Chapter 6
I stand there in the empty living room for about five minutes, sending all my well wishes and best hopes to Valerie, praying that she is safe. Being no stranger to this feeling of missing somebody, I gather my things because I know that moving is better than sulking. I have an appointment with a blacksmith to keep, so I take a quick jog over there and find him just barely waking up. I wait around for him to get some coffee into his body.
We head into town to retrieve some pieces of this Elemental Bull so that Jake can have more material to play with. As we're heading into town, we spot in the forest a truly massive elk that looks like rippling water. I point it out to Jake and say, "According to my scan, that is a native mutated monster."
Congratulations, you successfully scanned the Slip Stream Elk:
Name: Slip Stream Elk
Level: 13
HP: 1500
Mana: 200
Stamina: 500
"Oh, ya think it has any metals?" Jake says jokin'ly,
As we pull into town, we notice that the streets are just as empty as before, but this time there's yellow tape around the corpse that was the Elemental Bull. It appears that carrion eaters have attempted to pick the carcass clean but were unable to penetrate the more armored areas on the back and sides. While inspecting the corpse, Jake makes comments about the hoof, skull, and ribs. It turns out Jake used to work at a butcher shop, which is how he got into blacksmithing. He initially wanted to make better knives but ended up falling in love with the craft. As he talks about the proper way to skin and cut the meat off the bone, I pay rapt attention. We are so engrossed in our work that we don't hear the person approaching us.
"Umm, what are you doing to that corpse?" the stranger asks. I spin around to see who's talking to us and find a kid who couldn't be older than 15.
"We're harvesting it for parts, as it is our right as the ones who killed it. Why do you ask?" I reply to the kid.
"Well, my papa told me to tell anyone not to touch it because he and his friends were going to be back with the truck to pick it up," the kid says sheepishly.
"Well, it's not really your dad's to take, but if you just want the meat, you can have that. All I care about is the hide and whatever he wants," I say, pointing at Jake.
"I want the hoofs and a portion of the ribs if I can get 'em off. Other than that, there don't seem to be much to salvage outside of the skin, but we've already got most of that off," Jake explains.
Before we can say anything else, the kid interjects, "Did you really kill it?"
"Yep, me and three other friends killed it yesterday," I respond to the kid.
"Was it a hard fight? Did your friends die? Is that why they're not here? My friends died," the kid says sorrowfully.
"Well, little one, I'm sorry to hear about your friends. Truly, my friends did not die, but they are no longer here. I have lost friends before. Yes, it was a hard battle," I reply to the kid. "Now run along; we're almost done here." As I say that, I notice a truck pulling up behind the kid.
"Man, couldn't it just be easy for once?" I mutter as I stand up from my crouch.
"Greetings, I was just talking to your son here. How are you all today?" I say kindly to the two guys getting out of the truck.
"What do you think you're doing to our kill? Where is all of its skin and hooves?" he says angrily.
"Let me stop you right there. This is my kill. Me and my friends killed it here yesterday. If you don't believe me, just go in and ask the shop owner over there. It was in his store, and we lured it out and killed it," I say calmly.
"Likely story. I bet you bribed him to tell us that. Boy, get into the truck," he snarls at the child. "Now you're going to give us back what you took, plus a bonus for wasting our time."
"Do we really have to do this? If you want the meat, you can have the meat. Do you want the bones? You can have the bones. The skin and hoofs are mine, for me and my team. We risked our lives to kill this beast. So I'm going to take its skin and hoofs because I already took the horns. Would you like to see the horns?" I say as I materialize my darkwood naginata. "You can read it from there if you try hard enough. You will see the truth of the matter."
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
His eyes go wide as he reads the weapon, looking at his friend nervously, who also shares the same startled reaction.
They say in a much quieter voice, "We're sorry. We thought this was a different kill. A simple mistake, you know how it is. We're just going to leave, if that's okay with you," the man practically squeaks.
They hop into their car and speed off like the devil himself was chasing them.
"Well, I'm glad it didn't come to blows," I say, letting out a breath of pent-up anticipation.
"Me too. I would have hated to see what happens if you hit a human with one of those spells." Jakes says
"Me too. I woulda hated to see what happens if ya hit a human with one of those spells," Jake says with a hint of concern.
"Thankfully, I have not needed to find out yet, but I know that day is coming, and I am not looking forward to it." i say.
