Touching the egg, holding it in his hands, Auren, without doing anything else at all, feels his own Aura surge.
What is this?! I need to calm down. Think and make a rational decision. Observe the situation first.
About to panic, he pays close attention to the situation and notices that the drain, as well as the Aura inside the egg, does not feel hostile towards him at all. For some reason, his Faerie's Tear on his neck surges with Aura, Auren's own going through it before being drained by the egg, acting as the focal point and catalyst between him and the egg.
The Faerie's Tear is behaving weirdly! It seems strangely compatible with the egg. Is my Aura being filtered through it and then supplied to it?
I could probably stop this easily if I wanted to... but I get the feeling that would hurt whatever is inside that egg... or seed. It feels almost desperate... since it's just Aura, you can have it. For now, as long as I'm in full control, I should just endure.
"It's not hostile," Auren informs Rakshala and the twins. "I'll accept the Aura drain for now. I believe this might be necessary."
"Be careful," Rakshala warns him, standing right behind him, gently grabbing his neck, her slender fingers lightly wrapping around it, while raising her other arm and using Ko on her hand, her fingers tightening into a fist, reminding Auren of a heavy mace, surprising him as she holds it close to his head. "When you run out of Aura or fall under any kind of control, I'll knock you out and remove the egg. Don't worry, I know where to hit and am able to shake your brain thousands of times within just a few seconds. A strike like this will even knock out someone of your caliber."
Not calming me down here... whatever.
"Thank you," Auren replies, closing his eyes and focusing his entire consciousness on the arm.
His Aura is gently drained, not quite fast enough for Auren to feel as if he is being attacked. However, after around thirty minutes, his Aura is almost completely depleted, and the egg shows no sign of slowing down.
At this rate... I might run out of Aura altogether. That could hurt the egg or whatever it is. This thing is worth more than half a trillion Jenny... I can't lose it like this. Do I just try and give it my best?
No... I have friends... why would I do this on my own and risk failure? I just need to ask.
"Rakshala," Auren says, looking frustrated. "I am not sure my Aura is enough. I am not sure it would be lethal... or even harmful to stop supplying Aura, but I have the distinct feeling that if I stop the process and continue later, the being inside the egg will suffer. This seems like a once-in-a-lifetime bonding opportunity."
"I have a selfish request. Could you get Buno and Bunu? Maybe the others as well?" Auren asks, speaking calmly. "Though it is harmful to have one's Aura harvested by Eternity, there are no real or dangerous side effects if it just happens once and in moderation," he clarifies.
Rakshala's eyes briefly turn crimson red before almost immediately turning blue again.
"That was a little sign," she explains with a smile. "I briefly stole the vision in one of their eyes; even the dullest people should recognize my intention. I also did the same for the others."
"Thank you," Auren replies.
"Until then," Rakshala says peacefully, lowering her arm and stopping Ko, "since you are in full control and there is no danger... take some of mine first, before the others arrive."
"..."
Really? I feel a little guilty...
"Just a little. If everyone helps out, this can be done easily." Auren notes.
Holding the egg in one hand, his Aura still getting depleted, Auren draws Eternity.
Doing his utmost to control the drain, he gently places it on Rakshala's arm, creating only the tiniest cut by pressing the unbelievably sharp edge lightly against her inner arm.
Feeling Rakshala's immense Aura surge into the blade, Auren immediately transfers it to his body, briefly gathering it and bringing it under his full control, before supplying it to the Faerie's Tear on his chest.
Because of the quadruple conversion of Aura, Auren feels a lot of Aura getting wasted and used up in the process. From Rakshala to Eternity, towards his own body, into the Faerie's Tear, and finally into the egg.
What appears as a simple donation of Aura turns out to be a complicated conversion process with five different stops.
Eternity can only effectively drain around two-thirds of Rakshala's Aura, while Auren also loses some of it when transferring it around his body, as he can only control it and not absorb it, so it constantly seeps away in small quantities, as he carefully controls it.
Directing the Aura, which gathers not inside of him, but around him, into the Faerie's Tear also seems very ineffective, as a large part is lost, the tiny necklace purifying the Aura as fast as it can, but still losing a sizeable amount in the process. Then the Aura is drained by the egg, which seems not very skilled at it either, losing another noticeable chunk.
Overall, less than a third of the total Aura donated by Rakshala reaches the egg.
"It works," Auren announces. "Though it's very ineffective... but still, if we have enough people, I can keep going."
Draining Rakshala's Aura, Auren worries a little, as he knows that Eternity, even when held back by himself, is quite harmful to its victims.
I tested it out on beasts I've captured during my training.
I can't continuously drain Aura from the same target... that much I know.
After each use, the recovery time of my victims increased. After repeating the process a couple of times, the target is permanently affected and essentially crippled. It might recover after a long time, but the price is definitely not low. Though draining Aura once is tolerable, especially if I only drain a small part.
