Lily was salivating a little at the large piece of fire meat, and even though he was ravenous, Ark offered her some, causing her to feel some reluctance in taking any of the food he needed to eat. Ark only needed to slap his leg a couple of times though and Lily gave in easily. Climbing onto his lap, she ate the fire meat with him, but did try and hold herself back. She had eaten a whole rabbit earlier, after all.
Jewel was munching on her usual bloody fare, also enjoying the company while she ate with Husband and Lily. Even Prima too, though she was sound asleep.
"Husband. How make magic from topaz stone?" Jewel asked as blood dripped down her chin while she chewed on the bloody section she held.
"Uh, magic is like a special force. A feeling you push through your body and into the stone, then it becomes a power that obeys the will of the person. I guess that's the easiest way to explain it, though it might not make much sense to you without knowing more about mana."
Jewel tossed the topaz stone in front of Ark and pulled her knife out.
"Show Jewel. Want see stone magic. Know Husband not hurt Berry or Diana, but…"
"I understand. Please sit behind me and put the knife at my neck the right way, ready to slice across my throat if what I do isn't exactly what I tell you I will do."
Jewel sat behind Ark and put the knife against his jugular properly while Ark passed the piece of fire meat to Lily for her to hold. He took the topaz stone in one hand while his other reached out and placed itself over the dirt space on the ground in front of him.
"I will cause the dirt to gather and rise up into a small pillar." he said, as he used the topaz stone as a land focus, channeling mana through his body, letting it be attuned from the stone, causing the dirt under his open hand to gather and compact itself in short pulses as it rose about two feet in height from the ground.
Both Lily and Jewel were fairly impressed with what they were seeing. None of the goblins used magic, and only the Old One held onto the magic powder which summoned the Great Protector.
"Now I will make the topaz shed the same amount of light as a torch for a short while."
Ark circulated the mana in his body once more, directing it into the stone to create a lucent shine that resulted in the topaz appearing more orange than brown from within. It began to glow and emit a dull orange light once he opened his fist. He then took it with his other hand and placed it on top of the pillar.
"There we go." he said, and reached for the fire meat he had Lily hold, pulling the piece of fire meat back to his mouth so he could take another large bite of it, noting that a suspiciously large chunk of it had gone missing in the few seconds it took for him to use magic.
"When I dig the wall, it won't be anything impressive. It'll also take a while to do because the topaz stone is low quality as far as being used as a focus orb, but, I can get a hell of a lot more work done in no time by using magic instead of banging against the wall with only a sharp rock."
Jewel pulled the knife away from his neck carefully.
"Husband, use topaz, how long take make cave-hole this big?" Lily asked Ark out of curiosity.
"Uh… Maybe seven days if that's the only thing I have to do? That's assuming I don't suffer mana exhaustion."
"What that?"
"Mana exhaustion? It's when Husband would get tired from using too much magic. I'll end up falling asleep for a little while until my mana… uh, magic comes back."
Lily and Jewel heard from the old one that the Great Protector made Husband's cave-hole in only a single moment. Right now they didn't fear Arks magic being all that dangerous in comparison, especially if he could get tired from using it.
Ark finished eating as much of the fire meat as he could, letting Lily finish the rest. Ark laid down to let his stomach digest the much needed food, and Lily laid comfortably on top of him. Jewel also laid down next to Ark, and like that, the three of them spent some enjoyable time together once more. Not a single one getting ravaged by Ark. Much as both wished they would.
~~** Interlude | Prima **~~
Prima had woken up to find she wasn't alone next to Ark. Lily was resting on top of him, one of his hands wrapped around her body as she drooled onto his chest, and Jewel was sleeping right beside him holding on tightly to his other arm, which was also being drooled on. Next to them was a small pillar of dirt which rose from the ground and she saw a dim orange light being emitted from the stone which rested on top of it.
Prima was frustrated.
She was frustrated because the Great Protector said she was right. She was right to do what she did in following the Great Protector's instructions, yet no one was punished and no one was said to be at fault. Instead, the Great Protector told her to speak with him again. And she would. She was going to, in fact, right after she woke up, but these two stupid goblins were here as well right now, which made it difficult for her.
Signs of eating were all over the place, and Prima was also a very hungry goblin right now.
She decided to go hunt something immediately and come back later to speak with Ark. But first she sat up and felt her stomach. Her belly had gotten bigger. It was a small but firm bump, proof that she had strong ones growing inside of her. She hadn't spent the last two days noticing it all that much, but she did now, and the offensive word Ark called her echoed in her head.
Monster.
Prima wasn't a monster.
Prima was a goblin.
She sat up, only to find that Husband's hand which she had just seen wrapped around Lily, was now grasping her wrist. His eyes were open and his head turned slightly to look at her, but he didn't open his mouth to speak a word. He gave it a small squeeze, and then let it go. She didn't know what to think at that moment. She didn't know what the look in his eyes was now, and she hated that she just didn't know what to do or feel about him.
She wanted to throw Lily off of him and claim his seed-stick right there. Maybe hit him a few more times just for being stupid, but she didn't have the energy to take her frustrations out on him presently. She got to her feet and just walked out of the room taking her spear with her which had been left at the entrance to the breeding cavern.
Maybe her head would think better after she had eaten something fresh and bloody…