Chapter 318: Male Zerg Celebrity × Arms Dealer (8): Ulysses Had No Intention of Raising Any Gem Dragon Egg. Before His Uromia Was Born, He Wouldn’t Raise Any Egg

[Mr. Ravens's home now had a great many pets, and Mr. Ravens asked Shamir to name them.

Shamir went along with it and suggested several names, all of which were adopted.

The two birds were named “Mint” and “Tourmaline,” respectively, names that suited their magnificent plumage perfectly.

The furball beasts were named according to their colors: Little Yellow, Little Blue, Little Green... Simple and easy to remember.

The Gem Dragon egg gave Shamir the biggest headache. He wanted to call it “Ruby,” since its color was identical and it was another gemstone-themed name.

But as a rare and powerful cosmic starbeast, perhaps Ravens had greater expectations for it and would want to give it a more imposing and fitting name.

So Shamir suppressed his own idea. The egg hadn't hatched yet anyway, so there was plenty of time to think of a more suitable name.

Still, they needed something to call it. They couldn't keep calling it “Gem Dragon Egg” forever. That sounded far too formal, so for now they called it “Baby.”

The first time Shamir used that name, Mr. Ravens's expression became somewhat strange. He looked at the dragon egg with an indescribable expression.

But he quickly accepted the name and began caring for the dragon egg even more attentively.

Sometimes Shamir would see him take the dragon egg out of the incubator to replenish its moisture, keep it hydrated, and apply nutrient solution.

He took the egg's care very seriously, tending to it until its surface gleamed brilliantly, like an enormous gemstone displayed at a jewelry exhibition. It was exceptionally beautiful.

With all the new pets around, Shamir became so busy that he forgot his original schedule. For a while, he even forgot that he was supposed to leave after finishing his services for Ravens.

The main reason was that he'd originally assumed Mr. Ravens would arrange for specialized staff to care for the pets. Instead, he never saw any such Zergs. Mr. Ravens personally handled everything himself, including but not limited to retrieving the two muddleheaded birds whenever they got lost in the forest, worrying about the dragon egg's incubation, feeding the furball beasts...

Shamir was afraid that Mr. Ravens wasn't accustomed to doing these things and wouldn't be able to handle everything by himself, so he stayed to lend a hand.

And once he lent that hand, several days passed.

Before Shamir realized it, he'd been living at the villa for more than a week. Mr. Ravens showed absolutely no intention of asking him to leave, as though he'd already grown accustomed to Shamir's presence.

After so much time had passed, Shamir instead found himself unsure how to bring up leaving.

A clattering sound came from nearby.

Those stupid birds had collapsed their nest again.

Shamir sighed softly and resigned himself to going over to help.

The two mint-colored birds were the only pets that had already reached maturity. Every day, they flew back and forth between the forest and the villa, searching for materials to build a nest. According to the habits of their species, they had to finish constructing a sturdy, reliable nest before the end of spring in order to reproduce and lay eggs. They also had to build it personally. Even if someone prepared a finished nest for them, they wouldn't accept it.

Shamir watched one nest after another collapse and sighed inwardly.

With nest-building skills like theirs, their chances of reproducing this year looked bleak.

He felt like an old father worrying himself sick over his hatchlings.

Even his daily conversations with Mr. Ravens had turned into things like, “Those two pretty idiot sons went out looking for materials and haven't come back yet. They probably got lost again,” “The nest collapsed again. Good thing there weren't any eggs inside,” “The furball beasts chewed all the leaves off such-and-such flowers, so we'll have to replant them,” “The dragon egg Baby has this much longer until it hatches”...

In a daze, Shamir genuinely began to feel as though he and Mr. Ravens were raising hatchlings together.

...]

[Uh... Does this count as the fastest any protagonist has managed to start raising a kid?]

[Where does that leave Iso?]

[My apologies. I almost forgot about Major General Iso's time-traveling kid. I'm so jealous.]

[So keeping pets can make a Male Zerg stay? Learned something new today. (taking notes)]

[How could it? Most Male Zergs have weak attachments to blood relations. If a Male Zerg doesn't like you, even laying an egg won't make ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) him stay, let alone getting a pet.]

[In other words, in the eyes of some Male Zergs, hatchlings really are on the same level as pets. In that case, getting a pet might genuinely work. It could be as effective as having a hatchling.]

[That makes sense!]

[Wait, what? Weren't you people just saying Male Zergs don't care about pets? Then why are all the bird pets and furball beasts SOLD OUT??? It's only been a few minutes! What you say and what you do are two completely different things, huh?!]

[Cough, cough, cough. The chances of keeping a Male Zerg around with a pet might not be very high, but it'll still improve your odds a little, won't it? You have to try. This is a Male Zerg we're talking about. Every tiny increase in your chances counts.]

[As expected of Female Zergs. You people talk about pursuing Male Zergs like you're fighting a war, deploying every scheme you've got.]

[As we should, as we should. A certain Marshal once said that Male Zergs and marriage are a lifelong war. You need both strategy and tactics, and you can never let your guard down. One wrong move and you'll lose everything, leaving rivers of blood behind.]

[I know the Marshal you're talking about isn't Marshal Ulysses, but why does it feel like you're implying something?]

[As the “God of War,” the Marshal has only ever lost that one battle in his entire life. After that, he won everything there was to win, and his final battle in particular was such an overwhelming victory that every Female Zerg could only envy him to death.]

