Suii—
My smart bracelet glowed, and a huge, reddish-golden egg materialized in my hands.
Carefully, I placed the egg on the center table in front of me and took a deep breath.
It took William months to make his beast egg hatch by supplying it with mana daily till the point of mana exhaustion.
It's worth noting that William was a kid back then, and his mana control wasn't exactly good.
Most of the mana he poured out ended up mixing back into the atmosphere instead of getting absorbed by the egg.
Coupled with the fact that his egg was stale and his mana pool was small, it was evident why it took him so long.
According to my guess, I think it should only take me about two months at most to make this egg hatch.
Although I was not in any kind of hurry, I still wanted the mana beast inside the egg to be born quickly because sitting back and waiting patiently was not one of my strong suits.
Also, I was excited to know what kind of mana beast would come out of this egg.
Oh yes, even I didn't know what kind of mana beast was in the egg. The fate of this egg was never revealed.
In the novel, when for some reason, Reina went on a rampage in Silveserine City and started killing a lot of people, the Central Government had to get involved.
They commanded the Western Continent to help them and defeat one of the seven fully healed and dangerous Abyssal Vampire Kings.
The West had no choice but to comply with that order, so the Morningstar family – the overlords of the Western Continent – dispatched two battalions (around two thousand soldiers) to take down one single former Vampire King.
Since the head of the house, Reynold Morningstar was out on a trip to the Eastern Continent, the attack force was led by none other than the future head of the house – Adel Morningstar, Lucas' twin brother.
After two continuous days of long fought battle, the Vampire King fell and Adel took whatever was in Reina's possession along with this egg.
Since Mythical Beasts' eggs take a VERY long time to hatch naturally, Adel thought that it would never hatch and threw it in his storage.
After that, the egg was never mentioned since, by the end of the story, Adel was killed.
….I think?
Yeah, no, he was definitely killed… maybe?
Arghh… I can't remember!
Whatever happened to my near-perfect memory?
Yeah, okay, I remember now. He wasn't killed, but he was assassinated by someone in his academy.
….Woah, I'm having trouble remembering stuff now. This had never happened to me before in my previous life. Maybe I just have too much stress here.
Speaking of remembering things, there is also the matter of the false memories that someone planted in Lucas' head.
I have to get to the bottom of that too.
Then there are also some unexpected variables that I haven't solved yet.
Arghh! There are just so many things to think about! I hate it. I absolutely hate it when I have to use my brain.
Can't a man just enjoy his life?
Why couldn't I have been born again in a harem fantasy world?!
I would've trash-talked a harem fantasy novel if I'd known trash-talking authors can get you killed and reborn in their stories!
Or why can't Joe have written a harem fantasy novel instead of creating this war-filled world to begin with? It would've been a hit even with his mediocre writing!
Arghhh! I'm so frustrated!
Haaa…
But then again, I would've gotten bored pretty soon if it was a harem fantasy. At some messed up corner of my heart, I'm thankful I was reborn in this adventurous world.
There are so many mysteries popping up and things going on here every day that I'm never ever bored, and I barely have time to get my mind some rest.
This was the thrill that I had longed for in my past life…
"Fuuu," returning back from my thoughts, I eyed the egg in front of me. "Okay, let's get started."
I stretched my neck and placed my hands on the reddish-golden egg in front of me on the low center table.
Since it was as big as the size of a human head, it wasn't fully covered even when I grabbed it with both my hands.
"Huuu!"
Inhaling deeply, I felt the cool air filling my lungs, and as I exhaled, I focused on the area around my solar plexus, where my mana core was located.
I felt a sudden warmth starting to spread over my body, indicating that my core was responding to my thoughts.
With my eyes closed, I continued to circulate mana through my body, allowing it to flow to every inch of my being.
A wave of relaxation washed over me, and I felt a cool sensation tingling my scalp, sending shivers down my spine.
"Haaa."
At this moment, I was one with myself and the world around me as I basked in the soothing embrace of mana.
I kept the magical energy circulating through my body over and over again.
The sense of fulfillment and warmth only increased with each circulation I completed.
I didn't want to let go of this feeling of ecstatic high, but with a few deep inhales and exhales, I started pouring the mana out of my body carefully into the egg, not even letting a spec of it go to waste.
