"Wherezz itzz?"
"Wherezz are theyzz?"
"I zzzmelled dem herezzz."
The demon hornet trio had scoured the forest left and right in search of the Tempest Minotaur and her child, but had come up empty. Now the trio had come to the Rainbow Plains.
"Zmelled them at the Dairy Beez!"
"Nothing but bonez!"
"Zmelled dem at the monkey'z nezt!"
"Nothing but furzz and fecezzz!"
"I zmell cowz here."
As the trio discussed the places they have been to while searching for the child, they came across the herd of khalkotauroi milling and grazing. While these monsters were indeed cows, they weren't the cows the hornets were looking for.
"Wrong zmell!"
"Zmell zimilar."
"Zzhould we keep zzzearching?"
"Try elzewhere!"
_________________________________________________
After a few moments of happily drinking milk from the khalkotauroi cow, Minos lightly pushed himself away from the udder, a content smile on his face. Jordie decided to follow his lead and stopped drinking as well.
"Was it good little guy?", Jordie asked, the faint taste of spicy horchata on his tongue. He thought it tasted pretty good, but he didn't know if minotaur taste buds were different.
Minos nodded in response to Jordie's question, moments before burping up a tiny fireball.
"Well that's ne-brap!"
Unexpectedly, Jordie burped up his own little fireball as well.
"Uhh...System. Why did that just happened?"
[Host and Minos have unlocked the skill "Bronze Bull Flame" by consuming the raw given milk of the khalkotauroi cow,] the System explained.
"Huh...wait, 'given' milk?"
[Khalkotauroi aren't famed for just their flames, bronze horns and bronze hooves, but also their milk. Khalkotauroi milk is richer in protein, calcium and minerals in comparison to normal milk and has mild magical properties in relation to fire mana, so it's a rather prized ingredient for chefs and alchemists.]
"Okay, but it sounds like some people have tamed khalkotauroi before, what's the difference between that and 'given' milk?"
[Khalkotauroi develop their flame when they drink the milk of their mothers. Everytime they consume it, the flame inside them grows a bit stronger and stronger until it can be self-sustained. But such a thing is a conscious gift given by the mother khalkotauroi,] the System stated, [Taken khalkotauroi milk, that which is milked by hand, loses some of it's properties because the cow does not infuse it with their gift.]
"Oh...," Jordie went as he began to understand the System's words, "Does that mean she thinks of us as her kids then?"
[...Kinda.]
"Huh."
"Moooaaah....", Minos yawned moments before smacking his tiny lips. From the look of his heavy eyelids, Jordie figured that Minos wanted to take a nap after eating.
"Alright, let's go find someplace shady to-"
"Moo."
"Huh?"
The khalkotauroi cow walked over the sitting duo and repositioned herself until she was just behind Jordie. She trotted in place for a few moments before laying down, her side now acting like a large backrest for Jordie.
"Huh...comfy," Jordie thought as he felt the subtle warmth of the cow's sides. Picking up her intentions, he decided to take her up on the offer and leaned back against her side. Minos let out another yawn as Jordie and him got closer to the source of warmth.
The khalkotauroi cow swayed her head to the side to take a closer look at Jordie and Minos.
A few moments passed as she stared at the resting duo, until Minos noticed her gazing. The little minotaur began to stir in Jordie's arms and reach out his little hands towards the khalkotauroi cow's face. Jordie initially held Minos back from the cow's face, but soon relented when he felt that Minos was quite determined to see how she looked up close.
Jordie brought Minos closer to the khalkotauroi cow's face, thinking that he would just paw at her face or something the way baby's do. He was not expecting Minos to grab on and suddenly start climbing up her face.
"Ah."
"Moo?"
"Moo~"
Despite being pawed and grabbed at, the khalkotauroi cow didn't throw Minos off of her face. She did look a bit annoyed though.
"Sorry...," Jordie weakly apologized.
The khalkotauroi cow just glared at him a bit.
Baby Minos eventually made his way up to the cow's neck and began to crawl a bit even further until he reached her back.Once he was there, Minos repositioned himself until he was facing in the same direction as the khalkotauroi cow's head.
"Mooawww..."
Minos let out a small yawn right before laying himself down on the khalkotauroi's back and promptly falling asleep. Thankfully, the three of them were under the shade of the tree Jordie had used earlier. He wasn't sure if baby minotaurs could get sunburned, but he didn't want to find out.
Seeing her new passenger promptly falling asleep on her back, the khalkotauroi cow decided to follow suit. She let out a yawning moo as she laid her head down and promptly closed her eyes.
Jordie was tempted to join in on the napping, but he wanted to confirm a few things first.
"Alright System, let's see what I got from those quests."
Pulling up the System interface, Jordie made his way over to the inbox. Inside of the inbox were three little icons. Instead of claiming the "Claim All" button like he would back home, he decided to look through everything.
Jordie manipulated the interface until he pulled up the first item on the list: the Omnifeed.
[Omnifeed x50: A special type of food perfectly balanced in nutrients and flavors that can appeal to any monster's palate. Will not grant any special benefits, but it is delicious and provides all-rounder stats.]
"Well that's useful. If I get some carnivorous monsters, I can just have Minos and them share this."
[Skill ticket(one-time use): This special ticket will imbue the user with one random skill. What that skill is dependent on the user's luck and general physical capabilities.]
"Save that for later...," Jordie mused to himself as he claimed the ticket, "Now let's see what Mama Tempest gave me."
Clicking on the last item on the list Jordie was greeted with the sight of a rather impressive name.
[Storm God's Weapon Crystal Ore]
"Well now that's just...excessive. Let's see what this thing is."