The next morning Leo woke up early, ignored the couple of birds who had lost their lives miserably by falling in the water and rushed to the chicken’s lake. He knew that the chances of having the egg for breakfast were slim since there was no guarantee that the chicken would leave today, but his heart still beat wildly in expectation … well … and with fear – the chicken was scary big after all.
Probably the stars had aligned the right way, because the moment he got to the other lake, Leo saw a huge shadow passing over his head. Thus, since the host was gone, the boy didn’t intend to wait for an invitation and with a wide grin across his face ran into the lake and began paddling towards the island.
It didn’t go fast and he did look like a drowning puppy, but he didn’t care. Clenching teeth from pain he persisted and yard by yard got closer to the island.
From his own experience Leo knew that the hardest part of swimming in these lakes was to avoid getting sudden muscle cramps. For some reason the lightning in the water tended to have such annoying effect and while he could somehow fight the pain, it was basically impossible to control when one of the extremities would decide to stop obeying commands.
This time he was lucky and probably because of the adrenaline rush got to the other side even quicker than during the practice. When he climbed out the water, Leo even didn’t feel tired or out of breath and trembling with excitement walked towards the egg laying in the nest under the canopy, once again calculating the time necessary to boil such beauty.
But then he suddenly had a thought that made him freeze on the spot. What if the chicken came back while he was cooking or eating the egg? Luckily the boy didn’t think of this while swimming otherwise it was highly likely he would’ve choked and drowned, but be as it may, now he found himself struggling with a dilemma.
He didn’t ponder for long though. He was a man from the Renaud family and they acted resolutely and decisively. Of course, Leo was certain that if Lyam was in his place he would’ve simply kicked the chicken’s ass and probably cooked it for lunch, but stealing the egg was still something his son should be capable of. All that was needed was for him to bring the egg away and eat elsewhere, right? The bird wouldn’t be able to find him then.
With this thought in mind Leo went over to the egg that turned out to be almost three feet tall. Now he was struck with another problem – how in the world was he going to carry the thing away?
It would’ve been too much to expect a child to think of logistical implications of a heist in advance, but the solution Leo thought of was actually not half bad. He took off the shirt he was wearing leaving himself naked once again and wore it on the egg. It didn’t cover it all like a regular sack would, but the egg was large and the shirt holes were not big enough for it to slip out.
After securing the bottom end of the shirt with the rope he used as the belt and the chisel, Leo pulled the egg out the nest and then into the water. Immediately he felt how it began heating up, but there was no time for him to waste thinking.
Clenching the bottom end of the shirt tightly between his teeth, Leo began to paddle back. As expected, it was much harder to swim while pulling something along, especially if you had to pull with your teeth. But as it turns out fear was much more effective motivator than greed and the boy got back to the other side almost twice as fast quadrupling the speed he had during the training sessions.
Completely out of breath Leo climbed out, pulling the egg behind him, but right when he sat down, he realized it was not safe at all. He needed to get back to the cat’s lake as soon as possible!
While pulling the egg through the jungle Leo remembered how he was stealing the Firepaste for days without getting caught and pondered whether the stupid chicken might not notice the egg was taken. And if it would, how it might react?
But then the memories of how the ape patriarch threatened him by humping that poor ape female resurfaced and Leo almost ran away leaving the precious egg behind. If the chicken was going to punish him the same way … just how big its thing was?! In the end he decided there was no guarantee that even if he left the egg here in the jungle he wouldn’t be found out, therefore there was only one option – to proceed as as previously planned.
Driven by this logic Leo continued to pull the egg which to his great delight turned out to be durable enough and didn’t break on the way. It took him half a day to get back to his lake, but just when he was about to take the chisel and begin to open it up, he began to hesitate again.
Yes, the cat was the ruler around here, but it wasn’t even home on its island at the moment. What if the mother tucking chicken came here first? Of course, there was no guarantee that the chicken would even look this way, but if its eyesight had become similar to that of an eagle? It already was crying like an eagle, right?
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Leo didn’t linger anymore. He grabbed the egg and resolutely pulled into the water. There was only one safe place around here and he was set on eating the egg there.
Both physically and psychologically numb to the pain, Leo finally arrived at the cat’s island. He was so exhausted he even forgot about the long awaited meal for a while, but after catching a bit of breath he grabbed the chisel and began to brutally smack the egg as if it was his mortal enemy.
It took him some time, but when the shell finally broke, an intoxicating fragrance assaulted Leo’s senses. It was sweet and mild, but at the same time fresh and minty and without a second thought he broke off a bit more of the eggshell and began to gobble down the white substance using both hands as if those were spoons.
