'Strange… but where exactly was the strangeness?'
''It's been a long time since I've seen outsiders' suggested that he had encountered them before?'
A flicker of surprise passed through Law's eyes. He stopped Bruna from extending her tentacles to establish a communication channel between them.
Bruna's pitch-black eyeballs shifted slightly, puzzled, but she didn't proceed further.
"Are you the Chief of the Slu Tribe?" Law asked.
The Chief nodded.
"You speak the common tongue." Law said.
The Chief nodded again.
The first sentence is in a questioning tone, and the second sentence is in an affirmative tone.
Finally, Law continued, "Where is the strangeness?"
The Chief thought for a moment before replying, "You're not afraid of death."
Bruna watched as the Chief and Law communicated without hindrance, feeling quite pleased. She had always wondered why two seemingly similar species couldn't understand each other's languages.
'The Chief has encountered humans from the Six Continents before.'
Law was certain of this. But he didn't press further. Instead, he gestured with the bowl in his hand and said with a smile, "It won't taste as good when it cools. Try it."
The Chief gave Law a deep look, chuckled a few times, then took the bowl. In a move that surprised Law, he opened his mouth wide, tilted the bowl, and dumped the entire contents into his mouth.
It was a very bold way of eating.
Somehow, despite his mouth being full of meat, the Chief could still speak clearly.
He reminisced, "Someone once told me that meat should be eaten in large bites and paired with a certain kind of water. He offered me some to drink… it was marvelous."
In the end, it was the unrefined common tongue, and the Chief didn't speak it well, so Law could barely understand.
He raised his hand and retrieved a small gourd of monkey wine from Kuro's space, something he had obtained from Linne. He opened the lid, and a rich aroma of wine wafted out.
Following the Chief's words, he asked, "Is it this kind of water?"
The Chief stared blankly at the palm-sized gourd, speechless, and could only nod.
He wanted to say that the water he had drunk so long ago wasn't as fragrant as what was in this gourd. Even without tasting it, he could tell it was better.
Well, it was wine, but in the Chief's perception, it was water… something that existed only in distant memory.
In reality, the Slu tribe didn't need to supplement their water source while living here because they had about fifty star stones that kept their bodies sufficiently hydrated.
There were many streams and lakes in the underground world, but they were quite far from this place.
Due to the dense facial hair, Law couldn't see the Chief's expression, but he could sense the complicated emotions up close. He then handed the gourd over.
"Thank you."
The Chief expressed gratitude but didn't take the gourd immediately.
Instead, he pulled out a long, narrow stone box about a foot long from his heavy clothing, carefully placed it beside him, and then accepted the gourd, taking a small sip.
Cold, very cold… bone-chillingly cold.
The Slu Tribe's physique leaned toward heat sources. Even strong liquor would feel icy to them, let alone monkey wine.
Yet, it was precisely this coldness that offered a unique sensation for him.
After all, who would want to blow hot air in the middle of summer?
The Chief narrowed his eyes, savoring the coolness rolling down his throat into his stomach, completely immersed in the experience, finding it an endless aftertaste.
He took one sip but didn't take a second.
Instead, he waved over a few Slu Tribe's members and instructed them to remove all the star stones from the cavern ceiling and find a large enough stone basin.
He gave the orders in the Slu Tribe's language, so Law didn't understand. He was only puzzled why the Chief, despite enjoying it so much, resisted taking another sip.
Soon, the Slu Tribe's members removed all the faintly glowing star stones and brought a stone basin the size of a bathtub.
The star stones emitted a weak light, but upon closer inspection, they created an illusion of dazzling starlight, as countless points of light woven into a galaxy, though the points were too faint to see clearly.
Biscuit suddenly stood up, her eyes reflecting the brilliant starlight, filled with endless admiration, though she didn't make any rash moves.
Law noticed Biscuit's movement from the corner of his eye. Before the Chief placed the star stones into the stone basin, he said, "Could you let me take a look at those glowing stones?"
The Chief paused, his gaze briefly sweeping over Biscuit before settling on Law. He picked out one and handed it over, saying, "For you."
"Thank you." Law accepted the star stone calmly. He would bring many benefits to the Slu Tribe, so he could accept the star stone without any pressure.
The moment he touched the star stone, the White Smoke Font only provided a name, Restarite.
The star stone felt cold to the touch, about the size of a quail's egg. Its transparent material resembled crystal. When held up close, a dazzling galaxy could be seen inside, though the faint light made it less obvious.
Law handed the star stone to Biscuit, who took it and immediately began caressing it lovingly. It looked like a gem containing the entire Milky Way.
The Chief didn't mind. He gently placed the star stones into the stone basin, then poured the wine from the gourd into it.
The small amount of wine didn't even cover the bottom of the basin, but when the liquid touched the star stones, a brilliant galaxy suddenly appeared inside the basin, even reflecting countless points of light onto the cavern ceiling.
The Slu Tribe didn't need light, nor did they dislike it.
However, the purpose of the Restarite wasn't decorative. It had a unique function… for example, it could multiply the monkey wine in the basin.
The Slu Tribe possessed fifty-three Restarites, but they rarely used them because their need for water was very low.
Instead, they needed a type of ore called Chasefire Stone produced near the earth's core.
Such strange ores were plentiful on the Dark Continent. One ore known to humans was called Unmanned Rock. Just a bead-sized piece submerged in water could generate twenty megawatts of electricity in a day.
A long, long time ago, the Slu Tribe's roots were near the earth's core. However, they lost the struggle within the ecosystem and were forced to retreat, surviving barely in the stone caverns.
If the Slu Tribe had a trading system, they would gladly exchange fifty Restarites for one Chasefire Stone.
But now, even if they could, the Chief wouldn't make the trade.
He stared at the galaxy at the bottom of the basin, as if about to lose himself in it, momentarily stunned.
He had encountered outsiders twice before. Including this time, it was the third.
The first time was over four hundred years ago, which is a team of about a hundred people, half-dead and battered. The second time was around a hundred and fifty years ago, a lone traveler.
From these two encounters, he learned fragmented common tongue and received some gifts from the outsiders.
However, the only thing that remained was the item inside this long stone box, given by the lone traveler.
If he remembered correctly, that lone traveler called the item inside the stone box [Hope].
The starlight reflected in the basin was a nascent galaxy.
The Dark Continent rarely offered views of the starry sky, let alone underground.
The Slu Tribesmen, and even Bruna, quietly watched the starlight above them.
'Is that the Milky Way Law mentioned?'
Bruna swayed her tentacles, thinking to herself.