Thanks to Ves’s failure to sleep through Nell and Ogata’s conversation, she learned way more about her body than she ever wanted to. While Nell didn’t know the proper words for many things, Ogata was able to understand her explanations and help her fill in the gaps.

  Giving Nell free rein may have been a bad idea in retrospect. One thing she did learn of concern was that the more they strengthened their body, the more complex it became. This would result in longer and longer times to fully regenerate. Though, Nell was working on an idea to mitigate the problem.

  ‘Ves, I’m sorry, I thought we agreed as long as I didn’t further change our appearance, you were fine with it.’ Nell had been apologizing all day, as Ves may have gotten a bit upset from all she learned.

  “We did, but then you changed my chest…” Ves complained.

  ‘They are still the same shape and size! We already can’t have children the conventional way. I didn’t see a reason to retain the ability to produce milk. Changing that tissue to-’ Before Nell could finish her statement, Ves cut her off.

  “NOOOOOO Not listening. We shall never speak of that again. Forbidden topic from now on.” Ves screamed, cradling her head in her hands.

  “What’s forbidden?” Ves turned in horror to see Hiroko.

  “Nothing, nothing at all.” Ves stammered out.

  “That was a lot of yelling for nothing.” Hiroko pointed out as Ves realized her shouting had attracted stares.

  Embarrassed, she apologized for all the noise. That got a good chuckle from more than a few of the dragonewts. Slowly but surely, they were warming up to her.

  “If you're done with whatever all that was, Elder Setsu and Farren want to see you,” Hiroko said.

  “Dare I ask?” Ves questioned, a bit worried. While the monster bear was massive, she had eaten a lot and likely made a mess of the body….

  “Not sure, just the messenger,” Hiroko shrugged.

  “Lead the way,” Ves said as she gestured towards Hiroko. Honestly, their camp was not very big. Setsu could have just shouted, and Ves would have heard her. Following Hiroko Ves was led into the rough stone fortress Xeeta had been hard at work on. For the most part, it served as a safe place for storage or a place to hide if attacked. Most of the residents still lived outside around the entrance.

  Even so, there were a few side rooms carved out, which Lady Setsu and Farren had been using for administrative purposes as well as storing more valuable items and documents. It was one such room Hiroko led them to. They still didn’t have proper doors, and only a curtain closed off the room.

  “Elder Setsu, I have brought Ves as requested,” Hiroko announced.

  “Ah, please come in,” Setsu called from behind the curtain.

  Stepping inside Ves could see Setsu and Farren were sitting on cushions around a low table. One of the few proper pieces of furniture she had seen of the dragonewts or foxkin. The room itself was dimly illuminated by a lantern. Lighting in this place was going to be a major issue down the road. For now, it was enough. The rest of the room was a semi-organized mess of old books and documents.

  Off to the side, helping to organize the documents was the mute woman Ves helped rescue from the slavers. Alice was her name, if Ves remembered correctly.

  “Thank you for the trouble, Hiroko. That was all we needed.” Setsu warmly thanked Hiroko.

  “No trouble at all, Elder Setsu.” With that, Hiroko left.

  Seeing Ves eyeing all the documents, Farren spoke up, “Caught your eye?”

  Ves nodded. She was surprised to see it all. Books weighed a lot, especially when fleeing a warzone in haste.

  “Mostly old ledgers, deeds, that sort of thing. Not sure they are still worth anything, but there is a chance that when the south calms down, some of my family’s assets will still be around. We will need these as proof of any claims.” The old foxkin responded while stroking his beard.

  “Please take a seat, we wanted to discuss the core carved from the horned bear you fought,” Setsu said while gesturing towards a cushion next to the table. As she sat down, Alice began to serve them all some sort of tea before she returned to quietly sorting documents.

  “What’s to discuss? I assumed you would just sell it. Maybe help pay back all the clothing I keep ruining…” Ves said as she sat down. Low tables like these were not common in Kohdessia, so it was a bit awkward for her to sit on a cushion and not a proper chair. Apparently, it was more comfortable for tailed races, which were more common in the south.

  “Ryuko mentioned as much. Afraid that’s not really an option.” Setsu answered.

  “Why is that? Maybe a while before we can do any trade, but aren’t monster cores worth a lot?” Ves asked.

  To that, Farren came in with the answer, “I can see why you would say that, as cores are often worth small fortunes and in high demand.”

  Farren paused to take a sip of his tea, then asked, “Tell me, do you know why cores are in demand in the first place?”

  Ves pondered for a moment, “I heard they could be used in the creation of pills which promote soul growth. That and I heard they are pretty, not that I agree after seeing the one pulled out of the bear.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “That is correct and touches on the problem.” Turning to Alice, “Alice, my dear, would you mind setting the core on the table for us?”

  Alice nodded before carefully pulling the core out from a box next to her and gently setting it on the table in a little stand to keep it from rolling away.

  Farren nodded in thanks.

  “Cores are graded based on a quality scale. The higher the quality, the more potent the core is as a pill ingredient. As well as they are generally more pleasing to look at.” Gesturing to the core on the table, “This one is unfortunately of the lowest quality. I doubt the bear had been a monster for even a year.”

  “Damn, not even good enough for a low-grade pill?” Ves commented, looking disheartened.

  Farren shook his head, “Making pills from cores is a complicated and expensive process. As cores are not edible by most species, they need to be refined and their power transferred into an edible form, the pill. Much of the mana is lost in the process. The returns would simply be far too low to be worth the cost.”

  “I wonder what we should do with it then?” Ves mused.

  ‘I wonder…’ Nell’s voice popped up in Ves’s head.

  “Nell?” Ves asked out loud, getting a few confused looks before the others guessed what was going on.

  ‘I think we could eat it,’ Nell responded as Ves noted a lack of certainty in her thoughts.

