"You cut off my hand!" — Lesliana's voice echoed, filled with pain, lament, and indignation.
Seeing the resentment in her eyes, Danilo knew immediately:
this matter would never be forgotten.
Even though she had just sworn she would not blame him, no matter what he did.
"You really dared to cut off my hand!"
Both she and the others were incredulous.
The rest, who were there merely as spectators, chose not to comment. They simply waited for the good show that was about to follow. They were in that situation the Chinese like to describe as eating melon.
"It was the only way. Your wound would always regenerate. And to avoid unnecessary cuts… it was either the abdomen or the hand. And I couldn't bring myself to pierce your abdomen," Danilo said, with forced sadness.
He needed to calm her down.
"I couldn't bear what?" she snapped back. "You just tore off my hand! Do you expect me to believe that?"
"Your hand has already healed. The wound doesn't even exist anymore. Obviously… and the pain has already passed."
"I don't care!" she shouted, pointing at him indignantly. "Big Bad Wolf, I swear you'll pay for this!"
As she spoke, the egg suddenly began to glow.
Seeing this, she stopped and stared at the egg.
Patterns appeared on the golden surface. The blood was absorbed, and then… everything returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
Everyone stood still, confused.
Isn't this the moment when the egg should crack and a beautiful, arrogant bird should emerge? they thought.
But nothing happened.
Was the blood not enough?
Or to awaken a super-divine beast, was a celestial material required?
Because if that were the case, they were screwed.
Although they had abundant talent, they had not yet grown, and celestial materials were things the current Earth did not possess.
"Could it be that more blood is needed?" Pancho asked, confused.
Hearing that, Lesliana trembled.
Did that mean she would have to bleed again? Wait.
It was a creature with two parents. Not only the mother's blood was required…
but also the father's.
Thinking of this, a feeling of realization arose.
Meanwhile, everyone else opened their bronze chests.
They wanted to open the common ones first and the special ones later. Of course, except for Lesliana, each chest revealed two items.
The items varied between weapons and accessories, all completely random.
For example, Pancho obtained a necklace and a bracelet. Both were very beautiful — but feminine.
Meanwhile, the women obtained weapons.
All of them, without exception, looked at the items in Pancho's hands with desire.
Michaela and Leila merely looked. They couldn't say anything, since their relationship with him was not close. But for Kiala, it was different. Her gaze was ravenous, as if she wanted to devour them.
"No!" — even before she could speak, Pancho replied firmly. His answer shattered her illusions, and only then did she realize: her brother was refusing.
She wanted to retort, but before she could say anything, Pancho anticipated her:
"Don't dream about it. I won't give you these jewels. I'll save them to offer to the mothers."
He said this while looking at the three women who were with them.
Hearing her brother's response, she had no way to argue.
After all, it was an intelligent answer.
If she insisted, she would be looked down upon by everyone — judged as spoiled and selfish.
The three women, upon hearing this, were deeply moved.
Danilo observed the scene in silence, agreeing. That small gesture had a great impact on them, making them feel more welcomed.
One thing quickly became clear.
Bronze weapons, unlike those that increased attributes directly, worked by percentage.
Serene Heart — Necklace (Bronze)
+3% Spirit
Wind Pursuer — Bracelet (Bronze)
+4% Agility
Mountain Breaker — Sword (Bronze)
+4% Strength
Centaur Decapitator — Sword (Bronze)
+3% Agility
+3% Strength
The weapons followed more or less the same pattern.
They increased attributes by percentage and could even be weaker than some common weapons, depending on the user. But since it was the beginning of the Celestial Domain on Earth, they were considered superior to common weapons.
As for the special treasure chests, they opened them full of expectation, but after seeing the egg Lesliana had obtained earlier, everyone was disappointed without exception.
Everyone received rewards related to their talents.
However, compared to Lesliana's, they were extremely inferior.
They obtained skill books and accessories.
And from the special treasure chests, three items emerged, unlike Lesliana's.
The two most outstanding rewards were:
Sacred Sword (A)
Creates a sword of light with 200% attack.
This was the reward Mikaela obtained.
Tiara of the Forgotten Princess (Gold)
+100% to time-related abilities.
This was Leila's reward.
Among the special rewards, Pancho obtained a beautiful ring and two weapons.
Looking at the feminine ring, he cursed his own bad luck and decided to distribute it as a welcome gift to the new mothers.
Unlike Kiala, he had a slight understanding of what would happen in the future with the changes in the world.
The chances of their father becoming supreme were enormous.
He would certainly have many other children.
But those three women, before long, would hold extremely high status — higher than theirs. After all, they would be the ladies of the house. Thus, building a good relationship was not just nice — it was necessary. Too bad their mother was not one of them.
It was only a matter of time before those women had children.
And with power, the family would become noble, while their own status was delicate.
Children of a traitor.
People would talk and never forget. That was why they needed to evolve, gain strength, and build auxiliary power. Because although everything was fine now, in 10, 100, 1,000, or even 10,000 years… power corrupts! And Pancho doubted they wouldn't want the best for their own children. When that happened, the obstacle would be the two of them — the twins.
And since they couldn't push them away, all that remained was to build good relationships… and grow stronger. After all, as children of that father, their future was also limitless.
"How can the difference between the rewards be so large?" Leila spoke, for the first time in a long while.
Her voice was cute… yet at the same time, hypnotic.
"Ah! I forgot to mention," Lesliana said. "When I opened my chest, I received a notification. I completed the hidden task of opening the first special treasure chest on the first day of the Celestial Tower. That's why the rewards were so great."
After hearing that, everyone understood — but also lamented that it had been someone else… and not them.
Of all of them, only Danilo had not yet touched his chests.
Everyone looked at him, full of expectation.
He picked up the bronze chest.
He activated the Heart of a Monarch.
Percentages and rankings began to appear.
At 100% were bronze weapons.
The list dropped to 30%, where silver weapons already appeared.
It went all the way down to 1%.
After that, several golden weapons appeared, along with skill books.
Danilo chose an armor colored black and purple.
Monster Devourer (Gold)
+150% Strength
+100% Defense
+100% Agility
Ability — Regenerate:
Devour monster blood to regenerate the armor infinitely.
When they saw the exquisite armor that came out of the bronze chest, everyone felt envy.
"Old man… did you use your talent, the Heart of the Monarch?" Pancho asked, regretting that he had forgotten about his father's talent before opening his own chests.
"What does the Heart of the Monarch do?" Mikaela asked, trying to interact more with the family after receiving Pancho's bracelet.
"It's a skill that specifies drop rates. Remember how almost every creature I killed dropped weapons, while the ones you killed almost dropped nothing?"
"The master is saying that this is a skill?" she asked, stunned.
Earlier, she had been amazed by the master's twisted drop bar and had indeed considered that there might be some ability or talent involved.
But now that it was confirmed, it was still incredible.
"And why didn't you say anything, Big Bad Wolf? If you had told us, I wouldn't have gotten these horrible things," Lesliana said, pointing at the two silver weapons on the ground.
Since she was holding the half-meter egg, she had no storage space.
All that remained was to place them on the ground.
Danilo looked at the special treasure chest, activated the Heart of the Monarch's ability, and what he saw almost gave him a heart attack.