Chapter 3 - Lucky? Or a Burden? (4)

Even as Jade's head became white, he did not lose consciousness.

He was doing whatever he could to control the energy.

And, as if it had noticed Jade's persistence, the uncontrollable energy became controllable.

Shake shake shake!

Although his inner was becoming stable, Jade's outer began to shake all over.

And, that wasn't the only thing. The sound of bones cracking could be heard all over his body.

-No way!

Celestine yelled out in shock as she watched Jade like a hawk.

Something came to mind as she watched him.

-I didn't think he would go through a body change!

Crack!!

As soon as Celestine finished yelling, Jade's bones began to move.

And, at the same time, all of Jade's hair fell to the ground. There was no exception whether it was his facial hair or eyebrows.

-Ohoh!!

Celestine clapped in happiness as she watched Jade change back to his primitive stages.

During that time, black matter exuded out from all his pores.

It was the bad that had acc.u.mulated within his body but was now getting cleansed out with the body change.

Celestine used her wind to get rid of it.

-It's hard to consider you a human now, huh?

Celestine laughed happily.

Body change was body change, but having absorbed the Gold Drake's heart, Jade's existence itself changed.

From the outside he looked like a human, but he wasn't just an innocent human.

And, that was the same as the humans known as "Masters".

They were humans that weren't humans.

Jade had now attained that level.

-Huh?

Celestine tilted her head as she continued to stare at Jade.

She noticed that the energy from within him was also spilling out to the egg, and the egg was absorbing that energy as if it was drinking milk from its mother's bosom.

-Is this what she was aiming for?

Celestine rubbed her chin, because it felt like this was all within the mother drake's plans.

-Well, it doesn't matter. The energy that would normally be released to nature is now being absorbed by the egg. Technically speaking, the energy pouring out from Jade right now is the mother's energy, right?

-Why did you come out?

-Am I not allowed to?

Rustle.

As water began to gather in the air, a spirit the same size as Celestine appeared.

She was blue, the same color as Undine, but she looked completely different.

-You haven't come to this world in a while!

-That's because I thought it would be a burden to Jade. I don't have a thick head like you.

-What'd you say?!

Celestine's face turned red.

However, the spirit that had just appeared did not mind it at all.

If anything, she turned to Jade and smiled. He had become much more stable compared to earlier.

-I'll be together with you guys from now. I think it'll be fine to do so.

-Eek!!

Celestine seemed to have many things to say, but she did not respond back.

They were both on the same level, so she was unable to say anything.

"Huh?"

-Long time no see, Jade.

"How are you here, Elestra?"

-I came to play too. Hehe. How's your body? You body has completely changed.

Elestra provided Jade with extra clothes that were lying in the corner of the hut.

As Jade was going through the body change, his body heat burned his clothes off and made him completely naked.

"It's good. Only, it's going to take a while for me to get used to the change."

-I'm sure you'll get used to it much sooner than you think.

"I feel like I can use Aura Blade now too.", murmured Jade.

He hadn't gained any new enlightenment, but he got the feeling he could.

Because, even before the complete overhaul to his body, Jade was slightly able to use the skill.

Only, the efficiency of the skill was currently atrocious, so it was unusable in an actual fight.

-We have time, so we can just slowly work on it.

"That's true. But, is Celestine sulking?"

-Haha! It's her loss if she sulks.

For whatever reason, Celestine seemed dissatisfied as she pouted her lips.

Not only that, but she had her arms crossed and was looking away towards a different direction.

"Get along with her, since we're going to be together from now on."

-I don't dislike Celestine. She's the one that doesn't like me. To be precise, she doesn't want your attention to be taken away by someone else.

"What does that mean."

Jade laughed dumbfoundedly.

He had taken it as a joke, but Elestra was serious.

Crack.

As Jade finished wearing his clothes, a strange sound could be heard coming from one side of the hut.

It sounded like something was cracking.

And, hearing this sound, all three of them turned to look.

-I think it's about to hatch!

"Well, it did absorb the energy."

