Yes, Lady Funina!

"Richard...hasn't he come out yet? I hope nothing bad has happened to him?" Funina was still a little worried.

Claude and Lynette also inevitably showed signs of worry, though they didn't express it as openly as Frynn.

Fukaros tapped the Contract Seal on Funina's left hand and said, "The Contract Seal is still there, so she should be alright."

"Hey, right, speaking of which, I remember the three of us signed the contract together, so you should also have the contract mark on you, but I didn't see it."

"Huh? This..."

Chapter 162 Plunder, the Opportunity for the Perfect Dragon

Richard didn't know if Fukaros had shown Funinna her contract mark, but he knew he was feeling great.

Pleasure in a biological sense.

The story goes back to when Richard threw Frynn to Clorind, and he himself was swallowed by the Star-Devouring Whale...

After being swallowed by the Star-Devouring Whale, Richard did not end up inside the whale's stomach, but instead found himself in a mysterious space, or rather, this space was its stomach itself.

After all, as a giant cosmic beast capable of traversing between planets, it's quite reasonable for it to carry an alternate dimension with it.

The space within the Star-Devouring Whale is fundamentally different from the Shadow's Pure Land and Fukaros's mental space. It is not the internalization of the Star-Devouring Whale's emotions, but a real space that truly exists and is a reflection of the Star-Devouring Whale's power.

After Richard was swallowed into this starry sky, he arrived directly at a platform made up of many flat stones. What surprised him even more was that there were other 'people' here besides him.

As soon as these 'people' spotted Richard, they immediately launched an attack. These 'people' appeared out of thin air, and the surrounding air seemed to be distorted when they appeared. Rather than spatial teleportation, Richard felt that it was more like some kind of projection.

After truly engaging with these 'people,' Richard was basically certain that the warriors in black armor before him were not real people, but rather illusions.

Similar to the water phantoms around the Water Fairy, it has a certain degree of autonomy and can identify intruders and launch an attack.

These dark, humanoid phantoms were also quite powerful. Perhaps because their strength was linked to the Star-Devouring Whale, Richard felt that each of them was at least 0.1 times stronger than the [Lady].

Although their individual strength is not particularly high, their sheer numbers are overwhelming, and it seems impossible to completely kill them. After being defeated, they are quickly replenished in number, as if they are endless.

With this added characteristic, it's even more difficult to deal with than [the lady]!

Of course, it was only slightly better than the "Lady". Richard was able to completely suppress the "Lady" with just one power. Similarly, when facing the siege of these phantoms, Richard did not spend much effort and controlled them with water bubbles.

Since killing them allows for resurrection, then we should simply not kill them.

As long as these illusions are controlled, no more illusions will be generated. It seems that maintaining so many illusions is already the limit for the Star-Devouring Whale.

After Richard resolved the minor trouble caused by the newly landed Star-Devouring Whale, he prepared to explore the interior of the Star-Devouring Whale to see if there was a way out.

After all this time, the giant whale should have already returned to the original womb.

However, just as Richard was about to take further action, he suddenly felt the platform beneath his feet tremble, or more precisely, the entire space tremble.

"Is this another fight?" Richard looked up at the lightless star hanging in the sky, which resembled a 'black hole'.

However, it was precisely because of this tremor that Richard discovered that the lightless star in the center of space was very likely the location of the 'heart' of the Star-Devouring Whale. Even if it wasn't the 'heart', it was at least the source of its power, similar to the magical organs on a monster's body.

Speaking of magical organs, there has always been a tradition on the continent of Teyvat to use the magical organs of monsters as food and alchemical materials. These foods or alchemical potions made from magical organs have many magical effects.

I wonder what the heart of the Star-Devouring Whale tastes like, and what the effects would be if I ate it...

To be honest, even Richard was startled when the thought popped into his head. When did he become so indiscriminate? That pitch-black star with only a faint blue halo around its edges didn't look like something he could eat at all.

How did he come up with the idea of ​​'eating'?

Perhaps he's really hungry.

Richard certainly couldn't be hungry. In his current state, he could go without food for a long time without any problems. The only reason he would feel 'appetite' for the starless star of the Devouring Whale is that he has only one reason.

That is, this celestial body contains some kind of energy that would greatly benefit Richard.

Richard had a premonition that the opportunity for him to become the 'Perfect Dragon', as predicted in the prophecy, would likely fall on this.

The prophecy from Nico's side previously stated that Richard's chance to complete himself fell on the primordial sea of ​​wombs, and now it seems that the prophecy cannot be said to be wrong.

After all, the Star-Devouring Whale had indeed been staying inside the Primordial Ocean of Pregnancy, stealing water from it and absorbing the most fundamental energy of the planet's ocean of pregnancy.

However, it is precisely because of the Star-Devouring Whale's act of stealing food that the energy inside the Primordial Embryonic Sea is now basically concentrated in this giant star whale. For Richard, as long as he 'eats' this big fish, it is basically equivalent to drinking the Primordial Embryonic Sea of ​​the same energy level.

