Theo finally set off southwards to the center of the kingdom. He managed to hitch a free ride with a group of kind merchants who had no idea what they were smuggling. His destination was naturally the Royal Academy. It was perfect for his plans; it had all sorts and levels of elemental affinities at their peak, and it also had a stacked library, which, according to rumors, was second only to the Royal Palace's.
The journey to the capital started out uneventfully, until a few weeks in when they encountered a pack of wolf-type fierce beasts. The merchants were sensible enough to learn a few spells for protection, but it clearly wasn't enough. At this point, Theo hadn't tried his hand at devouring elements just yet. He also had no clue how the cultivation system worked; hence, he had little to no idea how to go about devouring elements. The cloaking technique had been copied from studying the dragon egg, but there was nothing else to use as a case study.
As a young master, he had naturally tried his hand at swordsmanship and archery, but he was no good at these two things. It was basically as though he had no talent whatsoever. Therefore, he could only helplessly flee the scene. In this dog-eat-dog world, he had learned early that it was literally every man for himself. Lack of strength gets you killed, and helping people gets you killed faster.
He had already steeled his heart that he wasn't going to be some good guy like in his past life, waiting to be trampled on by others. Who knew how those merchants would react when they found out he had been squatting with them for a while? Who was to say the commotion wouldn't attract more fierce beasts? Perhaps after he saved these people, he would become the one who needed saving.
He made a decision and darted out into the forest, still cloaked. By now, he had already mastered the art of camouflage to a barely passable degree. However, if anyone listened for his footsteps, they would still hear them. He felt this was of no consequence and moved swiftly. It wasn't like they would have the time to check who was moving about when their lives were on the line. He also didn't forget to snatch a few of their goods on the way out.
There was one thing, though, that Theo failed to account for, and that was the fact that he could only hide himself from people's vision. Wolves had a great sense of smell, and since fierce beasts were basically better evolutions of animals, it could be said that these fierce beasts had a perfect sense of smell. For someone who hadn't had a bath in a few weeks, well... you could say he was walking in plain sight.
These fierce beasts that loved human flesh and blood had already found prey. How could they easily let them escape? Three of them quickly moved and blocked in front of Theo's path, surprising him. He quickly moved to another path, but they intercepted him again. This time, the one in the middle bit forward, directly aiming for his head. Unlike normal animals, fierce beasts were bigger, better versions. These wolf beasts stood at about five to six feet, and Theo, being just seven, was naturally looked down upon. Quite literally.
Immediately, Theo seemed to realize his current predicament, and his mind spun at full speed. He had been living a pampered life since he came into this world and had not actually come into contact with these fierce beasts; he had only heard stories. These beasts were naturally stronger than humans, but what could he possibly do against them with his meager strength? For now? Run.
Against these huge teeth that looked as big as his feeble bones, he wasn't going to test himself, not till he knew he was strong enough. He moved his head a little and managed to escape by the skin of his teeth. Or so he thought.
*Crunch*
Theo felt his shoulder loosen and his weight lighten. He was immediately in the air, and his camouflage had completely worn off. His back hit one of the wooden caravans before he tumbled over to the ground, and a few creaking noises were heard. They certainly didn't come from the hardwood.
It wasn't long before he realized his life might end again today. He struggled to sit up, but the pain was intense, and the blood flowed like a river. Unbeknownst to him, the blood flowed into a certain jade box and touched a certain black egg, which began greedily absorbing all of it. Meanwhile, his vision was fading rather quickly.
Theo woke up in the forest bruised and battered. His left arm was gone from his shoulder down; perhaps it was something in the genes that made the men in his family always lose their arms. He sat up with difficulty and noticed that the jade box was gone. He was about to panic when he saw it lying rather inconspicuously by the side of the tree he was resting on.
The black egg had a fine crack on it that couldn't be seen, as it didn't reflect any light. However, Theo could somehow feel the condition of the egg, as though they had a connection. Suddenly, an idea came to mind, something he was too stupid to have realized before now and was too crazy to try.
"I can devour anything. Something like a dragon's egg should also fall under this category, right?" he said to no one in particular. If there was truly anyone around who heard him, they would think him mad. However, they would be judging him by an average person's standards.
Theo wasn't your run-of-the-mill seven-year-old boy. He was a thirty-four-year-old man reincarnated as a super cheat character in a game he worked on. Nuts, right? But that was exactly why he had to try.
Theo used his remaining hand to hold the egg and began to circulate his void power. His body immediately jerked and he fainted while the void power was still greedily absorbing dragon nutrients into his body.
Theo's body immediately began to slowly liquefy as though it was magma just coming out of the volcano. Some parts of his skin soon hardened to form a rigid shell. He had entered a cocooning stage; even he didn't know when he would wake up.