Chapter 79 - 78 Above And Beyond

With his letter of recommendation from Joras in hand Marcus quickly headed out of his office and down the stairs.

He then immediately got into one of the lines for the reception booths and once it was his turn to be served, he obtained the location of the Sea Beast shop and quickly left the guild.

He located the nearest air taxi and asked them to take him to the center of the city.

Shelling out another twenty-six silver, Marcus hoped onto the back of the giant hawk magical beast and the rider then commanded the bird to take off.

Flying though the air above the city streets Marcus felt giddy about finding out about the egg in his possession.

He was really hoping that he had managed to score at least an elite level magical beast from the dungeon since it had been draining his mana like crazy and was still only one percent of the way to hatching.

Soon the flying taxi made it to the center of the city where the wealthiest of shops were set up to cater to the nobles and wealthy merchants whose mansions were nearby.

Hopping off of the bird Marcus thanked the rider before going off in search of the Sea Beast.

Quickly making his way through the streets Marcus managed to find his destination after just around a half hour of walking.

Standing in front of the large four-story building Marcus felt like a kid on Christmas waiting to see what was inside their presents. He then took the half black half white egg out of his companion storage since most people would be unable to store away a living creature and he did not want to seem suspect.

Walking in Marcus notice numerous people with magical beasts in cages as well as a few people that were holding magical beast eggs like him.

Looking around Marcus found the reception desk and moved to join the long line.

After waiting for over an hour due to one of the beasts escaping from its cage and causing a ruckus Marcus had managed to make it to the front of the line.

The receptionist looking a bit haggard after the magical beast escape incident asked Marcus with a plastered-on smile what service he need.

"I have a magical beast egg here of at least rare grade but believed to be epic or higher with me that I would like to have tested and apply a mutual seal to."

The receptionist's smile shook slightly before she said, "I am sorry we are only able to perform that service for long time members, reputable organizations, or high-ranking nobles. The highest grade we can test for the general population is up to the rare grade."

Marcus remembering the letter Joras gave him swiftly pulled it out and handed it over. The receptionist looked at the letter and recognized the seal used on the wax as a branch master of the adventures guild.

Flustered by the letter the receptionist said, "Could you wait here a moment while I get the manager to confirm that this letter is genuine."

She then picked up the letter and scurried on over to large door in the back of the building and entered inside.

After around five minutes the receptionist and an old man in incredibly fancy clothes came out of the room and approached Marcus.

The old man addressed Marcus first saying, "Thank you for choosing our establishment for testing the grade of you magical beast egg. I am the manager Octavius Varga and I have indeed verified that this letter is genuine and if Joras is giving you his support then we will be happy to measure the grade of this mystery egg you have acquired."

The old man then beckoned Marcus to follow him and led him to a flight of stairs in the corner of the building.

While climbing up the stairs Marcus had given the manager the old appraisal and found that he was actually quite strong at level twenty-seven.

Reaching the top floor, the manager led Marcus into a room that had two guards posted outside and once inside Marcus saw that the room was lined with shelves and in the center, there was a large, raised magic circle with six crystals imbedded around it in the center of the room.

Octavius walked over to the lone desk in the room and pulled out a few sheets of paper before walking back over to Marcus.

"Here are the contracts for assessing your egg and applying a mutual seal to them."

Marcus read over the contracts finding the usual spiel about how the Sea Beast does not take any responsibility for damaged property and that they will not disclose information except in cases of emergencies. Though what caught Marcus' attention was the cost of the test. To test for up to epic grade would cost five hundred gold, while legendary would be a thousand and mythic would cost thirteen hundred. Then there was the cost of adding the mutual seal which would be three hundred gold for any beast epic or above.

Octavius seeing the look of horror on Marcus' face said, "Sir if you do not have the funds to afford our services then we will have to stop for today and when you are able to afford the service you can come back. The test will only be administered after a full payment and signed contract. This is our policy even for the highest ranked nobles."

Feeling as if he was giving up one of his limbs Marcus reluctantly took out the chest of gold he had been given for saving Mrazivý, and began the lengthy process of separating out sixteen hundred gold.

