Chapter 46: Mr. Serpent’s Gift: Dragon King Hamon and the Big Fat Bird’s Baby.

After returning to the divine tree, the Little Fairies headed straight for the school cafeteria.

Practicing magic consumed an enormous amount of energy. After training from noon until evening, every one of the little fellows had a stomach growling with hunger.

The moment they entered and smelled the food, they could not help rushing toward the long tables.

However, the adult Fairies insisted that they wash their hands first. Otherwise, they would not be allowed to sit down and eat.

A long line immediately formed at the washing station beside the cafeteria.

Once Shu Li had washed his hands, he listlessly fluttered his wings and flew toward the long tables.

"Hi, Sperien! How did your first day of magic lessons go?"

Hearing the greeting, Shu Li turned toward the neighboring table. A young Fairy with curly golden hair was looking at him with a brilliant smile, revealing a row of pearly white teeth.

It was Carola.

The quiet little scholar's classmate.

Shu Li answered weakly, "I'm a little tired."

Seeing his thoroughly wilted appearance, Carola's lips curved upward.

He looked far more than a little tired!

Everyone knew that Sperien had awakened an affinity for every element. The other Little Fairies needed to concentrate on only one or two, while he had to divide his attention among six. Since he was still too young, darkness was the only element he did not need to practice for the time being.

In short, he would have to work much harder than everyone else if he wanted to become an outstanding mage.

That was no small challenge for a five-year-old Fairy.

Carola had awakened affinities for water and wood. Practicing two elements at once was already exhausting enough, let alone the six Sperien had to cultivate.

Just look at the little fellow. He was drooping like a withered blade of grass. It was quite pitiful.

Noticing the sympathy in Carola's gaze, Shu Li pursed his lips. He looked around but did not see the quiet little scholar anywhere, so he asked, "Where's Kumandi?"

"Him?" Carola spread his hands. "He went to the commercial district this afternoon and hasn't returned yet. Something may have delayed him."

In any case, there were small restaurants in the commercial district. He could fill his stomach as long as he paid a few gold coins.

Shu Li was somewhat disappointed.

He had wanted to ask Kumandi a few questions about magic.

Since Kumandi was busy, Shu Li would have to wait until tomorrow. For now, he needed to fill his stomach and recover his energy and strength.

He slowly flew over to the Little Fairies' table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Budno had almost finished an entire plate already.

"Budno, slow down," Shu Li reminded him. At the chubby boy's eating speed, he had better be careful not to damage his stomach by stuffing it too full.

"Mm-hmm!" Budno nodded while continuing to cram little fruits into his mouth, wolfing them down ravenously.

He was starving.

To lose weight, he had eaten only one plate of fruit for lunch. Who could have known that practicing magic in the afternoon would consume so much energy? The sun had not even set before he was famished.

After enduring until the end of class, he had been the first to charge into the cafeteria, the first to wash his hands, and the first to sit down and eat.

To make it up to himself, he had decided to eat two heaping plates for dinner.

Unable to persuade the chubby boy to slow down, Shu Li instead found his own appetite stirred by the sight of Budno eating with such relish. He picked up a small red fruit, popped it into his mouth, and bit down hard. Sweet and tart juice burst across his tongue, instantly whetting his appetite.

Abandoning all restraint, he began eating heartily as well.

After finishing ten small red fruits, he picked up a baked cake and ate it with nectar.

The nectar was as sweet as ever, while the baked cakes were crisp yet soft, with a rich milky fragrance. He ate five in a row before his stomach finally felt half full.

He paused for breath and slowed his pace.

Disio finished his last bird egg, licked his lips contentedly, and let out a satisfied burp. Turning toward Budno, he noticed that the boy had already eaten half of his second plate. Disio frowned and reached over to move the plate away.

"Ah..." Budno's cheeks were bulging with food, and his face was blank with confusion. Where was his fruit? Where was the big fruit he had specially asked an adult Fairy to give him?

He looked around and quickly discovered that his large fruit had been moved in front of Disio. Swallowing the food in his mouth, he widened his brown eyes.

"My fruit!"

Disio asked expressionlessly, "How many plates have you eaten?"

Budno froze, then guiltily raised one finger. "This is my first plate."

Pointing at Shu Li's plate, Disio mercilessly exposed his lie. "The first plate only comes with two Tata fruits."

Tata fruits were large, sweet, crisp, and very filling. Ordinarily, each meal included only two. Anyone who wanted more had to ask an adult Fairy for them.

Given Budno's gluttonous nature, he would undoubtedly have eaten his Tata fruits first as soon as dinner began.

Yet there were three on his current plate.

Obviously, he had asked an adult Fairy for another one after finishing his first plate of food.

