Master Of None

”How many of those things do you think are around here?” Remey was still fired up after they had gathered the body of the vibrant octopus and the rock crab. She didn’t want to fight one again in particular, however, she still wanted to fight something.

”I would really prefer there to be zero. The fewer of them the better. They knew how to hit and use their multiple tentacles to cause trouble.” Su was somewhat against looking in any more of the tidal pools. She had felt the heavy hits of the vibrant octopus and knew that anything larger than the one they had fought would be much more dangerous.

”If we find another one of those, we can just scare it away with some fire. I doubt we will need to defeat it again. I also think we may have attracted a few other things.” Walker pointed out the tidal pool they were still near. The ripples seemed to be growing which meant that something may be coming out to see what had happened.

What they didn’t expect to see were snails. ” Snails?” Gil looked at them and wondered if they had been cheated. There was no way that all the fighting had only attracted snails.

’Scavenger snail

The scavenger snail is a water and dark type monster that feeds on anything left over by fighting or hunting of other beasts. They can survive on just about anything of any quality. They have incredible poison and decay resistance making them the best of the best when it comes to the oceans’ cleaners.

They are inedible due to the concentrated poisons, diseases, and other parasites within their bodies. Their shells can be used as decorations or jewelry. Some people will keep them in their homes to feed their trash and other things too. Especially if they live in ocean side villages, cities, or towns.’

”Oh, so they are basically cleaning up what we missed?” Remey thought that they would be a great addition to the alchemy guild but also any salt water herb growing areas. The snails would handle fertilizing and also cleaning. The perfect combination.

”Exactly. They are harmless for the most part. Just don’t eat them. Should I guess that you want some for the alchemy guild?” Walker had read Remey’s mind. He had seen exactly why her eyes lit up when she heard Walker’s appraisal.

”We won’t be home for long. This is something we can leave behind for those that come by here after us. The people building the ocean side village will be able to send them back to the alchemy guild. It is also good to leave this for them to know while building. It could save them a lot of trouble.” Su was the voice of reason. She saved Walker from having to look for dormant scavenger snails or their eggs at the moment.

”Hello…are we going to keep moving?” Gil drew the focus to the tree line. He and the dragonkin warrior were ready to move onward but the three were holding them up. He wasn’t being too rude but Gil had to get their attention. He had been asking if they could move on for a moment now and had been ignored because they were too focused on snails.

”If you keep getting so excited about getting closer to trees, then we will have to start calling you forest elf Gil.” Remey’s jab didn’t seem to affect Gil at all. He actually smiled a little which made them all wonder if he would actually prefer to be a forest elf.

”There are some footprints on the sand. That means there might be some monsters that come out during low tide to hunt or scavenge. But we probably scared them away because we made so much noise.” Walker heard what Gil was talking about and jumped at the chance to check out the footprints.

The tracking knowledge that walker had was mostly taught by Gil and learned through the system’s skills. But he had the chance to use them now to identify new monsters that might be a danger to anyone else that comes here so it was better that he took the chance and used his all around appraisal skill more.

’This is an unknown footprint. It is too damaged to be able to identify.’

The first attempt was a failure. Walker had thought that the all round appraisal skill was omnipotent. It would have been better that it was able to tell him what monster made it. However, he was asking too much. If Gil or an experienced hunter could not identify a damaged monster footprint, then how could the system?

”Try this set of prints here. They are more stable because whatever it was seemed like it stood here for a while. It was most likely looking at us from here.” Gil pointed out the tracks and how they faced the tidal pool that they had been at. Whatever the monster was then they had definitely been standing and watching them. It was also where it could stand and not be seen easily due to the shadow of the tree line.

’Jungle dog tracks

These tracks come from a monster called a jungle dog. They live near the ocean to scavenge fish and anything else left behind by the tides. They often travel in packs of twenty to thirty.’

It was a short and sweet explanation but Walker didn’t expect much. This was just a set of tracks and not the actual monster. If Walker wanted any more information he would have to find a jungle dog and lay eyes on it. However, he didn’t feel like it would be a good thing to find one. The idea of fighting twenty to thirty of them did not sit well. Especially since they were a smaller group right now.

”So we have to watch out for a large pack of dogs. Great. And I thought we would be able to just walk along the trees without issues. At least I can get some herbs.” Remey ignored the looks of wonder from the others. They weren’t sure how she could just stay focused on herbs with the risk of fighting twenty monsters at once. But then Su, Gil, and Walker remembered that they had fought more than that before. It would be nothing new.

”See, day wilting daisy here. The perfect thing to add to a revitalizing tea once the petals are dried. But the flower core can be dried and ground in to a powder that keeps bugs away. It’s not a potion materials but a great thing for around the house.” Remey had already snagged an herb with the bare minimum of looking. It was incredible how efficient and lucky she was.

”What about this, is it anything useful?” The dragonkin warrior who had been silent for some time had grabbed a spiny looking branch with little orange fruits on it. He was unsure if it would be helpful.

”Sure. if you want to cause an entire city to be unable to eat for a week. Those are orange spiny fruits. They look smooth but just like the branches they had spines you can’t see. They can get stuck in your stomach and make eating very hard until you break them down naturally.” everyone instinctually moved away from the bush that the branch had come from. The dragonkin warrior even went so far as to wipe his hands off on his armor.

”But the seeds inside those small little fruits can be used to make a better mana potion. They aren’t a main ingredient but help with how long they will last. It will take a little playing with but I might be able to derive a potion from them alone to be used in a concentrated form for every potion that helps replenish mana.” The thoughts that Remey just mumbled out loud made everyone wonder if she even remembered where she was.

”So we have lost Remey. Now we are basically bodyguards for the alchemy guild master?” Gil tried to joke and tease Remey but she didn’t hear a word she had said.

”It’s fine. Let Remey find useful things here. It will all help those that come to settle here and build a port village. Leon will be overjoyed to hear that this area has a lot of potentials. Monsters that can purify the mess created by a village, monsters to eat for food, and even herbs that can help with livelihood.” Su saw all the positives coming together. Every single one was another reason that the village could be built here.

”Good points, let’s keep moving so we can find more things before we have to go back to the whip.” Walker knew that the forge would be waiting for them. Rise and Mordant couldn’t possibly be content yet with just a few materials for their future armors.

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