Chapter 77 - HE'S NOT THAT HELPLESS

LUO YAN fed Mana to the egg through the incubator.  He put more than usual since he wasn't able to do it this past weekend.  After doing so, he stared at the egg inside the crystal incubator.  It had been more than a week since he got this egg, but it still wasn't close to hatching.  He pressed a button at the side of the artificial beast incubator to check the status of the egg inside.  Then a screen appeared on top of it.  

Unknown Egg

- Status of Hatching: 10%

- Current Health Meter: Extremely Healthy 

- Current Mood Meter: Somewhat Satisfied

Luo Yan looked at the status of hatching.  10%?  He began calculating inside his head.  He had this egg for 10 days now.  If he multiply that by 100 and then divide it by 10, the answer would be 100.  Which meant that this egg would take 100 days before it hatched.  A hundred days?  How come it's so long?  Even a fertilized chicken's egg hatched after only 21 days.  Just what kind of beast was inside this egg?

Then he narrowed his eyes at the current mood meter.  [Somewhat satisfied?  What, because I neglected you for two days, you can't be fully satisfied no matter how much Mana I input in you?]  He turned off the status and then raised the incubator to eye level so he could glare at it better.  "You brat, you haven't been born yet and you're already starting to rebel?  Let's see how I spank you once you come out," he said to the egg in a low voice that no one would hear.

If the egg was sentient, it would probably be shaking by now and shouting; "I'm sorry, Master!  I didn't mean it."

"Yan, stop hugging that incubator and let's do our task," Luo Jin said, interrupting his moment with his egg.  

Wait- that kind of came out wrong.  It sounded a bit perverted.  Like his talking to Luo Yan Jr. down there.  Should he give this egg a nickname?  How about 'Little Ancestor'?  Since this guy was already so cheeky despite being just a zygote.  

He put back the incubator in his Items Tab and walked beside Luo Jin.  "Ah Jin, I read something interesting in the game forum last night."

"It wasn't another post with a screenshot of your game avatar, is it?" Luo Jin asked, already frowning.

"No, it's about something called the Rookie Carnival.  It's a tournament held every November.  But it's only open to beginner players who just created an account this year.  And the players also have to be at least level 80.  How about we participate?"

Luo Jin scrunched his eyebrows a bit after hearing that.  "A tournament?  Wouldn't that be too violent for you?"

After all, it's different from fighting the monsters here.  They'd be fighting other players.  As much as he liked the idea, he's worried that his second brother would meet some sneaky players who would use underhanded means just so they could win.  

Luo Yan looked at his brother.  He already had an idea of what he was thinking about.  Looked like he could only use his ultimate weapon.  He blinked.  His big eyes filling with tears.  "Why?  Is Ah Jin looking down on me?"

Luo Jin froze and stepped back.  "Argh- that's not it."

"Then what is it?" When Luo Jin didn't answer immediately, big fat tears had already fallen from his eyes.  "I knew it.  Ah Jin is really looking down on me.  How could you do that?  Besides… b-beside, I play better than Ah Jin!  I even kill more monsters than Ah Jin when we do our task.  I may be just a little kid to you, but- but I'm older!  Always treating me like a little kid that couldn't do anything is very unfair to me.  Don't you think?"

Although he did enjoy being spoiled, because that was something he never had growing up, being coddled so much could also be annoying at times.  Especially when he really wanted to do something.  Among the three, Luo Jin was definitely the strictest.  He even followed him in playing Arcadia just so he could keep an eye on him.  So it's best that as early as now, he could ease him into understanding that his second brother might not be as helpless as he thought he was.    

Unlike Luo Jin, his father and older brother would probably be more slack.  Not that they would allow him to just do anything.  But at least they would be more open to the idea.  Especially once he stared up at them with his big eyes and looked at them pitifully.    

  Of course that didn't mean that he would stop them from spoiling him.  Who wouldn't want to be spoiled by the people who genuinely loved you?  Luo Yan just simply wanted them to understand that, despite the coma, the lost seven years, and the supposed amnesia, he still had the ability to take care of himself.  Although completely convincing them of that would probably take a long time.  Since they still considered him as a ten-year-old kid.  But he still had to start somewhere, right?

Luo Jin was completely flustered.  He truly couldn't handle it whenever he saw Luo Yan cried.  His brain always blanked and he had no idea what to do next.  Seriously, just how could this brother of his cry at the drop of a hat?  Was it some kind of hormonal imbalance?  

But despite him being in panicked, he still understood what Luo Yan was trying to convey to him.  He could understand but that didn't mean that he could completely agree to it.  Just how could he?  This was the brother he almost lost.  The brother he thought would forever remain lying on that hospital bed.  Him waking up was a true miracle.  Even the doctors their father talked to for the past seven years all said that it was almost impossible for him to wake up.

So this time, Luo Jin wanted to do his best to protect him.  Something that he failed to do seven years ago.

But Luo Yan participating in this tournament would probably not be that bad as he imagined it would.  This was VR, so the danger was already lowered a lot.  And after hearing what hi second brother said, he realized something.  Being overprotective to the point that he seemed to be putting him in a cage and limiting him from what he could do could only have a negative effect on him.

Besides, he couldn't just let him continue crying.

Luo Jin sighed helplessly.  "I understand.  We'll both participate in this carnival thing.  So stop crying, okay?"

Luo Yan blinked back his tears.  "Really?"

"Really."

He smiled happily and lifted Luo Jin up.  "Yey!  I knew Ah Jin is the best!"

Luo Jin, of course, blushed.  "Yan!  What are you doing?  Put me down!"

"Yes, yes." Luo Yan put his brother down.  "Now let's do lots and lots of task so we could continue levelling up.  Then do some dungeon raiding to get materials for our weapons."

Speaking of task, Shen Ji Yun didn't answer to his private message.  Maybe he's busy?  He'd just wait for his answer then.  He knew how annoying it could be to receive message after message containing the same content from the same person.  

With that, he just left it at the back of his mind and just continued walking with Luo Jin towards the location of their task.