"I can't believe this." Mei Wu sighed both in bafflement and shock as she rubbed her forehead, shaking her head. What she got drilled into her head, after her new friend practically dragged her into their room inside the hive, was basically a huge infodump concerning Kasumi Ai's language. Particularly, the honorifics.
Something the alraune was clearly way too amused to stop talking about.
How the alraune knew all of that info wasn't one she could have bothered to understand or rationalize, and Mei Wu deemed the reason for the knowledge being either something that beasts just know when they are born, or one they get afterwards after knowing how to speak. But that that does not matter for now.
"So, I'm basically Wu-chan, because I'm, in your words, 'your cute friend that is just so easy to tease', or Wu-kohai because you're my... 'sensei' or teacher." she quoted with sarcasm at the last part. "Since you clearly took me as your apprentice, all right."
Ai just kept smiling as if she said nothing wrong, while literally looking down at her due to the height difference. "Indeed! I personally prefer Wu-chan! It fits perfectly!"
She spread her arms as if to embrace the world in a way to prove her opinion correct.
Mei Wu only snorted at that. Yeah, it fits how the alraune wanted to treat her whenever it wasn't something serious. By constantly irritating and teasing her. Not that the pink-haired woman can really complain about that.
"Wow. You really convinced me, Ai'er." she responded dryly. Her tone managed to be as biting as it was dry. Not that the plant woman took that seriously.
"Good! I knew you'll see it my way, Wu-chan~!" Kasumi Ai gave her a thumbs up at that, her grin still as present as before. "So, should we just relax tonight? I mean, it's clear we're not in the mood for training... yet." she asked with interest, her smirk lessening slightly.
"Yes, that should be it. We'll just continue our spars tomorrow. Guess tonight, we should only cultivate." Mei Wu sighed at that. She wasn't really upset about this... not change per se... but she hoped there won't be too many distractions to stop them from training properly.
Having two emotional breakdowns in less than two weeks is two breakdowns too many, even if they did help her understand her desires a bit better.
"Mm. I agree. Still, I like the scenery and all that, so I will stay here for a while. Do you want to return? I'm pretty sure you're determined to find how to create your Apoptosis cultivation technique and all that."
At that curious question, Mei Wu shook her head. While she'd love to see what to do with her new self-progress, she felt that relaxing for a while right now would be better than just rushing at it, and stated as much.
"Do whatever you want then." with that, the alraune decided to just take her time under the sun, Mei Wu sitting just a few feet away from her as there was no sound other than that of nature and the Protector Bee watching over them.
"So..." Kasumi Ai broke the silence, "you think the Xie clan would be searching for you right now? It had been more than three weeks since you and those two disappeared from their view."
Mei Wu frowned at that, all traces of amusement vanishing from her face due to the seriousness of the question.
"I won't say that they might have not decided to see what was going on." she said, thinking, "Xie Li, while he was rather influencial in the clan, he was not so... strong that he could go on missions for months without telling anyone. Even he would get scolded at the very least if he went his merry way for too long."
"I somehow doubt the mission you were partaking in would take more than a few weeks." Kasumi Ai pointed. "At that time, the mission would have been accomplished by killing or capturing me, assuming that I was the reason, and not our current bee boss."
"That's true." Mei Wu admitted, "the mission was to check on what was happening here. The number of beasts was increasing, though it wasn't to a degree that was deemed urgent or disasterous, thus the details were given to the clans, at least the more influencial and stronger ones. and if some of the warriors wanted to do it, then they can. All they needed was an elder's approval and that's it."
She stopped talking for a moment. "But no one really thought it would take anything more than a couple of weeks or so. Just a quick look to see what is going on, and maybe capturing a rare beast if possible. That was it. The compensation wasn't also that big really, by warriors' standards, even if it was a few gold coins. Though the reason why Xie Li accepted the mission when he would have simply gone to a brothel was because the elders told him that he would be rewarded handsomely and maybe get a strong beast to contract."
"Wow... I don't know if that's pure pragmatism or just greed." the alraune looked at her chuckling with amusement.
"Greed, that's what I believe. He wouldn't have bothered or even thought about investigating the forest if it didn't have a reward attached to it." Mei Wu ignored any argument that Xie Li could ever be pragmatic.
