The Importance of Food

"Crunch—squish!"

The moment Seja's teeth pierced the cold, slick gelatin, the plump, springy insect flesh burst in her mouth like the fattest swamp leech.

"Mm?!"

This Moss Monster was far more delicious than she had imagined.

Fat and juicy, with the unique scent of the swamp.

Mmm... this was the taste of happiness.

Seja felt as though she had forgotten all her troubles, becoming a Slime happily blowing bubbles.

It was like returning to that midsummer in her memories, when she had not even reached the height of the wolf fangs at her father's waist. She had clumsily bitten into a Moss Monster with both hands, and the deliciousness of that plump insect flesh had never faded from her mind.

Lost in the sensation, she felt warmth spreading through her body. Even her wounds itched, stirring with the breath of life.

When she finally came back to herself, she realized that she had unknowingly eaten every Moss Monster Chen Yu had hunted.

Seja's face immediately grew hot.

More than anyone, she understood the importance of food. Especially in the perilous swamp, food was a Lizardfolk's second life.

Just look at what she had done.

She had actually eaten all the food the messenger had stored away.

She wanted to burrow into the ground, overwhelmed by shame.

"How was it? Tasty?"

"If it wasn't enough, I can hunt some more."

Chen Yu thought she had not eaten her fill. It was perfectly normal for a young girl to be too shy to say so.

A friend who could speak had finally come to the swamp. He could not let her go hungry.

Seja hurriedly waved her hands.

"No, no need. I just feel that eating so much food is a little..."

"A lot?"

Chen Yu muttered to himself. By his estimate, that was not even half a day's worth of food for him.

"It's fine. Moss Monsters are everywhere here."

"After we eat them today, another batch will grow tomorrow."

Beneath this oak tree was the Stinger Bee breeding ground. Once the Moss Monsters grew scarce, his diligent neighbors would capture more from elsewhere and raise them here.

There was too much to eat—simply too much.

If there was not enough, he could just ask the Stinger Bees for more. It was free, anyway.

However, a group of beetles had recently arrived beneath the tree, and they seemed to have vague intentions of competing with him for food.

He planned to find time to have a friendly exchange with these new neighbors.

Seja let out a sigh of relief, but when she thought of the Lizardfolk tribe still starving while she herself no longer had to worry about food in the Swamp Forest, a strange feeling rose in her heart.

Perhaps living in the Swamp Forest with a Slime was not such a bad choice?

But...

Her gaze swept through the forest shrouded in thin mist.

This place was already far from the Reed Riverbank. Once night fell, beasts with Dark Vision would emerge to hunt.

Before darkness arrived, she needed to quickly build a camp and Shelter.

Seja told Chen Yu what she was thinking.

Chen Yu's soft body bounced, as though nodding.

"It's best not to go too far from here."

"Otherwise, if beasts come, I won't be able to reach you."

Though Seja did not understand what he meant by "reach," she obediently nodded anyway. After resting where she was for a while, she went to look for materials to build the camp.

Chen Yu also had things to do. He quietly slipped into the water to observe the movements of the Stinger Bee Hive and the beetle swarm.

He was gathering intelligence.

The Lesser Arrow Technique was astonishingly powerful and had sufficient range, but its skill level was too low and its activation time too long. It was troublesome when dealing with Demonic Beasts that moved in groups.

He planned to devise a perfect attack plan and find an opportunity to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

Originally, Chen Yu had intended to slowly wear down the Stinger Bees bit by bit.

But Seja's arrival gave him a new idea.

Perhaps becoming the Oak Lord would not take so long after all.

Chen Yu half-submerged himself in the swamp, bubbling from time to time. After watching for too long, drowsiness washed over him, and he fell asleep in a haze.

By the time he woke again, it was already afternoon.

Someone knocked on the door of Xuxuantian's thatched cottage. Chen Yu woke from his nap, opened the door, and found Shao Qingsong outside.

"Senior Brother, please come in and sit. I'll fetch the medicinal liquid."

Shao Qingsong waved his hand.

"Junior Brother, there is no need for such courtesy."

"Actually, my main purpose in coming this time was to bid you farewell."

"Farewell? Are you leaving the sect?"

"Cough, cough..."

An awkward expression appeared on Shao Qingsong's face.

"Junior Brother's imagination truly runs wild as a heavenly steed in flight. Senior Brother cannot fathom it."

"I merely intend to go out and gain experience. I happened to hear that rare demon creatures have appeared in the outer forest of the Ten Thousand Poisons Cave, so I plan to go take a look with some fellow disciples."

"If Junior Brother is interested, you may come with me."

Chen Yu was uninterested. He did not care much about the Ten Thousand Poisons Cave.

Shao Qingsong was good at reading people. Seeing that Chen Yu was uninterested, he changed the subject.

Before leaving, Shao Qingsong said he would send a junior disciple to the Green Bamboo Forest every day to trade in his place. After a few polite words, his figure disappeared around a bend in the bamboo grove.

Chen Yu tossed their conversation to the back of his mind. Feeling a little hungry, he cooked a meal and ate it with pickled vegetables. Once he had filled his stomach, his consciousness sank back into the Swamp Forest.

A black carapace emerged from the swamp, and Chen Yu blinked awake.

His gaze searched everywhere for Seja, before finally settling on an oak tree not far away.

In only half a day, the once-chaotic ground of rotting leaves had been cleared. A Shelter covered with broad leaves had been built beneath the oak tree, with a pile of gathered firewood beside it.

Seja was crouching in the middle of the camp, seemingly trying to start a fire.

Curiosity rose in Chen Yu. He swam ashore, bounced over behind Seja, and lightly bumped her tail.

"What are you doing?"

The sudden voice gave Seja a fright. Only after turning around and discovering the familiar Slime did she let out a sigh of relief.

"Starting a fire."

"The Demonic Beasts at night are terrifying, but they fear flames."

"Demonic Beasts fear fire too?"

Chen Yu had thought only wild beasts possessed the instinctive fear of flames. He had not expected even Demonic Beasts, as powerful as they were, to fear it.

Seja froze. It seemed she had never considered that question before.

Did Demonic Beasts fear fire? Of course they did.

But if asked why, she could not give any clear answer.

"M-maybe the power of fire is very conspicuous in the darkness, and Demonic Beasts mistake it for the radiance of Mana..."

She spoke uncertainly. Of course, she was only guessing.

Chen Yu watched from the side. He saw Seja holding two sharply edged stones and striking them together, the sparks falling onto tree tinder.

But the forest was rather damp, and starting a fire was not so easy. It would not ignite after just one or two attempts.

After watching with great interest for quite a while, Chen Yu finally turned and returned beneath the tall oak tree to hunt Moss Monsters and prepare dinner.

The glow of the setting sun fell, bringing a fading dusk-yellow hue to the forest. The forest gradually returned to its unsettling darkness.

Just then, Seja's startled cry rang out from the camp.

Because they were so far apart and lacked the Sound Transmission Technique, Chen Yu could not understand what she was saying at all.

Thinking a wild beast had attacked, he hurried back.

Fortunately, that was not the case.

He floated in the swamp and looked up.

Firelight swayed in the pitch-black darkness, filling the furrows of the oak's wrinkled bark and bringing threads of warmth to the surroundings.

The first flame of civilization had been lit in the Swamp Forest.

It was also the first time Chen Yu had seen fire in the Swamp Forest.