Jade knew what had happened outside his body, even though his mind was busy maintaining the energy within.

To be precise, he knew the egg was absorbing the energy as well.

Crack!!

Even as they were speaking, the crack continued to grow.

In a matter of moments, the small crack covered the entire egg.

And, seeing this, Celestine and Elestra's eyes shone brightly.

They had both lived for a very long time, but they had never witnessed the birth of a drake.

Too dook. Too doo dook.

After a while, the top portion of the egg split and fell to the ground.

It was as if a lid had opened.

However, even though 1/3 of the egg was broken, they couldn't see the drake.

-Wh, what happened?

-Is something wrong?

Both spirits were filled with concern.

They were worried that the egg may have suffered some form of damage during the fight against the Black Drake.

On the other hand, Jade continued to stare in silence.

Kkyu?

At that moment, a cute head poked out from the top of the egg.

It was a baby Gold Drake with a tiny lump protruding out from its head.

-S, so cute! It's so so cute!!

-It's really cute!

The two spirit's reactions were fierce as they stared at the yellow creature with its chubby cheeks.

It was as if the drake had received all the cuteness in this world, making them unable to maintain their senses.

However, different from the two spirits, the drake instinctively stared at Jade, smiled, and broke apart its egg.

Kkyuu!!

In a split second, the baby drake rushed towards Jade and snuggled against him.

It knew who its guardian was with one look.

"It really is cute."

-It's not JUST cute! It's really, REALLY cute!

-I agree!

Celestine and Elestra made a big fuss.

They were unable to contain themselves as they stared at the baby drake within Jake's arms.

However, the baby drake was scared of the spirits.

It was able to feel their energies, even though their main bodies weren't summoned.

"I think we should feed it first. They need to eat well when they're babies."

-I want to hold it too!

-But it looks like it's scared of us and feels some sort of kins.h.i.+p with Jade.

Celestine stared at the baby drake with a variety of expressions, wanting to play with it, but it didn't look at her even once.

Rather, it cuddled itself deeper into Jade's arms.

-Hiiinnnnggg!!

Celestine sulked as the baby drake resolutely continued to look away from her.

It was quite the shy one.

-Those actions are normal since it's a newborn baby.

-But it's seeing Jade for the first time too!

-However, he has the same energy as its mother, and he was the one she requested to look after her child.

Although sad, Elestra responded normally compared to Celestine.

Every existence was the same as they all felt fear towards unfamiliar things.

To say nothing of spirits, they don't even acknowledge humans that have zero affinity to them.

Kkyuu?

The drake ignored the spirits and cutely stared up at Jade.

Its eyes were filled with trust, as if it was willing to give Jade its everything. And, seeing this, Jade smiled and caressed its head.

"To be honest, I'm not your parent."

Kkyu??

The baby drake tilted its head and stared at Jade with a confused expression.

-Ugh!

-S, so cute!

"Well, it's true I'll be your nanny starting from now on."

Jade was thinking the same as Celestine, that the mother drake used her heart as a collateral for the contract to allow her baby to feel more intimate with Jade.

-I want to help too!

-You won't get much help with just Celestine.

-What'd you say?!

-Did I say something wrong?

The two spirits were instantly in another argument with each other, and seeing this, Jade shook his head.

It wasn't often that they fought, but they were always loud when they did.

Before the body exchange, Elestra didn't show herself too often because Jade lacked the mana capacity. But, now that he had more mana, their fights were going to become more frequent.

"Sigh."

Kkyuu!!!

The baby drake stared at Jade with worry.

It wasn't sure, but it knew that Jade was having a hard time.

"It's nothing for you to worry about. Anyhow, I need to give you a name."

Grrrgg.

The baby drake liked the feeling of Jade caressing its head, as it closed its eyes and purred like a cat.

At that moment, Scylla carried a piece of the Black Drake's corpse over to them.

Sylph was too weak to cut the Black Drake's meat, so Jade requested for Scylla's help.

"Melt it for me."

Completed - Chapter 3 (4)