Well, unless it was when he knew beforehand that some random guy he met at a restaurant isn't some hidden genius who easily outclassed him... or that the random woman he wanted to bed could easily wipe him from existence... or he had to deal with other influencial people who he knew he could not offend willy nilly... Other than that, no survival instincts to be seen, since everyone else would either be intimidated by him or his clan and are unable to fight back.
"Sounds like a great guy who would really love me if I allowed him to contract me." Kasumi Ai joked as she played with her hair, looking amused. Mei Wu though, was not amused.
"I'd like it if you don't joke about that, please." she scowled at the mere thought of that happening. "Just the mere thought of you following him fills me with disgust. And sure, you aren't helpless even with him having contracted you due to the sheer intelligence and sentience allowing you to even refuse his orders, not to mention that you are... not exactly a weak beast being Silver-ranked. And frankly, your existence and power are still breaking my previous ideas about plant beasts as well."
She felt as if Ai's qi was snickering when she said the word 'sentient,' but she ignored it as curiosity took control of her... friend's mood. Oh, yeah, that would take some time to adjust to.
"Maybe you don't know this, but plant beasts are what people call 'trash', due to how weak they are even against beasts on their levels." once again, she made an effort to say the word 'trash' with as much sarcasm as she could muster to show the absurdity of the situation, before she looked like she was trying to decipher a secret.
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"Or at least, maybe I would be more precise to say that they are 'trash,' when they do not get to evolve and rise in rank. Maybe everyone in the continent just didn't realize that exponential growth is even stronger and higher in plant-type beasts than others. Even with your high intelligence and ability to cultivate taken into account, your growth in power is just too large. You already could most likely defeat and kill a Silver-ranked Level 3 Protector Bee with little difficulty as well."
Because any other conclusion would be just ridiculous. It was always stated to her and many others how weak plant-type beasts, and in fact, it was supposedly the most basic of the basics when one learns about beasts. They naturally only appear as either a Normal or Bronze-ranked beasts, and only with the Level 1 or 3 at most. Not a level of power worthy of respect in general, and even more so due to how they are usually weaker than most other beasts, as Mei Wu had stated already.
But what if it was simply the fact that it just took a different method to cultivate and nurture them and that, simply, no one knew about it? If a normal sheep was fed meat because its owner believed that just like tigers and dogs, a sheep only eats meat and can only get stronger and healtier with it, is it the sheep's fault for not getting stronger or even becoming weaker?
Of course not. That would make no sense. Plant-type beasts must simply have different requirements to increase in rank and level. It's just that either that knowledge was wiped out, or was forgotten as time kept moving forward, until no one remembered it any longer. And it just happened that Ai had found it either by accident when she was born, or she instinctually knew how, and was lucky enough not to fight a predator too strong for her at that time.
That is one hell of a discovery that she had just gotten in less than ten minutes, but Mei Wu could deal with it. By the heavens, if she can handle all the ridiculousness surrounding this alraune, then she can deal with this twist.
Kasumi Ai was frankly both amazed and amused by that. "Oh? I admire your confidence in me. I might probably be able to win against our fellow Protector Bee. Though I don't think it would be that fast or easy. But thanks for the praise, Wu-chan!"
The bee beast in question made a buzzing sound as if it was offended, and it was clearly not amused about the insult stated towards it, Mei Wu felt. But it did nothing but keep floating around.
Shaking her head, the pink-haired woman returned to their original subject.
"But yeah, even with you being in a contract, I doubt that you won't milk the opportunity for all its worth. You'd probably keep eating every damn beast he kills even if he ordered you not to, and he'd have to get over it. And you will only listen to his orders when you feel like it..."
Wait, wouldn't that mean that even if that piece of trash somehow managed to contract her, she could just betray him any time he summoned her? Back then, the alraune was Silver-ranked Level 1, an incredibly rare beast due to her rank alone. Add the fact that she was easily able to kill Xie Li's Bronze-ranked Level 4 Demonic Wolf, wouldn't that make her practically uncontrollable for a mere summoner or warrior with only the power of a Level 3 [Hero]?
"And it would be basically hell for him..." she finished, baffled.
Truly, Xie Li's fate of being just killed and eaten was just too kind. Mei Wu would have probably loved to see that asshole crying rivers of tears due to Ai eating the corpse of a beast he wanted to get. And if Ai wanted to use him as an energy source, especially with her aphrodisiacs... yeah. He truly was hideously lucky, from a certain point of view.
"I feel you have some contradictory thoughts about what Xie Li should have suffered from. Please don't be inconsistent in this particular subject." Ai crossed her arms with a deadpan on her face.
