Divine Beast Creator-Chapter 2197 - 2198: The Weak Magma Babies
The travel itinerary recommended by Cha Mu Town is not tightly scheduled. According to Feng Yuan’s plan, they would arrive at Red Tribe by evening. But even if there’s a new destination now, it’s no problem; they can stay overnight at the village before Red Tribe.
What’s more, as the waiter said, Yundu Village isn’t that far from here. Even if they detour, they can still reach Red Tribe by night if they hurry along the way.
In fact, they can even choose to skip the next village and head straight to Red Tribe. These options are all viable since the tour routes established by Cha Mu Town have considered that tourists might have varying travel times. Therefore, villages like Red Tribe and Grotto-Rock Village, which offer food and lodging, are set up in succession. This means that arriving a few hours earlier or later than the recommended route won’t affect their meals and accommodations.
Of course, Feng Yuan had made a reservation at the hot spring hotel in Red Tribe, so naturally, they’d try to get there as soon as possible.
Therefore, Feng Yuan and his group decided to reduce their touring time at the next village or even skip it since, according to the waiter, the next village doesn’t have much to offer. It’s mainly known for its high commercial tourism development.
Perhaps it doesn’t have unique scenery, but the food and lodging are satisfactory, provided you’re willing to spend money.
Of course, compared to Red Tribe, there’s a slight gap, but relatively speaking, the expense level in the next village isn’t as high as in Red Tribe.
Knowing the general situation of the next village, Feng Yuan wasn’t in a hurry to go to Yundu Village. He happened to want to see the Magma Babies.
Chit-chatting with the waiter, Feng Yuan waited for the Magma Babies to arrive. Meanwhile, they also got various tidbits about Cha Mu Town, especially when it became known that Feng Yuan knew He Nanqing well. The waiter started sharing some inside information not usually told to tourists.
These matters are known within the village but involve internal affairs of Cha Mu Town and aren’t suitable for external disclosure. Thus, the waiter can only harbor this knowledge without sharing it. Now, having a chance to express his own views, he took it.
Feng Yuan and his group didn’t stop him, as they were waiting for the Magma Babies anyway, and hearing bits of gossip seemed a good way to pass the time.
As the fiery bodies of the Magma Babies appeared at the gate, the waiter, though still eager to talk, had to return to the kitchen to prepare food for them.
Seeing the group of Magma Babies, Feng Yuan was startled. Though he had guessed so, he was surprised that the Magma Babies were indeed similar to Slimes, with gelatinous bodies, only they were fiery red, and their translucent bodies vaguely revealed the flowing magma inside.
Around the Magma Babies floated several red orbs, whose texture differed somewhat from the babies themselves, appearing more like a fiery gemstone.
The appearance of these Magma Babies caused delighted exclamations from the tourists in the canteen. Clearly, they hadn’t expected to encounter such special Spirit Beasts with such good luck.
Perhaps due to prolonged contact with Beastmasters, the Magma Babies just curiously eyed the tourists without any extreme reactions. When the waiter called them to dinner, they ignored the peculiar humans and moved to a vacant area near the counter.
Previously, some tourists were puzzled about what that empty space was for; now they knew it was the feeding zone for the Magma Babies.
"Isn’t feeding Wild Spirit Beasts in this manner problematic?"
Thinking of something, Feng Yuan looked at Agunas. He himself didn’t see an issue, but there was no guarantee Agunas wouldn’t have any particular thoughts, as this approach could be considered borderline.
Agunas flicked its tail and said
"With their foraging abilities, there’s no problem."
Compared to normal Spirit Beasts, the combat power of Magma Babies is negligible, and their small size gives them no advantage in finding food. Considering Magma Babies belong to a special group of Spirit Beasts without any evolutionary form means they have no chance of a turnaround. Therefore, collaborating with humans for mutual benefit isn’t an issue.
