First thing first, I checked my blinking light.
Level up
+3 to all stats
Wizard Battle Master level 11
It was a pleasant surprise, and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. My aerial battle had been a seamless blend of magic and actual battle from start to finish, tapping into both aspects of my class—battle and magic. That realization was satisfying, a rare moment when everything clicked into place.
“We should harvest the wyvern,” Al said, looking keen.
We walked a short distance away to a clearing, and I pulled the wyvern’s massive body out of Storage. The ground trembled slightly as its charred, smoldering form materialized with a heavy thud. I took a step back, finally getting a chance to really look at the beast I’d fought so desperately to bring down.
During the fight, I’d been too focused on survival—dodging its claws, tail, and those lethal wood spikes—to process its size. I felt like a sparrow fighting an eagle, but now, standing next to it, the full scale of the creature hit me.
“Holy crap,” I muttered, craning my neck to take it all in.
“How big do you think it is?” Mahya asked, already pulling a tape measure from her Storage. Of course, she had one.
“Big,” I replied flatly, still staring. “Really, really big.”
She snorted. “That’s helpful. Come on, let’s measure it properly. Al, help me with the wings.”
Al stepped forward with a look of fascination, inspecting the wyvern’s horns. “Its size is… impressive,” he said, his tone almost reverent. “Certainly larger than the average wyvern I read about. It must have been feeding on the abundance of mana there.”
Mahya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, it’s big. Now grab this wing, please.”
The two of them worked together, each spreading one of the creature’s wings as far as they could. The translucent membranes shimmered faintly in the light, even singed and tattered as they were.
“Eighteen meters,” Mahya said, jotting it down in her notebook. “Its wingspan is about eighteen meters.”
“And the body?” I asked, pacing along its side. “It’s gotta be at least three meters wide. Look at this thing—it’s like a flying tank.”
Al crouched near its snout, examining the jagged teeth that protruded even when its mouth was closed. He and Mahya measured its length. “Its length from snout to tail appears to be roughly fifteen meters. Quite the specimen.”
I crossed my arms, letting out a low whistle. “Big son of a bitch,” I muttered, shaking my head.
Mahya walked around inspecting its talons. “I’m impressed you managed to take it down.”
I shrugged, trying to play it cool. “Well, Rue helped. He kept it distracted for a bit.”
Rue’s voice broke into my mind, his tone smug. “Rue hero. Rue big help. John too slow.”
I laughed. “Sure, buddy. Let’s go with that.”
Mahya chuckled, tracing the edge of one of the wyvern’s massive claws. “Well, whatever you did, it worked. And now we’ve got one hell of a trophy. These wings alone are worth a fortune in materials.”
Al nodded, his analytical gaze sweeping over the creature’s body. “Its scales are remarkable, and armor from them would be almost as good as a mithril armor. And its bones should be incredibly dense. The crafting applications would be extraordinary. I also want the blood and internal organs for alchemy.”
I gestured at the enormous creature sprawled before us. “Great. You two can divvy up the loot, but next time, someone else can fight the boss.”
Mahya smirked. “You know you had fun. Maybe it was deep down, but you can’t deny it. Besides,” she said, patting the wyvern’s side, “this thing will make for some incredible gear.”
I shook my head, still in awe of the beast’s size. Despite the exhaustion, the fight had been worth it. I’d survived and proved I could stand against something this massive. And as I stared down at the wyvern, a sense of pride settled inside me.
“Is wyvern yummy?” the walking stomach asked, his tail wagging with anticipation.
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“Yes,” Al replied, his tone matter-of-fact. “And it is highly beneficial. It strengthens the physical constitution and is extremely mana-rich. While it won’t increase your trait numbers directly, consuming enough of it would enhance the actual strength and durability your current traits represent.”
“Seriously?” I asked, surprised.
He nodded, his gaze still fixed on the massive beast before us. “Absolutely.”
Well, my plan was simple enough: they’d do the harvesting since I was the one who had fought the beast—fair trade, in my opinion. Unfortunately, reality had other ideas. As it turned out, we didn’t have the right tools to process a creature of this size and toughness properly. Al’s mithril sword was the only "tool" durable enough to handle the job, but it was far from ideal. Its size and weight made it better suited for crude, sweeping cuts rather than the fine work needed to extract valuable materials like scales, claws, and membranes.
“Of course,” I muttered, shaking my head as I stared at the enormous wyvern. “It has to be me.”
Mahya handed me a small knife, its blade gleaming faintly. “Here. Coat the edge with mana—it’s the only way to get through those tougher parts.”
With a deep sigh, I coated the blade with a thin layer of mana, the energy shimmering along the knife’s edge. “This better be worth it.”
