I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 217

“Brother, don’t hurt yourself.” Fate helped Lot back into a seated position.

“It’s fine, Sister.” Lot responded, although his voice had tones of melancholy. “You don’t have to worry about me. Now that you are a supreme, the Lou family won’t have to worry about their future.  I just wish I could have accomplished something more on this journey.”

“You survived,” Fortune declared, looking at Lot with a kind look. “You’ve gained experience you didn’t possess before, and the chance to fight again for more rewards in the future. That’s more than many people who ascended that mountain can say. Look.”

He pointed, and everyone turned to look. With the tribulation gone, the clouds had cleared enough that they could observe what was left of the mountain where the battle for the wyvern had taken place. Half of the mountain was gone, almost as if a giant foot had come down from the heavens and crushed it. For those who had good enough eyes, they could see thousands of dead scattered across the mountainside. Many of them were sage beasts, but more were humans.

“This…” Lucky couldn’t help but shake his head silently at the sight.

Many of the humans were Goldtooth mercenaries, but there were also several smaller groups. These were adventurers, teams, and small families that had arrived as well, looking for fortune, only to meet their own graves. Of course, there were a few survivors as well, those who arrived later or who hid in the beginning, working on looting the corpses from the dead. However, even these guys were soon pushed away when a small group of powerful paragons arrived.

Their insignia was that of the Domini. To everyone watching from a distance, the Domini family was the victor of this mad rush for treasure from a prestiged. After their head secured the area, they called for reinforcements. At this point, no one within the region would have the guts to try to enter that area until after they had ransacked everything of value.

Of course, with the area locked down, no one would know that the Domini failed to acquire the most valuable part, the sage beast itself. Even fewer would know that there were eggs involved as well. The Domini leader was likely furious at realizing they were taken, although he’d be unlikely to suspect I took it. If anything, he’d blame the Goldtooth leader who had fled at the beginning of the fight. Of course, he’d never be able to track the guy down, and the worst they could do is punish what was left of the band of mercenaries, who were likely plummet in relevance now that their leader was gone.

“We should get moving,” Fortune declared. “We don’t want the Domini to turn their attention on us. They’ll surely know a powerful tribulation occurred here today. We won’t be able to hide that. However, it will also make them hesitate to bully us.”

The group, having already traveled this far, assembled quickly to begin their march back to Stormberg. They had already lost most of the supplies they had come with when they were captured by the mercenaries, so there was very little that needed carrying. The largest thing was Lot himself, who needed a makeshift stretcher and two of the men to carry him. Thankfully, there were four to choose from, and they were paragons that could comfortably bear the weight.

“It is a shame, though,” Lot said with a sigh as they finally started their route home.

“What is that, Brother?” Fate asked as she walked alongside him.

“Although your evolution more than makes up for the trip, it is a shame the Lou family wasn’t able to claim anything else.”

Fate’s face froze for just a moment as her eyes flickered to me. “Y-yeah… I was already lucky to leave with my life intact.”

I was a bit surprised. I was wondering why no one else had mentioned the wyvern eggs. It turned out that Fate had not mentioned them to her family. Since she had continued to remain quiet, she was leaving it up to me. Was it a test, or an offer? Either way, I had no desire for the wyvern eggs in the first place.

“Actually, on my way out, I was able to obtain something from the sage beast,” I said.

Fate looked at me in surprise, but then quickly dropped her head. Fortune seemed to notice this exchange, holding up his hand.

Fortune stopped the march to glance back at me. “What did you say?”

“Uncle!” Fate shot him a glare. “If he found something on his own, what right do we have to it?”

“The rewards of this expedition were to be divided equally,” he growled.

“Is that so?” I asked, smirking. “In that case, how should we divide Fate’s evolution?”

“You dare!” His face flushed with anger.

I shrugged. “It seems to me that I had at least some involvement in her evolution. If you wish to speak division of spoils, then it seems fair that at least one-fifth of Fate belongs to me.”

“Spirit!’ Fate chastised, doing well to prevent her face from showing any embarrassment.

“Hmph…” Fortune grunted. “Fine, keep whatever little trinket you pocketed as you ran. We’ll consider this even.”

“Ah!” Fate looked a bit torn between her uncle and me.

“It’s okay, Fate. You don’t have to worry. I know how to show appreciation.” I waved my hand, letting just one of the eggs appear.

