272: Soul
It wasn’t long past the village that I noticed the forest on the eastern side started to thin out considerably. The dark forest, however, remained its dense and foreboding self; nothing changed there.
Clacks was eating roughly every hour, which posed a problem.
“Lily, I don’t suppose when you go hunting you could find me some fish?” I asked.
Lily gave me a look as though I’d offended her, before turning to Huling, who let out a laugh.
“She doesn’t like water, Trevor.”
“Oh, spiders then? She likes spider legs, or maybe I could try some bacon,” I said aloud.
I knew I had already tried it, but when Lily vanished a second later, it did exactly what I thought it would.
Liane burst into laughter. “I’m telling her.”
“Don’t you dare,” I glared.
There was a moment as Huling was looking between us, before something must have clicked as a giant grin came over her face.
“Two slices and I won’t tell her you’ve already tried bacon,” Huling said.
Letting out a groan, I began, “De…”
“Wait, four slices!” Huling quickly said.
“No, you said two; that’s what I’ll give you, no more, but you have to hold Clacks while I cut it,” I said.
The moment I held out the nest to Huling, Clacks started to attack her hand, pecking furiously at it, so I moved as quickly as I could, pulling out one of my lesser bacons, going with titan boar instead of Dracon. Slicing off five pieces in total, I quietly stored three and handed the rest to Crisplet, who started to cook it.
I suspected if I wasn’t honest with Lily, I was going to be blackmailed by more than just Huling, judging by the two behind me who were still in fits of laughter.
Huling handed back Clacks, who immediately stopped pecking and went inside the nest again.
What was impressive, which I think went unnoticed by everyone, was that Crisplet was cooking the bacon while using whatever ability held aloft the wooden puzzle. When he was done, he held it there, still floating just above his hand, as I used infuse on it again.
Huling took it happily after that, eating only a single slice and then stopping in her tracks as we all kept moving forward with the caravan.
Jen almost ran into her with her horse.
“Everything okay, Huling?” I asked.
There was an almost serious tone from her. “Something is different.”
“I got a new skill,” I said, as she was falling even further back.
In a blink, she was next to me, still holding one of the bacon pieces.
“It’s called Mythic Cuisine. From what I can tell, it’s specifically for feeding incredibly strong beings, and it’s supposed to provide you nourishment, or at least that’s what it said.”
Huling nodded. “Yes, I feel that, but there is something else. I feel… stronger?”
She shook her head before eating the second piece of bacon.
Unsure what she was talking about, I pulled up my skills and had a look. I was also curious to see how much experience I got for that.
Mythic Cuisine
Level: 1
Experience: 2/100
Even legends must eat.
Soul Nourishment
Level: 1
Experience: 1/100
Nourishment for what lies within
The first thing I noticed was I earned experience in the soul nourishment skill, and not just mythic cuisine. The second thing that stood out, painfully so, was how little experience I got.
“Huling, this might be an odd question, but has your soul suffered damage at all before today?” I asked.
She looked at me oddly for a moment. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“I got a second skill called soul nourishment, and truthfully I have no idea what it does, but I earned one experience when you ate the bacon,” I explained.
The conversation was interrupted when Lily appeared, with what could only be described as a pile of small fish and leaf-bladed spiders.
“You actually got fish?” I asked, surprised.
I knew the caravan was still moving, but I quickly dismounted Sable, with some difficulty holding Clacks, and stored everything. While I was there, I whispered to Lily.
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“I wouldn’t give Clacks your bacon anyway; I was only kidding. I already tested with the regular stuff before you came back.”
Lily looked at me, but her head seemed to snap to Huling, although I couldn’t tell what was being said.
I didn’t have time to wait. Jen helped me get back up on Sable before we both caught up with the caravan. Both Lily and Huling looked to be in a conversation on the road as we moved further away from them.
I was really curious what they were talking about, and I didn’t have to wait long before they were both at my side again.
“Trevor, do you have a piece of bacon for Lily?” Huling asked.
Thankful I had cut the three pieces, I now nodded, handing them to Crisplet, who cooked them again while we walked, catching the attention of Anthony in the back wagon until Huling locked eyes with him. He quickly vanished again after that.
“They are so greedy, Trev, couldn’t I just have one?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the wagon.
“No,” I said firmly.
I repeated everything the same when creating the food for Lily, infusing it when Crisplet was done before passing it to her. The first two pieces went almost instantly before she paused, tilting her head, then ate the final piece.
I looked at my stats, seeing I had gained three experience in mythic cuisine, but nothing in soul nourishment for Lily’s bacon.
“Huling, I don’t know how Lily feels now, but you gained me experience in the ‘Soul’ skill, while Lily did not,” I explained.
Huling just let out a sigh. “She says she feels like a nap, and I suspect she is not going to be much use to me. I’m going to go speak with someone about this. Stay safe, Trevor; keep Clacks well fed.”
A moment later, Huling had vanished, while Lily seemed to be falling asleep as she walked, before she just gave up on that and fell into my shadow.
“I wonder if they are feeling full for the first time in a long while?” Liane suggested.
I shrugged, instinctively pulling out a spider leg for Clacks, who just started chirping.
