Astralux, Thirteen, and Fluffington stared at the snake coiling around Nox's neck with a mixture of confusion and curiosity shining within their eyes. They courteously advanced forward.
Though it was the first time they were seeing this blue snake with crystalline skin and mesmerizing eyes, the three felt a strange connection of familiarity, just as they felt with each other.
[Umu.] Thirteen tilted its head in confusion. Why does this snake seem so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time? The panda felt it had met this snake before but didn't know where.
Little did he know, it was because he was the one that had spent the most time with the egg—though not in a friendly way. It couldn't be denied that they had truly bonded well.
As the connection between them grew even stronger, Astralux's eyes shone with excitement. She could feel it—she would get along well with this snake.
The jellyfish, in its non-combat form, hastened its speed and was the first to arrive before Nox. The pink creature hovered around Nox, her single gaze never leaving the python even for a second.
Solora sensed Astralux's presence and gently raised her neck to meet the jellyfish, rubbing it against the bubbly head.
Solora's and Astralux's beautiful voices, which sounded like chiming bells, overlapped.
The two continued to rub against each other for a while, as if not wanting to let go. But because she still had something—someone, to be specific—to deal with, the baby blue python retracted her head once again and glared at the panda, who was now very close.
A fire burned in Solora's eyes as she hissed, her tongue flicking. [You!]
[Panda?????] Thirteen pointed at his chest with a lost expression. Those black eyes, which now had a small trail of ice circling the pupils, were filled with great confusion.
[Yes, you! Evil panda!] the baby blue python exclaimed as she slowly loosened her grip on Nox's neck, adopting a lethal posture like a coiled viper about to strike. Solora lunged at Thirteen.
Thirteen's eyes flickered with shock—he was caught off guard! And before he could react, the little snake was already upon him, landing gracefully and wrapping her tail around his neck.
[Gasp! Gasp!] Thirteen desperately gasped for air, tears almost coming out of his eyes. With great difficulty, the panda glanced at Nox, but the latter only stepped back, mouthing:
I have no say in this!
Damn! Thirteen felt betrayed. He brought his arms up to get the python off, but for some reason, her grip was terrifyingly strong.
[Evil panda!] Solora hissed furiously as she bit into Thirteen, making the panda wince. [You drop-kicked me around for years! I'll make you suffer!]
Nox didn't interfere and simply watched. There were two reasons why he decided to take a back seat. One was because he didn't sense any killing intent from Solora. Although the baby blue python was biting Thirteen, her tiny fangs weren't infused with venom. At most, it would only hurt the panda a bit.
Second, it was because it was only right for the little snake to take her revenge. Thirteen had been a real bad boy.
'But I couldn't help but admire him,' a small smile tugged at the corner of Nox's lips. "Even though he could easily get rid of her, he chooses to remain there and play along."
Thirteen was very powerful, but because the baby blue python was still just an infant, it thought it was too powerful, and this somehow had gotten to her head.
'Welp, they'll eventually find a way to settle their differences,' Nox thought.
At that moment, Astralux, unable to bear seeing Thirteen in any more pain, hovered over to Solora and started pleading with the baby python.
Seeing that Astralux was almost on the verge of tears, Solora begrudgingly let go of Thirteen, who could now finally breathe once more. From the baby blue python's words, Thirteen understood that she was the beautiful rock in the taming space.
His only companion when a certain cat was being a jerk. There were a lot of fun memories Thirteen had with the egg. Thirteen felt a knot in his stomach at how he was treated by his little sister, but he knew he deserved it. After all, one mishap, and he could have accidentally killed her during his intense training periods.
The panda swore in his little heart to make it up to his sister and become her shield and sword!
Now that he thought about it, how did she even survive, and why did it take her so long to hatch?
Even Nox was curious about this, but he had a vague theory: it was because of the cracks in her shell. Probably because the taming space was healing the cracks, it had taken much longer for the egg to mature.
Nox took a brief pause and pondered seriously, then nodded. 'Yes, it must be the reason.'
[Evil panda, you're lucky good sister saved you.] Solora harrumphed and slithered to Fluffington, whose fur suddenly stood on end.
[Dammit, I don't like snakes! Don't touch me—] Fluffington panicked, but it was too late. Solora gently rubbed her head against Fluffington's body.
[Oh heavens, she's touching me. Ahhh, why me!?] Fluffington wailed dramatically, his usual composure and elegance completely gone as Solora continued to nuzzle him affectionately.
[Big brother is so soft!] Solora hissed happily as she slithered around Fluffington's neck like a scarf, her gaze gleaming with curiosity as she inspected his sleek fur with her tongue.
After tormenting Fluffington a little, Solora looked at Astralux and said in a cheerful voice:
[Come on, sister, let's go scare some humans.]
As they left, Nox could hear Astralux trying to convince Solora of how good of a brother Thirteen was, but the little baby snake remained angry, listening to none of it.
"You'll patch things with her, buddy, don't worry." Nox came up to Thirteen, who was just standing there, sadness in his eyes, and stroked his head.
Hearing Nox's words, a familiar fire burned in Thirteen's eyes.
"That's the spirit," he chuckled.
An hour later, Nox was all alone inside a room. This was a temporary room in Duke Felix's residence. Now that he was the duke, it was officially his, and he could choose to stay in the master bedroom if he wished, but Nox preferred somewhere much smaller—somewhere the servants didn't frequent much.
"Let's see." He licked his lips as a screen glimmered before his view.
[Ding! Congratulations on reaching Level 20]
[You're now eligible for Evolution]
[All rewards will be granted after evolution]
[Note: If the user doesn't go through with evolution, they will not be able to receive any more experience points.]
'So I wasn't hallucinating, huh,' Nox thought, stroking his chin. He had first seen this screen back in the wild while returning after slaying the Hybrid.
It was the experience points from the Hybrid, which were shared among him, Eve, and Aina, that gave him this final boost to reach Level 20. After then, he had tried killing more beasts, but no matter how many he defeated, the experience points stopped accumulating, confirming the system's warning.
"Okay, proceed with evolution," Nox said without a moment of hesitation.
However, the message that flickered across his retina stunned him!
[Evolution has begun! The system will be offline for the next 43,848 hours.]
"What the fuck!" Nox's eyes shrank in horror.
While Nox was grappling with this realization, a tall man with blue waist-length hair and a pair of different-colored eyes—one blue and the other red—stood at the entrance of the gate that led to the Royal Capital of the Vermilion Kingdom.
"Finally, I'll meet you again...my liege," Amos, the lord of Blight Castle in the first-ever dimension Nox had appeared in, smiled, his eyes shining with glee.
End of Volume 1: Birth of the Strongest Beast Master