Budno wanted to argue, but he could not come up with an excuse and could only glare.

After finishing his baked cake, Angel wiped the corner of his mouth with a small handkerchief. Smiling, he said to Disio, "Don't be so hard on him! We used up so much energy today. It's all right for him to eat a little more."

Hearing Angel speak on his behalf, Budno nodded vigorously in agreement.

Disio remained stern and unmoved.

Angel continued, "If he eats his fill at dinner, he probably won't need to sneak snacks in the middle of the night."

Budno's expression changed. He stared at Angel's smiling face in disbelief.

"Snacks?" Disio sneered. "What snacks?"

Budno opened his mouth but hesitated, while Angel kindly supplied the answer. "When we visited the commercial district together last week, he bought a bag of animal-shaped cookies."

"Angel!" Budno's face flushed bright red. What kind of brother sold him out like this?

Catching his resentful gaze, Angel scratched his silver hair and apologized, "Oh, sorry. It slipped out."

Disio ruthlessly handed the remaining fruit on Budno's plate to an adult Fairy.

There was no point sympathizing with someone who possessed absolutely no self-control. Budno had even been secretly eating late-night snacks. Did he want to lose weight or not?

Dejected, Budno lowered his head and pitifully fiddled with his fingers.

Shu Li ate his fruit while enjoying the spectacle.

Five years had passed, yet Budno had still not completely slimmed down because he sneaked food from time to time. Meanwhile, that quietly devious little Angel always managed to "accidentally" reveal Budno's secret snacking to Disio. Now that Disio knew, his next move would be to confiscate Budno's snacks.

Once the three companions had finished their exchange, Shu Li spoke at just the right moment. "Budno, are you full?"

"Burp—I'm full." Budno rubbed his slightly protruding belly.

In truth, he had already been full. He was simply greedy and could not resist eating more.

Shu Li said, "Once I'm finished, do you want to go to the commercial district together?"

The best way to stop the chubby boy from thinking about food was to distract him.

Sure enough, Budno's eyes lit up the moment he heard they were going to the commercial district. "Yes!"

Disio and Angel immediately declared that they wanted to come as well. Shu Li began eating faster.

"Sperien, what are you going to buy in the commercial district?" Angel asked curiously.

Shu Li expertly peeled the shell from a bird egg. "I'm going to the messenger post to send Mr. Serpent a gift."

For the past five years, he had remained in contact with Mr. Serpent and sent him letters every few days.

Naturally, Mr. Serpent also sent back all sorts of unusual things.

Yesterday afternoon, Shu Li had received a large piece of transparent crystal ore that looked extremely valuable. Today, he planned to send Mr. Serpent a gift in return and have the crystal's quality and purpose evaluated at the appraisal office in the commercial district.

"Oh! Mr. Serpent is so nice!" Angel exclaimed enviously.

Five years ago, the stupid bird had carried Sperien deep into the Faerie Forest, where he had met Mr. Serpent by chance. They had forged a deep friendship ever since and frequently exchanged gifts. Watching them made Angel long for a magical beast friend of his own.

Unfortunately, he was still too young to explore the Faerie Forest alone.

Shu Li also thought Mr. Serpent was wonderful.

He had never expected a chance encounter to lead to a friendship with an enormous magical serpent.

Mr. Serpent was nothing like the cold-blooded miser the other Fairies described. He was clearly gentle, generous, and magnanimous. Every gift he sent Shu Li was extremely valuable.

Shu Li had never even seen some of them before. Supposedly, they were specialties from various countries across the continent.

He had no idea how Mr. Serpent obtained them. In any case, receiving the gifts always made Shu Li happy, and he made sure to send something carefully chosen in return.

At first, he always sent red crystal flower seeds. Later, Mr. Serpent wrote back to say that he had advanced to the seventh rank and did not need any more seeds for the time being. Shu Li should save them for his own use.

Unable to accept receiving so much without giving something valuable in return, Shu Li switched to gifts such as Moonrise Stones and Sungold Grass.

Mr. Serpent wrote to him again, telling him there was no need to send such precious gifts every time. The things brought out of the Fairy Nursery were treasures bestowed upon Fairy cubs by the Light God. Every one Shu Li used was gone forever. If he needed them in the future and discovered he no longer had enough, he would regret it terribly.

Touched by Mr. Serpent's thoughtfulness, Shu Li chose ordinary gifts the next time, such as the many delicious fruits grown in the Fairy orchards.

They received part of the harvest during every gathering lesson, so he saved his share in his storage ring.

The storage ring preserved food extremely well. Fresh fruit placed inside would not spoil even after ten days or half a month. Once he accumulated enough, he would buy a pretty box in the commercial district, fill it with fruit, package it securely, and take the parcel to the messenger post.

