Chapter 35

Chapter 35: From a Hero to a cook

Time passed, but even if both were exhausted, their job needed to be done. While Lupa fed the fire with sticks, she began explaining what happened and experienced.

[I don’t know how it happened. But whatever happened, it happened on its own. If I could control such mighty overwhelming power, then we will be afraid of nothing.]

Lupa wanted to taste the omnipotent feeling once more. To be a predator at the top of the food chain. She felt nothing would be able to harm Vincent and Ester if she could use it.

“So, you had a flashback this time?” Vincent wanted to confirm it didn’t have any connection with the deja vu dream sickness, or in this world, skill up visions.

[No, I only felt powerful. Time felt slow, and my actions faster. My senses could even pick up your heartbeat while you ran. But no headache or vision.]

“So, one needs a condition to learn an ability or spell. Also, it’s class dependant... Could what you experienced, a racial class for your kind? As Ester said, you might be the only wolf that became a beastman instead of a magical beast.” Vincent pondered out loud while bringing the knife to start skinning the boar.

Lupa was more confused than him. But because of these words, she became even more confused. The information Vincent murmured while trying to understand how this world worked was too hare for her to comprendo. Lupa was a normal wolf a few days ago.

.....

Vincent had a faint idea of what his hero power was. To shape or refine his Soul Power into something that he understands. That’s why his spells cost Soul Power because they develop from Soul Power instead of mana.

‘This feels like an RPG game where I started with a weak level one character, have strange things inside me and playing with insane difficulty.’

Vincent let a deep sigh while he gazed at the full moon. His luck couldn’t get more rotten than this, right?

However, to cure Ester was his current goal. He needed a warm pelt to cover and keep her warm. This way, the chance not to get worse and healing Ester in one go would rise.

Vincent shrugged his shoulder to stop thinking about such a depressing subject. Then he remembered the mushrooms the boar was eating before this all started.

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[Name] Red Plum Mushroom

[Condition] Healthy

[Effect]

*Minor Stamina Recovery

.

“Nice five mushrooms. No wonder the Great Yok Boar was eating them. Other than the dots and being less bloated, the Red Numb Mushroom isn’t much different from Red Plum Mushroom.” Vincent happily plucked the five mushrooms and decided to cook one for him and Lupa.

Wanting to delay the skinning further to muster his courage, Vincent shoved a stick in the red plum mushrooms and began cooking them.

Later, both ate the mushroom while it left them drooling for more. Only eating the sage apple skin and with its delicious appetizing taste made both want more.

However, the mushroom’s effects might be needed for the future, so Vincent quickly hid them in the cart. He planned to save them for future emergency use as their future didn’t seem like a joy ride.

For five minutes, both felt less exhausted because of the beneficial effect. Vincent took this opportunity to start skinning while his hand felt like it could do anything.

It was harder than expected. Luckily, almost all the boar’s blood drained while it bled from multiple places. Vincent didn’t get splattered with blood allowing him to remain mostly clean.

Carefully separating the pelt from the flesh, Vincent tried his best while the deep concentration made him forget to become disgusted and puke. The last fight against the wolves made him more resilient to death and corpses.

A while later, half of the pelt got cut in an amateurish way. The other half became a big problem. The boar needed to get flipped to the opposite side.

Luckily, the nearby tree was still standing after receiving a tusk to its trunk. An idea of leverage rushed to his mind; that way, they didn’t need to overexert themselves to flip the boar.

Vincent went to get a long rope he left in the cart since he kept it for its multiple uses. Then he tied a knot at one of the front and rear legs. With the middle of the rope in his hands, he circled the nearby tree.

[Do you want help?... Heh, the clothes are still wet.]

Lupa asked while she checked if her wet clothes had dried.

“No need. You rest since we survived because of you. When we get out of this damn forest, I will follow any wish you want.” Vincent promised while preparing to use the tree as leverage and flip the boar with the rope.

Lupa became happy by these words while her tail energetically wagged in utter joy. He finally promised to mate with her if she asked.

*Thud

After overexerting himself and getting another muscle spasm in his legs, the boar finally fliped with a loud thud. Vincent slowly approached the boar to start round two of the pelt skinning.

Vincent had forgotten that the pelt might get stuck under the boar after it gets flipped. Luckily, it didn’t get held under it, and he could pull the full large pelt with pieces of meat out.

Vincent noticed how impatient Lupa was while she drooled to eat. With a smile, he took out a rag, removed his shirt, and said, “Shapeshift into a beastman. Use my shirt and wrap this around your waist like your torn skirt.”

Lupa liked this idea. She immediately started to change as her body glowed, and her fur receded. Vincent, like the gentleman he was, turned his head the opposite way until she got dressed.

“Hehe, my mate, don’t you want to take a peek as I did.” Lupa slyly teased Vincent making his heart race. Soon she embraced him from behind while continuing, “I hope this forest ends soon, hehe.”

Lupa was in a fantastic mood as a large boar filled with meat stood behind them. She also liked taking an occasional whiff at the shirt she received.

