“Here we are!” Rook exclaimed.

“Uh, okay?” Steak was confused at the thing he was looking at.

In front of them was a rundown shack. It looked like it was built several years ago, it also looked like it was last cleaned that long ago as well. There was a garden beside it, overgrown with weeds and other plants and vines. A lone wooden grave marker was in the middle of it.

“So, why are we here again?” Steak asked.

“This is going to be our base of operations! Though, I must admit that I used to reside in this place,” Rook took a glance at the grave. “But I was forced to live closer to Spawnharbor trying to find work to pay my debts.”

“Won’t those guys find this place if they’re hunting you down?” Steak asked again.

“They won’t. You see, the person who built this place built wards around it that made anyone who wandered near to go around it. She was the same person who took me in when I first came to this place five years ago,” Rook smiled fondly.

“Alright, but can’t you bring me to this Spawnharbor first? I need to find someone to get rid of this tapeworm inside of me before it gets any worse,” Steak said.

“With what Credits? Much like our old world, no one’s going to do a job for free. Especially the ones that specialize in healing,” Rook spat on the ground.

“Fine. What’s this business thing you were talking about earlier?” Steak asked.

“Remember that thing I made you smoke? We’re going to be selling those. And don’t worry about learning how to make them, I just need you to find the leaves for me and maybe some of the plant’s seeds so that we can grow them here,” Rook explained.

“Sounds simple enough,” Steak shrugged.

“Come, you should make space in your inventory. You can drop some of your items in there,” Rook pointed at the shack.

They walked towards the shack. The front door was wide open. Steak felt uneasy at the sight of it. A gentle breeze blew into their direction, and the familiar smell of wet fur wafted through his nose. He stopped, grabbing Rook by the shoulder.

“Hey, when was the last time you went to this place?” Steak asked.

“Hm, a few months, I guess? Now that you mention it, I don’t remember leaving the door open,” Rook said. He pulled out the wand that hung from his hip.

“I smell something alive inside,” Steak said.

With his claws at the ready, Steak and Rook slowly make their way to the door. The way that the sun was positioned made it hard for them to see inside, it was pitch black. Not noticing the branch beneath him, Rook accidentally stepped on it. The sound it made pierced through the silence as if it was the loudest thing in the world. A couple of growls came from inside the shack.

A Forest Hound leapt from beyond the door and pounced at Rook. Steak was fast enough to push him to the side and repel the beast with his . It made a whimpering sound as it landed on the ground. Two more Forest Hounds came outside, inspecting their comrade.

“I can’t fight head on. Buy me some time while I prepare something!” Rook shouted from behind Steak.

“Huh, this seems familiar,” Steak grinned.

Steak fought off the Forest Hounds. It had made the abandoned shack into their home. He swiped at them with his claws, however, they were too quick for him to get a good hit in.

They moved in unison, displaying their amazing teamwork. At times, Steak had to block and attack at the same time as two Forest Hounds charged at him in unison. Luckily for him, he invested a lot of points into Spirit which made it possible for him to have his claws out at all times. What was rough on his Mana was the damage he repelled whenever he blocked.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

After a few more exchanges with the Forest Hounds, Rook called out to him.

“Now! Come over to me!” Rook shouted.

Even though he only met the kid a few hours ago, Steak didn’t hesitate. He retracted his claws and sprinted to Rook who had one knee on the ground. The hounds were hot on his tracks, chomping at the air where his ankles were as he ran. Once he reached Rook, the teenager’s wand glowed a bright blue.

Several spears of bright blue Mana shot up from the ground, it looked to be made of the same material as the tools Rook used to crush the leaves Steak gave.

Steak stopped and turned around. The hounds were suspended in the air, held up by the spears made of Mana. Their blood slowly dripped down the poles as they died shortly after. All three of them were gone at the same time.

The spears slowly lost their color and vibrance, crumbling away into nothingness. What was left were holes on the ground and the dead Forest Hounds.

“I guess the wards only stave off humans,” Rook panted.

“What did you say your class was?” Steak asked him, curious as to how his skills actually worked.

“Spelltech. I started out as a Thaumaturge, but along the way it changed to this one. It was my caretaker’s class,” Rook said, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “I can make tools made out of Mana and imbue some stuff with magic.”

“Sounds confusing,” Steak scratched his head. “We should check out the rest of the shack once you’re good to go. There might be more waiting inside.”

There were no more enemies in the area. After cleaning up the shack and properly disposing of the corpses outside, Rook sent Steak on a mission to gather more of the leaves that contained nicotine before it got too dark.

Rook stayed behind, mentioning something about creating a machine. He continued to ramble about his plans for said machine, but Steak couldn’t understand a word of it. So, he quietly went out and did his task.

It took him less than three hours to fill his inventory. With the remaining daylight that he had, he decided to explore the area a bit and observe the local wildlife. Steak felt a bit inspired after seeing the skills that Lilith and Rook had. Wanting a cool and flashy skill of his own, he went looking for an animal that had what he was trying to look for. He couldn’t find anything.

After screwing around with the animals and gaining nothing, Steak climbed up the tallest tree he could find to get a good view of the area and maybe even see where exactly Spawnharbor was.

He discovered that he could activate on the nails on his feet and used it to ascend the tree. With the skills activated on four limbs, his Mana Regeneration couldn’t keep up. So, he had to climb it as fast as he could.

The view that awaited him at the top was not worth the effort he put in. In every direction, a sea of trees surrounded him. He found no signs of human activity. He figured that it would take them days to reach Spawnharbor that Rook kept on mentioning before. Steak realized that he really needed to stick with Rook for a while as he was the only one that knew where the place was.

After spending the last few hours of sunlight wasting his time, Steak went back to the shack. What greeted him outside was an array of small structures made out of sticks. A rack of some sort. He found no sign of Rook, even after calling out to him.

He went inside the dilapidated shack. A machine made out of Rook’s Mana took up the majority of the space of the entire place. On the floor beside it was the small inventor of the machine. Rook was passed out.

“Hey, are you good? What happened? Were you attacked?” Steak asked, lightly tapping him on the cheek with the back of his hand.

“Huh? What?” Rook woke up. “Did you gather the leaves?” Rook was back to business after seeing Steak’s face.

“Yeah, here,” Steak handed a large bag of the stuff to Rook.

“Great, we can start hanging them to dry outside. I don’t think it’s going to rain in the next few days, we might as well start,” Rook said, completely back to life.

“What’s this doohickey for? Also, why were you on the floor?” Steak asked.

“Oh, this? It’s going to make cigarettes for us. Oh, so this is the plant that the leaves come from. You’re right, they do give off a fragrant smell. What’s it called?” Rook smelled the leaves and flowers that he collected.

“I don’t know, they were just listed as and when I had them in my inventory,” Steak said.

“That must mean that no one’s named it yet! Why don’t you give it a name since you’re the one who discovered it?” Rook offered.

“Name, huh?”

The thought of naming something irked Steak. Dick’s annoying grin came to mind, thinking about how he got his own name.

“How about ‘Feelgood’?” Steak suggested.

“What?”

“You know, because the plant makes my brain feel good,” Steak chuckled.

“That’s ironic, considering that it could lead to health problems the longer you consume it,” Rook said under his breath.

“What did you say?” Steak asked.

“Nothing. The name sounds great,” he nodded.