"Okay, fine! I'll think of how I would love to see him suffer under your care later. But the point still stands, and going back to our talk about the Xie clan before we got into tangents, they would be wondering about my and their disappearance by now. At least, the more paranoid or stricter ones." Mei Wu finished with a huff.
"That's just trouble, isn't it?" Ai sighed at that. Even her lower monsterous mouth looked disappointed and depressed.
"Yes, it is. If they believed Xie Li was dead or in danger, then they would probably bring an elder or two, and maybe a bunch of clan members or disciples with them as well. Definitely nothing to the Queen Bee and her army of a dozen or more of Protector Bees, along with the queen herself, but that would be some really terrible odds for the two of us." Mei Wu explained.
"Every elder is basically either a Level 5 [Grandmaster] or Level 6 [Elder], and they are almost guaranteed to have a Grimoire, with strong beasts contracted to them, along with their Guardian Beasts. True, at most, they would have a silver-ranked beast, but they might have a gold-ranked one if we're really unlucky. Thankfully though, if we had to fight disciples, then they mostly don't have a Grimoire, but even weaker beasts than Xie Li did. Those, we could easily defeat if we weren't reckless or used your poisonous nectars and pollen."
Ai pondered about that analysis, and she nodded, agreeing with it as she looked at the sun that was starting to set. "You are quite correct. Should we continue the talk inside?"
Taking a moment to sense the qi around them just in case, and determining that nothing was wrong, Mei Wu nodded as well.
"Yes, let's."
With that, the two returned inside the hive, followed by the Protector Bee that Mei Wu felt like it would be filing a complaint to the Queen Bee due to her joking about Ai being strong enough to kill it.
Life, isn't she right?
----------------------------------------
Finally, their preparations were finished, Xie Yao thought as he stood straight, looking at the group he had picked to go along with him.
Truly, the years sapped a lot of his energy, he sighed. Reaching eighty was never fun, even for a Level 5 [Grandmaster]. If only he was able to become an [Elder] in his youth... Alas, life is so unfair.
Frankly, he could have already gone on his own days ago, but he understood that the juniors of today needed to have a mission with their seniors once every while. Which is why he picked this group and waited for them to prepare for a day or two for good measure.
Four people stood in front of him, two men, and two women. All between twenty and thirty years old. Not really strong by his standards, but they all were capable of fighting with a level 2 beginner [Braveman], and possibly an intermediate one if working together. Not too bad all things considered.
None of them had any grimoire nor any real strong beasts, which was a shame, but on the other hand, if there was a real threat that even he couldn't defeat in the forest, then even if they all died, the Xie clan wouldn't be too weakened from this loss.
But, this was a sacrifice he was prepared to make. He had talked with the clan master, and he was told not to choose anyone with the power of a level 3 [Hero] due to how few they were, especially in their clan.
"And thus, I assume your preparations are done, correct?" he asked, but he didn't give them time to answer, for he can see it in their postures. "I chose you to come with me both to investigate the rise of the number of beasts, as well as the possible disappearance of Xie Li, Xie Yu and Mei Wu. They were supposed to have returned a week ago, and they should have told us about the results of their trip. That's the gist of it. Is this understood?"
He got nods and yells of "yes, esteemed elder!" as an answer.
"Good." he spoke, his voice sounding like steel. "I have picked you up both because I deemed it a helpful endeavor to let you join me in this mission. You were quite clear in your desire to go on a real mission for a while, not to mention that you have some interest in finding what happened to your clan members."
A bit of a lie, if he was honest. They only cared about Xie Li since he was the young master and the child of the clan leader. They didn't care about Xie Yu, and they either hated or outright despised Mei Wu for her birth.
"Know that this could be dangerous. After all, our rising star was gone missing while going on this mission. Hopefully he's alright along with the other two, but if not... I don't need to tell you what that would mean, right?"
His eyes steeled, and the disciples gulped audibly at that.
"And let me make this clear. I would prefer if our targets were alive for questioning. So, no excessive violence if not provoked, even if it wasn't the young master who managed to survive... is this understood?"
The four trembled at his gaze and furiously stated so.
"Good." Xie Yao's mood changed as he smiled. "You are to be in front of the gate in ten minutes. Xie Li probably took his time to inspect the forest, but since he might be in trouble, we will have to move faster. Let's see if we can find their tracks during the three or four days."