The entire egg lit up in a black light all of a sudden and it engulfed the entire concealed space part of [Clan Manor] menu instantly.
Blue's anticipation reached its peak. The black light slowly subsided and the silhouette of a four legged beast became clear.
"Huh? That egg was an aether embryo?"
Blue was dumbfounded inwardly when he finally saw the hatchling.
It was a horse with an ink-black skin dotted with sprinkles of starlight on it. It had mane on its back jet black in color that waved rhythmically in constant as if touched by an ever present wind. Its tail was thick with thistles and had a tail end similar to a spear tip. Its four legs were sturdy while the hooves emitted dark smog constantly. Its eyes were made of red light while the ears were constantly perking up as if it could catch even the slightest of any sound. The most defining feature of its species however was the two jutting horns on the head that looked like wilted tree branches had turned into shimmering dark crystals.
"Bicorn that hatched from an egg, a natural born bicorn of the holy beast race. So an embryo of a bicorn species looked like that. Why the hell did its embryo get put in a box and hidden under here in the union?"
He was truly curious about this point. He already concluded that he had just ruined someone's arrangement. They sneakily hid it here and properly wanted to return later to get it, for whatever reason, when it was close to hatching but who would have thought that Blue would appear out of nowhere and steal it?
The wooden box even managed to hide all aether fluctuations when the egg was absorbing aether from the surroundings yet it just had to meet his Premonition ability. According to that person's calculation the egg should hatch at a much later date than today so they would still remain ignorant about it.
When Blue got the egg he had already used numerous equipment and items from his subspace to check for any third-party involvement such as tracking or alarm and also four elemental methods on it. He found it clean at that time so it puzzled him why it was in a wooden box then.
Now that he figured out the involvement of an aether embryo he was 100% certain.
An aether embryo was how a natural born of certain races in the void came into existence. Blue, or the real Azure Limbo was the same. The aether embryo for an abyss spawn's natural born was a gaping maw that constantly absorbed aether till the entity was born.
He obviously knew of other noteworthy races, but the dark ostrich egg being the bicorn species aether embryo was not known to him as the holy beast race had numerous species in it. Learning about each and every single one of them was just not important enough to dedicate his time or so he thought in the past.
Some aether embryo was no different from other objects it mimicked thus even with his countless methods he couldn't figure out its true identity this time until the matter concluded.
The newborn bicorn was as big as an adult horse. A natural born would be an adult at birth similarly with all the common means available to their race at that age. So this bicorn was the same as it slowly walked up to him and communicated telepathically.
It seemed very curious and amiable towards him.
"Well, time to tame it thoroughly."
Thus Blue went on a hearty conversation.
°°°°
Next day, after telling Karla that he will be going on a secluded training as the compulsory subjects lessons ended, he focused on the task at hand.
The bicorn had an adult's consciousness thus wasn't naive to fall for any cheap words. However in front of Blue who had three million years of experience and dedicated most of his past life to deceiving others far stronger and astute than him this bicorn was nothing but an easy prey.
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He first congratulated it for the successful hatching when they communicated telepathically for the first time the previous day. The bicorn was a male so his thought process adhered to the typical adult male bicorn but of course with his own individuality as every being in the void was unique on their own right.
The bicorn might be able to telepathically communicate but Blue had to reply by word as he still hadn't unlocked the bloodline ability for it.
He asked about Blue and thanked him for helping him. Blue introduced himself and also truthfully revealed how he found the "egg" back at the beast habitats. Upon learning about it he asked to see the wooden box to which Blue cooperated willingly.
The bicorn shook his head and told him telepathically that he had no recollection of it as his consciousness was just formed recently and he was only able to sense outside the eggshell from a bit of a distance after that. Unsurprisingly the first person he sensed was Blue and he noticed his goodwill towards him so he considered him as a benefactor.
He also introduced himself as a natural born of bicorn species of the holy beast race.
Blue then revealed some of his suspicions like how the person who put the egg inside the box was hiding from someone or something and that person had dubious motives towards the bicorn. The bicorn also agreed with his suspicions as he also felt very odd about him being born here. As a natural born bicorn he also had all the common memories about his racial information so why wasn't he born around his race's territory but here instead, this question naturally baffled him.
Blue then told it not to worry as he would find the answers eventually. He also revealed that the place he was in now was actually a skill of his called Home skill, which was naturally nonsense. However he truthfully revealed how hidden and safe it was thus placating him that the true mastermind behind the wooden box wouldn't come looking for him anytime soon.
The bicorn exhaled a huff of air from his nostril, seemingly a bit relieved.
"Why not pick a name for yourself? Surely you won't remain nameless forever, right?"
He thus got to one of the crucial parts of the conversation. If here he could subtly guide this naive horse to his advantage then it will be a good starting point.
The bicorn nodded his horse head as his red light eyes seemed to look towards the distance in deep thought. After some time he looked at him and communicated that he didn't find any suitable name that resonated with his individuality as his life experience was zero for now.
"Hmm, how about a different approach then? Like something you aspire to be in your life? Why not choose in that way?"
He further encouraged the bicorn and before letting the horse think deeply about it he added timely,
"How about the name Horizon? The bicorn who gallops through the end of one's sight, the presence which engulfs the entire horizon thus becoming the horizon itself. Quite poetic in my opinion and has a nice feel to it."
The bicorn's red light eyes seemed to intensify for a moment before exhaling more huff of air from the nostril, seemingly liking it very much.
Thus the bicorn named himself Horizon.
"Hehe, this horse really set himself up."
Blue chuckled inwardly while talking about the other resident in this skill and requesting Horizon not to reveal himself to her yet. He gave the reason that his "skill" had limited slot so because of this he had earlier promised a girl named Clara to be the next resident when the slot increased but he unexpectedly found Horizon and after he was born the slot had been permanently taken by him thus now he wanted to increase his skill proficiency to the next stage for a slot to open so he could uphold his promise.
Horizon agreed with his request after learning about so many details of this Home skill and he inwardly praised the guy for going so far to uphold his promise.
However he still asked about something he didn't understand, like what was a "skill" in the first place? He didn't have any such information about skills at birth as it didn't conform to his race.
Blue made sure to show a shocked expression before explaining about it and then asked Horizon how come he didn't know of it since he introduced himself as a natural born earlier who had a lot of information on their brain from birth.
The horse then communicated that it wasn't all inclusive as the information only pertained to his race as a holy beast of bicorn species. He then revealed what he considered equivalent to player's skills from his own race to which Blue showed an enlightened expression as he "curiously" asked for details. Thus the bicorn smugly revealed answers to his first conversation partner in his horse life.
Blue obviously was acting the part of a newbie player ignorant of others from outside the domain so naturally was curious to learn about such information.
So after conversing much he said his goodbye before settling on the time for the next day he would visit him and talk more about the outside world. Horizon didn't insist on leaving as the hidden mastermind might sense him if he came out.
When Blue exited the [Clan Manor] menu he laughed amusedly for a while as his plans for Horizon were going off smoothly.