Joshua stood, surveying the disgusting cornucopia of loot he’d received from the Attractive Wolf.
It was… a lot.
Weirdly, there was no smell he could detect. Maybe he’d become desensitized.
He shook his head and sighed. “Where am I going to put all of this?”
Though the monster that had attacked him had been small for a wolf, it had still been much larger than the unihorn rabbit. Accordingly, there was far more of it left behind. There were what had to be at least fifty pounds of meat and organs, plus a pelt large enough that it could actually be useful as armor.
“It says it’s a crafting material, but could I wear it?”
The pelt was misty like the wolf itself had been, though when he picked it up it was actually quite heavy.
He swung it over his shoulders and wrapped it once around his neck, wearing it like a gruesome, oversized scarf.
“I don’t feel any different.” He tried mentally activating it, but nothing happened. “Huh. It’s surprisingly comfy though.” It was incredibly soft, though a bit warm in the humid air of the forest.
He studied the remaining items. “So I’m guessing it’s one of you that will give me the ability to attract things.”
Given that all that was left were meat, organs, and bones, he would probably have to eat them to get that power. Which he wasn’t about to test out. He wasn’t even sure any would give him that power.
He didn’t want to leave them behind though, just in case.
He also didn’t want to carry them, which he’d have to do since his single-slot inventory was full.
It would be disgusting, but perhaps possible if he swapped the rabbit meat for wolf meat in his inventory. And if he left the wolf’s organs behind.
The bones didn’t seem too heavy at least.
Though they were called bones and his guide said they were damaged, the item itself appeared to be an intact skeleton. It was odd-looking, what with its six legs and two tails, but small enough that he could manage to carry it, even if it would be slightly awkward.
At least one of the items was immediately useful, and might actually indirectly give him the power of attraction.
He picked up the daemon shard. Like with the rabbit’s shard, an image of the misty wolf appeared, and when he focused on it a stat screen displayed beside the image, populating after a second or two.
Daemon: [Attractive Wolf]
Abilities: ★★
Attack: ★★
Defense: ★
Speed: ★★
Durability: ★
Agency: ★★
Growth: ★★
He took the rabbit shard from his pocket and held it in his other hand, then brought up its stat screen so they were side by side to compare.
Daemon: [Unihorn Rabbit]
Abilities: ★★
Attack: ★
Defense: ★
Speed: ★★
Durability: ★★
Agency: ★
Growth: ★★★
Some of the stats were obvious, like attack, defense, speed, and durability. ‘Abilities’ seemed straightforward as well, but he was less certain what exactly it represented. The number of abilities? Their power? Both?
Agency and growth were less obvious still. He thought agency might represent something like how well the daemons could act without instruction, but it could just as easily represent how hard they were to control. And growth was the least clear of all. Could the daemons grow in size, or was it referring to their ability to grow in power? Or maybe it was something else altogether.
“I don’t suppose you’ll give me a rundown of what they represent,” he said to his guide.
Nothing.
“What about telling me why my stat screen doesn’t have similar stats and ratings?”
Still nothing.
“Some guide. Seriously, why are you so unhelpful?”
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Information limited due to intervention by Equality. Expend more effort or use enhancement to gain more information.
“You’re telling me I should read that table of contents. No, don’t offer it. It’s a lot to read through. I’ll do it when I find somewhere safe.” He looked around and laughed. “And what makes you think anywhere is safe, Mr Baxter?”
Sin squawked in concern, hovering in front of him, wings barely flapping.
“I am not losing my mind,” he assured his familiar. “I’m just keeping my spirits up.”
The bird stared at him skeptically.
“Probably.”
He reread the message. “Is Equality a god? Is he or she—or it—as aptly named as Peace?”
Sin squawked at him.
“Yeah, I didn’t expect it to answer me either. I vaguely recall something about information on the gods being removed.”
To Joshua’s surprise, a new message appeared.
Well, an old message.
Ed. Note: Section Four: Gods and Divinity, has been struck from this edition.
“Great, tell me something else I already know.”
You are bleeding
“Was… that sarcasm? Or did you simply take me literally?” He frowned. “How smart are you, exactly? You can understand me to some extent, but like, are you alive?”
His guide did not respond.
He dismissed the messages and stat windows and pocketed both daemon shards.
He knew how to use them, and for now that was what mattered. The rabbit wouldn’t be any use until he figured out how to recharge it, but he had the wolf at least.
He looked at the pile of rabbit parts, which had been disturbed during the fight, though he didn’t remember how, or whether by him or the wolf.
He had far too much dirt and blood on him already to know if any was the rabbit’s, even taking into account the fact that its blood had been blue.
He looked from the pile of rabbit parts, to the pile of wolf parts.
The idea of leaving it all here pained him, even if it was disgusting.
He again considered carrying it all with him.
