As Fenris and Rosen left for the barracks Duncan was left with Petris at the training facility.

“That was funny. Don’t you think so?” Petris suddenly said.

Duncan’s head was full of things to do before the mine when he got interrupted by Petris so he didn’t follow. He asked him, “What do you mean?”

“I mean Rosen finally getting one over Fenris,” Petris said with a wide grin on his face.

Duncan nodded, before asking, “I thought you liked your Captain?”

“Ahh. Don’t get me wrong, we all like him. It is just that he has not been defeated by any one of us in combat for so long he has gotten smug about it. The closest anyone came was me using Stealth to sneak up on him but he says that does not count,” Petris explained.

“I guess I can understand the sentiment,” Duncan replied.

“Yeah. We just want him to stop treating us like we are his children,” Petris replied, looking towards the barracks with a sad expression.

“Who do you think will go to the mine today?” Duncan asked, switching the subject.

Petris looked at Duncan and frowned, “You and Captain for sure. Me… probably, and Rosen, since all the rest are occupied.”

Duncan nodded. “Where are the rest?”

“The archers are in the towers and Tenris is inspecting the wall,” Petris replied.

“Didn’t the wall get an inspection last week?” Duncan asked.

Petris nodded. “It did. Unfortunately, the insects here can eat through a log thick as a man in a week.”

“Maybe Elland could make you some insect repellent or insecticide?” Duncan asked.

Petris frowned, before asking, “What’s an insecticide?”

“A chemical… a potion that kills bugs,” Duncan quickly explained.

Petris nodded and replied, “Yeah. That would be great. We have to fix the bloody wall every two weeks. It’s tedious work. Not to mention we have to buy the lumber from the lumberjacks since we can’t harvest the logs ourselves. Well, we could not before you came along.”

“Alright. I will ask him later. I will read some books now if you don’t mind,” Duncan replied, ending the conversation.

“Alright. I need to practice my Stealth too,” Petris said before leaving.

Duncan parked himself on his ass by a large boulder and took out the first book.

Looking at the title he could tell the author was a laid-back type having named his work ‘Big books of shrooms vol.1’. He opened the book and looked through the pages filled with beautiful illustrations on the left pages and detailed descriptions of the fungi on the right. It described the shape, size, smell, and uses. Uses ranged from culinary and medicinal to poisoning. Sometimes a combination of everything depends on the preparation.

Duncan remembered a famous quote by Terry Pratchett which says that all mushrooms are edible at least once.

He used his reading skill on it and approximately 15 minutes later he got the prompt he wanted.

[ You have Learned Mycology Level 1. ]

Perception +0.1

Wisdom +0.1

With the new information came, a bonus as his [ Identify ] skill also leveled up.

[ You have Learned Identify Level 13. ]

Intelligence +1.3

Wisdom +1.3

“Four volumes to go and a return trip to Wazsh’s bar. Should be doable in the available time,” Duncan muttered as he took another book from his inventory.

Duncan activated the Reading skill right away and after another 15 minutes his Mycology skill leveled up to 3. Taking the next one he repeated the process getting Mycology to level 4 in 10 minutes. The later books were thinner and took less time to read. The fungi were described according to rarity in the same way as in the Bestiary and Herbology books.

“Why was there no Zoology skill from reading the Bestiaries?” Duncan suddenly muttered to himself as he took out volume 4.

Duncan’s Reading skill leveled up also during that time.

[ You have Learned Reading Level 14. ]

Perception +1.4

Intelligence +1.4

Wisdom +1.4

Volume four brought the Mycology skill to level 5 and he took out the last book of this series. He read it and checked his [ LOG ].

[ You have Learned Identify Level 14. ]

Intelligence +1.4

Wisdom +1.4

He was happy with the progress but not with the category where his stats progressed. Right now he thought he needed physical stats a lot more than mental ones.

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Duncan checked the time and he had almost an hour left before they would leave for the mine. He started running towards Main street and decided to check if Elland was at home. If he was not he could give the books to Wazsh.

As he came in he once again made a ruckus from opening the door too fast. The chimes were flying toward the ceiling and making awful noises complaining about Duncan’s brutality.

Elland rushed from the workshop, “You are back? Still having trouble controlling your strength?”

Duncan scratched his head with embarrassment, “Yeah. I forget I am stronger now. I am returning your books and then we will leave for the mine.”

Elland nodded, “You didn’t have to rush here. Do you want more books?”

“Not right now. Bring some with you to Wazsh’s place in the evening if you can,” Duncan replied.

“Sure. Do you need anything else?” Elland asked.

Duncan thought about it and he could not think of anything he needed. He had plenty of healing potions and antidotes. Water and food were abundant in his inventory too. As he thought about the water he had a crazy idea and he asked Elland, “Does water need a container to be stored inside the inventory?”