[Actually, judging by the final outcome, I almost think even that one defeat might have been part of the Marshal's plan. It happened too abruptly and didn't fit the Marshal's style at all. It felt more like he did it deliberately.]

[Holy shit! Why are we suddenly getting conspiracy theories? Weren't we talking about pets?]

[Oh, right, right. Pets. Speaking of which, why did they only mention the birds and furball beasts selling out? What about Gem Dragons? Nobody buying those?]

[Gem Dragons are already rare and difficult to encounter. Adult Gem Dragons are also extremely ferocious, so they aren't suitable as pets for Male Zergs. If you want to raise one, you need to start with a hatchling, preferably by incubating it from the egg. That way, when the Gem Dragon hatches, it'll regard the Zerg as its parent and companion, and it won't become aggressive toward them after growing up. With all those requirements piled together, finding a suitable one becomes even harder.]

[X708 hunting squad recruiting Zergs. Powerful cosmic beast sighted in the Blue Sea Star System, suspected Gem Dragon. There may be eggs. First come, first served.]

[Huh? Wait, what? If you can't buy one, you're just going out to catch one yourselves???]

As expected of one of the universe's great villains, a species infamous enough to stand alongside the Tianjia.

The netizens were only briefly shocked by such decisive behavior. High-ranking Female Zergs forming groups to hunt cosmic beasts was nothing unusual among the Zergs. Sometimes it was to flaunt their strength, sometimes to bring trophies home and please a Male Zerg. Either way, it was extremely common.

Even the various interstellar nations had heard about it. Whenever a powerful cosmic beast appeared, Female Zergs would charge over with bloodshot eyes, like gamers spotting a red-name BOSS. They simply couldn't resist.

At one point, this had frightened a whole collection of small nations into trembling with fear.

...

Cyril looked at the contents of the novel and began wondering whether he should get a Gem Dragon egg too.

His Male Lord was interested in everything that appeared in An-shen's novels and wanted to try practically all of it. Perhaps he would like a Gem Dragon too.

When Philor heard the suggestion, he seriously considered it before ultimately refusing.

He still had an egg belonging to himself and his Female Lord to incubate. He didn't have time to care for another egg.

The Principal, who was lounging idly against the sofa nearby, suggested that they could get a dragon egg and incubate it alongside the hatchling. The two could grow up together and might become excellent companions.

Hearing that, Philor shamefully found himself tempted again.

Because of the low birth rate, Zerg families rarely had hatchlings of the same age growing up at the same time. Most hatchlings grew up as the only young Zerg in the household. They were often separated from their siblings by several decades, and the differences in lifestyles and perspectives between adult Zergs and young Zergs were simply too great. Even if they deliberately tried to become close, it was difficult for them to have much to talk about.

If their hatchling could have another companion growing up alongside him, perhaps that really would be a good idea.

In the past, pet-shaped robot bugs or AIs were sometimes used to keep hatchlings company, but ultimately that was different from having a companion who could actually grow up alongside them.

Once the decision was made, they acted immediately. With his Male Lord's approval, the restless Principal instantly rubbed his hands together, preparing to call up a few old brothers and go rampaging through the sea of stars together.

He hadn't even made it out the door before his Female Lord pinned him down.

Gem Dragons might be rare, but with their family's wealth and influence, buying a Gem Dragon egg wouldn't be particularly difficult.

There was no need to hunt one personally.

More importantly, Cyril had no intention of letting this guy with a history of “running away from home” back out into the wild.

It had only been half a year since he'd gone off gallivanting around and nearly run straight into Tianjia Emperor Ares.

He could behave himself at home for at least a year first.

Elsewhere, Aira and Council Speaker Cassian were also considering getting a pet.

An-shen's novel had given them the idea.

The difference between their ranks was simply too great. Even after Aira had risen to B-rank, there was still a massive gap between him and S-rank Cassian. The possibility of them having an egg was practically nonexistent.

Perhaps there was a one-in-ten-thousand chance, but they couldn't place too much hope on such a faint possibility.

Maybe raising a pet as their hatchling would be a good alternative.

Zergs had extremely long lifespans, so if they were going to raise a pet, the pet's lifespan couldn't be too short either. Otherwise, parting with it one day would be too painful.

After thinking it over, a Gem Dragon, with its similarly long lifespan, seemed like an excellent choice.

There was also a small selfish desire to follow An-shen's choice.

Aira wanted to raise a Gem Dragon too.

After discussing it with Cassian, they both thought it was an excellent idea and immediately reached an agreement, beginning their search for a Gem Dragon hatchling.

Out in the sea of stars.

While the entire Zerg civilization was being thrown into turmoil over pets, the little wolf Zerg Ul already had a Gem Dragon egg.

In fact, he even had an entire group of adult Gem Dragons.

He had encountered them on his way back to the star pirate crew. The Gem Dragon group had been attracted by the Psychic Power he released outward and approached him curiously to communicate. Since they happened to be traveling in the same direction, they accompanied him for part of the journey.

The enormous Gem Dragons surrounded his star pirate ship, resembling a swarm of meteors following the vessel as they sailed forward together.

It was an extraordinarily imposing sight.

Seen from the nearby planets, it looked like a magnificent meteor shower.

...

Ulysses had no intention of raising any Gem Dragon egg.

Before his Uromia was born, he wouldn't raise any egg.

Coldly, he sent an application to the male.

Three times.