“alright, now that we've dealt with the intruders and even got this windfall, let's go back to the priorities, taking care of the eggs.”

But another prompt stopped Max.

[Ding, scan complete.]

“huh?”

[Ding, it's detected that your pet, the mountain fairy Lucy, has gained her first perfected skill.]

[Ding, showing scan results :

The Skill [Emerald water] have a 13% compatibility with the innate ability [ mountain ruler.]

The Skill [Emerald water] have a 89% compatibility with the ability [blessed].

Host will you merge the skill with either ability?].

“huh. So that is what you were scanning for: compatibility! .

first show me the benefits of such an action also the consequences and possible dangers.”

[Ding, reporting to The Host.

You can assimilate any skill into one of the pet’s abilities.

The skill will be lost, but its effects will be added to the ability in a weakened state.

The ability in question will gain an increase in its potential and raw power.

Note 01 : There is a chance to lose some of the skill’s effects in the assimilation process.

Note 02 : If the compatibility is lower than 50%, the ability might suffer some damage with a small chance of it being completely ruined.

Note 03 : the higher the compatibility, the better the result of the assimilation process.

Note 04 : abilities at the perfected mastery can not accept anymore skills.]

After reading everything at least twice, Max made his decision.

“Simulator don't assimilate.”

Max still needed emerald water at peak power for the crow's, but after that he plan to assimilate it within blessed.

“Lucy, did you produce the first few drops?, “asked Max as he walked inside the incubation room.

‘yes’

The room was completely empty other than the suitcase in the middle.

“Good job.” complemented Max as he checked the suitcase.

On it there was a thin layer of what looks like normal water, barely touching the eggs.

Max checked the hatching date, and it showed 6 days.

He couldn't help but smile. “it's looking good. Lu, take care of it here. I am going to take a rest.”

Lucy didn't respond, just closing the door behind Max.

....

Time passed, and soon 5 days has gone by.

Max spent it relaxing while having Lucy stock on gunpowder.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Lucy wasn't happy about it, but Max won't have any of that.

A lot of people have been passing by recently, so Max had to stop her from making noise.

He was also curious about the purpose of those guys. They just camped on the next mountain doing nothing.

Looking at the distance, Max rubbed his chin.

“Lu, I can smell treasure over there, and since there's a good thing close by, it means it's my good thing.

Keep an eye on them Lu, after the crows are born and safe we'd go check the situation. “

Lucy was kinda surprised. Her Master was even more of a shut in than herself, so him taking action was a first.

But it doesn't matter. She will just do whatever he orders.

Max wanted to stay put and deal with his talent first, but looking at people getting riches in front of him, gives him the itch to go and take it.

“well anyway, just take a quick peek.

If it's an easy pick, then take the treasure and escape, and if it's dangerous, then collapse the Oubach cave so no one can have it.

Anyway, If I can't get it, then no one should think about it.”

Lucy was speechless, but she didn't speak.

In her tiny little head, that treasure appeared next to them, so it's practically theirs.

If anyone tried to take it, then that thief should just die.

........

If the people camping and waiting knew what the Master and pet were thinking, who knows how they would react?.

Good guy, can't you be a little more reasonable? Everyone is competing, being patient, and risking their lives here.

what about you?.

You want to kill everyone if you think it's too dangerous for you to compete?

..............

Max, on the other hand, didn't care about them because the eggs were about to hatch.

He took them out of the suitcase and put them on the ground separate from each other.

He also prepared a lot of water from Lucy's skill for them to drink after they hatch. It should have a greater effect this way.

Max was completely focused. He noticed that 6 eggs seem dead, but he expected this much.

Soon, the first egg hatched. Max watched the little guy come out of its egg, then eat the eggshell slowly.

Maybe it's because of Max's care for them or because they aren't normal crow's, this newborn isn't bald but had feathers.

Black eyes, and pitch black feathers, abnormally black.

Max pulled the little guy next to the water and let it drink.

Soon. The second, the third, and fourth hatched.

They looked somewhat similar to the first one, but although they had the same black color as the first, it didn't have the same intensity.

Max did the same to them, letting them drink until they couldn't.

Among the 40 eggs, 7 were dead while all others hatched successfully.

Lucy felt depressed. She had to guard the surroundings, so she couldn't be here in person. All she can do is watch.

So she couldn't help but ask Max.

‘let me have some, please’

Max's mouth twitched. He didn't know what to say. ‘Let me have some? You think they're cabbage or something?’

Max disregarded Lucy’s antics and devoted his attention to the baby crows, who seemed to consider him their mother and stayed close to him.

“alright, let's see which of you will be suitable. Simulator scan the potential pets in front of me.”

[Ding, executing orders.]

Soon, rows of detailed information about each crow.

their stats, elemental affinities, potential, and such.

Max's experiment required very specific conditions for each crow, so he had to pick carefully.

Max spent the next few hours comparing slowly, reading each detail twice.

When it comes to his own power, Max was as serious as he can get.

In the process, he found 3 crows with innate abilities. He didn't even glance at them and eliminated them immediately.

His plan is to create something similar to a hive mind link between the crow’s using psychic link, for that the crows shouldn't be too talented, otherwise it will affect the link.

same for elemental affinity, they need to be somewhat low,

otherwise the psychic link will be tainted with such elements,

normally this is a good thing, since it will not only enhance the

link but also protect it.

For example, One Crow had a very high fire Elemental affinity.

If that crow was in the link, the psychic link will have a burning

Aura around it. If someone tried to invade it using psychic skills, his mental power will be burned.

However, Max needs the psychic link to be as pure as possible. That's the only way the hive mind plan can work.

This wasn't his research. Max doesn't have such research capabilities, at least not yet.

Years ago, hive mind project was a government open research, since hive mind pets were so useful they wanted to create more, because such pets are super rare and all above the S-rank.

The skill psychic link wasn't a skill from a dungeon, but a byproduct of that research.

Because the project was deemed as a failure, they released the skill to manage their losses.

They also released the project in a research paper online. After all, the

government will be happy if some genius researcher came up with some new

ideas, since the pet business is all under their control anyway, it will only

benefit them first.

...

Max was lucky enough to have a chat with a researcher about that project on the web.

Maybe because the guy was bored or maybe because Max was persistent in sending questions for years. One day, the guy decided to answer a few of them.

From him, Max knew that the project was half successful. It’s not that they couldn't create hive mind pets.

but the requirements were too harsh, although the government can achieve such requirement, but the price they pay wouldn't match the result they receive, so the project was deemed as a failure.

First, the pets involved must be less than one month old.

2nd they all should reach the E-rank.

3rd at least half of the pets involved must've practiced the skill psychic link to the advanced mastery.

There were other requirements, such as being of the same race, but other than the first three, all other requirements are easy to meet.

A one month old pet at the E-rank with an Advanced Mastery skill of the green grade .

And that skill being psychic link, one of the hardest one to practice among the green grade.

It's clear why the government gave up, but Max had the simulator and could achieve all that.

He made some modifications after reading the detailed functionality of his talent from the simulator.

Planning to make his talent the center of the link, thus obtaining feedback from all pets within the link.

All skills, all elements, all attributes.

That's how greedy Max was