Chapter 39: 39

Staring at the sleepy little bird, Michelle started getting worried, so she went to the section with Vermilion Bird’s life stile. But there, she didn’t find anything that said that Vermilion Birds were lazy or always sleepy. It was actually exactly opposite. Vermilion Birds were very active, maybe even hyperactive. Seeing that the little bird was acting nothing like described, Michelle went to the section with health issues, but there, no matter how she searched, she didn’t find anything that should cause a Vermilion Bird to be constantly sleepy. It said that even while being seriously sick, Vermilion Birds would be highly lively.

Just as Michelle was losing hope, she was passing by a shelf with ways to contract Vermilion Birds. The shelf was the oldest and looked like it could fall down any moment. Deciding to let her thoughts rest in her mind for a bit, she started taking out books from the old bookshelf and placing them on the ground. When the shelf was empty, she took out her shifting weapon, shifted it into an ax and started destroying the shelf.

When she was done, she looked out the window, and seeing that no one was there, she threw the debris out of the window. “Mare…” she used the contract to contact Mare. “Tell my father that a shelf broke in the library, tenth floor.”

“Yes, master!” Mare responded through the contract.

Michelle then went to sit back down next to the little bird and stared at the books she placed on the ground. After a while of just staring, she noticed a book with a strange title. “White Vermilion Bird…” she read out loud with a lifted brow. “That’s basically saying white red bird… What nonsense… Like an iron branch made out of plastic…” She stood up and went to pick up the book. As she walked back to her seat, she started skimming through the pages and her eyes widened in shock. She glanced at the lazy bird next to her and frowned.

That one book, Michelle read carefully as she sat down, and it took her a good few hours to finish it even though it wasn’t that thick. After finishing reading, she clasped the book close and stared at the little bird again. “So it seems, you aren’t sick…” she smiled a bit.

In the book, she found out that once in a while a Vermilion Bird without affiliation with flames is born, and it’s sleepy until its affiliated element is decided. There were three ways to affiliate a Vermilion Bird with an element. First being exposing the young Vermilion Bird to a huge amount of spiritual energy of the element for an extended period. The second was putting the young Vermilion Bird in life-threatening danger caused by the element, and the third was to make a contract with someone who was focused on one element.

If a Vermilion Bird didn’t gain an affiliation with an element until adulthood, it would fall asleep and die in its sleep. But that rarely happened as Vermilion Birds quickly chose an element they liked and found a way to affiliate with it.

“But why is the book called White Vermilion Bird?” Michelle mumbled as she finished reading. From the book she understood that the Vermilion Bird’s feathers would change according to the color of the element it chose, and blue was water, red for fire, green for wind, gray for ground, silver for metal, white for ice, purple for poison, golden for light and black for darkness.

She read the book quickly one more time, but she didn’t find anything about white, or the element of ice, which was strange. As she was turning the pages, she cut her finger on the paper, but she didn’t really care, but the moment she got cut, the little Vermilion Bird woke up and stared at her hand. At the same time, the book sucked her blood and a few more pages appeared at the end of the book. At first, the pages were blank, but slowly, the book sucked more of Michelle’s blood and the blood turned into writing on the last pages.

Seeing that, Michelle frowned a bit and started reading the new pages. When she was done, she lifted a brow. “This shit analyzed my blood!” she exclaimed as she read the few pages again. Then, she smiled. The few pages written in her blood told how to contract a Vermilion Bird to give him her ice element as an affiliate element. Also, the few pages analyzed how the fact that she had Spirit Soul Blood would affect the little bird.

Basically, the little bird would be able to communicate with all beasts and animals, not only those who had cultivation high enough to be able to speak. And Michelle would, by the contract, gain the ability to see all that near birds could see if she wanted to. Basically, she would have eyes high up in the sky.

But Michelle wasn’t sure if she wanted to form a contract with the Vermilion Bird. It was indeed true that the Vermilion Bird was an almighty beast that could command all birds, but it was still young and weak, so if someone found out she had him, she would be hunted down. She already had many reasons why she could be hunted down by powerhouses, so adding one more reason wasn’t so terrible, but she didn’t like it.

Though she also didn’t want to see the young Vermilion Bird die if he couldn’t gain an affiliate element. It was clear that he was just a few months away from growing into an adult bird, as Vermilion Bird grew up very fast, growing into adulthood with half a year since being born. The little birth in front of her was at least four months old, and he could be even five, so it was basically just a month from dying if she didn’t contract it.

Putting down the book, Michelle stared at the Vermilion bird for a long while before gritting her teeth and slowly moving her cold hand towards the small Vermilion Bird’s hot body. When her hand was still at least a meter away, she felt like it was on fire, but she bore through the pain and brought her hand to the little bird’s head. The little bird looked at her hand and its gaze landed on Michelle’s finger which was still stained with some dried-up blood.

“Do you want to make a contract with me?” Michelle asked as she looked at the little bird.

The little bird screeched loudly, the sound high-pitched, causing Michelle’s ears to hurt. Then, the little bird bit onto her finger, the one she cut on the page, and when it started bleeding again, the bird pressed its forehead to the small wound.

Just as when she made a contract with Snow, Michelle felt her blood get sucked at a dangerous speed and her sight blurred. Her consciousness slipped momentarily, and she could barely sit without collapsing on the table.

When Michelle felt her blood stop being sucked through the wound, she sighed in relief and looked at the little Vermilion bird. It was shedding the feathers, turning into a funny-looking naked chicken, making Michelle snicker. When all the feathers were gone, the mark in the shape of a snake coiled around a thorny rose appeared on the little bird’s head and Michelle’s forehead, showing that the contract was done. Before the mark could disappear, new feathers appeared on the little bird’s body. They were all white, with only the feathers on the wings being light blue, looking like cold flame, a flame that didn’t burn but froze things.

“You are beautiful…” Michelle petted the little bird’s head, realizing that it was no longer hot. It was the same temperature as she and Snow’s bodies.

“Master!” the little bird chirped happily.

Hearing the voice, Michelle wasn’t really surprised, since the Vermilion Bird was one of the strongest beasts to exist. Though the one in front of her was seriously weakened due to being young and in the lower realm, it was still powerful enough to already have intelligence of its own and to be able to speak. She smiled and petted its head again. “Do you have a name?” she asked with a smile.

The little bird nodded. “Yes! I named myself once I realized that I wanted my affiliate element to be ice. My name’s Cold Flame!” he chirped happily.

Michelle snickered a bit. “Isn’t cold flame the type of flame you use? You named yourself after you power?” she petted him.

“No, master!” Cold Flame shook his head a bit. “Cold flame is just one of my many attacks, and I will be using it as my name because it shows my personality. In front of my master, I’m like a warm fiery flame, but to my enemies I’m a cold blizzard that will freeze them to death!”

Michelle chuckled again. “Don’t you have memories from millennia ago? How come you are so cute?” she hugged him with a smile.

Cold Flame snuggled into Michelle’s embrace. “I have the memories, but I’m still just a child. So if I can enjoy myself, I will!” he said proudly, patting his chest with his wing.

“I see…” Michelle petted his head again before picking him up. “Since we are done here, we can go somewhere else. Do you want to meet Mare and Snow? You will like them.”

“Yeees!” Cold Flame sat on Michelle’s shoulder so he could see everything as she carried him to Mare’s room. Being not fully grown yet, he looked like a white peacock, so when the servants saw Michelle carrying him on her shoulder, they didn’t know what to think, but didn’t dare say anything. Cold Flame kept quiet the whole time Michelle carried him, and Michelle had a calm face again.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep