Once Jacob was done cutting up around 60 of the claws and distributed it between him, Riley and Brian. Aurelius declined from using any, so Jacob left a whooping 80 claws intact and uncut. Jacob lamented the lack of a space storage bag or ring like the novels he read mentioned, he would be able to store whatever he wanted and use them at will.
The group moved away from the scene of battle heading perpendicular from the rising suns to avoid going in the kobold cave for now after Jacob distributed the claws evenly and an accompanying black sash to keep the claws in. The group left the now yellow soaked battleground feeling much more tired than they should be as they got their peaceful rest interrupted.
The smell of gore and the tangy iron smell quickly receded as the group sped away from the bloodbath only occasionally wafting to their nose from the residuals still clinging to their clothes, Jacob having already gotten somewhat used to the smell from staying in proximity with the group, so the renewed smell of gore and iron did not bother him too much.
While Jacob was fine with staying blood-soaked with debris and dust covering his skin, Riley finally had enough of the situation and asked Jacob to lead them to whatever water source he could. She was dying to change into the black satin like materials that the group stripped from the floaters leaving them naked and baking in the sun for all sorts of animals to find once the smell really got going.
As luck would have it, Jacob spotted a valley with even more forest covered hills further back peaking out from the large verdant forest. Trails of water was flowing out from the direction heading further into the valley and pooling into a puddle too small for anyone to effectively utilise it. Hence, the group decided to head further in both for a larger amount of drinking and washing water.
They were unsure as to how safe the water was or even if it was safe for consumption, however throughout their movements to follow the water to its source. Jacob was constantly reminded of how good the deer and bear meat tasted, if the meat was good surely the water could not be that bad too. The trio following him also had their stomach rumbling at this point, if they were not exposed to the allure of water they would have been fine enduring it for the entire week of this tutorial.
However, once a person have an option to quench their thirst or not constantly displayed in front of them. Even if it was poisoned, not to mention that the water look crystal clear now. The person would surely drink from the water.
When the group finally moved to the point of the now rather impressive flow of water resembling a small river it had rocks dotted along the edges and trees for shade, Jacob decided to call the group to a halt raising his right hand in a fist. Once the group stopped, Aurelius casually moved towards to drink from the river, while Brian and Riley could be seen waiting eagerly for Jacob to say something.
“Alright, I’m not sure if Aurelius has some sort of super stomach or not. But if he can drink from the river, we should be able too without the need to boil it.” Jacob said after considering that Aurelius looked okay while drinking, but viruses and infections never struck that fast. But with their increased endurance and vigor, unless the disease was made from magic the group should be fine.
“My stomach is the same as the rest of humanity, it was trained against poison. So all of you can relax.” Aurelius replied casually, as Riley and Brian spit out the water they were drinking once they heard Aurelius.
“OUR STOMACH WERE NOT TRAINED FOR POISON!” Riley shouted with water dripping from her mouth and Brian furiously nodded along to her words.
“Well the both of you have already drank some, It is entirely too late to spit it out so just keep drinking. If it is poisoned, you can consider it as training now.” Jacob spoke between gulps from the river, it did not taste out of the ordinary apart from a sweeter taste compared to the water back on Earth. No taste of minerals could be tasted too, only sweetness.
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Riley and Brian both sharing aggrieved looks at Aurelius as they reluctantly resumed drinking from the river again. Jacob having sated his thirst moved towards the side of Aurelius and asked truly inquisitive.
“Was what you said true? You trained resistance against poison?” Aurelius nodded and replied
“Yes, my grandpappy said that all humans begin training since young against poisons. Did you guys really not have any of such training?”
“Well for myself, Riley and Brian I can definitely say we did not train with poison or against. Neither did any of the people I know.” Jacob replied confidently. Causing Aurelius to scrunch his eyebrows together in deep thoughts. Jacob decided to leave Aurelius to consider things alone while he moved to the now quenched and satisfied duo of Riley and Brian sitting beneath a nearby tree.
