Do I Have an Egg Too?

Aibo glanced over his own body stats, compared them to the enhancement levels of the other two, and cast the new magic on himself as well. Its power was much weaker than theirs.

"Hiss—"

The moment the magic took effect, Aibo nearly cried out. It felt like countless blades were tearing through his muscles.

No, girls.

This level of pain did not even count as "tingly" to Erza? And Mira could endure it without even furrowing her brow?

Was something wrong with him, or were they the ones with a problem?

Aibo gritted his teeth and held on. Even girls could endure pain several times worse than his. If he could not take it, that would be way too embarrassing!

"Aibo, how does it feel?"

"I-I'm fine... I just need a little more time to get used to it..."

Aibo's gaze drifted as he stiffly forced out the words, his attention focused on his status panel.

After waiting for a while, he noticed that his maximum stamina had suddenly risen by a point. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

As long as it worked, it was fine. As long as it worked, he could endure this much pain. It was just pain, nothing more than—

"Aibo..."

"Eek—!"

Erza wanted to pat Aibo on the shoulder, but the instant she touched him, she witnessed his utterly embarrassing reaction.

"Oh? Does it hurt that much? Sorry."

"N-No, it's fine. I'm just a little sensitive..."

Mira noticed from the side, her eyes lighting up as she approached with a mischievous grin.

"Well, well~ Little Aibo~ You don't look so good~"

"What are you talking about?! I'm fine! Ah! D-Don't touch—"

Mira grabbed the flesh around Aibo's shoulders and neck with both hands, nearly squeezing tears out of him. This was no shoulder massage—he felt as if he had been clamped by two vises. It hurt like hell!

Seeing Aibo react so fiercely, Mira not only failed to stop, but went even further.

"Ahahahahaha! You've had so much fun bullying your big sister these past few months, huh? Didn't expect you'd have a day like this, did you?!"

"D-Don't squeeze! No!"

"Stop! Don't bully Aibo!"

Fortunately, Erza was a superhero of justice and would never stand by while evil ran rampant. She immediately stepped in to save him. One grab, two grabs, three—

"Wait, aaahhh!!"

Erza's iron grip missed Mira and instead grabbed Aibo, whom Mira had used as a shield.

The next second, Aibo vanished from the spot. All that remained in Mira's hands was the white lab coat and shirt she had been tightly clutching.

Aibo had run away!

"...Ah! This is all your fault! You freakishly strong gorilla! Look how much pain you put Aibo through!"

"I... Sorry. I'll go apologize to Aibo..."

Erza was a little flustered too. Aibo's scream just now had been truly miserable, and she feared she had genuinely hurt him. She immediately turned to go find him and apologize, but after taking one step, she backed up again.

Because when she turned around, she saw Mira pick up Aibo's shirt and take a deep sniff, wearing an extremely questionable expression.

"Mira! Give me Aibo's clothes!"

"What?! No way! This is my trophy!"

"I'm giving Aibo's clothes back to him! I absolutely will not leave them with you!"

"Hehe, then come take them if you can! I'd rather die than hand this shirt over!"

"You idiot! Have some shame, at least!"

"Mind your own business! You nosy fake goody-two-shoes! Get lost—!"

The two began fighting in the forest again.

Meanwhile, Aibo, who had instantly fled back to his room out of fear of embarrassing himself, was now curled into a trembling ball on the floor with his upper body bare.

There was no other reason—it hurt like fucking hell. Aibo, who had never suffered much hardship across both his lives, had been hurt to tears.

"Ugh... hiss... Does this magic have the side effect of increasing bodily sensitivity? This is way too pathetic..."

Only after quite a while did Aibo recover. The abundant life force within his body had been constantly repairing his "injuries." The intense pain would not last long, but the stinging pain caused by the magic was impossible to avoid.

Though the side effects were a little hard to bear, the benefits of this magic were worth the pain.

Judging by Erza and Mira's changes over the past few months, the effects of this magic were real. Their physical abilities had been steadily improving.

Although this magic could only increase base stats and could not improve neural response, raising constitution without raising agility would not strengthen close-range combat ability. But stats were exactly what Aibo wanted. His magic power had been limited by his body for a long time, and he desperately needed to break through its upper limit.

Moreover, Aibo discovered that at some point, his skill [Body Tempering LV1] had become [Body Tempering Magic LV1: 96.7%]. The skill name had changed once again!

This was wonderful news. It meant the system recognized the magic he had created, and it was even a new kind of magic independent of all existing magical systems.

Hard work truly paid off! It had not been easy.

Aibo's mood brightened, and even the tearing pain throughout his body seemed dulled. His inspiration value kept jumping.

He summoned Virgo and fetched a new set of clothes to put on. Just as he was about to return to bed and lie down for a while, he froze when he reached the bedside.

Why was there an egg on my bed?

"Virgo? Where did this egg come from?"

"Little Master, the moment I was summoned, I saw it sitting here. Did you not bring it home yourself?"

"Huh? I didn't..."

Aibo hurriedly inspected the spells he had left behind. There were no signs of intrusion!

What was going on? Someone had bypassed his spells and placed an egg on his bed?

Aibo returned to the bed uneasily, only then noticing an exquisitely crafted box beside the egg. There was also a letter pressed beneath the box!

[To the reader:

Please take care of this child for a while. I will come back for her in the future. The box contains a reward that will satisfy you, so don't hold back.

—Left by a mysterious person]

Aibo: ???

What kind of genius would leave "Left by a mysterious person" as such an absurd signature? Were they insane?

However, this mysterious person had been able to enter and leave his room without alerting his spells, so they had to be incredibly powerful—very likely someone he could not afford to provoke.

So... a mysterious powerhouse had randomly come to his house and left an egg in his care? What was that supposed to mean?

Wait, Mira seemed to have mentioned that Natsu had also picked up a huge egg. Could it be the same kind as this one?

Holding the letter, Aibo's expression kept shifting.

In the end, he sighed and picked up the exquisite box. He would first see what reward this mysterious person had left him. If he was not satisfied, he would throw away this egg of unknown origin...

But the moment Aibo opened the box, a burst of intense light nearly blinded him. Then the light shot straight into him, "colliding" with his body before vanishing inside.

"???"

Aibo was startled and began patting himself all over.

"Virgo, do I look any different? Did you see that light just now?"

"Little Master has not changed in any way. I saw the light merge into your chest, then disappear."

"What the hell? What was th—"

Aibo suddenly froze. He seemed to know what that thing had been, because his system gave him a notification:

[Dragon Seed: 1]

[Dragon Power LV0: 1/1000]