Insincere Dinner Invitation

Hana was so exasperated with the amount of pearls within their cave as she waded through them with difficulties. It ridiculously reminded her of an extremely expensive ball pit for kids. Although the fire had been inadvertently extinguished due to the high number of pearls covering the burning logs without mercy, the beautiful greenish luminescence from the thousands of pearls had illuminated the dark cave with a rather romantic atmosphere.

To the aunty's relief, the horrendous levitating white shell had finally stopped spewing all those pearls after around twenty minutes plus. However, this posed a different kind of headache for Hana on how to store this amount of pearls.

This was just crazy! This was not paying a transaction, but more on giving her easy money for free!

Hana felt extremely uneasy! She knew that there was no such thing as free lunch in this world. The Waterwave Marine Clan might want something from her in return but what could it be?

She was just a small existence in this foreign rainforest. She knew she was so weak that even a glance from Ara's elders might lead her to her death, thus the inability to produce something that might be of value for the opposite party. She was pretty sure that Ara's home must have all the good things and had no need to covet the yield of her small-time fish trap. Ara's vibe gave herself the scent of being a super-rich ignorant silkpant!

Naturally, our aunty was the only creature who didn't know that she herself had obtained so many expert 'slaves' who will die for her. By being alive was already a boon for the Waterwave Marine Clan; Lord Tittua and Elder Watershade had used all the cards within their power to persuade the Circle of Elders to approve of the supposed 'transaction'.

In truth, it was merely an excuse to dig the clan's treasury to help strengthen the weak little bug creature known as Hana, into a reasonably stronger entity. Usually, at this level of strength, Hana would've died a thousand times without the presence of Kuro and Shiro beside her. At least, Hana must have adequate personal strength to survive alone since an accident could happen at any time. Although Hana was in the possession of the Lifeguard Scale, both fishes still didn't feel relieved; they were worried that she might be besieged for prolonged period of time, thus, exhausting the energy within the refined weapon before she could be saved in time. After all, hidden experts were like the number of clouds in the sky. She could be crossing path with a random expert today or even tomorrow! The snake and the fox weren't reliable enough!

"This is too much, Chomper! Take them back!" Hana instructed with worry. Were they going to tie her to them for eternity or what? This amount of wealth was simply too much for her. She didn't even know what to do with all of the pearls. If the size of the pearls were around her index fingernail, she would've loved to string them up and turned them into a necklace, or to turn a tiny number of them into gorgeous earrings.

But, pingpong size!

She'll just look like a Buddhist monk with gigantic praying beads!

Chomper quickly prostrated again and said, "I don't dare, Your Grace. I don't dare. Please accept all these!" He was so afraid that he might be accounted for if he returned with a failed mission from the clan. Additionally, he himself was not privy of the trade terms between the Young Miss' new mistress and his clan, and the number of treasures involved in the transaction. He was just the postman, for goodness sake!

Hana looked wryly around her; it was possible to try to imitate Uncle Scrooge's stunt of swimming within his own gold coins. She observed the still-floating white shell with apprehension before it suddenly spewed up something again to her horror! At an interval of two seconds each, a rough crystal with glowing soft white hue came out from the shell. These crystals were around three fists' size with differing shapes. After ten crystals were out, the shell finally landed gently on the piles of pearls below it.

[Is this the famed crystals heavily sought after by you two?] Hana picked one up from the pearl-covered floor to examine the pretty irregularly shaped multifaceted crystal. She asked the kids telepathically to double-check, just in case. Hana could feel a thick energy within, presumably the natural condensed spiritual energy, though she had not the slightest inkling on how to consciously absorb it. All spiritual energy she absorbed was through consumption. She wasn't even able to finish absorbing the pearl and ruby shard given to her by Ara and Kuro after many days of cultivation.

[Yes! No matter what, do accept a quarter of the pearls and all of the crystals, please?!] Kuro pleaded from the side as his tiny profile peeked through the cave entrance with a bunch of young coconuts.

[Why? They're too big and crude for me. I don't like them.] She made a sulking expression unhappily.

The boys rolled their eyes exasperatedly. [Mommy! Those are cultivation resources! You can use them for the longest time after this. Although the pearls are not nice to wear, once you're in contact with it, you can absorb the spirituality within it directly. There's no need to stuff yourself silly with food every single time. Additionally, for your current level, this is the best kind of resources you need.] Kuro explained enthusiastically.

[Additionally, spiritual herbs and fruits are rare things. Before I meet you, I can only encounter these herbs very rarely. Sometimes, even ten years once was hard! These are heaven-sent! Please accept them, Mom.] Shiro chimed in earnestly.

[How about the crystals, how important are they to you?] Seeing that only tens of them were given, these crystals must be quite precious, even for the clan.

[Extremely. I dare say, with at a minimum estimation of three thousand of them, coupled with some fruitatious conditions, I could bridge the gap of a Noble into a Lord by invoking the next heavenly tribulation.] Shiro explained seriously. Mom already knew he was at the half-step stage into the Lord level.

Hana's agaped mouth at the moment could be stuffed with AA-grade eggs. [Three thousand?! That many?!]

