Chapter 145 - Servant Beasts?
Lin Wu felt a bit awkward after hearing the questions of the two beasts. He had forgotten that they were still beasts despite having a higher intelligence and would probably not have an idea of human customs and games. But this was no problem to him and he just decided to explain to them.
"So what we'll do is we flip a coin or a flat circular rock with equal sides. Each person chose one side and the one that is at the top wins." Lin Wu explained.
"Ah… I see." The beetle beast said.
"I understand too." The mole beast added.
"Alright, we can start then." Lin Wu said and then looked for a small rock.
He found one nearby easily and picked it up with his tail before giving it to the mole beast.
"Huh?" The mole beast said as he took the rock from Lin Wu.
"Go ahead." Lin Wu said.
"With what, lord serpent?" The mole beast said.
"You have those long and sharp teeth right? Turn that rock into a flat disk of equal sides." Lin Wu ordered.
The mole beast tilted his head in confusion before nodding it and doing the task he was assigned. About a minute later, a crude looking palm sized disk was presented by the mole beast.
"Umm… my teeth are too big to do this finely…" The mole beast said with embarrassment.
Lin Wu didn't mind it and just took it from the mole beast, "this should be fine enough." He then put a cross on one side and kept the other side plain.
"Alright, say the side you want out loud when I flip this into the air." Lin Wu said.
~Ting~
A slight sound was heard as Lin Wu used his tail to flip the stone disk into the air.
"CROSS!" The beetle beast shouted.
"No cross!" The mole beast said.
Thankfully for Lin Wu both of them had chosen different sides, or he was sure that they would have started fighting if it was the same side.
~thack~
The stone coin fell onto the soil with a muffled side as the flat side was shown on the top.
"Did you see that you smelly beetle, I'm the first!" the mole beast shouted in excitement.
"Humph! What if you win this time, I'll show you…" The beetle beast said in an unwilling tone.
"It's decided then. You will be my first servant." Lin Wu stated.
"I'm honored, Lord serpent." The Mole beast said with fervor as he got closer.
Lin Wu extend his tail and placed the tip of it on the head of the mole beast. He closed his eyes and focused on the instructions that the system had told him. His spirit sense released from his tail and pierced the skull of the mole beast.
The system had set up a two pronged seal for the servants. One would be set up on the Brain of the servant beast and the other one on the core. Lin Wu's first step was to create the imprint on the brain of the mole beast.
This seal would prevent the servant beast from talking about him or revealing any information accidentally. It would always be active and thus even if the beast was tortured they would not be able to say anything. The seal was also self destructive, such that if someone tried to forcefully read the memories of the mole beast or tried to release the seal, it would explode turning the brain to a mush.
While Lin Wu was setting up the imprint the eyes of the mole beast went dull, as if it had lost consciousness. After the imprint was set up on its brain, Lin Wu proceeded further. His spirit sense finally reached the beast core of the mole beast.
The core was brown like the mole beast's fur and looked rather plain. This was the first beast core that Lin Wu had seen with the exception of his own. His beast core was emerald green like his body and thus melded with it, becoming invisible.
Lin Wu's second core, which was the incomplete one was also invisible and didn't exist in his body directly. He was still a bit confused about how the meridians, dantian, and cores existed in this world. They were both material and immaterial at the same time for some reason which was confusing.
He focused on the beast core and probed it with his spirit sense. It was extremely dense and packed with the majority of the mole beasts spirit qi. Lin Wu would also sense a certain kind of an aura from the depths of the core.
'Hmm… that should be the bloodline of the beast.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
He then poured a bit of his own spirit qi thought the spirit sense and created the imprint on the surface of the beast core. The beast core trembled a bit before stopping and letting him to it properly. About a minute later, the imprint was successfully created.
Now was the time for the last step. Lin Wu kept the tip of his tail on the mole beast's head and extended a small sharp spike from it. The Spike pierced the mole beast's head and embedded into it. Lin Wu willed it and the spike broke off from his tail.
He removed his tail from the mole beast's head and saw his handiwork. The mole beast's gaze, which was dull, returned to normal and a painful look appeared on its face.
~Grr~
It grunted in pain for a bit, before calming down. The pain faded away rather quickly and he gained back his normal sense. But there was still a small change in him. There was now a rhombus shaped emerald green gem stuck to the center of his forehead.
It was mostly covered by its fur, but its shimmer could be faintly seen as the wind moved its fur.
"Master, you servant awaits your commands." The mole beast said as he prostrated in front of Lin Wu.
"Hmm, this seems fine. Alright, you can wait till I finish the next one." Lin Wu replied before looking towards the beetle beast.
The beetle beast had been seeing the entire thing closely and felt a bit surprised at what Lin Wu had done. The beetle beast had seen other stronger beasts making new servants, but it was different than the method that Lin Wu used.
While she could sense that the mole beast was fine, there was also a subtle change in its aura that made her feel a bit scared. She doubted if she should continue with this task or run away. But a moment later, she sighed to herself and knew that the chance to retreat was gone far too long ago.
"I'm ready, Lord serpent." The beetle beast said.
Lin Wu raised his tail before placing it on the head of the beetle beast as well. This time the position was a bit different as the beetle beast had a long horn on its head. The tip of Lin Wu's tail was placed between the two carapace plates of the beetle beast.
It was the point where the carapace plate of the head met the one of its thorax. Lin Wu's spirit sense penetrated its head and quickly imprinted the first seal on its brain before moving to the core of the beetle beast.
The core of the beetle beast was located at the bottom of its belly and looked like a bluish grey sphere that had the texture of velvet.
"This is rather unique… I didn't know there can be cores like these. Oh yeah, system record this all." Lin Wu said in his mind.
The beast core of the beetle beast was even denser than that of the mole beast, which showed that its cultivation base was slightly higher than that of the mole beast, despite them being at the same stage. Lin Wu quickly created the imprint and left behind another rhombus shaped gem embedded in its head.
The emerald green rhombus shaped gem was hidden between the carapace plates, thus was not easily visible to others. Lin Wu withdrew his tail and nodded at his work.
~Phew~
"That was a bit tiring…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
This entire ordeal had taken him quite a bit of spirit qi actually. The rhombus shaped gems that he had embedded in their heads were the additional feature that the system had made. They were basically antennas that would allow them to communicate over large distances.
They were filled with Lin Wu's spirit qi as well and would be able to function for a long time. And even if they were depleted, they could be recharged later. Though the system said that it would improve on the design and make it so that it could be charged by the servant beast itself.
Still, Lin Wu was quite impressed by this, as it was something the system had created by analyzing the communication jade slips.