Chapter 80: Making Sierra This Happy Is Also My Talent

Dominic Crawford pushed himself to his feet and slowly walked over to Jayce. He spat fiercely at Hugo Cheney’s departing figure.

"What a piece of work! He only gets by because he has a good dad! If not for that, who knows where he’d be now, half-dead! Every single day, he’s got no skills of his own, yet he’s always looking down on everyone! What a piece of work!"

Jayce patted Dominic Crawford’s shoulder. "Pay him no mind. Wasting another word on him would be giving him too much credit. The sandstorm has died down quite a bit, and the Aberrant Beasts have stopped attacking. Everyone, let’s extract the Crystal Cores. As for the leftover carcasses, deal with them however you see fit!"

The battle was over, but that didn’t mean everything was finished.

In fact, there was still a lot left to do.

There was more to do, and it was all much more tedious.

These tasks were uninteresting and trivial to Jayce and Sierra Sullivan, but they were exactly what Dominic Crawford excelled at.

Dominic Crawford patted his chest. "Got it. I’ll take care of everything, don’t you worry!"

"I’ll leave the rest to you," Jayce said, turning his gaze to the massive Aberrant Beast, "but I’m handling this one myself."

"Alright!"

Dominic Crawford agreed, his eyes full of anticipation.

He was also dying to know just how big the Crystal Core inside such a massive Aberrant Beast’s head would be.

Would it be bigger than they could ever imagine?

Sierra Sullivan was also very curious.

But not curious enough to do it herself.

When she heard Jayce say he wanted to do it himself, she didn’t fight him for it, letting him take charge.

An ordinary blade would have no chance of splitting open this Aberrant Beast’s head.

Jayce used his Superpower, condensing water into a huge blade.

The massive blade cleaved down from the sky, splitting the Aberrant Beast’s head in two with a single strike.

Brains spilled onto the ground, but the swirling sand immediately covered them, making the sight a little less nauseating.

In truth, at that moment, no one cared whether it was nauseating or not.

Everyone’s attention was glued to the spot.

But the head was massive, and with so much brain matter, they couldn’t immediately spot the Crystal Core.

Dominic Crawford frowned. "How are we supposed to find it? Are we just going to dig in with our hands?"

At his words, Jayce glanced at Dominic Crawford without saying a thing.

But the look said it all.

Dominic Crawford scratched his head, wishing he could turn back time and take back his words.

Jayce didn’t stare at Dominic Crawford for long before looking away.

Using his bare hands was, of course, out of the question.

Jayce unleashed a steady stream of water, washing away the gore.

While the process looked a little... hard to stomach...

...the results were excellent.

It didn’t take long for a fiery red Crystal Core to be washed clean.

This Crystal Core was about the size of an egg.

It looked like a cut diamond, every facet perfectly translucent.

Its fiery red color was so beautiful that no one could look away.

It was a pure, solid red, without a single impurity.

It was hard to imagine that such a beautiful object had come from the brain of an Aberrant Beast.

Jayce stepped forward and picked it up. After cleaning it several more times with his Superpower, he walked over to Sierra Sullivan and handed it to her.

Sierra Sullivan accepted it without hesitation.

It felt cool and heavy in her hand, even more like a real diamond.

"Captain Crawford, the rest is up to you. We’re heading upstairs now," Jayce said to Dominic Crawford.

Dominic Crawford nodded eagerly. "Rest assured! Just leave the rest to me! We’ll have it all taken care of in no time!"

Jayce said no more, taking Sierra Sullivan’s hand and leading her toward the stairs.

Just as they started up the staircase, Sierra Sullivan heard someone muttering.

"They’re just taking that Crystal Core? By what right? Didn’t we help out? They didn’t even ask us, just took it for granted that it’s theirs. Isn’t that going too far?"

Hearing this, Sierra Sullivan stopped.

’There are always clueless people who say clueless things, no matter the situation.’

Sierra Sullivan didn’t stop to argue with the person speaking.

She simply wanted to wait and see how the others—and Captain Crawford—would react.

She had just come to a halt when she heard Captain Crawford’s voice.

"How much did you contribute? Of all the Aberrant Beasts on the ground, how many did you kill? You couldn’t even scratch the hide of this giant one, so where do you get the gall to say something like that? Even if they gave you that Crystal Core, would you even have the guts to take it?"

"I..." The man was left speechless by Captain Crawford’s retort, but unwilling to back down, he forced out, "Even if I didn’t contribute much, what about everyone else..."

"Oh, just shut up!" a girl snapped. "You think we’re all like you? Just because you have no shame doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t!"

"I know exactly what I’m capable of! If it hadn’t been for Sierra Sullivan and Jayce, every single one of us would be dead right now. The only way we’d be getting close to a Crystal Core then is by keeping it company from inside a beast’s stomach!"

"I’m embarrassed just listening to you have the nerve to ask for a share! The audacity! Don’t you have any idea what kind of person you are? Don’t you have a clue what you’ve actually done?"

"Not much skill to speak of, but your skin is certainly thick!"

Scornful remarks followed one after another. The man who had spoken first was so thoroughly ridiculed that he was left completely speechless.

Only then did Captain Crawford speak again, his voice slow. "If you think it’s unfair, that’s fine. We can all go upstairs together and explain the situation to the Base Commander. Whatever share he decides you deserve, that’s what you’ll get. How does that sound?"

"N-no... that’s not necessary..."

Captain Crawford sneered. "Giving up already? Is that all the courage you have? With guts that small, you still dare to stir up trouble? I’ll make this clear right here, right now. From now on, if anyone dares to pull something like this again, I don’t care if you’re a Superpower User, you’re not following me anymore! Don’t forget where the water you’re drinking comes from! It’s like they say, ’remember the one who dug the well.’ You can’t just drink your fill and then turn around and curse... curse your own dad!"

Hearing Captain Crawford’s last line, Sierra Sullivan couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter.

’This Dominic Crawford really is something else!’

’Even at a time like this, he remembered to watch his language!’

Jayce looked at Sierra Sullivan with a helpless expression. "Sierra, is it really that funny?"

Sierra Sullivan nodded earnestly. "It is! It’s hilarious!"

"Alright," Jayce said, his expression growing even more resigned, though his eyes filled with adoration. "If Sierra thinks it’s funny, then you should laugh more. I suppose being able to make you this happy is a talent of mine, too."