This way, Richard wouldn't have to run into the primordial womb sea and gulp down that salty womb sea water. Although it's primordial womb sea water, it's still sea water after all. The taste can't be described as a delicacy; it's just hard to swallow.

Therefore, even though Richard knew that he could improve his strength by consistently consuming the original fetal water, he only tried it a few times before giving up.

It's extremely salty; I can't drink any of it.

In contrast, Richard preferred to eat the food Ying cooked, at least he could ask for a kiss afterward as emotional compensation.

After figuring this out, Richard's attitude towards the alien, star-devouring whale improved considerably. What a wonderful working whale! It knew the seawater was salty and took the suffering for him.

In terms of celestial terminology, this whale is roughly Richard's cauldron, and the huge celestial body suspended in the dark starry sea is the 'golden elixir' refined within the cauldron, the kind that allows one to ascend to heaven after consuming it.

There are still many good whales in the world!

Richard sighed as he approached the celestial body.

It seems that the Star-Devouring Whale sensed that the 'snack' it had just eaten was somewhat malicious, and with Master Da giving it a gua sha treatment outside, the Star-Devouring Whale wanted to quickly expel or digest Richard from its stomach.

The shapeshifter, previously controlled by Richard, struggled more frequently, but under Richard's water prison, it was rendered powerless.

Seeing that these illusions were no match for Richard, the Star-Devouring Whale simply canceled them out. After the illusions disappeared, the space in the very center of the arena began to distort, eventually forming a dark spatial portal from which a figure emerged.

After getting a clear look at the newcomer, Richard realized that the other party was just like the illusion from before, also wearing black armor, and the greatsword in his hand was the same style as those illusions.

The only difference is that this is a real 'person', and the previous illusions were likely created based on this 'person'.

The reason for the quotation marks is that Richard doesn't know if the other party counts as human; at least for now, the other party doesn't seem to have any intelligence.

The mysterious visitor, clad in black armor, didn't waste any words with Richard. He launched an attack immediately upon meeting him, and even a simple slash was incredibly powerful, reaching the level of two [Ladies] in terms of strength.

Furthermore, their movement is extremely agile, as if they have mastered some kind of spatial power, enabling them to make short-distance spatial jumps.

Richard's assessment of this was that it was all flashy and superficial. Watching the black-armored warrior constantly dodging and weaving, Richard simply adopted a strategy of remaining unchanged and watching the opponent perform quietly.

Faced with the opponent's attack, Richard also slightly raised his hand to defend himself, and, well, he used his hand to catch the opponent's blade.

However, Richard was quite hygienic and didn't have long fingernails, otherwise the purple greatsword in the other person's hand would really have become a nail file.

After figuring out his opponent's fighting style, Richard squeezed his hand, and the sword came to a hard stop. The black-armored warrior seemed to want to pull back his weapon, but unfortunately, his strength was pitifully weak in front of Richard.

Wrestling with a dragon, you'll experience...

Well, even if I had some, I wouldn't let you try it.

After taking control of his opponent's weapon, Richard delivered a simple yet powerful side kick, the force of which was so great that the sound of air being cut could be faintly heard.

The black-armored warrior decisively chose to abandon his sword and dodge. However, just as he finished his spatial jump, he saw Richard move at the same speed as him, as if he had not moved at all.

The kick landed squarely on his waist, and time seemed to slow down. The armor on the black-armored warrior's waist shattered almost instantly. The immense force did not stop because of the broken armor, but instead poured onto the black-armored warrior without reservation, kicking him into a '<' shape.

After a crisp cracking sound, the opponent was kicked away by Richard like a soccer ball being shot at. He rolled several times after landing before coming to a stop by hitting a dark stone block at the edge of the platform.

I can make countless mistakes, but you can only make one.

With just this one blow, the black-armored warrior was unable to rise again.

After glancing at the motionless black-armored warrior, Richard didn't linger. He took off and slowly flew towards the star.

The whale that devoured the stars sensed Richard's actions. Although it had little intelligence, its biological instincts were sending it a warning.

Richard must never be allowed to get close to his star core.

It was only at this moment that the Star-Devouring Whale realized just how much trouble it had swallowed.

This is no 'snack', it's clearly deadly poison.

The evil dragon that wants to suck its blood, eat its flesh, and seize the fruits of its many years of victory.

If it could be given another chance, it would definitely not eat anything indiscriminately anymore; eating everything would only harm itself.

Seeing that even the black-armored warriors couldn't do anything to Richard, the Star-Devouring Whale immediately tried to forcibly expel Richard from its body.

The space around Richard began to distort, but the Star-Devouring Whale soon discovered that the space could no longer be distorted. The space around Richard seemed to be covered with a thin layer of frost. This may be a bit abstract to explain, but the Star-Devouring Whale could feel the 'icy cold' in that space.

The Star-Devouring Whale has already lost control of the frost-covered space, and it will soon lose control of its star core.

