“Well…” Ren elaborated a convenient version of events. “Apparently he had heard about my… successes finding veins. He wanted to hear about my method while I guided him.”
“And?” Liu leaned forward.
“And nothing. I showed him how I use the mushrooms for light. He let me take some remains from the dead hydra and gave me old parts from his beast. End of story.”
His friends clearly wanted more details, but Ren moved toward his trunk, effectively changing the subject since… Carefully, he took out the hydra egg and the bug egg, placing them next to the two cores he had recovered.
Taro, who had been unusually quiet, observed the objects with familiarity. After all, he had helped Ren hide them the day he ended up in the infirmary.
“What the hell?” Min approached to examine the objects. “Where did you get those?”
“A bit deeper in the caves,” Ren responded honestly. “Luckily… I found them along with the cores.”
Liu studied the cores without much interest. “Why keep cores? They’re useless.”
“The government buys them,” Min pointed out, “though they pay a pittance. You can’t extract mana from them like a crystal, they can absorb mana but filling them is a useless waste because they have no practical use.”
Taro scratched his head. “The bug egg is worth something. What? About 100,000 crystals for being rare?”
“If you find a buyer,” Liu snorted. “People prefer to pay a bit more for a brown egg like the one that gave you your beetle. At least they have the possibility of getting a mole then.”
Ren’s mushrooms pulsed while his friends discussed market value. If they only knew…
“But this other egg is what intrigues me…” Min pointed to the hydra egg, his eyes shining. “I’ve never seen anything like it even in the city market.”
The egg glowed like a diamond, its patterns clearly different from common random eggs.
“Doesn’t look like a random egg,” Liu moved closer. “What beast could it be from? How much do you think it’s worth? That glow is impressive.”
“Much more than the bug one, surely,” Min nodded. “Some people pay fortunes for unique eggs.”
Ren let his friends speculate about prices and potential buyers. It was safer if they thought about the objects only in terms of their market value.
“Why don’t you sell them?” Liu finally asked. “You could get a really good profit, school residence hasn’t treated you as badly as we thought after all… Congratulations lucky shroom.”
“I’m waiting for the right moment, don’t tell anybody yet,” Ren responded vaguely.
The mushrooms in his hair pulsed softly. His friends would never suspect that one of those “useless” cores would soon become something as valuable as any rare egg in the market… soon he would have 4 eggs in his hands.
“Hypothetically, if you could choose,” Ren began, “what would you prefer? A defensive creature with some attack, an elemental offensive one, or a faster one with utility?”
“Defensive,” Taro responded immediately. “There’s nothing like a good shield.”
“Are you crazy?” Min shook his head. “Elemental offensive, obviously. The best defense is a good offense.”
“You’re both wrong,” Liu intervened. “Speed and utility. What good is power if you can’t reach your target?”
Ren’s mushrooms pulsed with what seemed to be exasperation. “Thanks. You’re not helping at all.”
He lay back on his bed, thoughtful. The wolverine’s ability to store things inside was fascinating, and the mantis’s mirrors had already saved his skin more than once… but the hydra also…
Suddenly he stood up, startling his friends. He began emptying his enormous backpack, which seemed to contain his size in materials.
“What are you doing?” Taro asked while Ren piled hydra plates to one side.
Without answering, Ren opened his trunk and took out the carefully stored mantis plates. With precise movements, he began building small “nests” using the mantis plates as a base for one, interweaving the wolverine’s hair and minerals for the other.
“Um…” Min observed confused. “Are you making… abstract art?”
“Maybe it’s a phase,” Liu whispered. “Like when Taro tried to make ugly sculptures with earth.”
“Hey! Those sculptures were art!”
“They were piles of dirt, Taro.”
Ren ignored them, completely focused on his task. Suddenly, something seemed to occur to him. He grabbed some of the hydra plates and headed toward the door.
His friends were left staring at the decorative “nests” and then at the door where Ren had disappeared.
“Should we…?” Min began.
“…worry about his mental health?” Liu completed.
They looked at each other for a moment.
“Ren, wait!” they shouted in unison, running after him.
They found him in the hallway, muttering to himself while examining a hydra plate against the light.
“Are you going to tell us what you’re doing?” Taro asked.
“Brooding,” Ren responded distractedly.
“Brooding?” Min repeated skeptically.
“Need more materials,” Ren elaborated, turning the plate 45 degrees.
“For what?” Liu asked.
“It’s… for the nests.”
The three exchanged looks.
“You know,” Min began slowly, “when we said you needed a hobby away from the caves…”
“We didn’t mean this,” Liu finished.
“Shouldn’t you be practicing for the tournament?” Ren asked without stopping examining the plate.
“Shouldn’t YOU be practicing with us for the tournament instead of… whatever this is?” Taro counterattacked.
The mushrooms in Ren’s hair pulsed with what could have been amusement. “Multitasking.”
“Doesn’t multitasking imply doing both things? You’re only doing one…” Min observed.
Ren finally looked at them, a mysterious smile on his face. “Don’t you have homework to do?”
The three looked at each other while following Ren until…
“J-Jessy!” Min practically shouted when they saw who Ren was looking for. “Why didn’t you tell us we were coming to see Jessy?”
The young evaluator jumped in her seat, dropping several papers. “Ah! Ren! And… company?”
“Ignore them,” Ren smiled while his mushrooms pulsed. “They’re bored and decided to follow me.”
“Hey!” Liu protested. “We’re worried about your mental health. The art with monster parts…”
“Art?” Jessy blinked confused while picking up her papers. “Oh, are you going to sell me more materials?”
“Just these 5 diamond skin plates,” Ren placed the enormous hydra plates on the counter.
Jessy’s eyes lit up immediately, her cat ears perking. “These are…! Wait, let me check…” she began frantically searching in her manual.
“The quality is exceptional,” she murmured while examining the plates. “And the crystallization pattern… oh! And look at this iridescence on the edges… Gold rank…”
Min, Liu, and Taro watched open-mouthed while Jessy calculated the value.
“F-for the quality and preservation state…” Jessy smiled brightly, “I can offer you 3 bright bronze crystals for each one, fifteen total!”
“Fifteen?!” the three friends exclaimed in unison.