Watching the giant panda get closer and closer, Leo's heartbeat accelerated along with it. Even if he really wasn't afraid of death, how could a living creature's instincts not know fear? It's just that his will was higher than that, so it took the dominant role.
Closer still, Leo could see more clearly. Now he could be sure the panda's gaze was looking in his direction.
"Why is it looking at me? Could it be that he is the main subject of this scene?"
Thinking back, in this 'world' that giant panda was, up to the present moment, quite a main character. Moreover, judging by its gaze, perhaps Leo came here precisely because it called him.
"Little friend, do you like to eat dragon meat?"
The booming voice coming from the giant bear's mouth made the air vibrate noticeably. Leo's face scrunched up unpleasantly, it felt like his ears were constantly being 'punched'.
'This is normal, this is normal…'
Since he thought this space only involved consciousness, Leo hypnotized himself that this sound was actually very pleasant to hear. Surprisingly, replacing it really did have an effect, making him more confident in his own thinking.
"Eat it raw? That's not very good, doesn't seem very hygienic."
Even though he didn't know what it tasted like, his experience told him that eating cooked food and boiled water made you less likely to get sick. If you drank dirty water and ate raw meat you'd catch countless strange, incurable diseases. He had seen no shortage of people who, because they were too hungry, ate anything and soon after died of illness.
The giant panda used its bamboo staff to scratch its head, its gaze looking into the distance before shaking its head again. Looking at its eyes, it seemed somewhat regretful.
"Ordinary fire can't cook this thing properly. It's a pity there's no Cook God here, if we had him we'd be eating grilled dragon meat already."
Pausing for a moment, it threw the dragon in front of Leo. The ground shook, earth and rocks flew everywhere, almost taking his little life.
"I'm not eating it. You should keep it for yourself."
"Don't be so quick to refuse. Look, the meat of an energy monster isn't like normal animals, they're born from pure condensed energy. Just take a sniff and you'll find it very fragrant already. Even eaten raw it doesn't have any unpleasant smell. Moreover, among all the energy monsters I've seen, dragons are the most delicious kind."
Seeing the other party so enthusiastic, not eating seemed kinda impolite. Besides, this was a consciousness space anyway. Surely he wouldn't get diarrhea, right?
"Alright, for your sake, I'll eat a bit."
"Haha, try it once, careful you might get addicted. This stuff is rare, it's not like you can have it whenever you want."
The panda laughed loudly then plopped down to sit on the ground, tearing off a giant dragon leg and starting to devour it.
This scene made Leo extremely surprised. He wasn't unfamiliar with pandas, but he had only seen pandas eat bamboo, never seen one eat meat like this.
The giant panda didn't forget about Leo either, he tore off a chunk of meat bigger than Leo's house and threw it on the ground.
Looking at the giant chunk of meat before him, Leo suddenly swallowed his saliva. This smell... was really fucking fragrant! This panda wasn't lying to him, this thing and what he ate daily were clearly not on the same level.
Taking a big bite, Leo immediately opened his eyes wide as if he had just set foot in heaven. The texture of the meat was truly wonderful, wonderful to the point of being unreal. It looked very chewy but when bitten into, it melted softly in the mouth. The more he chewed, the softer it became, swallowing it turned it into a stream of energy that made his whole body feel refreshed.
"This really is condensed energy? Is it because it's dead so the structure isn't stable, making it disintegrate easily like this?"
"You can understand it like that. Essentially, all creatures on this continent have a high compatibility with energy. The meat you ate now is a source of ownerless energy, your body will easily convert it."
Hearing the panda's explanation, Leo immediately thought of a cultivation method. If he could just keep eating to get stronger, why not do it?
"Just by eating you can get stronger?"
"Correct, but you shouldn't do that. If you have a talent of three stars or above, cultivating on your own is faster than eating a lot."
Raphael had never told Leo these things, so he was also very curious about cultivation. Looking at this panda, he must have vast knowledge, and moreover, he was easy to talk to. Asking a bit more wasn't bad at all.
"If you're free, can you explain a bit more clearly?" Leo asked, his attitude relaxed as if the two had been acquainted for a long time.
"Time in this space is of course not lacking. Cultivation talent from high to low is from one star to nine stars. The higher the talent, the faster the cultivation, the higher the limit that can be reached. It's simple like that."
Leo had heard the villagers talk about this before but they didn't understand it clearly. They only knew that having one-star talent meant you could cultivate, more stars meant higher potential.
"What about you then? How many stars is your talent?"
This question might be a particularly important secret to others, but it's only important when you don't have strength yet. With strength as high as this giant panda's, why fear anyone? Of course there's no need to hide it.
"Haha, it's kinda embarrassing to say. I only have one-star talent." The panda laughed while eating, but it didn't sound like a lie.
Leo's eyes widened in astonishment. How could he not understand what one-star talent was? He had met plenty of people with this talent, all of them chose not to cultivate because the speed was too slow.
"How is that possible?"
"Just kidding with you a bit. Only humans have cultivation talent because humans are heaven's favorites. Of course it's not completely wrong because if I make a contract with you, then you'll become a contractor with one-star talent..."
Pausing for a beat, the panda thought for a moment then continued.
"To be precise, it's one star with nine stars inside. Total of ten stars meaning god-level talent. The cultivation limit is becoming a god."
Hearing this, how could Leo not understand? His breathing became hurried. Even though he had long known the panda wasn't ordinary, he didn't think it was this high. Moreover, hearing these words, it seemed like it had chosen him.