FULL NOVELXO Chapter 27 A Giant Anaconda-tailed Tiger
"The reason is quite simple. We need to get more black dots!" Heather explained calmly, as if she had anticipated Ricky's puzzle in this respect.
"If we invite someone at the eighth grade of Skin Refinement to join us to do it, we will have to divide the five hundred black dots into four equal shares. That's only one hundred and twenty-five for each one of us. If we join forces with someone at the seventh grade, we will get more dots. Does that make sense?"
"Of course, yes. I understand!" Ricky replied, nodding.
"So, here is my second question. How many dots do I get if I join you?" he asked pointedly.
At hearing this question, Heather exchanged looks with the two men, before telling Ricky the maximum share they were willing to give. "Fifty. That's the highest we can go!"
"Fifty? That's all you're offering?" Ricky asked, scratching his head at this.
For a warrior at the seventh grade of Skin Refinement, fifty-black dots was a pretty generous offer. After all, the seventh grade warrior would only have to help pin down the beast during the whole process. He didn't need to attack it up close. Ricky was not a stupid man. He knew that it would be greedy for him to ask for more dots.
While Ricky was weighing the benefits in his head, one of the men, Finn Zhang stepped forward and tried to persuade him with a smiling face. "Hey, buddy. I think fifty dots are pretty fair for you. Don't you think so?" He continued, "I'm sure that you know well about your current state. It's near impossible for you to hunt fifty beasts in thirteen days."
"Alright. I'm in!" Ricky said, deciding to not hesitate anymore because what Finn Zhang just said was exactly what he had been worried about.
"Great! You just made a wise decision!" Waylon nodded in excited praise for Ricky's final decision. The four, thus having made the agreement, began on their journey together.
They made their way to the spot where the injured beast had been tracked to.
Finally, they were near. It was a large marsh where the carcasses of both warriors and beasts were rotting. Needless to say, a horrible smell permeated the air.
Ricky was agile and ran at once to avoid its ferocious attack. He knew clearly that this was his best move for now. After all, there was no way for him to survive such a ferocious beast's violent attack. "Kill it! Now!" he shouted at the other warriors as he ran, reminding them to grab this excellent chance.
Ricky was sure they would follow through, as killing this beast was their priority at present. Even if they might have some deceptions in mind when they invited him earlier, Ricky decided not to think about it at this critical time.
Things went as Ricky expected. The moment the gigantic tiger leaped at Ricky, Heather and her companions clutched their weapons in hands, transferred their strength to their weapons, and ejected their sword energy towards the wound on the monster's back.
"Bang!"
An earsplitting sound resounded through the air again. They successfully hit the ugly wound on its back with force.
The tiger screamed in agony. The wound at its back had been healing. But it split open again and the blood gushed out, as the tiger fell to the marsh heavily.
"Now!"
Heather, Finn, and Waylon exchanged looks with each other again and agreed on their next move. They re-generated their strengths and launched another violent attack at the tiger's stomach.
Even though this Anaconda-tailed Tiger had a body of the first grade of Blood Purification, it was unable to resist the two fatal attacks. It was doomed to die when its weakened, wounded body encountered wise human beings.
After they were finished with the beast, Finn collected its blood and let a drop fall on his ironwood piece. In an instant, five hundred black dots appeared on it. It was just incredible. Everyone thought 50.
"Hey, guys. I have a question. When the beasts blood is dripped on a piece of ironwood, black dots show up. Why, then when the blood is dripped on another piece, no black dots appear? That doesn't make sense," Ricky suddenly asked, disrupting the thrilled reverie they had all been in. Both Finn and Waylon were dumbfounded by his words.
They stared at him in surprise as if they were asking, "Seriously? You don't even know this? What an idiot!"
Ricky sensed the unkindness in their eyes. He suddenly began to feel that both Finn and Waylon started to dislike him.
Heather, on the other hand, chuckled and explained patiently with a smile, "Ironwood is amazing and smart. Even if an ironwood is cut into thousands of pieces, those pieces connect with each other. As long as one of these pieces absorbs the blood of a beast, the rest of the pieces can feel it and will not react to the blood from the same beast."
She added, "Unless the piece you have is from another ironwood.
However, there are very few ironwoods around. I'd say, the probability is about one in hundreds of thousands. Even if you can find two ironwoods, they are still different when they have different ages. So it's almost impossible for us to cheat.” Considering that Ricky was virtually a stranger, Heather did not have to explain this to him, and yet in her kindness she did.
"Oh, I understand! Thank you," Ricky replied with a nod.
Then he glanced at Fin and Waylon in askance, and could almost confirm his feeling earlier that they were dangerous to him. He became more sensitive after all the things he had gone through in the past few days.
"Finn, it's time to fulfill our promise. Transfer fifty black dots to Ricky, please, as what we have agreed upon!" Heather suggested to Finn with a smile.
"Yes, sure!” Finn replied, but with a malicious smile. He didn't do as what he said. Instead, he walked to Waylon with his ironwood piece in his hand.
Waylon, on the other hand, acted as if he had already anticipated Finn's intention. He took his ironwood out, and then Finn activated the spiritual energy in his body and transferred two hundred and fifty black dots to Waylon's piece.
Seeing what they just did, Heather realized that something had just gone very wrong. The look on
her face changed suddenly and she asked coldly, "What the hell did you just do?"