‘What the hell!’
Grey stared at his bag in total astonishment.
More than eighty percent of the plants left that he acquired from the garden were gone, there was a time he accidentally acquired two essence stones, those were also gone. The only thing he still found complete was the stones he dug from the passage wall when he was coming here.
He looked deeper and noticed pieces of the black egg he stole from the prince’s group previously.
‘Huh! Did it hatch? But why are there no movements inside the bag then, or could it be that it left?’
Thinking of what might be inside the egg, his attention changed from why the plants were gone, to where the creature might be. One has to remember that this was a creature that had been inside an egg in this place for at least one thousand years, so he was quite expectant towards what it was. If he knew the egg had been absorbing his blood for some time now, he would be dumbfounded.
Because the inside of the bag was black, he failed to quickly notice the little sleeping furry creature at the end of it that is most likely the culprit of his missing items.
Just as he was about to retract his gaze from the bag and start searching around for any strange creatures, he noticed a slight movement at the end of the bag.
‘This is?’
With a confused look, he stretched his hand towards the creature.
The moment his hand came in contact with the creature, he felt a sudden connection with it, and also a sense of familiarity. He was confident he had never seen this creature before.
Due to the sense of familiarity, his curiosity towards the creature increased, and he picked it up.
“A cat?!”, He unconsciously exclaimed.
In his hand was a cat that was seven inches long. Its pitch-black color is unique due to how dark it was.
Grey had seen cats that were black before, but none could compare to this one.
Feeling the movement from when Grey picked it up, the cat opened its eyes and stared straight at Grey.
Looking at the eyes of the cat, Grey felt stunned. Just like its body the eyes were also pitch black, and for the first few seconds Grey made eye contact with it, it felt like he was looking at the boundless space.
‘Wait! Why is there a cat?’, thought the confused Grey.
This was not in his bag previously, he didn’t recall seeing it here when he entered, else the Elemental Warrior would have killed it also. And looking at its little bulging stomach, Grey was certain it just finished eating.
But, how can something so small eat so much? And, where the hell was the thing that hatched out of the egg? Or, could it be that the cat ate it? But, the cat wasn’t here previously, and there are no signs or smell of blood inside the bag.
Grey’s head suddenly ached at the thought of so many questions.
“Don’t tell me this cat was what hatched out of it. But how can a cat hatch out of an egg? It doesn’t make sense”, Grey started scrutinizing the cat.
He looked at the side, back, head, tail, almost every possible thing he could. He even shook it at one time. Looking closely, he could tell that the cat seemed like it had just been born.
‘Hey! Hey! Can you stop doing that, please! It feels creepy’, a small voice suddenly rang in Grey’s head.
“Huh! Who said that?”, Grey looked around but found no one, then his gaze came back to the cat.
‘I must be hearing things, how can this small cat speak? Even if it can speak, there’s no way it will be inside my head’.
Grey felt maybe the beating he received from the Elemental Warrior was starting to affect his mind.
‘Put me down!’, the small voice once again exclaimed.
‘No, this is definitely not me hearing things’, this thought flashed through Grey’s head.
“You can speak?”, he asked while still holding the cat.
‘Of course’, the cat nodded while the small voice rang inside Grey’s head once again.
“How come I’m only hearing it in my head?”, Grey asked again.
‘Because we’re connected. Don’t tell me you don’t feel the connection?’, the cat looked at Grey strangely.
“This is so strange, how are we connected? And how can a cat hatch out of an egg?”, asked Grey.
He found the entire experience strange, first, a cat came out of an egg, which was something unheard of, then, he suddenly felt a connection with the unknown cat, then, he could hear the cat in his head. Could things get any stranger?!
Just as these thoughts were running through his head, his expression changed, because, things got stranger.
The cat which he was previously holding firmly had somehow disappeared into thin air.
“O…kay. I think I’m going crazy. *Sigh* Looks like the hit I received to my head is affecting me, I need to rest to help alleviate the stress I went through”, said Grey after not being able to see the cat anywhere.
He sat down crossed leg and tried to calm his mind.
‘You’re not crazy, I think’, the small voice once again spoke in Grey’s mind as the cat appeared on his shoulder.
“How did you do that?”, asked Grey.
‘What? This?’, the cat asked before disappearing once again and appearing on his lap.
Grey nodded after the cat reappeared.
‘It’s easy. One of my elements is the Space Element, although for now, I can’t go far’, the cat explained.
“Space Element? There’s a Space Element?”, asked Grey.
