Unheard of Gratitude

Having decided to leave the Bear's body as thanks for the help that the Alpha Wolf gave them, Momo and Cifer started to leave the ravine. Seeing this, the Alpha Wolf growled, dragging the corpse of the Bear towards them. Clearly it thought the prize should belong to them.

In face of this, Momo and Cifer shared a look before Momo shook her head. "You killed him, not us. Besides, you and your pack have a greater need than us."

Cifer backed her up, indicating that the Alpha Wolf should take it. But the Alpha Wolf growled even more insistently. Neither Cifer nor Momo gave any heed, and repeated their own insistence as the other members of the pack arrived.

Jubilant at the massive kill and the removal of such a dominant threat, the Alpha Wolf's mate convinced him to accept the generosity of the humans. Begrudgingly he eventually caved on the point, then stalked towards Cifer and Momo.

While Cifer seemed a bit wary, Momo smiled brightly at the Alpha Wolf, and gingerly attempted to pet him when he drew near. He let her for a bit, but soon growled and leapt away. He howled, being echoed by the pack.

Confused, Momo wasn't sure what to make of the Alpha Wolf's actions, but Cifer got the point. "I think he wants us to follow him."

Proving an intelligence far beyond what they expected of an Origination Beast, the Alpha Wolf nodded. Then bounded further away down the path it intended to for them to go. Without hesitation the two human began to follow him, unsure where the Alpha Wolf was leading them.

Before long the forest began to thin as the two humans and a beast came upon a river. Modestly wide, and deeper than any of them were tall, the river cut through the woods before it fed into a small, serene lake. The moonlight reflected off the still water and illuminated the whole area as the Alpha Wolf carefully treaded the beach. He avoided going too close to the water itself, and his caution alone was enough for the humans to do the same.

As they circled the lake, the Alpha Wolf led Momo and Cifer to a peninsula. On that peninsula they saw an abandoned mine, which the Alpha Wolf entered.

"Any idea where he's leading us with this wild goose chase?" Cifer asked Momo. They'd been following the Alpha Wolf for well over an hour, probably closer to two by now, and all they had to show for it was an abandoned mine.

In this world of Cultivation, only three things might shut down a mine. Instability resulting in constant deadly cave ins that cost more than the material was worth, the end of the vein itself, or the awakening of a subterranean Beast of considerable power. Until one of these rather forcefully ended things, a mine would go forever. A symbol of human greed.

With a shrug, Momo replied. "No clue, but we've followed him this far. Might as well trust him a while further." She led the way down, with Cifer watching behind them as they went.

The twists and turns of the mining tunnels got them lost several times, but the Alpha Wolf would always find them again. He led them ever down, under the lake and soon waited for them beside a pool of water at a caved in tunnel.

The pool was sparkling with an intrinsic light, making it easy to see in the pitch black of the tunnel. But what really amazed Momo and Cifer was what was inside the pool.

Essence Oysters, which produced Essence Pearls! While ordinary oysters needed years to produce jewelry pieces, Essence Oysters could be stimulated to produce more often by providing Essence to them. The more Essence fed into the Essence Oysters the faster they would work, providing great fortune.

Even better, the Essence Oysters could produce Pearls of any quality below their own, which could improve as they grew in size. As all Essence Pearls were the same size, a larger Essence Oyster could obviously produce more Pearls in a single batch. So as Essence Oysters grew in quality and especially size they would skyrocket in value.

As such, huge and potent Essence Oysters were often a key foundation that Clans, Sects and even Nations would be willing to fight wars over.

It would be easy to imagine Cifer and Momo's stunned faces when they saw over 100 of these coveted Essence Oysters in a single pool that might come up to their knees. Momo was able to see four Striped Green quality Essence Oysters at a glance, and most of the others were at least Azure! The only downside was that all of these were still young, and could grow an absolute maximum of two Essence Pearls at a time for the largest ones present.

"This... is far too much." Momo wasn't stupid. She knew full well that even if they took one of the Essence Oysters it would help her resource problem immensely. But equally, this place should be akin to the pack's treasury, if not the entire forest's.

Cifer had less qualms, but still did not want to assume too much. He reached for the smallest and least valuable Essence Oyster there. The Alpha Wolf growled at Momo and snapped at Cifer's fingers.

The Alpha Wolf indicated the Essence Oyster in the center, which was solid Seafoam Green and big enough to grow two Essence Pearls at the same time. He wanted them to take the very best Essence Oyster there.

Cifer tried to reason with him. "But don't you need that one yourselves? The value of that Essence Oyster is almost as high as the rest put together since it can be used training up Skeleton Foundations."

The Alpha Wolf looked bored and angry. He touched his nose to where phases of the moon where etched on the wall, then indicated that it took several months before any of the produced any Essence Pearls anyways. With such wait times, why care if the occasional jackpot gave a Foundation grade Essence Pearl?

Before Momo could start explaining how to get around that, Cifer silenced her. "If we could teach you how to get a harvest of Essence Pearls every month instead of every year, could we take 20 more Essence Oysters of our own choosing? In addition to the kingly Essence Oyster?"

Shock, amazement and glee filled the eyes of the Alpha Wolf as it nodded. Being able to do that would allow the pack to swiftly increase their strength to the point that no other Origination Beasts could challenge them.