The red-glinting stones had a warm feeling in the hand, and their weight wasn't heavy — a touch lighter, even, than ordinary granite. The stones came in two kinds, glinting and non-glinting, though the boundary wasn't distinct: roughly, the outer stones had no light, and the further in, the more the red glint blazed.

"This is metal — very peculiar metal, with points of similarity to a jin core's structure. I have a feeling toward it. No telling whether I can devour it!"

The battle was fierce just now, and Shen Cong had no time to study the stones.

He merely picked them up one by one, then quickly wrapped them in previously hunted hide-gold to cover their radiative fluctuations, and stuffed them into the Great Vajra's supply room.

Then he drew another Mushroom Arrow, found his opening, and prepared to fire on the Firestarter Spirit.

Having been conned by Shen Cong, the Firestarter Spirit had taken a fair few more beatings, no small number of stones knocked off its body — and all these fallen stones were Shen Cong's targets.

But there was another fellow stealing mouthfuls of stone, and that was the Snail Traveler.

It had been hiding in its shell rolling this way and that, several times wounding its own teammates by accident — apart from taking a hit, it had no other talent. But just now the Firestarter Spirit had appeared in the guise of the fat Shen-Cong-beast, unsteady on its feet, never mind attacking. So the Snail Traveler quietly poked out its body and gnawed off a few stones.

"Damn snail, stealing my things!" At the sight, Shen Cong could have happily put an enhanced Mushroom Arrow into it.

He'd long since taken the Firestarter Spirit as his own private property.

But the thought flared and died in an instant, chiefly because the Firestarter Spirit was too big — the fat Shen-Cong-beast it had transformed into was simply a Titan out of legend. A mass this size was no different from a small hill. However much Shen Cong devoured, he didn't think he could swallow…