*Growl

“Ahem... do you want to eat or play?” Vincent quickly changed the subject when both their bellies growled for food. The idea of eating enticed their stomachs.

Soon, Vincent and Lupa held a pair of knives in their hands. Lupa began cutting the boar like a hungry beast while Vincent cleaned the pelt. He planned to use the brain tan method. If he could do this, only time could tell.

“Vincent, look at this. ” Lupa approached Vincent with a red crystal illuminating under the moonlight. It was the Great Yok Boar’s Fire Core, but the crystal was smaller than the silver crystal the Great Gray Wolf had.

Vincent went to bring the Air Core. With a core in each hand, he inspected both by inspection ability and with his eyes. As he thought, the inspection ability showed new information.

.

[Name] Air Core

[Conditon] Healthy

[Grade] Small stage seven

.

[Name] Fire Core

[Condition] Healthy

[Grade] Small stage two

.

“Hmm... so that’s why Ester said the Great gray Wolf was going to awaken soon. Stage seven and could use spells... no wonder the boar only charged. It might have recently awakened into a magical beast.” Vincent said with the insight the ability gave him.

Vincent could tell many things from the information it gave, such as the power of the magical beast and its elemental affinity. Unfortunately, this information wasn’t available when it was alive, or he would know if it was powerful or not.

“They look pretty.” Lupa gazed at both fist-sized crystals while her eyes became mesmerized by the crimson and silver colors. If she became a magical beast instead of a beastman, then she might have the silver one inside her.

Vincent placed both cores with great care in a small bag, then hid it inside the cart. If push comes to shove, the two cores should give them enough money to survive as per Ester’s information.

With a frown, Vincent felt like they were about to have another problem. The two empty barrels they had wouldn’t be enough to hold all of the boar’s meat. Also, the pelt was going to be placed on Ester for warmth.

‘The cart is about to become very heavy, heh... I might need to plan something, or my legs might not be able to pull the weight.’

“Damn it. I will think about it later.” Vincent decided to leave everything for the next day while a pattern of procrastination slowly surfaced.

After Vincent finished removing the meat from the pelt, he cleaned it and let it dry. Since it needed to be used, the brain tanning method needed to be put on hold. Even if it smelled, at least it could let Ester stay warmer.

Soon, a tag team of a meat cutter and a kebab skewer maker formed. Vincent picked the many sticks lying on the ground and filled them with the small pieces of boar meat Lupa chopped.

Vincent shoved the sticks in the ground, but away from the fire to not get burned into charcoal. Such a feast needed to get savored. Stick after stick; the campfire had ten circling it all filled with meat.

“Place the meat in here. We need to store them in the cart for preservation since we have a refrigerator... Ahem, I mean, Ester’s magical fever.” Vincent cleared his throat the moment he mistakenly called Ester a refrigerator. Even if Lupa didn’t know what it meant, he didn’t want to get asked what it was.

Lupa nodded while she continued copping the boar with drool drops falling from her mouth. With her heightened sensitive nose and ears, an apatite of a wild beast, the delicious fragrant aroma, and the sound of the sizzling juices made her senses run wild.

Her tail uncontrollably wagged while she rushed chopping the boar. She became impatient while behind her were ten boar kebab skewered begging to get savored.

Vincent chuckled at her childish behavior as he remembered Kevin’s dog. It always wagged it’s tail when they ate in Kevin’s house every day. Like in the fantasy stories he ever read, beastman can’t hide their feelings as they wore them on their tail.

“Clean your hands, and let’s eat.” As soon as Vincent uttered these words, Lupa jumped from the rock she sat on and cleaned her hands with the spare river water they had collected to clean things.

Vincent picked two sticks filled with sizzling cooked boar meat. As his gaze turned on Lupa, who drooled uncontrollably, with a chuckle, Vincent said, “Here take one. Then you have four more waiting for you.”

“The meat tastes... *Cough... good!... *Cough.” Lupa coughed while devouring, breathing, and talking at the same time. She became so thrilled by the meal that she wanted to do everything at the same time.

Vincent gave Lupa a cup of water to help her gulp the food while he gently patted her back. Lupa liked this caring treatment and rewarded him with a peck on his cheek.

However, her lips were full of oily juices. Vincent wiped his cheek while raising a smile at how delighted she was. If she considered his a feast, then his spoiled self of eating good food on Earth needed to change.

Soon, the ten sticks filled to the brim with boar meat vanished in thin air. Only their full bellies left a bulge with evidence of their fast disappearance.

“Can you make more?” Lupa asked while five sticks weren’t enough to stop her drooling. Vincent, with a warm smile, decided to make five more sticks full of meat.

As he finished, he made two more, one for him and one for Ester. He planned to chop the meat in small bite-sized pieces for her to swallow easily.

“I feel like I have become a maid.” Vincent thought out loud while he had no choice in the matter. One recently became a beastman with intelligence and needed to learn the human way while the other was deadly sick.