203: Thunderstorm
America, New West City.
The residents looked up at the dark clouds that hadn't dissipated for three days and three nights, along with the lightning flashing incessantly within them. Their expressions shifted from initial indifference to current terror.
Because during these three days, the dark clouds covering the entire city brought an unprecedented Thunderstorm. Although most of the lightning vanished directly within the clouds for unknown reasons, a small portion still struck the ground.
Some of these lightning strikes hit lightning rods, and others were diverted by tall trees and billboards, but some people were struck directly by the lightning, instantly becoming charred on the outside and tender on the inside.
Consequently, there were virtually no pedestrians left on the streets; everyone was hiding at home to avoid the Thunderstorm.
Above them, within the layers of dark clouds, the purple gold thunder pattern egg was bathing in a Sea of Lightning, absorbing its power.
"It's already been three days... how much longer until this egg hatches?" Beneath the dark clouds, John raised mjolnir and turned to ask the Man in Black behind him.
Although mjolnir could summon the power of lightning, the speed at which the purple gold thunder pattern egg absorbed it was equally impressive.
John could even feel that it wasn't just absorbing the power of lightning; it was even drawing upon the fundamental source of mjolnir's power.
The Man in Black walked into the Sea of Lightning as if nothing was happening, checked the state of the purple gold thunder pattern egg, and then retreated. Throughout the process, even his Black Robe remained undamaged.
"It's still very early. It will probably take at least several more decades."
"Several decades?!" Old John shouted, even showing signs of lowering mjolnir in his hand.
"If this continues, by the time this demon beast egg hatches, my mjolnir will be close to being scrapped!"
The Man in Black saw through John's thoughts and continued, "This so-called Artifact, mjolnir, in your hand was merely forged using a Moonlight Level thunder-attribute divine beast crystal core. However, the creature that hatches from this egg will certainly be a powerful thunder-attribute divine beast with a Moonlight Level bloodline."
"It happens to match your attribute. You can form a contract with it then."
John's eyes instantly lit up, and he no longer hesitated, raising mjolnir high.
The dark clouds in the sky grew heavier, and a continuous stream of lightning power surged from them toward the purple gold thunder pattern egg.
Clearly, he knew very well that possessing a Moonlight Level demon beast was far more important than mjolnir.
They completely ignored the civilians in the city below. Under the violent lightning strikes, house after house turned into charcoal, including the people hiding inside... Meanwhile, on the other side of this Blue Planet, Xiao Sheng sought out Su Ze.
"Junior Brother, I received news that New West City in America has experienced continuous days of Thunderstorms recently. The dark clouds are almost crushing the entire city!" Xiao Sheng said with a smile.
Su Ze had told him the hatching requirements for the purple gold thunder pattern egg, so he could guess what was happening.
He came to find Su Ze this time just to confirm the news and check on the progress of his Special Operations Team's formation.
Su Ze was straightforward and told Xiao Sheng all the information he had perceived.
"So, those guys in America are really helping us hatch the egg? Heh, that's interesting..."
He then pondered and asked, "Once it hatches, will it immediately acknowledge me as its master and come to me to form a contract? If so, wouldn't we be exposed after forty-nine days?"
Su Ze was also stunned by the question; he hadn't considered this point before.
However, as far as he knew, when Wang Zi contracted the Golden Scale Pig, the Golden Scale Pig absorbed half a Gold Vault's worth of gold overnight to complete its hatching.
But the contract was formed the moment Wang Zi entered the Gold Vault and met the Golden Scale Pig.
In other words, a demon beast egg does not immediately form a contract upon hatching; the contract is only finalized after mutual confirmation between the two parties.
Su Ze went to confirm this with the System.
He learned that before the contract is confirmed and established, both parties can sense the other's presence, and the master can give some simple instructions.
Since no one else can complete a contract during this period, the scope for maneuvering becomes much greater.
Su Ze told all of this to Xiao Sheng.
After thinking for a moment, he laughed and said, "Heh, in that case, I won't just have them help me hatch the egg, I'll have them continue raising it too! I'll call it back at the critical moment!"
Afterward, he asked Su Ze about the current situation of the Special Operations Team.
The personnel are now basically all present. Su Ze used the Thirteenth Squad as the core base, interspersing them with Great Xia Spirit Guards arriving from other places.
If judging by strength, many of them were certainly stronger than the members of the Thirteenth Squad.
However, few people were dissatisfied with Su Ze's arrangement, because they clearly saw that many members of the Thirteenth Squad now possessed Gold-rank or even platinum-level demon beasts.
These people were filled only with envy, and they even filled out forms overnight and lined up, just waiting for the day they could also get a new tamed beast.
As for the outstanding students from Beast Taming University, like Qi Lin, Su Ze did not separate them but formed them into a single Elite Squad.
With their strength, and cooperating with each other, they could easily hunt down demon beasts even at the seventieth or eightieth level.
As for higher-level demon beasts, they could be left to Su Ze.
He also learned from Xiao Sheng that the United Nations' current progress was also very smooth.
Nearly all countries and regions worldwide joined under a combination of coercion and persuasion.
Although the strength of each individual country was not considered mighty, after compiling data from all countries, they were surprised to find that this indeed constituted a formidable force with great potential for development.
"With this collective power, I now have more confidence in dealing with those demon beasts!"
"However, the biggest problem right now isn't the invasion of the Monster Beast World, but the Monster Beast World itself..."
That's right. Even if they eventually succeed in repelling the Radical Faction from the Monster Beast World, they will still face the crisis of two worlds colliding.
In order to find a solution, Xiao Sheng had already shared this news with the other four Allied Nations at the first United Nations meeting held recently.
As for the smaller countries that joined the United Nations, they were not informed, to avoid causing panic.
Based on Xiao Sheng's observation, William, the representative of America at the meeting, was not particularly shocked by the news.
Judging by Xiao Sheng's understanding of his cunning, this wasn't forced composure; he genuinely seemed to have known the news beforehand.
The others were all surprised by this information to varying degrees, but no one was able to come up with a good solution.
"For now, we can only take things one step at a time... let's focus on dealing with the demon beast invasion first."