Fortunately, I didn't really care about the rank of my pet, and I always believed that with my own strength, I could make a name for myself on the continent. So, I didn't hesitate much and decided to save it.
Any magical beast egg that struggles to survive in such dire circumstances is worth saving just for its perseverance.
Despite the fact that the afternoon battle and the recent round of fierce attacks had consumed nearly fifty percent of my true qi, my abnormal recovery speed had already restored it to eighty percent.
With this amount of true qi, I was confident it would be enough to catalyze even a holy beast.
However, I hadn't anticipated how grueling this process would be.
First, I cut my finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the egg. Then, placing both hands on the egg, I chanted:
"In the name of Dragon God Ajasi, I grant you life. Witnessed by the God of Contracts, I declare this: I am the master, you are the subordinate, a mental bond, seal!"
With the formation of the contract, I immediately felt the egg produce a powerful suction, continuously absorbing my true qi.
This marked the beginning of its hatching process, but the speed at which it absorbed my true qi far exceeded my expectations.
In just a short time, it had already taken half of my true qi. As it continued to absorb my true qi, its originally dim white glow began to brighten.
Finally, just as I was starting to regret my rashness with less than ten percent of my true qi remaining, it stopped absorbing.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief. If my true qi hadn't been enough for it to hatch, it would never have had another chance to emerge.
That would have meant that I had directly caused its death, which I definitely did not want to see.
I quickly used my technique to restore my true qi while keeping a close eye on the egg, now emitting a gentle glow. The life force within was now very strong, completely different from its previous weak state.
Eventually, I heard faint "crack, crack" sounds from inside the egg. Slowly, the noise grew louder, and then a crack appeared on the eggshell. The crack expanded until finally, with a "snap," a piece of the shell fell off, and a bird's head poked out from the gap.
The little bird continued pecking at the shell, trying to enlarge the opening so it could fully emerge from the egg.
The bird that emerged was covered in wet feathers, looking much like a chick, only much larger.
It quickly turned and started eating the pieces of the eggshell, and after finishing, it contentedly burped. Its adorable behavior made me smile involuntarily.
Soon, the little bird's body began to grow rapidly. The feathers that had been sticking to its body started to spread out, and it soon reached a height of more than a meter.
But my attention was already on its tail, where seven colorful feathers fanned out, dancing in the air.
This was a paradise bird! I once again marveled at my good fortune. The paradise bird stretched its feathers and, with a flicker, its meter-high body vanished, replaced by a palm-sized white bird that fluttered onto my shoulder, its seven beautiful tail feathers marking it as the same large bird from moments ago.
I finally understood why the holy beast paradise bird had been killed by the sea frog—it was a pregnant paradise bird, probably about to give birth when the sea frog took advantage of it.
"Master!" The little bird affectionately nuzzled my face with its sharp beak, chirping, and I immediately understood its meaning through our mental connection.
"Don't call me Master. Call me brother from now on. Your feathers are so beautiful; I'll name you Xiaoyu," I said gently, stroking its smooth head. After a year on Dragon Island, I had learned a lot about holy beasts and knew that, like the dragon race, they inherited memories from their parents upon hatching.
The little bird chirped happily, clearly pleased with the name.
Soon, it began hopping excitedly on my shoulder, occasionally pecking at my hair or flying to a tree to peck at it, displaying its lively and energetic nature.
I knew it was newly hatched and curious about everything, so I let it be while I dealt with the sea frog's corpse.
Eventually, it calmed down, and I finished processing the sea frog's skin. However, by this time, nearly an hour had passed, and I could hear voices outside the forest. I realized I had stayed here too long. If I didn't leave soon, anyone finding me by the sea frog's corpse would never believe I was just a great swordsman, no matter how well I had hidden my abilities before.
With that in mind, I had the little paradise bird grab onto my clothes and quickly left the forest.
Unbeknownst to me, just after I left, a mercenary team arrived, and it happened to be the one with the female land dragon knight.
Seeing the broken branches and leaves all over the ground, they immediately became alert. But when they discovered the sea frog's corpse, they were utterly shocked.
Two heavy swordsmen immediately went over to inspect the sea frog's body. After a careful examination, one said, "It's been dead for a while. This is unbelievable!"
"Can you tell how it died?" asked the female mage.
"There are many sword marks on its body, and its internal organs are badly damaged. It seems to have been killed by a blow to its internal organs. But its defense is so high, and it's so fast, how could it have been injured like this? And the fact that such a large piece of skin has been completely stripped off suggests it wasn't done in a short time. Could it have been killed quickly? This is a holy beast! Even a sword god couldn't deal with it so quickly, right?"
The two swordsmen seemed completely stunned.
The female knight, who had been examining the surrounding area, said, "There are no traces of other people nearby. It wasn't an ambush. The key lies with the person who lured the holy beast here. I was already suspicious on the battlefield when he took that hit from the level eight giant crab without getting hurt. Now it's clear he was hiding his strength. In the battle outside the city, he could kill beasts without damaging their skin, which matches the injuries on the sea frog's heart. This must be some mysterious fighting technique. I can't believe I was worried about his safety. He obviously had a plan to lure the sea frog here and then act. Hmph, next time I see him, I'll expose his secret."
She looked indignant as she spoke.
"If it really was him, there must be a reason he's hiding his strength. We shouldn't expose him. And if he did kill the holy beast, his strength must be close to that of a sword god. It's not wise to provoke him," the female mage cautioned.
"I had some contact with him earlier, and for some reason, he seemed easy to get along with, not like a vicious person. But since you say so, we won't spread this around. Come on, Yalan, use your spatial ring to take the sea frog's body. We'll help cover his tracks. The careless guy doesn't seem to realize that the whole body of a holy beast is valuable! This is a great opportunity for us."
The female knight said happily.
The female mage smiled and said, "Put away your merchant face! He obviously didn't care about the level eight magic cores, so he wouldn't bother with these secondary materials."
While they packed away the sea frog's body, inadvertently helping me destroy evidence, I was happily leaving the forest with my little paradise bird, running several dozen miles away.
This time, not only did I successfully acquire two growth-capable holy beast magic cores, one of which was a light-type core perfect for the young holy dragon Anna, but I also unexpectedly gained a paradise bird pet. This harvest was enough to make me happy all day.
Anyone else on the Adas Continent would be overjoyed with such gains.
While I didn't care much about my pet's strength, having such an intelligent holy beast as a companion was absolutely delightful.
After nearly an afternoon of fighting and expending so much true qi on the pet, I was very tired. Seeing that it was almost dark and having found no village after an hour, I decided to camp outdoors.
I chose to camp at the foot of a mountain beside a river. Due to the underdeveloped technological civilization here, many wild areas retained their natural state. Towering ancient trees, rare on Earth, were common here.
For someone like me who didn't need sleep but only meditation and practice, the giant tree canopy was an ideal resting place. But first, I needed to satisfy my hunger.
Fortunately, with the little paradise bird around, I didn't need to catch my own food. Normally, I couldn't cast a single spell, but the little paradise bird, though newly hatched, had absorbed eighty percent of my true qi and was already at least a level seven beast. This was because the true qi hadn't been fully absorbed yet; otherwise, it might have directly grown into an adult paradise bird.
The normal growth period for a paradise bird is similar to that of a giant dragon, but with the mental bond, it could continuously absorb my true qi, accelerating its growth far beyond that of naturally growing holy beasts.
So, even though it was a light-type holy beast, casting a simple fire spell was no problem for it.
With the food taken care of by the sea snake's body stored in my light ring, I could eat for months. I also took the opportunity to remove its skin and magic core.