What followed were hours of painstaking work. The scales, while beautiful, were as hard as steel and layered like shingles, each overlapping and interlocking in a way that made them incredibly difficult to remove. I started at the wing joints, prying the thinner scales free first before working my way to the larger, denser ones along the body. Each one came off with a loud snap that sent jolts up my already-tired arms.
The claws were no easier. Each was over a meter long, curved like a scythe, and so dense that I had to alternate between Al’s sword for cutting them free and the mana-coated knife for precision work.
The horns were next, their curved lengths dense and unyielding, each embedded deep into the wyvern's skull. Detaching them was a slow and grueling process, requiring precise cuts to free them from the bone. Al braced one horn with both hands, gritting his teeth as I pried and sawed with my mana-coated blade. Each movement sent jolts through my arms, the effort leaving me drenched in sweat. It felt like trying to wrestle treasure from the jaws of a dragon—not entirely inaccurate, considering the circumstances.
“Next time,” I grumbled, wiping sweat from my brow, “we bring proper tools. I’m not doing this by hand again.”
Mahya smirked, crouched nearby, and inspected the scales I’d managed to extract. “You’re doing fine. Besides, this stuff is worth a fortune. Look at the sheen on these scales—they’re practically glowing with mana.”
“Glad you’re impressed,” I muttered, fighting with the next horn. “My arms are going to fall off.”
By the time I reached the softer parts—the flesh and internal organs—I was completely drained. The meat was surprisingly tender for a creature this size, and Mahya immediately stored the chunks, already rattling off recipes I should make with them. Rue, of course, was hovering nearby, his tail wagging furiously at the sight.
“Wyvern liver?” he asked eagerly. “Wyvern ribs?”
“Yes, Rue,” I said, rolling my eyes. “We’ll save you some ribs. Just let me finish.”
“The liver is mine,” Al informed him.
He got the stink eye from Rue, but no arguments.
The final and arguably most valuable harvest was the wyvern’s mana core. Nestled deep within its chest, it pulsed faintly with residual energy, its size almost rivaling my fist. Sweat dripped down my temple as I carefully cut away the surrounding tissue, finally freeing the core and holding it up for the others to see.
Al’s eyes lit up as he inspected the core. “This alone could be used to craft high-tier magical gear or enhance a weapon significantly. A fine reward for your efforts.”
“Efforts?” I repeated, raising an eyebrow. “This was a marathon.”
Mahya laughed, patting my shoulder. “Think of it as a learning experience. Next time, you’ll be faster.”
“Next time, we’re bringing tools,” I shot back, dropping onto my butt with a heavy sigh. “Because this? Never again.”
I looked into my Storage and frowned at the near-capacity. “We should consider a quick trip to Lumis to offload some of the stuff we’ve collected,” I said, glancing at Mahya and Al.
“Why?” Mahya asked, tilting her head. “All the nonperishables are stored in the house.”
“I don’t know about you, but the wyvern filled mine to capacity. Between the food and the other loot, I’m almost maxed out. Now that the wyvern’s out, I’ve got some room, but not much. And once I store the skin? Poof, almost full again.”
“What’s the problem?” Mahya asked with a shrug. “Just enlarge it. You’ve got the points.”
“Yeah, but…” I hesitated, rubbing the back of my neck. “It’s already massive. Looking into it gives me vertigo.”
That earned me a full laugh from her, and she reached over to pat my back. “You’ll get used to it. My dad’s Storage is bigger than the king’s castle in the country I grew up in.”
I groaned, leaning my head back against a nearby rock.
“Or,” Al said dryly, “you could simply organize your items better.”
I gave him a flat look. “Al, I fought a wyvern today. Let me complain in peace.”
After six months in the occurrence, my Storage was practically bursting at the seams. It wasn’t just meat from all the creatures we’d harvested—there were also skins, scales, bones, horns, tusks, chitin, carapaces, mandibles, and an assortment of other stuff that defied easy categorization. Even Mahya had to move her precious trees into the house to make room for all the variable loot we’d been gathering.
I cast Aggressive Clean on nearly everything—this spell was quickly shaping up to be one of my most-used ones—but we still weren’t entirely sure it would be enough to keep some of the items from spoiling or rotting. It worked wonders on the surface grime, but preserving things long-term? That was a different story.
Taking a deep breath, I resigned myself to the inevitable: enlarging my Storage. I hadn’t done it yet, saving the points for when I absolutely had to, but now? The writing was on the wall. I would hold out as long as possible, hoping my current capacity would be enough. Sure, I had the inventory slots as a backup, but my Storage was so much more convenient. No fiddling with categories or slots—just a big, magical dump space. Even if looking into it still gave me vertigo.
We didn’t collect any crystals during this occurrence, but the rest of the haul made up for it—especially in Rue’s opinion. Despite a few minor disappointments, mostly involving inedible creatures, he’d had the time of his life sampling what that place had to offer.