“I don’t know. For Huling, I got experience for the soul skill; for Lily, I did not, so something was going on there.”
“Who do you think Huling went to ask? Surely there are not that many people who’d be on a talking basis like that with her?” Liane asked.
I shrugged. Again, I really had no idea. The only people more experienced in my mind would be Sylverith or Alira, both of whom, last I heard, were in the capital.
***
The afternoon passed without anything happening. Huling didn’t return, and as far as I could tell, Lily was still napping.
Clacks, however, demanded food every hour or so, and seemed to really, really enjoy it when Crisplet seared one of the small fish. It wasn’t enough to cook it all the way, or at all really; it just seemed to make it easier for Clacks to get at it.
Just this action, though, seemed to seal the deal for Crisplet, as he started to improve the nest from the semi-crumbled mess, and now had a shell of warm charcoal around it that Clacks seemed to really approve of.
When we eventually did stop for the night, the eastern forest was all but gone, with only the odd scattered tree and brush.
Milo made the same underground rocky outcrop. I noted there were some slight improvements to it.
“Heard we have a new party member,” Hari said, causing me to jump.
“It wasn’t intentional, I swear,” I tried to protest.
Hari just waved it off. “You’re not the first person to rescue a baby monster and bring it to full health. I think your story will be different to theirs just by association with Lily and Crisplet, who can communicate with it better, but I think it best to caution you that often it ends badly. It might not attack you, but a neighbour, or a friend, and once it’s stronger, it’s not just a harmless peck.”
I was expecting this warning, and I had already thought about it.
“I understand. If it causes problems, I’ll have someone take it back into the forest, or figure something else out,” I said.
Through the whole conversation, Clacks was sitting at the edge of the nest, watching Hari, almost like it was listening. Hari seemed to notice it too.
“Something tells me it won’t be a problem,” Hari laughed.
Milo called out from the opposite side of the room where he was working on drainage.
“Just remember, Trev, a monster can evolve as soon as level ten, with most getting the option to evolve at level twenty and forty.”
“Even common ones?” I asked, confused.
Hari nodded. “Yes, but like us, if a wolf just follows the pack, its evolution option will still be wolf-related, so nothing much will change.”
“This is why Alira is so interested in Crisplet’s evolution at forty; he is absolutely not a regular fire elemental, so he’ll almost certainly be offered a unique variant that likely hasn’t been seen before,” Milo explained.
“So Clacks then?” I questioned, looking down at the little bird.
“I’ll just say, I would be very surprised if that remains a regular bluetail long term,” Milo said.
I looked down at Clacks again, who was just staring at me inquisitively, before letting out a chirp.
As I was preparing dinner, I really wanted to ask Milo about the soul skill today and the mythic skill, but we were sharing the room with the merchants along with their drivers today, and despite the fact they had shuffled to one side and looked horrified at Clacks, I wasn’t comfortable talking about these skills in front of them.
Gilain and Hari were both out training as always; Liane and Jen had gone hunting, promising to try and find more food.
As Milo sat down near me, I leaned over.
“Any chance for a small air bubble?”
I felt the mana rush past almost instantly. “What’s up?” Milo asked.
“I have a question regarding the new skills, and you likely won’t have the answer to one of them, as Huling seemed very confused, but I fed both Lily and Huling today. I gained five experience in total for mythic, and one experience for soul on Huling. She said it felt odd, like she was stronger. My question: does a damaged soul weaken you? And is it normal to get so little experience from the new skills?”
Milo nodded as I asked, and he pulled out his notebook. “So that experience rate isn’t abnormal. In fact, by my notes here, your knifework skill when we first met was the same rate, right?”
I felt silly now; I had completely forgotten.
“But as for soul damage, this is an area which is very limited in information. The mages who do know about it don’t share their research as they don’t want the ability to damage a soul widespread. As for it weakening, yes, absolutely, it works in connection to your mana channels, though it isn’t as tangible, but a damaged soul usually results in a weakened body,” Milo explained, seemingly writing everything down at the same time.
“And Huling might have had a damaged soul?” I questioned.
I noticed Lily was listening to everything, so I assumed all of this would be passed on.
“That’s nearly impossible to say. We don’t even know if your skill heals a soul; it only says ‘nourishes’ it. But the fact it worked on her and not Lily, and she felt stronger after it, certainly leans towards it being a heal,” Milo said.
“Should I be worried about a cabal of mages coming after me?” I said with a laugh.
Milo shook his head. “No, if word got out you could heal soul damage, people would seek you out for sure, but it wouldn’t be to kill you; it would be for healing. Currently, there is no documented way to heal a soul; if it happens, you live with it.”
“Can’t the gods fix it?” I asked.
Milo shrugged. “Until a month ago, there was no recorded interaction with a god outside of rumours that the dragon in Mt Divinus was one, which we now know to be false.”
I spent most of the night in my own head wondering just what was happening with the class and what the goal was. I was pleasantly interrupted by Clacks, however, who hopped out of the nest just long enough to peck me and chirp before rushing back to the warmth.
“I’m sorry,” I said with a laugh, pulling out some more food.
It was incredible how much this bird ate.