What if

Meeting in a relaxed way the incoming monsters, Eric lowered his focus for a second, and the fangs of the saber tooth tiger were coming closer to his face quickly.

This lack of attention was calculated in a way because he knew this monster, having fought with tens of his akin the past days, and his experience allowed him to easily evade the attack.

Then a curious thought sprang into his mind.

*What if? *

He quickly acted on it, not having the time to reflect deeply on his subsequent action, while moving as if he was instinctively dodging the incoming fangs.

Then something happened…Pooom with a sound similar to an explosion or a gun shooting three plant roots, thick a couple centimeters, as if they became spears with metal heads directed and pierced the eyes and skull of the monster.

Seeing the near-instantaneous death of their leader, the other tigers tried withdrawing, but Rubra cut their path, encircling them in the fire.

All this while Eric had already made skewers out of the close Mammoth Moles and then proceed giving the coup de grace to the broiling tigers Rubra had reserved for him.

After a couple minutes of checking there weren't any more incoming enemies and butchering the edible parts out of their hunting booty Rubra broke the silence.

''So…how did you do it?''

Living practically alone in a cave for two hundred years since age five, she didn't learn anything resembling confidentiality or any other social skills.

In this way, even though when he first caught up on that, he worried about it being a trap, Eric slowly lowered his mental barrier with her without even understanding when he had started being completely honest with her.

That was the first time since his early school days that he showed himself to someone as he was and not as it was beneficial.

In a similar way, a smiling baby made almost any adult forget about social norms and start behaving in a more relaxed and stupid way in order to keep the baby smiling.

In the same way, after their talk about Rubra's past, Eric decided to patch up her past the most as possible and protect her purity.

It would kill him to see her crying again!

This frame of mind led him to be as honest as possible about her question.

''Do you remember when I told you I was a tamer?

Someone told me my potential may be greater than I thought, so I tried 'taming' three plants and asked them to attack using their roots.''

For a few moments, Rubra kept her mouth open like a yellow rat-like monster with red cheeks, but after a few moments of pure astonishment, she continued speaking with a faster tempo now while massaging her temples with her hands.

''Wait…let me understand, you can tame plants?''

Unfazed, with an expressionless face, he answered her question: '' Probably, I'd have to try with many other forms of vegetation to be sure, but maybe it can also apply to other objects usually described as inanimate!''

At this point, Rubra thought for a second to be talking with some incredible monster with the appearance of a handsome man.

Her mind quickly concentrated on another detail of his previous answer.

''Moreover, what do you mean a person told you?

Who is that?... What's his name?''

Her voice was imperceptibly worried, and the rhythm slightly faster.

For a second, Eric thought she seemed jealous, but his mind gave him the wrong bias representing Rubra as a kid that wanted his father figure's attention.

This was caused by the fact that the previous night she told him the Phoenix race officially became adults when 300 hundred when their power flux created a solid spherical nucleus, and she was in the early 200s yet.

Another cause of that was the fact that, due to the brim-filled routine of the past days, and being used to his past average looks, during his first night in the forest, he didn't even worry about watching his new outer appearance when he found a creek in the forest.

For this reason, he didn't know his pale chiseled face, jet black hair, and golden iris eyes were the real reason Rubra muttered during their first meeting.

Finally, in his past experience dating on Earth, he had never had girls compliment him for his appearance or make the first move on him.

He always had to put his best mask on to attract and have a chance to meet new people.

Because of these three main reasons, Eric didn't give much weight to the question and continued with a relaxed, absent-minded tone.

''You know, she tried helping me in my travel and gave me helpful hints to become stronger.

For her name, I guess her friends would call her Esis.''

Her animal instinct gave conflicting signals, one was the interest of Esis for Eric, and the other was that Eric didn't actually call her Esis, but she had to check about the second one.

Inhaling deeply, she asked with a voice slightly trembling.

''Ah, how interesting.

Since when are you two friends?''

Feeling a slight shiver, he answered, ignoring it.

''Not that long.

It would be more accurate to describe our relationship as travel acquaintances. ''

*Yes, a travel called revenge! *

This answer made Rubra relax, and consequently, the surrounding plant life 'sighed' in relief,

not knowing that their life's hours were numbered.