Pulling a chunk of the salamander’s hide out of my Inventory, I immediately set to injecting mana into it in the same way as I did the paranax’s corpse. To my pleasure, it works! It still takes a lot of mana: I have to wait twice for my mana pool to refill before I succeed in saturating the roll of skin.
It’s a bit longer than my height and about two thirds of that in width, so it’s pretty big in area. However, since it’s only skin with a bit of fat and flesh attached, I reckon that it actually takes a bit less time to saturate than a corpse of similar volume would. I’d have to test it out to be sure, but my impression is that each centimetre cubed of flesh takes less mana to saturate than the organs of the paranax had. Even though I know that skin is actually considered an organ by itself.
When I sense that the hide is fully saturated with mana, I sink my mind into it. Moving through the skin is a bit different from moving through a complete body. It’s…all very similar. There’s no depth to my perception, no sense of there being more to discover. Instead, it’s skin and not much else.
However, I’m just as able to interact with it as I was the paranax’s corpse. I sense that I can toughen the hide at the expense of its flexibility, or the reverse. I can even grow the hide to a certain extent, though when I try doing it, I find the process is more sluggish and mana-consumptive than doing the same on either the paranax or the bisonisan. I wonder why.
It makes cleaning the hide very easy. I strip the fat and flesh off it in a few minutes and a small amount of mana. Pulling my mind out of the corpse, I toss the fat into one pot and the meat in another: I always need fat for the continued treating of my weapons. Not to mention for making new soap since I’m getting through my block of it rather quicker than I’d imagined.
And the meat will make a nice meal for me, especially combined with some of the new plants I’ve discovered. Actually, I decide to toss in a couple of the roots I found which have a nice flavour when they’re cooked – apparently called ‘snoom’ – along with the leaves which disintegrate in water – volel.
Picking up the hide, I run it thoughtfully between my fingers. Without the fat or flesh attached, it’s more supple, more flexible. But there’s still no getting around the fact that it’s thick, armoured skin from a beast which was multiple times my mass. It’s still far stiffer than the paranax’s hide, but is no doubt far better armoured too.
However, I don’t think I’m going to be able to get around the need to tan it. Tanning is necessary to stabilise the skin so that it doesn’t rot. I don’t want to go and create some armour and then suddenly find that it’s rotting off my body. Though would leaving my mana in the hide stop it from putrefying? Perhaps.
I don’t really want to try it with the salamander hide, though: it’s too precious. Sighing, I’m about to add the hide back into my Inventory, when I pause. What if shoving it into my Inventory strips it of the mana I put into it?
Figuring that it’s actually pretty likely, I decide to test with something else first. The paranax’s hide is sitting on the floor next to me, and is still full of the mana I shoved into it earlier. Picking it up, I put it in my Inventory. A moment later, I pull it back out and try to connect to it with my mind.
To my dismay, my fears proved true. My mind is stopped at the barrier of my skin and I feel the same sense of void which I’d felt when I started injecting the corpse with my mana.
It seems like my Inventory keeps proving that it’s less useful than I’d thought. I’m sure there are ways around its Energy-draining properties, but I don’t know them – unfortunately none of the stones I absorbed came equipped with that information.
Staring at the fire, I take stock. So, I have a roll of salamander hide full of mana which will lose it if I toss it in my Inventory, but will spoil quickly if I don’t. Heck, it might even start showing signs of deterioration overnight, and I’m still a good few days away from actually starting the tanning process.
I sigh. While it’s possible that my mana will help stop the process of decomposition, there are no guarantees. And if I let it rot and then have to use magic to regenerate the bits of flesh which are damaged, I might end up using more mana than it would take to resaturate the skin anyway. I’m just going to have to bite the bullet.
Before I do that, however, I decide to see if something else works. I put my hand on the salamander skin and focus on pulling mana out of it, the complete reverse of what I was doing earlier.
My mana inside the hide is sluggish to respond. It’s like it’s changed in some way, become different as it’s made contact with the flesh. Perhaps it has: I’ve had notifications which have mentioned ‘healing’ magic. No reason why this couldn’t have become ‘flesh’ magic. Eventually some mana filters back into me, but I can sense that the ratio between what I put in and what I can get out is even worse than the notification had said would have applied to the paranax.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Actually, that’s something I haven’t tested yet. I quickly use Inspect Fauna on the skin, only to get back a result which I probably should have expected: none.
