Chapter 200 - Naughty Rogue Red Termite, The Crocodiles
Ban immediately felt excited upon hearing the cracking sound coming from the egg.
He hurriedly scanned it to check the situation.
There were now two cracks forming at the top portion of the egg. Just as Ban thought that it would already hatch right there and then, the System immediately poured cold water right on his face.
A bluish System screen appeared right in front of his face, breaking his excitement almost instantly.
[ Giant Red Dragonfly Egg hatching requirements have been met.
Status: Hatching, 01:59:00..
]
There were still 2 hours left before the egg would hatch.
According to the Book of Techniques, after meeting the requirements, the hatching time should be around 5 hours at most.
Thinking about it, he now felt fortunate that the time was lowered to 2 hours.
As there was still almost 2 hours left before it was fully hatched, he put it again on Beast Tattoo first. At the same time, he also checked the situation of the other Beasts inside it, including the Red Termite as well as the Unknown Egg.
Looking at them with his consciousness, Ban instantly noticed the difference ever since the last time he saw them.
The Rogue Red Termite was now fully healed, and it has moved towards another location.
Unlike the Dimensional Storages where time was forcefully halted, the Beasts inside the Beast Tattoo can move freely.
He was very meticulous when placing the Termite and the eggs from before, hence the reason why he instantly knew that the Rogue Red Termite had moved from its previous resting spot.
Actually, he already noticed earlier, but the discrepancy during that time was not that great so he just ignored it.
However, the Rogue Red Termite was now resting only one meter away from the Unknown Egg.
The Unknown Egg was not contracted yet, Ban was afraid that it might eat the Unknown Egg so he hurriedly put it back a few meters away.
That Egg was a bit special, even the System did not know what kind of Beast would hatch from it. The System also said that if he successfully hatched it, he would also receive some rewards. He definitely could not allow the Rogue Red Termite to eat.
As he was still afraid that it might try something funny when he was not looking, Ban pulled it away from the Unknown Egg for a dozen meters just to be safe. He also warned it again to not eat the Unknown Egg, even providing it with shiny minerals to appease its hunger.
After doing that, Ban finally heaves a sigh of relief. He hopes that it won't become naughty and try to devour it. And if it happens, he hopes that the System would try to stop it, or at least inform him before hand.
He then put the matter at the back of his head before continuing with his journey.
There were still almost 3 hours left before the sun sets. Now that the Dragonfly egg was already in the process of hatching, he can now focus his attention on killing Lord Grade Beast for their Beast Cores.
He also needs to search for a suitable Beast to not waste the main ability of Greed- Devour and it's other ability, Plunder.
He was originally planning on that Quasi or Pseudo D-Master Rank Beast that he learned from Mr. Nian, but that Beast was not a Lord Grade Beast.
As he now had almost if not full information of Lord Grade Beasts in the swamp, he no longer wanted to settle on that Pseudo D-Master Rank.
After careful consideration, Ban finally decided to hunt one particular Beast for the Plunder ability first.
The Plunder ability of Greed allows him to obtain one of the Skills of the target randomly. Keeping the Skills that he plundered also depends on him, so even if it plundered a trash ability, for example, the Red Termites ability to execrate Red Cave Rocks, he can choose not to keep it.
Of course, doing it still means that the ability was wasted for the day, but it was better than gaining a trash Skill. After all, the Plunder ability's cooldown resets at midnight, so he could still try again after that.
After running for almost thirty minutes, Ban was already panting a little.
The Death Swamp was a dangerous place. Fortunately, he did not run into any Beast along the way. He was still at the edge of the Death Swamp so it was not strange that he hadn't met that many Beasts yet. He heard from Mr. Nian beforehand that the situation at the center or even at the mid area of the Death Swamp was different from the edge area.
He rested a little to recover his lost energy before he continued to run again.
