You have gained 1 Worm Meat.
You have gained 1 Worm Silk.
You have gained 1 Worm Skin.
"Come here and loot the items!" he called over to Laney and Pooky, who were already well underway. A mere minute later, they had already tallied the spoils of war, them being: fourteen meat, twelve silk and six skins.
"What do we do with them?" Pooky asked, not quite pleased with the results. Kaden made a guess.
"Probably use them during crafting or cooking. On the world where we come from, there were things called games. Within those games, monsters dropped parts of them and we used those parts to make food or potions, to name a few examples." Pooky mulled it over for a moment before he replied.
"I see. Anyway, how about we try to kill some more of these worms?" Kaden grinned from ear to ear, waiting for someone to give the go-ahead. The two women shook their heads, chuckling.
They were within a short walk to the second worm group. Laney rebuffed everyone and stood back with Eliana, just like with the first group of worms. Pooky and Kaden’s eyes met, and both nodded.
[Frozen Land]
The same thing happened again. All the worms slowed down, and some even seemed to have gotten Frostbite sapping at their health. Just in time, Pooky’s flaming inferno shot up from the ground and killed all the worms except one, which died of an arrow that entered its mouth and never came out. A chime rang out, announcing a newly received message.
Achievement unlocked. Monster slayer: Level 1.
When fighting any monster/creature, deal 5% extra damage, both physical and magical.
Kaden grinned madly. Nothing to laugh at, though at this level and damage output, it wasn’t anything to write home about. Still, he was glad about any boons he or the group received. In the end, it could mean the difference between life or death.
He looked around at the group, finding Laney had gained something as well. She had gotten something similar to him, and he was genuinely happy for her. Just then, Razor landed on his shoulder, a lot smaller than when he took off. He took out one of the meats and fed it to his soul-bond, who gulped down two pieces before he was satisfied.
"It could taste better, but I suppose that someone with a fine taste for food like me shouldn’t expect anything better from you bunch," Razor mocked.
"You little!" Eliana cursed as she was about to slam her bow on top of the bird’s head.
"Hey! What are you people standing around for? Let’s get done with the third group so we can go back to the village," Pooky interjected. Using the same tactics and skills, the third batch died uneventfully, dropping more ingredients.
Sometime later, they entered the northern gate, leaving the sensation of danger behind to their surprise. They didn’t feel any presence looming over them, no danger threatening their lives, no nothing.
"Now this is what I call eerie," Laney said, shivering. Not letting it bother them for long, they made way for the center of the village, where they spotted Frederic giving orders to some of the villagers.
"Oh, hello, my friends. Are you back already?" he said, approaching the group. In turn, they smiled at the older man and stopped beside him.
"Yes we are, Frederic. There is something we would like to know," Kaden said as he took out all three items that dropped from the Ground Eaters. Frederic’s eyebrows rose and his lips curled up in a smile. The man seemed ten years younger as his happy face lifted their spirits.
"Why, Mister Kaden, this is a great day!" the man cried. The four didn’t quite understand why Frederic was so happy, but they waited patiently for the man to proceed. ‘The meat can be used in many ways, including cooking, roasting and drying. Each of these ways recovers stamina in a different quantity. What is more, the skin and silk can be used in tailoring. To be more precise, they can reinforce existing armour. An upgrade if you will.’ Now it was their turn to raise their eyebrows and smile in turn.
"This is opening up a new world of possibilities!" Kaden said. "So, if we roast the meat, it will be edible to us?" Petronella chuckled at his words as she walked up to them.
"Please forgive me. I saw you taking out the items and had to come over to congratulate you! Now we can finally start cooking, and teaching you kids more about this world and how to survive in the wild!"
"Give me those items," Laney said, putting her hand out. Kaden handed over everything to her, watching both Eliana and Laney follow Petronella as they disappeared towards the longhouse.