Shiro nodded. He didn't add Kuro's requirement as he was already at the Lord level since he knew it'll be useless to frighten their mom. A higher level would've naturally needed higher number of quality resources. The amount will lessened if they could somehow get their paws on a higher tiered spirit crystals.

Hana sighed inwardly as she looked around her. There were surely more than ten thousand pearls over here, but only ten crystals. These didn't even qualify as a drop from the three thousand mark requirement. Nonetheless, she was sure all these didn't come with no strings attached. She decided to thicken her face and at least accepted part of the precious treasures; at least the crystals, for her boys' sake.

Hana was still a little scared, as she hesitatingly picked up the shell and hand it over quickly to Chomper. She was afraid something else could come out next and flood them to death. At the moment, her mindset had changed as she finally knew the monstrous resources she needed for her beloved pets. This tiny thing was just like the famed spatial rings. It was the first for her to encounter a naturally-occurring item with the same ability as a spatial ring. Now she understood why the white shell was not given to her. It must've been the most important treasure of the clan.

"I will temporarily receive these.. generous items from you, just for your sake, Chomper. Send my regards to the two elders. Truthfully, I think there's a misunderstanding here. It'll be great if one of the elders could come over to discuss things through." After hesitating, she said, "Send my love to Ara as well, tell her to work hard. I'll visit sometime in the future." It's good to add a few extra loving words to make the naive little fish feel much better and strive harder.

"This little me will definitely relay your messages over. Thank you so much, Your Grace, for your kind consideration." Chomper bowed respectfully.

"Ah, since all the serious things are over. Do join us for dinner will you? It's a request." Hana smilingly invited the little fish. Her eyes glinted as she thought of something in passing. The little snakehead was bowing down, hence he had missed it altogether. However, the two brothers was keenly aware of their mom's idea as they blinked their eyes and grin.

"Pardon?" Chomper showed a blank look as he was unsure how to act with the sudden invitation.

...

Hana was scrutinizing the young coconut bunches brought back by her beloved Kuro while tapping her chin seriously. Initially, she was planning to cook up something simple for their guest and be done with it. However, she berated herself internally after glancing at the chap's fidgety demeanor. She can't just treat the little one with a cincai attitude. After all, he represented the Waterwave Marine Clan and was also a close attendant to her friend, Ara. She must put in a little more effort.

A light bulb suddenly emerged within the depth of the aunty's mind as she was reminded by something. She narrowed her eyes. Isn't this the perfect time to test my postulates?!

The conditions felt right, and even the little one in front of her seemed as gullible as his little mistress. Additionally, if it was a success, it'll benefit this little one greatly. The longer she ruminated over her idea, the surer she was. Hana had managed to convince herself to try her idea out on the poor chap. She weighted over the pros and cons and finally decided to test it out; the risk to success ratio was manageable.

After that, she finally narrowed down a number of dishes that complimented each other in terms of their attributes.

Feeling pleased with the coconut bunches brought back by Kuro, her mind whirred busily. [What can I do with these young coconuts?] She knew young coconut water was delicious as is, but she wanted to turn it into something special. It'll be good to add additional yin effect over it while making sure it's delicious. After all, the little one was naturally water-attributed.

[Chilled coconut juice? Too simple.]

[How about sweetening it? Honeyed coconut juice? Still not good enough. Hmm...]

[Ah! I know! Coconut smoothie! Yesss! Klebang's coconut shake (1)! That'll be super delicious!]

Hana then tuned into the public's telepathy channel with a fawning expression displayed to her two pets. [Ku-chan, Shi-chan, Mommy need your help pretty please..]

Both of them looked at each other knowingly while rolling their eyes. [Yeah, just spill the beans, Mommy. What do you need? We'll help as much as we can. But no promises.] They knew the aunty's requests could be outrageously demanding! They hoped that Hana won't put too high hopes on things that might or might not exist.

[Yay!] Jumping with joy, she went over to snuggle with her two pets lovingly. [My sons are the best!] Kuro and Shiro were feeling blissful inwardly until the lists of ingredients entered their minds...

...

Author's Note:

(1) Klebang's Coconut Shake = Klebang is the name of a place in Melaka, Malaysia. It's about 2-3hours from KL. There's this famous joint selling coconut water blended with vanilla ice-cream. It tasted pretty good. However the kuih2 and nasi lemak (food accompaniment) tasted horrible..aiyoooo

Mrs Mooncat's Rant:

You give small-sized pearl, people will say you're stingy. If too big and too many, people will feel so exasperated coz they didn't know what to do with them (laughing). I remembered a Stephen Chow old movie where he acted as a detective with 0 talent for martial arts. He was the underdog of the dynasty as he saved the Emperor from being killed by an evil organization. The Emperor asked him, what would u like? He picked the biggest pearl on the Emperor's crown! (laughing) When he brought it back to his wife, his wife was sooo over the moon, as she made a drug-like induced happy dance around him (it was just 1 single pearl the size of pingpong). It was so funny! Can't remember the title already..we watched it on Netflix few years back to rekindle old favorites :P

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