How a Two-Life Scoundrel Lives

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【Chapter 48】

Just as Kudo had said, the fourth room was a hatching chamber.

The actual name was [Antiros’s Hatching Chamber] after all.

Antiros, who had built a laboratory in the Blood-Soaked Land of Kuberin and devoted himself to chimera research, began to doubt the method of fusing different life forms after years of failure.

He realized that such methods could only create terrible and grotesque monstrous creatures, not true ‘creations’ born from ‘creation’ itself.

Since Antiros’s ultimate goal was to invade the Creator’s exclusive domain by creating new species that had never existed before…

Instead, Antiros focused on ‘hatching’ new life forms using ‘eggs’.

He would first create eggs, inject various reproductive cells into them, then manipulate genetic information using magical and alchemical knowledge to create new species… This was the background setting of this place, [Antiros’s Laboratory].

“Wh-what the hell are these eggs?”

Russell looked terrified as he stared at the eggs with anxious eyes, as if they were time bombs.

“Are they monster eggs?”

“They’re definitely not ordinary eggs.”

Begman and Kudo each offered their opinions.

“If anything tries to pop out, I’ll shoot it immediately.”

Marder, perhaps eager to try out his newly acquired [Silent Arrow], had nocked an arrow to his bowstring and was aiming at the eggs.

“No.”

Carlisle gently pressed down on the arrow to prevent him from shooting.

“There’s nothing particularly dangerous here, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Not dangerous?”

“Yes.”

Carlisle nodded.

“It doesn’t seem like there are any evil monstrous creatures inside. Everyone can relax.”

The senior soldiers agreed with Carlisle’s words but remained uneasy and couldn’t quite let their guard down.

‘Well, that’s natural. They were just fighting chimeras until a moment ago.’

Carlisle chuckled inwardly and examined the eggs.

There were roughly 100 eggs.

Each egg varied in size and shape, suggesting that the life forms inside were all different.

‘Some of them have gone bad.’

Carlisle frowned as he looked over several eggs.

Some had completely lost their color, and others even gave off a putrid smell.

It seemed that after Antiros died, the magic that maintained the hatching chamber’s temperature gradually lost its power, affecting the preservation state of the eggs.

“What the hell is inside those things?”

“Hmm.”

Carlisle answered Begman’s question.

“I don’t know either. We’ll have to crack them open to find out.”

“Crack them open?”

“That’s right. That’s the only way to know what’s inside.”

The hatching chamber was the core content of [Antiros’s Laboratory], a system where you crack eggs to obtain [Pets].

What would come out of the eggs was completely random, so even Carlisle couldn’t know what was inside until he cracked them open.

“Don’t you have any rough idea?”

“Let’s just say… some special life forms?”

“Special life forms?”

“For example…”

Carlisle spoke while recalling the pets he had drawn in the past.

“A perverted cuckoo that only thinks about mating…”

“Huh?”

“A talking frog, a bird made of stone, an octopus that tap dances, a snake with wings… roughly things like that?”

“You expect me to believe that?”

Begman scrunched up his face as if to say ‘stop talking nonsense’.

“…But it’s true.”

Carlisle squeezed his eyes shut, recalling his gacha luck.

‘Those are all things I’ve actually drawn.’

Carlisle felt utterly wronged.

Other players would draw dignified, cool, and cute creatures.

For example, the [Three-Eyed Cat], a gray cat with three eyes, or the [Chimera] with a lion’s head and body but a snake’s tail and wings.

However, Carlisle had absolutely terrible gacha luck, so he only had memories of drawing bizarre and grotesque creatures, just as he had told Begman.

Moreover, the pets he drew like that, far from being helpful, would often cause trouble that embarrassed their owner and only created problems.

It got so bad that at some point, he often skipped 【Antiros’s Laboratory】 entirely when playing.

‘I’m not even expecting anything.’

With that thought, Carlisle looked around at the senior soldiers.

“Let’s crack them open one by one from now.”

“We’re not taking them with us?”

“How could we carry all these eggs? And you can’t put living creatures in a large subspace inventory either.”

“I-I see.”

“Would you like to crack one open first?”

Carlisle picked up a small hammer that had been placed in one corner of the hatching chamber and offered it to Begman.

“Is that okay?”

“Why not? Let’s take turns cracking them open one by one.”

“I-if you say so, then I guess it’s fine.”

Begman, quite unlike his usual self, very carefully accepted the hammer Carlisle handed him.

“Just strike it down. Probably…”

“Probably?”

“This is my first time too.”

“Ah, I see.”

Begman struck the egg with the hammer as Carlisle had explained.

Crack! The egg shattered into pieces and from inside…

“Ugh!”

Begman recoiled in shock.

Splash splash splash!

What came out of the cracked egg wasn’t a living creature but a thick, black liquid.

The smell was so terrible that it didn’t just sting the nose but made one’s mind dizzy.

“Ugh.”

“What, what is that thing?”

Kudo and Marder frowned in disgust.

“Blech!”

Russell, despite being a bed-wetter, apparently had a weak stomach, as he dry-heaved and suffered.

Carlisle pulled out a handkerchief from his chest and covered his nose and mouth as he spoke.

“It’s a dud.”

“A dud?”

“It rotted because it’s old. It couldn’t hatch in time.”

“I-I see. Ugh.”

Begman answered while shaking his leg to shake off the liquid that had gotten on his military boots.