If it were a species with normal combat power being forcibly domesticated by humans, Agunas might get angry, but for this situation, Agunas truly sees nothing wrong.
Seeing the Magma Babies’ approach, Feng Yuan got up and followed them. The Magma Babies noticed Feng Yuan nearing but showed no reaction, as they had acclimated to humans, unlike truly Wild Spirit Beasts, who are particularly wary of humans. Besides, they are protected by Cha Mu Town, and ordinarily, people wouldn’t bother them.
Observing the group of Magma Babies up close, after a while, Feng Yuan sighed. He found that it wasn’t that the Magma Babies didn’t have an evolutionary path but rather couldn’t evolve. Their potential was also capped.
Methods like transcending evolution are ineffective for the Magma Babies. Just as the limit of Prolonging Life Incense is very low, Magma Babies are among the Spirit Beasts completely lacking in self-preservation ability.
As for the reason, it’s not the world’s malice but their inherent rules, which are innately flawed due to their birth from Yognot. Though Feng Yuan could correct this rule, doing so would mean the Magma Babies would no longer be Magma Babies.
This issue is a common dilemma for weak Spirit Beasts in the special group. Besides Feng Yuan, some Divine Beasts could also help them exceed this limit, but it would inevitably result in a change in their species.
It’s not that such actions would harm them, but the sudden emergence of a new species might lead to unpredictable situations, even Feng Yuan can’t guarantee no anomalies would occur.
Since the world’s life forms and species are limited, arbitrarily increasing them would only trigger a chain reaction leading to bigger trouble.
This is also why Veronia limits the creation of Spirit Beasts. It’s within her rights, but she’s still bound by limitations; needless to say, the influence of the Divine Beasts isn’t significant, considering their numbers. Even if a few more appeared, there wouldn’t be much change.
But adding Spirit Beast species is a different matter; the rule states that Spirit Beast tribes aren’t limited to being born in specific places, and at most, the birth environment can be restricted.
This uncertainty keeps even those Divine Beasts capable of creating new Spirit Beast tribes from acting recklessly, lest unforeseen events occur.
After playing around with the Magma Babies for a bit, Feng Yuan didn’t continue to disturb their meal. Watching the little creatures, Qi Chen couldn’t help but reflect.
"I wonder what they did wrong to be unable to possess normal strength like ordinary Spirit Beasts."
"That might not be a bad thing. Spirit Beasts may not all enjoy fighting,"
Veronia glanced at the content Magma Babies and explained that Spirit Beasts like them, who lack combat abilities, tend to be protected or ignored by other wild Spirit Beast tribes, at least avoiding competition for resources.
Of course, given their strength, whether they have resources of their own is another question, but in some aspects, this flaw can also act as a form of protection to them.
At least typically, Wild Spirit Beasts wouldn’t target them, and illegal organizations would have little interest in them either.
Though special Spirit Beasts have unique abilities, their limit is low. Generally, what is currently displayed indicates their capability’s limit, with little need for research.
Rubbing the back of his head, Qi Chen didn’t quite grasp Veronia’s point, but he did understand that this weakness might not be a bad thing for the Magma Babies.
After playing with the Magma Babies, Feng Yuan and his group bade farewell to the waiter, leaving Grotto-Rock Village to follow a mountain path towards Yundu Village.
This small road near Grotto-Rock Village hasn’t been maintained much, but perhaps due to frequent traffic over the years, the weeds on both sides are tall, yet the muddy path walked on doesn’t have any weeds growing in it, and the soil is compacted and firm.
"Without someone directing us, we wouldn’t have found this road," 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
Feng Yuan couldn’t help but marvel as he looked at the map on his phone. The maps of the Tea Wood Town Area, whether public or the internal maps accessed by the Special Duty Team, are incomplete.
At least, this road isn’t shown on the map. According to the map, to reach Yundu Village, one needs to detour significantly from a different direction.
"Could it be intentional?"
Veronia suggested, considering a certain possibility.
