“That’s easy! I’m Little Bird’s boss, and he’s my boss, so my boss is his big boss. See? Macy Mei, you should call me boss too!” Shadow shot Macy Mei a look as he explained.
Evan and Jenny Sima burst out laughing. Shadow was really something—coming up with a ranking system like that was just hilarious.
“Alright, Shadow, cut it out. They’re both hundreds of years older than you, so don’t go bullying them just because your bloodline’s pure. From now on, you’re their junior. If your strength beats theirs one day, then you can talk about being boss!” Evan said.
Shadow glanced at Evan, then at Goldwing and Macy Mei. “Fine, since you’re the boss, I’ll let it go. But this weather’s awful—shouldn’t we find somewhere cooler?”
“Cooler, huh?” Evan couldn’t help thinking this guy would be trouble when he grew up. He was a magical beast, but he already knew how to enjoy life—more pampered than a human!
“You’ll have to wait for tomorrow. Goldwing’s wing is injured—we need to stay until he recovers. Shadow, you’re on lookout duty. If anything happens, let us know right away.” Evan grinned mischievously as he spoke.
Then Evan walked over to the Fire Scorpion’s corpse, split open its head with Frostbane, and fished out a Fire Crystal nearly twice as big as the Flame Serpent King’s.
“Boss, that Fire Crystal looks great—I wanna eat it!” Shadow suddenly dashed over, eyes shining.
“No way. I need that Fire Crystal for something. Save it for later—finish refining the Blazestone you ate first.” Evan tucked the Fire Crystal into his storage belt, making Shadow drool with envy.
“Boss, you’re so stingy! It’s just a dumb Fire Crystal—what’s the big deal?” Shadow grumbled, flopping down in the sand, clearly unhappy.
“That’s easy! I’m Little Bird’s boss, and he’s my boss—so my boss is his big-boss! Got it? Little Fox, you’ll have to call me boss from now on too.” Shadow shot a smug look at Macy Mei as he laid out his logic.
Evan Chu and Jenny Sima burst out laughing. Shadow’s convoluted logic was just too much—this little guy really knew how to stir things up.
“Alright, Shadow, enough with the nonsense. Goldwing and Macy Mei are hundreds of years older than you, so don’t go bullying them just because your bloodline is purer. For now, you’re their junior. When your strength really surpasses theirs, then we’ll talk about who’s boss!” Evan said, half stern and half amused.
Shadow glanced at Evan, then at Goldwing and Macy Mei, and finally said, “Alright, fine, I’ll let it go for now—since Boss says so. But this place is way too hot! Can’t we find somewhere cooler?”
“Cooler?” Evan thought to himself that Shadow was going to be trouble when he grew up. He was still just a cub, but already fussing about comfort—he was supposed to be a beast, but he acted even more spoiled than a human.
“Tomorrow, maybe. Goldwing’s wing is injured, so we have to wait for him to recover before we move on. Shadow, you’re on guard duty—if anything happens, let us know right away.” Evan grinned mischievously as he assigned the task.
Then Evan walked over to the Fire Scorpion’s corpse, sliced open its head with Frostbane, and pulled out a Fire Crystal nearly twice as big as the one from the Flame Serpent King.
“Boss, that Fire Crystal looks great! Can I eat it?” Shadow suddenly ran over, eyes shining with excitement.
“No way, I need this Fire Crystal for myself. You should save your appetite—finish refining the Blazestone you just ate first,” Evan said, stuffing the Fire Crystal into his storage belt as Shadow drooled in disappointment.
“Boss, you’re so stingy! It’s just a lousy Fire Crystal—what’s the big deal, huh?” Shadow grumbled, flopping down on the yellow sand and sulking.
Evan picked up the Ice Crystal from the sand and held it in his palm, channeling Chaos Qi to draw out the cold inside. This kept everyone from overheating—though really, it was mostly for Jenny Sima's sake.
Shadow’s eyes lit up when he saw the Ice Crystal in Evan’s hand. He trotted over, tail wagging, and said, “Boss, where’d you get that Ice Crystal? That’s good stuff—let me eat it!”
“Eat it? You can eat this too? You can eat Fire Crystals? Aren’t you afraid you’ll explode?” Evan was genuinely shocked. This little guy seemed able to eat anything, and his appetite was downright scary.
Shadow puffed out his chest with pride. “Heh, as long as it’s got energy, I can eat it! That’s my specialty. Pretty awesome, right?”
“Yeah, it’s awesome, but I don’t think I can afford to feed you. Want Ice Crystals? Go get them yourself. Want Fire Crystals? Go kill some monsters. Do you know how hard it is for us to get these things? Goldwing got badly hurt so you could eat Blazestone, Macy Mei burned through all her thunder power, and your boss nearly died. Do you get that?” Evan said, face full of frustration.
“Fine, whatever! No need to be so stingy. I’ll just go get some Fire Crystals myself—let’s see how jealous you get!” Shadow huffed and stomped off into the distance.
“Shadow, get back here!” Evan called, but the little guy moved shockingly fast—he vanished in just a few breaths, leaving everyone speechless.
“Lin Feng, do you think Shadow will be okay?” Jenny Sima asked worriedly.
“I’m not sure, but he’ll probably be fine. He sounded pretty confident about getting Fire Crystals, so there’s got to be something special about him. Let’s just wait here—if he doesn’t come back soon, we’ll go look for him.” Evan smiled, though deep down he was still worried; right now, Shadow was just like a kid.
After nearly an hour, Shadow still hadn’t returned. Evan was starting to get anxious—every beast here was dangerous, and Shadow didn’t know how to hold back. If something happened, it could be bad.
“Let’s go look for him. I’m getting worried!” Evan said.
“Boss, no need. He’s already on his way back—and he looks pretty happy, too,” Goldwing said.
Evan had to admit, Goldwing’s eyesight was impressive. If only he had eyes that could see for thousands of miles—how awesome would that be?
Soon, Shadow appeared before the group. He walked up to Evan, gave a big burp, and announced, “I finally had a real feast today. Man, that hit the spot.”
“What’d you eat? Don’t tell me you got so mad you ate sand!” Evan teased.
“Just a few little snakes and a pig. That pig was actually pretty tough—almost couldn’t handle it.” Shadow said, completely unfazed.
Then, right in front of everyone, Shadow spat out a few Fire Crystals—one of them even bigger than the one Evan got from the Fire Scorpion. For a moment, everyone just stared at him in shock, unable to say a word...
(Author's Note: This is an end-of-chapter message about updates and votes, not part of the story, so it is skipped in the translation.)