Chapter 624: The Yin-Yang Panda Egg

Speaking of his two beautiful companions, their Level 50 growth evolutions had, just as they had at Level 30, increased their intimacy with him. Marcus still clearly remembered the system notifications that had appeared at the time:

Ding!

[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. Your pet Wyvern Saint Knight Lyanna has successfully triggered ’Pet Growth’ and greatly increased her abilities. Lyanna is in high spirits. Intimacy with you has increased by 3.]

Ding!

[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. Your pet Vixen Queen Camillo has successfully triggered ’Pet Growth’ and greatly increased her abilities. Camillo is in high spirits. Intimacy with you has increased by 3.]

Then came an additional notification, one that applied specifically to the striking Wyvern Saint Knight:

Ding!

[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. Because your class is the Goddess of Dreams’ Temple Knight, the Level 50 Wyvern Saint Knight Lyanna holds you in higher regard. Intimacy with you has increased by an additional 2 points.]

With that, Lyanna’s intimacy had reached 93, while Camillo’s had reached 90.

Just as Marcus had predicted, once intimacy reached 90, they could share more affectionate interactions. He could now hold Lyanna’s smooth, delicate hand, and every time he did, the noble, battle-hardened knight’s jade-like features would take on a faint blush. The proud woman tried her best to maintain her usual regal composure, but the hint of crimson spreading across her cheeks betrayed her shyness, creating a contrast that Marcus found almost unbearably charming.

Unfortunately, Lyanna still refused to let him ride with her.

Camillo had also reached 90 intimacy, but that had not lasted long. The moment Marcus first took Lyanna’s hand, Camillo, who had been Lyanna’s rival for a thousand years, immediately grew jealous. The system had promptly notified him:

Ding!

[Player Stonehaven, your pet Vixen Queen is displeased with your closeness to Wyvern Saint Knight Lyanna. Intimacy with you will decrease by 2 for the next 30 days.]

As a result, Camillo’s intimacy had dropped to 88. Marcus would have to wait another ten days or so for it to recover to 90 before he could share that kind of closeness with her again.

Thank goodness for the system. At least it told him exactly how the two women felt about him, saving him from having to guess his way through their complicated emotions. Of course, his exceptionally high Luck also played a part, making it easier for him to trigger intimacy gains and growth events.

Looking at the two beautiful companions beside him, Marcus could only think of one word.

’Bliss.’

He had no idea what the future held, especially since Lyanna and Camillo had yet to recover their complete memories and consciousness, but he sincerely hoped that day would eventually come. If it did, he wanted more than simply having them at his side as powerful companions. He wanted to know the real Lyanna and the real Camillo, to hear their thoughts, understand their feelings, and build a genuine bond with them.

And, admittedly, he would be lying if he said he had never imagined someday being able to kiss Lyanna or have Camillo lazily give him a massage after a long day. For Marcus, that sounded like a pretty good definition of happiness.

Wading through the dense energy, Marcus and his pets continued deeper into the Divine Bamboo Paradise. Groves of emerald bamboo surrounded them on all sides, their leaves rustling softly despite the absence of any noticeable wind. After advancing another three hundred meters or so, the dense bamboo finally gave way, and the scenery suddenly opened up.

At the center of the circular Divine Bamboo Paradise was a clearing roughly twenty meters across.

The spiritual energy here was even denser than what surrounded it. Golden motes of energy filled the air in such abundance that they seemed to paint the entire clearing in a faint golden glow. At the very center stood a circular green bamboo platform approximately three meters in radius.

As Marcus approached, he realized that the platform was not actually a platform at all, but a single enormous bamboo stalk. It rose only half a meter from the ground, while its broad leaves spread outward in layers, resembling a giant lotus in bloom. The golden energy filling the clearing seemed to radiate from this strange bamboo lotus.

Hovering above it and slowly rotating in midair was a pet egg that constantly flickered between black and white.

Most of the energy released by the bamboo platform was being drawn directly into the egg.

There was no doubt about it,this was the Panda King’s pet egg.

Marcus reached out to retrieve it, but before his hand could make contact, the system notification sounded.

Ding!

[Player Stonehaven, please note: the injured Yin-Yang Panda Egg is currently healing on the Paradise Bamboo Platform. Removing it from the platform will cause it to crack and die. Would you like to retrieve the Yin-Yang Panda Egg?]

Marcus froze. It couldn’t be removed.

So that was why the Seven-Soul Devil had not taken the egg with him. He had deliberately left it here and assigned the Golden Rabbit King to guard it.

But that raised an even bigger problem. The Seven-Soul Devil would be arriving in twenty-eight minutes, what the hell was Marcus supposed to do?

This was insane.

He immediately canceled the retrieval request and used Insight on the egg instead. Something about the situation still bothered him. The Panda King had originally been a Mythic-tier pet, so how had it ended up as something called a Yin-Yang Panda Egg?

The information revealed the answer.