As soon as the egg left my luminal space, the energy that came off it could immediately be sensed by any nearby paragon. During my encounter with the prestiged, I also got a feeling for the distance of their senses. The Goldtooth leader wouldn’t have blocked me in an area where he felt the old Domini leader would have sensed us. So, I presumed that was an appropriate safe distance. Even still, our current distance from the mountain was nearly twice that, just to be certain.

“This is…” Lucky was the first to react to the presence of the egg.

“The wyvern was giving birth,” I revealed. “Before its death, it offered its eggs to me as well as the necessary techniques to hatch, raise, and control them.”

My words caused everyone present to gasp. Every one of them understood the ramifications of having five eggs from a prestige level sage beast.

“Eggs, you say there are more?”

“Seven in all,” I answered.

“Seven?” Fate blinked. “Not five?”

I nodded. I had been a bit surprised as well. Then, I recalled what the wyvern had actually said. It said it only had the strength to lay five eggs. That didn’t mean five eggs were all it had. It is likely planned to sacrifice the final two eggs. It lacked the energy to expel them, so it planned for the eggs to die within it. Perhaps, it didn’t feel it was worth mentioning these eggs.

The wyvern could never have guessed that I had something like Luminal Space. It could hold both living and dead material, and I could even isolate space around it. The second I took its body, I discovered the eggs. Rather, the luminal space immediately separated them, and I ended up with seven eggs in all.

This didn’t mean I could randomly put people into my luminal space. There were some limitations. First, the amount of energy had to be lower than my evolution. As a level ten, this wasn’t a problem. However, the second limitation was movement. The luminal space wasn’t designed to tolerate movement like the immortal palace in Schrodinger’s box. If someone moved excessively, my luminal space would immediately expel them. Thus, only things like plants and unconscious entities could be stored there.

“You knew about this?” Lot asked Fate, causing her to wince.

“If I told you all and he failed to take them, wouldn’t you all blame him?” She asked weakly under the gaze of her family.

“Even so…” Lot muttered.

“Don’t blame her too much. The likelihood of my successfully getting the eggs and escaping was exceptionally low. It could already be considered a miracle that I escaped alive at all. I never mentioned I had a means of storing living beings, so when she saw me not carrying an egg, there was no reason to believe I had succeeded.”

“You have a living storage ring?” Lucky asked in wonder. “I’ve only heard about them in tales!”

“Something like that.” I shrugged, waving my hand and pulling the egg back into my luminal space. “Either way, I suppose you can have them all.”

“All seven?” Fortune looked taken aback.

I shrugged. “I do not need a wyvern, nor do I have the finances to raise one. Plus, it’s more likely that if I give them to Lady Capala, the main branch will merely take them. Isn’t that the way it goes?”

The Lou family all found themselves unconsciously nodding their heads. This was actually almost certain. Lady Capala didn’t have the resources to raise a wyvern on her own. Even the Lou family would struggle to achieve this. However, it was more than likely that if Lady Capala did obtain a wyvern, the main family would graciously swoop in and take it to properly raise it. After all, the side branches served the main branches. This might’ve given Lady Capala a small bit of merit, but it wouldn’t resolve her current financial crisis.

“Seven wyvern eggs…” Fortune muttered, even his voice becoming a bit unsteady as he imagined what they could do for the Lou family. “Although we would love all of them, I’m afraid that we couldn’t afford to pay the Capala branch the equivalent of your share of this reward.”

“It’s fine,” I responded. “Just consider it a gift.”

I glanced at Fate, who looked a bit embarrassed. As for Fortune, his expression grew more severe. His eyes darted between her and me.

“We can’t take them all. You must take at least one.”

“Two,” Fate blurted out.

“Two?” Fortune looked at her.

“It’s part of my agreement with Abigail.” Fate’s expression grew stubborn. “I forfeited my share. There are nine of us, and he gets two shares. Plus, let us not forget that without his techniques, we will struggle to hatch and control them. Adding to that, his assistance with my evolution, he can have two eggs.”

They shared a look for a short time, and then he looked back at me. “You can take two eggs.”

As I raised an eyebrow, she quickly looked away. Fortune waved for us to resume the march as if everything had been decided there. It took me a few moments to realize what had happened. Fortune had thought my “gift” was really a dowry. That is why he had been hesitant to accept it, and why he had insisted I take a share. Now, he was agreeing for me to keep two wyvern eggs in exchange for me to end my pursuit of Fate.

Well, we’ll see about that.