My Beastly Fertility System Chapter 17: Conjure Fire From Nothing

Perched high in the canopy, watching everything unfold, Rufus's mouth curved in a faint smirk.

"Not bad—she's got a brain."

Two sentences, and she'd backed that nasty female into a corner with no way out.

Looked like she didn't just have the guts to climb sheer cliffs; there was a sharp mind under that messy hair, too.

Rufus watched the direction Claire vanished in, thought for a few seconds, then shifted into his massive gyrfalcon form and shot after her.

The sudden rustle of leaves overhead made Fiona glance up, just in time to catch Rufus's silhouette cutting through the sky.

"Damn it."

He must be going after that ugly Claire.

Fiona's eyes flicked slyly; she tugged the sleeve of her most loyal follower and jerked her chin toward Rufus's shrinking figure.

Nina understood instantly, nodded once, then—while everyone's attention was elsewhere—turned into a little fox and darted into the underbrush, slipping off in Rufus's wake.

Claire had picked up a straight branch and was smacking it through the grass in front of her to drive away anything that crawled or slithered; she walked like that for a good fifteen minutes before finally stopping.

In front of her, a small valley opened up, with a clear stream trickling straight through the middle.

The water barely reached her mid-calf, crystal clear, with fish drifting lazily around like they owned the place.

Claire almost laughed out loud as she stared at the crowded school of tiny fish, joy lighting up her face.

The beastfolk back in the clan hated fish—too smelly, too many bones—and a few of them had once been so hungry they'd just grabbed fish and chomped them whole, bones and all.

Fish bones weren't anything like the rounded, forgiving bones in beast meat.

Those poor idiots ended up with their guts torn open by spines and were dead within days.

Ever since, everyone in the clan treated fish like poison; no matter how hungry they got, nobody would touch them.

Which was why the fish had exploded in number—now, right in spawning season, the stream was packed wall to wall with them.

Claire watched the fish with a small, pleased smile; the light off the water bounced against her face, making her sallow skin seem to glow with a soft halo.

That was exactly what Rufus saw when he arrived.

He stared at Claire, looking as if she were lit from within, every stray strand of hair tipped with gold.

Claire focused on the water, branch poised; the second she spotted a bigger fish, she snapped her wrist and drove the tip of the stick straight through it.

"Yes! With this many, catching them is a breeze."

She grinned so wide her eyes almost disappeared as the fish thrashed helplessly on the branch.

Rufus watched in growing curiosity, finally speaking up for the first time.

"Don't tell me you plan on eating that. From what I know, fish are foul and one wrong bite can kill you."

Claire hadn't noticed him arrive; his voice made her jump, but once she realized it was Rufus, her shoulders loosened again.

She lifted the fish higher like a trophy and bragged, "Pretty impressive, right? You guys just don't know how to handle them—once I cook this, you're going to love it."

"Is that so?"

Rufus sounded unconvinced and, as a massive gyrfalcon, he crouched on a boulder nearby, watching Claire bustle around.

In no time, Claire had speared four or five fish.

She used her beast claws to gut them with practiced efficiency, scraped off the scales with a stone, then threaded each fish neatly onto a branch.

It wasn't until she was ready to cook that she realized she hadn't brought any embers.

In the Beast World, all fire came from sky fire; specific beastfolk were assigned to guard the clan fire pit, so anyone who needed flames had to borrow them on a burning stick.

Seeing her pace in a little circle, Rufus guessed she was missing fire and snorted inwardly—typical female, always talking a big game!

She hadn't even brought fire; how was she supposed to cook anything?

Still, he was in a generous mood and offered, "Forget fire, then—raw is fine. Give me one, I'll try it."

In the Beast World, males weren't picky; if there was no other choice, they ate meat raw more often than not.

Females were a different story—more delicate, worse at handling raw meat, and usually needed their food cooked.

Hands on her hips, Claire eyed the orange-red flesh; it actually looked decent, so she sliced off a piece and lifted it toward her mouth.

I'm just eating salmon carpaccio! Salmon carpaccio! This is totally salmon.

With enough mental pep talk, she finally shoved the piece of fish into her mouth.

The stench hit her taste buds like a slap—way too fishy.

Claire abandoned the idea of eating it raw on the spot and turned toward the trees to start searching for something else.

With her back to Rufus, she gathered what she needed and started a fire the hard way—by friction.

The dry sticks scraped together until the fine wood shavings caught and began to glow, then flicker with tiny flames.

The fire in front of Claire grew steadily, and only then did Rufus realize what he was seeing—this female had actually conjured fire from nothing.

He shifted back to human in his excitement, jogging over to the fire pit as he blurted,

"How did you do that? You didn't bring any fire with you—where did these flames come from?"

"I made it."

"You figured out how to create sky fire? How in the world did you pull that off?"

Rufus's mind reeled.

Nothing like this had ever been heard of anywhere on the Beast World continent.

He knew that if word got out, every clan within flying distance would be scrambling to claim this female.

Claire didn't think it was a big deal; she just propped the fish-laden branch beside the flames and turned back to the stream to look for more.

Rufus forced himself to calm down, then followed after her to give her a warning.