Steak and Rook’s trek back to the dilapidated shack that they called their base of operations was spent in silence. By the time that they got back, the sun had already started to rise. During the whole walk, Steak had second thoughts swimming in his head. What the hell did I just agree to do? He thought.
Perhaps he was swayed by his anger and emotions at the time or he was tempted by the Credits and the free skill points as rewards. But it was only when he calmed down that he realized that he agreed to kill someone he didn’t know. Someone who he only learned the name of a few minutes prior to accepting the quest.
He looked at the quest once more. It definitely seemed like a tempting deal. With that amount of Credits, it’ll shave off the time he would need to spend to be free of debt. Then, there was the thing Rook mentioned as well. That the Murder of Crows was a parasitic group that exploited the people of Spawnharbor. He didn’t quite understand that part, as Rook also mentioned that the Murder of Crows were the biggest reason people were motivated to spend and earn Credits.
Despite seeking out human connections back when he was alone, Steak had come to learn that they were all very confusing and hard to deal with.
“Go on ahead and sleep, you’re going to have a long day tomorrow,” Rook said as soon as they got back.
“You’re not going to rest?” Steak asked.
“I need to refine some of my machines a bit more and set up the farm,” Rook scratched his eyes, clearly tired.
“Hm,” Steak nodded, not sure how to deal with Rook at the moment. He decided that the best thing he could do for the teen right now was to let him be.
***
Steak woke up at noon, not by his own volition, but because of a loud noise outside. With swollen eyes, he stepped out the shack, his walking staff at the ready.
“Rook!? Are you there? What’s going on?” Steak called out, both his voice and his stance were wobbly.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Rook panted. “I just got done making the second machine for our operation,” the boy said while lying down on the ground.
Next to him was a large structure that was nearly as big as the shack they were staying in. Like his other creations, it was made out of Rook’s Mana with some parts of it being made out of planks and stone. A vibrating noise came from the contraption that looked like an oversized spinning top.
“It’s grinder, so that we don’t have to grind the dried leaves by hand anymore. This also lets us have a bit more time while keeping up with demand without having to add another person into our operation,” Rook explained.
“That’s great,” Steak wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Speaking of meeting demands, I might need to go deeper into the forest for the leaves. The patch I found northwest of us is nearly depleted, so I’m going to leave them be for now,” he said.
“I figured, that’s why I prepared you this pack,” Rook said. He stood up and ran inside the shack. He threw a large old canvas backpack at Steak. “That should last you three days, you can hunt the rest of the food yourself,” he gave him a thumbs up.
“Wait, where are you sending me to?” Catching the bag made Steak wake up completely.
“Apart from finding me Feelgood seeds and saplings, you’re going to go out there and train. If we’re going to take down Cassandra, you’ll need skills that do more than change the shape of your body,” Rook grinned.
“Ugh, I was kind of hoping that you weren’t serious about that whole ‘taking down an entire crime organization’ thing,” Steak sighed.
“Oh, try to learn skills about plants. That could help us increase efficiency in our process. Since your class is a druid, that’ll be easy for you. And, if you somehow end up eating a random unknown plant or mushroom and get high or poisoned from it, try to remember what it looks like,” Rook said.
“I guess you’re not that smart after all. This was your first mistake,” he raised the survival bag that Rook gave him. “With this, I won’t be desperate enough to chew on random shit and be your guinea pig,” Steak laughed.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
“We’ll see in a week,” Rook smirked.
***
It took one day for Steak to lose the bag of supplies and his way. As he was getting ready to turn in for the night, a pack of Monkeyhawks swooped in and stole his bag. Letting his emotions get the better of him once again, Steak chased the agile beasts through the forest. He followed the sounds of their high-pitched laughter, a chilling sound that would become a living nightmare for him in the next coming days.
He caught a glimpse of one of the Monkeyhawks perched up on one of the trees, eating one of Rook’s disgusting nutrient bars with the bag clutched in its feet. Steak sneaked up on it, using
The two hundred-something man literally jumped from the branch. Of course, something like that wouldn’t go unnoticed to an animal that lived its entire life in the wild, but Steak figured that he was practically the same. The difference between the two was clearly shown to him when the Monkeyhawk flapped its wings and flew up. The large man landed on the other branch on his stomach.