I only want to drain up to a third of her Aura... just to be sure there is no side effect. If I only do it once, they should be completely fine.
The threshold set by Auren is quickly reached, but at the same time, much to his relief, the others all arrive in Rakshala's office.
"No time for explanations," Auren states. "I require some Aura... would someone be willing to donate a little? I promise it won't have any permanent effects on you, as I'll strictly limit how much I'm taking and properly control the entire process."
"I still have a lot of Aura left," Rakshala says calmly. "No need to switch just yet."
"I need to switch now," Auren states. "I want to avoid any side effects. This is enough. Any more would actually create risks, which is not worth it. Every single one of you is worth more than a potential pet."
"Take mine then, kid," Buno says, stepping forward, immediately followed by Bunu, who nods along.
The process continues... taking quite a bit of time. To Auren's horror, even after Bunu, Neffi, Vanessa, Konrad, Goreinu, Eren, Oron, Ura, Leira, and even Zepile and the twins have donated around a third of their total Aura, the egg shows no sign of stopping as it continues to greedily drain Aura.
"You greedy little..." Auren mutters, getting genuinely worried.
Slightly annoyed, Auren, whose own Aura has recovered just a little, uses Ren, increasing his output and feeding even more Aura into it.
Using even more Aura than the Faerie's Tear can convert, the egg finally shows signs of stopping, as the drain slowly weakens.
After just a few minutes of Auren using Ren, the egg fully stops accepting any more Aura and now looks just like when he first saw it, appearing as if nothing at all had happened.
Breathing heavily, his head pulsating, each heartbeat making it hurt like a needle stinging into it, Auren is totally exhausted.
Sweating profusely, his Aura almost totally used up, and also feeling incredibly tired, he finally relaxes.
"It's done," he announces, breathing heavily and sheathing Eternity.
"Fuck... this damn... greedy... egg..." he complains slowly, breathing heavily. "Way too close. No human being could have done it on their own... this was insane... well, maybe not no one, maybe... I can think of one... no... two."
Netero might have been able to do it... and his son as well... must be part of his lineage. However... to get to those levels... I still need time.
I don't think anyone else would have stood a chance. While I know some people who are maybe on par with me, or maybe even slightly above me in terms of Aura quantity, there is no real difference.
Only those two have significantly more Aura reserves.
Everyone, especially Neffi and Vanessa, gathers around him, carefully observing the egg he's still holding in his arm.
"An egg?" Vanessa asks, staring at the egg-like object in Auren's hand and placing her hand on it with the utmost caution. "It looks more like my favorite type of pumpkin seeds."
"That thing is the one that cost over half a trillion?" Neffi wonders, also touching it.
"It would seem so," Auren replies. "This reaction from the egg was quite the surprise, it happened so suddenly... I wonder what would have happened if I had stopped supplying Aura early or had outright refused to provide it."
"Three possible outcomes," Leira immediately speaks up, Oculus conjured and already scanning the egg carefully.
"One, the process would have been paused and would have continued later when touching it the next time. Two, whatever is inside the egg would come to life with defects or malnourished. Three, the egg would become non-viable and could never be hatched."
"This egg is quite mysterious," she continues, obviously intrigued by the find. "It might take me a while to fully analyze it, but I can already say that there is a significant chance that there is a beast related to snakes inside the egg."
"A snake, huh?" Auren wonders. "I don't have many good memories connected to them... in fact, I've slain a really dangerous one during my Hunter Exam four years ago. Is this my punishment?"
"It could have been worse," Neffi immediately says. "A spider would have been a nightmare."
"You don't like them very much, do you?" Vanessa asks, grinning. "Reminds me of a certain forest, but it can't get much worse than that."
"I've been there on my own twice to gather resources and see the silk production firsthand... even the ones tamed by Leira still kinda disgust me. A snake is... acceptable!"
"I haven't finished," Leira continues. "The chances of it being a normal, or even rare snake, are low. As I said, it has some similarities to a snake, but that's all. If it hatches, which isn't guaranteed by any measure, there is a large chance of something totally unknown coming out of it. It also shares similarities with a seed. According to Oculus, it shares similarities to a couple of trees, but also all kinds of flora."
"Huh?" Goreinu wonders. "Animal or plant, pick one. Both makes no sense to me, and I should know, as I once wanted to become a Beast Hunter."
"We'll see... if it's truly from there... everything is possible," Auren reminds him, now having recovered a little, fully realizing the possibilities.
Exhausted, the group quickly dissipates after Rakshala has declared a meeting in three days, the subject, of course, the expedition to the unknown island.
-----------------------------------------
A/N: Always thankful for Power Stones, Comments, and Reviews. Thank you for reading!
If you are interested, then please support me at patreon.com/FRWriter
45+ Early chapters available
New Chapters every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday!
Bored? Complains? Demands? Check out the Discord: https://discord.gg/puVqWsf3y9
Thank you for supporting the story with Power Stones!