He thought back to the skarn he had killed before entering Veyrhold, to the strange jolts of heat and strength he had mistaken for Molten Assimilation reacting to danger. It had happened then too, hadn't it? Small amounts. Buried beneath panic, injury, and ash-working. He simply had not understood.
Now he did.
Or at least, he had the first piece.
Liora looked at him.
"First clean death-gain?"
Rohan slowly turned toward her.
"That's what that was?"
She blinked.
"You didn't know?"
"No."
Sen, one of the archers, lowered his bow.
"You've killed beasts before."
"I came from a place where killing beasts makes crystals drop. You absorb those later."
Everyone looked at him.
Even Jorren.
Rohan looked between them.
"What?"
Liora rubbed her forehead.
"Crystals drop?"
"Yes."
"From the bodies?"
"Yes."
"And you pick them up?"
"Yes."
"And eat them?"
"No. Absorb them."
"With your hands?"
"Something like that."
The silence that followed was profound.
