CH177 Companions

***

Udara and Fen stood awkwardly nearby, watching Alex crouch beside the Nightmare Eagle's corpse.

His shoulders trembled.

'Is he… crying?'

Neither of them could make sense of it. Who could blame them?

They didn't know who Senu was.

The cool hooded roguish-noble attire, the wristblade, the leap of fate... Alex had crossed off almost every item on the list of what makes a Brotherhood member. All that was left…

An eagle companion!

And the Nightmare Eagle had ticked all the right boxes.

Vision. Strength. Intelligence. And, above all—potential.

Unlike most avian beasts, the Nightmare Eagle didn't need atavism to evolve beyond its limits. It just had to live long enough—fighting, devouring, surviving—and it could ascend to the Legendary Realm.

In fact, the Nightmare Eagle had a higher chance of reaching the Legendary Rank than… maybe even Alex.

…Eh. No, scratch that.

[A.N: MC Halo and all that.]

It definitely had a better chance than Fen.

And yet, here it lay—lifeless. A future undone before it began.

And Alex had no one to blame but himself.

He'd gotten so caught up in the idea of making the Nightmare Eagle his true Mage Companion that he forgot to tell his allies not to kill it.

Worse, he'd told them to handle it as quickly as possible.

They obeyed. Unfortunately, they had been more efficient and fatal than he anticipated.

Now, here he was—grieving over a beast they didn't even know he'd wanted to spare. He couldn't scold them nor could he lash out.

That made the ache in his chest all the more unbearable.

It was while he sat in silence, mourning the lost future, that a wave of warmth washed over him.

Daddy golden energy!

Alex stiffened.

He blinked, watching as the familiar energy shifted direction. Its flow veered away from the previous pointed location deeper into the forest… and honed in on something nearby.

Very nearby.

Alex leapt to his feet and dashed toward the source—his instincts sharp, heart racing.

It led him to a towering tree.

His eyes lit up. A wild thought crossed his mind. It was possible—wasn't it?

[Featherfall]!

With a graceful leap and a few quick movements, Alex scaled the massive trunk, rising nearly seventy metres above the forest floor.

At the top, nestled within the thick canopy, he found it:

A Nightmare Eagle's nest.

A single egg sat at its centre—glowing faintly, almost imperceptibly, with the golden energy wrapping around it.

He didn't need confirmation. He knew.

Nightmare Eagles only laid one egg every few years—five, if not more. And here it was. The eagle's legacy.

Without hesitation, he prompted his OmniRune Core. With a silent command, he transported the entire nest—egg and all—into the Sanctuary.

Then, he climbed back down and dusted himself off.

"Come along," he said to Udara and Fen, face solemn but eyes alight with a new spark of hope.

A shimmering portal swirled into being before him.

He stepped through. The others followed without a word.

All three came to a halt the moment they arrived—mouths hanging open.

Udara blinked in astonishment. A stable subspace?

Alex and Fen, however, were stunned by something else entirely.

The Sanctuary had expanded.

'Why did the Pocket Space suddenly increase so much?' Alex wondered, stunned.

Then, he groaned softly and palmed his face.

'Of course. That's why the golden energy came back. My Providence must've increased somehow— fuelling the growth of the Heartwood Tree. Then the Heartwood Tree must've reacted and done something, leading to the pocket space's growth.'

Alex cast a glance at the Nest Queen and her Drones. The Drones were currently smearing the golden, gel-like substance across the Queen's cocoon.

He ignored them for now and approached the Heartwood Bonsai, which had grown noticeably lusher.

The eagle's nest had been placed gently at the base of the tree.

Alex stepped closer and laid his hand on the trunk.

"Thank you," he whispered.

The tree's branches swayed in response, and Alex smiled.

Then, he turned to what truly had his attention.

The egg.

He stared at it for a quiet moment, then began to chant.

The incantation was long—nearly five minutes—and even with Alex's well-above-average chanting speed, it took its toll. His face gradually turned pale as the mana cost accumulated.

Fen and Udara looked concerned, but Alex shook his head slightly, stopping them from interfering.

[Eternal Magic Companion Contract]!

He used the tip of his Wristblade to slice his palm open. The blood that spilled out was far too viscous to be ordinary human blood—thick and glowing faintly with power. It hovered just beneath his hand, pooling mid-air into a large droplet.

The bleeding stopped once the drop reached the size of a Ping-Pong ball, and the wound sealed with a faint golden glow of his Solar affinity mana.

