Ren stood in the wet mud. His arms trembled from the heavy weight of the pale green egg. He held it out toward Jin. It was a complete surrender of his most valuable asset.
Jin did not reach for it. He simply looked at the boy.
Ren swallowed hard. The silence stretched between them, thick and heavy in the humid jungle air. The smell of the dead Mud Alligator nearby was strong. It smelled like copper and swamp water.
"I was not going to trade it for points," Ren blurted out suddenly. His voice was thin but desperate. He needed Jin to understand his logic. He did not want to die looking like a simple thief.
Jin tilted his head a fraction of an inch. "Explain."
"My family," Ren started, his breath hitching slightly. "We are a minor branch from the eastern province. I do not have a combat-focused Gene Legacy. My physical strength is terrible. My Aether channels are narrow. I have the Beast Tamer legacy."
Jin processed this new data immediately. The Beast Tamer legacy was incredibly rare. It was also notoriously weak in the early stages of cultivation. A tamer without a beast was completely defenseless. They relied entirely on forming a symbiotic Aether bond with a monster.
"The academy provides standard iron-hide wolves for tamers," Ren continued. "But they are mass-produced. They have low growth potential. If I bonded with an academy wolf, I would never pass the second-year exams. I needed something stronger. Something wild."
He looked down at the large, leathery egg in his hands.
"A Level 7 Mud Alligator has high defense and massive physical power," Ren whispered. "If I bond with it before it hatches, the hatchling will share my Aether signature. It will grow with me. It was my only chance to actually survive this school."
He looked back up at Jin. He pushed the egg forward another inch.
"But I am too weak to protect it," Ren admitted. Defeat washed over his dirt-streaked face. "You killed the mother. By the laws of the hunt, the loot belongs to you. If you want the fifteen Merit Points, take it. Just please do not kill me."
Jin stared at the pale green shell.
Fifteen points was a massive sum. It guaranteed a high ranking in the final evaluation. It would grant him access to better resources next semester. But the math of the situation was slightly more complex than a simple point tally.
He had ten points already. The baseline for survival was met. He was safe from expulsion.
Taking the egg meant destroying Ren's entire cultivation path. It meant reducing the boy to a helpless target for the rest of the week. Jin felt no moral obligation to save Ren. But Jin understood the value of assets. A high-level beast tamer was a powerful long-term asset. Creating an enemy for fifteen temporary points was inefficient. Creating a debt was a much better investment.
Jin lowered his silver falchion. The tip of the blade rested in the wet mud.
"Keep it," Jin stated flatly.
Ren blinked. He froze. He did not pull the egg back. "What?"
"If you intended to trade it for points, I would take it," Jin explained. His voice held no emotion. "But a legacy catalyst is different. It is your foundation. I already have my baseline points. Keep the egg."
Jin did not wait for the boy to process the mercy. He turned his back entirely.
He looked at Luna. She was already wiping the last traces of thick alligator blood from her silver throwing knife using a broad green leaf. She sheathed the blade at her waist.
"We need a secure camp," Jin told her. "The blood smell is spreading. Scavengers will arrive in less than ten minutes."
Luna nodded. "High ground. The canopy."
"Yes." Jin started walking toward the thickest cluster of massive trees at the edge of the hollow.
They moved quickly. The transaction was over. They had nothing else to gain by standing near a massive, bleeding corpse.
They made it ten yards before they heard the frantic splashing of mud behind them.
"Wait!" Ren yelled.
Jin stopped. He did not turn around. His right hand tightened slightly on the hilt of his sword. Luna stopped beside him, her grey eyes darting back toward the boy.
Ren ran to catch up. He stopped a few feet behind them, breathing heavily. He clutched the egg to his chest like a shield.
"What is it?" Jin asked. He looked over his shoulder.
Ren looked completely humiliated. His face was flushed red under the layers of dark dirt. He stared at his boots.
"I cannot move with this," Ren muttered, gesturing slightly to the heavy egg. "It weighs thirty pounds. If I carry it, I cannot run. If I put it in my spatial pouch, the lack of oxygen will kill the embryo inside instantly. I am stuck."
Jin analyzed the problem. It was a critical logistical flaw. The boy had secured the asset but lacked the physical capacity to transport it safely.
"That is your operational failure," Jin observed. "Not mine."
"I know," Ren said quickly. He took a nervous step forward. "But I can bond with it right now. The mother is dead. The embryo's Aether signature is currently unstable and searching for a connection. If I perform the blood contract here, the egg will enter a state of suspended Aether-stasis. I can put it in my spatial pouch safely after the ritual is complete."
Jin turned around fully. "Then do it."
Ren swallowed hard. He looked around the dark, oppressive jungle. The shadows between the massive trees seemed to be growing longer. The sounds of distant, unnatural insect clicking echoed through the damp air.
