Chapter 200: Innocent Enthusiasm
Jason slid off Ragnar with Riyala and he watched as one of the Falcons went over to Riyala and began to poke her with its beak. Riyala gained a wide smile as she pet the falcon on the head, and she then hugged its neck happily when it got closer to her! The falcon released a loud ’caw’ as it tried to get away from Riyala, but Riyala just laughed as she managed to calm it down easily and continued petting it. Riyala’s ability to make friends with beasts still impressed Jason even now. Most of the beasts that Jason got as subordinates liked Riyala immediately!
Jason turned to one of the falcons and told it to explain the layout of the Gate to him, and the falcon sat on the floor and immediately began to send its answers directly into Jason’s mind. According to the falcon, this nest was ruled over by a ruler known as the Skyking. The king resided on a platform in the center of the Gate, and it was his job to command and control all the other falcons. There were just under a hundred falcons living in this colony. Seventy of them were in charge of hunting. They would go out every morning to survey the dimension’s sky and floor, and they would bring back any big or small game that they caught for the colony to enjoy.
Thirty of the falcons were in charge of battle and fighting against external threats. These falcons were larger and more dangerous than the hunters, and they hardly left the main nest since that was where the skyking resided. The sky king himself lived alone, and only worthy females were allowed to enter his cave when it was time to mate. He ruled the sky with an iron fist, and there were no other falcons capable of standing up to him.
In fact, most of the falcons that were hunters or warriors had been fathered by the sky king. There had been other falcons that tried to take the sky king’s throne away from him before, but the sky king was such a mighty warrior that none of the other monsters were capable of standing up to him! His wings were made from a lustrous silver, and all his feathers were like blades that had been sharpened for centuries! He was so strong that he could kill any opponent without even trying!
"So it’s like a dynasty ruled by a sovereign."
Jason hummed while absentmindedly petting the head of the falcon that had been speaking to him. The falcon released low purrs as it enjoyed Jason’s action, and Jason was surprised when he realized that the falcon’s feathers were extremely soft to the touch. How in the world were they able to use these things as weapons if they were this soft?
Riyala noticed Jason’s confused expression as he stared at the feathers and immediately spoke up when she realized what he was thinking about.
"The feathers are really soft, aren’t they? It’s because the feathers are like mana conduits. The Iron Bladed Falcon can make their feathers very hard when they send mana through them, so when they are outside of battle, the feathers feel soft since they don’t put any mana into them. If you tell them to send mana through thier body, then they’ll become as hard as dragonsteel."
Jason hummed at her explanation and stroked the head of his falcon once again. That was a good way to preserve mana, especially for a creature that didn’t have a lot of it to begin with. You could just keep your defenses off until you actually needed them. But it was also a very easy way to become a victim of surprise attacks. If the falcon was attacked before it could put mana into its feathers, then it would have no chance of blocking the attack.
Jason turned to Riyala again and asked,
"You know a lot about Magical Beasts, don’t you?"
Riyala blushed at Jason’s words and stared down at the ground while talking with a small smile.
"I always liked animals, so my teachers taught me everything they could. I like how all the Magical Beasts create different ways to survive in each environment. Like the Iron Bladed Falcon; their feathers will change color based on their terrain. These ones are white so they can reflect sunlight easily and avoid overheating, but the falcons in the Sinking Deserts of Frula are brown so they can blend into the sand, while the ones that lived in the frozen Nightmare Castle in Raksha were pitch black because they weren’t the apex predators and they needed to hide from other Magical Beasts, and—oh... sorry..."
Riyala’s cheeks burned even brighter when she realized that she had started talking too much again! She was always like this when talking about the Magical Beasts! It was like she couldn’t control her own tongue! Jason chuckled slightly at Riyala’s embarrassment and told her that it was okay. It was good that she was so enthusiastic about what she had learned!
Riyala smiled happily when she heard what Jason said, and she let out a cute cry when the falcon behind her suddenly poked her bum with its beak! Riyala turned to it with tears in her eyes, and once she saw that it was clucking in amusement, she immediately grabbed it around the neck and began play-wrestling with it.
Jason ignored the two of them as he saw his Adamantine Ants coming back with the crystals that they had taken out for the falcons. There were five in total, and they were mid-sized stones that would go for about a hundred and twenty thousand dollars each. That meant he was holding a total of six hundred thousand dollars in his hand. Jason eyed the stones closely before he shrugged and threw all of them into his mouth.
’I’m consuming a small fortune each time I do this.’
——
The user has consumed [5] mid-level Magic Crystals
+0.5% Strength
+1% Stamina
+1.5% Agility
+1.5% Durability
The skill [Iron Blade] has grown stronger.
——
Jason read through the new notification that popped up and nodded internally at the improvements. Jason knew that six hundred thousand dollars was a lot of money, but it meant nothing in front of the benefits that came with consuming the crystals. Jason needed to get stronger as quickly as possible, and he decided that he would at least reach SS rank before going to fight the Lich.
If Jason wanted to do that, then he would need to use every avenue available to him. It didn’t matter if he had to consume a hundred million dollars worth of Magic Crystals. He would do it without a second thought! At the side, Ragnar saw Raya getting a bit too close to it, and it let out a fiery huff that scorched Raya’s behind! Raya screeched and immediately went in to try and beat Ragnar up, but Jason told both of them to quit their fighting immediately! Raya let out a sad cry as it skittered back with an apology, and Ragnar huffed again as it lay back down! Jason released a calming sigh as he folded his hands and allowed his mind to wander as he came up with a plan for their attack.
The falcon told him that there were seventy hunters and thirty warriors. The hunters left the nest regularly to go out and search for food, so Jason knew that he wouldn’t be able to just head towards the nest and take them all out. But that didn’t mean that there was no way to get them together in one place.