Chapter 95: The Generosity of an Epic
"You really are greedy." Inside the ancient stone temple, Muria knelt in front of a massive black egg, his hand, wreathed in fine arcs of electricity and dragon flame, placed upon it. He was following the advice of the Mech Emperor Osiris, feeding his own power into the egg.
"Muria, the reward from the Abyssal Lord has arrived." Countless points of light converged next to Muria, and Cassiopeia, with a childlike face and a mature figure, materialized beside him.
"Finally!" Muria's face lit up with joy as he looked up at Cassiopeia. "Where is it? Take me to see it."
"Sure!" Just as Muria was about to stand, he found his hand stuck to the Void Egg, unable to pull away. A strong suction force gripped his palm, endlessly draining the power from his body.
"Hmph!" With a light grunt, Muria decided to carry the egg with him. The insatiable Void Egg, seeming to have an endless appetite, would not release him until it had devoured all his power.
Muria's complexion paled slightly as the sensation of power continuously draining from his body felt like being hollowed out, leaving him somewhat weakened. He looked at Cassiopeia: "Where's the reward Lord Ulysses sent me?"
"It's been placed in your room."
"Good." Muria nodded, then proceeded to his room, carrying the black egg that seemed like a miniature black hole, endlessly emitting terrifying devouring power.
"Solaryan Gold, Thunderous Purple Gold, and Cyclonic Blue Gold." Muria gazed at the three types of legendary metals shimmering with enchanting halos on his stone bed, his lips spreading into a grin, his delight unmistakable.
Muria's bloodline controlled the elements of fire, thunder, and wind. The three legendary metals provided by the Abyssal Lord Ulysses perfectly suited his elemental attributes, making them ideal for him, a thoughtful gesture from Ulysses.
"Now I have materials for four personal weapons. These legendary metals should be sufficient for my needs." Muria estimated silently. "This should be enough for now."
"Hisss!" Just as Muria was contemplating what kind of weapons to forge, he experienced a sudden, intense feeling of emptiness. He gasped sharply, looking down at the Void Egg in his hands.
The egg from the Void had changed. Tiny golden specks appeared on its pitch-black shell, but this was just a surface change. The real change was its increased appetite for Muria's power, now consuming it several times faster, which was quite uncomfortable for him.
"Inhale! Exhale!" In just a few moments, the Void Egg had drained all the power from Muria's body. Following this was a familiar sensation of weakness, and finally, the suction force on his palm disappeared.
Relieved, Muria tossed the altered Void Egg aside and collapsed gracelessly onto the floor, too weak even to stand.
"Clatter!" The Void Egg rolled gently on the floor, then began to "eat" the surface, creating a shallow trench in Muria's room.
"Stop eating!" Muria, somewhat annoyed by the sight, found the egg's insatiable nature exasperating. "I'll have Cassiopeia put you back."
As soon as Muria spoke, the egg stopped rolling and lay still. Seeing this, Muria gestured to Cassiopeia to move the troublesome egg back to the stone temple where the focusing array was set up.
"Hum!" Beams of colorful magical light appeared, quickly forming a teleportation circle around the Void Egg. Sensing the magical beams constructing the array nearby, the oval black egg began to tremble slightly, as if torn between continuing to feed or not. "Hum!" The array activated and transported the egg away.
"Cassiopeia, bring me some elemental crystals." After watching the Void Egg disappear, Muria, lying exhausted on the ground, weakly called out to his spirit.
"Ding, ding..." Following Muria's call, elemental crystals began to rain down like a storm, pelting the Titan youth lying on the ground, tinkling as they hit the floor.
In no time, Cassiopeia had teleported an astonishing amount of elemental crystals, enough to bury Muria.
"That's enough." Buried under a mound of fire, thunder, and wind crystals, Muria sat up, the nearest crystals fading in color as his drained body actively absorbed the elements to replenish itself.
"Crack! Crack!" Muria casually picked up the crystals around him, stuffing them into his mouth and crunching them down.
After somewhat alleviating his weakness, Muria's attention returned to the three glowing pieces of legendary metal. After a few seconds of contemplation, he suddenly slapped his forehead, remembering something.