This was the first time he was hearing about the Space Element, he only knew of seven, but now, according to this cat, it seems like there’s also a Space Element, this made it eight.
‘Of course there is’, the cat looked at Grey like he was weird.
Grey was astounded, this was new knowledge for him, and one has to know that he had read a lot of books about the elements, so how come it was never stated in any of them? Or could it be that Space Elementalists were even rarer than Light and Darkness Elementalists? That seems to be the possible explanation.
He had decided to ask his teacher when he went back. But he was quite curious about it after seeing the cat use it, one has to know this was different from moving fast. The cat literally disappeared from one spot and appeared in another within a second, and it seems it could also regulate the time before it appears.
‘Doesn’t that mean I could have it also?’, Grey thought excitedly.
But he quickly calmed down and focused his attention back on the cat.
“Okay. But you still haven’t answered my previous questions”, said Grey.
‘Oh that, well, we’re connected because only after absorbing your blood and part of your blood essence was I able to be born’, explained the cat.
“My blood, and blood essence. When did you do that?”, an expression of shock appeared on Grey’s face.
‘I think when you were fighting and injured previously’ the cat said.
‘Just so you know, I didn’t do it on purpose’, it said again after seeing the change in Grey’s expression.
“But that doesn’t explain why a cat would hatch from an egg. Cats are mammals, they are normally given birth to”, said Grey.
‘I don’t really know why or how that happened either’, the cat said truthfully.
Grey looked at the cat, he didn’t know if everything the cat said was true, but he knew the cat was right about the connection part.
“Okay, we’ll put that aside for now. How did you eat almost everything inside the bag?”, he looked at the cat curiously.
‘There wasn’t much in the first place, besides, they don’t even contain that much essence. Since I’m just born, I need a lot of energy to sustain myself’, the cat spoke as if eating so much on its little body was natural.
Grey looked at the cat stunned, today would most likely be at the top of the weirdest days he had experienced.
‘Not that much? Has it seen its size?’, thought Grey.
There was a particular fruit he had in his bag that he was certain one of them weighed more than the entire body mass of the cat, and the fruit was three in total, and all three were currently gone as well.
If he only used those fruits, it meant the cat ate more than three times its body weight, just from those three fruits alone. Yet it said there wasn’t much.
Grey rubbed his head to try to calm down, today has been an unforgettable day for him, first, he nearly died, then, he survived, now, he was talking to a cat that hatched out of an egg.
He looked around and realized he still didn’t know how to leave this place. He picked the cat from his leg and dropped it on the ground, before heading in the direction of the lotus.
Initially, when he saw how strange the egg was, he expected to acquire a rare mount, like a Griffin or something, but looking at the cat, if he were to accidentally step on it, there was a chance it would die. How can something that small be a mount?
Shaking his head disappointedly he walked towards the lotus. The cat hurriedly followed Grey towards the lava pool.
At the center of the lava pool was a small piece of earth that spanned a radius of five meters with the lotus floating at the center.
The distance from where he stood to the land at the center of the lava pool was almost fifteen meters long. But it wasn’t a challenge to him as he was able to easily jump to the land.
The cat though, arrived before him. With its curious eyes, it stared at the lotus greedily while licking its lips. It could sense an immense amount of energy radiating off of it.
But it wisely stopped itself from moving towards the lotus as it knew this was what Grey came here for. It had already eaten most of Grey’s items, if it dared to eat this as well, then it might truly offend him.
Grey felt the cat wanted the lotus because of the energy inside it. He didn’t know how he was able to feel it, maybe it was because of the connection. He nodded when he noticed the cat didn’t try to snatch the lotus or else he might have had to toss it in the lava, well, if he could catch it first though.
He slowly walked towards the lotus, when he was one meter away from the lotus, an ancient stone slab appeared in front of him, and some words appeared on it.
“Fated one…..”
The text spoke about the lotus and what was inside it. Inside the lotus was a rare heaven and earth flame that only forms after tens of thousands of years, the lotus was one of the few rare natural fire treasures that could hold the flame without burning. According to the expert, he was only able to acquire a very small amount of the flame. If a Fire Elementalist refines the flame, they would not only see an increase in their cultivation and elemental grade, but there’s also a chance they might acquire the unique blue flames.
The lotus could also be refined as well since it was a rare natural fire treasure.
The expert said these were his greatest treasures, and after acquiring this treasure, an ancient path would open that led to his other treasures, as well as his legacy.