Pigs, Cows and Magic Stones

Poe, who laid unconscious on the ground slowly, woke up.

"POE!"

The first thing Poe felt was an overwhelming form of exhaustion, most likely from overdrawing his mana, but he did not really have a choice and would have done the same if he were to be placed in a similar situation again.

Recovering from his exhaustion, Poe saw the giant worm still dissipating into shining light fragments. Looked like not much time had passed.

Turning to his left, Poe stared directly into the worried face of Lucia.

Lucia was looking up and down Poe, as if looking for any injuries that might be present, but seeing nothing, she breathed out in relief before checking one last time.

Poe also started to realize he was inside Lucia's embrace and the one who called out to him as soon as he woke up was surprisingly Ivy, who also had a slightly worried face. Quite a contrast compared to the normal Ivy, but at least Poe found out she could show some form of normal emotions… However, he did not know whether it was sadness from almost losing a great toy or dear friend…

While Poe was thinking about this 'philosophical' question, he found himself looking towards the dead body of the worm.

"Lucia, what are they doing?"

Poe asked as he looked at several people chopping up the worm, some taking its meat, teeth and other body parts.

"Ah, higher leveled monsters and stronger monsters takes a longer time to dissipate. Therefore, harvesting the parts of its body will make a lot of gold!"

"But would the parts cut off not dissipate as well?"

"No, as long as not more than half is taken. How else would people be able to eat? Should we live of corn, wheat and fruits?"

Lucia asked, while sending a questioning look towards Poe, who upon hearing of life without meat showed a somewhat scared expression.

"But if all the meat comes from high level monsters, how were we able to get it for only a few silvers?"

Poe asked while looking questioningly at Lucia, who showed a slight smile hearing his words.

"Of course all the meat is not from high level monsters! Most of it are from animals like cows and pigs."

"Cows, pigs?"

Poe said while slightly tilting his head looking even more confused than before. What were cows and pigs?

Lucia saw Poe looking confused and answered.

"Pigs are the ancestors of orcs, it's said that in the past a pig evolved and gained intelligence that way becoming the first orc! Cows on the other hand are peaceful creatures; even if they are weak, some kingdoms see them as divine creatures and worship them like gods. The kingdom we are in now is The Magic Empire of Floating Clouds; they do not worship cows here, so they are safe to eat!"

Hearing this, Poe was a little shocked; to think the meat he ate had such history! He had even been eating the ancestors of the orc race…

Poe suddenly felt a little bad as he laid down on the ground using Lucia as a pillow.

"Poe!? Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, just need to recover for some time… Used up most of my mana in the fight before. By the way, how long was I out?"

"Only around 10 minutes."

Lucia looked a little worried, but hearing that Poe was exhausted and nothing else, she soon calmed down.

Poe, who finally had some time to relax, turned to look at the notifications he got while he was unconscious.

Other than the mana formation and level ups to the mana ball there were some new ones.

[Gained 110 EXP + 5000 EXP: Main EXP reduced due to group help, bonus EXP for killing higher-level enemy]

[*ding* level 14 reached]

[Earned title: Titan Slayer]: for killing an enemy, more than 10 times your size.

[Titan Slayer]: Increased damage against enemies 10 times your size.

[Mana veins reached level 3]: A serious strain was put on your body while overusing mana. This have resulted in mana veins forcefully upgrading. Gained + 1 INT and 1 AGI. Lost 1 STR and 1 VIT, due to forcefully upgrading.

[Leech]: 2 out of 3 requirements for the title completed.

Poe was speechless for some time, how did he end up at 5 strength again? Was he not about to finally surpass it? Was he really doomed to be stuck at 5 strength? Moreover, what is with that leech title…

Poe felt like crying as he felt his strength leaving him. There truly was no gain without cost, while Poe did have okay strong magic he was nowhere near Ivy, as he needed time to prepare and his strength was so pitiful that even a level 5 fluffy rabbit would easily surpass him…

As Poe was lamenting about his loss of strength inside, he saw that the giant worm had finally dissipated into light fragments that slowly disappeared into the void.

In the place of the worm, there were several shining stones and on closer look, Poe was shocked to find out it was magic stones.

[Tier 1 magic stone of strength]: absorb increases STR by 1, can be used MAX 5 times.

Used: 0

[Tier 1 magic stone of vitality]: absorb incr…

The more Poe saw, the more excited he got.

"WOOOOW, that's a lot of magic stones, looks like everyone can get a few! HAHA, this fight was truly worth it!"

Sadly, Poe's dream of absorbing all the magic stones himself shattered as soon as it formed. Looking around at the excited mages and warriors, Poe suddenly remembered that he was not alone and looking at the over 30 tier 1 magic stones that he needed to share, Poe felt a sudden pain in his heart.

"L-Lucia~"

Turning towards Lucia, Poe did his best to look like an abandoned puppy who had not eaten for days, while slightly looking towards the shining magic stones in the distance.