After soaking up that drop of blood, the mysterious stone egg's surface dark patterns picked up a hint of red...

[Hatching Progress +1]

"Feeds on blood?"

Carlos stared at this mysterious black egg. Between them, a barely noticeable bond had formed.

He steadied himself, his face deep in thought.

After a beat,

he placed his hand right on those nasty stone spikes.

The spikes punched through his skin.

Blood started flowing immediately, getting sucked up by the mysterious stone through all those wicked spikes.

Red streaks on the shell's dark patterns spread like wildfire, and that weak connection slowly got stronger...

Carlos's face went a bit pale -

early warning signs of losing too much blood, but luckily with Child of Nature and Dawn Flame backing him up,

his healing game was off the charts. In a heartbeat, his color bounced right back...

Time crawled by.

The mysterious stone egg guzzled massive amounts of blood, basically swapping out Carlos's blood almost a hundred times over.

Only Carlos,

with Child of Nature's insane healing boost and Dawn Flame's crazy life force, could tough it out without breaking.

Any other psionics would be toast.

...

The mysterious stone egg finally quit its feeding frenzy.

Right then,

the dark patterns on the shell had completely switched over to flowing red.

The spikes pulled back.

The flowing red patterns suddenly started flashing like crazy, lighting up and dimming.

Then came the sound of stone cracking.

Hairline cracks showed up on the mysterious stone egg as thick blood energy poured out, rising like blood mist...

Carlos watched like a hawk.

"Bang!"

The mysterious stone egg totally shattered, and a white flash burst out.

Carlos only felt a sharp sting in his left arm, but his danger sense stayed quiet.

"Roar!"

Purple Vortex was freaking out and ticked off.

That white flash was lightning fast—by the time it caught on, the thing had already jumped master!

This was a massive screwup on its part!

Dark Purple Force Field exploded outward, ready to 'save' master...

"Purple Vortex, knock it off."

Carlos stopped Purple Vortex's attack.

His eyes dropped down.

A tiny white creature

clung to his arm with all four limbs like its life depended on it.

Snow-white fangs broke through the skin on his arm, steadily drinking his blood.

Intense affection washed over him -

that blood bond was crystal clear, Carlos could feel this little guy's total dependence on him.

"What the hell is this?"

He reached out with his free hand, scooping up the white bundle that was busy chowing down, getting a good look at it.

Human-shaped, but tiny—only about three feet tall. Pure white skin, smooth as a baby's bottom.

Its face was the same deal—crazy white, radiating serious holy vibes.

Big eyes, bright red and lively, but somehow giving off seductive energy.

A small white horn sprouted from its forehead.

Its hands and feet weren't human at all, more like animal hooves.

"Moo moo!"

Cut off from that sweet blood supply,

this little thing immediately stuck out its tiny mouth in a pout, making sad mooing noises.

On its small fangs,

Carlos's life-force-packed blood dripped down.

Its baby-soft white face made its lips look extra red, like they'd been painted with fresh blood.

"Moo moo!!!"

Limbs flailing, little hooves kicking, mouth wide open, round eyes about to overflow with tears.

"Blood-drinking critter?"

Carlos could tell this little thing's aura was pretty weak, so he gave up and let go.

The second he released it, the little thing immediately stopped its crying fit.

Its four limbs locked onto Carlos's arm in a death grip.

Its tiny head dove down,

expertly hunting down the blood vessel in his arm and chomping down. Sharp fangs skillfully pierced the vessel.

Along with gentle slurping sounds, super-charged blood flowed into its body, and this little thing's aura started slowly building...

"If it drinks blood, what's with this holy aura?"

Carlos watched this little thing—it was pretty chill while feeding.

He reached out with his other hand, gently scratching the little thing's head. Its snow-white hair was fluffy and incredibly soft.

Moo~

The little thing made happy purring sounds, big eyes scrunching into crescents, totally loving it, though its fangs stayed glued to Carlos's skin.

[Super Alchemical Life Form (Baby)]

[Carlos Valois, after donating massive amounts of blood, wrapped up the final pregnancy stage, bringing this super alchemical life form into the world.]

[Even though it's just a baby, it's already showing crazy potential.

If you want it to grow up fast, blood packed with life force seems like a must-have.]

"Not a blood drinker—definitely a super alchemical life form."

Since it was locked away in that special alchemical goo,

Carlos had seen this coming.

But he hadn't expected it to be like this.

"Super alchemical life forms actually start as babies like real living things."

The super alchemical life forms he'd run into in his past life

already had mind-blowing power right out of the gate.

This led to the wrong idea

that super alchemical life forms would be like regular alchemical life forms—popping up fully grown.

"Animal hooves, white fur, single horn... and holy aura..."

Going off this baby super life form's looks,

Carlos started digging through his memory for intel on super alchemical life forms...

After a while, Carlos looked stumped.

"Weird, why doesn't anything match up?"

With such obvious features,

logically, it should be a piece of cake to find a match.

But those super alchemical life forms from his memory

couldn't match even one or two traits, forget about all of them.

"Either

its looks are gonna change big time when it grows up, totally different from how it looks now,

or in the original timeline, this little guy never hatched and never made it onto the world stage."

Both were possible, but Carlos was betting on the second one.

"Growing by chugging blood.

Having blood-drinking traits while also packing serious holy energy—what's it gonna turn into?"

Carlos was dying to know.

He lifted his arm a bit, and the pure white little thing couldn't help but tighten its grip with all four limbs.

"Little guy, what should I call you?"

Carlos's emerald eyes went soft.

He knew

that even though it just got born, this little guy was sharp as a tack and could understand him.

"Moo?"

The baby super alchemical life form's big eyes looked totally confused, its mouth still working on that blood while making puzzled mooing sounds.

Carlos thought it over, rubbing the little guy's fluffy hair and saying gently:

"How about I call you Blood Silver?"

Blood—for its trick of growing by drinking blood;

Silver—for that pure white color, meaning holiness.

"Moo moo!"

The baby super alchemical life form's eyes crinkled into crescents, seeming to get it as it nodded, its tiny fangs sinking just a bit deeper.

Purple Vortex caught all of this.

"Roar!"

Another one!

Even more annoying than that Red Spirit punk!

Damn it, why does it get to keep hugging master!

This thing keeps hurting master!

The Dark Purple Force Field under Purple Vortex kept twisting and writhing, its aura getting seriously heavy...