Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Chapter 112: Power leveling Part1

Tang Yue massaged her temples and frowned, but her demeanor and features remained calm and steady, giving her an exquisite enchanting aura.

"Calm down, Lotte." She mumbled, absent-mindedly continuing to tease the small snow white pup sniffing her leg.

Little Blue had now almost completely recovered from the poisoning and was energetically playing around in Tang Yue's vicinity.

Maybe because she was also a beast by nature, the little cub instantly took a liking to her without any sort of magic bonding and was lingering around her ever since it gained consciousness.

"Calm down. Don't worry about these things." Tang Yue reiterated.

The poor elf was terrified after he learned that Tang Yue had been expelled from the alchemy association.

Such a thing was definitely not that common!

"But your highness, what if what if" Lotte hesitated. It was not his place to question these things, but he was worried.

The princess had only just gained the favor of the crown prince and there were even rumors about her going to be the next queen consort.

And suddenly, in the midst of this good news, such a disastrous thing had happened!

Something like being expelled from the alchemy association was a heavy blow to Tang Yue's reputation.

Rather it would have been far better if she wasn't even associated with alchemy in the first place.

"Hai Hai. Enough. Let's not talk about this anymore. Why don't you tend to your other chores?" Tang Yue sighed loudly.

She picked up the cub in her arms and shooed away Lotte. "You can leave this little fellow here. I will take care of him from now on. Thanks for the help."

The elf was unnecessarily worrying about things that she didn't even care for. 

If this expulsion actually helps her get out of that bastard's good side and if he loses his confounding interest in her, then it was a very good thing! Hmph!

Setting Little Blue aside, she flopped onto her bed and settled comfortably.

It was time to do some much-deserved power leveling and remove the prefix 'cripple' from her name forever.

Tang Yue licked her lips and retrieved her first meal for the day, a neatly cleaned and chopped bundle of low grade crystal swan meat.

The moment she took it out the cute wolf cub started excitedly yelping.

"Ha Ha. Settle down, Little Blue." 

Tang Yue chuckled and patted her new eating companion, though she doubted if the small thing could even eat a fraction of what she inhaled on a regular basis.

Crystal swan was an enchanting and beautiful low grade bird beast with a divine appearance. 

It's crystal like white translucent feathers sparkled in sunshine emitting a wonderful calming and serene aura, giving peace to anyone who sees the bird.

It was truly a pity to see the beautiful creature bundled up like this, but the bird's meat was extremely tasty.

It's taste rivaled that of a high grade beast meat and was generally considered a poor man's delicacy.

This was why the little pup was jumping up and down in excitement, literally drooling at the sight of the juicy chunks of meat.

Tang Yue chuckled as she patted the little hooligan. She couldn't really interact with Little Plum, but Little Blue was simply adorable. 

She hugged the cute thing tightly and decided to indulge herself a bit.

She carried the meat in a huge platter and brought it to the kitchen quarters, with the little pup closely trailing behind her. 

Since Tang Yue always swallowed her prey whole without bothering to cook it, the kitchen was still mostly untouched.

Tongues of flame effortlessly appeared on her palm and Tang Yue quickly lit the firewoods neatly stacked under the stove.

Within seconds a decently strong flame was kindled and she quickly arranged a few meat chunks on skewers across the stove, getting warmed evenly by the heat.

Soon the fat started sizzling and a delicious aroma wafted out from the skewers.

Little Blue got even more excited and jumped up and down like a maniac.

"You look healthy!" Tang Yue nuzzled the little thing. She was happy that the pup had finally recovered from the poisoning.

The hungry duo waited for a few more minutes until the meat was thoroughly roasted on all sides and then began devouring it like starved animals.

The little pup especially was voracious. "Is this your first time eating meat?" Tang Yue chuckled.

The wolf cub let out a few yips in happiness, licked Tang Yue's hand lovingly, and then got back to attacking its share of roasted meat diligently.

"Heh. It looks like I have to earn more money just to feed this glutton." She smiled and dug into her food.

This was a welcome change compared to all the times she had gulped down raw meat one after the other.

Tang Yue also called Lotte over and shared a few of the meat skewers with the elf as well.

"Ah. Your Highness, why did you trouble yourself! I could have grilled it for you." Lotte scratched his head awkwardly.

Tang Yue grinned and waved her hand. "Just eat, you dufus."

Lotte nervously smiled and dug into the food as well. He even fished out a bottle of common grade spirit wine somewhere from the cellar and the dinner party got even more lively.

Tang Yue invited the guards over too and everyone enjoyed a pleasant meal together.

They couldn't help but be amazed at Tang Yue's casual attitude. There was no shade of arrogance or vanity in her demeanor.

The group completely relaxed in her presence and chatted about different things. 

Tang Yue actually got to learn a lot about the history of the elves and of course, the endless achievements of that deplorable thug, i.e. her husband.

The snake silently blushed at the thought of that madman and the things that he had done the last they met each other.

What a jerk! If only I could punch his arrogant face!

She scoffed and chugged down some more spirit wine, completely forgetting that she had done the same thing to Charlotte.

But oblivious to her subtle reactions, the elves continued to gush about Xander's fighting prowess, his ruthless demeanor, and how he single-handedly united the estranged elven clans by standing against the Emperor's high council geezers.

Tang Yue nodded intently listening to the stories and begrudgingly taking in huge mouthfuls of wine at regular intervals.

The merriment went on for a while and the gang only dispersed close to midnight.

It was a very delightful experience for someone like Tang Yue who had been alone for most of her life.

The snake happily grinned and retreated to her private chambers. 

She was a couple of crystal swans less for finishing the bloodline, but that was not too much of an issue.

She had already instructed Lotte to buy some more for her the next day and even given him the necessary resources.

Tang Yue lifted the bloated little wolf cub with her hands and carried the little fellow to her bed as well.

The duo then happily snored in resonance with their eyes closed and stomachs full.

Tang Yue only stirred awake the next day morning, when she lazily poked the small pup still snoring beside her.

She wanted to shift back and forth between her human form and serpentine form a few times in front of the pup in order to not scare the bejesus out of the little fellow.

Little Blue curiously eyed her with its dark blue eyes and blinked in confusion and fear.

Only after a few minutes and a lot of sniffing later, the cute dufus finally understood that both the figures were the same person.

Tang Yue rubbed the small thing's head lovingly and quickly got down to business.

She might have eaten for fun yesterday but today's meals were strictly business!

She retrieved a complete chopped crystal swan beast from her space pearl and shoved it down into her gullet.

As a beast, she somewhat equally enjoyed both the taste of the raw and the cooked meat. 

Especially, not that she was in her serpentine form, the swan meat tasted almost as delicious as yesterday.

But the taste was not the main reason why Tang Yue had selected this particular beast.

The taste was good indeed, but more than that, there was another reason.

A low-grade crystal swan bird was somewhat similar to a fire twin-tailed beast. 

While the latter had a fire elemental affinity, the former had an ice elemental affinity.

Just like the fire element, the ice element was also a very powerful offensive element. 

Though it was seldom useful in alchemy, it could greatly boost her current fighting prowess.

Since the evolution process was not exactly streamlined under Tang Yue's control, she was not absolutely sure that this would work.

She might or might gain a lesser ice affinity after absorbing this bloodline.

But it did work with the fire twin-tailed beasts and she had gained the lesser fire affinity from absorbing their bloodline, so there was no harm in trying at least once.