Chang Long quickly walked to the location where she had battled the stone lizard beast king, noting that the damaged trees and path had been restored. She thoroughly searched the area but failed to find her missing egg.

"Where has my egg gone!?"

Chang Long despaired after spending over an hour searching without success. She leaned against a tree, knocking her head against it in frustration, only to discover the tree sounded hollow. Curious, she used her sword to make a hole and peered inside.

Through the opening illuminated by sunlight, Chang Long saw numerous eggs, similar in size to chicken eggs but with a brown, stone-like pattern, neatly lined up inside the large tree, nearly a hundred in total. In the center, there was a distinctly larger egg with alternating golden and white scale patterns.

"Ah! How did this get in here?"

she exclaimed, enlarging the hole with her sword to retrieve her egg. As soon as the egg was in Chang Long's hands, the faint glow it emitted abruptly vanished, prompting her to worry that it might be petrifying due to prolonged neglect.

"Master!"

Kitsune arrived, rushing to meet Chang Long, who was examining the egg in her hands with a frown.

"Have you arrived?"

Chang Long looked towards Kitsune, who appeared tired, walking towards her in a black hooded outfit.

"What's wrong with the egg?"

Kitsune asked, sitting down next to Chang Long and observing the egg with curiosity.

"I'm not sure. As soon as I took it out from there, it turned to this,"

Chang Long shared with Kitsune, visibly troubled.

"Perhaps we should put it back and see how it reacts,"

Kitsune suggested. Following his advice, Chang Long placed the egg back among the others inside the tree.

It began glowing brightly again, much to their astonishment. Unable to deduce why the egg underwent such a change, Chang Long decided to leave it there while they set up for a meal. Davy-chan, who had been scouting the area, returned just in time to join them. The three of them had a short meeting over the meal.

Despite their attempts to rationalize the egg's behavior, they remained puzzled about its desire to remain with the stone lizard beast eggs. Resolving to leave the egg in the tree, Chang Long went on to hunt beasts nearby with Kitsune, assigning Davy-chan to reluctantly guard the eggs. By evening, Chang Long set up a tent to sleep next to the tree, serving as a mother to all the eggs inside, whom she had finished off.

"Why do you think the egg wants to stay there, Kitsune?"

Chang Long mused, lying on her comfortable futon inside the tent face-palming.

"I'm not sure, master. Maybe it wants to act like a mother and keep the others warm,"

Kitsune speculated from his bed.

"But they're all eggs; how can one egg warm the others?"

Chang Long questioned, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Yes, that is puzzling, Master. And how do we explain its glowing when it was near the other eggs, yet it ceases when removed?"

Kitsune pondered alongside her, trying to reason it out.

"The more I think, the less I understand. Let's just sleep; we can check on the egg tomorrow to see if it has changed at all. After all, we have Davy-chan to watch over it."

Chang Long sighed deeply before covering herself and falling asleep.

"Yes, Master,"

Kitsune agreed. They had been exhausting themselves out all day. It should be fine to leave securing the egg to Davy-chan.

The next morning, the starting town's conditions returned to normal, and players who could not enter the town the day before started to trickle in, having spent a night camping outside the walls. Their first destination was the game's notice board in the town's central square. Players were eager to understand the cause behind the beast king's attack and how the game administrators would address the significant player casualties.

Announcement:

The beast king's city invasion was a result from a player using a teleportation scroll, coincidentally attacked by the beast during teleportation. Therefore, the game cannot provide compensation for this incident.

The sandpit phenomenon in the starting town was also a player's skill misuse, causing many deaths and damage to buildings, including player service building, disabling most players from logging in or out for 18 hours. The game will compensate with the "Avian Humanoid Doll" event, where players can obtain the dolls by hunting ordinary beasts and exchange the dolls for prizes at player service building from today until the end of the month in-game time only (15 more days).

Details:

-Red doll for Blood Crystal

-Blue doll for Mana Crystal

-White doll for Rejuvenating Crystal

-Green doll for Antidote Crystal

-Silver doll for Random low to mid-tier weapon, armor, or accessory

-Golden doll for Random high-tier weapon, armor, or accessory

This event is valid only on the starting island.

