" And it's dead....well it was a good 2 seconds while it lasted" Kremeth said as he wished the baby good riddance.
Max did not know why but he felt very sad seeing the dragon baby die the way that it did.
He could sympathise with mother Rhea's pain and while he was no genius on what politics were played behind the scenes, he could see that the shell of the egg was what caused the baby its injuries. The shell for some reason was unnaturally hard which caused the baby to be cut and bruised as it struggled to get out.
What Max did not know was that it was the universal queen who pulled the strings to make the egg shell extra hard without anyone figuring it out.
When Max glanced at Sebastian, the man was rubbing his belly like he was pregnant and crying real tears.
Max's eyebrows twitched seeing his behaviour, he knew the obsession that Sebastian had with his baby dragon egg and this scene here today was sure to leave a deep impact on the loving Sebastian.
" I'm wowy for your loss momma " Sebastian said in an incomprehensible voice as his tears streamed down his cheeks and hit the floor.
Rhea could not give two fucks about Sebastian's sympathy as her eyes glanced desperately towards Kremeth as for the first time in her majestic existence the dragon queen prostrated herself before a living being as she prostrated herself before Kremeth and said " Save my child old hermit, I beg of you to do so"
This was extremely difficult for Rhea to do, the pride of the dragon race did not allow it to bow before anyone, a dragon would rather die than kneel and she was not even a normal dragon but the queen of all dragons!
Rhea's request would have moved any man with a heart, however, the old coward was a calculative man. He did not wish to save the baby if there was nothing in it for himself.
" Please …. " Rhea said, her voice cracking and choking, she had reached her breaking point, it was either her baby getting saved at this second or her mind turning dark forever.
" In return for me helping you save your child, I need two favours from the dragon queen that you cannot deny.
Swear it by a system contract and I will try my best to save it". Kremeth said, throwing a glimmer of hope to the wailing queen.
Rhea's eyes glimmered with hope, she immediately swore " I swear by my soul with the universal queen as my witness that should my baby be saved, I will owe Kremeth the immortal two favours that I cannot deny ".
The soul oath was placed, and Kremeth hummed deeply.
Max who was judging Kremeth's character for being a shameless man who did not help a wailing mother despite having the means to do so was staring at the old turtle with the ' You're a bastard ' eyes when Kremeth said " Alright, time for you to get to work kid….and fast ".
Max looked around the room as he wondered who Kremeth was pointing at until he finally realised that it was him.
" Me? "
" Him? "
Max and Rhea asked at once as Kremeth nodded to affirm them both that yes it was indeed Max who needed to save the baby.
" The brain of a dragon is working for about 2 minutes after its heart stops and it's the first organ to die, so we have about 40 seconds left until it's brain-dead, after which it's game over.
But with your blood manipulation ability, even with its heart not working we can keep the blood inside its body pumping, even with its heart dead ". Kremeth said as Max's eyes widened in disbelief, he had not even thought about this method to keep the baby alive.
" Get your ass to work boy! Or else….. *sob* Please save my child, I- I be-" Rhea started her sentence in anger, but quickly broke down mid-sentence as she realised she had no leverage over Max while the other party had the ability to save her child.
Before the dragon queen begged him however, Max quickly got near the baby's body and began concentrating on its blood vessels inside as he said " Don't worry ma'am, even if it cripples me, I'll do my best to save your child".
Max wanted to save the baby, not because of any potential gains, not because of any favours, but because his heart genuinely ached to see a cute child die at childbirth when it could have been saved.
Max got near the baby, and the smell of blood wasped strongly into his nostrils as his primal side urged to take over. However, Max not only repressed that urge down this time, but rather cracked down on it with anger as he gained complete control over his body with a clear mind in doing so.
Max put his hand on the dead baby's chest, as he felt the mass of blood in his heart, unmoving and still as he began to pump it through the arteries using his skill [ Blood Manipulation ]
The first 10 seconds Max had no idea of how much force he needed to exert for the blood coming through the heart to undergo a full cycle, but when the blood being pumped was not coming back into the heart through the veins he knew he needed to go harder.
Max progressively increased the intensity with which he pumped the blood, as beads of sweat began forming on his forehead.
He had never been more focused on a job as he was focused today, as he felt every single capillary inside the baby's body getting the blood that it needed.
Soon, the first blood came back to the heart via the veins as Max realised that he could probably increase the tempo just a little bit more for the baby's body to experience a normal blood pressure.
Max's stamina was being drained like crazy, his bar was down 5% in just 20 seconds of pumping effort, however, Max did not even care about it for the moment as his full focus was on saving the child.
In the entire universe, the only race with the ability of performing blood manipulation was Max's Primordial Vampire bloodline, and since he was the only primordial vampire surviving, it could be said that fate was at play with him being in the same room as Rhea and her baby at childbirth, because without him present, even a tier 8 immortal did not have the ability to save the baby.
As Max completed the 20th blood cycle he realised that the baby also needed air, the blood was getting thicker and thicker and minisculely harder to pump after every cycle, a problem that he was not sure of how to solve.