"Oh Thank Mercury!" exclaimed the older merchant as he wiped his forehead with a cloth.

"I thought we were going to die just now! Twice!" stated the spear user Scutum.

"We might still die if we ever leak this by accident. If the marquis doesn't get us, then the dragon will." grimly added the shield user Lance.

While the others continued to talk about how lucky they were, the younger merchant seemed less relieved, and more annoyed.

"We were on the losing end of that deal." muttered the girl.

The older merchant disagreed furiously though.

"Mistress, whatever that rock may have been, it was not worth more than your life. As the daughter of the head of our company, your life is incomparable to an unknown stone. "

Naomi shook her head. "Make no mistake, I'm grateful we got out of that alive, and my life is priceless in that sense, but that rock was clearly extremely valuable. The marquis wanted it transported, and amongst the things the dragon claimed, it was the only one that genuinely captured the dragon's interest."

Unlike the older merchant, she had been quietly observing the dragon, and despite its best attempts, she easily saw through the palpable interest it had in the stone. Of course, she had also seen the interest it held in novels, but she suspected the value of those was in a different light.

It was quite cute, the dragon's interactions.

She couldn't wait to arrive home and tell her father all about the experience.

Including the part where the marquis double crossed them.

Naomi's eyes narrowed.

For that, the marquis would pay.

----------------------------------------

Richard was staring at the stone, and watching as he slowly pulled the other mysterious stone he had from his inventory.

And as he put the stones next to each other, the mysterious stones hummed, with the smaller of the two making mysterious noises.

"What will it do?" he asked the system curiously.

[Unfortunately, you do not possess the clearance necessary to identify this stone, nor will appraisal be able to provide an answer.]

Richard frowned as he pondered.

"Does it have to do with dinosaurs again?" he questioned, thinking of how when he asked about the dinosaurs the onyx raptor description mentioned, the system requested 1000 points for. He hadn't dwelled on it, but now that he thought about it, it seemed certain things werre simply off-limits to him.

Not unknown to the system, just not for him.

Which made sense, the government clearly kept certain things from the poopulace, as did the church, this Richard knew for sure, but that didn't make the frustration of not knowing any less.

[No. Both are merely above your clearance. You can pay for the knowledge about the dinosaurs, but the %$#ar#& stone is something only player 0 can tell you about]

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

So this mysterious stone is not like the dinosaurs, because it was beyond payment. Hmm, fascinating.

Looking at the stones, the notification popped up once more.

[Would you like to use it on the mysterious boulder?]

Pause.

Richard was tempted, but at the same time, he pondered.

Not much was known about either, but clearly one was more valuable than the other, and to use it in such a way...

Could it be a waste?

He didn't know either, since the system wouldn't give the description of the nature of the stone.

Perhaps it would at least tell him the other functions of the stone?

[No. Those are also beyond clearance.]

Are there better uses for the stone at least.

Hesitation.

[There are better uses for it. However, these uses are far beyond your current stage.]

So there is good reason to save it for later then, right?

[Perhaps, but the longer you hold onto that stone, the more dangerous it becomes]

Is the stone unstable? Or perhaps you're talking about-

[Greed. Many would desire that stone. You're lucky right now, insofar that you haven't met anyone who knows and values that stone.

Should they know you posses it, death is the likely outcome]

What about the inventory though? Can't it hide the stone?

[From high level monsters and even low ranked gods? Sure. Anything higher though...]

Sweat ran down Richard's back as he heard the implications.

The only reason he wasn't dead now was because by chance, he hadn't encountered anyone who wanted it.

But if he had a run-in with a god, Richard was going to be killed.

Still, he held the two, wondering what he should do.

If t was so mysterious, surely there was some special unknown use for it.

And yet, the sword of Damocles hung over him ominously, eventually leading him to agree to merge the stone with the boulder.

Perhaps this would be a loss, but better a loss than an extremely dangerous gain that one day may become his guillotine.

[Wonderful. The use of the Lazarus Stone will commence]

Lazarus?

Before Richard had a moment to mull it over, the stones merged, the smaller sinking into the larger.

The reaction was immediate, as the boulder swelled in size.

Yes, swelled.

Soon it was as tall as Richard was.

Why was it growing?

[It is not growing, merely returning to it's original size]

Original?

It's a stone though, what counts as original.

Richard was confused, and yet the system silenced himself, and soon did Richard did too.

Ba-bump

Ba-bump

Ba-bump

Ba-bump

The rhythmic sound silenced Richard, as he found his answer, beating at the center of the stone.

It began flaking, as the very outer rim of the stone began falling off, revealing an egg.

An egg?

Richard's worry lessoned.

Richard wasn't sure whether he should apply a familiars contract to this egg or put it into his inventory

As soon as the thought passed, Richard felt a sense of oppression emanating from the egg, as if the creature inside refused the very thought of becoming a familiar, being dominated.

And appropriately, when Richard no longer leaked intent to use the familiar spell, in turn, the egg stopped releasing its suppression.

Richard gave the egg a more appreciative glance, while Panda whistled.

"That egg has balls" commented the squirrel.

Loud crashing noises could be heard, as rumbling shook the earth.

It wasn't an earthquake, but the sound of a very worried snake lady.

Sister Alexandria moved far faster than Richard had ever seen her move, as she slithered right up to them.

She began quickly looking around, seemingly searching for something.

Seemingly satisfied, she turned to Richard.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright!" She exclaimed as she wrapped around Richard, maybe squeezing a bit too tightly.

"I sensed something way too strong on my territory and do you know how worried-" she paused, as she stared dumbly at the egg.

"Richard..." she asked patiently, and yet he felt the squeezing tighten ever so slightly.

"What is that?" she said calmly, and yet Richard felt his chest tighten just a bit more.

Taps could be heard as Krackle and her teacher Karkinos crab walked on over to the sight, as Karkinos happily noted.

"Oh! An ancient monster! Karkinos hasn't seen one of these in countless millennia! What were the chances we would find one here!?"

Sister, p-p-p-lease s-stop s-squezing so hard. That pinched look on your face is enough!