The Last Mine
“So… You can turn into a big monkey?”
“Yes”
“Why didn’t you do that during the tournament back then? You would have pummelled that other guy into the ground!” said Mumin. The sight of the huge sasquatch was a memorable one, and the sheer power demonstrated in those few moments was nothing short of breathtaking. She doubted anyone who wasn’t a core disciple or above could threaten him in a fight when he had that sort of secret move.
Few would be able to stay focused and unsurprised as it occurred. After all, she had never heard of any cultivation technique that allowed for something like this. At best, there were some that permanently altered one’s appearance and physiology…
The way Anoteros had transformed was more akin to a werecreature. She had heard that some people could transform like this thanks to an innate trait or due to encountering something special. But when asked, Edrick would just say that, for some reason, he had earned this ability when he began cultivating the Mountain Sasquatch Body.
“No matter how much of an affinity you might have for the technique, that sort of thing is not normal. You must have some hidden trait…” she added.
Edrick himself was well aware that something was up. From the very beginning, when he had first taken on the appearance of a sasquatch, it was clear that the technique was not working the same way for him as it was for others. However, since the Guardian Hippopotamus Physique showed no similar reaction, he assumed that whatever it was, it wasn’t universal to all body cultivation techniques.
After all, his affinity with the Five-Legged Devil Goat Physique was also exceptional. The system had created it specifically for him, but it had not shown any similar signs of allowing him to transform.
He just shrugged. That was something to figure out at a later date.
They passed the night away by having one of them stand guard whilst the other slept. When it was Mumin’s turn to be the guard, she spent far too much time staring at Edrick’s crotch area.
The ape transformation was one thing. But his man-tool? It was not exiting the inner disciple’s mind for even a second. It was enormous. Not only was it absurdly long, but it was also incredibly girthy.
Its appearance was perfect as well, being the same colouration as the rest of his body. The veins were placed in an almost hypnotising way. When you saw it, you just wanted to reach out and get a feel of the whole thing.
The way it swung around when he walked had nearly made her drool, and that was without mentioning the rest of his body. He was built in the way she would expect a god of war to be. There was no imperfection anywhere in his glorious musculature.
When Mumin had listened to Hui go on and on about Edrick, she had naturally assumed that her friend was exaggerating, that she was just in love and thus idealising everything about her husband... But no, if anything, Hui had lacked precision when providing details.
Mumin did some breathing exercises to calm down. It wasn’t exactly appropriate to be thinking like this. Not only was this a married man, but they were in the wilderness right now. She needed to be on the lookout for beasts…
That task allowed her to remain somewhat focused and not think about Edrick’s rock-hard abs too much.
In the morning, they resumed their journey and thankfully did not encounter any more beasts, reaching the Fire-Feather Minerals mine unimpeded at around noon.
They were set on remaining here for several days. The extraction of that particular resource required some delicacy and attention.
This mine was much like the other ones. Over time, it had been covered up by the growth of vegetation. In fact, Edrick had to get through a tree that had sprouted up in the way.
Just like the previous mines he visited, it was filled to the brim with what he had come to collect. It was visible in the darkness as it slightly glowed with a reddish-orange light. It was true to its name as it indeed resembled a feather in its overall appearance. Due to this, however, the mineral had to be extracted alongside the stone that surrounded it. Otherwise, it would easily fall apart into many small bits, and in that form, they had much less value.
As the name and glow suggested, it inherently contained fiery energy. To be precise, it contained fire mana, though you could sometimes run into some that contained fire element of other energies as well. However, since mana was typically most abundant in any given area, whenever someone spoke of something natural with an energy within it, they were, in most cases, speaking of mana.
Around Edrick, he only sensed mana within the minerals. Since he had decided to circulate all of his inner energies instead of a single one, he was a bit more sensitive and could differentiate between the different energies if he paid close attention.
He went to work nearly immediately after setting up camp within the mine.
Perhaps he should have brought Pluma here instead. The area was rich with fire energy, so it might have been beneficial to her.
In any case, in between rounds of gathering, he would cultivate whilst surrounded by the Fire-Feather Minerals. It was said that cultivating in areas where one or multiple elements were present in great quantities could allow one to increase their affinity with them.
It didn’t work for everyone, but Edrick did feel a slight warmth, so it seemed like his body was accepting the fire mana without much problem.
He would repeat this cycle all day, watching from the corner of his eye as Mumin was not-so-discreetly stealing glances in his direction. Anoteros had to admit, he had not thought that getting naked was the way to get her to suddenly be very interested in him.
She didn’t seem to realise it, but she had turned all meek after that event. It was obvious even to the densest of people that something was going on inside her head.
‘I guess all three turned out to be quite easy…’
Perhaps it was to be expected from girls with peasant backgrounds. They just couldn’t resist the virile charms of a handsome noble like him. Had they not become cultivators, they certainly would have already married and had one or more children by now.
Some of them might have had some relations in the past, but that did not mean that they were particularly experienced in matters of love and lust.
He turned to her with a smile.
“Why don’t we go to sleep for today?”