(8) Complications

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"So with that I found out that, as I expected, insects are mainly herbivorous, but sometimes venture into carnivorous, sometimes even cannibalistic territory. In the end I wound up getting the answer from Pairih herself after giving her a bunch of leaves and herbs to choose from, and I found out that she particularly enjoys this one sweet sort of leaf the most."

Radriel rambled on, pointing to a bundle of leaves that Pairih was currently chewing on. He then knelt down to softly run his hand over her back, a gleam of fondness in his eyes.

"I also found out that the alloy that her exoskeleton is infused with ─ Magisteel ─ it has self-repairing properties that trigger in the presence of magicules!"

"Mhm-mhm..." Roxul nodded along as Radriel continued, trying to fully digest all the information that he was being given before breakfast. Even with [Sage] and the comprehension and memory boost granted by the [Wisdom Crest], it was taking everything for Roxul to retain what he was told.

But he did manage to process most of it within the span of five seconds. Just to make sure that he got everything right, he recounted the events aloud, waiting for Radriel to nod in affirmation each time he paused between sentences.

"Right, right... So... weird noise in the forest that you decided to go check out; found an Insect fighting a Spark Panther, watched it win with some kind of... poison or whatever and then decided to take it with you; killed a Blade Tiger with a spell you made up like... a couple days ago; and finally adopted a bunch of Blade Tiger, or... Spark Panther or..."

"Spark Fang."

"Yeah ─ adopted a bunch of Spark Fang pups."

"Mhm." Radriel hummed and nodded.

"Alright. I get all that, but what I don't get is how the heck you wound up naming them?!"

"Oh, right, that!" He said, snapping his fingers as if he had remembered some fun piece of trivia instead of a life-threatening decision he made on the fly. "Well, remember that whole thing about Pairih's exoskeleton being made of a self-repairing metal? And how it reacts to the presence of magicules?" Roxul nodded slowly. 

"Well, after spending some time wondering about how I could supply her with enough magicules for her to heal herself, I remembered the day I met Sirpa ─ That huge surge of energy I felt when we named each other ─ and then I figured that, if getting named made me more powerful, then maybe naming her would make her more powerful? So I did, and in the end it worked out perfectly! I mean, just look at her~!"

In a burst of excitement, Radriel picked up Pairih, prompting her to let out a sad/disappointed chirp at having her meal interrupted. Luckily for her, he let her get back to her meal as soon as she started squirming.

"I see... And you didn't, like, feel tired after or anything? I mean, naming usually takes a lot of energy; even when it comes to weaker monsters..." Pairih raised her head momentarily, glaring at Roxul. "I didn't mean you! You're plenty strong; that's why I'm worried!" She returned to her food with a satisfied chirp.

Radriel shrugged. "I did feel a little tired, yeah. But I still managed to name most of the pups, so."

"Oh, well that's good then." Roxul smiled, before he caught onto the implication of Radriel's words. "Wait, you did what now?"

"I figured differentiating them would be hard without names, so I gave them some." He said simply. Pointing to the group of Spark Fang cubs running around playing, Radriel would introduce them. "Here we've got Hototo, Halona, and Aiyana!"

Ignoring the fact that Radriel had managed to name four monsters then walk around like it was nothing, Roxul couldn't help but notice how he hadn't introduced one of the cubs, and Radriel, catching onto the curious look that was aimed at the solely unnamed cub, decided to do the honors of unveiling the mystery, lifting the little feline up and interrupting it from a play fight with Hototo.

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