'How's that!??' Angravada thought after commencing a high IQ move, forcing an awkward smile.
Meanwhile, Kivas who had his concentration broken due to the sudden movement of the rodent lass, was put into more confusion than the last.
'What the hell I'm seeing.'
The act of striking a pose worked, too effective in fact. Still, with a sour expression covered by a forced smile, the fear of agitating the beast instead of removing the suspicion was too much.
'Whatever.' Kivas turned around once again. 'I guess she's bored.'
'Now is my chance!' Angravada desperately smirked, driven by the fallacy of her first success. 'I might be able to run away this time!'
She didn't fully trust Kivas due to the intention that was left in the dark. Before any tragedy broke out, Angravada sprinted to the opposite direction.
Kivas noticed and immediately turned around again.
Angravada did the pose once again.
'AAAAA- that is close!' Angravada forced a wide smile.
'Hmm? Maybe she wants to communicate?'
'Urgh! I need to think of something before they become suspicious again!' And so, Angravada pulled her pointing hand to her stomach, and hurled the other hand to point diagonally onto the opposite direction.
'Left and right?' Kivas slightly tilted his torso.
She then did the same thing again, going back to her original pose, before ending it with her hand pointing up like the intro of a superstar. 'How's that!?? Not enough!??'
'Left, right, and up?' Kivas then immediately showed a sign of interest. 'Don't tell me, it is the exercise of this world!?'
Angravada then progressively turned around, all while doing small hops in rhythm as she twirled her hand with one finger up. She then busted down another movement into her choreography, shaking up and down both of her hands alternately with one foot up, and then again with both feet down.
'Ah, I see, so she is dancing.'
Afterward, she closed her legs and began to simultaneously hurl both hands to the front from her shoulder again and again in a rhythmic pattern. She then mixed numerous random moves that she could think of which ended up quite adorable for the spectator, although her face was donning the expression of despair in all of that.
'She is now mixing the choreography in between!'
It went on for 10 minutes straight until Angravada passed out at the same time of a large rumbling sound coming from her stomach.
And so, after witnessing all of that, Kivas came to a conclusion.
'I still don't know what you are trying to pull.' Kivas nodded with impressment. 'But I like your guts.'
Two hours later, Angravada was awakened once again, with her hand trying to grasp the faraway sky as she suddenly donned an expression filled with annoyance. "WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THE FLOWER!?"
Kivas felt like having a Dejavu.
But instead of a xeno-looking beast that was agitated by the loud noise, it was a proper warmth campfire with a couple of fishes from the river skewered by a stick held by numerous supporting woods to keep the food above the fire. Beside it, was the very same black-jet creature with a torch, turning around the fish with the sharp tip of her front spectral legs.
Angravada immediately tried to search around her fire starting kit, but it was not there. After seeing that the rodent lass had awoken, Kivas nabbed one of the skewered fish with his mouth and walked towards his mini cavern, before feasting on the fish that he cooked.
Seeing how the beast was keeping a distance from her to not intimidate her, Angravada reluctantly crawled towards the campfire. Before Kivas knew, she was already feasting on the grilled fish with tears.
'Well, I guess she is still somewhat of a kid.' Kivas went for another bite of his grilled fish. If he had a face to show his facial expression, it would be the expression of happiness patched on every corner of his being. 'At sarding last! A proper food that I can taste like how I would in my human life!'
There was no seasoning and the fish had too many bones. But because of the thick inner surface of his new mouth, Kivas could eat them just fine. In fact, he was down ecstatic. It seemed like it was the same case with the Angravada as she had no problem chowing down the fish like a hungry tasmania.
The tongue that came with the Taotie's Constitution worked just like how a human would. Albeit it was stronger than a human tongue in terms of the outer layer. Thanks to this boon, Kivas was able to enjoy cooking or just food in general like he always wanted.
There was no greater daily joy than being able to taste what you eat. After all, it was not the energy that drove humans to move toward the future, but it was the taste that makes them crave to survive another day to savor them and reignite the same great feeling.
'Maybe if I can find a fish with the body interior of a tuna, I might be able to taste that sashimi that I craved so much again!'
Despite all of this bliss, Kivas was slightly disappointed that finding the fish didn't give him any purple orb.
It was either because the concept of a fish was not anything new from his field of understanding, or there was no worth of discovery from simply just finding them.
'Cooking also didn't give any purple orb… even though it was hard for me to start a fire with these legs.'
Likewise, while the joy and experience of savoring the fish still lingered in his mouth, the moment it went into his stomach, there was no feeling of the food entering his stomach in the first place. As if there was nothing there and the material simply just broke down into nothing.
Of course, Kivas felt rejuvenated but there was simply no sanitation. Just like what the description of the boon said, the more he eats, the more he craves for it if he doesn't keep his desire on a leash.
To desire something the amount that passed the limit
That was gluttony.
'I must be careful about the amount of what I eat I guess. Though the boon itself is already a plus by removing fatigue from my body. But if my hunch is right, then the baby is basically removing my hunger in a literal sense, but amplified my hunger in a spiritual sense!'
For someone who had endured an unfathomable amount of time counting in perpetual darkness, such temptation wouldn't really work unless the amount of pressure was higher than the spiritual pain that Kivas endured back then.
Afternoon was near. Kivas knew of the time because he was always counting inside his mind, even though he couldn't really see if the sun had set its presence from the world or not. The rodent lass became less wary of Kivass because of this event, and it might be only a matter of time until they could communicate to one another in equal terms.
'So the beast is not malicious…' Angravade wondered the reason for this hospitality. 'Not only that they managed to use tools, they also know the concept of cooking and fire. This level of intelligence rivals that of Named Beast. But the beast still looks like it has not grown that much. Maybe it's a former beast of a tamer?
'If that's the case, then maybe it is possible for me to take over the status of the owner.' Angravada began to show a rather schemeful expression. 'Fufufu! If I can retame it, my rank in the Vagant Guild will surely rise along with the growth of the beast!'
Kivas sensed some malice in the rodent lass' face, so he decided to stay away from her in the meantime.
In the end, Kivas didn't really do much exploring in his second day, due to him worrying that a monster might eat the rodent lass when he was away. Angravada made many attempts at trying to approach the jet-black beast, but Kivas parried all of her attempts by just being himself.
In the end, night arrived early and Kivas started his journey on his dream inside his miniature cavern much earlier than the rodent lass. As for Angravada, she set up her portable tent and refilled the beast repeller essence and also scattered it all away in the surrounding area.
Kivas was also a beast, so the beast repeller affected him to some degree. But having a lot of experience in soaking up discomfort, it didn't budge Kivas by the slightest.
"Mom… If only you're still alive…"
A faint cry could be heard under the moonlight.
The night went by without any chaos, and the morning of the third day Kivas survived in this world began to greet both the miniature cavern dweller and the rodent eared explorer.