After completely relaxing for two more additional days, Qin Hua was finally able to move properly again. Because of the fight, she had truly exhausted all her strength.
Only now, she was able to think clearly and even breathe in and out, regulating the mana flow in her body.
As she tiredly woke up from her sleep and wobbled around, all of a sudden a loud rumbling sound echoed and the wolf quickly jolted up straight in panic.
[Another dangerous beast? Woof!]
It took her a couple of seconds but she eventually came to the realization that it was her own stomach that had made the ungodly sound.
Qin Hua blushed furiously and looked around. Thankfully, no one else was there and her pride and image remained intact.
[God! I am so hungry!] She whined and decided to head to the cooking space of their settlement when she remembered the new meat that she had recently gathered.
The water drake's meat!
Qin Hua's mouth started watering and she clicked her tongue in anticipation. Even the mutated striped eels tasted so good, so she couldn't help but imagine what the water drake would be like!
[Ah! That's right. I also have the core with me. Hmm. Will I gain a water element affinity if I absorb the core?]
So many good things! She licked her lips greedily with big happy eyes when a meowing sound came and her follower walked in.
[Of course, just in time for a feast I see! Woof!] Qin Hua scoffed at the shameless cat, whose face instantly changed. She looked at her sadly with a pout.
[Woof?] She was confused. [Damn it. I forgot that you can understand me well now. I guess I cannot harass you anymore huh?]
The cat became even sadder and Qin Hua quickly salvaged the situation.
[Oh! Coco, I didn't see you. I was talking about someone else. Why do you look sad? Want to eat something tasty?]
The cat might have gained more wisdom now but she was still a small child so Qin Hua easily smoothed the situation.
[You wait for Master. I will first absorb the core and then we can eat some good stuff together.]
The cat once again looked happy and patiently waited. Qin Hua sighed in relief and took out the core first to absorb it.
A thick dense mana wave instantly assaulted her and she quickly closed her eyes and laid back on the ground to focus.
Qin Hua could feel her mana core becoming stronger and stronger as if it was ready to explode. At this point, the manual had asked her to try and compress her core to the maximum.
[Is this it?] She gritted her teeth and focused. This seemed to be the cue for the next step at least to the extent of the knowledge that she had and she decided to give it a try.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Wisps of dark energy arose from her body and lightning crackled around her, as an immense aura and pressure wafted out from her.
Coco trembled and took a step back as she couldn't handle the pressure. But the cat did not leave the space and stuck around, watching Qin Hua with worshipping eyes.
The huge pitch black wolf looked particularly ominous with a raw powerful aura swirling around her. Her fur was indistinguishable from shadow energy wisps as everything danced wildly.
It was as if a huge powerful storm was gathering. With every passing second, the pressure and the electricity in the air began increasing more and more until the very air became electrified.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Coco took another step back, looking towards her Master in awe.
The cat looked around wondering if the entire place was about to blow up when suddenly everything disappeared into thin air.
Qin Hua collapsed on the ground and panted tiredly. However, her face had a big smile on it. Successful!
The mana core inside her body which was like a watermelon before had now shrunk to the size of an apple.
She had in fact wanted to shrink it to the size of a pea but this was the best she could do for now.
Just for this, her head felt like it was about to split, and moreover, the drake's core was also used up, so she simply left it at that.
[Woof! I wonder if I can fill up my core again and repeat this once more until I succeed. Hmmm..]
Engrossed in her thoughts, Qin Hua tried to recover once again and drizzled all the sweat covering her body and ruining her glossy fur.
It was not like she had exact guidance on how to do these things.
The manual that she had purchased from the system was still only an outline and there was only so much she could understand from that.
Not long after another rumbling sound echoed, this time from her stomach, reminding Qin Hua of her hunger again.
She bitterly smiled and decided to first take care of this before working on increasing the size of her mana core for the next iteration.
[Come Coco, let's eat.]
Since both of them were beasts, she didn't plan on roasting the meat or anything as she didn't want to lose any precious nutrients in the process.
Besides, for her taste buds, it tasted slightly better when the meat was raw and dripping with blood. Perhaps she would have been disgusted by this before, but now, she couldn't care less.
She took out the drake's humongous body and tore its tail away. The scales were already broken down and the part that was heavily injured broke away.
Qin Hua tossed the remaining portion of the meat back into her inventory to preserve the freshness.
Immediately fresh blood started spilling out, and both the wolf and the cat quickly started digging in.
[Waaah! So good! Woof!]
[Yes master! Meow!]
The two had their mouths covered in blood as they continued chewing and swallowing. Qin Hua felt another burst of energy from the ingestion of the meat.
Just like she had thought, it was extremely flavorful and it tasted as if she was eating fine sushi from an extremely classy restaurant.
As she dug in more and more, notifications also started pouring in. Since it was a powerful beast, all the stat boosts were generous.
However, she was not in the least paying attention to that now. Both the cat and the dog were thoroughly enjoying their feast when suddenly loud shouts sounded from nearby.
[Hmmm?] Qin Hua looked up and slurped wiping her mouth with her tongue. She had gulped down so much meat that her hunger was somewhat satiated now.
The tail was also almost completely licked clean only the bones and the tougher brown meat remaining.
She tossed those back into the inventory, not wanting to waste even a single part of the highly nutritious meat, and then waddled along with Coco to see who was making a ruckus and disturbing their food coma.
From the distance, it sounded as if a demon was rampaging around which made her even more curious.
As the two of them went nearby, they saw that the parts of the underground tunnel were blackened and charred and inside Alex was shooting out fireballs aimed at the wall, while Xu Meilin was apologetically standing on the side.
[Woof?] Qin Hua growled lightly and let her presence known and coincidentally Lu Chen also arrived at the same time after hearing all the commotion.
Alex turned around to look at both of them and her eyes were so red that she indeed looked like a fire breathing demon of some sort.
Lu Chen could already feel a headache coming. "What happened now?" He asked, casually leaning on the charred cave wall.
"What more needs to happen!" Alex roared back. "Do you know what they are calling us? RATS!"
"Calm down and tell me patiently what happened."
"They are calling us rats, Lu Chen. One fucker spat on my face saying that I am selfishly holed out here, acting like a housewife."
"He even dared to offer me protection if I slept with him!"
"Motherfucker!" Alex roared, sending out another fireball.
Lu Chen rubbed his temples and looked at Xu Meilin who was awkwardly smiling. "Did those people make trouble again?" He asked her since Alex was obviously not in a position to speak clearly.
"Ah... Yes, brother Chen." Xu Meilin quickly replied. "When we went out for hunting a group of them crossed paths with us and started to very badly criticize us."
"Sis tried her best to remain calm and she didn't say a single thing, but they just kept taunting and taunting us."
"In the end, we simply rushed back to the base because we did not want to create any trouble."
She then glanced at Alex and meekly added. "Sis is just letting out some frustration. Ahh... Sorry if we disturbed you."
Lu Chen shook his head. "No need for apology." Forget about causing a disturbance, he was very impressed that Alex even came back without beating all of them into a pulp!