The obsidian-black egg stood four feet tall, a silent, monolithic orb of untapped potential nestled in the frozen gore of the Frost Rider Alpha. Its surface was cold to the touch, yet Rayn could feel a rhythmic thrumming deep within—a heartbeat that resonated with the very air of the Glacier.
"What the fuck is this, Matthew?" Rayn asked, his voice low and dangerous. "This goddamn egg is so massive it makes me feel like a child standing in front of a boulder. Talk."
Matthew, whose eyes had been glued to the shimmering blue artifact on the pedestal, finally turned his gaze toward the egg. His pupils dilated until his eyes were almost entirely black. A cold sweat broke out on his brow, freezing instantly into beads of ice.
"Rayn... you've got to be kidding me," Matthew whispered, his voice cracking with a mixture of awe and terror. "This isn't just an egg. It's the king of the Frost Riders. It's a Velkharion."
Matthew took a shaky step forward, his heart skipping a beat. "This is a beast that every high-level master in the kingdom would commit mass murder to own. If it hatches and reaches its prime, it grows to twenty-five feet of pure, unadulterated slaughter. It doesn't just run; it has two massive wings, like the dragons from the ancient storybooks."
At the mention of "dragons," Rayn's eyes flickered toward Vespera. She remained silent, her golden eyes unreadable, but a faint smirk touched her lips.
"So it's a big bird with wings," Rayn said, unimpressed. "Why is that important to me?"
Matthew was too stunned to speak, so Victus stepped in, his voice trembling. "It's a legendary beast, Lord Rayn! If someone with the right Gnosis awakens it and forms a blood-bond, that beast can command entire legions of Frost Riders. You could destroy a fortified town in days without ever lifting your own sword. It's a literal living calamity."
Rayn let out a dark, mocking laugh. He looked at the egg, his mind already weighing its utility. It was a Phase 6 beast in potential, a creature that could rival the masters of the upper echelons. But as he stared, Silas's voice echoed in the back of his mind, a dry, rasping sound.
"It's just meat, boy. High-quality meat, but meat nonetheless."
Matthew, seeing Rayn's hesitation, spoke up again. "There is... another use. I've read that eggs of this caliber are the ultimate nourishment for evolving high-tier artifacts. Specifically, your Gambler's Heart. It might not fully develop it to the next phase, but the nutrients in a Velkharion fetus are like liquid gold for that heart."
Rayn's eyes narrowed. He had been planning to hatch it, thinking a Phase 6 dragon-bird would be a useful tool. But the Gambler's Heart was his foundation. It was the key to a power far greater than a mere beast.
"The heart is the priority," Rayn muttered.
He reached out, his hand cold as death, and touched the shell. With a thought, he opened the spatial portal to his Black Ring. The massive egg was pulled into the storage dimension, landing heavily in the dark void where the Gambler's Heart was kept.
Inside the ring, the "monstrosity" that was the Gambler's Heart didn't wait. The moment the egg appeared, the living heart pulsed with a violent, sickening throb. Tentacles of dark energy erupted from the heart's valves, lashing out like whips. They slammed into the four-foot shell, shattering the obsidian surface with a sound like a gunshot.
The golden yolk, thick and shimmering with untapped Gnosis, spilled out. The Heart fell upon it with a ravenous hunger, the tentacles slurping up the liquid fetus, drinking the life-force of the unborn king before it could even draw its first breath.
Rayn watched the process through his mental link, a cold, cynical smile on his face. The heavens are truly cruel, he thought. A king, a fetus, a beast, or a human—everything is just flesh and blood in the end. Just because it wasn't born yet doesn't mean its life wasn't meant to be consumed. I don't have time to mourn a bird. I have a kingdom to burn.
The party stood in stunned, horrified silence. They had seen the egg disappear and felt the sudden spike of dark, cannibalistic energy from Rayn's ring. Vespera's eyes widened slightly; even she was shocked by the sheer ruthlessness of feeding a Phase 6 King who can control the whole group of frost riders just by existing to feed for a piece of jewelry. But she said nothing. She knew Rayn didn't act without a reason.
"Enough staring," Rayn snapped, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade. "Tell me about that blue crystal. What the fuck is it used for?"
Matthew shook off his shock. "I've told you before, Rayn—don't think of these as 'artifacts.' They are living organisms, tiny beasts born with extraordinary Gnosis. They serve as conduits for humans. If you feed them and bond with them, you can extract their powers."