After receiving the first parcel of fruit, Mr. Serpent quickly wrote back to say that he loved fruit grown by the Fairies.

Since he liked it, Shu Li began sending him fruit regularly.

Today, however, Shu Li did not intend to send fruit.

The crystal ore Mr. Serpent had given him was clearly worth a fortune, so Shu Li needed to send something more distinctive in return.

After rummaging through his storage ring, he had actually found something suitable.

A toothpick.

Three years ago, during the Midsummer Festival, Hamon, King of Dragons, had happened to be visiting the Elven Kingdom.

It was Shu Li's first time seeing one of the legendary Western dragons.

Hamon was silver-white from head to tail, and his scales gleamed like mirrors beneath the sunlight. His body was not nearly as bulky as the dragons depicted in movies. Instead, he was long and graceful. When his pterosaur-like wings spread, they spanned dozens of meters, and the slightest flap stirred up a terrifying hurricane.

Dragons were enormous. Three adults could have ridden on Hamon's back without any trouble.

Compared with such a dragon, a Little Fairy was scarcely larger than an ant.

Fortunately, Hamon could transform.

Before entering the Elven capital, he had assumed the form of a handsome young man with silver hair.

Curious about Shu Li, a Fairy cub who had also received the Elven King's blessing, Hamon had specially sought him out for a conversation and given him many gifts upon their first meeting.

Dragons were notoriously obsessive collectors with a particular fondness for anything that glittered. Most of Hamon's gifts consisted of gemstones, gold, and crystal ore.

Shu Li had been too embarrassed to accept them, but Hamon insisted. After they went back and forth several times, the Elven King finally spoke, and only then did Shu Li accept the gifts.

Luckily, Shu Li possessed a storage ring with an enormous capacity. Otherwise, he could never have stored that mountain of gold and silver ore.

While sorting through the gifts, he discovered a long, slender piece of metal and curiously asked Hamon what it was.

Hamon froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. "It's a dragon toothpick."

The toothpick had accidentally gotten mixed into the pile of gems and been given to the Little Fairy as part of his gifts.

Shu Li tried to return it, but Hamon declared that there was no taking back a gift once it had been given and refused to accept it.

With no other choice, Shu Li kept it in his storage ring.

When choosing a gift for Mr. Serpent today, he had spotted the toothpick and thought it would be perfect.

After large magical beasts ate, plenty of food remained trapped between their teeth. If they did not clean it out for a long time, bacteria could flourish and cavities could form. To maintain their personal hygiene, they always cleaned their mouths carefully.

Most magical beasts simply snapped off a branch and made do. Dragons were more particular and specially commissioned sturdy, durable metal toothpicks.

Mr. Serpent had so many teeth. He was sure to love this toothpick.

After finishing dinner, Shu Li left the cafeteria with his three companions. As they passed the school grounds, they spotted four familiar plump birds.

"Wow, it's the plump birds!" Budno shouted in his booming voice.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp~~"

Hearing him, the Taganya birds, whose feathers were fluffy and snow-white, greeted the Little Fairies cheerfully.

Shu Li flapped his wings and flew over, affectionately nuzzling against them.

These four plump birds were Doris's chicks.

When Shu Li had been traveling through the forest all those years ago, Doris had allowed him to spend the night in her nest.

That night, he, Doris, and her four chicks had survived a life-or-death ordeal together, forming an unbreakable bond.

Grateful to the plump bird for protecting the Fairy cub, the Fairies had invited her and her children to settle at the divine tree.

The plump bird had gladly agreed.

As low-rank magical beasts, living at the forest's edge was extremely dangerous. By moving to the divine tree, Doris could not only obtain valuable resources but also allow her chicks to grow up in safety.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye. The four chicks had grown at an astonishing pace. By now, they were as round as their mother, resembling great balls of snow.

"Chirp, chirp?" one of the plump birds asked where Shu Li was going.

Shu Li often communicated with them and could understand the general meaning of their language.

"To the commercial district," he replied.

"Chirp, chirp! Chirp!"

The four plump birds lined up in a row, spread their wings to reveal their sturdy backs, and adopted inviting postures, offering to take them to the commercial district.

Shu Li hesitated briefly, then agreed.

The plump birds could fly much faster than they could.

Angel and Budno cheered. They expertly flew onto the plump birds' backs and buried themselves in the soft feathers.

Only after Shu Li had climbed onto one of the birds did Disio leisurely settle on the back of the last one. Like Angel and Budno, he happily plunged into the fluffy plumage and rolled around.

"Chirp—"

The four plump birds bid farewell to Sif, beat their wings, and swiftly soared into the sky. In the blink of an eye, they had left the school grounds behind.