Han Sen thought for a while. He brought a few pieces of fruit out of Destinyâs Tower to give to the Crocodile God.
âThis little Crocodile God is just a baby. It should be an easy thing to please. All I need to do is keep it happy, then I can do anything I want. I wonder if it is a vegetarian? I donât have much meat stockpiled at the moment.â Ever since Han Sen started collecting King xenogeneic genes, he hadnât been eating anything else. The fruit was something he had saved for Baoâer.
But ever since Baoâer had found that purple ginseng, she hadnât shown interest in anything else. No other type of fruit enticed her, so Han Sen had been keeping them inside Destinyâs Tower the whole time.
If someone wanted their body to evolve, the process would take a lot more than just practicing various geno arts. The higher class a person was, the more energy their body would require. And the food they consumed had to be of greater quality. That was the only way to deliver the extra needed energy. Every creature in the universe had to eat; the only differences were in how and what they ate.
High-class elites could go without food for a long time, but the price they paid for that was the consumption of their energy. If that went on for a long time, their bodies would be damaged quite severely.
When people said they didnât need to eat while practicing, it was a load of rubbish. In real life, you would die if you didnât eat. The starvation process just took a little longer for strong people than for the weak.
This didnât just apply to warriors with ordinary levels of power. In Han Senâs experience, even guys that called themselves âGodâ had to eat, too. But instead of eating flesh, they ate the lifespan of the people that came to them to make wishes.
The little Crocodile God had to eat, too, but it didnât show any interest in the fruit Han Sen had given it. It used its tail to sweep all the pieces of fruit away.
âIt looks like it doesnât eat fruit or veggies. In that case, what kind of food does it eat?â Han Sen tried to guess, but he had no meat to share. Then again, Han Sen doubted that the creature wanted to eat meat, either. If it had, Han Sen, Li Keer, and Exquisite wouldâve already become crocodile chow.
The little God Crocodile growled at Han Sen. This was the second time, and it was clearly rushing Han Sen to get to work. And so he did, clearing the shattered crystals all around him.
The little Crocodile God had assumed the role of the inspector. It commanded Han Sen to do things, like throwing the shattered crystals out of the fortress and into the lava sea that was held at bay outside.
Han Sen wasnât in a rush, and neither was he annoyed. He just stuck to his tasks of sweeping and cleaning up, hoping to find something useful as he went.
The small God Crocodile was pleased with Han Senâs work ethic. The little Crocodile God seemed born to be a supervisor, and it seemed very pleased to be doing this sort of work.
But Han Sen failed to find anything interesting as he went. And when the little God Crocodile eventually grew bored, it brought Han Sen back to the swimming pool with it.
When Han Sen arrived back at the swimming pool, he found Li Keer and Exquisite giving the big Crocodile God a head massage. They were using a brush to scrub its body, too.
Li Keer and Exquisite looked like a perfect picture of misery. They had never dreamed of being forced to do something this demeaning.
They had been taught that as members of the Very High, their futures held incredible potential. They had dreamed of doing many things, but never of working as a crocodileâs maids. Especially with someone like Dollar around to see their humiliation.
The big Crocodile God was a harsh taskmaster, but Li Keer and Exquisite were eventually allowed a break.
âDid you find anything around here?â Exquisite asked Han Sen, as the two of them approached.
âJust more shattered crystal. There doesnât seem to be a single thing of interest, otherwise.â Han Sen had already stuffed the arm bones into his Destinyâs Tower. He didnât plan on informing the girls about his discovery.
âWhat about you two?â Han Sen asked.
âWhat could we find? All weâve been doing is sweeping up crap all day. I have no idea how these two eat so much. They piss wherever they like, too,â Li Keer said, her expression morose.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Han Senâs heart leaped. He quickly asked, âCan you tell me what theyâve been eating?â
âHow the hell should I know what they eat? Their dung is like firm orbs. It looks just like the materials that make up the planet itself,â Li Keer said.
âIn that case, maybe they are eating material that comes from the planet,â Han Sen said after a moment of thought.
âWhat is the point of knowing what they eat?â Li Keer asked.
âIt would let us rest easy in the knowledge that they donât want to eat us, at least. If thatâs the case, we are quite lucky,â Han Sen said with a shrug of his shoulders.
âIf Iâm going to be trapped in here for the rest of my life, I think I would rather die.â Li Keer didnât agree with Han Senâs line of thinking.
âWe arenât carrying much food ourselves. We need to find a way to get out of here,â Exquisite said.
âDo you know a way out of here?â Han Sen asked.
âNot right now.â Exquisite shook her head.
âThen thereâs no point in talking about it,â Han Sen said gloomily.
The three of them rested for a while. The little Crocodile God soon came over, hurrying them back to work.
Out of the three, Han Sen had the best chance of working outside the pool area. The two girls were worse off, as they were stuck serving the Crocodile God on the beach. They swept up crap or massaged the crocodileâs scales. They were just like maids.
It was likely that the crocodiles were the only beings in the universe using two of the Very High as maids, but god only knew how long they would enjoy this service.
Han Sen was outside, setting toppled pieces of equipment upright or cleaning up devices that had been completely destroyed. In the beginning, the little Crocodile God was really interested in ordering him around. But after a while, it became too lazy and stopped.
Once he was free of his miniature overlord, Han Sen could walk around the fortress. While looking through a random plaza, he finally found something.
Crystal was a technological product. It wasnât normally used to create things like tablets, but in that plaza, Han Sen found a crystal wall with text on it.
Because the crystal wall was broken, it took Han Sen almost three days to collect all of the fragments and piece the wall back together. Then, he was able to read the text in full.
âCrystal Furnace skill... This seems to be a geno art, but the name is very weird. I wonder what it does?â Han Sen began reading through the content a little more closely.
After all, the geno arts of the crystallizers were usually quite suitable for humans to practice. But Han Sen wasnât very hopeful for the potential of a crystallizer geno art, because the crystallizers werenât very famous for their geno arts. Their skills were rarely exceptional.
But after Han Sen read about the Crystal Furnace, he was given a fright.
This wasnât exactly a geno art. It was a godly skill for people who loved to eat.
The Crystal Furnace was a way to reinforce oneâs stomach. It was different from Consume, which focused on the ability to digest food. By contrast, the Crystal Furnace turned oneâs stomach into a nuclear reactor. It quickly released the energy of food, and the energy released would be immediately absorbed. The waste would come out quickly.
âNo wonder the crystallizers have such a reputation for research and development. Even their geno arts are scientific.â Han Sen loved it. He wouldnât turn down a new geno art that aided his digestion.
But when Han Sen reached the end of the text for Crystal Furnace, he saw an additional note.
âThe public version of Crystal Furnace is only suitable for kids below sixteen. For those who are above sixteen, please practice Crystal Core Reactor.â
âThis is the kidsâ version?â Han Sen was annoyed by that, but he couldnât find the adult version of Crystal Furnace, so he had to learn the kidsâ version first.