The Monkeyhawk flew around his head, mocking him with its shrill laugh. After recovering and getting his feet up on the branch, Steak looked up to see several of them watching him from a few meters away. This somehow felt more humiliating than the public shaming he received from Dick back in Spawnharbor.
“Damn you, ugly little bastards,” Steak hissed.
This was when Steak finally learned the lesson of controlling his emotions. That acting like a baby, throwing a tantrum over a slight inconvenience and not thinking his actions through would cost him greatly.
Once again, the large man jumped and leapt from the branch, attempting to swipe at the little tricksters. They dodged him with ease and he fell down.
Because Steak was set on chasing after the Monkeyhawk, he never noticed the giant ravine and the cliff where the tree he was just on stood. Air rushed past his face and whizzed through his ears. He had nothing to do but activate
He covered his forearms and made the shell as big as his entire body. Because of the innate spell weaved into the shell, he didn’t feel the first impact. However, he did hear the loud explosion it made.
Because he didn’t have enough Mana, he was still subject to the leftover force that wasn’t transferred to the ground. He was launched into the air once again, though not as high as he was before.
Steak was lucky that most of his injuries were scrapes and bruises, and even luckier for him to land on a tree. He broke several branches as he descended, breaking the speed of his fall.
That was all of the embarrassment he could take for the day. He gave up, not even mad or stressed out about his situation anymore. Without using any of his skills, he climbed up the tree once more and slept on one of its branches.
Several hours later, he was woken up by his own hunger. He opened his eyes to see several Monkeyhawks watching him with curiosity written all over their faces. Perhaps they wondered how a flightless ape like him managed to survive a fall like that. The most curious of the pack even pulled on the beard that he tried to grow, ripping out a patch off his cheek. Screaming, he waved his arms around to shoo them away.
“Okay, I’m convinced. I wasn’t reincarnated nor was I given a second chance in life. I’m actually in hell,” he sighed.
The Monkeyhawks orbited around him as he got off the tree, keeping their distance. Even as he chose a direction and walked away from them they continued to follow him. He picked up a stone off the ground and chucked it at them, which they dodged with ease.
“Haven’t you guys had enough fun last night?” He asked them.
They all simply stared at him, not one of them made a sound. The silence was broken by the sound of his stomach grumbling. Apparently it was the funniest thing that the Monkeyhawks experienced. Some of them were even rolling around on the ground as they let out their horrific laughter.
Steak couldn’t feel angry at them anymore, he felt more creeped out by them. Their human expressions and actions felt unnatural, it wasn’t something he observed from other animals.
“I won’t even bother anymore, follow me all you want,” Steak walked away.
One of the Monkeyhawks ran up ahead of him, stopping at a patch of mushrooms that grew under a tree. They were the size of his palm and white in color, it sort of looked like a boiled chicken breast to him.
The Monkeyhawk pulled out two from the patch, and then ran up to him, making him flinch. With one paw extended out to him, the Monkeyhawk offered it to Steak. He only stared at it in response, the parting words of Rook ringing in his mind.
Upon seeing that Steak didn’t trust that the mushroom was edible, the Monkeyhawk ate a large chunk off the one it held in the other hand. After chewing and swallowing it, it shoved the mushroom at Steak again. Before he could even shoo the annoying animal away, his stomach grumbled again.
“Fine, I’ll take a bite,” he gave in. “I think they said that monkeys and humans were pretty similar, so if you’re eating it then I should be fine,” he tried to reason this decision to himself.
He took the mushroom and bit into it. It was a bit tough but it also tasted like actual meat. Without realizing, he had finished the whole thing.
“Hey, that was actually pretty good,” he said.
He glanced at the rest of the mushroom patch nearby.
“A few more for the road shouldn’t hurt,” he said.
Despite wanting to go to the mushrooms, his legs didn’t obey. Steak stood still. After a few more seconds he couldn’t feel anything below his knees.
“What the fuck!” He screamed.
The Monkeyhawks erupted in laughter once again. They danced around him, flapping their wings around. Forcing himself to move, Steak fell over and landed on his belly.
“I’ll exterminate you all!” He shouted.
They continued to mock him, one of them even copied the way he fell over. The numbness started to creep up his back. He took in deep breaths and tried to think of a way to save himself. Maybe I can use the shell inside my body? He thought.
The numbness had reached his diaphragm, making him unable to breathe. There must be something I can do with magic, come on! He thought.