Master Of None

Once Walker had dealt with the ice the body of the wide mouth frog showed a large amount of damage. The way the ice had frozen it had pierced many of the internal organs and even torn the skin in many places. The party would have trouble using most of the skin as materials but the meat was still safe to eat. Walker pulled out a dagger that the wandering blacksmith had made as extra and carved out the eyeballs to store separately. After this, he used one of the smaller hammers to cut down the legs. 

The design of the small hammers was the best for multiple uses due to the bladed back end they had. This added enough weight to cut down trees if needed along with other basic uses. The skills that the wandering blacksmith had used to make them feel lighter was really useful since Walker would have to swing multiple times to cut through the joints. 

Normally Walker would have stored the entire body as one but due to the damage from the ice, he thought it better to have it broken down in to the pieces that they could cook and eat. He had managed to learn the basics of breaking down animals to cook from his mother years ago. He had never had a skill for it but was still able to manage the basics. 

’The skill dissection has been learned from the butcher system. Would the user like to learn the skill dissection?’

Walker had no reason to refuse this skill since it was a very useful one. If he could become more adept in breaking down their prey then he would be able to better store monster materials in his inventory. He would also have the ability to sell specific parts at specific times. 

’The skill dissection has been learned.

Dissection- 1 mana cost

The user uses their inner mana to slice through even the toughest animal tendons and muscles. Delicate meat and organs are less likely to be pierced by the user’s knife when they are working on their target.’ 

This was not a very showy skill but a practical one. Walker could see himself using it constantly, especially when they were traveling and he would have to make the party a meal. This would also help him ration the meat they had. 

”I didn’t know you could field dress a monster.” Gil had not seen Walker doing this before and had usually been the person responsible for any small game they hunted on their trips. 

”Well, I learned how to break down animals from my mother and decided I should just deal with this now. I actually just got a skill that helps me do it faster.” He was still working but he sounded a bit sheepish. 

”I wonder if it does the same as my skill then, I have one that helps me skin prey really fast. I can’t really debone animals well. That seems to be a different skill.” He looked annoyed by this but was still impressed that he was now not the only way that could deal with the aftermath of hunting. 

After a little more time Walker had finished up and used a puddle to clean his hands. The wide mouth frog was stored away properly. ”Let’s get on the way. Sorry, that took so long.” 

We don’t mind the break, we wanted to check around the area anyways. It looks like there was a small fight over there.” Su and Remey had walked along the rail a little and found some roughed up ground. ”I would say that it was the frog you just dealt with trying to get a large grey haired spider.” 

’If that’s the case then we should try to keep a better eye out for spiders too. If they are on the run they might attack us if we get too close to where they are hiding.” Gil had a sharp eye and could spot the spiders easily, but if they were constantly on the move then he would have to work extra hard to make sure he spotted them before anything happened. 

”I should be able to spot them too, leave some of the work to me.” Su was glad to take on the role, her new skill was one of the best ways to spot a camouflaged enemy. She could notice even their smallest motions to breathe. 

’ wide mouth frog defeated

15 exp multiplied to 150 exp.’ 

This system notification made them all drop in to a combat stance. ”Where did Midnight go?” Remey was looking around and could not find their little dragon anywhere. 

In the distance, they could hear a triumphant growling which caused them all to rush ahead. Midnight had found a frog wedged between some larger rocks closer to the treeline. She had managed to shred the legs so they could not escape and pounced on top to finish the job. 

”Did you really need to rush on ahead without us?” Walker’s tone was full of anger and some worry. He was not alright with the fact that Midnight had gone off out of sight and without any notice. If something had happened then it would have been a fatal mistake for the party. 

Midnight shrank back losing her victorious attitude in the realization that the entire party was not happy with her actions. ”We know you want to go off and hunt since we have been at home for a while. But what would you have done if there were ten of those frogs? Of a bunch of grey haired spiders? We could have been too slow to find you and we would need to turn around the second we have set out.’ Walker tried to understand why they were unhappy with her at the moment. Luckily it appeared she was understanding his words and feeling fairly bad about it. 

”Just stick closer to us and if you find another then let us know too. We will still let you test out your new strength but make sure you have back up. Onyx isn’t even awake yet to help out.” Walker stored away the wide mouth frog after breaking it down too. He was a little worried he may have been a little harsh but from the looks of it, Midnight was understanding of the whys. 

Walker worried a little that Onyx was not awake and focused on the adventure, however, it was a rainy cold day and he knew that Onyx would be at a massive disadvantage as a cold blooded monster. At the end of the day it was safer for Onyx to remain resting and wait to come out when the rain either stopped or the temperature had warmed up. 

Having the second wide mouthed frog body stored away made Walker happy since they would have some fresh meat for the trip. As great as it was having some dried provisions he wanted to keep something fresh to help their spirits in the rain. ”Walker, we should walk along the forest edge to see what is what. We might be able to see any decay from the slimes being around here. If not then we know that they don’t come this far for some reason.” 

Gil’s idea was sound so the party formed up and started to walk along the tree line in search of any signs of purple slimes. They managed to see a few spots in the mud where grey haired spiders and wide mouth frogs had encountered each other but nothing ales seemed to stand out. There were even a few merchant tracks as they braved the dangers of the forest to try and make it to the even kingdom to trade. 

”It really seems like things are dead around here. Not man monsters or people have been through. No sign of any slimes at all.” Gil’s statement made Walker a little uncomfortable. 

”If they are only in the deep forest then that points to the theory that they were certainly brought there or even coming from even deeper in the forest, right leader?” Su had created this theory as they searched the tree line. This was the reason Walker had started to feel uncomfortable. 

”If they are put there then we will have to find out who and why, I really hope it is not a demon caused incident. If it is then they are in two possible places with two species of slimes that perfectly cause two kingdoms trouble. If they are coming from deeper in the forest we might need help.” 

Walker knew that the first theory was a whole can of political worms. He would prefer that the party was not involved with a possible war. On the other hand, if they were coming from the deep sun hollow forest it could point to an elf causing the damage. This in itself was also a but problem. No theory seemed to be safe at the moment.

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