The rabbit skeleton he’d clubbed the wolf with was still in perfect condition. It was remarkably hardy. And its meat and organs hardly weighed anything.
The wolf’s organs, on the other hand, looked like they weighed a good deal, and were even more disgusting than the rabbit’s, coated in a thick, bluish-black gunk.
Whatever he decided, he definitely wasn’t carrying those around. And while normally he wouldn’t eat wolf or rabbit, if he had to choose between the two, it would be rabbit.
Then again, the rabbit meat might be poisonous. That ooze came from somewhere, and the wolf sure hadn’t seemed to like it. And the description had called the meat ‘spicy’, which going by his guide’s helpfulness so far, might imply poisonous.
“Where’s a wandering merchant when you need one?”
Would you like to access Treasure’s Empyrean Bazaar?
“What? What is that? Is it like an auction house? Can you teleport me there?”
His guide didn’t answer, so he said, “Yes, I would like to access it.”
Bazaar access costs 1000 joy shards
You currently have 0 joy shards
You cannot access the Bazaar at this time
Joshua sighed. “Can’t say I’m surprised. Actually, what are joy shards?”
No answer.
“I’m going to have to read through that table of contents some time,” he grumbled.
Would you like to view the table of contents to [Divine Guide User’s Guide]?
Joshua tsked exaggeratedly. “Aren’t you supposed to be able to read my mind? I said ‘some time’. As in, the future. Why do now what I can put off until later?”
He dismissed the message. “Maybe I’ll stumble upon a cozy cottage I can read it in.”
Sin squawked in disapproval.
“Yeah, it would probably have a witch in it.”
He cast another glance at the pile of loot. He really didn’t want to carry it. Even if his legs hadn’t been injured, it was just a lot.
Even the wolf pelt around his neck was getting tiresome.
Getting an idea, he took it off and laid it out on the ground.
The heaviest item would be either the wolf’s meat or its organs. There was no way he was hauling the organs around, so he put the wolf’s meat atop the skin, then pulled the rabbit meat from his inventory and added it to the pelt. Next went the rabbit’s skeleton. The wolf’s skeleton had the unihorn lodged in its skull. It took a few tries, but he finally dislodged it and set it to the side, adding the skeleton to the pelt, then finally the rabbit’s organs.
It all fit, at least on top of it.
That just left the unihorn, which he could carry, and the wolf’s organs, which he could store in his inventory.
He hoped.
The cube didn’t look like it would fit them, but the other items had shrunk down, so no reason these shouldn’t as well.
He grimaced as he picked up the organs. They were as disgusting as expected. Weirdly, each organ was connected to at least one other by… something, with the result that the whole thing was one connected mass.
He was no surgeon, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t normal.
Still, even with them connected, shoving it all into his inventory was going to be difficult.
That’s what he expected, anyway. But to his surprise as soon as he moved the bits he held toward his storage cube, the whole organ group shrunk down small enough to fit on his palm.
“Oh. That’s convenient. Actually, at this size, I can just carry them around like—”
They suddenly expanded back to their full size, flowing out of his hands and plopping down onto his legs and feet.
He winced in both disgust and pain.
“That’s a negative then.”
He got an idea, but wanted to test it with something less disgusting.
He disentangled himself from the organs, then picked up the rabbit’s skeleton from the pile and made to put it in his inventory.
It shrunk down to the size of a toy rabbit.
He held it there, holding the intention to put it into his inventory.
After a few seconds it returned to its original size.
“Huh. Not intention then, but a time limit.” There was probably some way he could take advantage of that.
For now, he set the skeleton back on the pile, then picked up the organs again and this time quickly put them in his inventory cube.
This done, he wiped his hands on the ground—which at this point was far cleaner than he was—then tried forming a bag from the wolf’s pelt.
The best he could manage was to fold the sides together.
He hoisted the makeshift pack in his arms. If he kept the flaps pressed against his chest, nothing spilled out.
“I wonder how stupid I look right now.”
Sin squawked.
“That was rhetorical.”
He looked down at the unihorn, which was by his feet. “Crap.”
Sin grabbed it in its talons and flew it up to him, dropping it atop the pack.
“Nice. See, teamwork.”
Sin chirped happily.
“You have a very wide vocal range for a pigeon.”
Sin preened.
The pack was heavy, but not as heavy as he’d expected it to be, and either his legs weren’t as injured as they seemed, or they were going numb from bloodloss, because all he felt from them was a mild ache.
“Use it or lose it. All right Sin, let’s get out of here before the blood attracts some even worse monster.”
Sin squawked in enthusiastic agreement and took up a perch on his shoulder.
He sighed. “Sure, I’ll carry you. Not like I’m overburdened already.”
Pigeon on his shoulder, disgusting pack of animal parts in his arms, Joshua squelched off in search of the remaining basics of life. Whatever they were.
Hopefully, they included a shower, and a healing potion.