The droplet then dropped onto the grey-black egg, staining it red. In moments, the blood soaked into the shell, seeping deep into the life within.

Then, glowing scripts suddenly appeared on the surface of the egg.

They pulsed, drinking in the ambient mana around them—no, devouring it.

The subspace trembled faintly as vast amounts of mana were pulled toward the egg, the drain noticeable even in this rich environment. Here, the ambient mana was several times denser than in the outside world—yet the scripts consumed it greedily.

Alex's eyes widened as he recognised the writing. It was the same runic script as his True Name—the one floating above his bloodline altars.

Noctivar Velkarasolmiras.

'The Nightlight Herald of the Raging Lightning Blade Wolf King...' Alex read silently. 'Did contracting it with my Origin Blood cause this? My purest blood essence may have shaped its nature...'

He instinctively felt he was close to the truth.

'No point thinking too deeply on it,' he mused as the ancient script faded, the glow withdrawing into the shell.

But the bond had been formed. Alex could feel the presence stirring inside.

There was a flicker of impatience from the little one within.

'Don't rush, little one,' Alex thought, gently sending his will through the link. 'Absorb the albumen. Take in every drop of energy in your shell. Only then can you break free—and be strong, worthy, and useful to me.'

The eaglet resisted at first, but he coaxed it patiently. Eventually, it relented, returning to its slow internal growth.

Satisfied, Alex levitated the nest onto the crown of the Heartwood Tree.

"I'll leave it in your care," he said.

The branches rustled again, unnatural yet serene. A gentle calm washed over Alex as if the tree was assuring him; The egg is safe.

Nodding to the ancient tree, he finally turned his gaze to the cocooned Nest Queen—still growing, still evolving.

Alex had been steadily transferring various beast carcasses into his Sealed Space. Altogether, their combined mass had likely surpassed ten tons.

For two full weeks without pause, the Nest Queen's tireless drones had been dissecting and digesting the vast mound of flesh to supply her with the nutrients and energy required to rapidly grow her body mass.

The radiant golden cocoon had since enveloped her form, blooming into a hemispherical structure nearly four metres tall with a radius of five metres. It now occupied a large portion of Alex's Rune Lab section. Fortunately, he wasn't working on anything critical there at the moment.

The growth trajectory he'd charted for the Nest Queen was quite drastic. His ultimate goal was for her to produce drones comparable in size to adult humans. For that to happen, she herself had to first reach that scale.

A far cry from the oversized insect she had started as.

Although her drones would eventually be capable of supplying all the energy and nutrients she needed—via the golden secretion they processed—the transformation would still take time.

By Alex's earliest estimate, it would be another few months.

He could accelerate the process by feeding her even more materials and energy, but there was no pressing need. The Nest Queen's abilities weren't critical to his current plans.

Besides, rushing her evolution might leave hidden instabilities or damage her future growth—something he wasn't willing to risk.

It was better to be patient now, than regretful later.

He instructed OmniRune to continue tracking her progress using the Detector Runes that made up part of her foundational build structure. Simultaneously, it would continue uploading the appropriate Command Protocols to safeguard against behavioural mishaps.

As all of this went on, Udara found herself lost in silent contemplation.

She didn't fully understand the inner workings of the sealed space—nor the significance of most of what it contained—but she instinctively knew that each object and being inside was deeply important to Alex.

Showing this to her… was no small matter.

To her, it was an unparalleled gesture of trust.

The truth, however, was a little different.

As Alex had once told Laura, he was the type to either trust the people he used—or not use them at all. If he had doubts about someone, they would never be allowed near anything vital.

So in his mind, showing Udara the Sealed Space wasn't even the real mark of trust.

That had happened long ago—when he made her his Shadow Guard.

With the brief interlude behind them, the trio exited the Sanctuary pocket space.

Alex immediately noticed the golden energy signature had dimmed. It seemed part of its power had been used to guide him to the Nightmare Eagle's egg.

Yet, he also sensed something else… something deeper. But it was vague—beyond his current ability to confirm.

He shoved the thought aside for now and urged the group onward, following the faint trail of golden energy before it fully dispersed.

Another week passed.

At last, the trail came to an end.

And what they discovered was startling.

Another goblin village—this one far larger than the secluded forest-meadow village from before.

But that wasn't the only surprise.

Alex spotted them immediately: half a dozen Wendigoes encircling the village from a distance, yet strangely not attacking.

A subtle pressure radiated from the village… a presence he recognised in an instant.

It was the unmistakable weight of...

Dragon Aura.

***

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