Chapter 713: The Phenomenon! (Bonus - )

Chapter 713: The Phenomenon! (Bonus Chapter)

"Okay. According to what Tom said, the heart on its own would be wasted if it was just used by itself, because it would be difficult to absorb the pure bloodline essence cleanly. The egg would likely reject most of it or let it dissipate. So first, I build a medium that lets it draw the essence in gradually."

Moon began placing the ingredients into a second, larger container. "Start with a base solution. A spirit-nurturing liquid to hold everything in suspension and keep the essences from clashing."

He poured a shimmering, faintly luminous fluid into the container, filling it partway.

"Then a stabilizing agent, so the heart’s essence doesn’t overwhelm the shell all at once." He dropped in a pale crystalline shard that dissolved slowly into the solution, the liquid taking on a soft glow. "Tom was clear about this part. Rush it and everything fails, patience is the whole point."

Next, he drew out the true elf’s heart, the crimson organ resting gently in his palm.

"Now the heart. It needs to release its essence into the solution over time, feeding the egg in a consistent manner rather than flooding it."

Moon lowered the heart into the container, and the moment it touched the glowing solution, thin lines of crimson began to leave it, dispersing through the liquid in delicate threads. "That’s the blood essence, refined and diluting into the medium."

He watched the crimson threads swirl and disperse, the whole solution taking on a deep rose hue, and then reached into his ring one final time.

"And Tom said if I wanted to push it further, I could add a compatible enhancer. Something to strengthen the body the consumer’s building."

Moon drew out the diluted vial of Black Tortoise blood. "A turtle’s a defensive creature by nature. Constitution, defense, longevity. And the Black Tortoise was one of the toughest beasts to ever exist. This blood was practically made for something like this, even if it’s diluted, it’s a good final touch."

Uncapping the vial, Moon let the diluted blood pour into the container.

The mixture’s crimson became darker, and the liquid began to churn gently on its own. The glow intensified, and the turtle egg, still sitting beside the second container, seemed to respond, its iridescent shell brightening in answer.

Moon sat back and studied the concoction, the swirling essences settling into a stable, luminous whole.

Everything was ready. The solution, the stabilizer, the heart, the blood. Exactly as Tom had laid it out, and then some.

He reached out and, with careful hands, lifted the turtle egg toward the waiting container.

"It’s time," he murmured.

Moon lowered the turtle egg into the container with careful hands, easing it down until the luminous solution rose up around its base, then over its curve, until the entire egg was submerged beneath the swirling rose-and-crimson liquid.

The moment the egg made full contact with the solution, its iridescent shell flared with light. The jade and gold and purple across its surface blazed brighter, and the swirling colors began to move faster, chasing each other across the shell in bands of shifting radiance.

The solution around it churned harder, the crimson threads of the true elf’s heart and the dark resonance of the Black Tortoise blood swirling inward, drawn toward the egg as if pulled by a current only it could generate.

The egg was devouring it hungrily.

Moon watched, rapt, as the essences poured into the shell. The crimson sank into the egg, and where it entered, the iridescence flared, new depths of color blooming across the shell that hadn’t been there before.

The container’s glow dimmed steadily as the solution emptied itself into the egg, the heart’s essence and the tortoise’s blood transferring drop by drop, into the little one growing within.

Suddenly, a warmth radiated outward from the container, filling the warded chamber. Moon could feel the pressure building, a dense pressure gathering around the egg.

"It’s happening!" Moon couldn’t help but utter.

Moon could feel the pulse within the shell grow stronger by the second.

Then the colors on the shell began to move differently, no longer just swirling but converging, drawing together toward a single point near the top of the egg, gathering into a bright, concentrated knot of pure iridescent light.

The pressure in the chamber spiked.

And the warmth coming from the egg turned into heat.

And then, with a sound like a held breath finally releasing, a thin fracture appeared across the shell’s surface, running from the knot of light outward, hairline-fine and glowing from within.

The egg trembled in the emptying solution.

A second crack branched off the first.

And from somewhere deep inside the shell, beneath the light and the pressure and the swirling ancient colors, something moved.

Unknown to Moon, sealed away inside the warded chamber, the sky above the pavilion was changing.

The ash-gray daylight of the floating island darkened, swallowed by a mass of black clouds that gathered suddenly, directly above the pavilion as though drawn to it. The wind rose to a howl before the first bolt of lightning split the sky, striking down with a crack that shook the air, followed by another, and another, the clouds churning with violent energy.

Talan and the brute stepped out of the pavilion and stared upward, and neither of them had words.

"What in the world..." Talan’s voice trailed off.

The brute’s mouth hung open. "I’ve never seen this happen once in my years of being in this floating island...besides, shouldn’t most clouds be on the same level as the island? How come these appeared above us?!"

Lightning hammered down again, closer this time, and the two men flinched.

Then the ground began to shake as a deep, rolling tremor ran through the earth beneath the pavilion, rattling loose stones and sending dust cascading from the reinforced walls.

ROAR!

AWOO!

Roars, shrieks and howls of beasts rose into the darkening sky. Hundreds of creatures across the island crying out at once, responding to a pressure that Talan and the brute could feel now too, a vast and ancient weight pressing down on the whole region, radiating outward from the pavilion behind them.

"Just...what the hell did the boss do..."

***

Author’s Notes: I hope you enjoyed the mass release. This is a huge thanks for your support, and the golden ticket ranking.

Current Ranking: Top 8

Goal: Top 5 (5 Chapter Release Next Month If We Hit it.)

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