"I wonder if this egg counts as a dropped item…"
Before even looking at my own earned EXP and other things, I looked into the egg, quickly realizing it had its own Item Status!
[Holy Flames Phoenix Egg (A Grade)]
The egg of a Holy Flames Phoenix which had been defeated or died, turning into ashes and then into an egg. Unlike a Phoenix authentic chick form, which is usually called Rainbow Crested Brawler Birds, this is a small version of the Phoenix which will slowly grow up through evolution. It is capable of recognizing a pure-hearted master and upon infusing enough Mana into the egg, it might gain inherit part of the power of its master and become a different type of Phoenix altogether.
"Huh, interesting!" I said with surprise. "Let's see… recognize me as your master then, heh!"
I touched the egg, but I suddenly felt a tremendously painful shock, which made me quickly step back. It felt as if that holy light from before burned my hand… By merely touching this thing?!
"Ouch!" I cried, stepping back. "So I am not pure hearted then?!"
How come someone like me is not pure-hearted?!
I've done so many good deeds and helped so many people, I am literally the second coming of Jesus!
I know why I can't be considered pure-hearted, I won't beat around it.
"Pure hearted?" Wondered Partner.
"You see…" I decided to explain to everyone what I saw in the egg's description.
And then, everyone tried out their hand at touching the egg to see if it could recognize them. Lucifer, Partner, and Emeraldine apparently failed. Although Emeraldine had the faintest reaction, she seemed to have good affinity but didn't seem enough.
However, when Laura and Takeshi tried to touch the egg by removing the blankets they wrapped it around, none of the two received any bad reaction. I see, this is like those predestined events in videogames where only certain characters can do certain things, right? I guess they wanted the egg and they were chosen by it.
I am totally not jealous or something!
It's not like… I wanted a pet phoenix… or something…
"It's very warm, but it doesn't hurt to touch…" Laura said.
"I think we were chosen by the egg!" Takeshi added.
"How come? Didn't you two killed him? Why did he choose you?" Sighed Partner.
"Perhaps it simply doesn't recognize them." Said Lucifer.
"Well if the chick retains memories then it is about to get a big surprise…" Said Partner.
"Let's just not think about it." I said with a nod.
The two children imbued their Mana into the egg, as it suddenly began changing colors… Its red color almost completely disappeared, and the color that remained was purple, black, and pale blue. Wow, did they just infused miasma into it? Whatever is coming out will be quite wacky.
Suddenly, the eggshell broke as a small black beak broke it, red eyes shone brightly from within the egg, as the beak quickly broke the rest of the eggshell almost completely, revealing from within a small and adorable bird with black and blue feathers, and a crown of small feathers atop its head with the color of purple and black… It had indeed changed, and has been imbued with the element of… darkness and water?
[Abyssal Sea Phoenix Chick: Lv0] [Rank: F] [Status: Curious, Confused, Hungry]
The egg of a Holy Flame Phoenix has mutated after receiving the elemental Mana of both of his new masters, gaining the attribute of Miasma, Darkness, and Water, merging them together into a completely new species of Phoenix capable of wielding the power of darkness and water. It seems to have retained the memories of when it was alive before, and seems to be slowly panicking as it recognizes the faces of his new masters…
Skills: [Water Splash] [Underwater Adaptability] [Flight] [Dark Bullet] [Rapid Peek] [Shadow Sneak]
Oh wow, it really turned into water and darkness?! Insane… I never thought a Phoenix could ever have such elements. Well, I remember seeing an Ice Phoenix in some story or game before, but a Water one? I think there was a Dark Phoenix somewhere… but never a water one!
Or was there and I simply didn't saw it when I was back on Earth?
Oh well, whatever's the case, this is pretty rad.
The Phoenix seemed to be scared of everyone here, the children included, especially Takeshi. But it was so small and frail it couldn't possibly escape from us, so it ended being held by the kids and smothered by them.
"Uwah, it is so cute!" Laura was enchanted.
"Yeah… It doesn't look at all like the previous one either…!" Takeshi added.
"Well, what name are you giving to it?" I wondered.
Laura and Takeshi began thinking about names, until they settled on calling him "Onyx". I guess it is because his feathers are black like the Onyx jewels or something? I only remember a pocket monster named like that, but I am fairly sure there's a jewel that has nothing to do with the pocket monster.
Anyways, now that things finally were settled, we were exhausted, so we decided to take yet another break. If the next floor wasn't the last one, we'll probably end up camping here, or maybe we'll go back to the dwarf country and take a break there instead of sleeping inside a monster infested place.
And as we gathered all the dropped items, which this time were also a lot of colorful ores which I could easily sell or use for my own creations, alongside saving the carcasses of the monsters, I quickly decided to check my Status, finding the EXP was distributed some time ago already.
[You defeated [Various Bird-type Monsters (Rank B- ~ B)] x633, you earned 1266000 EXP]
[You defeated [Giant Metallic Steel Feathered Bird King (Rank B++)] x1, you earned 500000 EXP]
[You defeated [Emerald Storm Falcon King (Rank B++)] x1, you earned 500000 EXP]
[You defeated [Rainbow Crowned Holy Flames Phoenix (Rank A+)] x1, you earned 1500000 EXP]
[Calculating EXP earned…]
[You earned a Total EXP of: 3766000 EXP!]