"Cassiopeia. Do you know where I lived before coming to the clan lands?"
"I do!" Cassiopeia waved her hand, and a pale blue hologram appeared in front of Muria.
"This is..." Muria looked at the block pattern on the hologram, hesitating before turning to Cassiopeia. "A map of the Titan Archipelago?"
"Here, this is the island where you used to live." Cassiopeia pointed near the edge of the map.
"That small?" Muria observed the tiny island, barely larger than a fingernail, and after carefully identifying its shape, he had to admit it was his Taiji Island.
"Wow, the clan lands are really vast." Seeing Taiji Island's location on the map, Muria's gaze shifted to the center of the map, where the Titan clan lands occupied a tenth of the map's size.
With Taiji Island for comparison, Muria had a more direct sense of the vastness of the Titan clan lands. By his former world's standards, the Titan clan lands would be considered a continent, a massive landmass. But by Erathia's standards, it was just an island.
"Cassiopeia!" After marveling at the vastness of the clan lands and examining the three super-large islands surrounding it, Muria looked hesitantly at his spirit. "Can you build a teleportation array to the island where I used to live?"
"I can," Cassiopeia replied expressionlessly. "But what do you intend to do? Go back for leisure?"
"No." Muria cleared his throat and rubbed his nose, aware that Cassiopeia knew all too well about his past. "I want to go back to collect some legendary metals I've gathered."
"Legendary metals?" Cassiopeia's translucent eyes flickered. "Are those the ones the giants gave you?"
"Yes, can you let me go back to retrieve them?"
"Of course, I can build an array to that small island for you. However, you'll need to use another array to return. My influence is limited to within the clan lands and cannot extend to the entire Titan Archipelago."
...
Inside the pure white Five-Color Dragon Fortress, young dragons of various colors playfully cast spells at each other. To mere mortals, such deadly spells were a matter of divine awe, for they would never attain the power to cast spells in their lifetimes. Yet, for these young dragons, the spells were merely toys in their
playful scuffles.
The world was never fair; some beings were born with privileges that others could spend lifetimes without ever achieving.
In the serene white castle, amidst the playful dragons—if one ignored the occasional falling scales and droplets of blood—the scene was harmonious.
"Buzz!" However, this harmony was broken as a massive teleportation array appeared above the Five-Color Dragon Fortress, scattering the playful dragons with its intense spatial fluctuations.
As the array materialized, the Five-Color Dragon Fortress quickly responded. Cloud giants and storm giants mobilized, taking defensive positions throughout the fortress, wary of the sudden appearance of the teleportation array.
The array in the sky shone brightly, reaching peak brilliance. Then, a tall, muscular Titan youth with loose black hair stepped through, a slight smile on his face as he looked down at the fortress below.
"Back at last." Muria stood in midair, gazing down at the familiar dragon fortress, exhaling deeply and feeling an unexplained sense of relief wash over him.
"Prince Muria!"
"It's Prince Muria returning!"
...Excited shouts echoed through the castle as the on-alert giants relaxed and knelt as Muria descended from the sky.
"Rise, everyone!" Landing on the castle platform, Muria, seeing the giants prostrating themselves, smiled helplessly.
"Muria!" An incredibly excited voice called out from afar, filled with elation.
The black-haired, golden-eyed Titan youth turned around to see a red meteor hurtling towards him. "Boom!" Muria didn't dodge, and the meteor hit him squarely. Despite the massive impact, his body remained as immovable as if nailed to the ground.
"Muria, you're finally back." The red dragon, its claws clinging tightly to Muria's clothes and its molten gold dragon eyes fixed intently on his face, seemed to fear that Muria would disappear if it looked away.
"Yes, I'm back." Muria patted the red dragon, now nearly nineteen meters long, clinging to him, his voice tinged with emotion. "Renata, you've grown again."
"Welcome back, Master Muria." Not far away, Muria's personal maid Mia appeared, accompanied by a white-haired girl radiating a chilly aura.
Writing a side story, Chapter 94.5, to add combat scenes, not counted in the main text. Due to the need to maintain regular updates, I can only squeeze time to write, so it will take a few days.