Achram and his family went back to the village back to their home where they packed up all of their stuff to get ready for their ascent to the mountain. Rhita was still a little bit concerned about how fast things were moving, she couldn’t stop the enthusiasm and excitement of her children.
Uno was far too entranced with the idea of consuming an Ether and becoming a strong and evolved Thall like his father. “Come on! Move, Dos. I can’t wait!”
Dos, on the other hand, let the curiosity of the mysteries of this new god and his territory take over her mind. She couldn’t believe the kinds of monsters that resided in a territory where not even the harsh blizzards could penetrate.
“Dad, does God's territory really have an infinite amount of water?”
“Yes. Slime, the God’s prophet, told me that the water will never run out.”
“OH! A slime? Is it as cute and as fluffy as you say, Dad?” Rhita knew that Tres would be willing to go anywhere she could see cute new creatures. She didn’t even consider the difficulties of ascending a freezing mountain.
“Are you sure about this, Achram? Will we even survive going up there?” asked Rhita. She looked at her children. Even if their excitement made them forget about their own lives, it was her duty as their mother to worry about her children.
“Yes. God is watching over us,” assured Achram. “We have to go up. Quatro needs help.”
Achram and Rhita both looked at their youngest son who was sleeping soundly on his back.
Seeing his youthful face full of potential made Rhita strengthen her resolve. If this God could truly save her son, then she wouldn’t hesitate to give her life in exchange for his.
The children mainly packed up some of their toys, or weapons as Uno called them. However, a wooden sword would do nothing to the cold. Dos was a little bit more prepared as she brought the clothes she made when she apprenticed with the local seamstress. Tres simply brought her doll made out of straw.
Rhita made sure that she packed up all of their clothes and their belongings. She made sure to pack up everything essential, like fur coats, boots, and even their charm jewelry.
“Don’t worry. We’ll go and pick up more fur layers for the kids.”
“How are you going to afford that? How will we even survive the trek up? We don’t have any carcasses to sell to the village.” Rhita struggled to even provide food for the entire family. Now, Achram was planning on buying fur coats and clothes from the local seamstress in the village.
In such a harsh time when even the strongest hunter struggled to put food on the table, the local seamstress wouldn’t simply give out her fur coats on a loan. She wouldn’t even accept any tooth or skull jewelry. She only accepted food.
Rhita was simply worried about how they were going to afford it.
Achram smiled at her. “Don’t worry. She won’t refuse my barter.”
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After packing up all of their things, they put everything they had in a cart that they stole from Bucko and the rest of the hunters. This was the cart they were going to use to sell Rhita and her family. Now, it was filled with their belongings such as their clothes and a couple of weapons.
Not only that, there were also a few mounds of high-quality Kores that were stacked together. There must have been at least three hundred Kores they gathered earlier today. That wasn’t all they would get, though. Before they fully departed, Achram planned to fill the whole cart with Kores.
After gathering everything, the Achram family took one last look their their house and departed for the center of the village.
The appearance of Achram’s bright yellow skin and refined appearance with a distinct lack of body hair garnered a lot of talk among the villagers. Everyone murmured under their breaths and immediately warned their neighbors.
Some Thalls immediately rushed out to inform the elders of the village.
They thought they were getting visited by an intruder. The hunters immediately posted themselves outside their doors, brandishing their weapons and having their hairs fully erect which made their bodies look more intimidating.
Experienced hunters knew that initiative could make or break a fight, so they decided that they would attack Achram first. However, they recognized Rhita and her children. They were walking alongside this intruder as if he were somebody they knew.
This threw them off and made them reconsider their attack. They decided to simply stay still and wait. If this intruder even made one single aggressive move, then ten of the most experienced hunters would lunge at him with full force.
However, Achram ignored all of their stares. He saw their hostile looks, he saw the hunters hidden up in the trees with eyes like that of jaguars, but worst of all, he saw the fear in the children’s eyes.
Achram walked over to the seamstress who was still sitting outside her house with her work laid out in the open. She was the only one who didn’t stop what she was doing. She kept sewing her fur coats, never stopping even when Achram walked up in front of her.
“It’s been a long time. Thank you for your generosity from before.”
It was only then that she stopped and looked up at Achram’s intimidating appearance. His jaws were sharp, his eyes had markings all over, his skin was without dirt, and was as yellow as the sun. He looked so different from his original Thall appearance that nobody recognized him.
However, she suddenly saw Dos walk up and hold this intruder’s hand. She looked up at him with adoration and love, something you’d only see when a daughter loved her father.
Not only that, she saw one of her fur coats hanging over his shoulder. This was her handiwork; there was no denying it. And this was one of her proudest works, a one-of-a-kind. She only gave this masterpiece to one person out of pity.
The seamstress finally connected the dots. She didn’t know how he survived and returned with a completely different body, but there was no denying that this was Achram.
“So you survived,” she said.
“Yes.”
She went silent for a second then asked, “...did you find what you were looking for?”
Achram smiled. “That, and more.”
After that, the seamstress looked back down to her work and continued to finish her fur clothes.
“We’re looking to buy some fur clothes for my family,” Achram said.
The seamstress sighed. She wasn’t lacking in her inventory, and she wasn’t lacking in demand either. However, no one in the village was willing to give out their precious food in exchange for some clothes, so she was struggling to provide for her family.
Before she could say anything, Achram took out something slung on his back and said;
“Don’t worry. I got what you need.”
The seamstress saw a reddish-pink thin object that had a similarity to an onion layer except this one was as wide as an unprocessed bear skin! Not only that, she thought she smelled something juicy and meaty from that onion-looking thing.
“What is that?” Rhita asked for the seamstress
Instead of answering, Achram simply tore out five small pieces and distributed them to his family and the seamstress.
“This is one of the blessings in God’s kingdom. It’s called Meaty Mushroom.”
The seamstress was a bit suspicious of it, but when she saw Rhita eat it, she couldn’t stop her urges. Her skepticism was overridden by the appetizing smell of the piece of mushroom. As soon as it touched her tongue, she immediately tasted a myriad of juices and flavors that could only be experienced by eating meat!
Not only that, but this tasted like one of those mythical grilled beefs that only humans were able to eat!
“This tastes amazing!” Rhita couldn’t believe it. How could something from a mushroom taste like it came out of an animal? It was as if it was flavored with all those kinds of sauces and spices that those human merchants sold for extremely high prices.
“Dad! I want to have more. Please give it to me!” Tres already finished her piece and was already tugging at Achram’s leg.
“How is this possible…” Dos was trying to decipher the mysteries of this mushroom. Her curiosity for God’s kingdom grew even higher.
As for the seamstress, she felt the hunger in her stomach growl even harder. All the dry meat that she’d been eating all of this time felt like soil compared to this food. She couldn’t even believe that this kind of food existed in the world.
And in such dire times when food was scarce, tasting good food like this was like getting a taste of heaven.
“This is just a small piece of a gift from God’s kingdom up in the mountains. I am willing to give you this whole Meaty Mushroom layer in exchange for your fur clothes.”
With this big of a layer, this could last the seamstress and her family an entire month’s worth of food! The best part was that this layer didn’t spoil. They could save it up and make it last up until the end of the year!