Rogue Villain-Chapter 344: Nod Or Shake

Ackster looked at the bird trapped beneath his feet. His arms had recovered in time for when the eight-winged bird with light blue feathers that grew whiter the closer to its belly they grew woke up. But pressing it to the ground with his foot was a more effective way of establishing dominance and mentally suppressing the bird’s will to resist.

If he used his hand to hold the bird up, it wouldn’t be as intimidating.

Now, Ackster didn’t necessarily need to be intimidating. But he needed to control the bird. For that, fear was usually a very efficient method.

Fortunately, smart creatures had an easier time sensing and feeling fear than less intelligent beings.

The bird wasn’t necessarily trembling in its skin at the mere sight of Ackster. But it was aware of the situation it was in.

Ackster furrowed his brow. It looked like the bird would be compliant, at least to some degree. Now, the only question was how to communicate with the poultry. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The bird was the strongest beast Ackster had encountered in this place. It was also the smartest. And as if that wasn’t enough, it was the first to display the power of the source that Ackster had only seen in the beasts native to this miniature world.

If Ackster just popped it into his mouth, he ran the risk of forever losing the opportunity to learn more about that source.

No, Ackster had to have the bird teach him what he wanted to know.

’Maybe...’

*Do you understand if I do this?*

Communicating with his Will didn’t use language the same way spoken word did. It was just expressing his thoughts. And based on the bird’s widened eyes, it seemed to have reached, at least. It was just that the bird couldn’t respond. Ackster wasn’t even sure if it understood.

*Nod if you do.*

Ackster demonstrated with a nod of his own. He wasn’t sure what knowledge the bird had.

Slowly, the bird imitated Ackster’s nod.

*That’s a nod. So, you do understand?*

The bird nodded again, with more confidence this time.

*Great. If you give me what I want, I’ll spare your life.*

The bird was pretty big, at least as big as the gorilla, and it had an incredible wing span. But there wasn’t much mass on its body, and it didn’t have anything special that Ackster wanted to try and get with Monster Muncher or Smelting Furnace, aside from its source.

The bird nodded and kept eye contact with Ackster, trying to signal its desire to know what it was Ackster wanted.

Ackster tilted his head. He had a surprisingly easy time reading the bird’s expression. He wondered if it was due to all the time he had spent with Mio or maybe because he had eaten a bunch of beasts and became better at understanding them.

Whatever it was, it didn’t really matter.

*That source of power you used when attacking me...—What was it, and how do I learn it?*

The bird opened its beak slightly before snapping it shut several times in a row and making pulsating noises at the base of its long throat.

’Right.’

*I guess we need to figure out a way for me to understand you, I guess. Do you think you can learn how to do this? Nod if you do, shake your head if you don’t.*

The bird shook his head almost instantly.

Ackster sighed. Why could things never be easy?

Ackster just stared at the bird while thinking about how to solve this predicament when something tapped him on the leg.

"Mio? You sure it’s safe to come out?"

Since Ackster had a tendency to wreck his body and whatever he wore when he fought, but because he couldn’t leave Mio somewhere else when doing things like entering the Alchemaze, he had started letting Mio wait a safe distance away whenever it looked like things were getting dangerous. Mio wasn’t like Denebre’s Necklace that he could just shove inside his Inventory whenever it ran the risk of getting caught in the crossfire.

The cute little slime was a living being and thus couldn’t enter the Inventory.

Mio nodded before pointing at the bird and then at itself, finally giving Ackster an okay sign. Mio was going to handle it.

Ackster shrugged. He wasn’t sure how a slime was going to communicate with a bird, but Mio seemed eager to try, and Ackster wasn’t going to stop the slime when he didn’t have any other alternatives lined up.

Mio pushed Ackster’s foot off the bird’s back. Ackster was worried the bird would take off, but he trusted Mio, so he removed it.

Mio patted the bruises on the bird’s body and mended its broken wings with its slime.

’I guess that’s thanks to me.’

Mio’s slime had healing properties. Ackster didn’t know about that, but it only made sense after how much of Ackster it had eaten. It was a little interesting that the slime had picked up that kind of ability, though, simply by eating a little of his flesh. Ackster wondered what else it had learned.

The bird didn’t flee, even when it was fully recovered. Instead, it perched on the ground and looked at Mio like an eagle or maybe a crane looking at a mouse. However, it had no intention of eating the slime.

The bird knew well enough not to attack Ackster’s familiar, especially when it had just shown the bird kindness. But the bird’s instincts also warned it not to do anything against the slime because the slime wasn’t as simple as it looked.

Mio started gesturing at the bird with a row of tentacles. The slime made images, words, and movements that the bird looked at, nodded or shook his head at, and pointed at when necessary. The bird also started making its own sounds after a while. Mio responded to those sounds by weaving images or depicting actions with its tentacles.

Ackster could only look on in awe as Mio learned the bird’s language in a matter of minutes. Mio also seemed to have taught the bird a lot of words and information it might need to tell Ackster what he wanted to know.

Ackster also realized that he could learn to understand the bird by watching them. So, that’s what he did. He even activated Limit Breaker to the max for Overhuman Senses, Clear Mind, and Diamond Body.