Chapter 439: Infernal Serpent - 1

No, Our Father took all the treasures for himself. Apparently, he has a talent just like mine that allows him to gain strength as his hoarded supplies increase. So he seized everything we acquired in exchange for granting us monthly rights to get a mate.

Agnivar spoke through the mind connection.

"Hoh? Monthly? So there was a chance to lose your mate if you failed to meet the resource-gathering quota?" Leo asked.

Yes, that’s why I kept only Ashira. That way, I could keep the surplus hidden somewhere in case I failed to meet the quota. And with this, I have managed to keep her since the moment I met her 10 years ago.

Agnivar seemed proud of himself while saying that. Leo could almost imagine him exhaling steam from his snout.

But the day his slave seal broke, he took even those stored supplies while giving free rein to get as many mates as possible according to our strength, leaving me empty-handed. And you can’t try stealing it because he has some spatial artifact that he used to store away all the supplies the moment this realm opened for this cycle.

But Leo was thinking something else.

Eh? 10 years and only High 2-star? Leo thought.

As if sensing Leo’s thoughts, Agnivar immediately responded.

The competition for resources is very fierce. Combined with our father extorting us monthly, weak wyverns like Ashira and I can only hope to progress slowly.

"Yeah, but wyverns could have always remained single to save resources on the monthly quota. I bet your father wouldn’t have killed you if you hadn’t paid the monthly resources since you chose to remain single?" Leo pointed out.

...

Leo felt as if Agnivar had something to say.

But he could already sense the Wyvern’s thoughts.

I guess there’s a reason for the wyverns going for their sisters... they were so desperate.

The Wyverns were simply unable to control their desires, simple as that. Even if it meant slowing their progress to gain strength.

Once again, Agnivar sensed Leo’s thoughts.

No, I kept Ashira because her talent synergizes well with mine.

"I totally agree," Leo nodded in mock understanding.

I am saying the truth!

"When did I say you were lying? I totally believe you." Leo chuckled. This Wyvern was quite fun to tease.

"Wait, you said ’only Ashira’. You already have plans to get more female wyverns for yourself?" Leo asked.

Am I supposed to say no? Isn’t it a must that I should get more? Even Ashira agrees that she could have more sisters to accompany her when I am absent.

Leo raised a brow.

High 3-star... High 2-star... quite the difference. I reckon it’s not just for accompanying when he is absent. Ashira could use more assistance while he is present, Leo thought jokingly.

"So you need more women for yourself? And you think I will allow that?"

Lord, you need to allow that, because it’s one of my conditions in the contract you formed when you tamed me. And that was to grow strong under you. My talent even accounts for having multiple female partners as a source of strength. Agnivar huffed, smug that he had found a loophole in the contract to fulfill his most important desires.

"Oh... what about Ashira? She also has a similar nature of talent as you. Shouldn’t I allow her to have multiple male partners?" Leo replied with a sly smile.

W-what? N-no! Agnivar panicked at Leo’s words because they totally made sense.

H-her talent takes her children into account rather than mates, so don’t misunderstand.

It simply means I need to work hard for her, and I will make sure to do it so that she doesn’t need to get more partners.

Agnivar’s confidence returned once again.

"Yeah, but I don’t see your hatchlings anywhere," Leo remarked.

"10 years is a lot of time."

At that, Agnivar’s temperament changed.

I won’t compromise with my children’s lives as my father did with ours. You might not know, but he had killed all wyverns that were born with an ordinary bloodline, and if god forbids that happened to my kids, he would have killed them. And I won’t like that, so I vowed to have no kids until I got out of this shithole.

Leo nodded.

"Alright, but there will be conditions for you to get chances to obtain extra partners other than Ashira. For now, every time you cross into the next major realm, you get a chance to get 1 wife. The rest of the conditions will be based on your achievements," he said.

"Acceptable? Because I will not tolerate my male beasts having more than one partner and then not having adequate strength to protect them all from danger."

There was a pause before Agnivar responded.

Acceptable. But what about having kids? I can still have many kids even though I only have Ashira.

Quite ambitious... Leo thought.

"There’s no restraint on that, but remember to discipline them properly. Or else don’t blame your new mother, and your future kids’ grandmother, for taking matters into her own hands. And I will say it, you don’t want matters to go into her hands."

Leo said that having more disciplined Wyverns in the territory would be very good for defence and would surely make others fear him when he has a unit of Wyvern riders.

I have a new mother? How so?

"Why not? I treat my tamed beasts as my kids. Of course, my wife is your mother."

But I never said I accepted you as my father.

Leo could feel Agnivar’s eyes narrowing inside the spiritual space.

"Don’t worry, you never need to. Just know that the moment you were tamed by me, you became my kid. And I promise to treat you as such."

With that, Leo ended the mind link, leaving Agnivar deep in thought.

Leo checked the time.

6 hours 39 minutes more.

"Let’s get the [Sunblood Pearl]."

But—

Stamina: 3890 / 6500

Right now, Leo was very tired.

So he decided to rest for half an hour and then continue.

After half an hour—

Stamina: 5980 / 6500

Due to his high vitality and various traits, his recovery speed was tremendous. A normal person would need nearly half a day to recover from what Leo had just done.

The recovery speed would even decrease exponentially for people with progressively lower vitality.

After that, Leo immediately rushed out of the secret place and found himself once again at the peak of the mountain, right at the edge of the lava crater.

[Sunblood Pearl] — Low Orange Tier Treasure

The pearl was once again floating above the hot, boiling lava, radiating the sun’s glow through the spherical crystal.

Leo checked his stats after all the boosts he had received from Agnivar and Ashira’s traits.

Boosted Stats:

Vitality: 9840

Strength: 9840

Agility: 11680

Stamina: 9750

Intelligence: 13280

Mana: 1460.8K

Only two attributes had reached the Low 5-star range, while the rest were at Pseudo 5-star. The beast he was meant to defeat was Low 5-star. And though Leo hadn’t properly sensed its strength, it was somewhere in the middle range of Low 5-star, meaning stats averaging around 15,000 points.

A difficult challenge, but he had a protector if things went wrong.

Just to make sure things went as smoothly as possible, he assimilated the 40 or so Wyvern beast cores that Zelut had extracted up to that point into Agnivar, who had been eating the Pyroclast Drake’s corpse for half an hour, as Leo had ordered.

So, without a second thought, Leo once again lunged toward the floating [Sunblood Pearl].