"Well, I think I've gotten all I can from this. Did ya kill any other monsters and just leave their corpses lyin' around the town?" Jake asks.
"No," I say too quickly, but then immediately remember that there is, in fact, another corpse chilling on the outskirts of town. So, under my breath, I correct myself, "Yes."
Jake lets out a chuckle and says, "Alright, show me the way,"
So we head over to Olivia's house, where we find the Quartz Mountain Lion corpse, also only partly devoured. At this point, I'm pretty sure it's coyotes or a different type of animal native to this world. Still, an odd thing to say. We get to work carving into the beast. After about five minutes, I realize I didn't check the notifications due to those guys interrupting me. So, I pull up the notifications now.
Congratulations, adventurer! You have successfully harvested the hide of the Elemental Bull.
Your harvesting skill has increased from Level 1 to Level 4.
Congratulations, adventurer! You've successfully harvested the hide of the Quartz Mountain Lion.
Congratulations, adventurer! You've successfully harvested Quartz lion claws.
Your harvesting skill has increased from Level 4 to Level 7.
The claws were almost invisible due to how transparent they are, with tips as sharp as razors. "Do you have any idea what to do with these, Jake?" I asked, waving the claw at him.
Jake shook his head and replied, "Those look more like gems than they do metal, which is out of my realm for now. I might be able to do something with them in the future if you leave me a set of ten. I can poke around and see what I can do with them."
"Sure, I'll leave you the hind claws. I wonder if they would work with accessories or jewelry, considering what the eyes look like," I pondered. We both moved to look at the eyes, only to find that they had already been eaten out. "Well, I guess they were flesh and not cat's eye gems."
As we pulled up to my house, the final stop on our monster killing spree, we discovered that the corpses of the two monsters I killed earlier were gone. I looked at Jake and said, "That can't be good if the corpses aren't where I left them. Do you think we should go hunt them down, or should we just call it a day?"
"I dunno 'bout you, but I ain't super thrilled 'bout huntin' down somethin' that can carry off somethin' as big as birds. Plus, I doubt they got anythin' outside of quills that would interest me much," Jake replied.
"If I were staying here longer than today, I would investigate to ensure this area is safe. But since I'm leaving in an hour, I don't see the point," I said.
"Well then, if ya don't need me, I'll head back to my house. I gotta secure the area and maybe put up some sturdier walls," Jake said, as he headed back to his car.
"All right, brother. I'll catch you when I get back into town. It should be two or three days, maybe a week at most. Maybe by then, you'll have an idea of what to do with the skins," I said. Jake stopped walking to the car.
"Shit, I forgot 'bout those. Lemme grab the Elemental Bull hide and hoofs real quick. I don't think I can do anythin' with the claws or the Quartz hide," Jake said, realizing he overlooked some important items.
I loaded the hoof and hide into the car. "I have faith in you. I'm sure you'll get there in no time. All right, you're all packed up. I'll be fine, like I said, in about a week. I expect to have some epic armor when I get back," I chuckled.
We clasped arms as we said our goodbyes, and Jake got into his car and drove off.
I went inside and got the dogs because I had an experiment to do. I put them on leashes and took them for a jog. As we started jogging, I activated my Earth Strider ability to see if the dogs, being connected to me, would move at the same speed. And it worked! As long as they were connected to me by the leash, they ran at the same speed. The dogs began looking around excitedly, realizing their speed had significantly increased. With even more energy, they started pulling on the leash, wanting to run more. I laughed and said, "Okay, okay, let's go back inside so I can grab the stuff, and then we can head out. We have a long run ahead of us."
After packing everything I needed to take with me, I headed to the garage. I grabbed a hammer, a socket set, a ladder, rope, and a big flashlight, throwing them all into my inventory. With the doggos by my side, I embarked on the trek from North Fork to Los Angeles. As we ran, I couldn't help but notice that all the plant life looked more vibrant. Trees that had appeared to be dying were now thriving. Running through this wooded area, a thought crossed my mind: If the trees continue to grow at an accelerated rate, will there even be a town in this area five years from now? How will magic impact forests like Sierra National Forest? Will we witness the return of primordial trees that tower higher than skyscrapers and are thicker than buildings? Will our society adapt to this new structure, or will we attempt to control it as we always have? Only time will tell.