My Bugged System Made Me Too OP!-Chapter 53: A familiar?

The realization made his expression stiffen.

He focused carefully on the fracture.

The crack wasn’t shallow.

It was deep enough to reveal the inside of the egg.

And what he saw there made his brows knit together in confusion.

Inside the crack... there was only darkness, and nothing else.

Noah stared at it silently for several seconds.

His mind raced with questions.

’What does this crack even mean?’

Earlier, when those glowing golden lines appeared across the egg’s surface, his first assumption had been obvious.

He thought the egg was about to hatch.

That the glowing patterns were some kind of sign that the creature inside was waking up.

But instead of breaking open...

All that appeared was this single crack.

And nothing else.

Noah leaned back slightly, his expression becoming more conflicted.

’If it actually hatched...’

His gaze returned to the dark egg again.

’I don’t even know what kind of beast will appear...’

The thought made his brows furrow again.

He had absolutely no idea what species this egg belonged to.

Which meant he had no way of predicting what might come out of it.

Noah rubbed his forehead again before letting out an annoyed breath.

Then he looked back at the egg and muttered quietly.

"...Stupid egg."

His voice carried faint irritation.

"How could you suck away all my mana?"

Just remembering it made him feel annoyed.

Without really thinking about it, Noah lifted his hand and lightly smacked the top of the egg.

Tap!

The sound was soft.

But the action seemed to release some of his frustration.

Then, almost absentmindedly, he picked the egg up.

His fingers wrapped around the smooth black shell again.

This time, however, nothing happened.

The yellow lines didn’t light up again, and the egg simply rested quietly in his hands.

Noah blinked once.

Then looked at it more carefully.

"...Huh."

He turned the egg slightly in his palm, then frowned.

"...Perhaps I should just dispose of it...?"

The thought slipped out of his mouth quietly.

After all, the egg had already caused him enough trouble.

Keeping something this mysterious around could easily turn into a problem later.

But just as the thought settled in his mind—

Something strange happened.

A familiar sensation suddenly resurfaced.

The same connection he had felt earlier in the forest returned.

But this time, it was much clearer, and even stronger.

Noah’s body stiffened slightly.

A strange pulse echoed faintly within his mind.

It wasn’t a sound, neither was it a voice.. but more of an emotion.

A strange emotional signal resonated through the connection between him and the egg.

It was weak, yet unmistakable.

And it made Noah’s heart skip a beat.

The signal that flowed through that faint connection carried a very distinct emotion.

A desperate will to live.

It was weak, fragile, and almost childlike, yet there was an undeniable determination hidden within it.

The creature inside the egg did not want to die.

More than that...

It didn’t want to leave Noah.

The sensation lingered in his mind like a quiet plea.

Just a soft emotional tug that repeatedly echoed through that mysterious connection between them.

Noah’s brows slowly drew together as he continued holding the egg.

The feeling didn’t stop there.

Another emotion slipped through the link.

This one was even stranger.

It carried a faint trace of guilt, or rather apology.

The moment Noah felt it, his mind immediately linked it to what had happened earlier.

The egg... or rather, the creature inside it was apologizing for the mana it had absorbed from him.

The realization made Noah’s frown deepen slightly.

His eyes remained fixed on the dark egg resting in his hands.

"...This egg..." he muttered quietly. "...it’s communicating with me."

The idea sounded ridiculous even as he said it out loud.

Yet the sensation in his mind was impossible to ignore.

He could clearly feel the emotions coming from the egg.

They flowed through that strange connection naturally, almost like two people exchanging thoughts silently.

In a strange way, it was almost like they were passing information to each other through telepathy.

A direct connection between minds.

Or perhaps more accurately... a connection between mana.

Noah slowly exhaled as he studied the egg again.

Through that faint link, he could sense subtle emotional changes from the creature inside.

Small waves of feeling flowed through the connection, such as relief, nervousness and even curiosity.

They were faint, almost primitive emotions.

But they were definitely there.

And strangely enough, Noah could sense them clearly.

It was almost like he could feel everything the creature inside the egg was feeling.

Noah stared at the egg for several seconds before shaking his head slightly.

’How weird...’ he thought.

The situation was honestly beyond anything he had expected.

Still...

The strange connection made him recall something he had once read about.

A particular type of magus.

One that most people only heard about through stories.

Beast tamers.

Among magi, beast tamers were known to be extremely rare individuals who could form bonds with mana beasts and control them.

Instead of fighting alone, they fought alongside powerful creatures that acted as their companions.

Their strength often came from those beasts.

Noah himself had only heard about them through books.

He had never actually seen one in person.

In fact, many people doubted whether true beast tamers even existed in the modern era.

Most of the records about them came from old texts, legends and rare historical accounts.

Yet the bond described in those records sounded strangely similar to what Noah was experiencing right now.

A connection.

A mental link between a magus and a mana beast.

Noah slowly turned the egg in his hands as his thoughts continued racing.

’Is this the same connection they usually have...?’ he wondered.

From what he remembered, the mana beasts bonded to a beast tamer were known as familiars.

Creatures bound to a magus through a special contract.

However... Noahhad absolutely no idea how those contracts were normally formed.

The books he had read mentioned the existence of familiars.

But they rarely explained the actual method used to tame them.

Which meant Noah had no idea whether what was happening right now was the same thing.

Still...

He stared down at the egg again.

The creature inside seemed calmer now, as if reassured that Noah hadn’t thrown it away.

The feeling made Noah let out a quiet chuckle.

His lips curved into an amused smirk.

"Does this mean..."

He slowly lifted the egg slightly, examining it again.

"...I basically have a familiar already?"