Jonn allocated his two attribute points to [Wisdom] before turning his attention to the two animals—now beasts—in front of him. This time, he experienced something different from before.
{Ding!}
{You’ve gained 1,800 affinity points with Mimosa, changing your affinity from Respect to Worship!}
{Congratulations, Mimosa respects you deeply and recognizes you as her master. You can now view Mimosa’s status.}
[Mimosa]
[Level: 1 (2%)]
[Health: 123] [Mana: 102] [Stamina: 119]
[Strenght: 11.5] [Agility: 5] [Dexterity: 1]
[Constitution: 12.3] [Endurance: 11.9] [Intelligence: 10.2]
[Wisdom: 9.7] [Charisma: 3] [Luck: 8]
[Affinity: +4000 (Worship)]
...
{Ding!}
{You’ve gained 1,400 affinity points with Annabelle, changing your affinity from Respect to Worship!}
{Congratulations, Annabelle respects you deeply and recognizes you as her master. You can now view Annabelle’s status.}
[Annabelle]
[Level: 1 (6%)]
[Health: 80] [Mana: 106] [Stamina: 74]
[Strenght: 6] [Agility: 8] [Dexterity: 2.5]
[Constitution: 8] [Endurance: 7.4] [Intelligence: 10.6]
[Wisdom: 10] [Charisma: 4] [Luck: 7]
[Affinity: +4000 (Worship)]
Jonn saw the system screens displaying the peculiarities of the two creatures observing him, which came as a surprise. The Enchanted Artifact on his wrist had the limitation of connecting to only one animal or beast at a time.
That must be because of Worship affinity level… I can now communicate with them the same way I do with Ice.
Jonn noticed the differences in the gazes of the hen and the cow. However, he focused first on analyzing their condition, particularly the products they generated.
“Annabelle, I’ll give you time to lay your egg. In the meantime, I’ll see what Mimosa can do.”
He crouched beside the cow. Summoning a small cup from the ring on his finger, he drew just a handful of milk from the village’s newest beast.
As Betta approached, Jonn didn’t bother to collect all the milk available. But as soon as he placed his hands on one of Mimosa’s teats, his eyes widened with surprise at the gush of milk that almost knocked the cup out of his hand.
“Oh?”
It only took him a few seconds to fill half the cup, and he paused to analyze the result in his hands.
[Analysis].
Straight away, Jonn noticed the particularities of Mimosa’s current milk. It not only contained more mana but also more nutrients, with a higher percentage of proteins.
Interesting. Her milk had been improving previously, but it practically doubled in quality after she became a beast.
This was good news. It remained within the limits of what the villagers could manage. In fact, given how fractionated the mana in her milk was, even a tenfold increase in concentration wouldn’t pose a danger to the villagers.
However, Jonn looked at Annabelle, who was finishing laying her egg, with a different perspective.
That’s not the case with Annabelle’s eggs, though…
If she ever laid eggs containing 10 mana units, that would be enough to intoxicate the villagers…
He was contemplating the potential negative implications if Annabelle were to become a level 3 or 4 beast when a second egg fell from the hen’s rear.
“Two?” It was Betta’s voice that snapped Jonn out of his deep thoughts. “Annabelle laid two eggs?” she asked with a humorous tone.
Jonn frowned and quickly picked up the two eggs, each marked with a green stripe down its center. There were no noticeable differences in their appearances; they were the same size and practically the same weight.
Jonn examined them through the lens of the magnifying glass and saw that they weren’t identical, but the differences were insignificant from his point of view.
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I didn’t expect that! In fact, she improved the quality of her egg, but she split the mana I thought would be in one egg and put it in two.
Each egg in Jonn’s hands contained 1.2 units of mana, higher than what he had observed in the eggs Annabelle had laid over the past few days.
A smile spread across his lips as he stood up, feeling more optimistic. Looking at Mimosa, he imagined this cow would produce more milk, just as Annabelle was now producing more eggs.
“Annabelle, can you lay two eggs now?” he asked, and the hen promptly nodded.
“Could you lay just one egg if you wanted to?” This time, she tilted her head in confusion, unsure of how to respond.
Despite having transformed into a beast, Annabelle wasn’t intelligent enough to answer Jonn’s question.
Jonn didn’t push further. He understood the limitations of beast intelligence and knew this was a topic he could revisit later.
“Looks like we’ll have two Annabelle eggs from now on, Betta,” he said, turning to the woman beside him. “Some of the other hens must have laid more nutritious eggs this morning. You can let me collect them. You take care of milking Mimosa.”
Betta looked at the dairy cow, noticing she seemed different this morning. However, she and the others in the village did not know that Jonn was nurturing beasts. With her usual demeanor, she smiled at Mimosa and called the big cow over to eat.
“Moooo!”
Mimosa followed Betta, while the horses, Luna and Roulf followed the coat-clad woman on this chilly morning.
“Mooo!”
“You’re talkative today, Mimosa. What’s the matter? Are you hungry?” Betta asked as she led the animals.
