Chapter 73 - So Could This Be a Trick? (1/2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Pittman’s yell stunned Gawain. For a moment, it actually didn’t occur to him what the other party meant by signs of life, until two seconds later — he was referring to the ball.
“When Amber rebounded earlier, weak signs of life appeared inside the ball,” Pittman repeated while carefully moving closer to the sphere. He took out a dried and crumpled piece of leaf. While twisting the leaf stalk, he went on. “But the signs disappeared after a split second… I’ve never seen such an unusual phenomenon…”
Amber rubbed her butt while staring at the rock ball in disbelief. “What the hell…? Could this thing really be alive?”
The three soldiers still stuck on the rock ball instantly looked more nervous.
Gawain, however, was more focused on suspecting the professional skills of a certain druid. “You couldn’t have sensed wrongly, could you?”
Pittman promptly glared. “Impossible! I am a true druid, a professional from the Nature and Soul faction. How could I make a mistake in such a basic domain!”
“… Aren’t you from the Forest Heart faction?”
Pittman was stunned. “Was that what I said the previous time?”
Then he immediately looked towards Amber. “Which faction did you tell people I was from the last time?”
“…”
“In any case, my senses are not wrong.” Noticing that the atmosphere was really awkward, even with Pittman’s thick skin, he could no longer sustain it. He could only change the topic stiffly. “Regardless of factions, sensing for signs of life is the foundation for all druids. Without this foundation, one wouldn’t be able to cast any druid spells… Moreover, look, this is proof!”
While he spoke, he showed the originally dried and crumpled leaf in his hand to Gawain. The piece of a leaf had become healthy and fresh; now, it was a bright verdant green as if it had just been plucked from the tree branch.
“Although it looks to be lifeless on the surface, there is a certain form of sign of life internally…,” Pittman said very solemnly and professionally while circling the rock ball. “It seems to be in a very deep, heavy sleep. Or could it also be because it has yet to develop into its complete form?”
Amber batted her eyes. No one knew what thought went through that mind when she suddenly let out, “Hold on. This couldn’t be an egg, could it?!”
“Egg?” Gawain faltered and thought to himself, ‘if the thing that the group of Gondor researchers had been studying for such a long time in the mountains was really an egg, this matter would be exceptionally interesting’. However, he soon grew even more puzzled. “What living thing’s egg would be this big?”
The moment he finished, he jolted and the thought appeared in his mind. He himself answered, “Could it be a dragon’s egg?”
Amber and Pittman instantly went silent. The two of them watched the big rock ball in the middle of the tent with fear and nervousness. Meanwhile, Gawain had entered a troubled state as he rubbed his chin. What development of an ancient joke was this? Obtaining a dragon egg after transmigrating, such a cliché had gone out of trend several years before he’d transmigrated. Had such a prehistoric plot landed on him in the end?
However, he soon thought of another aspect. So what if this was a dragon egg? Heavens knew how long it would take to hatch. Judging by the gigantic dragon’s rumored lifespan of tens of thousands of years, the hatching of an egg itself might take thousands of years. Picking up a dragon’s egg might mean brooding it for his entire life, and his own lifetime might not even be enough. They’d have to brood it for generations, and when it finally hatched, the dragon papa and mama could just come and take it away. And they might not even say thank you before leaving… Perhaps this was the gigantic dragon’s usual trick?
However, if he really were to calculate by the millennium, this ‘egg’ was brought out of remnants that had a thousand years of history. Who knew? Maybe it would be hatching soon?
Probably because the sudden memory of such a familiar trick had triggered some recollections deep in his mind, Gawain simply stood there and entered a greatly dazed state. Amber got no reaction even after calling to him several times. Finally, the half-elf girl jumped and crashed her head onto Gawain’s chest. “Wake up!!”
“Oomph—”
Gawain wasn’t wearing his armor and was almost left breathless then and there. When he returned to his senses, he immediately reached out to pull Amber’s ear. “Do you have a screw loose? How could you use your head to knock someone?!”
“Duh, you had me remove all the metal items on me before coming in. If I had a hammer in hand, would I need to use my head?” Amber nimbly dodged Gawain’s claws this time and retorted boldly, “Why were you suddenly dazed earlier?”
Although he was really tempted to question what exactly she would do if she had a hammer in hand, Gawain still directed his attention back to the rock ball. “I was wondering if this really was a dragon egg… How should I switch off this damn ‘energy field’.”
There were three soldiers still stuck and unable to move.
“An ability that can control metals and affect the flow of magical power. In the legends, a subspecies of gigantic dragons known as metallic dragons or ‘dragons of the land’ do possess such abilities.” As a semi scholar (his other half was chef, bandit, appraiser, and fortune teller), Pittman rubbed his chin and began, in his mind, to toy with the knowledge whose truthfulness was unknown. “If we’re thinking of it as an egg of some kind, then it’s highly likely that this thing is a dragon’s egg.”
Gawain did not expect this old man to actually have some ability. He revealed an interested look. “Oh? Then, do you know how to stop the energy field?”
“That I do not.” Pittman shrugged and rushed to go on before Gawain gave him a beating. “And it’s useless even if I do. If this really is a dragon egg, how could the ability of a low-level druid like me be enough to handle it? Gigantic dragons are a legendary species. This might just be an egg, but gigantic dragons have magical power equivalent to intermediate human mages when they’re still an egg.”
Gawain gaped. What did this absurd, nature-defying setup mean? So after working hard for half their lives, humans couldn’t even compare to a zygote of theirs?