Chapter Twenty: Seafood Stew

Now that Rook had reached the coast, the focus on speed had been dropped in favor of a more cautious strategy. They were heading north, toward the port city, and it was only a matter of time before they encountered people or settlements of some kind. The last thing they needed was to be discovered unprepared.

Rook had switched from using sprint to move quickly through the forest trees, to leaning on his stealth skill to ensure they kept unnoticed by anything, be it man or beast. As the stealth skill reduced in effectiveness, the more he moved, he was now skirting along the coast at a very leisurely pace, one that would take several more days to reach the outskirts of the port city.

He had managed to raise the tier of summon shadow skill to level two, but was disappointed that no major change occurred. He could sense that the skill was more powerful now. The range he could control his summon, or Obi could drive it, had increased, but he still couldn’t summon a larger animal like a wolf.

SKILLS

CORE: RESTORE/CURE <2>

Intermediate cure: Negate the effects of strong poisons and negative status effects. Purify items affected by negative status.

Proficiency: 7 / 100%

CORE: RESTORE/HEAL <2>

Intermediate heal: Greatly increase the speed and effect of natural healing.

Proficiency: 28 / 100%

CORE: DETECT <2>

Scan area: Detect and monitor all activity in the surrounding area.

Proficiency: 33 / 100%

CORE: SHADOW FAMILIAR <2>

Low-grade summon: Summon a small familiar to assist you.

Proficiency: 45 / 100%

CORE: CREATE WATER <2>

Torrent: Create water in exchange for a reduced amount of mana.

Proficiency: 4 / 100%

CORE: CREATE FIRE <2>

Flare: Create a burst of extreme heat.

Proficiency: 5 / 100%

CORE: FORTITUDE <2>

IRON SKIN: Resistance to physical damage is greatly increased. While active, agility is reduced.

Proficiency: 3 / 100%

CORE: STEALTH <2>

INVISIBLE: Become very difficult to be detected. The effect is reduced when moving.

Proficiency: 19 / 100%

CORE: BOOST <2>

Sprint: Running faster and jumping higher. While active, movement is greatly increased, and stamina consumption is slightly reduced.

Proficiency:22 / 100%

Now that he was rested, he took the time to take a closer look at his stats and skills. He had been able to raise all of his skills to the second tier now, though none of them were even close to reaching the next tier. Progress in raising proficiency appeared to decline greatly after raising a their level.

He was shocked at how many coins he still had, even after using quite a lot of them to upgrade some of his skills. The wealth he had could aid him greatly in the future, although he would also need a lot of coins if he wanted or needed to quickly upgrade more skills in the future.

STATUS

NAME: ROOK

CURRENT STATUS: HEALTHY

CURRENT COINS: 1,251

STATS:

* 💪 STR: 3

* 🏃 AGI: 4

* ❤️ VIT: 3

* ✨ SPT: 2

HEALTH (HP): 98 / 100%

MAGIC (MP): 65 / 100%

STAMINA (SP): 89 / 100%

It was easy to see why hunters were so respected. They had the capability of earning tremendous wealth through the looting of wild animals. Rook wondered if his skills would be enough to allow him to become a hunter. If he could, his future would be set.

He also had his soul space stuffed with things he had taken from the campsite. Besides the camping gear, weapons, and basic supplies, he also had many documents, strange magic tools, and of course, the cargo.

While he did feel a sense of obligation to destroy the cargo as he had promised, Obi had been adamant that doing so would be a terrible mistake.

［You don’t even know what it is. If you do run into trouble in the future, it might be your only leverage.］

“Yeah, but I did promise Thayn,” Rook countered half-heartedly.

In the end, he had decided not to look through the cargo, but not to destroy it yet either. He was afraid of what he might find if he did open it, but he couldn’t shake off Obi’s argument either.

It is true that he had made a promise, but how much did he actually owe that old man? He had been taken away from the ranch, but brought into a far more dangerous situation. If he didn’t have Obi and the black skill stone, he would certainly be dead in the forest.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Even if the ambush had not taken place, he wouldn’t have been freed. He would have spent the rest of his life as a porter, carrying things through the dangerous places with no means to defend himself.

He couldn’t disregard what the old man had said, but he did not feel obligated to blindly follow it either. For now, he had no problem simply keeping it all locked away in his soul space.

In the meantime, Rook and Obi explored what his skills could do.

After passing a stream that carried water from the hills down to the sea, he noticed strange animals living inside the water.

［Fish? You don’t know what fish are? What a rube.］

“I know plenty of animals. I just never heard of animals that live inside the water. How do they breathe? Can they get out of the water? They don’t seem to have legs, are they like birds that fly in the water? Wait, birds have legs… don’t they?”

Rook’s excitement was clear as he marveled at the strange new life forms. He even caught some but scooping up large amounts of water from the stream and moving it into his soul space. Then, he took one of the animals out to examine it closely.

“Seriously? You can eat this?”

［Well, some people do. I don’t know how it’s prepared, though.］

Rook was incredulous. The “fish” had a strange smell, and slimy feel that was not at all pleasant.

Still, perhaps if he cooked it, it would improve. He was content to eat the grains that he had stored, but the supply would eventually run out. He wouldn’t disregard the need to find new food sources or get to a settlement where he could buy or trade for supplies.

Things would be much easier if he could just pull food from the river, he thought to himself.

That afternoon, Rook set up the camp near the river. His first experiment with fish was under way.