“Riley, I’ll leave some of the black sash over here for you to wear after you wash over. I’ll bring the guys further down where it slopes down to give you some privacy. Give us about 3 minutes once we leave before you start, so yours don’t wash down towards us so fast.” Jacob left with Brian in tow as he held another bundle of black sash and moved back down the river.
“Thanks you guys! Lets meet again with all of us smelling nice and not like beached whales!” Riley shouted in reply, Jacob and Brian could only smile and shake their heads. There are somethings you should keep in your head but that was not the case for Riley as they had come to know.
Aurelius followed along, while he was the one with the least amount of yellow and dust covered clothes. It was still unbearable to see his coat with so many blemishes and anyone could use a good wash after the exertion from the past three days.
The visage of two giant accompanying someone a whole head and a half shorter than them was a sight to see. Riley chuckled a little seeing two and a half men walking away, Jacob looked to his left and right and realised what Riley was laughing about. His ears heated up, if it was not covered by red and yellow blood it would be a visible red.
Aurelius smirked a little and Brian had a large grin plastered, Jacob not wanting to seem more embarrassed could only keep walking instead of what he wanted to do. Which was to run away at full speed and wash away the scene from his mind.
The trio arrived at a place much further away and they jumped down from where they stood as the ground abruptly separated in height by a metre or so, the group previously passed by the area but Jacob was still worrying about the drinkability of the water which was chucked out of his consideration after the continuous beckoning of the water as they got further up. With a mini waterfall, washing off would be much easier than what Riley would have to do. Jacob quickly squashed the thought as his cheeks heated up imagining Riley washing. He placed the bundle of black cloth on to a out cropping of rock and he wanted to place Flowing Water down too but realised he left it with Riley for protection.
The trio smoothly stripped themselves of their clothing and threw it far, far away currently with no reliable ways to start a fire and with Jacob having some foreknowledge of what was gonna happen, he told the group it was fine to throw away their clothes as their clothes were too spoilt to wash
Jacob caught a look at both Aurelius and Brian. Aurelius along with his golden hair, red eyes and a sharp jawline with high cheeks bones, broad shoulders which were previously hidden by the coat. His back meanwhile was a tapestry of muscles, if a Greek god descended from above. Jacob thought it would be in the shape of Aurelius. His previous jealousy of Alexander was nowhere to be found, even the chiseled looks of Alexander paled in comparison to Aurelius.
Meanwhile, Brian while not having the signature good looks and the accompanying hair had an impressive body for an old men. As if sensing Jacobs’ thought Brian looked back and said.
“Stop thinking rude thoughts and start washing off, I’m looking forward to the alien food we are gonna eat that you constantly said was the best meat you ever ate.” Jacob turned sheepish and got to washing his body, slowly but surely the blood and grime gave way to persistence and flaked off piece by piece. With the calming sound of the rushing river, it almost felt like a camping trip with his older brother and very excitable old uncle. Jacob basked in the peacefulness of the shower he was taking.
With his plans for the kobold cave the last three days would be tiring even if it was not gonna be in the same difficulty level as fighting the four-armed triple-headed giant angelic marble statue. After the trio managed to wash off all the blood and grime from their bodies and Jacob closing his eyes to prevent any further accidental looks, he certainly did not want to see the lower half of the other two.
Aurelius donned the black satin sash, wrapped much like the ancient Greeks of old, a well covered tunic from his shoulders to his knees. The black looked very fitting with his white skin and blonde hair. If Aurelius looked anymore magical to Jacob he might make flowers bloom with every footstep.
Brian wore the black tunic with the look of a blacksmith, just coming off the public baths. His large calloused hands, tanned skin, bushy eyebrows, gruff eyes, large nose and mouth. The way Brian walked however carried a sense of danger and his gruff eyes was always scanning for danger despite.
Jacob looked like the errand boy as he was once again in between the 2 of them, with his mess of black hair, big green eyes and somewhat shorter stature. Although, his body was gaining musculature without the height he still looked like a child compared to the two giants beside him.
With the washing done and with everyone wearing a new sets of clothes looted from their most recent enemies, they moved to meet up with Riley who should also be done.