Back home Leo’s moms and sisters used to put a bit of butter and salt when they fed him boiled eggs, but this one was perfect on its own. He could swear he hadn’t tasted anything so delicious in his life, but the moment he got to the yolk he experienced a whole new level of ecstasy.
Leo ate and ate without a pause and completely lost the track of time. He only stopped after he licked clean the last piece of the eggshell and in shock realized he had eaten something that was almost half his size. But then he got sleepy and barely resisted passing out on the spot – the cat coming back home and finding him here might’ve become a problem and even a slightest thought of that provided him with the necessary boost of power and, obviously, fear.
The numbing pain during the swim back did keep him conscious although the whole way he felt incredibly bloated. In the end the best he could do was to crawl out the water and fall asleep near the bush he usually spent his nights at.
Leo had no clue he just ate something even immortals might consider a delicacy. He also had no clue that what he just did would’ve been widely considered a huge waste. Nascent soul stage cultivators would’ve killed to get that egg to raise a griffin as a prestigious mount and actually wars had been fought for less.
Even if someone for whatever reason wanted to consume a rank seven griffin’s egg, they should’ve at least given it to a proper alchemist first and let them process it. Of course, cooking it in the waters of the Divine tribulation tree was also not half bad, but it was still a huge waste since an egg from a rank seven beast was always an incredible cultivation supplement and should’ve been consumed in portions while thoroughly absorbing the rich and gentle Qi within.
The boy also had no clue that because of the enormous amount of the natural Qi he gobbled down, he passed out to wake up only half a month later. He didn’t witness how the griffin returned to his island and discovered the egg was missing. He also didn’t witness how the beast almost went mad when after darting high up in the air it noticed the eggshells of its precious egg on the goldenglow tiger’s island.
Leo missed the ambush the griffin prepared right next to him and the horrifying fight that followed after it attacked the tiger. The unaware tiger did get caught by surprise, but the griffin managed to only claw out one of its eyes and right after the king of beasts proved it had this title for a reason and grabbed the griffin by the neck in its deadly jaws.
Who knows how the fight would’ve have ended if the griffin didn’t try to take off. The two were had sunken their claws inseparably deep into each other’s bodies and the double weight proved to be too much for the wounded griffin. It did managed to fly several yards upwards, but then they fell first onto the Divine tribulation tree and afterwards in the lake. The proud beasts refused to let each other go, but even if they would’ve wanted to, it wouldn’t have been possible. The tribulation lightning kept them constantly paralyzed and they slowly bled out and died within span of two incredibly long days while being constantly electrocuted.
“Leo! Leo, my boy! Time for lunch!” Leo heard Camille’s aged, but pleasant voice.
“Mom, I’m not hungry!” He whispered back.
“What happened to you? Are you feeling ill? Is my precious boy sick?” Camille asked with a smile and put her palm on Leo’s forehead.
“No, mom! It’s just … I just ate …” Leo said, but then realized he was in his old room lying on the bed while his mother was sitting right next to him.
“Mom! You won’t believe me! I just had the most unbelievable dream!” He said in an excited voice, “We were traveling on a ship, and then there was this weird storm … and then I had to live with apes … and then there was a big scary cat and a chicken …”
“It’s fine my dear, you’re safe now.” Camille whispered caressing Leo’s head and leaned over to kiss him, but for some reason she began to peck him as if she was some kind of a bird.
“Mom? What are you doing mom?” Leo sprung up trying to shoo her away, but all he managed to do was to scare a family of jungle babblers who flew away the moment he woke up.
“Mother tucker!” Leo cursed realizing that what he just saw was a dream and in the reality he was actually still near the same lake.
He slowly got up trying to recollect what transpired last night before he went to sleep, but got stunned speechless when he saw the devastation that the surroundings had experienced. There were countless broken trees and holes in the ground all over the place as if a tornado had passed leaving no spot unscathed. Even the leafless tree was crooked and had lost more than half of its branches.
There was no sign of the big cat, but across the island, on the other side of the lake there were two black rock piles in the water that weren’t there before. If this was Leo’s first day here, he would’ve wondered what they were exactly, but the smell of burnt flesh and fur clearly indicated the two monsters had met their end.
Leo awkwardly scratched his head and went over to the lake to drink some water. As usual, he was incredibly thirsty, but this morning he also felt bloated just like he did after feasting on the egg.
Remembering the best meal of his life Leo sighed, but then his eyes lit up. Yes, the egg was no more, but the chicken was already cooked and ready to be eaten!
With this thought he immediately darted into the jungle towards the cabin where he remembered he had seen a large sickle. As a weapon it seemed crappy, but as something to cut the big chicken it should pass nicely!