Chapter 119: Ant with an ego.

Zyra looked up at him, completely unbothered, a bright grin on her face. "It is cute."

"How much?" He asked.

She twisted her lips and hesitantly raised one finger. "One high grade stone."

He raised his brows, before lowering himself to the ground. Hunter crossed his legs, thinking of all the useful things he had seen that could have been purchased with that high grade stone. "You do know that your half-life beast is not your pet. Right?"

She smirked. "Yes, it is. It is my soul partner and my pet. Two in one."

He snorted in response and exhaled. "You do realize that we are never getting a divorce now, right?"

She twisted her lips. Where was he going with this?

"You just exposed your greatest secret to me." He said, looking into her eyes. "Unless you trust me fully or plan to kill me, I don’t think you will ever be able to rest easy knowing that I know one of your greatest secrets. So, no divorce."

She scoffed.

"You know that shopping was actually more fun than tiring. I don’t understand why 90% of the products seem to be beast related. Just like I don’t understand where the things we bought came from. How does your shopping platform work?" He asked, curiously.

Zyra rolled her head over to look at him, a tired smirk playing on her lips. "I don’t understand much either. All I know is that I get what I need and that is good enough. Usually, I pay with energy stones, like you have seen. That is why they tend to disappear around me, like they did back when we were in the dungeon. That was Beauty’s doing. She manages the shopping platform, and she is a loan shark_ A mean one. The kind that breaks all your fingers when you renege on a payment."

[Host take that back!] Beauty shouted, [I may deduct a few points for the insult.]

"I meant that she is the most wonderful and beautiful loan granting entity in the universe." Zyra corrected.

Hunter chuckled and looked at her, "Why do you sound like you are being threatened?"

Zyra gave him a look and Hunter laughed out loud because he got the message,

"Got it." He stuck his thumb out. "Beauty is amazing. She must have played a role in Snowy’s evolution too." He wondered if Zyra even understood what this meant. Beast evolution was rare. People would kill for such an opportunity.

If it came from Beauty, they needed to keep it a secret.

[I should have been his, he appreciates me more.] Beauty looked at Hunter’s image with adorable eyes

"Speaking of Snowy..." Zyra’s eyes widened as she sat up abruptly. "Oh my gosh, I forgot! I haven’t let the ant out of the beast pocket yet!"

She quickly unzipped the beast bag and one by one, the beasts she had not released tumbled out onto the grass, stretching their limbs and enjoying the fresh air.

The moment Snowy stepped out, people stopped what they were doing just to stare. With link bands, word spread like wildfire, and a crowd quickly gathered. Snowy was no longer the small, white, ordinary-looking ant they remembered. She was sleek, radiant, and exuded an aura of pure ice power.

Malia pushed her way to the front, her hands clutched over her heart, tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh, my sweet little Snowy... look at you! You’ve become the absolute best version of yourself! How did this happen?"

Overcome with emotion, Malia stretched out her fingers to gently stroke the ant’s gleaming head.

Click-click! Snowy sharply snapped his mandibles together, taking a swift step back.

"Wash your hands before touching me!"

The voice was high-and-mighty, sharp, and filled with a ridiculous amount of attitude. Snowy turned her back on Malia with a haughty sniff and began to march regally toward the beast pavilion.

Zyra’s jaw dropped. Her eyes blinked rapidly in sheer shock. She had heard the voice clear as a bell, ringing right inside her mind.

Hunter, noticing her frozen expression, nudged her arm. "What? What is it?"

Zyra slowly turned her head to Hunter, whispering in an absolute daze, "Snowy... Snowy just told Malia not to touch her with unwashed hands!"

Hunter’s eyebrows shot up. He let out a sudden, loud chuckle. "Wait, really? You heard her say that? Like, actual words?"

Zyra nodded aggressively, her hair flying wild. "Yes! She has the voice of a rich, spoiled, daughter of a billionaire."

Hunter laughed even harder, shaking his head. "Is this another bizarre reward from Beauty? Transmitting beast thoughts directly to your brain?"

Zyra nodded again, still staring at the retreating ant. "More like understanding the beast language."

Hunter winced skeptically, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her. "Are you sure you aren’t just exhausted, Zyra? It could easily all be in your head. Maybe you’re hallucinating from all that walking on ice."

"Oh, you think I’m crazy?" Zyra stood up, brushing the dirt off her pants. "Come on. We are testing this theory right now."

They marched over to the beast pavilion. When they arrived, they found Scotty standing near the massive ant hill. He looked completely defeated. The ant hill had magically expanded and evolved, shifting its shape to perfectly accommodate the needs of the pregnant ant Queen.

Scotty turned around, saw them, and threw his hands in the air. "I was gone for two hours! Two hours! I go to take a nap, I come back, and the hill has remodeled itself! How? Why?" He shook his head, walking away muttering to himself. "You know what? I don’t care. I’ve seen too many weird things in this place. No one ever gives me answers anyway."

Hunter ignored the fleeing caretaker and squatted down near the entrance of the hill, where Snowy was currently supervising.

"Hey, Snowy," Hunter called out, poking a finger near the ant’s path.

Snowy stopped. Her tiny, multifaceted eyes slowly closed, and she let out a heavy, incredibly dramatic sigh that resonated perfectly in Zyra’s mind.

"Touch me and perish, human."

Zyra instantly smacked a hand over her mouth, bursting into a fit of breathless, hysterical laughter.

"She had told you to touch her and perish!" she gasped out, pointing a finger at the ant.

Hunter looked from the ant to Zyra’s laughing face, finally realizing she wasn’t crazy because the ant was in battle mode. He shook his head, a big grin breaking across his face. "Unbelievable. We have a talking ant with an attitude, now I have seen it all."

Zyra then moved to the snake abode. Inside, Spice the green snake was lying on a smooth stone, curled up and sleeping soundly like a lazy piece of jewelry.

Leaving Spice to her dreams, Zyra’s attention was drawn to the little squirrel nearby. It was chirping about stolen nuts!

She stood there, tapping her chin with a finger, her brow furrowing in deep conflict. She was still completely torn about which of her beasts to use the system’s special evolution opportunity on.

"This is so tricky," Zyra said aloud, her voice echoing in the quiet pavilion. "If the squirrel evolves to its full capacity, it’ll be able to set unlimited fires. That’s basically a walking flamethrower. But Spice... even as a common green snake, it’s already dangerous but too small. What kind of terrifying creature will it become when it evolves?