He hurried up on the way back, in hopes it wouldn't cool too much, and so there was still some sunlight left when he came back.

When he reached their large tree by the river, he found Edel feasting on the corpse of a goblin and he genuinely wanted to throw up. No friend of his will eat junk food like that!

He approached her, meowing proudly at his gift, unfolding the makeshift bag and revealing the cooked goodness inside. Both his and her nose twitched, and he was suddenly thankful Melissa had wrapped it so well. He would have undoubtedly been attacked on the way back if any animals smelled that, and it would have ruined his gift.

She stopped eating the goblin halfway, and approached the cooked meat he left on the ground on top of the wrappings. Kiel took the chance to drag the goblin corpse further away. He would have thrown it into the river if he wasn't afraid of diseases.

Seeing Edel devour the food in three bites, he felt awkward. Should have brought more... this glutton.

After she finished eating, they cuddled together next to a tree some way from the river bank. Although it was fun visiting a city for the first time in another world, an accolade he was sure no successful businessman could ever hope to match, he missed her.

He tried feeling for his connection to the fire mage, but the distance strained it so much sending any thoughts over was a tall ask. It was nice to see the bond wasn't perfect, it made him feel more secure. That said, he wanted one with Edel, and he would give anything to form it.

It was probably expensive, so he was making plans to make money, or help Melissa to make money at least.

It made him think of other things the system was capable of that he simply didn't know about. His first question was whether it was possible to delete skills; the climbing skill hadn't leveled in some time and he was itching at the possibility of a new skill after this much time.

Making the query to the system he received no answer. He was positive there was a way to do it, he just didn't have the resources. Oh well, more reasons to help Melissa.

He fell asleep cuddled with Edel, while she remained awake, looking at the stars and him. He was the most curious cat she'd ever come to know about.

She wondered where he got the food he gave her, but knowing him she was sure he was going to drag her to the answer whether she wanted to or not. He was gone for quite a while this time, and she only hoped he wasn't getting himself into more trouble, though she was hardly the one to speak.

After gaining her first ether skill she'd destroyed three goblin camps, and the number was only going to increase. The goblin chief they encountered back then would be a massive blow to them, she knew they were rare. She doubted she could win the fight alone, but together she doubted he would let her engage. It had been a similar goblin that laid waste to her pack.

There wasn't much to consider, she was already level twenty and her pace hadn't slowed down. She didn't know how strong she had to become, but she was close to the strength of her pack's strongest warriors. The goblins would fall whether that was sooner or later.

She fell asleep next to him, finding solace in the fact she wasn't alone in this world. The world wouldn't steal her family again. Not the goblins, not the rifts, and certainly not the monsters of the forest.

When Kiel woke up the next morning, he was sore all over. Edel ended up sleeping on top of him, and no matter how much he stretched it wouldn't go away. Going to the river to drink some water, the cold water helped him wake up.

He wanted to go with Edel to the city, but that needed some planning ahead, which he forgot to do while he was there. If he brought an entire wolf out of nowhere near the city there was no way the guards would stay quiet.

Going back just to enjoy a small sense of normalcy and achieving nothing was too impassive for him. Instead he wanted to explore the woods with Edel, maybe find something valuable and exchange it for a glowing stone for the two of them.

He probably wouldn't manage to find anything too valuable on the first day, but he still wanted to explore the region deeper in the forest. And if any monsters attacked them, well, he wasn't planning on staying level 15 forever.

Waking up Edel by jumping on her was a suitable payback, but a dangerous one. In the end he settled for pulling on her fur. He didn't know what time she fell asleep, but she usually was the one to wake up first.

She woke up bleary eyed, and he couldn't help but laugh. She looked so cute that he had an urge to pat her on the head. If he could reach that far without teleporting, he would have.

After she stretched for a good ten seconds, he vowed to sleep on top of her next time.

Meowing to get her attention, he marched on!

He took the makeshift bag from yesterday, rinsing it with water from the river. It dried up quickly in the morning sun and they were off.

If he found anything valuable he needed a way to carry it back, and holding anything with his mouth and expecting it to stay intact was a fool's errand. Not to mention he didn't want to be biting possibly poisonous plants.

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It got annoying holding it with his mouth, so he pushed his head through the small hole and wore the bag like a cape. It was almost too big for him, but when he ran there was no problem in it tangling with his legs. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but he could ignore its presence.

He didn't know how the forest was so peaceful here... probably had to do with Edel, or the goblins killing most other monsters.

Testing his speed, he ran ahead, letting her eat his dust. His advantage didn't last for long, as she quickly caught up and passed him by. He was running so fast the trees blurred as he passed by them. Getting the better of him, however, wasn't that easy, and soon he caught up with her when the tree density increased and she couldn't weave between them with the same grace.

Most animals and monsters could barely react to them encroaching on their territory. After a few minutes, he saw a goblin eating the carcass of a slain three-tailed lizard. Next to the goblin were two dead goblin warriors.

For starters, eating next to the corpses of your kind was unnerving in a way he couldn't describe.

