Moon’s eyes stayed fixed on the surface, watching for any sign of a reaction.

If this worked, it would be an incredible breakthrough. The egg’s development could accelerate dramatically, pushing it closer to hatching. It would open the door for Moon to feed it more, the fox meat, additional blood, layering nutrients from multiple Supreme-Rank sources onto a creature that already carried Supreme bloodline from birth.

Moon decided against feeding the small turtle the corpse of its own mother. Although the little turtle had never, and will never meet its mother.

He still believed that it was incredibly inappropriate to do so. The thought of making the small child eat its mother unknowingly made his brows furrow, and his face grimace.

"A Supreme-Rank beast egg with the bloodline of a Supreme beast." Moon said quietly, staring at the bucket. "Fed with the corpse of a Supreme-Rank fox. And the blood of a mysterious Golden Fish."

The combination was absurd. The kind of thing that nobody in the Awakener world had ever attempted, because nobody had ever held any of these resources at any time.

Moon leaned closer to the bucket and waited.

"Oh? There it is!" Moon’s face brightened. A small ripple spread across the surface of the blood in the bucket. It was faint at first, barely visible, like a single raindrop hitting a still pond.

Not long after the first, another ripple followed the first — this time it was much stronger.

The egg was absorbing the blood around it, drawing in the nutrients and energy contained within the energy dense blood.

Like a domino’s effect, more ripples followed. What started as a gentle disturbance became a disturbance that spread across the entire bucket. The Golden Fish’s blood began to decrease visibly, the level dropping before Moon’s eyes as the egg devoured everything surrounding it without stopping.

"Good. Good! Really good!"

In the span of a few minutes, the bucket was empty.

The egg sat at the bottom, its shell faintly glistening with a golden, almost metallic sheen that hadn’t been there before.

Thump-Thump!

The heartbeat inside the egg had grown stronger.

Rather than feeling at a loss for losing a precious bucket of blood – that would likely be worth in the millions or perhaps tens of millions if he closed the supply – Moon pulled out another bucket’s worth of blood and poured it over the egg.

"Eat, my child. Eat to your heart’s content! You will never experience hunger by my side." Moon grinned.

The second time around, the egg didn’t need a warm-up period.

The absorption started immediately after contact, the blood swirling inward toward the shell in visible currents.

What had taken minutes before was finished in seconds. The golden liquid vanished as if the egg was drinking it through a straw.

Moon laughed. "You’re getting better at this, aren’t you?"

He poured in a third bucket. It was gone within seconds. The fourth followed immediately after, then the fifth.

Moon watched the egg consume batch after batch without slowing down, his grin growing wider with each empty bucket.

"Well, no matter how much you eat, I have plenty. This will likely provide better results than exchanging the blood for resources."

The blood of the Golden Fish was valuable. Immensely so. He could have sold it for a fortune or traded it for rare materials.

But no amount of money could buy what was happening in front of him right now. A Supreme-Rank egg absorbing the essence of a creature whose origins even Moon didn’t fully understand.

Whatever hatched from this egg was going to be something extraordinary.

The egg stopped at the seventh bucket, finally satiated. Its golden sheen had deepened, and the heartbeat inside was much stronger than the one Moon felt earlier.

"Seems like you’ve had your fill." Moon smiled before returning the remaining blood to his storage ring.

He placed the egg back into its container carefully, making sure every rune was active and functioning.

Since learning Rune Enhancement from Frey and evolving his Rune Inscription to Runemaster, Moon had upgraded every rune on the container.

The defensive inscriptions were top notch, capable of withstanding attacks from even powerful Second Star evolvers. The recovery runes bathed the egg in a constant stream of mana, creating an optimal environment for its development.

Of course, that mana belonged to Moon. And keeping the container running wasn’t cheap. Roughly two hundred thousand dollars a day in rune materials alone. Not to mention the time of the day he spends reinforcing these runes, and supplying them with more Mana.

Still, it didn’t bother him. Even a million dollars daily would have been pocket change compared to the value of raising a Supreme-Rank companion from birth.

With nothing else demanding his immediate attention, Moon sat on his bed and pulled up his status screen. He began reviewing his skill list, examining his arsenal for weaknesses and gaps that needed filling.

His thoughts drifted to Selene. During their time in the living room, Moon’s curiosity had gotten the better of him.

He had activated his Legendary Rank skill – Eye of Truth – on her.

The results had been more than pleasing.

Her skill set had grown considerably since the last time they met during the great attack that the mysterious group had made against the association and multiple other Groups.

One of the things that caught his attention was a skill she had gained from her evolution.

Dragon Breath. He had no clue what the actual effects of the skill entailed, but the name itself carried its own weight and power.

Moon had almost copied her class on the spot. His mind had been on the trigger, so to speak. But he stopped himself at the last moment.

Selene wasn’t going anywhere. They were close friends and a single team. He could copy her skills any time he wanted. But in less than twenty-four hours, he would be standing in a tournament bracket surrounded by competitors from across the kingdom. Dozens of classes he had never seen. Skills he had never encountered.

Wasting his daily copy on someone he could visit any day of the week would be foolish when the tournament offered a buffet of unknowns.

"Although I must admit," Moon muttered, lying back on his bed. "That Dragon Breath skill really does sound good."

He closed his status screen and stared at the ceiling.

Tomorrow, the real tournament began.

Knock-Knock!

The sound of knocking rang out on his door. Moon rose up from his bed, curious. "Hello?"

"U-Um...Hey, can I come in?"

Moon’s brows rose, ’Selene...?! What is she doing here at this hour?’

"Sure..."