Ian's eyes flashed from across the table. The sa realization hit him at the sa mont.
The first S-Rank gate of the First Order. The only one of its kind ever recorded. Nobody knew what rewards it contained because nobody had ever cleared one before.
Moon Outlaw's team were the first to clear such a gate. The Association had also kept all important details about the topic hidden, only those at the top echelons knew about it.
If the rewards scaled the way gate rewards typically did, then a first-ever S-Rank clear could have yielded sothing unprecedented. Sothing that didn't follow the normal rules. Sothing that could potentially threaten beings far above the First Order.
Even Third Order beings like themselves.
"The resources inside the first-ever S-Rank gate." Ian said slowly, the words heavy in his mouth. "Whatever it is, it must be powerful and the master knew about that, hence why we were warned."
"aning a First Order S-Rank clear could produce rewards that punch far above First Order." Baaron finished.
The two of them looked at each other across the table. The laughter from monts ago felt very far away.
The third figure watched them arrive at the conclusion on their own. He said nothing more.
To him, the reasons behind the master's warning were irrelevant. The master said be careful, so he would be careful. The master said proceed, so he would proceed. It was that simple. He didn't need to understand the why. He only needed to execute the what.
"Start making your preparations." He said, reverting the conversation back to its main course. "The United Terran Alliance is more vigilant than ever. They won't make the sa mistakes as before."
Ian and Baaron nodded. "Will do."
The eting was over. The third figure turned and disappeared into the shadows of the corridor beyond, his footsteps silent, his presence dissolving into the darkness as if he had never been there.
Ian and Baaron remained seated at the stone table. The torches flickered between them, casting their shadows.
Neither of them spoke for a long mont.
Then, without exchanging a single word, both of them arrived at the sa thought, the sa goal. When the ti ca, they would hunt down Moon Outlaw.
And they would take whatever prize he had gained from the S-Rank gate for themselves.
♢♢♢♢
After Selene and Yara had settled into their rooms for the night, Moon retreated to his own.
He sat on the edge of his large, luxurious bed, the turtle egg resting in its container on the table beside him. The room was quiet, Moon's mind wasn't occupied with combat or survival.
It drifted to sothing that had been bothering him since the First Sanctuary.
Super lives.
He still didn't understand why they existed, or why only Supre creatures possessed them. Every other beast gave normal lives when killed. Every human carried normal lives. But Supre creatures were different. They carried sothing so powerful that it could evolve skills to Legendary Rank.
Moon had a theory. He believed that Supre creatures possessed such imnse talent and ca from such powerful bloodlines that they ford so kind of connection to the River of Paths. That connection, however faint, granted them super lives as a byproduct of their proximity to a force that most First Order beings couldn't access.
But the theory had holes.
If Supre creatures gained super lives through a connection to the River of Paths, then why didn't Surpassers have them too? Surpassers could actively enter and interact with the River. Their connection was far stronger and more direct than anything a Supre beast could achieve through bloodline alone. Yet Surpassers carried normal lives like everyone else.
"The best way to find out is to interact with them directly." Moon muttered.
His gaze landed on the turtle egg. It sat in its container, warm, alive, the faint pulse of a heartbeat noticeable.
The child of a Supre Rank creature.
If he could raise it, study it, understand how it grew and what made it different from ordinary beasts, he might find answers that no amount of theorizing could provide.
Moon still had portions of turtle and fox at stored in his ring. Both Supre Rank. Both rich with energy that could potentially nourish the egg.
He had previously fed Yara the flesh of the fox, and that had also provided her so gains, but nothing close to what Mirage had gained.
Then another thought surfaced.
"Maybe I could feed it the blood of the Golden Fish."
The Golden Fish from the First Sanctuary. A creature whose origins and rank Moon still didn't fully understand. Its blood sat inside his storage ring, untouched since the day he collected it inside the heart of the Golden Fish.
He hadn't tried using it on anything yet. The fish had been an anomaly, sothing that existed outside the normal ranking system, and Moon had been too cautious to experint with it carelessly.
It was too precious to let go to waste.
But the turtle egg was a Supre creature's offspring. If anything could handle the potency of that blood, it would be this.
"It's worth a shot."
Moon took out a bucket's worth of the Golden Fish's blood from his storage ring. He had an entire ring full of the stuff, so a single bucket wasn't going to make a dent.
"Don't disappoint , little one." Moon muttered, carefully lifting the turtle egg from its rune-inscribed container.
The egg was warm to his touch, filled with vitality. He could feel the heartbeat of sothing that hadn't yet entered the world.
Moon took a deep breath and lowered the egg into the blood.
The golden liquid swallowed it completely. The egg sank to the bottom of the bucket and sat there, subrged, motionless.
Moon waited. Ti passed by in an excruciatingly slow manner, as if every second was a minute, and every minute was an hour.
Moon would be lying if he said he wasn't worried. He was afraid the small turtle would be unable to handle the blood of the Golden Fish, and potentially die.
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