The pulse shoots out of me as normal, takes longer than usual, only to then return to me without any more information. Since I was using it on a piece of the hide rather than the beast itself, I’m not really surprised. It would have been nice if it worked, though.
After I’ve pulled out as much mana as I can, almost refilling my pool with the fifty-three units I was able to access, I put the roll of salamander into my Inventory with a sense of resignation.
As my last test of the day, I take the paranax hide in my hands once more and refill it with mana. Since I’m only dealing with the hide instead of the whole body this time, it takes a lot less mana – just a bit more than my mana pool this time. Since I sense that I’m pretty close to saturating it after I’ve dumped my whole mana pool in it, I don’t wait for my mana to regenerate completely, just adding mana points as they start to become available again.
Once it’s full, I put it near the entrance-way of the alcove: if it does start to rot overnight, I don’t want the smell to stink up the whole of our sleeping area. By this point I’m actually starting to feel sleepy again, so after putting the hide aside, I go to lie down next to River on the ‘bed’.
Tomorrow’s going to be a heavy day, is the last thought to go through my mind as I drift back off to sleep.
*****
I think I dream, but if I do, I don’t remember it. At least there are no spontaneous eruptions of fire – I suspect that rain or no rain, River would have given up on sleeping inside if there had been.
When I wake, grey light is filtering into the cave from outside. It’s still raining, though not as heavily as the first rainstorm that hit us. Sighing, I remind myself that there are things I can do, rain or no rain. The first of which is calling a meeting of all my Bound. And yes, that includes Hades and Persephone.
While I wait for my two newest Bound to make their way up to the cave, I take advantage of the rain to collect clean water by putting out as many containers as I can. I won’t even need to boil that water since I doubt this world has any sort of contamination similar to the pollution-filled skies that I’m used to from Earth.
I also drink a bit of meat and nutty broth and chew the last of the berries I collected. Hmm, maybe I could grind that root up into flour, I think. If I can do that, then find edible eggs – surely possible in this world of reptilian creatures – I could probably make some basic pancakes. Mmm, pancakes….
Add some berries either to the batter or squish them into berry sauce and I’ll have a nice little breakfast. Of course, it would be even better if I could mix them with milk and add a knob of butter, but so far the only creatures I’ve encountered with milk are Kalanthia – who I don’t dare ask – and the raptorcats, but not Bastet herself.
Perhaps I could make some tea of some sort, though, I say to myself thoughtfully. Although I prefer to drink either coffee or black tea with milk, I’m fine without it when drinking herbal teas. Actually, that basil-mint herb might work quite nicely as a herbal beverage….
By the time I’m done, Persephone and Hades are heading into the cave, their movements slow and reluctant. I’d imagine that, like it was for River at the beginning, it’s the equivalent of voluntarily walking into the belly of the beast. While I might have reassured them that Kalanthia’s not going to eat them, their instincts are no doubt screaming at them with every step. Still, they come in nonetheless, shaking off their wet scales like a dog would.
I grimace as the droplets pelt me, making me unpleasantly damp. Sending a hint of displeasure down the Bond to help is met with indifference. The grumble of dissatisfaction that comes from Kalanthia’s bed is significantly more impactful, and I take pleasure in their flinch and hop backwards. Maybe that will teach them to be more considerate of those who managed to stay dry.
Sirocco, who wings her way in next, sends me a grumpy feeling down the Bond. I guiltily realise that she probably stayed outside with the kiina because I hadn’t told them to come in, and as far as she knew, she was meant to keep an eye on them.
Sorry, I tell her down the Bond. Why don’t you go and dry off by the fire? I’d stoked it after waking so it’s burning merrily. Of course, I only have a limited amount of firewood indoors, and the rest is outside and getting wet. Sirocco takes off without another ‘word’ – clearly giving me the cold-shoulder.
Well, I suppose I have a decent supply in my Inventory too, but those are more spindly branches than decent chunks of wood. I resolve to change that situation once the wood outside has dried again. From what both River and Kalanthia have said, we’re going to be facing a lot more of this wet stuff so I’d better have a good supply of dry firewood on hand.
Finally, we’re all gathered. Hades and Persephone are near the entrance to the cave. Bastet and the cubs have elected to stay with Sirocco near the fire. Fenrir is pressing up against me and River has decided to lean against the wall of the cave and stare out at the rain. I’m sitting in the alcove entrance, bridging the gap between the two groups, just like I’ll be bridging the communications.
“Right everyone,” I start. “Here’s the plan.”