Chapter 239: Energy Crystal

Torn between two extremes, whether to tell Gustav about his past as a sellsword or mention the two old, retired men whom her master held in high regard, Talia gave an answer that was responsible, but also... potentially problematic.

"His background is rather too complicated for me to explain; please ask him yourself," Talia said curtly, not wanting to leave Gustav hanging without an answer or go through details she had no business explaining about Moon’s personal life.

Gustav’s eyes fell on the winged sword on Talia’s armor once before he nodded stiffly.

"I understand," he said as he stepped away with an understanding he was currently building in his head.

Gustav knew the Tower’s affairs well, even if he wasn’t an active ascender... For there was only one kind of background complicated enough for those of the Knights’ Realm to be unable to discuss.

He turned his gaze to the scene, which was becoming livelier by the minute.

The ascenders were gathering firewood, flat rocks, as well as seasoning.

The travel that was supposed to become a direct march was interrupted by an invasive gate creature...

And in the process, a camping barbecue was taking place.

Soon, the creature was skinned, cut into slices, and arranged, ready to be grilled. This was something Moon was familiar with.

But what he wasn’t familiar with... was seasoning.

Moon had never seen the sea before; the salty taste was something he had only discovered after ascending, thanks to Ed’s cooking.

As for spices...

"What are you adding?" Moon asked, watching Fisher and Markala sprinkle powder on the meat.

"Seasoning," Markala said curtly. "It won’t taste good without it," he added.

Moon blinked but didn’t say anything more.

His watch-and-learn mode was being activated... Observe before discussing.

Everyone was starting to get seated, each group around a well-arranged fire that Colten had lit using his clan’s Combat Art.

The meat was soon arranged, and the grilling started.

Hundreds of ascenders were grilling meat at the same time, producing a cloud over the peaceful forest.

At the spot where Moon was seated were Markala, Barrett, Colten, Dorbish, and Raiju, as well as Basil, who was harvesting some meat before running off somewhere to eat.

Dorbish took a bite. "This tastes good; you said everything tasted awful on the first floor," he said.

Moon took a bite; his eyes lit up. "This is good indeed."

He turned to Dorbish. "There isn’t any salt on the first floor," he added, sharing his own side.

"We also didn’t have salt in the pack," Raiju growled, chewing.

"Do you even cook?" Moon asked.

"Humans cook; we hunt and eat fresh," Raiju retorted.

"You’re eating cooked meat, though," Moon said, grabbing a piece of meat and passing it to Mishu, who was sitting leisurely in the bag.

Raiju didn’t talk anymore, seeming to be in a state of deep enjoyment.

Listening to Mishu’s chewing, Moon ate more.

Though Dorbish was curious about something. "Right, Moon... How did you hunt it?"

"What do you mean?" Moon placed a piece of meat in his mouth and asked.

Dorbish pointed at the cracked head farther away. "That spot you pierced. How did you know that?"

Moon thought for a moment.

"Welp, the first time we saw that thing, it was a brutal, long fight. Its skin was so tough, its head was always defending the neck, its tail was whipping, and these legs didn’t let anyone sneak underneath for the soft belly," he started explaining.

"Then one day, I was a butcher splitting open a cow’s skull, aiming the cleaver at the center between the forehead and nose," he said, pointing at the open wound he had made.

He turned to Dorbish and raised his fingers. "The skull split in half."

"And I thought, why not do the same?" he said.

Dorbish listened attentively, but he had another observation that he wanted to question. "Why was it paralysed, though?" he asked. "It didn’t seem to be able to resist."

"That, no idea." Moon shrugged, truly not knowing the reason.

All he knew was that, once he had first successfully pierced that spot, the creature went limp instantly, though piercing it was rather hard to achieve.

It took long and bitter struggles for it to become a hunting pattern.

"Were gates common on the first floor?" Barrett asked this time.

Moon shook his head. "A couple of them every year, three at most..." he explained before adding, "A fresh hunt is always something to be celebrated."

Markala nodded at Moon’s last statement.

Those who had to feed themselves and search for their food every day might have shared, at last, a small aspect of life together unknowingly.

"Wanna make cheese?" Dorbish asked teasingly.

"Bruh, don’t bring that shit up." Moon’s hand paused in front of his mouth, letting the meat dangle. "That one is a male, though," he added before putting the meat in his mouth.

"How did they even make it? I can’t picture it happening." Dorbish shook his head in disbelief.

He remembered how Moon had said they were making cheese from scorpion cow milk, but how did milk come from a creature that was already dead and impossible to rear?

"When a female scorpion cow went down, someone would split open the udder right away and squeeze everything," Moon said with a frown.

He didn’t want to say more.

A deep frown crept across Dorbish’s face.

"No wonder." He shook his head, taking another piece of meat.

Talia approached the group; she was holding something in her hands. "Fisher wants to give you this," she said.

She extended her hand, holding a small white crystal.

Moon took it and flipped it around. "Where’s Fisher?" he asked. The giant beastman was anything but shy.

Talia pointed in a direction; once Moon looked, he instantly understood.

Fisher had overdone it, eating until he passed out completely, sprawled on the forest floor in a way that was anything but dignified.

Talia turned around to leave without explaining what the white crystal was.

Moon studied it for a moment; thankfully, Basil was running back. "OH, Boss, that’s an expensive thing to hold."

"Expensive?"

"Of course, Boss... The energy crystals of gate creatures could sell for a fortune."

Moon raised an eyebrow; the term energy crystal was unfamiliar to him.

"I’ve been hunting scorpion cows for years, never found any," Moon said skeptically.

"They didn’t exist on the first floor?" Dorbish asked.

Moon nodded; over his years of hunting the cousins of this creature, he had never seen one before.

The creatures were also smaller by a huge margin. This creature was big enough to feed all the ascenders present, including two monsters like Raiju and Fisher.

"The scorpion cows on the first floor were never that big; they could feed 80 or 100 people at most. They were a little bigger than Raiju," Moon said slowly, passing another piece of meat to Mishu, who caught it with his claws.

Raiju was still stuffing himself with meat, not bothered by the mention of his name.

Dorbish turned his gaze to Moon. "No barrier?" he asked.

"Never seen what that barrier you speak of looks like." Moon shook his head.

The two locked gazes for a moment, thinking and concluding something they were only now beginning to become aware of.

The rules of the first floor, where Echo was suppressed, applied to gate creatures as well.

Yet, there was one thing that didn’t add up.