Chapter 13: Demon Beast Crystals
When the Night Wolf was killed completely, the adventurer team was undecided. They weren't willing to slaughter its meat for food because it was tough and takes a lot of effort to be eaten. Moreover, it didn't seem to have anything worthy of attention. In fact, the demon beast just doesn't have the quality to be hunted, and hunters will always choose to avoid encounter with it if possible.
But the team was not very good. They knew they could not escape from the beast so they only fought it. Fortunately, it was killed.
Meanwhile, Gayne was enduring the pain. His wound wasn't a clean cut, it was more like his flesh has been ripped by Night Wolf's brute force.
Gayne treated his wounds first by cleansing it with water. When the death of the Night Wolf was confirmed, he quickly drank a strawberry-red healing potion. Not long after, his wound showed signs of rapid healing. It only took about two minutes before only a scar was left on his shoulder.
"Didn't you say there's no such killer beast before Kisan Mountains? Why did this Night Wolf show up here?" Timothy who was very nervous recently, asked Larvel and Ron. His face showed traces of fear.
"We can't always tell what is happening in the wilderness," Ron shrugged.
"There's no such thing as 'Safe Zone' in this place," Xanus solemnly added and the rest, except Timothy, nodded in agreement.
"Well, no one's dead. We should keep going. But we need to be more careful," Gayne finally said with a smile. He grabbed his things back to hang on his shoulders.
"Gayne is right. We don't want to meet another Night Wolf here after the sun sets," Xanus agreed. But after his sentence was finished, he suddenly remembered something and glanced at Glin. He added, "ah wait, the Night Wolf's corpse is basically not valuable for us, but for you… you might want something from it."
When Glin heard Xanus, he turned his glance to the dead wolf's body. He wondered what Xanus was referring to.
"When beasts grow bigger and stronger, some magical substances that are not used are condensed together in the fleshy parts of their body. This condensed material later forms what is called a 'Demon Beast Crystal.' Demon Beast Crystal basically contains a little bit of magic energy, but its effect to us mages are very much unworthy of mention. But it's not the same for you and those who does not have magic."
"How can it be useful to me?"
Hearing Xanus, Glin instantly became curious. He has never read about such thing. Aside from that, he knew that magical substances are useless for those who cannot refine it, basically referring to non-mage people.
Xanus didn't answer and hurriedly went to the dead wolf. Shortly, he began cutting its thickest muscles and flesh with a short sharp knife: on the limbs, hips, shoulders, and on the loin.
"With this demon beast's size, there should be a few Demon Beast Crystals half the size of your fist," he said and began explaining things.
"Mages have something called 'Mana Core' which…"
"I know that already," Glin interrupted when Xanus was planning to start the explanation at the most basic mage thing.
"Oh… So, when someone who doesn't have Mana Core consumes any magical substance, there are only two possibilities. One, magic energy is extracted but not absorbed and eventually flows out of the body, the magical substance is wasted. Two, magic energy is not extracted and the magical substance stays in the body."
"So, the second case is beneficial to me? Can it make me stronger?" Glin's eyes flickered as he was expecting something positively. He didn't get it totally because the books about magic he had read didn't include this little concept.
"That's right. But, magical energy is very easily extracted from most magical substances other than Demon Beast Crystals, so this way of strengthening non-mages is very hard and often wasteful of resources." Xanus smiled and explained. He tossed three little stones with traces of red blood to Glin. "
These little things were the Demon Beast Crystals he found inside the Night Wolf's flesh. They were like black crystals with irregular shapes as if small remains from a crushed boulder. It was indeed far from attractive and could easily be called trash.
"You can swallow a certain amount of Demon Beast Crystals regularly, but its effect will only be realized after you swallow hundreds or thousands of it," Xanus said as he walked passed Glin, preparing to go.
Before, Glin was very excited when he heard the possibility of having an extraordinarily strong body. But he was instantly disappointed when he heard Xanus again. Collect hundreds of Demon Beast Crystals? That can be said as killing hundreds of demon beast at least as big or strong as the Night Wolf. Glin has never killed a lot of monsters at this level before.
Glin sighed. No matter how he thinks about it, collecting these stones is a difficult quest. He carried his stuffs and walked behind the Adventurer team, rubbing the blood from the Demon Beast Crystals.
"Hey, can those stones really make physiques stronger?" Timothy asked curiously, as if there was something running in his mind.
"Yes, but…"
"That's great! Later, I'll collect those little things, hehe!" Timothy interrupted his senior Xanus. He was full of smiles. But shortly, he noticed that everyone threw their glance at him. "What?"
People immediately made a face-palm motion when the latter still asked.
"Ugh…"
"Tsk… Stupid!"
"Timothy, I wonder if it's only your ear or your brain is really not working properly," Ron scratched his head, not sure whether to laugh or cry for his cousin.
"What senior Xanus has explained are for non-mage people only. Demon Beast Crystals do not work the same for mages because our Mana Core immediately absorbs the mana from the magical substance," Gayne laughed and explained. "Besides, it's not easy to collect hundreds."
Timothy exhaled sloppily and disappointedly. "Can't blame me. My family is poor, can't afford to go to school. Hays… I'm really feeling envious to our leader Gayne…"
But while Timothy was still talking, Glin voice was heard from behind, summarizing what he has learned. Timothy's face slowly turned green.
"For mages, magical substance nourishes the Mana Core whilst for non-mages, it nourishes the physical body."
Everyone except Timothy glanced at Glin and smiled. Then they turned their heads to Timothy.
"You heard that, Timothy? People don't necessarily need school to learn," Ron said to Timothy, adding oil to the fire.
"But…"
"Timothy, be like our little brother Glin. He has no magic, can't go to magic school, but learns a lot about magic," laughed Gayne, teasing Timothy.
On the back, Glin only listened to the Adventurer team, often laughing when the people pull something funny. This was far better than himself being alone in a long journey, he thought with a smile. At least, a part of his journey is not boring.
"Demon Beast Crystals huh…"
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