Eric found himself sipping a familiar tea while sitting at a familiar table inside a familiar little home. He was currently looking at Ying Yue's flushed face, for once glad that his dark complexion didn't give away much when he was short of breath.
The young lady had given him a run for his money, keeping pace with him relentlessly for at least two hours. "You are lucky that my ability to utilize primal essence is so limited.You would not have moved a step within the time it would take me to make a hundred, otherwise", she grumbled.
Eric chuckled before taking another sip.
"So you say... hey, don't look at me like that. Peace, peace! Goodness... I'm actually surprised we were able to run around the village so rampant without running into too many people."
Ying Yue huffed before saying, "As if the few we came across weren't enough. I have a reputation to uphold around here, you know?" She let out an exaggerated sigh, "Everyone's probably full from the Primeval Boar. Without Pen Yushui and his thugs there to eat enough for a hundred each, I would imagine that they would have more than enough for everyone this side of the river."
"Yeah, I could smell it from Qianggong Jian Gang's mansion. I couldn't hear a celebration like last time, though."
Ying Yue shrugged her shoulders and said, "There is only so much excitement this village can handle, not to mention that there did not seem to be a Primeval Beast Core inside this one, as there was with the other one."
Eric rubbed his nose and looked around the room.
"Primeval Beast Core... what is that exactly and what is so special about it?"
Ying Yue was long used to Eric's ignorance and so didn't hesitate to explain, "Primeval Beasts simply do not cultivate the same way we do. They are born with a set potential, and passively absorb Primal Essence at a rate proportionate to their density. Very rarely, a Primeval Beast will unconsciously form a core, similar to the dantains we humans possess except naturally solidified. They contain an extremely dense amount of Primal Essence in an extremely pure form and can even contain attributes of the Primeval Beast itself", she said. "Although that's beyond rare to the level of myth."
"Is there a benefit to the core containing an attribute?"
Ying Yue's eyes had long since lit up in excitement, "Of course! If utilized correctly, you essentially can gain a free ability", she placed her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her palm, "The value of that is basically priceless. With just a slight amount of effort, a cultivator will basically have a unique technique of their own. And not just for attack or defense, it could benefit Primal Essence absorption, strengthen your soul, enhance your mind... the possibilities are as varied as there are species of Primeval Beasts."
Eric grinned as he listened to her nerd out.
'It's truly tragic that someone so enthusiastic about cultivation is cursed to remain stagnate.'
He decided then and there that he would do his best to find a way to help her.
'I'll never obtain the freedom I seek if my conscience isn't clear.'
"So the Primeval Boar that Pen Yushui killed had a core?"
Ying Yue nodded slightly, an almost dismissive look on her face, "Yes, one of common quality. It was a small light green one so it was pretty new too."
"The colors matter?"
She nodded again, this time the light returning to her eyes, "Very much so. Each one's color matches their elemental attribute. The purity can be seen by how clear it is. The size can vary from the size of a pinky nail to the size of a head, and the darker the color, the more concentrated and potent it is."
"And the one Pen Yushui found?"
Ying Yue sighed, "Barely the size of a pebble." She obviously wasn't amused. "He was able to sell it for a small fortune, by the standards of this clan, hence the party and his crew's recent inactivity in the forest. It's amazing how something that wouldn't even enter the Lightning Sect's eyes is enough to send our Thunder Clan into a frenzy..."
"... So, what would happen if it was, say, a deep black, clear as day and roughly the size of a man's head?"
Ying Yue giggled and leaned back in her chair, "Well, then the lucky discoverer would have no choice than to sell it to the Lightning Sect. They would receive more wealth than anyone in the village along with a title..."
"I feel there's a rather bad side to all of that."
Another nod, "En. Soul contract, eternal servitude, constant surveillance... The Lightning Sect would never allow them any further growth from that point on. They would honestly be better off absorbing it themselves in secret and running away from the village. Of course, that would be suicide."
"Because of the Lightning Sect?"
Ying Yue laughed smiled, ever so faintly, as she reached for her teacup, "Well, yes. Obviously. But also because they would more than likely blow up from the attempt", she said before taking a sip.
"Excuse me?"
Eric's face visibly paled, a feat that was made all the more impressive by his complexion.
His expression almost caused her to spit out her tea.
An action that was stopped from shear willpower, it would seem, from Eric's perspective.
He waited patiently as Ying Yue alternated between giggling and coughing into a handkerchief. The routine probably only lasted for a minute, at most. But it felt improbably long to Eric.
He was used to friends and family laughing at or about him and vice versa, it was actually something he missed. What made the moment less enjoyable was the fact that he had no idea that cultivating had death by explosion as an option. It reminded him of just how ignorant he was in regards to the rules of this world.