"Fuuu," after around twenty minutes of continuously pouring mana into the egg, I was done.
The feeling of warmth disappeared from my body, and I felt a slight stinging cold pain replacing it in my abdomen.
It was mana exhaustion. My mana pool was almost empty. Fortunately, I had a few too many free mid-grade mana potions with me here today.
A smile formed on my lips as I took out my Edit Pen from the dimensional storage of my smart bracelet.
I aimed it at the mana potion bottles and waved my pen a few times in the air as if writing something on an invisible paper.
The bottles of mana potion glowed up for a split second before returning to normal.
It may seem like nothing happened at first glance, but I had transformed these mana potions from mid-grade to high-grade.
Since I had changed a good chunk of the story by killing the former Vampire King at this point in time, I had acquired quite a few edit points.
Edit Points: 1,885
Originally I had 2,597 edit points, but upgrading three of these six mana potions cost me around 712 edit points.
"Hmm," nodding, I placed the Edit Pen back in my smart bracelet's storage. "Let's go again."
†
"Haaa! Haaa!"
I collapsed onto the sofa, utterly spent. My body was drained of any remaining energy, leaving me feeling weak in the knees.
The cold sweat that had formed on my skin left me shivering and trembling, even as my chest heaved up and down in a desperate attempt to catch my breath.
Each gasp was a struggle, my lungs burning with the effort of drawing in air.
I felt like I had been pushed to the brink of my limits and then beyond.
I've been repeating the process of drawing mana from the atmosphere into my core and pouring it all empty in the egg.
After the fourth time, I was at my limits.
"...Let's stop this here for today," I said to myself, catching my breath a little.
I looked at the clock, and it was around 5:15 PM. The second day of the trip was coming to an end already.
After drinking the last bottle of mana potion to get some energy, I got up and walked over to the bathroom.
Click—
Opening the door, I strode over to the sink and stood there, my footsteps echoing against the tiled floor.
As I arrived in front of the mirror on the wall, I leaned forward and gripped the edge of the sink tightly, using it to support my weight.
As I glanced up into the mirror, a face that I had grown all too familiar with by now looked back at me.
Dark baggy circles were present under my eyes, and my face was contorted with exhaustion.
All the events that transpired earlier flooded my mind like scenes from a movie playing on repeat.
Every moment, every action, and every word spoken replayed in my head as if etched permanently in my memory.
Suddenly the realization that I had left a child to die settled in. Along with it came a wave of guilt.
I had really abandoned a child to die just because she could've become a threat to me in the future.
I did that so easily. I killed a human… I killed a child… so easily.
…What's wrong with me?
As I looked back into my eyes, I felt disgusted. My stomach churned as I gripped the edge of the sink tighter.
I knew I was wrong, but I also knew it was the only efficient way.
I could've enslaved her by forcing her to do my bidding, but doing so would only stoke the flames of revenge burning within her heart.
But still, she was just a child….
I briefly considered going back to save her, but the reality of her death quickly set in.
How was I so sure that she was dead?
She was one of the children I had marked to track, and I could see a blue thread extending from my hand to her.
However, that thread was no longer visible to me. I couldn't activate the mark on her.
I knew that there were only two ways for the mark to disappear: either the marked individual died, or I deactivated the mark myself.
As I had definitely not deactivated it, her death was the only explanation.
The Mana Beasts had killed her...
No, I had killed her.
"Haaa," I closed my eyes and steeled my heart once again.
Opening them, I looked back at the reflection, still feeling disgusted.
"It was the only way," I told myself repeatedly.
"Come on, you disgusting fucker!" I yelled at myself in the mirror, staring intently. "Come on! You can't let this stop you! You have to keep on moving forward! Much more blood will be spilled! Many more lives will be lost! This is just the beginning! You can't falter now! Not until you reach the end! You can only move forward! So move!"
It really was the only way. It was either me or her, and I chose myself. Even if I have to kill the world, I can't stop moving forward now.
I will have to end this story or I'll be killed in the destruction of this world. I would gladly choose my life over anyone else's.
"Haaa," after calming down by talking to myself, I took in a few deep breaths again and splashed my face with cold tap water.
As I felt my head cool down, I returned to my bed, finally deciding to end this stupid day by sleeping early.
All my tasks at hand were cleared. Now all that remains is to prepare myself for the massacre tomorrow.
