Chapter 35: The Contract Is Sealed

What the hell?

The requirement to keep it close for three hours is one thing—it’s an egg, so that’s perfectly reasonable. The need for it to see the incubator first upon hatching is also logical; it’s far more normal than the "drop of blood" ritual. No issues there at all.

But isn't this "Junior Nanny Mastery" skill a bit much?

He’s already read that book, okay? Are we really saying that the childcare experience for human infants is completely interchangeable with that for alien species? Why don't you demand breastfeeding while you're at it?

Lu Ming felt he had so many grievances he didn't know where to vent them, but fortunately, the Spider Empress's egg was truly adorable.

Cuties are justice; everything else can be overlooked.

Most importantly, she is a demi-human. Do you understand the value of a demi-human?

*Ahem.* No being lewd. Must be normal, must be a gentleman, must be serious! *Hehehe~*

Besides, he met all the hatching requirements. Especially that "Junior Nanny Mastery"—the more he had despised it when he first acquired it, the more grateful he felt now. Come on, let’s hatch it!

With a thought, the system prompt popped up immediately.

[Notification: The embryo has been detected to have the intention to hatch, and the conditions are met. Do you wish to release the egg’s constant-temperature protective layer? Once released, incubation must begin immediately. You must keep the egg against your body for 3 hours. Once separated from the parent, the egg will enter a state of hypothermia, and it will perish after half an hour.]

[Confirm]
[Cancel]

"..."

Seeing the word "perish," Lu Ming’s high spirits cooled instantly. It seemed that in any world, nurturing new life was an incredibly serious matter that left no room for frivolity.

"Confi..."

Just as he was about to confirm, Lu Ming paused.

"Cancel."

The prompt vanished instantly. Staring at the Spider Empress egg, Lu Ming tried saying, "Ultimate Sublimation."

[Notification: Please select the sublimation tier.]

It actually worked. He had assumed that after sublimating the supply crate, the contents would be judged as already sublimated items. He hadn't realized that the crate and its contents were two independent entities.

"Second Tier."

[Notification: Sublimating the S-rank "Spider Empress Egg" requires 30 million "Specialized Crystals." You have one Universal Discount Voucher. Are you sure you want to use it to upgrade the S-rank "Spider Empress Egg" by two tiers?]

[Confirm (Consume one Universal Discount Voucher)]
[Confirm (Consume 30 million Specialized Crystals)]
[Cancel]

He stared at the prompt in silence, then silently looked at the Spider Empress egg’s information panel.

Lu Ming quietly pulled out the Universal Discount Voucher. It wasn't that he was fickle and abandoning his Awakening Power, nor was it for the sake of the Spider Empress—it was simply for one reason: it was expensive! 30 million crystals! *Crystals!* Uh... okay, that’s an excuse. There’s nothing else to it; he was doing it for the Spider Empress.

An S-rank was already a demi-human. Surely, upgrading two more tiers to get a full human form wouldn't be too much to ask, right?! It absolutely wouldn't be too much! You think so too, right? Then why hesitate? A man must conquer the Empress!

"Confirm!"

*Swish!*

The Universal Discount Voucher disintegrated and vanished. The golden Spider Empress egg dispersed and reconstructed itself.

When it reappeared, a giant egg about sixty centimeters tall sat before Lu Ming. Its body was pure white, and the shell shimmered with brilliant, iridescent light! Could something with built-in special effects like this be anything ordinary? Not even a dog would believe that!

"Appraisal!"

The Eye of Truth activated, and the giant egg’s information popped up clearly.

[Primordial Spider Egg] (???)
Category: ???
Description: ???

Seeing nothing but question marks, Lu Ming didn't feel much joy; he actually felt a bit depressed. Forget not seeing the grade, and forget the incomplete information—what was up with the name change?

Where did the "Empress" go? Where did my cold and domineering Empress go?

"Primordial Spider"—even though he knew the word "Primordial" sounded incredibly high-end, wouldn't blurring the gender be putting the cart before the horse?

Holding the giant egg, Lu Ming felt his heart bleeding. He had to suppress his tears to read the new hatching conditions.

Hatching/Bonding conditions: High-purity Alien Protein * 5000, Advanced Nanny Mastery learned, incubation against the body for 12 hours, and the egg must see the incubator first upon hatching.

Current Status: Incubation not started.

...

The incubation time had quadrupled, and the demand for high-purity alien protein had increased fivefold. He glanced at his spatial inventory: 5,748 units. Barely enough.

The Nanny Mastery requirement had increased to Advanced, but he only had Junior. He needed to raise it two tiers. He glanced at his savings of 190 Specialized Crystals, and Lu Ming felt a bit uneasy.

Should be enough, right? It was only going from E-rank to C-rank; the cost surely wouldn't be that high.

He opened his personal panel, locked onto "Junior Nanny Mastery," and chose Second Tier Sublimation.

[Notification: Sublimating E-rank "Junior Nanny Mastery" requires 50 Specialized Crystals.]

Nice! Wasn't that perfect?

"Confirm."

Consuming 50 Specialized Crystals, he upgraded his Nanny Mastery to Advanced. Lu Ming once again initiated the hatching process.

[Notification: The embryo has been detected to have the intention to hatch, and the conditions are met. Do you wish to release the egg’s constant-temperature protective layer? Once released, incubation must begin immediately. You must keep the egg against your body for 12 hours. Once separated from the parent, the egg will enter a state of hypothermia, and it will perish after ten minutes.]

Are you kidding me? Didn't you evolve? Why did your constitution get weaker as your grade went up? When you were S-rank, you could last half an hour without the parent, but now you can only last ten minutes? Are you even capable?

He stroked the surface of the shell. It looked smooth and seamless, yet it felt strangely fuzzy to the touch. Quite magical.

Fine. I guess I’ll just have to be the nanny who protects you.

"Confirm."

[Notification: Constant-temperature protection released. 5,000 units of high-purity alien protein injected. Incubation phase started. Current progress: 0%.]

Since incubation had begun, he had to say goodbye to free movement. Going to the bathroom... *hiss*, that’s not good. He really had to pee.

Truly, when you don't think about it, you can hold it all night, but once the thought flashes in your mind, it’s unbearable. He hurried off.

A minute later, Lu Ming walked out of the bathroom, looking relieved. He closed the warning prompt from the system and sat back down on the bed.

He hugged the giant egg, tucked it under the covers, and stroked the shell gently. "Little one, for your sake, I didn't even eat the dinner I had planned, and I’m not planning on sleeping either, for fear of not protecting you well enough. Based on this love I have for you, you’d better treat me well in the future. If you’re born as a boy, we’ll stick to master and servant—I’m the master, you’re the servant. Grow up fast, and then serve your master well. Of course, I won't treat you badly. If you’re born as a girl, we’ll play by different rules: you call me Master, I call you 'Wife,' and in the future, you’ll have all the best food and drinks. Yeah? That’s our agreement. I’ll count to three, and if you don't answer, I’ll take it as your consent. Three, two, one. Great, the contract is established."

As he spoke, Lu Ming laughed at himself, mocking his own childishness. It was just an egg; what could it possibly understand? It was better to check the World Channel and gossip to pass the time. By tomorrow morning, he would be done with his solitary survival journey. Thinking about it, he was actually quite looking forward to it.

Little did Lu Ming know, while he was focused on the World Channel, the egg under the covers flickered imperceptibly. Inside the shell, a pair of eyes slowly opened, revealing ruby-like pupils.

Unfortunately, its strength was too feeble; the eyelids lifted only halfway before closing again. A tiny, delicate mouth vibrated gently, whispering in incredibly youthful Chinese: "Contract... established..."