  “Bullshit, it's way too big, and if we broke it, I bet it would feel like eating glass,” Ves protested.

  “Ves? Are you ok?” Setsu asked with concern.

  Turning to Setsu, “My apologies for that, Elder Setsu. Nell got the strange idea in her head that we could eat the core raw.”

  It’s not strange! We managed to eat that bear bone, and that thing was harder than a rock. Despite looking like a gemstone, the core still came from a flesh-and-blood animal. If we can get it down, I’m willing to bet we could digest it.’ Nell countered.

  “I thought you said we could only eat meat! And even if that’s true, it's way too big, and if we shatter it, I bet it would kill us from all the damage it would do on the way down.” Ves said.

  All eyes in the room were on Ves at this point as they tried to understand the strange conversation, they could only hear half of. Even Alice stopped to stare.

  ‘No need to shatter it, we can swallow it whole. Also, at this point, while our body craves and prefers meat, I think we could likely digest just about anything. Though I do have a theory on our meat fixation after talking to Ogata, but I’ll share that later,’ Nell said.

  “Again, bullshit, no way we can open our mouth wide enough”. Ves said with confidence.

  ‘Let me do it then,” Nell responded, annoyed by Ves’s protests.

  “Arugh… fine, just don’t kill us,” Ves said before stepping aside to let Nell take control.

  “Ves?” Farren asked out of concern.

  “My apologies, Sir Farren, I am Nell. We switched places so I can prove a point to Ves.” Nell responded calmly.

  “Which is?” he asked with a bit of worry.

  “Simple, Ves seems to think we can’t eat this core. I wish to show her that she is wrong.”

  “Nell, I don’t wish to contest, but Ves is right, humans can’t eat cores. I don’t see how you could even fit it in your mouth for starters.” Farren said with a bit of worry.

  “What everyone seems to forget, sometimes Ves included, is that we are not human. The claw is far from the only difference.” Nell said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

  Without allowing anyone time to protest further, Nell delicately grabbed the core with her clawed arm while placing her left hand on her lower Jaw. With an audible snap, she dislocated her own lower jaw and slowly forced the core into her mouth.

  The rest of the room watched in shock as Nell continued to slowly and carefully guide the core down. Her throat bulged to well over twice its size as the core visibly bulged. As it went down, her chest began to expand, stretching her shirt past its limit, as the core passed her collarbone before finally reaching her stomach. As her chest went back to its normal size, Nell calmly snapped her jaw back into place.

  “See, we are more than capable of eating the core,” Nell said with pride, having proven everyone wrong.

  Setsu and Farren continued to stare in a loss for words at what they had just seen. Nell could also feel Ves was equally in shock. Alice was thankfully a bit more observant about an issue none of the others seemed to notice. Calmly, she walked over to Nell’s side and draped a large cloth over her. Nell looked at her in confusion before looking down to see that her clothing had not survived. Leaving her modesty in question. Looking back to Alice, “Ah, my apologies. I didn’t mean to ruin clothing again.”

  Alice shook her head and gave Nell an amused smile.

  Turning towards Setsu and Farren, “Umm… are you two, ok?”

  “My apologies, Nell, that was a bit unexpected,” Setsu said, looking a bit sick.

  “I would agree, you two are always full of surprises, at the very least, that solves what to do with the core. Do let me know if this works. As I mentioned, the process of turning cores into pills is terribly inefficient, so I am curious to see if this ends up causing any noticeable changes,” Farren said, bemused as he rubbed his chin.

  “I agree, please see Ogata if anything seems amiss. I’m not sure anyone knows the potential effects of eating a raw core.” Setsu added.

  “We will,” Nell said with a light bow, “Now if you will excuse me, I should see if Ryuko can help me find a new blouse.”

  Taking her leave, Nell left the room and patted her stomach as she could feel the core inside. It felt invigorating.

  Actually, it felt a lot more than just that. Quickly, she swapped places with Ves to focus on the core.

  ‘Ves, what is going on. I feel strange, but I’m not sure how to describe it.’

  “I have no idea either. It feels like something inside is straining…”

  ‘It’s not our stomach though.’

  Worried Ves went to pay Ogata another visit.

  “Oh, Ves, Nell. I didn’t expect to see you both again so soon.”

  “Something doesn’t feel right, neither of us can really explain it, but we feel a pressure inside,” Ves explained.

  “Hmm, please sit down, you do look rather flushed. It’s not your stomach, is it? It looks as though you just had a large meal.”

  “No, we are used to that feeling. Nell can’t find any part of our body that feels like the source. But it still feels like it’s from inside… Gods, I know that doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Actually, it may make more sense than you think. Have you been cultivating?”

  Ves blinked, “No, I was never allowed to. I don’t even have a blessing.”

  ‘What about the core? Could that be it?’

  “The core, but this fast?”

  “Core? What is this about a core?”

  Ves then explained the monster core currently sitting in her stomach.

  “Fascinating, a breakthrough without proper cultivation. I heard it was possible, but still to see it.”

  “Breakthrough?”

  “Aw, sorry. First, take some deep breaths. In and out. In and out. Now close your eyes and focus. Feel out to that pressure. I think you just need one more push.”

  Ves could hear the old dragonewt fiddling with something before a calming smoke and smell of incense poured into her lungs.

  “You’re doing well, keep breathing, in and out. Let the incense flow through your body.”

  As Ves did as instructed, she could feel the pressure build and build. Something was straining. It felt like something was about to give way. Until it finally did. It felt like a flood of energy poured through her body. A giddy euphoria and sense of strength. Her mind felt clearer, sharper. It was like the whole world, in some way, started to come into focus.

  “Well, let me be the first to say it. Congratulations, welcome to the unrefined amber stage. Your first step on the path to divinity.”