Two other women joined them, and took the meat off their hands. One of the women spread the meat out on top of four large leaves, while the other fetched some water. The two proceeded to clean it, while a third came over and started a fire. Not even ten minutes after they had handed over the meat, it was getting dried and cooked for the entire village.
"Where will you store the dried meat?" Kaden asked one of the women as he approached them. She smiled at him and pointed towards a mound of soil.
"There inside. Go take a look," she replied. He walked over towards the mound, and was surprised to see some kind of contraption built within the earth. It was quite spacious, somewhere around two by two. A wooden construction covered with sticks, leaves and vine took up all of the space. It almost looked like a box, but inside the soil. Whatever, he thought and turned back around, with no idea how that thing would ever help them preserve food.
Laney and Eliana busily cut into the skin and used the silk to bind straps together. They seemed to know what they were doing, but to an onlooker, it looked like they were playing.
Half an hour passed before the two women were done. They stood up and gave both Pooky and Kaden two items. One of them looked like long sleeves that would protect the arms, while the second item went around the waist. They looked idiotic, but felt quite sturdy at the same time. Kaden exhaled and put them on.
Successfully upgraded armour and pants.
Armour: 14. Pants: 12. New total armour value: 39
"Did you just see this?" Kaden laughed out loud. "My clothing got upgraded and changed its appearance, while adding defense value at the same time!"
Pooky’s wide open mouth closed itself as he did the same, putting on the additional items. They merged into his existing ones. A smile grew on his lips. The two women chuckled and did the same. Everyone started talking at the same time, sharing their joy. Emotions settled down quickly, and the need for more arose.
"We need a lot more of this to make ourselves proper armour, and not just improvised parts," Laney said, tapping at the short sleeves.
Suddenly, a loud ruckus drew their attention. The villagers were laughing and howling in joy as the longhouse was finally done. They ran over to Frederic and Petronella, who were hugging each other and dancing.
"Great job you did there, Frederic," Kaden said, and caught himself as he did not want to overlook the others, ‘and all of you together! This building looks majestic!’
"Yes, yes, great job indeed!" a thundering voice spoke from the sky. The villagers dropped to the ground in fear, knowing who the voice belonged to. "Now now, don’t go all weak on me. I'm just here to congratulate you all and give you a task."
"My lord," Kaden replied, looking up at Bardos. "What is it that we can do for you?"
Bardos chuckled, and jumped down from something that was invisible to them. He landed with the grace of a cat and looked the group over. "I have already given you one task, and that is to build me something. Now, I'm giving you a second task. To the north of the village lies a dungeon. It's about an hour walk from here. Get inside and clear it. The item it drops upon completion is to be handed over to me as thanks for giving you another chance."
"I see, my lord. I'll do so upon your request," Kaden replied, bowing slightly. I know that there is more to the task than what Bardos just said. It meant that he wasn’t able to get it himself and needed us to get it for him. But what would be so important? Maybe it was just a test to see if they were loyal enough, Kaden thought.
"I think that it's actually something import
ant this time. Be careful with him, or he might do us in," Razor replied without even being asked.
Bardos just stood there, smirking knowingly. "The bird is correct. Do not disappoint me, children."
A flash of light blinded everyone for a few seconds. When they could see again, Bardos was gone. The villagers got up and returned to what they had been doing before, just like mindless slaves.
"What the hell?" Laney commented to no one in particular upon seeing the villagers’ behaviour.
Kaden sat down and sighed. "If he created them, then it should be all too natural for them to worship him. Anyway, Razor, do you know anything about what he was talking about?"
The bird perked up and turned its head towards Kaden. "No I don’t. However, I do feel it radiating to the north of the village. It's emanating a rather strong power, if I may say so. I’m sure that death will only be a breath away if we even manage to make it inside from all the enemies that roam that part," Razor replied.
"I see. And what about the item he talked about?"
The bird shrugged at the question. "Beats me. All I know is that the power equals, well, no idea to what. It's powerful beyond measure, compared to the state we are in now."
"I guess we will find out soon enough if we manage to get inside and beat the thing."
