"What the fuck…"
Damien could only curse under his breath at the sight. Sure, a treasure moving on its own wouldn't necessarily be anything new to him, especially when said treasure was supposed to be quasi-sentient, but this was different.
Even when a treasure moved, its status as an inanimate object would limit it. Its movements were destined to be rigid and unpracticed. But Damien could see none of that in the wriggling black sphere.
Instead, its movements were more like that of a caged worm trying to escape confinement. It moved as if it was alive.
'Wait a minute…'
Damien sent his awareness into the vial once again, but he no longer cared for gentleness. He forcefully pierced into the Death Seed and scoured its contents.
"What the actual fuck is this…"
The death mana was expected, so were the various essences that seemed to be extracted from a variety of herbs. The thing that shocked him most was the presence of small, almost undetectable, signs of life.
The life aura was weaker than that of a dying man, but it was present nonetheless. As Damien continued his search, he found that the Death Seed's form as a pill was anything but. Instead, it was like a curled-up creature disguising itself as a pill.
As if sensing that its secrets were being laid bare, the creature unfurled itself, revealing its true form. It was similar to a black centipede with a scaly and hard exoskeleton. It had countless squirming legs that pushed up against the side of the vial, attempting to gain traction.
And then, it braced itself and rapidly lunged upwards in a bid to escape.
"Shit!"
Damien hurriedly brought the cap down and sealed the vial, trapping it once more. The creature hissed and squirmed indignantly, smashing its body against the glass of the vial rabidly.
Damien and Ruyue watched on in shock, while Zara's expression was more leaned towards curiosity and interest. Who would've thought that this so-called treasure was actually nothing of the sort?
"What the hell are these bastards trying to do with this?"
"Isn't that obvious? We already assumed they were auctioning the Death Seed in an attempt to control the heads of the wicked path, we just didn't expect it to be in this form."
"Right…" Damien could only agree. That speculation was only geared in the sense that the devil worshippers wanted to gain the favor of the righteous path. But if this kind of creature was consumed…
"This has to be a parasite. The unsuspecting victim would consume it thinking of it as a pill, and it invades their mind. I don't know whether it turns them into a dog or a mindless slave, but either way, it's incredibly dangerous."
"Mm, the only reason the creature showed itself is because it was being continuously probed without consumption. If it was given to a greedy individual or someone too prideful to believe any schemes could work on them, it'd spell their demise."
"We should destroy it here and now. I don't feel comfortable keeping this kind of thing on me while I travel."
"But what about master? We should at least wait until he inspects it before we make that decision."
"Sure he can inspect it, but can he come up with anything other than what we've already figured out? Even with further probing, we'd only be able to figure out the composition of the creature, not its abilities. The only way to get true results is to have someone consume it. But obviously, that isn't a viable choice."
"I can at least agree on that part, but I still believe it's better to let Master take a look at it."
Ruyue's stance was clear and her belief was firm. Seeing the look in her eyes, he knew she wouldn't bend no matter how hard he tried to convince her.
Perhaps it was just paranoia speaking, but Damien felt it'd be more dangerous to carry around such a thing. He even felt repulsed by the idea. And his subspace would be the best place to keep it if they decided to do so, since it couldn't be penetrated by outside forces like a spatial ring.
"Sigh, fine. I'll listen to you this once since I know I can't change your decision. Master is much more powerful than us anyway, so he might find something that we couldn't see."
Damien begrudgingly agreed, moving to put the vial back in his subspace. However, he was met with unexpected interference.
"Wait!"
Damien looked over at the speaker in surprise. "What is it, Zara?"
"Can you…Can you let me consume it?" Zara asked hesitantly.
"What?!" Damien exclaimed. "Absolutely not. I won't allow whatever parasite this is to invade your body."
"But I don't think it'll do anything! Something in my bloodline is resonating with that creature! I believe that I will get much stronger if I just have the chance to consume it!"
Once again, it was her bloodline. There was almost no reason to question it now, Zara's bloodline had a connection to the Nox.
Usually, beasts with Godbeast bloodline like Zara would have long since awakened their inherited memories from their ancestors, even if it was a partial awakening or just a portion of memories.
But no such thing took place with Zara. No matter how strong she grew, she was never given a clue about her heritage. The first and only one they had found so far was made clear now.
As for the relation between Zara's bloodline and the Nox, that was still to be found, but for her bloodline to resonate with such strong feelings, it couldn't have been only a small relation.
Damien felt conflicted. With access to her mind, he could clearly feel how desperate she was. Not only for the strength she was sure she'd receive, but also to find any lead she could on this clue.
Heritage was incredibly important to beasts, more so than Damien had ever imagined.
Every beast had a trace of Godbeast bloodline, such was fact. However, for most beasts, this trace was so minuscule that it could barely even be counted.
Of the countless number of beasts in existence, there weren't many that could actually awaken their slumbering bloodline. There were even fewer that had a potent enough bloodline to be considered as true inheritors.
But Zara was one of them. Not only did she have the potent bloodline, but it had also been awakened within her from the moment she was born. Such was the uniqueness of the so-called First Dungeon, as the spatial grandmaster Kurt had named it.
He had also written in passing about how the Godbeast bloodlines within the dungeon were much more potent, but Damien hadn't paid it much thought until now.
On one hand, he didn't want any harm to befall Zara. Letting something as dangerous as the Death Seed enter her body was out of the question. But on the other hand, he found it difficult to turn down her earnest plea.
"Can I at least try and erase its consciousness before giving it to you?" He asked in defeat.
But she wouldn't even give him this much. "No. I want it as it is right now. Damien, you've known me for so long, so you know I'm not the weak little cub I once was. Please, just trust me this once."
Damien laughed helplessly. He couldn't help but be reminded of the way Ruyue had pleaded to Tian Yang earlier.
When did their relationship become one where she had to beg him like this? He had never considered himself her master. His feelings stemmed from a different place. To him, Zara had always been like an innocent and cheerful little sister.
When did she grow up so much? When did she lose her naivety? He felt incredibly guilty that such things happened without his notice.
In the end, he couldn't stop himself from obliging her. He had immense trust in her from the start, he was just incredibly afraid of seeing her get hurt.
Turning to Ruyue, he gave her the same helpless look.
Ruyue felt complicated seeing this. It wasn't his plan nor was it hers, but just like how she had been previously, she knew she wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise.
"Sigh, fine fine. I understand already. I won't say anything about the matter, and if she can successfully consume it, we'll have another powerful ally by our side."
Damien beamed at her response. "Truly thank you. I promise I'll repay you for this in the future."
Ruyue was a bit dazed by his smile, but she quickly snapped out of it. "I didn't ask for any repayment, you fool." She muttered lightly, hiding the slight smile on her face.
But Damien had already moved over to Zara, so he wasn't able to witness it.
"If you feel anything odd, immediately contact me. I will expel everything from your body whether you like it or not. Understand?"
"Mm!"
Damien sighed lightly as he once again removed the lid from the vial. And as predicted, the Death Seed creature jumped out, attempting escape.
But there was no way Zara would allow that to happen. In one fell swoop, she grabbed it in her mouth and devoured it whole.