First, he boiled a pot of water. Stew seemed to be the safest way to start. He threw in some millet, as well as some fragrant grasses that he had picked up that might help with the strong smell coming off the fish.

Then he chopped off the head of the fish. It was strange, with giant eyes that did not blink, and it made him uncomfortable, so he tossed the head into the river. Then, he proceeded to chop the rest of the fish into small chunks.

After dumping the fish into the pot, he used his cure skill on the whole thing. Just in case there was something poisonous about this new food.

After boiling it for a while, the fish began to disintegrate, the flesh turned to a kind of white mush, and along with the millet, the whole things turned into a thick stew.

He had to keep adding water as the thick mixture would burn quickly, but eventually, he was ready to give it a try.

He lifted a spoonful from the pot and examined it. It still smelled odd. Not as bad as before, but it had a distinct and not very pleasant odor.

Then he tried it.

He could clearly hear Obi laughing as the shadow sable jumped up and down in glee. Rook was desperately washing his mouth out in the river. The experiment was a total failure. The “fish” was truly vile.

［Rook!］

He was ready to ignore the taunting from his companion when he recognized something in the tone of Obi’s voice. He rose up from the river and quickly checked his surroundings and the windows.

His heart stopped when he saw them. Three new dots were slowly moving directly toward his current location. There was no question that this was intentional. Only two of the dots were the orange color Obi used to denote animals. The third was a light green color. Rook instantly understood the meaning. It was another human. All three dots were moving together as a single unit, and at the speed they were moving, they would be at this location very soon.

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Rook watched from a vantage point halfway up a giant pine tree. It was as high as he could climb and still be well hidden from anyone below. He had also activated invisibility, so as long as he stayed still, no one would be able to find him.

［Hopefully.］

“Why did you tell me to leave the gear? If it’s the bandits, they will know where we are.”

［No, I don’t think so. There is nothing in the camp that would connect us to the mercenaries. It’s just a small, generic camp made by a lone traveler. Even if it’s the bandits, I don’t see how they would make the connection.］

“Still, why take the risk?” Rook complained.

［Look, whoever is coming seems to know there is somebody here. There is not a lot of point hiding that now. Since we know they are coming, if we give them something to look at, we can observe them. See what they do when they find the tent and the fire. It’s better for us if they are looking down at the ground instead of up in the trees, right?］

That made a lot of sense, Rook admitted to himself.

“But what if they steal our stuff?”

［Well, we still have more, right? That’s the only small tent, but we still have a couple more big ones, and more pots, too. Watch out. They should be here soon.］

The dots on the map had arrived at the river, but had stopped before exiting the trees. They were likely observing, hoping to see who was here before coming out. It was basically the same strategy Rook was using.

Just as Rook was starting to worry that this would be an endless standoff, two figures slowly emerged from the tree cover.

Surprisingly, it was the human and just one of the animals.

The human was cloaked, head covered with a hood, and at this distance he couldn’t tell much, only that they moved confidently, but cautiously. The stride was even, yet not too slow. It looked like they were trying to sneak up on whoever was in the camp, but not so fast as to appear aggressive.

The animal, however, appeared to be nothing but aggressive. It was the size of a wolf, but bulkier, almost like a bubal, except the bulk was not just fat and hair. The dark grey fur was short, and it was easy to see the thick muscles that completely covered the monstrous animal. It looked like a dog, but larger, stronger, and much more intimidating than any dog Rook had ever seen.

［They are not playing around. Look at the other one,］Obi warned.

Sure enough, when Rook checked the map, the second orange dot was moving inside the tree cover, circling around to approach the camp from the opposite direction.

The cloaked figure did not pause until it stood beside the campfire. Then, it bent down to examine the campsite. It lifted the pot up to its head but quickly dropped it back down in the fire. Then it moved around, lightly touching the tent and the large log that he had used as a table to cut the fish.

Panic gripped Rook as the figure knelt down and rose again with something in hand.

［You idiot!］

“My knife!” Rook cursed. He had left the knife on the ground after cutting the fish. It was so dirty, he didn’t want to put it back in the sheath without washing it first.

Of all the things he had taken from the camp, a weapon like that might be one of the easier things to identify and trace.

Also, Rook really liked that knife. It was long, like a short sword, very sharp, and looked expensive. It might have been just an ordinary cooking, or utility knife, but attaching the sheath to his leather belt gave Rook a boost of confidence. He imagined it made him look like a mercenary or a hunter.

Now, it was likely gone.

The figure lifted the knife up to its hood, and just like the pot, it dropped it quickly, placing it gently on the log.

The figure then walked over to the side of the river. It reached out with one hand extended, then slowly rotated in place, making a full circle, as if trying to take in the view in every direction.

After making a full rotation, it brought its hand up to the hood. A shrill noise came from under the hood, loud enough to be heard all the way to the beach.

Immediately, a second dog appeared from the trees, and approached the camp. This dog was nearly identical to the other one, except instead of dark grey fur, it was the color of creme, but also had many large splotches of dark brown all over. The two dogs started to circle the camp.

“Alright, enough of yer hidin games. Who are ye, and what are ye doing on my land?”

The voice was deep and rough. It was not angry, nor was it cordial. It reminded Rook of Thayn… but different.

Reaching up, the figure pulled back the hood of its cloak, exposing a small head, with long, silver hair, tied into braids.

The old woman looked right up at the tree Rook was hiding in and took a step towards him.

“Come on down, now. Have ye no manners on ye?”