Meanwhile, Luna and Roulf nodded in understanding at Mimosa.
Jonn laughed at this sight, leaving Ice to wait for him outside the chicken coop as he entered Annabelle’s domain.
As Annabelle entered the coop ahead of her master, she spread her wings and puffed out her chest, looking up at the creatures in her domain—20 hens and 3 roosters.
Most of the chickens still appeared quite simple-minded to her, as they had until the previous night. But this morning, she noticed one rooster and some hens looking at her differently, with a conscious fear in their eyes.
Opening her beak, she let out a special sound only chickens could produce, clearing the way for her master.
‘Follow the Master’s rules. Give your eggs. Don’t harm a featherless being. Obey Annabelle. Obey Annabelle’s Master.’ The look in the yellow and white-feathered hen’s eyes conveyed a meaning that was unmistakable.
As Jonn collected the eggs from the henhouse, the animals made way for him, bowing their heads and acknowledging him as their supreme lord.
Annabelle raised her head even higher, her beak open at an angle that only she understood, signifying her authority. Even the roosters averted their gazes, looking away from their queen.
Jonn observed the birds’ behavior with interest, but not enough to invest more of his time. It was only natural for the strongest beast in the barnyard to dominate the area.
In the end, Annabelle approached him and made a gesture as if pledging her loyalty, promising him the coop.
“Good girl. Keep it up, Annabelle!” He lightly patted the head of the bird, now the largest in the coop, before moving on to Mimosa’s side.
There were 22 eggs in his egg carton today, 7 of them special eggs with more advanced properties compared to the other 15.
Now we won’t have to wait so long to eat good eggs… Everyone will eat mana eggs at least once a week. This will help nourish the village more quickly.
Jonn stopped next to Betta, who was finishing collecting Mimosa’s milk before going to Luna. The woman now had an even more pleased expression than after seeing Annabelle’s extra egg.
“I got 32 liters of Mimosa milk, Elder Jonn.” She looked away and narrowed her eyes, shielding them from the sun behind Jonn.
“As expected…” Jonn said before advising, “Double the animals’ rations from today on. They’ll need more food to maintain the quality of their food.”
“Won’t that be a problem? Our food reserves will run out faster this way.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll meet with the merchant Acelin in a few days and bring more food to the village. That will last until the next harvest, when we’ll resolve the village’s food crisis.”
“All right.”
“I’ll leave those eggs with you. Please, talk to Elia regarding the increase in animal productivity and the distribution plan for the higher quality eggs and milk. By the way, I will take the day off to rest, so there is no need to worry about bringing me food.”
“All right. Have a good rest, Elder.”
Jonn made his way to his old house outside the walled area of the village, carrying two mana crystals with him.
He gave a few orders to Ice and went inside, locking himself in this place filled with old materials.
The village’s internal warehouse was quite full of blocks of metal, weapons, tools, and food from the most recent harvest. The less valuable materials were now stored in Jonn’s old house.
However, it had enough space for one to stop and rest, sit down to meditate, read a book, or engage in other activities.
He settled on an old pillow and looked through the lens of the magnifying glass at the simulation of what would happen if he swallowed the mana crystal as the animals did.
This is not a useful method for mages. From what I could analyze in Annabelle and Mimosa, beasts possess mana cores, and when they die, these mana cores become precious essences that can keep much of their power. But I have nothing like the mana cores of beasts.
“However…” A smile appeared on his lips as he directed his mana to the tip of one of his fingers, where a colored glow formed around his fingernail, creating a small distortion.
But even beasts have similarities with humans. The way Mimosa and Annabelle absorb the surrounding mana through their breaths seems very compatible with me.
He allowed [Essence of Life] to work, connecting his knowledge and observations with speculations.
All I need to do is transform the mana in crystal form into absorbable mana.
I will use the opposite method that the plants in my greenhouses use to crystalize the mana they absorb.
The mana environment of the Barren Hills of Deepshadow was toxic to everybody. One could integrate this mana into oneself in small fractions, as the plants in the village already did, by collecting mana from the atmosphere and concentrating it into crystals. Beasts and mages could absorb such essence, too.
However, the mana of the Aether Tears created by plants or the mana in foods generated by animals, was entirely different from atmosphere mana.
As long as one could resist to mana, they could convert the mana of food or crystals into their own with almost no collateral damage!
Jonn had experienced this with the food from Mimosa and Annabelle and was now taking it a step further.
Touching the crystal with the tip of his finger, Jonn observed through the magnifying glass as the crystallized mana transformed, enveloping his body in a green mist.
Taking a deep breath and feeling the mana pass through his skin and into his airways, Jonn absorbed the mana from that first crystal.
Within five minutes, he felt something within him grow significantly enough for him to notice a big difference in his body.
{Ding!}
{You’ve completed a hidden quest!}
{Congratulations! You’ve created the [Universal Breath] Skill!}
{Distributing quest bonuses…}