Her words brought confusion to his mind. He turned his face towards her, looking at Zahira from head to toe, and then he glanced back at the small plants. The idea of a connection between the massive bestial figure that was Zahira and those tiny plants in the jars that barely fit in the palm of his hand was hard to believe.
"Sorry, but siblings? You mean these things..." Before saying something potentially rude, he corrected himself, "...you mean they are part of your family?"
She nodded. "I'm not sure, but it's likely. They absorb an abnormal amount of world energy, much faster than Bob, for example. Only I can absorb essence at a similar pace."
He noticed a thoughtful expression appear on her furry face, as if she was recalling something distant. Murmuring, Zahira said, "Cultivation was all that mattered to her."
"Uhm, well, I better prepare lunch soon." She hurried toward a room.
"I'll help you," Tristan offered his assistance, and Zahira nodded in approval.
She removed the feathers from the large bird's carcass, and Tristan took out its entrails and other things he wouldn't be able to digest.
Zahira lit the firewood inside a circular wall, with a huge metal spit placed over the flames.
Looking up, Tristan noticed that the smoke disappeared through the leaves in the ceiling, as if it had been absorbed.
Zahira took the now clean carcass and skewered it on the metal spit, but before she could place it over the fire, Tristan interrupted her.
"Don't you season the meat before cooking it?"
"Season? What's that?" She tilted her head in confusion.
"It's a process that needs to be done to make the food tastier."
"Really?" Zahira said, excited. "It's really possible to improve the taste of the food?"
"Of course." Tristan took his backpack off and began searching for something.
He pulled out several small glass jars, approaching the spit. He started sprinkling salt, ground pepper, and some dried herbs. Then, he took a small jar and poured a yellowish liquid over the meat. His stock of olive oil was very limited, but he decided to spend it trying to win Zahira's favor.
"Is that all?" she asked, disappointed.
"Yes."
"Are you sure this works?" The doubt in her voice was noticeable. "How can these things change the taste of the meat? Are you just lying to me?"
"Have a little more faith."
After about twenty minutes, he cut a piece of meat and served it on a skewer for Zahira. "Here, try this."
She looked at it suspiciously, bringing the skewer to her mouth and biting slowly. Her eyes widened. Her next bite was much larger than the previous one.
"How is this possible? How can those tiny things change the taste so much?"
Buk looked at her with his large blue eyes as if begging for a little food.
She tore off one of the bird's wings and handed it to her pet. That piece was bigger than his entire body. Watching the creature eat voraciously, Tristan was astonished to see that the little bastard didn't seem to have any trouble with it.
---
Zahira grabbed a large jar of water and filled Tristan's cup, which he drank immediately. She placed the jar beside him in case he wanted more.
"Are you telling me there are places where thousands of humans live together?"
Tristan nodded, filling another cup of water.
"Humans are one of the physically weakest species. We need to live in large walled cities to use the strength of numbers to resist the monsters." While finishing his meal, he spent the last few minutes telling Zahira about the life of humans and other beings outside the forest.
"It must be so nice to have so many members of your species around you. You must never feel lonely, right?"
"Uhm, sure." Tristan laughed inwardly; most of the people from his species he had been around had only brought him pain and suffering.
"Do you practice any cultivation techniques?" He tried to learn more about her.
"Yes, my mother taught me how to cultivate Green."
"Cool, what stage are you at?" He asked the question that really interested him.
"I'm just a Mid Orange." She answered, a bit embarrassed about it.
Tristan was surprised by that answer.
'Impressive, she's only two years old, but her cultivation has already surpassed mine. The legends about the power of the Dríades may not be as exaggerated as I thought.'
"Then, could you tell me a little about how human families work?"
Tristan thought about it for a moment before saying, "We humans take a long time to grow compared to other races, so human parents have to take care of their children for several years until the kids become adults and can survive on their own."
"Years! That's a long time."
"And what about your parents? Do they still take care of you?" She asked him.
Tristan fell silent before answering. "Hey, I was curious about something. Where does the water in the lake come from? Do you know if it was made with magic or if your mother dug a giant underground well or something like that?"
Zahira smiled. "None of that." She pointed up proudly and said, "It's all thanks to Bob. He drains the thieves who come to us and creates water from them."
Hearing that, Tristan couldn't help but look at the jar of water in front of him.
After that, they went outside. Zahira gave an odd farewell hug to the giant flower in the center of the lake.
Leaving the powerful Verdakyn behind, Tristan, Zahira, and Buk set off toward the Mushroom Village.
---
Tristan and Zahira walked through the forest for a few hours. Her strength made traveling through the place faster than when he was alone, but there were also many challenges that even she wouldn't dare face, which made them have to look for other routes.
He relied on his vision and diagnostic ability to locate the traces of the creatures that inhabited the area. Zahira, on the other hand, used her sense of smell and unique senses from her Verdakyn side. Since the leadership changes in the forest territories were constant, not even someone born here like her could know for sure what they would find on their path.
Suddenly, Tristan stopped walking. He crouched down and placed his fingers on the ground as if measuring something.
Anxious, Zahira slowly approached him and whispered, "Why did you stop?"
"I found some footprints here, human footprints," he said, answering her.
"Really? Where did they go?" The interest was clear in her voice.
Tristan pointed southeast from where they were.
"Cool, let's try talking to them!" she said excitedly. "Aren't you looking forward to meeting more of your kind?"
"Dying of excitement." he said, his face as expressionless as always.
They walked for a few minutes, with Tristan leading the way, looking for more signs of humans.
"I think they're not alone," Zahira said. There were several tracks on the ground so obvious that even someone who wasn't a skilled tracker would know something big had passed through there.
Tristan began examining the marks. From the depth in the soil, he knew the creature was heavy. The tracks were continuous and uniform, winding like a serpentine movement. He looked at the trees around, noticing recent cuts and broken branches about three meters high.
"Looks like it was a snake-type monster, and one of the big ones."
"Those humans might need help," she said, taking the lead.
Tristan didn't try to stop her; in fact, given her personality, he doubted he could. He just decided to follow her slowly from behind.
After a while, sounds of an intense fight could be heard. Tristan recognized the sound of steel hitting something hard, as well as the noise of something large hitting the ground, causing the earth to shake. In addition, there was also a strange cracking sound. As they got closer, the noise grew louder.
Peering from behind a tree, his attention was immediately grabbed by a frightening figure. He saw a red snake, almost four adult humans long, with flames shooting from its mouth toward two smaller targets that were desperately retreating. They were two men who appeared to be in early adulthood. One wielded a whip, and the other wore gauntlets with long sharp blades on his fingers.
Tristan's eyes widened as he saw lightning swirling around them, following their movements.