Chapter 92 — Nicole·Egg

Gao Yang still didn't dare entirely rule out the possibility that the ball was an "artificial creation," but at the very least, he could be certain it was not the creation of any race on this continent.

In truth, in his heart he leaned more toward believing the ball truly came from some peculiar intelligent race beyond human comprehension.

He just didn't know how it had come to this continent...

Hearing Gao Yang's answer, Hedie lowered her head slightly and sank into thought, while the druid Pi Yun beside her remained silent as before. In fact, he had suddenly stopped talking back in the tent and had kept a face full of tangled frustration ever since, which made Gao Yang glance at him a couple more times: "You have questions too?"

"How is it that when that egg hatched, it was still an egg..." The old druid's eyebrows were practically knotted together. "Why couldn't it have been a dragon egg?"

Even Amber couldn't stand it anymore: "Why are you so obsessed with dragon eggs?!"

The little old man tugged at his beard: "A dragon egg! Hatch it and you get a dragon! Shed a single scale or draw a bit of blood—do you have any idea how much money that could fetch? Even if it couldn't fetch money, I could just sling a young dragon over my shoulder and run off to the Holy Dragon Duchy—at the very least I'd trade it for a landed count's title!"

"With thinking like that, you'd be hanged at least forty times over in the Holy Dragon Duchy," Gao Yang glared at the little old man. "If you've got the spare time for wild fantasies, tell me how the wounded are doing."

The little old man twisted his beard hard and, with a sigh, let the subject drop: "Ah... fine, not a dragon egg, then, not a dragon egg. You needn't worry too much about the wounded—I've already sent over the best potions I could brew, and the more seriously injured have been treated with magic. I can guarantee there will be no more deaths from wounds. Frankly, it's a miracle. I originally thought that even if those bold plans of yours worked, the camp guards would still die in droves—yet it turns out they're almost all just wounded. Not a single one dead."

"You underestimate the standard-issue equipment of the ancient Gondor Empire," Gao Yang shook his head. "Soldiers from that era were very hard to kill."

The little old man glanced at Gao Yang and remarked mildly: "Then you'd best cultivate a sense of crisis. I overheard those two knights of yours talking—most of the soldiers' armor and combat crystals were damaged in the fighting, and those things apparently can't be repaired or recharged. You may have saved their lives, but you can't save the equipment itself. At this rate of consumption, it won't be long before you're eating into your reserves with nothing coming in."

"Don't worry, we already have better weapons," Gao Yang said with a smile, looking toward the camp. "More importantly, we have better ideas."

This time it was Amber who spoke: "You mean those blast crystals you used to collapse the cliff and set the traps?"

Gao Yang gave a slight nod.

"Fine, those crystals are certainly powerful, but relying on them alone to settle everything is still unrealistic," Amber shook her head. "They're too limited in use, and they lack a safe detonation method. I tell you, when Hedie set them off I nearly died of fright. I'd already slipped into the Shadow Realm, and I still got blown head over heels by the shockwave several times. And I'm lodging a complaint—that big-breasted, empty-headed granddaughter of yours only put up a shield for herself..."

Walking behind Gao Yang, Hedie immediately shot Amber a furious glare.

Gao Yang, however, noticed nothing of the little spark between the half-elf and his great-great... great-granddaughter. He only smiled and let his gaze drift into the distance, where the giant sun was slowly sinking toward the horizon, and the clouds at the edge of the sky blazed in answer to the light spilling from around the solar disc, magnificent beyond all telling.

Nothing is without flaw when it first comes into being.

And now that the crisis of the aberrations had receded for the time being, it was time to turn their energies to remedying those flaws.