"Those eggs of life, you took more than one, didn't you?"
The authority of [Darkness] may be unparalleled in hiding and concealing its form, but it's not as good at stealing things as [Space] is, which is why Erebus was a step too slow in the Foggy Kingdom.
This was originally inconsequential, simply a matter of Laine taking more and he taking fewer, but because Chaos's invasion of the Nine Realms was suddenly complete, both hastened to end their theft.
In such circumstances, Laine naturally couldn't take many, but Erebus only managed to collect one from the very edge.
"You're also interested in this kind of 'thing'? I thought such weak life forms wouldn't catch your eye."
Moving his gaze away from the crystalline branches of the Flesh-Mother Tree, Laine's thoughts scanned through his spoils.
Two seemed quite vigorous, a dozen or so average. Of course, even the most average was a genuine Transcendent being, being the earliest of the dragon kind.
Perhaps their descendants' bloodlines would gradually fall dormant and stabilize after several generations, but this batch, which might be called Ancestor Dragons, truly possessed a powerful essence.
Just reaching adulthood would easily allow them to become Legendary beings, and as the years passed, they could continuously unearth the potential within their bloodlines, grow stronger, and after the long years, possess nearly divine strength.
As for the two that were clearly more powerful, they could probably touch upon the domain of gods. How strong they eventually become, though, would depend on where they grew up.
Their development would be influenced by their environment, leading to changes in their attributes and gifts, and those that landed in Laine's hands were undoubtedly the luckier ones.
The dragon eggs left in Niflheim would probably be scattered randomly across the world. After all, that kingdom had already been assimilated by the Flesh-Mother Tree, and the dragon eggs' location was one of the few places unaffected.
"Life from other worlds has some value for research, and besides, it is alive. If it could breed a race, that would be nice. Haven't you always been interested in these mundane creatures?"
Frowning, Erebus felt a bit of a headache as he looked at the single, isolated dragon egg he had obtained.
He planned to trade for another from Laine's hands, but upon careful consideration, he seemed to have nothing to trade.
Either the value was too great, and he felt it was not worth exchanging for an egg, or he knew without asking that Laine wouldn't be interested.
"Then you can study it on your own, I won't disturb you. I'm sure you will find something worthwhile."
With a faint smile, Laine reached out to grab Mimir, who suddenly became mute upon bumping into Erebus, and turned to head back the way he had come.
Just as the other had thought, there was nothing Laine wanted. Indeed, things like [Darkness] Source Power clearly didn't fall into tradable items.
There's still time, he thought. He wanted to see where the Nine Realms would integrate into Chaos World. After the initial movement, they would be enveloped by the world's power and begin a long digestion process, unnoticed.
Behind him, watching Laine's departing figure, the Lord of Darkness said nothing, vanishing without a trace.
He had intended to trade for another egg from Laine, but it wasn't essential. The gods of Chaos had never lacked divinities able to breed their offspring independently, although it would consume more power.
The reason he suddenly took an interest in these otherwise contemptible weak beings was because, previously in the Darkness kingdom of Svartalfheim, Erebus found numerous traces of intelligent life. Though they had mostly perished, many of their tomes still existed.
Even a cursory glance surprised Erebus—he discovered that not only were there gods in this world, but also humans.
The existence of gods in other worlds isn't unusual, but the presence of humans stood out.
Moreover, from some of the records discovered, unlike the weakness of humans, the native inhabitants of the Darkness kingdom, those known as 'Dark Elves' and 'Dwarves', seemed more potent, older, originating from the body of the very first being of this world, Ymir, born from an intertwinement of ice and fire. Yet in the end, only humans dwelled in the center of the Nine Realms, in Midgard.
In different worlds, only humans and gods are so similar, sparking a realization in him. Laine had also always shown concern for these intelligent beings.
And then there's that power known as 'Faith'. Erebus had noticed it long ago, but it only held some significance to a battered Gaia to some extent, compensating for her losses; it mattered for that current Divine King too, allowing him to rise above other gods. However, it didn't help the Primordial Gods become completely great, so the Lord of Darkness had always overlooked it.
But now, from the tomes of the Dark Elves, he noted that the warfare between the world's two great deity races seemed to have some obscure connection with Faith.
One of the sources of their conflict was the argument over who was more deserving of mortals' reverence.
For all these reasons, Erebus made a dark resolve—he decided to create a race of his own, useful or not, given he had nothing else to do.
Besides, regarding how to remove the marks of the current world from himself and return to the origin, he seemed to have some clues now.