Chapter 92: Nicholas the Egg

To be honest, this metallic egg that hatched from a stone egg was indeed quite shiny. It looked slightly smaller than before, but still about 1.3 meters in diameter. Its surface was a pure silver-white, extremely smooth—almost mirror-like. The polished sphere had an industrial precision to it, as if it had been crafted by some advanced machine. It hovered less than half a meter above the ground, emitting a metallic buzzing voice from within: “I absolutely refuse to accept that name! ‘Eggy’ is a name? Open your eyes and look carefully—how am I supposed to be an egg? And when did I ever say I was an egg?!”

“We always thought you were a dragon egg…” Rebecca circled the metal sphere like a curious cat, occasionally poking it with her staff—surprisingly, the sphere didn’t react at all. “We didn’t expect that even after hatching, you’d still be an egg… an egg’s egg—that’s ‘Eggy,’ right?”

The metal sphere vibrated angrily, its voice sounding exasperated: “You’re the one who hatched as an egg! Your whole family calls you Eggy! I’ve never been like that. We all grow up differently in my tribe!”

Gawain clenched his face, trying hard to suppress the twitching of his nerves. Drawing on years of satellite-level patience, he forced himself to stay rational and calm, attempting to communicate with this metallic egg: “You just said you have a whole tribe? More creatures like you? What exactly are you…? Why have I never seen such a strange lifeform before?”

Whatever this sphere was, it was unlikely to be a dragon. But Gawain was certain he had never heard of any lifeform like this in the world—if it was even alive at all. The shape of this metal orb was completely unlike any creature on this land. If it had naturally evolved here, neither it nor its kind could have escaped the watchful eyes that had hung over this world for countless years.

Unless it appeared during the times when Gawain was “out of it.”

The sphere heard Gawain’s question but was uncooperative: “That’s a secret. I’m not sure I can trust you barbarians yet—and first things first, I’m not going to be called Eggy, no matter what.”

“Do you have a name of your own?” Heddy asked curiously from the side, hitting the nail on the head.

“A name… oh right, I should have one,” the metal egg paused mid-air, thinking hard. “Damn… I forgot.”

Everyone was silent.

Gawain said, “You don’t even remember your own name, so what’s the harm if someone else gives you one?”

The sphere’s tone suddenly turned cheeky: “Well, I’m still not going to be called Eggy.”

A vein twitched on Gawain’s temple. “So should I call you Saint Nicholas Egg then?”

The metal sphere froze for a moment, then surprisingly started to sway side to side in approval: “Oh? That’s not a bad name…”

Gawain felt like talking to this sphere was draining his life at triple speed. Plus, there were plenty of other urgent problems outside that needed his attention. He shook his head. “Alright, just stay put for one more day. We just had a monster attack, and I have a lot of cleanup to do. I don’t want you causing any more trouble while I’m busy.”

The metal egg slowly descended, settling into the pit it had occupied before. “Fine, fine, you do your thing. I’m too lazy to run around anyway—today’s chaos nearly exhausted this egg…”

Gawain eyed the silver “giant egg” skeptically, doubting it could really stay quiet. But considering it had just experienced a harrowing and utterly failed “escape attempt,” it probably wouldn’t try again anytime soon. So he decided to trust it for now.

There was no other choice. There were too many things to handle in camp to waste time arguing with a talking ball.

As the group left the tent, Heddy couldn’t help but glance back at the tent’s newly tied door flap. “We’re just going to leave that ball there like that?”

Though she sounded worried it might cause trouble, her eyes sparkled with curiosity and a thirst for discovery. As a mage and researcher, Heddy had an endless fascination with the unknown. A floating, talking metal sphere was far more mysterious than anything she’d ever encountered. Honestly, if it weren’t for her responsibilities and the sphere’s obvious reluctance to cooperate, she’d want to haul it back to her lab right now—she could study it for weeks.

Not to mention, she’d at least want to drill a hole and see what’s inside…

Gawain had come to understand Heddy a bit by now. He could tell what she was thinking just by her expression, but he didn’t call her out. Instead, he shook his head. “It’s no longer a stone that just sits still. It can move and think, and it seems pretty agile. Plus, it has the talent to manipulate metal and magic. Forcing control over it won’t help and might not even work. Better to let it cooperate willingly.”