“Next person?”

Kudo, Marder, and Russell, having seen Begman draw a dud, were reluctant to step forward.

“If no one else will, I’ll crack one first.”

Carlisle took the hammer and cracked open the next egg.

Crack! Splash splash splash!

The egg shattered into pieces as black liquid poured out.

‘Well, of course. I didn’t expect anything anyway.’

Carlisle was about to hand the hammer to Russell with an indifferent expression when a notification window that had been quiet suddenly appeared.

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

“What the f—”

A curse word slipped from Carlisle’s mouth.

* * *

The Exploration Team was generally unlucky.

Despite cracking nearly two-thirds of the eggs, not a single person managed to get a pet, so they were

at a level where there was nothing to say if called utterly unlucky people.

How many duds were there that the Hatching Chamber was filled with a rotten stench?

‘Or maybe not.’

On the other hand, he thought it might have nothing to do with luck.

‘If the preservation magic weakened, it’s natural for the eggs to rot too.’

Since he came thinking it was nothing to lose anyway and didn’t even have expectations, Carlisle mechanically swung the hammer and cracked eggs without much thought.

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

[Notification: Dud!!!]

[Notification: Oh no! You’re out of luck!]

[Notification: Better luck next time!]

Although it was unpleasant whenever the notification windows appeared, perhaps because he didn’t have the same passion as when he enthusiastically played [Overlord] in the past, he wasn’t particularly angry.

Just obtaining [Iron Fortress] and [Guerrilla Spirit], items specialized for defense, was already a worthwhile trip…

‘I should hurry up and crack them, then return…’

Just then.

CRACK!

A brilliant flash burst from the egg Marder cracked.

“…!”

Everyone’s attention focused on the egg Marder had cracked.

“Screech, screeech!”

What emerged from the egg was a hawk with blue feathers resembling the sky.

“Is this for real?”

Carlisle denied reality.

Getting a hawk with blue feathers from [Antiros’s Laboratory] meant only one thing.

‘That’s Hugin.’

[Hugin] was a hawk with three eyes and a very useful pet.

Moreover, unlike ordinary pets, it was a growth-type with a long lifespan, making it one of the rare pets worth keeping for a lifetime.

In other words, Marder had drawn a high-grade pet that might appear once even if you cracked thousands of eggs.

“Screech, screeech!”

Hugin gazed at Marder with its third eye and chirped.

“What… is it saying?”

Marder asked Carlisle with a bewildered expression.

“It’s probably imprinting.”

“Imprinting?”

“It recognizes the person who cracked the egg as its master.”

“So I have to raise it?”

“Mm.”

Carlisle said with a slightly spiteful expression.

“It seems like you’ll have to serve it rather than raise it…”

“Hm?”

“It’s nothing. Just try raising it well.”

Carlisle gave a bitter smile.

The feeling of watching someone who doesn’t know how lucky they are…

“Anyway, congratulations, let’s continue cracking.”

Until this point, Carlisle thought Marder was just particularly lucky.

However, after 30 minutes passed and there were almost no eggs left, Carlisle had to admit his thinking was wrong.

“…Is this some kind of hidden camera or something?”

“Hidden camera? What are you talking about?”

Begman tilted his head while stroking the neck of his wolf-like pet.

The [Silver Wolf] that Begman drew was a pet that, contrary to werewolves, was normally a wolf but transformed into a beast-man when excited.

Perhaps due to the fading preservation magic in the Hatching Chamber, it seemed somewhat old and sickly, but it was also a pet that many players preferred for being very intelligent and having excellent combat ability.

“It’s just me talking to myself, so don’t mind it.”

Carlisle replied curtly.

“This little one is quite cute.”

“Yip yip!”

Surprisingly, Kudo had drawn a red fox with nine tails.

[Fire Nine-Tailed Fox].

As it continued to grow, it would become a person with nine tails, so it was a pet beloved by countless players.

The probability of drawing it was also very rare, making it even harder to see than Hugin.

“Ugh! Why is this thing so strong!”

“Hiss! Hiss hiss!”

Russell’s pet, which resembled a white ferret, was [Forest Maniac].

At first glance, it looked no different from an ordinary ferret, but it was incredibly strong and could cast buffs that enhanced its owner.

Following Marder, Begman, Kudo, and even Russell had all drawn pets that were highly rated and rare among players.

In contrast, no pet was positioned beside Carlisle.

That’s right.

Carlisle was the only one with bad luck.

* * *

‘This isn’t even funny anymore.’

Carlisle had to struggle desperately to suppress what was truly a long-overdue emotional change.

He knew his gacha luck was bad, but who could have known it would be this severe.

Seeing the comparison with others right before his eyes, it was clear his luck was far worse than he had thought.

“Don’t be too disappointed. You still have three left.”

“Private Carlisle will surely draw a cute companion animal too.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

The Senior Soldiers offered Carlisle comfort and encouragement.

“I’m perfectly fine. So mind your own business and take care of your own pets instead.”

Carlisle snapped curtly and turned toward the remaining Eggs.

Normally this would have been insubordination, but given the circumstances, no senior soldier took issue with Carlisle’s attitude.

‘So what if I can’t draw some stupid Pet. It would just be a hassle anyway.’

Carlisle swung his Hammer toward one of the three remaining Eggs.

Thwack, splash splash splash!

Black Rotten Water poured out.

[Alert: Miss!!!]