Chapter 260: Vexaldris Hatchlings

Alistair, Riseth, Nomura, and Kujo ended up having a great time in the Platijum Lily. Kujo even promised P.A.L. he would check in whenever he found the time and spread the word. Rather than rolling the dice on a dungeon reward, Kujo decided to hold off, waiting for a bigger payout since he had no immediate need for a skill point.

After spending a good while in the Platijum Lily, they spent the rest of the day exploring Lacustrine and Nautilis. After a lovely dinner, they said their temporary goodbyes, promising to rejoin the Beshin in their shared endeavors once they had taken some time to recover.

With a gate connecting their two worlds, travel between their factions had become effortless, strengthening their ability to protect each other while vastly improving the exchange of goods and services. In the months that followed, this partnership proved to be an enormous boon for both sides.

The oni of the Beshin clan grew particularly fond of Rathos, becoming a common sight in the city. New bonds of friendship and opportunity flourished, with a few mixed combat teams forming along the way. It became evident that their clans were forging something permanent, though neither side opposed the development, letting their members mingle freely.

The months flew by, and before they knew it, hatching day had finally come.

Only Riseth, Alistair, his mom, and sister were allowed to be there—plus King, of course, who hovered anxiously over the eggs, twitching at every little shake or crack in the shells.

Even with his fierce draconic features, King's nervous reactions were honestly adorable.

Alistair watched the eggs with quiet tension. They weren’t allowed to intervene—each hatchling had to break free on its own. It was rare for one to fail, especially since the system’s introduction had made infant deaths in nearly every species all but extinct. Still... rare didn’t mean impossible.

Then it happened.

A single black claw punched through the thick, dark red shell—its surface richly textured like lacquered stone. Both Rovari and King leaned in, lowering their heads for a closer look.

One after another, claws, snouts, and tiny limbs began breaking through the shells as cracks spiderwebbed across the eggs. Fragments fell away in slow cascades until the first wyrmling finally punched through headfirst. It shook its head, blinking as it looked around with wide, curious eyes, then let out an uncertain chirp—followed by a surprised squeak as its egg tilted sideways.

That earned another round of soft coos from his mother and sister, and a low, satisfied huff from Rovari, who kept her gaze fixed on the hatchling’s every twitch. The little one wriggled inside the tilted shell, claws scraping with frantic determination as he carved out more holes. His thrashing tipped the egg fully onto its side.

The [Vexaldris Wyrmling – lvl 100] let out an indignant growl, squirming uselessly—especially once the other hatchlings began to break free with far less struggle.

"Aww, they’re all little Kings," Melissa cooed, crouching to meet the sideways wyrmling at eye level.

King gave a contented rumble, earning a gentle sweep of Rovari’s tail across his side.

“Damn, they really are cute,” Alistair muttered, squinting. “Despite all the spikes and sharp angles.”

“Aww, such adorable little killing machines,” Riseth added, grin widening.

They watched as each wyrmling finally broke free from its shell, one after another. Once loose, they wasted no time devouring the remnants of their eggs, crunching through fragments with tiny but eager jaws. Not long after, the inevitable crash came—one by one, they began dozing off, crawling over each other into a chaotic tangle of scales, claws, and wings. Occasional squabbles broke out, marked by soft growls and sleepy chuffs as they jostled for prime nesting spots in the growing pile.

Rovari lowered her head, resting it beside the pile of wyrmlings now nestled snugly against her side.

“Three males and two females,” she murmured with unmistakable pride. “All of them Vexaldris, like their father.”

Alistair had no idea how she could tell the difference so quickly. He noted slight variations in their coloring and head shapes but decided to trust her instincts.

“Congratulations, you two,” Alistair said, offering a small smile. “If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to reach out.”

Rovari exhaled a warm breath. “I will. And thank you again—for the growth array.”

Alistair waved her off. “These little ones are part of our family now. Their growth and well-being matter to all of us. There’s nothing to thank us for.”

King shifted slightly, his head turning—reluctantly—away from the pile of hatchlings toward Alistair and Riseth.

“I hesitate to ask… but I’d appreciate a little time alone with them.”

“Oh. Of course,” Alistair nodded. “And thank you—for allowing us to witness this moment.”

He turned, gently herding Melissa and their mother toward the exit with Riseth at his side.

“One more thing,” King called.

Alistair glanced back. “Yes?”

“Rovari and I would like you to name one of them.”

Rovari blinked slowly, a small smile tugging at her draconic features.

Alistair stood frozen, too stunned to answer. Riseth stepped in with ease.

“We would be honored,” she said, her grin warm and toothy.

King dipped his head in a small bow before turning back, lying down beside Rovari and the clutch, his body curving protectively around them as he lowered his head to hers.

As they stepped out of the chamber, Alistair couldn’t help but brood over the weight of choosing a name.

“We’ve got time,” Melissa said, stretching. “The little ones won’t even be mobile for a few weeks.”

“Still,” Alistair muttered, “I can’t go around naming one of them Prince.”

“I mean…” Riseth began, only to catch sharp looks from Alistair, Melissa, and Juliana all at once.

She raised her hands in mock surrender. “Alright, alright—just saying it could’ve worked. And you can’t tell me King’s unhappy with his name.”

"Yeah, but Prince would imply he’s either meant to replace his father or stands beneath him—when what we want is for them to rise even higher," Alistair mused.

