God Of Crafting

Chapter 134: Faux Pass at the dinning table

"A bestial core?" I asked while raising my eyes to Claire's face.

"Yeah," the girl nodded, hardly paying me any mind as if I just asked for a definition of an apple. "It's akin to our spiritual core, although it's an element of the bestial cultivation that persists throughout the ranks, as opposed to how we, human cultivators, constantly change its shape and use."

'So, it is...'

I gulped my saliva down.

"Would it be correct to claim that as the main element of their cultivation, it's the source of the immense strength and size of those beasts?"

By now, it wasn't even a suspicion... but more of a certainty.

Even though Claire had yet to confirm any of my guesses, somehow made me feel as if I was right on the money with this guess!

"Yeah," surprise surprise, Claire went ahead and confirmed my theory, only further solidifying my idea in the realm of reality.

"So, what if that AI... infected the spiritual core that those beasts then absorbed? And what if..." I bit down on my lips, holding myself at the very last moment from throwing a suspicious, wary glance all over the place as if to check if any of the staff was listening in on our conversation.

The staff, however, was too busy with their tasks around the kitchen to care... Only by acting extremely off myself could I strike their curiosity hard enough to make them actually interested in the details of my conversation with Claire.

"I'm sorry, but after the last time?" I laughed out a bit only to then shake my head. "Nah, I think I'm good. Let's say I don't have many good memories of that place," I added in a slightly joking manner.

"That's..." Nigh instantly after my words sounded out, Claire's face contorted as a mixture of grief, guilt, and sadness popped up all over her face.

"Ah!" I uttered a small cry as I reflected upon how this poor girl was likely to interpret my last sentence. "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant!

So, hold your horses and listen to me for just a little bit longer, okay?" I asked while reaching out to grab Claire's hands... and just hold them, with no intention of going any further than that as I simply stared into her eyes with a pleading expression painted all over my face.

I shook my head only to then break off my hand-holding with Claire as I leaned slightly to the back of my chair, all to gain access to more space that would fit within the girl's vision.

"All I meant is that all the time it takes to get there, get through all the control points, reception, reservation, payment, tipping, and the likes, to then spend as long as it takes to execute a proper hunt and then... repeat all the previous steps in reverse..."

I let my words hang in the air for a while while slowly shaking my head to the sides. "It just feels like one hell of a big waste of time!"

"I mean..." Claire groaned a bit while leaning to the back and looking away with her entire face, only to end up looking fully away as if she couldn't bear the sight of me anymore.

A moment later, however, her chest suddenly jumped up and down a bit, only to then do it again... and again, only for Claire to then break out laughing, as she turned right back to me with a massive grin on her face.

"Time, time and time... I'm not sure if you've realized, but isn't it a word you bring up quite often?"