brother was seemingly from the Hunter pathway.
His "mother," who was both a Hunter and a Mystery Pryer, hadn't planned on having him originally.
The mother's only intended child was his brother, and the reason for having the red-haired boy was simple—to expel the Hunter characteristic from her body and wake from madness.
Lynn's avatar had merely inherited the characteristic left behind after the mother's death.
With a wry smile, Lynn looked at the red-haired boy beside him. At this moment, the boy appeared as a stream of information in his eyes as well, more tightly knit and dangerous than the ordinary information around him.
Thinking for a moment, Lynn suddenly reached out towards the boy. The boy reacted swiftly, retreating several steps while snapping:
"Don't use your ability on me."
"Sorry!" Lynn blinked, instantly recondensing his form, while his left index finger twitched.
Although the boy had reacted quickly, Lynn's fingertips still caught some knowledge.
So, while apologizing, Lynn was also reading the information. He then looked at the boy with a peculiar expression.
"Hey, what's with that strange look?" The red-haired boy noticed Lynn's gaze and asked irritably.
Lynn didn't answer because at that moment, his mind was processing two pieces of newly parsed information:
Name: Medici
Pathway: Sequence-2 Weather Warlock
(End of Chapter)