74: The system gave itself away.

Nightmare Lord was not just his race; it was also his status.

He was the king of the Nightmare race within the Shadow Realm.

Ordinary Nightmares were Silver grade demonic beasts, with a small number reaching Gold-rank, which could be distinguished by their size.

But he had reached platinum-level, making him the most unique existence among the Nightmares—the Nightmare Lord.

Seeing the return of the Nightmare Lord, the rest of the Nightmares all came forward respectfully to greet him.

Their bloodlines and levels were insufficient, so they could not speak.

However, they very respectfully presented both the best and worst dreams they had collected to the Nightmare Lord.

They didn't care about good dreams or Nightmares; the most intense and authentic human emotions hidden within the dreams were what they liked most.

To them, everything else was merely a difference in flavor.

The Nightmares maintained the same respect for the Lord's contractor, Lin Xi, but were a bit colder toward Su Ze, though he didn't mind.

Su Ze was just curious—as a human's beast, could the Nightmare Lord still manage a tribe?

Seemingly sensing Su Ze's confusion, Lin Xi explained, "This is also an advantage of dark-attribute demonic beasts compared to others. Generally, once a demonic beast is contracted, it can only reside within the master's beast taming space."

"But because dark-attribute demonic beasts can stay in the Shadow Realm, they can continue to manage the forces they had before the contract."

He then added, "For ordinary demonic beasts, one of the reasons they are willing to contract and become a human's beast is that the beast taming space created by the contract is very helpful for their level progression."

"But dark-attribute demonic beasts are different. They only have the fastest growth speed within the Shadow Realm, which is why dark-attribute demonic beasts are very difficult to tame."

"I also signed an Equality Contract with Nightmare due to some coincidences, but I have no way to handle these clansmen of his. Otherwise, I could have helped the Great Xia Spirit Guards train a team with stealth capabilities no weaker than the Fusang Dark Guards."

Nightmare said from the side, "master, I respect the choices of my clansmen..."

Lin Xi said, "Don't worry, I'm not blaming you. I'm just curious how those guys from the Fusang Dark Guards managed to do it..."

Over the years, he had also tried to find traces of the Fusang Dark Guards in the Shadow Realm, but he had gained nothing.

This was because although there was some connection between Shadow Realms—for instance, they were all illuminated by a dark sun—

Every Shadow Realm formed by a shadow also had boundaries that were difficult to break.

So unless he happened to hide in the same shadow as the other Fusang Dark Guards, even Lin Xi would find it hard to see them in the Shadow Realm.

After their chat ended, Su Ze also obtained the consent of the Nightmare tribe to place the demon beast egg in their residence—inside that fragment of the dark sun.

The pure dark attribute of the dark sun made it very comfortable for the dual-attribute Nightmares to live in, and it even increased their leveling speed significantly.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, they would not let other creatures get close.

But Su Ze was a guest brought by their Lord, and it was just an egg; they estimated it wouldn't consume much of the dark sun's power.

Thinking this, the Nightmares even took the initiative to help Su Ze bring the platinum egg into the center of the dark sun.

After all, for humans, such pure dark attributes were difficult for the body to withstand.

Only the Nightmare Lord, who looked like Lin Xi, watched the egg thoughtfully: "The aura of that egg... it feels somewhat familiar, like an existence of the same rank as me."

As one of the lords of the Shadow Realm and a special dual-attribute Platinum demonic beast, the Nightmare Lord was no weaker than a Diamond-rank Demonic Beast, except for the inability to break through Level 90.

He was not only unaffected by bloodline suppression, but at the same level, even a Diamond-rank Demonic Beast might not necessarily win against him.

It was just that Diamond-rank Demonic Beasts could break through the Level 90 barrier, and the strength difference across that single level was worlds apart.

Especially after Level 95, it was said that every level gained was a complete transformation, with strength increasing exponentially.

So, although the egg in Su Ze's hand was only a platinum egg, the fact that it could make the Nightmare Lord feel threatened meant it possessed strength comparable to a diamond rank beast before Level 90!

Ordinary platinum-level demonic beasts could hardly achieve this!

"Where did he get that demon beast egg?" the Nightmare Lord wondered, his thoughts in sync with his master, Lin Xi.

By this time, not much time had passed since the platinum egg was placed into the Dark Sun Fragment.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Su Ze felt that it seemed to have shrunk a bit.

After a few more minutes, Su Ze rubbed his eyes: "This... doesn't seem to be an illusion!"

The Nightmare Lord also noticed this and quickly ordered the other Nightmares to get out.

"All subjects, get out of the dark sun immediately!"

A dense mass of humanoid tentacles surged out, instantly filling the surroundings.

They didn't forget to bring their stored delicacies with them, as bizarre dreams continuously flashed before Su Ze's eyes.

He also noticed that one Gold-rank Nightmare only stored good dreams, and... they were all erotic dreams that combined love and action.

"Quite a unique taste. Is this how it managed to upgrade to a Gold-rank Nightmare?" Su Ze couldn't help but roast.

But then he felt many hostile auras locking onto him.

Su Ze looked at the Nightmares surrounding him like humanoid black shadows and scratched his head awkwardly.

He hadn't known that hatching an egg this time would cause such a big commotion.

The last time he hatched a diamond rank egg, he had only wrecked a volcano.

After some more time, the Dark Sun Fragment had shrunk by more than a third.

Many of the Nightmares' anthropomorphic faces began to look miserable. What had been a spacious place for them was now so small that everyone would have to live in cramped quarters after reallocating the space.

If the Lord hadn't been intimidating them, they might have already attacked Su Ze.

And what was even more unacceptable to them was that the Dark Sun Fragment was still shrinking.

Just as the fragment's size approached one-half, a crisp sound of an eggshell cracking suddenly echoed through the silent Shadow Realm.

"It's finally over..."

The Nightmares looked at each other and sighed in relief.

Although their living space was much smaller now, Nightmares could, after all, become paper-thin like shadows. If they folded themselves up, they could still all fit inside.

Then they heard an extremely excited and piercing wolf howl.

"Awoo~"

A vague, tall, and mighty wolf shadow suddenly appeared within the Dark Sun Fragment.

It let out an extremely excited howl toward the dark sun in the sky.

Then... it began to lower its head and gnaw on the remaining Dark Sun Fragment.

The Nightmares immediately found it unbearable. If this continued, their home really would be dismantled.

Just as they were about to fly over and teach the unknown demonic beast that had just hatched a lesson, they were stopped by their Lord.

The Nightmare Lord looked at the equally happy Su Ze and said in confusion, "That is... the Shadow Moon Wolf King... one of the strongest Lord-level demonic beasts in the Shadow Realm, powerful and unique."

"It is said that not long ago, the Old Wolf King was attacked and condensed its bloodline into a demon beast egg before dying. Its enemies couldn't find it when they searched. Why is it with you now?"

The Nightmare Lord's question left Su Ze stunned. He seemed to have... caught the system's slip-up!