"The ritual takes exactly twenty minutes," Ren whispered. "I have to cut my Aether channels open. I will be completely blind and defenseless while I draw the runes. If a single Level 1 beast walks into this hollow, I will die."
He looked at Jin. His eyes were wide with desperate pleading.
"Please," Ren asked. "I know I have nothing to offer you right now. I have zero Aether cores. I have no money. But if you watch over me... if you just guard my back for twenty minutes... I will owe you my life. A true debt."
Jin stared at the terrified boy.
Twenty minutes in a hostile environment was a severe risk. Standing still near a fresh kill was bad tactics. However, Jin had never seen a Beast Tamer perform a blood contract. The apex families of the capital kept their legacy rituals heavily guarded. Observing the mechanics of the contract firsthand was incredibly valuable intelligence.
Information on how Aether manipulated biological material was worth a twenty-minute delay.
"Twenty minutes," Jin said. "Not a minute more. If a high-level threat appears that we cannot handle, we will abandon you and run. Do you understand?"
Ren nodded rapidly. Pure relief washed over his face. "Yes. I understand. Thank you."
"Get to work," Jin ordered.
He walked back toward the center of the muddy hollow. He pointed his sword at a flat, relatively dry patch of earth near the roots of a dead tree. It was far enough away from the bleeding alligator corpse to avoid the immediate swarm of insect scavengers.
Ren hurried over to the spot. He carefully placed the heavy green egg on the dirt.
Jin established a perimeter. He looked at Luna.
"Take the high angle," Jin told her. "Watch the tree line to the north and east. I will cover the south and the corpse."
Luna did not speak. She simply jumped. She channeled her Level 9 Aether into her legs and leaped fifteen feet into the air. She grabbed a thick, mossy branch and pulled herself up into the dark canopy. Within seconds, she was completely invisible among the broad green leaves.
Jin stood ten feet away from Ren. He rested the heavy blade of his silver falchion against his shoulder. He slowed his breathing. He expanded his Aether senses, feeling for any heavy vibrations in the ground.
Ren knelt in the mud in front of the egg.
He took a deep, shaking breath. He pulled a small, incredibly sharp iron dagger from his belt.
He did not hesitate this time. He pressed the sharp edge of the blade against the palm of his left hand and sliced deeply.
Thick, dark red blood welled up from the cut. It was not normal blood. It carried a faint, pulsing blue light. Ren was forcing his Foundation Level 4 Aether directly into his bloodstream, saturating the fluid with his personal energy signature.
He held his bleeding hand over the pale green egg.
He let the first drop of glowing blood fall onto the leathery shell. The blood did not slide off. It sank directly into the porous surface. The egg seemed to absorb it instantly.
Ren began to draw.
He pressed his bleeding index finger against the shell. He drew a perfectly straight vertical line down the center of the egg. He moved quickly, his face tight with intense concentration. He ignored the pain in his hand.
He drew a wide circle around the vertical line. Then, he began to fill the empty space inside the circle with complex, jagged geometric symbols.
Jin watched the process intently. His analytical mind recorded every single stroke.
Ren's blood was not just a medium. It was a physical key. The symbols were not words; they were Aether pathways. By drawing them on the shell, he was creating an external bridge. He was trying to link his own Aether channels directly into the developing nervous system of the unborn Level 7 beast.
Ten minutes passed in complete silence.
The heat in the hollow was suffocating. Sweat poured down Ren's forehead, mixing with the dark mud on his face. His breathing grew shallow and ragged. He was draining his Level 4 Aether core rapidly to maintain the glowing blood.
Jin scanned the dark tree line behind them. He heard the heavy snapping of dry wood. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. Luna did not move from the canopy. The noise faded. It was not a direct threat yet.
Ren finished the last geometric line.
He leaned back on his heels, gasping loudly. His face was pale as death. He was completely exhausted. His left hand was covered in rapidly cooling, dark red blood.
The pale green egg sat quietly in the mud. The complex, circular pattern of blood on its shell was perfectly drawn. It looked like an ancient, gruesome map.
Ren pushed the last reserve of his Aether into his right hand. He placed his clean palm directly onto the center of the bloody circle.
He closed his eyes.
"Consume," Ren whispered.
The blood symbols suddenly flared.
A brilliant, deep blue light erupted from the dark red lines. The entire egg began to shine. It vibrated slightly, shaking the wet mud beneath it. The light pulsed in a slow, rhythmic heartbeat. The blood on the shell vanished instantly, pulled deep into the embryo inside.
Jin watched the light. The contract was sealed. The beast belonged to the boy now.
Ren collapsed sideways into the mud, unconscious before he even hit the ground.