Chapter 175: I'm Going to Be a Dad! — Referring to Hatching Eggs
The first thing Cheng Mouren did upon returning to his Space Island was to pre-pay a full month's worth of feeding fees for his Mammoth War Elephant, Crimson Tyrannosaurus Rex, and the soon-to-be-born Archeopteryx. The Space was equally impolite, directly deducting 1.5 million from Cheng Tian.
More to be returned, less to be supplemented.
Then, he began to modify his Space, transforming it into an area filled with primitive atmosphere and natural scenery, capable of accommodating two large creatures and one small one simultaneously.
In a sense, Aileen's complaint was indeed accurate. The combined maintenance fees for Cheng Tian's numerous vehicles and the feeding costs for several large creatures clearly exceeded what a single player could afford through high-rated main quest settlements. The expenses were already enough to bankrupt a small guild.
However, with the additional income from bounty targets, Cheng Tian could fully support these expenditures.
Because the Dinosaur Fight trip had a relatively low drain on his body and mind, completely lacking the life-and-death pressure of the Metal Slug dual-main-quest dungeon where he actively pushed his potential, for Cheng Tian, this was merely a trip with some adventurous elements, and the entire process was relatively relaxed and enjoyable.
Of course, without the desperate effort to become stronger and accumulate resources in Metal Slug previously, Cheng Tian would not have been able to be so at ease in this Dinosaur Fight, gaining the equivalent of a main dungeon's harvest with almost no effort.
Nevertheless, Cheng Tian still decided to take a break for ten days to half a month. The original plan to go to Makaimura to help Arthur fulfill his last wish was also temporarily postponed.
He planned to add some game-related content to his sugar painting list during these days of rest.
As the saying goes, work and rest in moderation. Returning to reality for appropriate rest and social interaction is also one way to maintain enthusiasm for video games.
However, before that, Cheng Tian still needed to go to the market to find some enhancement materials for the Archeopteryx egg.
The four steamed Pteranodon eggs, which Cheng Tian had painstakingly searched for on a small mountain, clearly weren't qualified as fusion materials; they were only fit for the stomachs of Cheng Tian and his companions. And since he already had the reins of the Crimson Tyrannosaurus Rex, Cheng Tian didn't really want to fuse a Spade attribute into the Archeopteryx, as their roles would somewhat overlap.
Moreover, since there was an opportunity for compatible fusion, there was no need to restrict the selection to the Adventure Island 3 range.
Thus, Cheng Tian eventually found an item in the market called "Amber Fossil Containing Hollow Bones."
This item could either be sold directly as a valuable collectible with high collection value, or one could go to a Pokémon-related blueprint dungeon, try to establish a relationship with a specific research institute studying ancient creatures within the dungeon, and then use their equipment to extract internal DNA and revive the creature inside.
The seller of this item might have failed a main quest and needed to sell something to recover some funds, perhaps to repair his equipment or pay insurance for a bounty quest. This allowed Cheng Tian to acquire it for only five thousand yuan.
Others would need to find someone to extract the DNA, but Cheng Tian didn't.
His personal Space contained a small, fully-equipped genetic research laboratory, and extracting genes from fossils and amber was already a familiar process for Utan.
Although this trip to Dinosaur Fight accidentally veered into "The Tale of the Human Nargacuga Stealing Eggs," Cheng Tian wasn't to blame. After all, their initial spawn point was theoretically the swamp forest of the second stage.
To officially encounter the mutated dinosaur people with dual-form transformation, one would need to reach at least the fifth stage scene.
And to meet the Doctor himself, one would need to spawn directly into the sixth stage, which is the final boss stage.
However, for Cheng Tian, who had already successfully saved his progress and gained one opportunity to replace a main quest, he would definitely re-enter the dungeon in the future.
Although the plot, with even the dungeon name becoming a fusion monstrosity, had become completely unpredictable, this only intensified Cheng Tian's curiosity. He also wanted to know what the ultimate goal of the main quest would become if he stood on the side of the game's original "villains."
Given the already quite friendly relationship established between Cheng Tian and the Butcher organization, contacting the Mediterranean Doctor behind them probably wouldn't be difficult. However, whether they would find common ground or become rivals would depend on how things unfolded.
Additionally, Cheng Tian had a thought that could be considered an intuition: the "Water of Styx" that appeared among the rewards of this bounty dungeon, capable of resetting templates, would very likely come in handy the next time he entered the dinosaur dungeon.
Utan's extraction speed was very fast, and he quickly completed the preservation of the DNA within the amber, and also analyzed that the unit corresponding to this hollow bone was named "Aerodactyl."
Utan was also very surprised by this inspection result, because the Aerodactyl's DNA was clearly not the strongest gene that the Archeopteryx egg could fuse with, but it was the most compatible gene for it.
Putting aside the matter of whether stronger gene-containing items could be bought for a moment, assuming Cheng Tian could obtain Godzilla's gene extract and the Archeopteryx egg fused with it, then the final hatched product would probably only possess a minuscule fraction of Godzilla's abilities, because the difference between the two was simply too vast. Let alone an Archeopteryx, even pulling out an Elder Dragon from the Monster Hunter world would have to think twice.
However, Aerodactyl was different; the Archeopteryx's compatibility with it was almost 100%!
So Cheng Tian directly chose to fuse the amber with the dragon egg. The egg's name, originally "Archeopteryx," then changed to a string of question marks. Cheng Tian carried it with him, driving the Batmobile in circles within his personal Space.
During this time, Aileen also came to ask Cheng Tian for recommendations regarding dragon egg fusion. However, unlike Cheng Tian's choice to enhance the Archeopteryx's flying ability, she wanted her Pteranodon egg to be more versatile.
After all, she was different from a freak like Cheng Tian, who had his own war elephants, tyrannosaurs, and pterodactyls, as well as various war chariots and even a submarine, allowing him to switch between various mounts and vehicles depending on the situation. Therefore, she couldn't pursue extremes and could only aim for versatility.
"Oh? You want aquatic abilities? Then go get a Magikarp."
Perhaps because she had the Lightning Rhythm motorcycle, Aileen, who had no need for ground movement, whimsically wanted her Pteranodon to be amphibious. Thus, Cheng Tian could only offer the suggestion that was currently the only one Aileen could easily afford with her financial resources.
A Gyarados was out of the question; how many trainers and summoners wanted one of those?
But if it was the pre-evolution Magikarp, that thing was really common. After all, not every Magikarp could leap over the dragon gate and transform into a Gyarados; the effort, resources, and even the Magikarp's own aptitude required were far beyond imagination.
If Aileen only wanted a backstroke fish, then the price of 500 yuan per fish, which was already dirt cheap, could be cut down even further.
It was also unknown what strange individual would hatch from a Magikarp plus an Archeopteryx, and whether it would still retain the possibility of leaping over the dragon gate.
And just as Cheng Tian was giving Aileen advice, a prompt suddenly popped up.
"Oh? The egg looks a bit strange!?!"