Chapter 2024 – What They Excel At
“Speaking of which, you have claws now too. In the future, you should learn how to use your hands to hold cutlery and eat, instead of using your bird claws.” I felt that the corrosive nature of the werewolf mutation actually had its benefits. As the saying goes, mutation is evolution.
“Wuuu! But I’m not used to it.” Flame Feather tried to manipulate the cutlery. The newly grown claws were very difficult to control for such delicate tasks, and with two pairs of large wings, it was very inconvenient.
“Never mind, you can use your foot claws to eat for now. Go back and practice controlling your wolf claws. It will be useful eventually. Don’t you still need to save your people? Having an extra ability is another chip in your favor,” I persuaded.
“Okay, I got it.” Flame Feather readily agreed and quickly used her foot claws to gobble up the food. I watched her grab an apple with her foot and stuff it into her mouth, and my eyelids twitched.
“Alright, what about you? Why are you still standing? Sit down and eat with us.” I looked at Sandstone, the crystal person. It seemed like she had been standing the entire time since I first saw her, even sleeping while standing.
“Our joints are very stiff, so sitting down is not convenient. Also, I don’t eat regular food. I only eat stones and minerals. You can pick some stones for me, or I’ll go myself later,” Sandstone said.
Huh? What is this? She couldn’t even sit down. No wonder I thought she fought by jumping around, and walked stiffly, looking very awkward.
And she ate minerals? That’s literally eating dirt. She’s so easy to feed.
“Here, eat up.” Jayad directly poured a bag of diamonds onto her plate. The crisp sound of diamonds clinking on the plate echoed, and the crystal-clear diamonds sparkled.
“This is! Diamond? So much?” Sandstone exclaimed in surprise. I was surprised that they called diamonds “diamond”.
“Yes, can you bite through them?” Jayad looked at Sandstone curiously. These diamonds were very hard, and even Jayad had to put in considerable effort to cut them. So he was very doubtful if Sandstone could bite through them.
“I can eat them, but this is too expensive for me to eat! The value of this plate is worth hundreds of gold coins!” Sandstone shrieked. Who would spend hundreds of gold coins on breakfast? Even a king’s banquet wouldn’t be like this.
If it were in the past, Sandstone would have thought diamonds were just ordinary things; they were abundant in mineral veins, and she could eat them freely. But after being captured and brought into human society, she learned the value of diamonds to humans.
She also knew that Jayad was a diamond merchant, but giving her diamonds to eat was still too exaggerated. That amount was enough to give a rich merchant a heartache.
“Just eat it. After all, it’s just some graphite powder. If it’s not enough, there’s plenty more,” I said. The Steam Armor Factory’s production lines were running at full capacity back then, which produced a lot of artificial diamonds for me. We weren’t lacking in these.
If I hadn’t been afraid that taking out too many diamonds at once would cause market fluctuations and draw attention, we could have easily bought a ship and hired a crew to set sail ourselves.
“Then I won’t be polite,” Sandstone said without much hesitation. She picked up the diamonds and ate them as if she were eating peanuts. For her, it was just a common snack. The concept of value was imposed on her by humans, so she wasn’t too bothered.
So, by the end of the meal, Sandstone had eaten diamonds worth over a thousand gold coins. This value was enough to buy a very powerful magic apparatus. It was the first time I had seen someone eat more than me, at least in terms of value.
Sandstone had an extremely wide range of capabilities. When poor, she could survive by eating dirt. When rich, she could eat diamonds, or even more expensive precious stones than diamonds. Anyone who raised her would go bankrupt.
“Speaking of which, what are you all good at? Since you’ll be following me from now on, I’d like to know what your strengths are,” Jayad asked while eating breakfast.
We had already seen them demonstrate their combat abilities during the duel yesterday. However, that might not have been their full potential, so Jayad asked for more details, letting them introduce themselves.
“What are we good at? Does hunting count? I can detect very small moving objects from high altitudes. Also, I can use the Harpy’s storm magic and lightning magic, as well as the Phoenix Fire that comes with my bloodline. You all know about it,” Flame Feather said.
“I’m good at prospecting, analyzing gem composition and age, and I’m skilled in Spear Technique and crystal magic. If I’m given magic gems with different characteristics to eat, I can use spells with corresponding gem effects,” Sandstone also said.
The magic they mentioned was similar to innate magical abilities. Given their level of culture, they didn’t even have language. They couldn’t possibly have researched magic.
“Me? I can cook, especially sashimi. I’m also skilled in Dual Blades swordsmanship, and I have a demonic transformation form. I’m good with snake venom, and my regenerative ability is also quite good. You saw it yesterday,” Mari also said.
Jayad was confused by her explanation and quickly asked, “Wait, what is sashimi? Why is it called swordsmanship when it’s Dual Blades? And what is demonic transformation?”
“Older Brother, sashimi is raw fish slices, a dish from Eastern Ying. In Eastern Ying, ‘sword’ and ‘knife’ are the same word, with no distinction. Demonic transformation is mutation, and taken to the extreme, it’s your angelic transformation,” I explained to Older Brother Jayad in a few sentences, clearing up his confusion.
“Oh, I see. I understand now.” Jayad nodded and casually patted his younger sister’s head. Palula knew so much, she felt like an encyclopedia.
“Your demonic transformation is quite strong. How did you obtain it? Do you also believe in a god?” Leia asked. After fighting Mari yesterday, she had been very interested in her demonic transformation.
Having been a heretic for so many years, the Arianism sect had come into contact with various cults and heretical factions. They had a thorough understanding of how divine power could cause mutations, so they wouldn’t blindly attribute it to a god’s blessing, nor would they excessively reject it as a curse.
“The Saigo Family has always revered the North White Serpent God as their Guardian Deity. After sacrificing captured enemy samurai to the Great God, He bestowed three persimmons upon us. As the young master’s guard, I was granted one. After eating and digesting its power, I transformed into a half-serpent form. It was the power bestowed by the North White Serpent God,” Mari explained.
“Persimmons? That seems like a fruit. A fruit bestowed by a god? Then why didn’t the Saigo Family eat it themselves and give it to you, a maid?” Lorna asked curiously.
“I apologize, I didn’t explain clearly. ‘Persimmons’ are our code word. In reality, they are snake hearts. To be effective, they need to be eaten raw. The Hojo family was unwilling to undergo demonic transformation, so they always bestowed the snake hearts upon their loyal and well-behaved servants,” Mari said.
“It was clearly a divine gift? Yet they were unwilling to accept it?” Bailing Ding asked in surprise. This was different from what she understood. Many religions claimed that mutation was a process of drawing closer to the divine.
“The Saigo Family merely regards the North White Serpent God as their family’s protective deity. We will worship Him and hold festivals for Him, but He is not our faith. We still believe in Amaterasu Omikami,” Mari said.