Chapter 17
Kaden stood atop of the northernmost towers, staring into the distance. His small band stood beside him doing the same. There was only forest as far as the eye could see. To the east and the south they could watch the sea in the far distance, and smell the salty air as a breeze blew it their way.
Razor was perched on his shoulder, lazily croaking every now and then. For a good hour, they had been observing the monster movements to find a way through the forest without much luck. Every time they thought a pattern was visible, something changed radically to crush their newly made plans.
What was worse, Kaden had only three [Flood] spells left, and the area of effect wasn’t nearly as large as [Frozen Land]. Pooky was in a similar situation, with his larger spell also used up for now, and left with single spells and a short-range area of effect spell.
The monsters outside were steadily going about their routines, with little to no change. Kaden felt the urge to scream at them, to call them names, but he knew better. If his friends and the villagers were to respect and count on him, there was no way he could flip out. But what could he do? Waiting a whole day to cast just three skills wouldn’t do much good in any case.
"Razor, go and scout one more time, please. Go up to a range of a hundred metres, but no more, and see if you can find it this time."
The bird croaked once, and flew off for the third time in the last hour. A dozen metres in, he changed to his larger form, flapping his powerful wings to gain altitude and speed. The further the distance between the bird and Kaden, the worse he felt inside. It started off like an uneasy feeling, and made its way up to a dull ache. When Razor disappeared from view, Kaden fell to his knees, clutching at his guts. It became hard to breathe, his eyes becoming blurry.
"Do you want me to go on? I can’t find anything around here, but the feeling is much stronger up ahead. I think a few kilometres."
"Will I die?" Kaden thought back. Razor laughed sheepishly.
"No, but you will probably faint after a few more seconds, and when you wake up, a world of pain will await you."
"Do it. Find that dungeon and memorize everything as you go."
"As you wish," the bird replied as the pain became even more unbearable. Kaden came to the point where he had to scream and tear at his own skin. His friends had to intervene and hold him still. Moments later, he fell unconscious.
Razor’s croaking within his mind woke Kaden up sometime later. The bedding beneath his back was soft, and felt like he was laying on a bed of leaves. Beside him, Laney sat sleeping while holding his hand. He smiled inwardly and turned towards her, rustling the leaves beneath him. True to his thought, he lay on a bed of leaves.
"There’s a first time for everything," he murmured.
"Yeah there is. Anyway, I found something out. About three thousand metres to the north-north west is a graveyard. It's filled to the brink with creatures that are dead and not dead, so to speak. In the midst of those things lies a catacomb that emanates enormous power. I honestly have no idea how to get in there alive."
"And the road leading there? How dangerous is it?" Kaden asked after some thought.
The bird croaked again. "The road itself isn’t too dangerous from what I saw. The eaters still haven’t respawned, and will not for a while longer. A total of seven groups walked along the path that was most direct. But you never know what might appear. He really made a mess out of this."
Kaden cursed and sat upright, waking Laney up as well. She smiled at seeing him up again.
"Are you alright? Is the pain gone? Did Razor find anything out?" she asked hurriedly. Kaden chuckled, eager to tell her everything but found it rather cute the way she spoke.
"Razor found the dungeon about three kilometres to the north. There are at least seven groups of enemy mobs to worry about along the way, and a big mass of enemies when we get there. The dungeon is located in a graveyard teeming with the dead and undead." Laney closed her eyes and shuddered.
"Eww, that's so gross. I don’t want to go near those things if they smell as bad as I just imagined them. That’s nasty!" Kaden laughed heartily, squeezing Laney’s hand.
"Don’t worry, fair maiden. I'll kill them for you, so that your eternal beauty will never be tarnished by the undead stench!" he teased.
"Right. Now, how about we try and come up with something that might level the playing field somewhat?" Laney asked.
"What can we do, though? There are probably hundreds of them. Not that hundreds or thousands make any difference, right?" Eliana added.
