Chapter 64
Did they meet with danger?
Just now, a baby muka hatched. Xie Luan held this little baby in his arms, his brain slowly recovering from the shock.
The newborn muka cub was only a little bigger than an average rabbit, it was very easy for Xie Luan to hold this cub in his arms. It could be said that such a young muka was truly a real baby in every sense.
A moment ago, when the newborn muka cub hatched, she had almost immediately found her target and approached the familiar youth. After leaning into the youth's embrace, the muka cub soon snuggled against him subconsciously.
The cub's egg had been very active before it hatched, it had therefore been within Xie Luan's expectations that this baby would be the very first to hatch.
However, despite this prediction, when he woke up to see the baby breaking out of its shell, Xie Luan had still been a little taken aback.
Feeling the cub hesitantly rub against his chest and then trying again, Xie Luan lowered his head. The muka baby snuggling him looked up at him with the mukas' iconic scarlet eyes and called out to him with a very low hiss.
This was a healthy cub.
After observing, Xie Luan determined this in his heart.
It was not just Xie Luan who was looking at the baby muka. The ones sleeping next to him had already woken up and Ya Yi, as well as the much bigger muka cub, were also watching the cub resting in the youth's embrace.
There was always a special and wonderful feeling when seeing a small new life come into the world with one's very own eyes.
Life was the most incredible thing in the whole universe, regardless of which race you belonged to.
Although he didn't know what this feeling was, the muka cub walked closer to the youth. With his scarlet eyes he looked down at the cub nestled in his arms who was of the same race, she was so much smaller than him. Nick also immediately issued a low hiss from his throat.
"Nick was also a small baby when just born."
Holding the still very young newborn in his embrace with one hand, Xie Luan freed his left hand to touch the somewhat lowered head of the nearby muka cub and slowly said this sentence.
The youth's words made this muka cub tilt his head. Regarding the time when he had just hatched, this cub could actually already not remember much.
He couldn't imagine that he had ever been that small before. This muka cub all of a sudden lowered his head once more and carefully tried to snuggle Xie Luan lightly.
Seeing the youth hold the other cub, the muka cub by instinct naturally wanted the youth to hold him as well. But the muka cub knew that Xie Luan couldn't hold him, so he at once stopped this impulse and instead snuggled into Xie Luan's embrace.
He also wanted to be carried by the youth, but between being a small baby and being a big baby, this muka cub would still actually choose the latter.
The reason was very simple. As before, it was because he wanted to grow up so that he would have better combat abilities.
When he grew up, he would be able to protect the youth.
Although he could not carry the large cub, Xie Luan opened his arms to hug the muka cub and raised his hand to lightly pat the cub twice on his sharp forearm.
Cubs of the muka race possessed considerable combat strength— Xie Luan did not doubt this. But he felt that this sentence should be changed to exclude newborn muka cubs.
The external body of the muka race seemed ice-cold and hard, but the newborn muka cub in Xie Luan's arms was so small. Even if the body really was hard when he touched it with his hand, in his heart Xie Luan still felt that the cub in his embrace was soft.
It was true that the cub also had the sharp forearms that were attack characteristics for the battle race. But Xie Luan felt that if the baby was to use them now, with its current size, it would be pretty good to be able to cut some threads or ropes with them, the cub was not
The youth had a familiar warm scent. As the one who had called out to her when she was still an egg, the muka baby who had just hatched was obviously very dependent on Xie Luan.
Not only was her head snuggling into his chest, the two forearms of this muka cub was also lightly pressed against his body. In fact, it could be said that her whole body was nestled close against him.
This cub was also very energetic after hatching. Hearing the hissing of the cub in his arms, Xie Luan picked up one of the eggshell pieces scattered on the bed with the tip of two of his fingers and held it close to the cub's mouth.
Muka cubs would use their eggshell as a nutritious food after they hatched. The homework Xie Luan had done earlier to pass time was finally paying off.
Even when they had just hatched, muka babies had tiny pointy teeth which they used to get out of the egg.
When the youth handed over the food, the newborn muka cub instinctively accepted it and at once opened her mouth to nibble on the small eggshell piece handed to her by the youth.
Xie Luan was holding the edge of the eggshell while feeding. The cub was eating very fast, but he clearly saw her slow led down when she was about to bite his fingers.
This cub also seems to be a good baby.