He glanced at the soldiers standing guard nearby.

They were still posted at the perimeter, about ten meters from the tent—though it was unclear if that distance was beyond Nicholas Egg’s metal control range. At least it gave the soldiers some peace of mind.

“Of course, we need to tighten security,” Gawain said. “Replace the militia with family warriors, but keep surveillance at a distance. Inform the soldiers that the sphere inside the tent is a magical device containing an ancient soul. They shouldn’t interact with it too much. If it tries to run off, they must report immediately and avoid conflict. That thing may be cowardly, but when it jumps up and smashes people, even aberrations fall one by one. Ordinary soldiers can’t stop it.”

“What do you think that sphere really is?” Heddy frowned. “Could it really be a magical creation from the ancient Gondor Empire?”

With the “dragon egg” theory ruled out, Heddy naturally thought along those lines. In this world, the Gondor legacy and dragon legends shared many similarities—they were often used to explain the unexplainable, much like metaphysics on Earth…

“The Gondor Empire wasn’t omnipotent,” Gawain shook his head. “Even the arcane mages and golemancers of the Age of Starfire couldn’t create magical constructs with that level of intelligence.”

He left unsaid the other half of his thought: not a single kingdom, civilization, or race that had ever existed on this continent before Númenor had produced such an intelligent construct.

Gawain wasn’t ready to completely rule out the possibility that the sphere was artificial, but he was certain it wasn’t made by any race on this continent.

In fact, he leaned toward the idea that it came from some strange, unknown intelligent species beyond human understanding.

He just didn’t know how it ended up here…

Heddy lowered her head, lost in thought after Gawain’s answer. Nearby, the druid Pittman remained silent, his face troubled and gloomy since their time in the tent. Gawain glanced at him twice, asking, “You have doubts too?”

“How can it still be an egg after hatching?” the old druid’s eyebrows nearly knitted together. “Why isn’t it a dragon egg?”

Even Amber couldn’t stand it anymore. “Why are you so obsessed with it being a dragon egg?”

The old man stroked his beard. “Dragon eggs hatch into dragons! Even shedding a scale or a drop of blood could fetch a fortune. If I couldn’t sell it, I’d carry a baby dragon straight to the Holy Dragon Duchy and trade it for a real baron!”

“With that idea, you’d be hanged forty times over in the Holy Dragon Duchy,” Gawain shot him a glare. “Instead of daydreaming, tell me how the wounded are doing.”

The old man pinched his beard and sighed, letting the topic drop. “Alright… if it’s not a dragon egg, it’s not. Don’t worry too much about the wounded. I’ve sent the best potions I could make, and the serious cases have been treated with magic. No one’s going to die from their injuries. Honestly, it’s a miracle. I thought your bold plans would cost us many lives among the camp guards, but it turned out they were mostly just wounded—no deaths.”

“You underestimate the standard equipment of the ancient Gondor Empire,” Gawain said. “Soldiers from that era were hard to kill.”

The old man glanced at Gawain and said flatly, “Then you’d better have some sense of urgency. I overheard your two knights talking—most soldiers’ armor and combat crystals were damaged in the fight, and those things can’t be repaired or recharged. They survived, but their gear didn’t. At this rate, you’ll run out of resources soon.”

“Don’t worry. We have better weapons now,” Gawain smiled toward the camp. “More importantly, we have better ideas.”

Amber spoke up: “You mean those explosive crystals you used to blow up cliffs and set traps?”

Gawain nodded slightly.

“Okay, those crystals pack a punch, but relying on them alone isn’t realistic,” Amber shook her head. “They’re limited in use and lack a safe detonation method. When Heddy triggered one, I nearly died of fright—I got blasted into the Shadow Realm and was knocked over several times by the shockwave. And I have to complain—your big-breasted, brainless granddaughter only put up a shield for herself…”

Walking behind Gawain, Heddy shot Amber a fierce glare.

Gawain didn’t notice the little spark between the half-elf and his great-granddaughter. He just smiled and looked toward the horizon, where the giant sun was slowly setting. The clouds and the sun’s radiant glow blended into a magnificent spectacle.

Everything new has its flaws.

Now that the aberration crisis had temporarily passed, it was time to focus on fixing those flaws.

(End of chapter)