"Don't worry, it won't kill you. I'll only take a tiny bit." Richard's current demeanor resembled a thug cornering an innocent girl, undressing her while saying, 'Go ahead and scream, no one will come to save you. Don't worry, I'm only after your body, not your life.'

Meanwhile, outside the Star-Devouring Whale, the [Young Master], who was fighting the Star-Devouring Whale, also noticed the abnormality of the Star-Devouring Whale.

Just now, he saw the Star-Devouring Whale smash through the spatial barrier and run outside. The young master wanted to chase after it, but before he could get close to the spatial rift, he found that the whale had returned on its own.

The young master didn't interfere much and continued to enjoy the battle with his opponent.

However, as the battle dragged on, the young master noticed that the giant whale was becoming increasingly out of sorts, giving him a sense of 'absent-mindedness'.

It's as if this star-devouring whale, while dealing with him, also has to deal with another unseen opponent.

He completely ignored the "Young Master" and plunged headfirst into the primordial sea of ​​fetuses, continuing to descend.

Did they... escape?

The young master wondered, but without much thought, he followed the Star-Devouring Whale into the Primordial Sea of ​​Conception, determined to settle the score.

[Young Master] trailed far behind the Star-Devouring Whale. At first, [Young Master] couldn't catch up with the Star-Devouring Whale no matter what he did. Just as the Whale was about to disappear from sight, [Young Master] was surprised to find that the Whale's speed had slowed down.

No, it's not just slower, the other person's size has also decreased.

After so many days of fighting, the young master had a very good understanding of the star-devouring whale before him, and was even more aware of its size.

Even the slightest change, the young master could tell.

As the chase continued, the size of the Star-Devouring Whale kept shrinking, and its speed also began to slow down accordingly. From being far ahead at the beginning, it was now basically on par with Tartaglia's speed.

From this point alone, it's clear that the whale's strength is slowly waning, and it looks like the energy it has accumulated over many years is being plundered.

Seeing this situation, the young master did not launch an attack rashly, because he was not sure what had happened to the star-devouring whale. If the other party had a change of heart and wanted to take him down with it, that would be bad.

After all, Prince Tartaglia was just belligerent, not stupid. Knowing that his opponent's strength was declining, why didn't he wait until the opponent was at his weakest before launching a fatal attack?

Don't say that doing this is too despicable and doesn't conform to the way of fighting at all.

To be honest, the battle between Tartaglia and the Whale Devourer that day could not even be called a battle. It was just Tartaglia attacking the Whale Devourer unilaterally, while the Whale Devourer only occasionally launched a counterattack.

It's like teasing a child; there's absolutely no combat experience.

This also illustrates a point: when you are weak enough, your attacks will seem like you're just being coquettish to your opponent.

Just as the young master was observing, the star-devouring whale suddenly stopped.

D'Artagnan stared at the scene before her, her eyes widening involuntarily...

Chapter 163 Skirk: Where's my pet?

Richard's mind was hazy. He could clearly feel his body temperature rising steadily, and along with the increase in temperature, his physical strength was also increasing in an unbelievable way.

However, rather than an improvement, it's more like a completion. The previous Richard was incomplete, but after receiving the Star Core from the Star-Devouring Whale, the previous gaps were filled with abundant energy.

The primordial ocean is the most fundamental life-giving water on the planet, the source of many forms of life, and its inherent energy is naturally of great benefit to life.

Of course, this excludes the Fontaines who are burdened with 'original sin'. What is a tonic that can increase the affinity of water elemental for ordinary life forms is a poison that can take the lives of the Fontaines.

Richard felt dizzy simply because too much energy had suddenly entered him, making him feel a bit overwhelmed.

To put it simply, it was incredibly exhilarating.

Master Whale's original fetal seaweed essence dumplings taste really good.

Of course, Richard didn't actually hug it and bite it; instead, he sucked around the star-devouring whale's celestial body by pressing the suction button.

Richard knew from the magnitude of the spatial tremors that the whale was definitely not willing to be sucked in, but what good would it do?

You're the one who swallowed me up; you can't say you let a wolf into the house, you can only say you provided excellent service.

Richard watched as the celestial body, which occupied half the size of the space, shrank smaller and smaller with his tireless efforts, until it was only the size of one or two people who could hug it.

Richard had almost completely consumed all the energy within the celestial body, and he didn't intend to eat any of the leftovers, wanting to leave some for the children.

If Richard really absorbs all the energy, the star-devouring whale probably won't survive.

Richard could have simply taken all the energy that the other party had diligently absorbed and digested over the years, accumulating from the primordial seawater. But to take their life would be rather dishonest.

Of course, this wasn't the main reason Richard let the star-devouring whale go. The reason he let it go was that he had considered temporarily raising it and waiting for an opportunity to go to another planet to see if he could let it feast again.

Of course, Richard isn't some kind of devil. If the energy he digests is split 30/70, that's already quite generous.

That is to say, this whale cannot speak, otherwise it would definitely give Richard a string of profanities.

Using it once is one thing, but you actually want to keep using it? What does that mean? Sustainability is like draining the pond to catch all the fish?