Riseth gave a small nod. "Fair. Either way, we’ve got time—and a lot of work ahead. Nivareth runs, merc work with the Beshin, and our explorers flagged a few more dungeons we can dive into. It's going to be a packed few months."

Alistair blew out a breath. "Right. Time to get back to earning more petals. I’m curious to see what Nivareth has in store the deeper we go."

With that, they returned to the grind—splitting their focus between mercenary work and delving into Nivareth, making full use of their time-dilated subspaces. Over the course of a year, they earned two more petals on their markings and climbed to level 197—not including the three years spent in compressed time within Nivareth, facing diverse challenges and hunting high-tier beasts.

Interestingly, they hadn’t received a skill selection at level 190. Instead, they were granted a single skill point—adding to their steadily growing stockpile of unspent points. It seemed level 175 had been the last true skill threshold, with their final selections landing in the gathering category.

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Skill Choices:

Tier: [Epic]

Skill Name: Telekinetic Extractor

Description: Greatly enhances the user's ability to telekinetically extract ores, gems, and other minerals without causing damage or degradation. Extraction efficiency scales with the user's [Control] and [Senses] statistics at an extremely high efficiency.

Tier: [Epic]

Skill Name: Telekinetic Gatherer

Description: Greatly enhances the user's ability to telekinetically harvest plants, flowers, fungi, and other magical treasures without causing damage or degradation. Gathering efficiency scales with the user's [Control] and [Senses] statistics at an extremely high efficiency.

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Tier: [Uncommon]

Skill Name: Kinetic Fire

Description: Short-lived flames are made of pure kinetic energy that violently collide and tear apart anything they come into contact with. Due to suboptimal compatibility and application, the flames do not spread and will disperse shortly after the user relinquishes direct control over the fire.

The user's inherently high affinities drastically increase the [power] scaling of this skill.

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Skills:

Tier: [Legendary]

Skill Name: Chain Breaker

Description: Utilizing the concepts of force and movement, the user's ability to resist all forms of restriction or stuns, whether psionic, eldritch, paralysis, magical or physical in nature, is greatly increased and scales with the user's [Body] and [Mind] Statistics. Opponents within the user's grade cannot grapple or impede their movement without overcoming the resistance provided by the skill unless the user wills it otherwise, the focus requirement for this skill is very low.

The skill's effectiveness is moderately reduced against higher-tier spells and abilities above the user's grade but grants near-total immunity to restrictions imposed by lower-grade opponents.

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Alistair’s skill selection had included Kinetic Fire after he specifically trained for it on Sotarr’s recommendation, though his mentor hadn’t explained why. Still, he trusted him enough to put in the effort and intent to ensure the skill would be offered.

Beyond that, he had been focused on racing through the levels alongside Riseth, their clan, and their allies. Aside from Freedom of Movement evolving into Chain Breaker, he hadn’t dedicated significant time to expanding or refining his existing skills.

They didn’t have an exact timeline for the next bridge expansion, but based on the warping patterns, it wasn’t far off. Confidence in holding the expansion after the second one was slim to nonexistent, and negotiations with the invader factions had proven fruitless. The invaders knew they could force the issue and saw no reason to negotiate with a younger universe, even disrupting shipments and trade corridors for the Synth Alliance for a time—until the Synth Alliance brought down the proverbial hammer on the offenders.

They had received reassurances from the Synth Alliance that the promised goods would arrive after the next bridge expansion, as the realm catchers were too fragile and high-tier to survive the transition beforehand.

With the way time seemed to flow now, Alistair knew it wouldn’t be long. But they were ready. Their planetary defenses were fully established, and their world's mana density continued to grow at a rapid pace. Their expansion into the local systems was also progressing well, with the first handful of larger colonies taking root on Skyreach and Korretesh.

Treasures and dungeons continued to be discovered, with their asteroid mining fleet struggling to keep up, even with automata-controlled mining outposts handling the lower-value veins.

While they had bought and found a handful of growing sources of metal and other valuable materials and treasures, their propagation took time to establish. It would still be years before they could cover even a fraction of the current demand their expansion required.

Alistair took another breath, sensing the incredible diversity and density of essences his cultivation array had accumulated. He had been working diligently on improving his many augmented organs in preparation for his next racial evolution. While he knew he would need to make adjustments afterward, it would still save him a great deal of time—and possibly lead to an even higher-tier evolution.

He knew he was close to another level-up. He and Riseth were incredibly close, with his mother, Nessyra, and Denodia all just behind them. Over the last year, they had overtaken the others, as their progression began to slow.

Even if they truly shone in their roles, they couldn't keep up with the progression of a combat-oriented path that benefited from the records taken from their opponents.

Alistair's musings and cultivation practice were interrupted by the sound of claws scraping over the floor as something heavy raced through his home—Viv, already tired of this routine, melded into his shadow to avoid one of the little wyrmlings making their visits.

Alistair opened one eye to see Kirovar—the hatchling he had named—loping toward him. He still wasn’t sure if combining King’s and Rovari’s names had been the right choice, especially since the dragons had liked the idea so much they copied it for two more of the hatchlings.

He let the little troublemaker tackle him, effortlessly absorbing the kinetic energy as he roughhoused the large wyrmling.

“Did you escape your caretaker again?” Alistair asked, pausing his cultivation to deal with his latest intruder.

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