He thought this as he held the small eggshell piece and fed it to the newborn baby, he then proceeded to feed her the next piece.
After feeding her all of the eggshell, Xie Luan reached out to touch the belly of this muka baby, there was indeed a little bulge.
When Xie Luan touched the baby's belly, the muka baby lowered her head to rub against his hand. After this, the baby obediently nested in his embrace, she did not move around.
While she nested, Xie Luan saw this newborn baby in his arm gradually fall asleep.
The first egg had hatched and soon after the remaining seven followed.
Xie Luan and everyone in the village was very happy that all the eggs who were injured in the natural disaster were able to hatch safely.
The only bad thing was that the last cub who hatched was not as healthy as the other seven.
From the beginning, this egg's life response had always been comparatively weak. It was already quite lucky that they were able to get it out of danger by using spiritual guidance and calling out to it.
Many races in the interstellar thought that the mukas were a natural battle race. That the mukas, including the cubs, were very violent and that they had an innate fighting instinct.
But as a matter of fact, cubs who lacked combat power were sometimes also born in the muka race, and the parents of these cubs would not abandon them.
"The babies don’t need to fight."
Xie Luan reached out to touch the nearest cub. His words were not only meant for the weaker muka cub, but rather for all the surrounding cubs.
Currently in the house, there were 12 muka cubs around Xie Luan. Both big and small babies surrounded him, trapping him in the middle.
Because they were confident in Xie Luan's care, the parents of the eight eggs did not choose to take them home after their cubs hatched one after another.
The parents wanted to let their cubs stay in the house for the time being and the head of the village and Xie Luan were also willing to take care of the newborn cubs, hence the current scene.
Hearing the youth's words, the dozen muka cubs surrounding him all made a low hissing sound respectively. Several of the cubs also waved their forearms at this time. This scene was actually somewhat adorable to Xie Luan.
The economic resources of the muka race. According to his current knowledge, in addition to the many adult mukas that would be hired as mercenaries on the battlefield, there was a more important income source— the export of natural resources.
There was a kind of ore called baseda, which was very suitable for making core parts for warships and machine armor. It was very rare and may not even be found on other planets, but was very abundant on Saina.
What's more, it was very difficult for other races to extract the ore because the mines with baseda ore had, without exception, some kind of special radiation that couldn't be broken down. Even if they wore defensive equipment, they couldn't completely protect themselves against it.
Those exposed to this special radiation would suffer from different degrees of damage which was irreversible and could not be repaired by medical treatment.
However, the mukas were completely immune to this kind of special radiation. As a result, at present, Saina was the planet with the largest export of baseda ore in the interstellar.
"Just raise the price, and sit back. Even if you make it ten times bigger, they will surely buy it."
From expression to tone, Xie Luan was very serious when he said this to the young man in front of him.
This village was also exporting baseda ore. There was a mine about half an hour away from the village. The adult mukas in the village would extract the baseda ore according to the rotation system and then sell it to the outside world.
Although it was certainly not a long-term plan to rely on the export of natural resources alone, in the beginning of development, sitting on a rare natural resource was undoubtedly a very fast way to get money. It was very suitable for the current situation of the muka race.
Besides, the price of baseda ore, a rare resource, had not been raised for many years by the mukas, which had been taken advantage of by the other races.
Rare resources, even if the price was high, would still sell. Whether to buy or not to buy, people who needed these rare resources did not have the luxury to choose.
Having never thought about raising the price, Duke who now heard the youth surrounded by a group of cubs say this, suddenly had an epiphany.
But before going off to find and discuss it with the others, Duke looked at the clock and couldn't help worrying about some mukas who still hadn't come back to the village yet.
Seeing the anxious expression on his face, Xie Luan cast a questioning look at the other.
"Usually, by this time, the adults who go off to the mine have already returned to the village. I don't know why they still haven't come back today, so I'm a little worried. "
Duke truthfully voiced his worries.
The security on Saina was really not very good. Between the village and the mine there was an ungoverned area. Some people in the interstellar regarded this kind of area as an unregulated zone.
Did they meet with danger? Even though he knew of the adult mukas' fighting strength, Xie Luan still immediately thought this and at the same time, Xie Luan naturally could no longer sit still.
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Translator's note:
Our precious mukas.. If anyone dares to hurt them, give ́em hell! o(｀ω´)o