Announced by GM.HELCA

Upon reading the system announcement, players were curious about who was foolish enough to bring the beast back using the teleportation scroll amid the process of teleporting. They wondered if it was the same person who misused a skill causing half the town to disappear.

 However, their curiosity was short-lived as they eagerly set out to hunt beasts for the dolls, seeing the valuable rewards as too good to pass up, given that the crystals alone were worth a thousand coins per jar. The chance of receiving random prizes in weapons, armor, and accessories spurred everyone to forget their complaints and compete in the beast hunt.

"Unbelievable, they get duped by the gaming company this easily,"

Rafael observed the players rushing out of the town to hunt beasts for the Avian Humanoid Dolls.

"Exactly, I don't think they would drop easily,"

Drago agreed.

"But our guild earned quite a reward for helping players in the town during the incident,"

Aden smiled.

"Yeah, right. But it seems no one is carrying eggs around anymore. These players get bored so quickly!"

Drago complained while observing the players gradually leaving the town, noting that none of them were carrying the painted eggs anymore. He remembered that during the beast king's attack, many such eggs were shattered all over the ground.

"Hehe, but our eggs haven't changed at all, right?"

Rafael said with a disheartened voice. It had been two days since they acquired the eggs, and now entering the third, yet their eggs remained unchanged.

Beep beep.

"Good morning, Wet Trash Can. Calling early today, huh?"

Drago checked his wristwatch, which was ringing with an incoming call alert, and answered immediately upon recognizing the caller.

"Hey Drago, have your eggs changed at all?"

Wet Trash Can asked, straight to the point.

"You read my mind, Wet Trash Can. We were just talking about our eggs,"

Drago responded.

"Listen, mine and Oliang's eggs have started reacting! We're so excited I had to call and ask if anything's happened with your eggs,"

Wet Trash Can shared, piquing the interest of Drago, Rafael, and Aden.

"How did your eggs change, Wet Trash Can!?"

Drago asked loudly, nearly bursting his friend's eardrums.

"Ouch... Keep it down. My and Oliang's eggs, they're pulsating with light and when we put them close to our ears, we can hear a faint heartbeat!"

 Wet Trash Can explained.

"Really? What did you guys do!?"

Drago inquired, filled with hopeful anticipation, as did Rafael and Aden standing nearby.

"We just let the eggs witness our coolness while battling the beasts,"

Wet Trash Can proudly claimed, leaving the three young men in awe.

"Thanks, Wet Trash Can. Bye"

After ending the call, Drago rushed back to the guild headquarters immediately.

"Where are you going, Drago?"

Aden shouted in surprise.

"Taking a break and then off to impress my egg with some beast hunting!"

Drago shouted back while running.

"Hey, you cheater! Wait for me!"

Rafael hurried after his friend upon hearing the plan, while Aden followed at a distance, contemplating if he should try the same tactic to impress his egg? Chang Long woke up early to check on her egg that had spent the night with the stone lizard beast eggs. Peering into the large tree, she found that nearly a hundred beast eggs had turned to dust, while her own egg was glowing brightly, pulsating at a slow rhythm.

Chang Long picked up her egg in wonder, puzzled by what had occurred overnight between her egg and the other eggs, wondering why the latter had disintegrated into dust while her egg had transformed.

"How is the egg, Master?"

Kitsune, stepping out from the tent, inquired.

"See for yourself!"

Chang Long handed the egg to Kitsune and went to dismantle the tent before calling everyone for breakfast.

"Master, where have all the stone-patterned eggs in the tree gone?"

Kitsune asked in surprise when he saw no eggs within the tree, only light brown sand dust.

"That sand dusts,"

Chang Long answered while pouring food from the Cone of Abundance onto a plate.

"How did they turn into that?!"

Kitsune inquired in amazement, then looked down at the glowing egg in his hand, pulsating slowly in gold and silver hues.

"I don't know. Maybe it absorbed the life force of those eggs,"

Chang Long speculated.

"That... could be possible, master!"

Kitsune agreed and sat down to help Chang Long prepare the meal, placing the egg beside them.

'How's your egg doing?'