"We have an anvil and metal bars. We also have wooden shields and a lot of metal weapons. Someone should be able to do something with all of those things and make us better gear, or some contraptions that will help us get through the crowd, right?" Kaden asked.
"Are you two talking about smithing?" Pooky asked as he and Eliana walked up on them. "As in hammer, anvil and making stuff?"
"Yeah, that kind of smithing," she replied.
"Why didn’t you ask right away?" he laughed. "Let me see what we have there." The group walked over towards where they had last seen the anvil and the iron bars, only to be amazed. To their surprise, the villagers had already dug out the smithy’s foundation and put the logs in place, laid down the flooring and constructed a makeshift roof. As they walked in, everything crunched beneath their feet.
"What is with the flooring? They forgot to clean or something?" Eliana asked, scowling. Pooky laughed wholeheartedly as he stomped his foot twice.
"No. This is to prevent any fire from catching quickly. After all, there is a big fire heating up the place every hour of the day."
"Right. Now, how about we leave him to tell us what to expect?" Kaden interjected, his curiosity piqued. The bear walked around the fire a few times, threw in some wood and used the bellows, while laughing crazily. The fire’s intensity grew, as did the frequency of embers flying around.
"Do you like how it's set up?" Frederic asked, grinning from ear to ear. Pooky roared in approval and nodded. With a fluent motion, he disrobed and grew in size exponentially.
"I need room, and you people are in the way. Move it. Go do something else in the meantime," he ordered. No one protested, and moved out of the way.
"You, Frederic Human, have the villagers bring all the iron bars, weapons, shields and armours here to me. I need more firewood, water and some soil." His voice was barely audible as the group walked towards the center of the village. As if on cue, Petronella walked up to them and took Kaden by his hand. She pulled him towards the spot where the women had prepared the food. A sudden growling sensation filled his stomach as he hoped that it was food related.
"Mister Kaden, we have a
small surprise for you. You will be delighted!"
"And what might that surprise be?" he asked, barely keeping up with the older woman as he stumbled over his own feet. Just then, Laney caught up to them and separated their arms, locking her own with Kaden’s.
"Yes, Petronella, what surprise do you have for us?" she asked.
The woman, if hurt by Laney’s comment, didn’t show it as she replied eagerly. "You will see, Mistress Laney. Please, go to the cooking pit over there," she said, pointing to where a group of women were doing… something they weren’t familiar with.
A delicious aroma caught in their nostrils as the wind blew it straight towards them, inviting them to dine. The pressure on his arm released, as Laney ran over giggling and stood next to the women who were cooking, from what he could discern.
"She sure is a feisty one, I can tell you that," Petronella whispered, walking after Laney. They stopped at a large, wooden table covered with light green leaves. The women wrapped the roasted meat in thin leaves and laid them out beside each other. Kaden took one and ate it. The flavors battled for dominance within his mouth.
"Stop drooling, it’s unsightly," Laney teased, bringing him back to reality.
"Huh? What? You have to try one of these," he replied, absent-mindedly holding up the meatball. She inspected the food.
Meatball. Recovers 100 health power instantly and 100 health over 10 seconds.
"Oh my goodness!" Laney exclaimed, grabbing one of the meatballs as the smell got to her head. She inhaled the scent and squealed in joy, munching it down instantly. A rush of sensation coursed through her body as the buff got applied.
The women chuckled observing the two, with Petronella taking the liberty to explain. "These are made from the worm meat you have delivered to us. One meat equals one meatball. But not every meatball is good for you. Some burn, some have no properties while others can even poison you. It's a delicate process that requires knowledge and skill. Maybe Mistress Laney would like for us to teach her the skill of [Cooking]?"
Laney’s eyebrows shot up, and her eyes glazed over for the slightest instant as if she was reading a system message. "Sure," she said and nodded, stepping past Kaden, taking the older woman’s offered hand. Petronella pulled Laney toward the cooking place, while shoo-ing Kaden away.
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