“Nine Oceans Phoenix, we found the culprit.” Jin teleported back to the Luxury Recovery Instance to relay the good news. However, instead of being happy about it, the mother bird’s wings spread out wide in a threatening manner. To the dungeon supplier, it seemed like she was hurrying him to tell her everything or risk dying.
Jin had tolerated her antics initially, because he understood that she must have been emotional about suddenly seeing her chick in such critical condition. Now that some time had passed, he expected his guest to show him the proper amount of respect, so with a far more authoritative voice, he told her to calm down.
“TELL ME!” The Nine Oceans Phoenix screeched impatiently and began to release her magical aura. Ironically she had been unaware that all this time the one at the mercy of the other party had been none other than her. In an instant, she found herself pinned down by the giant Titan Knight and out of seemingly nowhere many monsters had emerged with their weapons out. She intended to increase the output of her magical powers, but discovered that they were being drained consistently.
“As I said, calm yourself down! I’m treating you with courtesy, so I expect you to reciprocate. Do not make me use excessive force against you!” Jin chided her and the Lady Phoenix struggled a little more, before admitting that there was nothing else she could do. Only then did the Titan Knight release her from his palm hold and the rest of the monsters moved a step back away from her, but none sheathed their weapons.
Honestly, Jin was quite surprised at the show of force from the System. Had it perhaps analysed the Nine Oceans Phoenix to be more of a threat than he himself had realised? In any case, he reminisced about the time when the Banned Emperor Assassin had come to make a mess in his dungeon supplier store during Yang Ling’s Gear Box demonstration and the System had not responded this fiercely. Could it be that the System did not imagine the assassin was a major threat as compared to this particular monster?
“You may get up, but slowly.” Death Knight Dread Reaver instructed the Nine Oceans Phoenix as he continued to point his sword at the bird while it did as she had been told. It was then she finally had the impression that Jin was really no simple human.
“As I was about to tell you, we’ve managed to not only find, but also retrieve your other egg. It’s currently in one of our hatcheries, under the care of the best monster caretakers I have working for me.” Jin stated confidently as he knew that the ones handling the eggs were the penguins and the animal people from the Giant World.
He strongly believed that they were the best ones for the job. After all, Lynn had selected only the best of the best to be allowed to serve food to their customers under her name. (Of course, they were not going to cook the Phoenix Egg or else…the System would not be the only one who would be very pissed.)
“If it’s already been done, why are you telling me all this? Are you blackmailing me like that guy who stole my egg?” The Nine Oceans Phoenix questioned, making Jin sigh.
“I won’t pretend that I can completely understand how you feel, but I empathise with you not trusting every human who graciously extends their hands to you. I’ve decided to tell you that we found it because I promised you I would do that. I’ve expected you might want to take revenge but if you don’t want to do that, then I won’t force you to. I can leave that guy alone, but I’m sure sooner or later he will return with a vengeance.” Jin explained and the Nine Oceans Phoenix was paralysed by his scolding.
“After what we’ve done to his capital… well if it was me in his shoes, there’s no way I wouldn’t take up arms and mercilessly hunt down every single monster responsible for that. As much as I want to believe in the good in people, that is wishful thinking. That’s why I ask for your help. Let’s end this cycle of hatred by exacting your vengeance against him and start anew. Help me for the greater good while we fulfil our needs and desires.” Jin felt the last part was a little too excessive as ‘encouragement’, but at the same time, he was just being realistic.
Seeing that the monsters around him were nodding in silent agreement, the Nine Oceans Phoenix fluttered her feathers a little before nodding her head.
“While I feel that you have a greater agenda than just taking my dung and children, your words have truth to them. Fine, I will do as my heart desires and after that, I will return the debt of you getting my children back safely.” The Nine Oceans Phoenix agreed, but before that, she had a condition of her own.
She wanted to see her unborn child before they left.
Jin naturally acceded to the request and opened the portal to Pandapolis Farming Sectors where the Nine Oceans Phoenix saw how her little baby egg was being pampered with the latest advancement in hatching procedures.
She instantly recognised that the egg was indeed the one which had been stolen by the Southern Capital Leader. She appeared elated that she did not miss the hatching of this one, but Jin could see the fury in her eyes about being separated from her children. “We will provide you with help against the Southern Mages if necessary. After all, you are going to be part of our family soon no matter how temporary that was. I’ll let you take care of everything else, but feel free to ask for help should you need it.” Jin offered as he opened a portal.
“Are you saying that I am no match to some feeble mages?” The Nine Oceans Phoenix asked.
“I’m merely stating that it would be for the best if you don’t let your guard down. No matter what, their leader has taken the liberty to assemble probably every single mage the South had in that one area. It is possible that they are prepared to take you down with the assumption of destroying the hatchery too. For the time being, you should be safe knowing that they are unaware that we’ve taken back your egg.”
“You mean your monsters stole right under their noses?”
“Yeah, and it was not an easy feat for them to do so. All of this was to ensure that you could fight with your full force without any fears that they might use your unborn child as a hostage.” Jin bragged even though it was partially a lie since his minions did not have that much of an issue getting the egg back.
“Very well. While I will accept your assistance, I honestly do not think I will need it.” The Nine Oceans Phoenix could now feel that her magical powers were coming back. But before Jin allowed her to go, a portal suddenly appeared right beside him and he saw Lynn carrying a large plate of meat with two hands.
“You’re not going anywhere until you eat up. I assure you that your strength will double the moment you clear this plate of meat.” Lynn said as the animal people caretakers opened the hatchery doors and showed the bird a better view of the Farming Sector while having a spacious area to eat. They even told the Phoenix that the lake right beside the hatchery was drinkable and with a quiet thank you, the Nine Oceans partook in the meat.
“While I will accrue this to your kindness and courtesy but there’s something more to the food too, right?” Jin whispered to Lynn.
“How did you know?” Lynn was a bit shocked as she giggled a little to cover her innate expression.
“You could say that my panda senses were tingling. Or rather my acquired foxy senses.” Jin replied with glee and subsequently settled himself down. At the very least he knew that the System would have some control on the Phoenix if there were something to go down wrong during their duel.
In the meantime, Sandy and Shu got a better grasp of the environment and numbers and had discussed a few ways to eliminate them should the majestic bird encounter problems.
Having a Plan B never hurts.