—

Yin-Yang Panda Egg: The Mythic-tier Panda King swallowed the Saint-tier treasure known as the "Harmony Divine Bamboo." Unable to withstand the enormous energy contained within it, the Panda King was on the verge of exploding. The Dark Assassin Seven-Soul Devil intervened at the critical moment, saving the Panda King from destruction. The Panda King subsequently began absorbing the energy of the Harmony Divine Bamboo, triggering a process of evolution and growth.

Unfortunately, the Panda King still could not withstand the tremendous surge of energy. Its body eventually deteriorated into an injured pet egg that was on the verge of shattering. To stabilize it, the Seven-Soul Devil placed the egg on the Paradise Bamboo Platform within the Divine Bamboo Paradise.

Over the next twenty years, the Seven-Soul Devil used various skills, treasures, and elixirs to perfectly fuse the Panda King with the energy of the Harmony Divine Bamboo, eventually transforming it into a Super Divine Beast, the Yin-Yang Panda Egg.

At present, all that was required was a Saint-tier healing item or elixir. Once its injuries were healed, the egg would hatch into a Super Divine Beast Yin-Yang Panda.

Upon hatching, the Super Divine Beast Yin-Yang Panda has a 50% chance of wandering into God Bamboo Ridge and a 50% chance of becoming the pet of the person who hatched it.

—

A Saint-tier healing treasure or elixir...

’Damn it.’

Was the system seriously giving him a task like this?

Marcus nearly wanted to scream.

With his current strength, finding even a Divine-grade healing item would have been difficult enough. A Saint-tier treasure was on an entirely different level. Finding one was practically a pipe dream.

In fact, raiding an entire city might have been easier.

Just look at the Seven-Soul Devil. He was one of the Demon Lord’s Eight Guardians, an absolute powerhouse who had been searching for a Saint-tier healing treasure for twenty years and still had not found one. Now Marcus was somehow expected to locate one in less than half an hour.

And the Seven-Soul Devil would arrive in twenty-eight minutes.

Could he really find a Saint-tier healing treasure or elixir in twenty-eight minutes?

There was absolutely no chance.

Marcus did possess the Saint-tier Three-Star Sacred Lotus, but it was not a healing treasure. Its presence here was essentially useless.

"Lets ask Alana!"

With no better option, Marcus immediately contacted the only person he could think of who might have some knowledge that could help him.

Since Alana was currently back at their home in Dragon’s Peak Citadel, Marcus quickly set up a teleportation array beside the bamboo platform. Once the array was complete, he returned to the citadel without wasting another second.

He found Alana and went straight to the point.

"Alana, how can I get a Saint-tier healing item or elixir within twenty minutes?"

Alana looked at him in surprise.

"Master, why do you suddenly need a Saint-tier healing item?"

Marcus quickly explained the situation, including the Yin-Yang Panda Egg, its injuries, and the fact that it would die if removed from the Paradise Bamboo Platform.

Alana fell silent.

She lowered her gaze and thought carefully about the problem, but the increasingly serious expression on her face told Marcus that she had already realized how difficult the situation was.

Marcus also contacted Boss Blaze and Old Vine, hoping they might have some information through their connections. Unfortunately, their answers were no better.

So far, only three Divine-grade materials had ever appeared on the market. One had been sold through the Old Vine Auction House, another through the Merchant Alliance Auction House, and the third had been privately traded between powerful players. Every single one had caused an enormous commotion when it appeared.

As for Saint-tier items, however, there had never been even one publicly traded.

Still, Old Vine had already issued a server-wide notice throughout the US Region, offering to purchase any Saint-tier healing item at an extremely high price.

"Master..."

Alana finally shook her head helplessly.

"Saint-tier items belong to the ancient Divine Era. They are even more powerful than Divine Artifacts, and they have long since become extinct. Even the imperial palace of the Dragon Dynasty does not possess a Saint-tier item."

"Saint-tier herbs and materials can occasionally grow in mystical places with extremely dense energy, or within certain divine realms. But apart from your Three-Star Sacred Lotus, neither my grandfather nor I have ever personally seen a Saint-tier herb. We certainly don’t know where to find a Saint-tier healing herb."

"Ah?"

Marcus stared at her.

"That’s impossible. Alana, is there really no other way?"

Everything seemed completely hopeless.

Alana shook her head again, but after a moment, she hesitated before adding, "Actually, there is one more possibility."

"There is?"

Marcus immediately looked at her.

"Yes." Alana nodded. "According to legend, if you have the correct formula and your flame control is perfect, then there is an extremely small chance of using several Divine-grade herbs to refine a Saint-tier elixir."

Her eyes fell on the Three-Star Sacred Lotus.

"We could use some of the supplementary materials from your Three-Star Sacred Lotus, such as its leaves, roots, seeds, and other parts, then combine them with several other herbs. If everything went perfectly and we were incredibly lucky, there might be a chance of producing a Saint-tier elixir."

Marcus’s eyes lit up for a moment.

But Alana immediately shook her head again.

"Unfortunately, refining a Saint-tier elixir takes at least two or three days. Even with everything prepared beforehand, twenty minutes isn’t remotely enough time. It wouldn’t even be enough time to properly melt a single leaf from the Three-Star Sacred Lotus."