Her Beasts

Last Night

It only took four days to finish mining all of the ice blue crystals from the cavern. Iris now had more than eighty-billion system points. Iris felt giddy just seeing how much money she now had. There was no way her or her mates could spend all this money in their entire lives.

As the final crystal fragment was mined, the system made the all too familiar chime of a system notification.

[System 316: Congratulations host! You have successfully collected all of the available crystal resources in this area!]

[Please allow the system a week to update]

With that, the system went silent. Iris felt relief flood through her as her quest was finalized. Now, Iris would just have to finish things up around the mountain before setting off in the morning.

When Caspian brought the last chunk of ice blue crystal to Iris, he didn't hand it over to Iris's surprise. Instead, Caspian looked unsure as he addressed his family.

"If it is alright with everyone, I'd like to keep this last bit to absorb."

Basil and Ember didn't mind the slightest bit that Caspian wanted a mere fist sized chunks of crystal. Not only was Caspian to thank for finding the crystals, but this much was nothing in comparison to the haul they'd be making off with.

However, Iris felt confused as she questioned

"What do you mean absorb? How does that work?"

Caspian gave a small smile as he reminded himself that his little mate was clueless to the ways of this world. He quickly explained

"In order to level up one's celestial beast you need both battle experience and sufficient energy to do so. For those of us who have an element like Ember and myself, we can absorb the elemental energy from the corresponding crystals.

The process of leveling up one's beast can be complicated, but not as dangerous as when one first awakens. I will likely pass out until tomorrow at the earliest while my beast level increases.

Of course, if I wasn't sufficiently prepared and strong enough to level up, I'd be risking my life. However, that shouldn't be the case here. I've got a lot of battle experience, I'm just short on some elemental energy."

Iris frowned upon hearing Caspian say that he would be risking his life. Iris would rather he not level up than risk the chance she may never see him again. However, Iris did not feel like it was right for her to prevent Caspian from becoming his best self. Iris hesitated as she replied

"If this is truly what you want, I won't stop you. However, you aren't allowed to die on me."

Iris narrowed her eyes as she expressed this last part. Both Iris and Caspian knew he couldn't really make promises he couldn't keep. However, Iris would not let the matter be without expressing how she truly felt. Caspian gave Iris a soft smile before giving her a short kiss as he whispered

"I love you, little mate."

Iris couldn't help but mumble "I love you too" as Caspian walked away.

Basil and Ember were now the only ones left to help prepare things for when they would leave. Basil helped Iris sort out the drying cattails and shaking the pollen off for flour before stripping the leafy parts to store seperately from the roots. Later, they could be woven into baskets for storage.

Ember helped break up the last of the stone to be packed away for later use. No one quite knew what Iris wanted such a commonly available resource for, but her mates weren't one to argue over such a minor detail. It wasn't as if it would risk Iris's life or even take up space since it would just be in her dimensional Bag that never seemed to run out of space.

When it was dinner time, Ember went off to catch fish while Basil made soup and tea. Iris would need tea to calm her nerves as she was obviously quite worried for Caspian. Basil didn't have much he could do to settle her heart, but he could ensure Caspian drank soup for energy and tea to help him rest more peacefully.

Ember made sure to catch a good three dozen fish for dinner. This would be the last proper meal any of them would have for a while since they'd soon be traveling once again.

Ember knew Iris wanted them to take things slower and take more breaks along the way, but this was unrealistic. There were still a couple weeks left in the rainy season, which meant the weather would be unpredictable.

The more time they spent traveling the more time Iris would be exposed to the rain. This could lead to Iris getting sick, which no one wanted to risk. The most any of Iris's mates would be willing to compromise is to stop an extra time in the middle of the day for an extra meal.

Still, for hardy males like the three of them, this should be sufficient. Especially since, Caspian now only had two options. He would either die or level up before they left this mountain. For Iris's sake, Ember hoped the wolf made it through the level up process and awoke quickly.

Ember sighed as he watched Basil and Iris prepare their dinner. Ember was growing tired of the constant conflict with the artic wolf tribe's leader and his wicked daughter. He could only assume that Ivy would have gotten all too comfortable while they were gone and would likely have forgotten having her ass handed to her the previous times.

Ember was definitely not looking forward to living like this the rest of his life. Perhaps if he could convince the red panda Iris was so fond of to leave the tribe with them then Iris might happily find another tribe to call home. After all, Iris was a rare beauty and a whole female, any tribe should happily accept her as one of their own.

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