Chatty Taifas

Soft sunlight spilled over a forest shrouded in dense fog all year round. This was a forest that never saw sunlight, and the creatures living within it had never felt the warmth sunlight brought.

All they faced in their lives was predation, being preyed upon, hunting, and being hunted.

The most straightforward, cruel, and direct law of nature had always circulated through this forest, like a supreme instinct and an iron law that could not be defied.

In this forest, only those best at surviving, those who understood nature's iron laws most clearly, and the strongest beings could live better.

Outside the forest, a massive wizardry formation enveloped the entire place. The paths surrounding it served as magical energy nodes for the formation, confining all the magical beasts and monsters within the forest.

In the southern part of the forest, two wizard apprentices—one dressed in a red apprentice robe, the other wearing glasses, with a slightly oversized head and a black apprentice robe—walked while talking, cautiously watching for anything unusual nearby.

The apprentice in red, however, looked somewhat helpless, even wearing an expression of utter despair.

Taylor's helpless, dead-inside expression did not bother Taifas in the slightest. He simply kept talking about things he found incredibly interesting: the anatomy and biology of magical beasts.

"Did you know, my companion, that when Wizards first discovered Many-Eyed Spiders in history, they always believed these spider-type magical beasts had only ten eyes? It was not until they discovered eyes behind the Many-Eyed Spider's anus that they finally determined the true number. These spider-type magical beasts actually have sixteen eyes."

"Oh."

"Compared to spider-type magical beasts, I actually prefer magical beasts that are more powerful, sturdier, and have stronger regenerative abilities—like Mud Giants that often lurk in swamps, or Saltwater Crocodiles."

"Oh."

The two walked along the path, chatting sporadically. Usually, Taifas chattered endlessly while Taylor responded now and then with an "oh" or an "ah."

Through Taifas's one-sided efforts, Taylor's image in his mind had changed from a teammate who did not dislike him into a companion, perhaps even developing toward that of a brother.

Perhaps it was because no one had paid attention to him for too long, or because no one had listened to him talk so much in a very long time.

Though Taylor's responses seemed perfunctory, he had actually committed much of Taifas's useful knowledge to memory. He could not help but marvel at how profound Taifas's knowledge was regarding magical beast anatomy, history, and other subjects. There was much that even Taylor did not know.

Although their conversations were mixed with plenty of nonsense and off-the-wall remarks, it was hard to deny the depth of Taifas's research and knowledge concerning magical beasts.

After walking a little farther, Taylor suddenly noticed several clumps of earth shaped like bricks, along with a pool of blood and a few strands of fur.

On a large tree not far from the clumps of earth, bloodstains, and fur were several savage claw marks.

"Brother Taylor, you need to understand that Saltwater Giant Crocodiles actually prefer living in freshwater. So why are they called Saltwater Giant Crocodiles? I figure it might be because their meat is too salty.

"The magical beast encyclopedia specifically mentions that when Saltwater Giant Crocodile meat is made into smoked meat, there's no need to add salt..."

Taifas was still chattering away, introducing his favorite magical beast, the Saltwater Giant Crocodile.

Maybe it was because Saltwater Giant Crocodile smoked meat tasted good.

Taylor, beside him, simply grabbed him and ran toward the anomaly he had discovered.

With a wave of Taylor's hand, wisps of breeze formed a pair of transparent palms, picking up portions of the earth clumps, fur, and bloodstains and placing them before the two of them.

The brick-like clumps of earth bore obvious marks that looked like palm prints. The fur was pale green and mixed with fragments of leaves. As for the blood, it was a strange mixture of red and green.

Seeing that Taylor had found something unusual, Taifas consciously shut his mouth and crouched beside Taylor to examine the strange traces.

Compared to Taylor, Taifas was an expert when it came to magical beasts. He stretched out his hand, which instantly transformed into numerous tentacles that wrapped directly around the bricks.

Taylor looked at the sight in surprise. It seemed Taifas had chosen another branch of Wizards: flesh-modification Wizards, a branch that pursued the evolution and transformation of one's own body.

It was said that Wizards who followed the path of flesh modification and evolution possessed stronger physical combat abilities and greater vitality. The wizardry they learned included spells that stimulated bodily evolution, bodily division, self-excitation, and a series of similar spells.

Wizards focused on flesh modification and evolution mostly used all kinds of powerful magical beasts as their modification templates and reference subjects. No wonder Taifas was obsessed with magical beast anatomy, composition, history, and all sorts of knowledge related to magical beasts.

Taifas's left hand had now become a mass of tentacles. Several coiled around the bricks, several extended directly into the strange red-and-green blood, and the remaining tentacles curled around the pale green fur.

"Judging from the texture of this fur, it should belong to a primate-type magical beast. Based on its degree of curl, the texture of its fiber structure, and its smell, it is very likely some kind of green monkey-like magical beast."

"Perhaps it is precisely because they're monkey-like magical beasts that they have higher intelligence, which is why they made something like these bricks. But I think the key point should be the bricks. How did a group of monkeys make something like bricks?"

"And this blood is both red and green, so it should be two kinds of blood mixed together. Maybe it was two magical beasts, or perhaps one magical beast and one monster. In any case, they fought each other, and in the end, they even used bricks. Something like this might have cracked their opponent's skull."

At some point, Taifas had changed into a different style of magical glasses and began his analysis.

Taylor crouched beside him. The analysis sounded perfectly reasonable, but as it went on, something gradually seemed off.

"These magical beasts might be quite intelligent, but it's ultimately useless. They can make bricks, and at most, they'll make houses next. Even if they're given time to develop, they might not be able to leave this forest."

"Say one suddenly charged out of the forest and fought the two of us. We could use fireballs, or our fists, while they use bricks. That really does seem rather ridiculous, doesn't it?"

Hearing the familiar nonsense and off-the-wall remarks, Taylor felt his temples throbbing. He spoke coldly.

"Get to the point."

"I think the key point is still the bricks. How exactly did they make these bricks? Or rather, how did they fight with bricks? They couldn't possibly have stabbed their opponent to death with one brick, could they?"

"If you keep spouting nonsense, I'll tear off your manhood."

"It won't matter if you tear it off. You'll never guess where my manhood will regenerate... Alright, alright, put away the fireball in your hand. Put it away. I was wrong!"

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