The black pearl seemed to drink in the rays of the noon day sun; Ashwin rolled it experimentally between his fingers as he stared into his own reflection.
A mysterious aura was around the pearl, curios by this, Ashwin touched a thin trickle of power, sending a few wisps of Animus to the pearl.
But nothing happened, the pearl was unaffected by Animus.
Losing interest Ashwin moved onto the ultra-hard crystalized organ within the flat armored crustacean, eager to free up his first beast crystal.
Cutting around the soft tissue ligaments he removed the crystalized organ.
Then using a sizeable rock Ashwin cracked open the ultra-hard exterior of the crystalized organ, within was a blue beast crystal shaped like a water drop!
Holding it up to the sun the water drop crystal shone a brilliant azure blue, “A water drop shaped beast crystal.”
This was the crystalized experience of the water beast, but Ashwin was unsure if he wanted to bond with this beast crystal.
Yes, it was a Beast Crystal, and yes, he could technically go home if he bonded with it.
But for one, it was from a low-level beast, and two it would take him down the path of water cultivation.
At the thought of this Ashwin felt a bitter pang of frustration and disappointment, he had set his sights on nothing less than the Death Gigas, he would be damned before he allowed himself to abandon his goal, tuck his tail in-between his legs and go home bonded to a bottom feeder.
“Besides, this Beast Crystal isn’t even high level enough to trigger an evolution.”
Just then Ashwin got an idea.
Remembering Marla from last night, Ashwin sent a stream of Animus to the azure water drop beast crystal, which contained water essence.
There was a flash!
The jet knocked the air out of his lungs and sent him tumbling back.
Struggling, he finally managed to take in a breath; “Me and my bright ideas.”
Coughing Ashwin rolled over and got to his feet, “Well, I didn’t see that one com…” Ashwin cut off, the implications of what he held dawning on him.
He now had a permanent water source.
No wells or lakes needed, now that Ashwin could solve the problem of dehydration, he was free to roam all of the Death Valley Zone!
No more camping lake side, no more fruit pods.
This was a revelation; he was already getting lost in all of the water drop crystal’s uses when his stomach growled again.
Remembering the crab meat, Ashwin quickly collected all of it up and returned to his campfire, where he skewered the meat and roasted it rotisserie style.
While the meat cooked Ashwin checked the cordage, and found that the stakes had moved five degrees, the water content in the pale translucent intestines was evaporating and the cords were tightening up, by this time tomorrow they would be totally dry.
The back tendons were also drying nicely as well as the pink sword pike skins.
As Ashwin looked at the skins, he already knew what he would craft first, but he would need to process the fish’s swim bladder into isinglass.
Quickly he retrieved the pale white sack and washed it inside and out at the water’s edge, rubbing the sack with his fingers until it was free of dried blood and mucus.
Next, using his curved obsidian clever he cut it into thin ribbon’s.
“Hmmm, I’ll need to boil this.
What could I use?”
“HA!
Well, that was easy.”
Scooping up some water from the lake Ashwin placed the ribbons of the fish’s swim bladder into the rounded skull fragment and placed the bone bowl at the edges of the campfire to slowly come to boil.
The crab meat was cooked and ready, so Ashwin ate, biting into and ripping the meat off the skewer, he chewed the meat slowly and his mind wandered back to the events that occurred only nine hours ago.
“Stone Pillar Servants!”
The gravel stone eye bulged out of its socket as Ashwin watched from his hidden position from over fifty meters away, huge red veins throbbed on the sides of the eyeball as the stone gazer released a vast wave of mental energy!
Boris shoved Marla out of the way as he leapt back just in time to evade massive stone pillars that shot up out of the ground after them!
The chewing stopped and Ashwin totally froze.
“That was a mental energy attack.”
Contemplating this mystery as he ate, Ashwin eventually reduced it down to a simple question.
“If Animus is a multiplicative force, what exactly is Mental Energy?”
The answer to his question eluded him for now, he would just have to leave it on hold and let it float in the background and let his mind subconsciously crack it, he had a canteen to get started on.
Peering down into the skull bowl the white strips of fish collagen were slowly beginning to boil and dissolve and the water was turning a milky white color; he would need to filter out all the chunks that did not dissolve.
Sighing Ashwin stood up and quickly made some plant thatch with his pick by swinging it into tree bark until he had rendered fine fibers that he would weave into a simple filter.
Then pausing he remembered, “Damnit, and I still need to Knapp my Hatchet.” The excitement of the water drop crystal had made him completely forget his original plans for the day.