Davy-chan, who had returned from scouting, asked.

'See for yourself; it's quite evident,'

Chang Long replied, lighting incense for the food offering to Davy-chan.

'That's a good reaction. But what's with you scratching your back like that?'

Davy-chan nodded in approval but became concerned when he saw Chang Long scratching her back in distress.

"I don't know; it feels sore and itchy,"

Chang Long said in annoyance while eating.

"Where are we going next, master?"

Kitsune asked, curious about Chang Long's itching back, hoping it was not caused by bugs that were from him, since he had not bathed yet!

"We'll continue hunting beasts around here. But first, let's get out of this deadly path before we encounter any more unwanted beasts,"

Chang Long said, scratching and eating hurriedly to set off.

Chang Long journeyed to the higher ground of Royal Cliff, where beasts ranged from levels 50 to 59, with beast kings roaming the cliffs. Most players hunting there were well-aware, except for Chang Long, who ventured without much knowledge.

"This area seems suitable for camping. Remember this location, Kitsune,"

Chang Long suggested. Kitsune acknowledged, and then Chang Long went off to hunt beasts to level up, making sure to secure the egg in her bag for safety.

After hunting beasts for a while, Chang Long collapsed in pain. Kitsune rushed to check on her, while Davy-chan stood by, helplessly watching with a worried expression.

"Master, what's wrong!?"

Kitsune struggled to help Chang Long up, asking with concern.

"Agh... My back! It feels like something is stabbing me inside!"

Chang Long writhed in pain, trying to scratch her back.

"Master!"

Kitsune was at loss, watching Chang Long struggle on the ground without a way to help.

'Little fox, there's a beast approaching us!'

Davy-chan warned when he saw a broken horn bull beast charging toward their location.

"Davy-chan, please take care of master!"

Kitsune told Davy-chan before moving to intercept the broken horn bull beast, preventing it from reaching Chang Long.

Chang Long's screams echoed through the forest, startling Oliang and Wet Trash Can once again. They looked at each other in shock before scanning their surroundings warily.

"What was that noise!?"

Wet Trash Can turned to ask his friend resting beside him.

"Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Oliang observed.

"Yeah, it's like the roar of that beast king from yesterday,"

said Wet Trash Can, his face turning pale.

"I've got a bad feeling again... Let's get out of here. That sound seems like it's going berserk,"

Oliang got up, gathering his belongings to leave.

"But we've just started resting. I'm still tired,"

protested Wet Trash Can. Since their eggs reacted to their battle with the beasts, they had been relentlessly hunting since dawn and had just stopped for a break.

"If you don't want to go, stay. But I'm not waiting around for it to find me,"

Oliang declared, walking away.

"Hey, wait, Oliang. You heartless friend!"

Wet Trash Can hurriedly got up to follow Oliang, not wanting to face the beast king either.

"Sigh... What is it with these days? Nearly encountered one yesterday, and now again today. They're going berserk every day!"

Oliang complained as they moved away from the agonizing screams, they believed to belong to a berserker beast king.

"Who keeps making this beast king go berserk every day? If I find them, I swear I'll crack their skull a time or two to teach them a lesson,"

said Wet Trash Can angrily.

"Heh, are you sure they'll just sit there and let you crack their skull?"

Oliang asked his friend skeptically.

"Heh, I'll hold them down for you to crack it conveniently,"

chuckled Wet Trash Can maliciously.

"Haha, I thought you were brave. A guy who can confront a beast king twice and stand tall must be something. Like Siegfried, level 72 should be enough to have a fighting chance. But for you and me, it would be a death sentence!"

Oliang teased.

"Hey, remember when we went on that quest? Siegfried was almost killed by the Goblin King, but Chang Long, who's almost 30 levels lower, easily defeated it,"

Wet Trash Can reminded his friend.

"True, but would you dare to fight someone like Chang Long? With such a huge level gap and yet winning so easily? I think such people are scary. Plus, Chang Long has many secrets we don't know,"

Oliang pondered with genuine interest.

"I guess only Chang Long could effortlessly defeat higher-level beasts. Others would have been done for before the fight even started,"

Wet Trash Can snorted in response.

-----

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