Elland looked at him with a frown, before he answered, “Why would you store it without a container? And no, it does not have to be. I tried it when I got the inventory skill as a child.”

“Well, I have plenty of inventory space. Maybe I could use it as a water gun,” Duncan replied.

“A water gun? What is that?” Elland asked.

Duncan frowned, “I mean I could fill my inventory with water then spray it at my enemies when I need it.”

“That would not work,” Elland said and shook his head.

“Why not?” Duncan asked, with a surprised expression.

“The things in the inventory lose their movement. So, if you summon water it won’t spray from you. It will just drop down all around you,” Elland explained.

Duncan’s idea of using the available inventory space as a high-pressure water gun came to an untimely end with that new piece of information.

“Would the other stuff get damaged by the water I store inside?” he asked next, still not giving up.

Elland frowned and shook his head, before he replied, “No. Like everything else, it would stay in one piece separated from other stuff.”

“So, I would have to separate water into multiple batches if I don’t want to use it all at once,” Duncan asked next.

Elland nodded and shook his head right after.

“How much water do you want to store?” Elland asked.

“I am thinking about storing 30 cubic meters,” Duncan replied.

Elland’s eyes bulged and he quickly asked, “How big is your storage?”

“Around 50 cubic meters. More than half is empty though,” Duncan replied.

“How bloody high is your Intelligence? Did you not invest in anything else?” Elland asked with agitation in his voice.

Duncan frowned, “It’s about 50 stat points. I don’t think it’s very high.”

Elland was taken by surprise at that statement and he took a while before he responded, “Your inventory works differently than mine I guess. I only get a tenth of your storage for every Intelligence stat point.”

“So, do you think I can store that much water without any problems?” Duncan asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Elland said with a deflated expression.

“Where are you getting your water from?” Duncan asked.

“We use a magic pump to supply it to our houses but it will take a long time to fill 30 cubic meters. Take a big bucket and go out behind my house and walk straight and you will find a small pond. Just scoop it up by a bucket and concentrate on the water only and drop it in the inventory.” Elland replied.

Duncan nodded, before he asked, “Are there any big rocks nearby?”

“Why are you asking about rocks now all of a sudden?” Elland asked.

“Well, if it works with water it should work with rocks,” Duncan explained.

“What works? I mean what should work with water?” Elland replied flustered.

“Dropping it on an enemy from the higher ground should work,” Duncan replied.

Elland’s eyes bulged as he shook his head and replied, “That’s insane but it should work. You should find some rocks on the way to the pond.”

“Alright. I have to hurry now,” Duncan said as he checked the time.

“Take care,” Elland replied as he saw Duncan off.

Duncan hurried between the houses and walked straight from there. He soon found his first big rock and dumped it in the inventory. It was about a cubic meter in size. Sadly it was not very round so he didn’t know how it would roll. There were a few smaller rounder ones too and he took them also.

As he was nearing the pond he found a huge rock that was taller than him. He especially liked that it was almost round. It took up space of around 8 cubic meters in his inventory and probably weighed a couple of tons.

Soon he came to the pond and he remembered he didn’t have any empty buckets. Lucky for him there were some attached ropes at the pond used by the natives to fetch water from it. The pond was around 20 meters in length and 10 meters wide. The water was crystal clear with air bubbles rising from the center. Duncan suspected it was actually a spring that grew into a pond.

There was a small shack on one end where the noise of rushing water was coming from. Duncan stayed away from it and pulled on a rope attached to a big bucket.

He quickly drew water with them and dumped it in his inventory like Elland suggested by only concentrating on the water.

It was tedious work and very time-consuming. By the time he had to leave he only managed to gather a bit more than two cubic meters. Duncan rushed back to the barracks and as he came there he found the crew already nervously waiting for him in front.

“You are finally here,” Fenris yelled as he was still far away and the crew started walking towards him as Duncan stopped. They gathered up and walked toward the mine.

There were no surprises except that Tenris managed to return and join them.

“Hello, Tenris. How is it going?” Duncan greeted.

“Hi, Duncan. It’s good. There was less damage on the wall than usual so I managed to make it back for the expedition,” Tenris replied.

Duncan nodded as he replied, “Glad to have you back.”

“I heard from Petris that Elland can make us some insect repellent?” Tenris asked with hope in his voice.

“Ahh. I was just there and forgot to ask him. Will ask him tonight,” Duncan replied.

Soon the Wolf King party has once again been formed as they entered the mine. The fresh air of the outside was replaced by the smell of the soil as they made their way down the mine shaft to the crypt. Nobody was talking as they rushed as fast as they could down to the unexplored area.

Petris suddenly called, “Duncan. Can you loan me that ring while we are here?”

Duncan nodded and offered it. He patted Petris’ shoulder as he admired the ring and told him, “If you try to scare me while wearing it, you are never getting it again.”

Petris nodded with a frown as they went deeper.