After another twenty or so minutes, Ban finally arrived at his destination. He confirmed it one more time from the information given by Mr. Nian, and only after noticing the similarities that he finally believed he was in the right place.
In front of him was an area muddier than the land he was stepping at the moment.
If Ban tried to step on there now, he would surely sink to the bottom in a matter of seconds.
Fortunately, there were a lot of tree roots that he could step on. However, the roots were also slippery so he still did not lower his guard down.
His target Beast this time was a Beast named Enraged Crocodile. It was a Lord Grade Beast with a terrifying fighting ability.
According to Mr. Nian's information book, it also has a dozen or so subordinates, the Mild Tempered Crocodiles.
The Enraged Crocodile was a E-Elite Rank Beasts while it's subordinates were in the X-Mortal to F-Apprentice Rank.
The group of crocodiles was the terror on this particular place. According to the information book, the Adventurers tried to hunt them down before for the Beast Core but ultimately failed in the end.
After all, Lord Grade Beast, who doesn't have any subordinate was already tricky to deal with, how much more one that has some underlings under it.
Ban looked around for a few minutes to search for the crocodile's location. Unlike other Beasts, the crocodiles did not stay put in one area as they also hunt for food at the edge of their territory.
However, it was already confirmed that this swamp was the territory of the crocodiles so they would not go away unless they were disturbed by a terrifying foe.
He also cross-checked it on the information given by the System and the Book of Techniques just to make sure, and it was indeed the case.
As long as the Enraged Crocodile already marked its territory, it would stay there for the rest of their life along with its crew.
Ban slowly moved from one branch to another in search of the crew of crocodiles. He was careful on his steps, so that he wouldn't alert the crocodiles. This was also another tricky thing to deal with the crocodiles as they were very hard to spot on this swamp that was full of green aquatic plants.
After searching with his eyes and still unable to spot the crocodiles, Ban finally instructed little Eva to use her Skill, Sensor.
After she ranked up, the Sensor's duration increased to 1 minute from the previous 30 seconds. It's cooldown was also reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. It's area of effect was also enhanced.
After she used the Skill, Ban did not stay in one place. He also moved forward so that they can maximize the usefulness of the Skill.
Ban also observed around and when he discovered some area that looked suspicious, he would go there to check along with Eva's skill.
After using the Skill for the second time, Eva finally reported something to Ban.
Ban looked over and the area she pointed and there, he saw the crocodiles resting atop a huge root.
The crocodiles were massive in size, especially the Lord Grade Beast, Enraged Crocodile.
Just like it's name, the Enraged Crocodile really looked like it was enraged. Ban moved a bit closer and observed it a bit.
The eyebrows of the Enraged Crocodile were seemingly knitted together in a frown. There was also a huge scar under its eye that seemed to complement its enraged look. It now looked even more enraged compared to the illustration provided by Mr. Nian and the System.
He also observed the other Mild Tempered Crocodiles and realized the reason why they were called Mild Tempered Crocodiles.
He chuckled at the thought of it.
The Book of Techniques written by the Ancient Summoner also wrote the detailed steps on how to successfully contract the Enraged Crocodiles and the Mild Tempered Crocodiles.
Ban wondered how many times she failed before she finally contracted it. The amount of effort she poured on the book was truly astronomical.
He admired the Ancient Summoner even more now. Of course, he was still mad that her name was censored, so he did not praise her that much, only a little.
However, even with that little praise, the female silhouette on that unknown place was still puffing her chest, as if she was proud of herself. Even boasting to the male silhouette behind her.
The male silhouette only chuckled a bit at her action, as if he was not bothered by it.
Just as Ban was about to start luring the other crocodiles away first with the help of Eva, before fighting the Enraged Crocodile, he suddenly noticed that all of the crocodiles seemed to have become excited.
Their tails wiggled excitedly as they slammed their front legs and snouts to the root.
Seeing that, an excited expression also appeared on Ban's face.
'This… What a lucky coincidence!"