Reincarnation to the Past

Chapter 71

Hades' POV

At the sight of the egg, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with curiosity. All of us gods had noticed that the humans, especially in the eastern region (China), had been getting stronger and stronger but all we could find out was that they were cultivating something called 'qi'. We couldn't even sense the 'qi' to know what it was, the reason being that we never guessed that it was our own godly aura.

It was only after Yǔ explained it on her last visit that I got the gist of it but didn't dare tell the other gods because I could see that she was curious about it, even though she tried to act disinterested. And it didn't seem like a bad idea to let her absorb more to stand against the gods in case she was ever found out. I mean, while I have no plans of going against my fellow kind, I didn't see why I couldn't give her a fighting chance to survive.

"What's the problem???" I inquired, examining the egg. I could sense Poseidon's aura from it and a lesser amount of mine. It seemed as though Yǔ had fed the egg her powers to form a balance but it was clearly insufficient. What she said confirmed my thoughts.

"Well... According to Mael, the egg is by nature a water-darkness beast, but being formed in the water domain only allowed it to absorb a large amount of water qi. I have been feeding it darkness qi but it doesn't seem enough. For the egg to hatch, there has to be a balance between the two forces—an equal amount of the two types of qi—and it's taking too much time with me alone, so I figured you could just feed it some of your power." She finished with an expectant and pleading face.

I kind of wanted to say no for the fun of it but she had these pleading seal-like eyes that made it impossible to refuse. Not to mention, Persephone was also giving me an expectant look that seemed to say, 'Why are you making her beg like this???', so I let it slide. I had a vague idea about the amount of water qi in the egg so I concentrated an equal amount of aura into a small ball above my index finger and let it float towards the egg and disappear into it.

It took about fifteen minutes for my powers to integrate with the other qi and become one. We all stared at it, waiting with anticipation, when both I and Yǔ sensed the same thing. I immediately summoned the shadows to protect myself and Persephone, while Yǔ did the same around herself. The egg seemed to glow in a sea-greenish blue and black before shattering and releasing waves and waves of enormous power. When the waves died down, we let the shadows fall to see ourselves staring at a small baby bunny, curled up like a ball, hovering midair, before straightening up and staring back at us.

A bunny????!!!

"What the??? How??? Isn't it supposed to be a bird or lizard???" I asked, stupefied. The bunny was completely black, from ear to toe, the only other color being in its eyes—which were an ocean blue—and the light gray puffs of fur below its ear. It was also when I noticed the bunny was releasing all the qi it absorbed until it seemed to only hold a small amount. Did something go wrong???

"Mael did say that it could hatch into anything from a cat to a dog or a bird." she recalled

Suddenly a blue dragon appeared sitting over her shoulder and seemed to speak into the three of our minds, explaining, "It's not like that, master. Beasts are formed in two ways. One is procreation and the other is where the qi is absorbed to form an egg-like protective outer structure within which the beast is formed. Once the beast is fully formed, the outer layer of qi shatters, leaving behind the beast."

Yǔ's POV

I listened to Mael's explanation as I stared at the beast. It looked around, confused and scared, before seeing me and floating closer, bringing its nose towards me and taking a cautious sniff. "Mama..." she mutters softly in my head, rubbing her soft furry cheek against mine. I could already tell that I loved it a lot.

As soon as it had hatched, I sensed a bond between the two of us, like what I had with Mael—a blood contract, which didn't make sense since I never initiated such a contract. Almost instantly, I recalled the drop of blood that had been left on the shell when I had first taken it from the pillar. Don't tell me she formed a contract from that.

There was also one more thing that seemed odd: "Why does she seem so weak???" I asked out, worried. All the qi that she had absorbed as an egg seemed to have disappeared, with very little remaining.

"Ahh... That's because she's just hatched, master. She's right now a rank-one beast. She'll slowly absorb more qi until she reaches her limit. And since she is the highest rank a beast can take, when she reaches that, she'll be very strong, almost rivaling a minor immortal." Mael explained

"How many ranks are there???" Hades questioned, slightly curious and worried.

"When a beast is born, it is usually born with a limit of qi it can absorb. Most beasts are between ranks 1 and 9, with 1 being the weakest and 9 being the strongest. These are the ones who can no longer grow. However, there are beasts whose capacity exceeds the ninth rank, although rare. They usually fall under the category or title of legendary beasts, which is followed by heavenly, then godly, then mythical, holy, sacred, and finally the divine beasts. The difference between each title is that it ranks apart from the next. Any beast that is legendary or above has the potential to reach divine but the amount that actually succeeds is, well, about one in a million. I am a mythical beast; however, the bunny is a divine beast." answered Mael...

Persephone (confused): But you said that she's a level 1 beast...

Mael (nodding): Yes. That's because of the hatching. All the qi that she absorbed was released during her hatching, as you felt. She'll slowly absorb both qis until she reaches her full potential, which is the divine stage. Unlike other beasts who have a 1 in a million chance to succeed, it's guaranteed that she'll advance.

Me (curiously): So is there any way to force a beast with low potential to reach the divine stage???

Mael (musing): I don't think it's impossible. A beast whose limit is level 9 reaches a bottleneck after reaching said level, which it cannot overcome. However, with external assistance in the form of pills, it could be possible. Humans don't want their beasts to be too powerful for fear they'd overpower them so it's never been tried...

Hades (seriously): All this is interesting and all but there is one issue. If the other gods discover this, they won't sit still, knowing that there are beasts that can rival a minor god or goddess.