"I didn't ask for a biology lesson," Rayn hissed. "What does this one do?"
"It's a Frost Rider Shard," Matthew replied. "It grants the user the same tracking vision and ice-manipulation those birds had. But more importantly, it grants incredible speed."
Rayn turned to Chandler, who was still covered in the blood of the pack he had just slaughtered. "Chandler. You have the 'Mirror' power and fire-magic, but your speed is lacking. This piece of shit crystal grants speed and ice. Refine it. It'll make you a nightmare in a duel."
Chandler bowed, his face grim. "Thank you, Lord Rayn."
They continued their march. The hours bled together into a blur of cold and violence. They had been in the Glacier for five hours, then nine, then twenty-two. When hunger hit, they didn't waste time with rations. They carved the meat from the Frost Riders and the fire-boars they had slain.
Chandler used his flame-sword to sear the meat, and Rayn pulled out high-end seasonings from his Black Ring. They ate like kings in a graveyard, the smell of roasting monster flesh filling the frozen air.
The slaughter didn't stop. They encountered a pride of Phase 8 Lions, creatures with manes of gold and eyes of fire. Their king, a massive ten-foot beast, possessed a "Lion's Heart" artifact that granted raw, physical strength. Rayn watched as Victus struggled, then finally handed the lion-artifact to him after they cleared the pride.
Then came the Obsidian Pachyderms—elephant-like beasts with red tusks and black, blind eyes. They were deaf and blind, but their sense of smell and vibration was so acute they could track a fly from a kilometer away. Their "Thousand-Beast King" was a Phase 6 monster that could have wiped out a small army.
Rayn didn't let anyone else step in. He moved like a shadow, his blade a silver streak in the darkness. He sliced the Pachyderm King into ribbons of meat in seconds. From its remains, they recovered an Endurance Artifact—a small, elephant-shaped stone that pulsed with a heavy, grounding energy.
Rayn looked at Matthew. "You've got plenty of offensive magic, old man, but you're as fragile as glass. Take this. It'll give you the endurance to not die if someone actually manages to hit you."
After forty-five hours of constant walking and slaughter, the group finally found a moment of relative peace. The party was exhausted, their bodies aching as they refined the "live artifacts" they had gathered.
Rayn sat on a jagged outcrop of ice, his eyes closed. Vespera walked up to him, her presence a warm contrast to the freezing cave.
"Rayn," she whispered. "Why give those beasts to them? Why not keep the power for yourself? You're the Sovereign."
Rayn opened his eyes and looked at her. For the first time, he spoke to her about the White Griffin sleeping in his core. He told her about his mother, his grandmother, and the high-tech, high-magic world of Aetheleon where he had come from.
Vespera's breath hitched. "Aetheleon... a place a hundred times stronger than this kingdom?" She looked at him with newfound realization. She knew Rayn had a "Dragon's Will" within him—she could feel the soul of a dragon in his aura—but she hadn't known his mother was a true dragon of such power, Vespera is still weaker than Rayn's mother(Rena) because her powers were sealed.
"She understood the weight of his past and the depths of his suffering. It mirrored her own memories—of the Master who had plucked her from her own misery, the shadow that had stood between her and a world that sought to harm her. As she looked at him, her golden eyes burned with a fierce, unbreakable loyalty.
'Rayn... I once promised to follow you,' she whispered, her voice hardening. 'But now, I give you my word as a Black Dragon. I will raze every kingdom you point to. I will slaughter every god that dares to stand in your path. I am your partner—now, and for all eternity.'"
They leaned into each other, a brief moment of intimacy in a world of ice and blood, before the call of the journey pulled them back.
They reached the 100-kilometer mark. The flat, frozen floor of the cave suddenly dropped away into a yawning chasm of absolute darkness. A set of stone stairs, carved directly into the bedrock, spiraled down into the abyss.
"What is this, Matthew?" Rayn asked, staring into the pit.
"Dawinton once told me," Matthew replied, his voice hushed. "The Glacier has two levels. We've only been in the nursery. After 100 kilometers, you reach the Second Floor. His words were: 'In the second floor, the stronger the monsters, the greater the prices.'"
Rayn looked at his team. They were stronger now—armed with artifacts of speed, strength, and endurance. But as they stared into the black maw of the second level, they all knew that the "prices" Matthew spoke of would be paid in blood.