Master Of None

The pair looked toward where they heard Remey yelling and Midnight growling. The fishing poles were left without being cast as they ran over to the small steam that Remey and Midnight had been trying to harvest herbs from. 

”You really thought you could snap my herbs in half and get away!?” Remey was landing a hammer fist on to the shell of a blue and green shelled crab. Midnight had clearly dragged it on to the ice and snow. 

There was not much explanation needed and no one intervened. Gil and Su arrived as well to find that Remey had just broken one claw off the crab and Midnight was busy holding it in place when Remey went after the other. 

Without the claws, Remey was able to get closer to it and defeat it with a defense breaking palm attack. There was no room to say the crab could have survived. 

’Frozen blood crab

Very common in mountain streams, the frozen blood crab is known for the blood that is completely frozen in its body. The crab still lived by using mana to move its blood through the body but due to this, it has very tough defenses. The crabs are used for a multitude of armors and their blood once melted is a desired potion ingredient. They often feed on the underwater herbs that grow along the rocks of streams. They are also known to eat perished fish that sink to the bottom of their habitat’

Walker whispered this to the wandering blacksmith who had already deduced that this was a great material for forging as well. He was happier with the trip than he had expected since he was able to gather so many materials in a place that he had not traveled to before. There was also the fact that he had some rare materials that they had come across just by luck. It was something he was sure not to have found if he had hired a group of adventurers or mercenaries to guard him. Let along traveled by himself. 

”What? It cut the herbs Midnight and I were harvesting in half. We had to teach it a lesson or it would have kept preying on them.” Remey was a little disheveled but she and Midnight were both fairly calm after their battle. 

The crab had managed to defend against Remey for some time and Midnight had to make sure she was not in range of the claws while she held it in place. It was actually a very good training battle for the two and it just went to show that Midnight and Remey had skill when it came to working together in battle. 

”Sister says that she will enjoy eating cran for dinner.” Onyx sounded fairly amused when he spoke to everyone about what Midnight was thinking. He knew that Remey was after the herbs but Midnight was in it for the food. 

”Well, crabs aside, we also have to ghostly ice eel for dinner. We will try to fish up more blue koi and eels for now and meet back at this spot.” Walker knew that everyone still had things they wanted to do. Gil headed back with Walker while Su stayed with Midnight and Remey. 

”Su and I found a good spot away from the streams to camp for the night. But more importantly, how many koi do you have?” Gil wanted to hear about what he would be able to make arrows from. The remaining few hours before the sun began to set were filled with questions and plans between Gil and the wandering blacksmith about arrows. 

The conversation had mainly been from Gil but it was useful to listen to while Walker fished up blue koi. He only managed to get six more ghostly eels but after losing two hooks he was able to pull up another twenty three blue koi fish. There were no other sightings of frozen blood crabs from Walkers’ side of things. But when they got to the camp that Gil and Su had found, Remey had three more there waiting for the wandering blacksmith and Walker to help break down. 

The eel turned out to be fairly bland when flavor came to conversation. This was not bad though, it was extremely tender and all of them knew that Walkers’ mother could turn it in to a roasted delight. The crab was surprisingly sweet and after having its blood drained for Remey to experiment with, in a  potion, the meat turned stark white. Midnight relished every bite as she had an entire crab to herself. 

None of them wanted to try and eat the blue koi since it was somehow still cold even after being cooked. It made them all apprehensive about eating it and the decision to save it for another time was unanimous. 

Once the sun had finally set everyone went to rest while Walker took the first watch. It was not long before he woke everyone up again. ”The streams are very lively. We should all stay up and take watch.” His tone told everyone that it was not anything to argue with. 

They all agreed when they surveyed the streams. The frozen blood crabs had come out of the streams after dark to move and fight each other. The mist from the falls was becoming a snowy flurry around making it easier for the aquatic monsters to be on land. This was not only for the crabs, however. The ghostly ice eels also came to shore. 

The sight of a large icy body slithering over the snow and in to different streams was the main reason Walker had wanted everyone awake. There was also the fact that with the ice armor around the eels, they could much more easily defeat the crabs as a meal that they dragged back in to the waters. The eels had become the top predator in the area after dark when they could safely leave the water and maintain their armor. 

”This seems much more dangerous than it felt earlier today.” Gil already had his bow prepared with an arrow if need be. 

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