He wondered how the lizard lost considering how strong they were, but didn't think too much about it. His evolved skill was at level 5, and he had yet to test its active component in a real fight. The goblin noticed them running towards it and stood up, prepared for their assault.

He felt it was funny that this was the first time he outnumbered the goblins yet he wasn't going to take advantage of it.

Without thinking too much about it, he sacrificed his vitality in exchange for strength. Immediately he started feeling anemic, but that wasn't an issue. The issue was how his speed exploded beyond what he could comfortably control.

He didn't have a chance to fix his plan of attack, so he didn't bother fixing it. No, he reached its side in fractions of a second either way, and where the goblin put up its arm in defense, his claws passed through them like they weren't there in the first place.

He landed with a thud on its body, and from the force both him and the goblin were disoriented. The goblin recovered faster, but he teleported behind its head before it could grab him. Still with more strength than he knew what to do with, his claws cut its head cleanly off its body.

Edel was still catching up and he couldn't help but meow in excitement.

He felt like a race car. The adrenaline still coursing through his body, he tried to calm his heartbeat. The skill was strong, stronger than he imagined, but his perception lagged behind, and in exchange for that strength, he had to lose something.

Vitality was the obvious choice when he wasn't injured, but the skill had its drawbacks. It would take some practice to get used to the sudden power, but for once he was looking forward to winning his races with Edel.

The goblin didn't give him any levels, and he was stuck trying to clean the blood off his cape. Hopefully Melissa wouldn't mind it too much. Taking care not to dirty his cape any more, they continued deeper inside the forest.

After a few minutes he climbed on top of a tree and found the mountain he was looking for way in the distance. They could probably reach it in a few hours if they ran for it, but not only was that dangerous, it was also missing the spirit of exploration.

Looking at the darker trees and the foliage around him, he decided this place was deep enough inside the forest for some foraging. He had no idea what he was looking for, so his first thought was using his ether sense.

If it had ether in it, it had to be valuable. That, however, didn't mean it couldn't be poisonous. He quickly found a plant of interest a few meters away from where he was standing, and another two a bit further away.

He removed his cape, setting it on the ground.

Being careful not to harm the flower, he dug around it, taking his time in order not to make any mistakes. He remembered some mushrooms back on earth could release spores as a defensive measure, and although this wasn't a mushroom, it wouldn't hurt him to be careful.

A few minutes later, he ended up with a mostly intact root and a perfectly intact flower.

He dragged the flower over to the makeshift bag with his paws, and continued onto the next flower. Edel in the meanwhile stood as a bodyguard a few steps away from him, her guard heightened while they were sitting still in a dangerous part of the forest.

Each plant took delicate effort, and on his fourth one he made his first mistake, accidentally cutting the plant from its roots while he was digging.

He quickly backed away, paying close attention at the ether around it. In the end, nothing happened, but he waited another few minutes to be sure. Dragging away his small bag, he decided that another flower or two would be enough for the day.

He'd spent almost half an hour gathering these plants, and Edel was rightfully worried.

As he was looking for ether-rich plants, he felt something else approaching. It was a monster, but it oozed ether all around it and smelled of decay. Edel noticed it a moment later and was in full alert.

Three flowers is okay, I can do with three of them.

He hurriedly picked up his makeshift bag, biting tightly on the soft fabric and looked at Edel in worry. She didn't want to stay here any longer than he did, and they both ran in the opposite direction.

The monster in response picked up speed, and within a few seconds they could see what was chasing them. The monster resembled a large monkey, but half its fur was gone, it ran on its two legs as much as its hands and its teeth were all messed up like someone punched it in the face and it hadn't healed right. It also seemed ravenous, and its heavy breathing made his hair rise.

Thankfully, for all that it was fast, it couldn't avoid trees with the same ease as him and Edel, so they managed to increase the distance slowly. Unfortunately, it never seemed to get tired.

He started wondering whether they should lead it into another quiet zone, when all of a sudden the monster stopped and began running in another direction.

The unlucky monster that saved them had his apologies.

Looking over the bag, he noticed he hadn't managed to hold it properly while they were running. From the three flowers only one was left and it was pretty beaten up. He wanted to cry for the lost flowers, but tears wouldn't come out.

Using his skill, he quickly found a plant with ether in it, though compared to the plants in the deeper regions of the forest, it was nothing impressive.

In the end he decided to leave the plant where it was and find another in a place where there wasn't a terrifying zombie-like monkey roaming around.

That wasn't a great start to their day, but he would be darned if he let that get him down. If he couldn't forage in the deeper parts of the forest, he would make do with quantity.

The thought of being able to communicate with Edel the same way he could with Melissa gave him all the energy he needed to continue. Best case scenario, what he was doing was unnecessary and the mage had another stone lying around she could share with him. If she did, the plants were payment, plus he would owe her a favor. If she didn't, this would be a good start in getting the funds to buy one.

Edel meanwhile couldn't help but stare at her friend digging maniacally small holes all over the forest and picking up small plants. She wouldn't say it didn't look fun, but his enthusiasm was unmatched.