The two stem glasses lightly clinked against each other.
The old Neanderthal man tilted his head back and downed half a glass of red wine in one go, smacking his lips and making a tsk-tsk sound, but he shook his head.
"Apart from having a higher alcohol content, it's still not as good as my blueberry wine."
The old man was honest, calling it like he saw it, never going against his own heart.
This evaluation took Hanna Gagar by surprise. She put down her stem glass and said earnestly, "Can I try it?"
She looked toward the small garden enveloping the energy tower and found the lush blueberry bushes, where the temperature and humidity were both very pleasant, no different from a real greenhouse or warm shed.
While conducive to plant growth, these conditions weren't necessarily good for fruit setting.
As if sensing Hanna Gagar's skepticism, Barut nodded and said, "Of course, please wait a moment!"
He turned and left, and before long, he returned with a bottle full of purple liquid and two more stem glasses.
As an old drunk, various drinking vessels were indispensable.
While pouring the wine, the Neanderthal elder said, "Only with a large temperature differential between day and night can sweet, delicious fruits be grown. When it's time to fruit, I move them outside."
In the Xingdu Kush Mountain Area, except for winter, the temperature differential between day and night during spring, summer, and autumn was always significant, especially in summer when the highest daytime temperatures could reach over thirty degrees Celsius, plummeting to freezing cold after nightfall. As for winter, almost 95% of the time, the temperatures remained below zero degree Celsius.
Constant temperature was only suitable for blooming and leaf growth, but it wouldn't yield good fruit, and Barut had put a lot of effort into caring for these plants and flowers.
You reap what you sow; the blueberries harvested each year were enough to make hundreds of pounds of fruit wine. Along with a few other types of fruit wine, it allowed the Neanderthal elder, who tended to his garden in his spare time, to be self-sufficient and enjoy his drink freely.
The fruit wines that weren't consumed in time were sealed and refrigerated, which allowed them to be preserved even longer.
If one was willing to sacrifice some flavor, using a distiller to increase the alcohol content could extend the preservation time even further. However, the esters produced during the aging of high-proof spirits couldn't compensate for the lost original fruit aromas, which could be a bit of a loss.
After taking a small sip and savoring it in her mouth for a moment, Hanna Gagar nodded and said, "Barut, your blueberry wine indeed has more flavor than the dry red from Lamlin Vineyards I brought."
"Hey, hey, that's enough from you two!"
Chen Fei was dying with regret. What snacks did he bring to accompany the drinks?
Now he was in a fine mess, unable to get any snacks and only able to watch others drinking and eating.
Wasn't this too tempting?
You two are overdoing it, hey!!!
Chen Fei really wanted to discard the damn horse stance and join in the eating and drinking, but... he couldn't beat either of them!
"Huh! Just like that, you can't handle it anymore?"
The female executive manager, holding a stem glass filled with blueberry wine, came up to Chen Fei and scrutinized him from head to toe.
"Who, who said that!"
Chen Fei stiffened his neck; he could hold out for at least another quarter of an hour.
A real man can't admit defeat in front of a woman.
"If nothing's wrong, then stand more. When you can stand steadily for four hours, you'll be considered a beginner."
The Neanderthal tribe elder, Barut, picked up a piece of braised lamb hoof and started nibbling on it contentedly.
After the gravy was absorbed, the lamb hoof became fragrant and tender, not as greasy as pig's trotters, nor as muscular as cow's trotters. One bite was full of collagen, the texture was perfect—not too greasy with just a bit more, and not too tough with just a bit less.
Chen Fei's face was streaked with black lines. Last time, he had only managed to stand for eleven minutes. The thought of four hours was too daunting to even contemplate. Are you trying to stand me to death, old man?
The female executive manager, Hanna Gagel, held her wine glass with an air of leisure and said, "Stand well, and I'll explain bit by bit."
Chen Fei kept silent, but his mind was filled with rich thoughts.
What's there to talk about? Let me have a sip of wine first. Standing mindlessly is really tiring.
"Supernatural power users are a specialty of Blue Star. On Cangqiong Star, because the magic elements in the atmosphere are more active, it's possible for mages and war professionals, these two kinds of ability users, to develop. Whereas Blue Star's magic can only exist in novels and television dramas."
"Perhaps in the Ancient Era, the magic elements in the atmosphere of Blue Star were once active, giving birth to many myths and legends that are still told today.
Now, thanks to the Dimensional Gate between Blue Star and Cangqiong Star, a portion of the active magic elements have drifted over, awakening the Innate Talent of many Blue Star People, thus resulting in the appearance of supernatural power users."
"Supernatural power users are not unique to Blue Star—among the Human Race of Cangqiong Star, there will occasionally be supernatural power users who suddenly awaken, although they are very rare. It's more suitable there for the emergence of mages and war professionals."
"At the beginning of an awakening, a Special Ability is already set in stone and cannot be changed, and the room for growth is very limited, unlike mages who have a clear system. At least currently, there isn't any. Chen Fei, as a Metal Ability User, you cannot activate a Wind-type Psionic Ability as I can. However, a mage could, although the efficiency would vary greatly.
Elemental magic that is compatible with one's Affinity is doubly effective, while the low-affinity ones are less effective, and may even be unstable."
"Therefore, for every Ability User, the most important thing is control, precise control over one's Special Ability. Whoever uses it more skillfully is the more powerful one. There are no trash Special Abilities, only trash Ability Users. Did you understand?"
Hanna Gagel downed the Blueberry Wine in her tall glass, waiting for Chen Fei's response.
"Control? How do you control it?"
Although he understood, when it came to applying it to himself, Chen Fei quickly became confused again.
"Precisely speaking, it means using your Special Ability just right in the most suitable place,
for example, if you want to eat a boiled egg, Method 1: swallow it whole, Method 2: use a mini-drill to saw open the shell, Method 3: tap it on the table and then peel, Method 4: boil it, cool it in cold water, tap the shell and easily peel it off."
Hanna Gagel's tall glass was refilled once again.
After trying the Blueberry Wine, she lost all interest in the dry red wine she brought with her.
Wine, also a kind of fruit wine, might be finely brewed in a winery, but it still couldn't compare to this Neanderthal elder's homemade wine.
Barut was quite willing to share his labor's fruits. Drinking alone is called solitary drinking, which one can't do for long, and it's also easy to get drunk. Drinking is about having more people for the atmosphere. Drinking, well, is all for the sake of a Happy time. Otherwise, getting yourself dizzy, what's the fun in that?
After the female executive manager made her analogy, Chen Fei immediately understood and said, "It's about efficiency, the cost-effectiveness ratio."
The degree of efficiency in using Special Abilities all depends on control. No wonder she kept emphasizing the control of Special Abilities.
"It's roughly the same idea. Because of differences in understanding, the effects of Special Abilities often vary from person to person." The executive manager stretched out her hand, and a small tornado formed in her palm, emitting a soft whistling sound. With a light pinch, it dissipated into nothingness.
She continued, "The essence of wind is air, the variations in gas density, the changes in gas pressure, are the external manifestations of energy flow. Once you understand the essence of wind, you'll also need a bit of imagination."
Hanna Gagel gently pushed towards the door of the house, and a loud thud resonated, followed by a blast of air, creating a whirlwind inside the steel-structured shack.
Witnessing this, Chen Fei couldn't help but inhale sharply.
Barut discreetly timed the duration, fifteen minutes had passed, a teachable scholar indeed.