Racial Talent

"So..." Tu Ran said thoughtfully, "what exactly is the point of mountain gods existing?"

The old turtle: "Probably... maybe... should be... just to seem mysterious."

Tu Ran: "..." Fine.

Outside, the sky had gone completely dark, and the cave was pitch black. Tu Ran used her backpack as a pillow and lay down to sleep.

Before closing her eyes, she reminded Fatty, "Don't stay up too late eating. Go to sleep early; we still have to travel tomorrow."

"Okay~" Fatty agreed obediently.

And so, Tu Ran drifted off to sleep to the sound of a thousand-year-old turtle and a food-obsessed wild chicken chatting away.

She slept dreamlessly, a deep and restful slumber.

When she opened her eyes, it was already light out.

Fatty was sleeping right beside her, pressed up against her—which was also why she felt so warm. That layer of feathers wasn't for nothing.

Tu Ran sat up gently without disturbing Fatty and looked around.

The old turtle was gone.

It had likely gone off to sleep.

The ground was piled with mountains of fruit rinds.

Fatty really had eaten every single fruit.

Tu Ran instinctively glanced at Fatty's belly. It was a full circle bigger than before—even more like a ball now.

Outside the cave, the sky was clear and cloudless—a beautiful day.

Tu Ran walked out of the cave, found a clear river, washed up briefly, and on her way back grabbed two fruits to tide herself over.

Back at the cave, Fatty was still asleep.

If you didn't wake it, it would sleep until dark.

She nudged it. "Get up. Time to hit the road."

Fatty blinked awake groggily and yawned.

"Is it breakfast time?" It perked up and sat upright.

But there was no food to be seen. Tu Ran's hand held only a half-eaten little red fruit.

"You ate that much last night, and you still want breakfast?" Tu Ran couldn't believe it. She'd assumed it would be too stuffed to have an appetite in the morning, so she hadn't prepared any food.

Fatty's mood soured. His beady little eyes welled up with tears.

Tu Ran stood up. "Alright, alright. I'll take you to eat. Don't play pitiful."

"Yay!" Fatty immediately switched back to a cheerful face, slung its satchel over its shoulder, and followed Tu Ran out of there.

They arrived at the orchard from the day before.

Under Tu Ran's astonished gaze, Fatty ate another full meal.

It completely rewrote Tu Ran's understanding of its appetite.

So all this time, the food she'd prepared in the mornings had been too little.

And it had endured days without ever complaining.

Ten thousand thoughts condensed into a single sentence: "Take your time eating. No rush."

The rest of the half-day, Tu Ran followed Fatty off that mountain and reached the foot of the next one.

The vast sea of trees formed by trees and shrubs looked no different from where they'd been before. If Fatty hadn't said they'd reached the foot of another mountain, she wouldn't have believed that the road ahead, which looked perfectly flat, was actually an uphill slope.

It was already nine in the evening by Federation time. Tu Ran and Fatty found a place nearby to sleep and made do for the night.

Early the next morning, the one-girl-one-ball duo continued on their way.

After walking all morning, Tu Ran noticed the difference between this mountain and the one the old turtle guarded.

The fruit trees here were noticeably fewer, and the soil was drier and more compact. The fruits that did grow were mostly tiny green berries, only the size of a fingernail and extremely sour.

Fatty didn't like those berries, so its food intake per meal dropped to half of what it usually ate.

But its movement was unaffected—those two stubby little legs still walked at a brisk pace as it chattered away introducing things to Tu Ran.

"You ate so little this morning. Aren't you hungry?"

"Not hungry! Fatty stores food in its tummy. Fatty can go three days without eating and not be hungry." Fatty patted the fat on its belly.

Tu Ran: "..." Fine.

So all that fat had a purpose after all.

By noon, the pair still hadn't found anything edible.

Tu Ran took out two glucose drips and handed one to Fatty.

Fatty was thrilled. It had wanted to taste this stuff for ages.

It snapped one open, poured it into its mouth, and savored it, eyes sparkling. "Sweet! Fatty likes sweet things!"

Tu Ran drank hers, took a few bites of hardtack, and leaned against a tree to sit.

"Let's rest a bit, then continue on."

Fatty immediately lay down on the ground, right at Tu Ran's feet.

It was the type that, if it could lie down, would never sit.

"When you came to these woods before, what kinds of aberrants did you encounter?" Tu Ran asked.

That was her biggest concern, and the reason she'd climbed mountain after mountain.

Fatty thought for a moment. "There are a lot of Tianma around here. But they're scared of other species. If they see something different from them, they fly away. Usually, we can't even see them."

"What else?"

"The Feiyi clan seems to live in this area. They occasionally come to this mountain to wander around."

It paused, then added, "And there are Fuzhu—they look like deer. They often appear on this mountain. Last time Fatty came here, it even ran into one."

"They're so pretty. Four beautiful antlers, white fur, very lean and agile, and they run really fast."

From its description, Tu Ran could roughly imagine what those aberrants looked like.

"What racial talent do they have?"

Being impervious to weapons was the Paoxiao's racial talent, and the ability she'd obtained from the Paoxiao leader was the related "Adamantine Body."

The Henggong fish's racial talent was speaking the languages of various aberrants, which earned her the "Language Talent" ability.

The Hook Snake's racial talent was reading the memories of its host. After eating the Hook Snake's inner core, the ability she gained was "Memory Reading."

Tu Ran deduced from this that whatever racial talent each aberrant species had, the inner cores that grew in the few individuals with high talent in that species would be related to or closely connected with it.

The Danghu clan was an exception.

The "Ability Recognition" ability from the Danghu leader—Tu Ran really couldn't see how it connected to any racial talent of the Danghu birds.

Or rather, so far, she still hadn't discovered what racial talent the Danghu clan had.

"Fuzhu? They bring rain. Wherever they go, it rains."

So if the Fuzhu clan had inner cores, would the inner core grant rain-summoning ability?

If she ate their inner core, would she get a rain buff for free?

But Tu Ran quickly noticed something inconsistent.

"Didn't you say they often appear on this mountain? Then why is it so dry along the way? It's not even as moist as the old turtle's mountain."

Fatty raised the leftmost toe on its foot at Tu Ran.

A gesture of admiration.

It had learned this from Tu Ran—every time Tu Ran praised it, she'd stick up her thumb.

Though when Fatty only had four claws doing this pose, it looked more than a little goofy.