Octavius did offer to have one of his staff members do it for him, but Marcus was obstinate about not letting anyone touch his money since he did not want any of his gold wandering off.

Once he had finished counting out the gold Marcus signed the two contacts one for administering the test to rate his magical beast egg up to mythic and the other for applying the mutual seal.

Octavius looked over the contracts and finding everything to be in order put Marcus' gold into his magic bag and said, "It has been a while since the last time we performed this level of test so it may take me a while to get it set up. Pease bear with me and be patient."

The old manager then went around gathering items out of drawers and off of shelves and placing them within the magic circle in the center of the room.

After he had finished adjusting the items and the magical device that was going to measure the grade of Marcus' magical beast egg two hours had already passed.

Letting off a breath of relief Octavius turned around and said, "There we go it is ready. I am sorry it took so long, it has been over a few years since the last time anyone wanted to test above the legendary grade, so I am a bit rusty at setting up the procedure. But it is now ready so if you can hand over the egg to me, we can get started."

Handing over the magical beast egg he had received as a reward from the treasure chest in the dungeon, Marcus watch as Octavius place the egg in the center of the magic circle.

With the egg now in place Octavius walked out of the circle and activate the magical device.

The circle began to light up with a green light as the objects that Octavius had placed in the circle acted as points that connected to form an elaborate formation.

The crystals imbedded around the circle then quickly lit up, one, two, three, four, five, six, every single one of the crystal each one representing a higher grade of magical beast had lit up almost instantly causing a shocked reaction from both Marcus an Octavius.

However, what happened next caused Octavius' expression to change to that of horror as the crystals started shattering like overheated lightbulbs.

Each one shattered as quickly as they lit up before all six of the crystals had shattered into thousands of pieces.

Octavius could not contain his pure dread as the Sea Beast's best beast grader had just broken along with revealing the egg of a beast above the mythic grade.

He quickly moved to exit the room planning to notify the kingdom at once of the great danger this beast would pose. If a normal legendary beast could destroy and entire country once they reached a level of around thirty, then he figured whatever was in that egg could threaten the entire continent.

However, before he could get to the door he suddenly felt as if the weight of the world had fallen on his soul, and he failed to take another step forward as Marcus used his phantom pressure ability on him.

Marcus walked forward standing in front of Octavius and made his spectral hand appear. He then had the hand fly right at Octavius' chest, grab around his heart, and then made it disappear.

"I have just place a curse on you, if you tell anyone about the results of this egg you will die. I can also kill you at any time wherever you are. If I feel you have betrayed me, heck if I am just having a bad day, I can end your life with a single thought."

Of course, Marcus was just putting on a show since he did not really have the power to curse people, but Octavius did not know this, and Marcus could tell that by the sheer terror on his face that he believed him.

Releasing his phantom pressure on Octavius Marcus said, "Now we need to apply the mutual seal and then we can conclude our business."

A light of hope then glimmered in Octavius' eyes as even if it was just an egg a beast of this level would almost never willingly enter into a pact with a human and the backlash would surely kill Marcus.

Octavius hurriedly gathered up the special ink needed to apply the mutual seal and got to work drawing it on the egg.

He made sure to make no mistakes since if the seal failed to activate, he feared what repercussions Marcus might unleash on him.

Once it was done Octavius said, "It is ready, now all you need to do is apply some of your blood to the seal and the pact with be formed."

'Blood? Fuck, I am a ghost I do not have any blood, the only thing that come out of me when I am injured is some sort of grey mist. Though, maybe I can use that since in a way it is sort of my blood and if that does not work maybe I can posses this guy and try using his blood."

Marcus walked over to the egg and took out the cheap bronze knife he had purchased quite sometime ago and infused it with as much mana as he could.

It took him everything he had just to cut open his hand but after overcharging the bronze knife and causing cracks to form in it he managed to create a deep gash.

Appling his now cut hand to the seal on the egg Marcus felt the grey mist coming out of his wound get absorbed by the seal and after a minute the seal disappeared merging with the egg.

At that moment he felt as if the egg said, 'I suppose you will do.'

After that Marcus could feel a new connection with the egg forming before a massive beam of darkness and light enveloped him.