Change: New World

Once More, Crafting

I thought about not writing a chapter today, but in the end, I ended up writing one.

*Sometimes I overlook things when I write, and when a few people point that out in the comments, I feel compelled to fix it later on. The fix/change is that Hide harvested the Albino boar tusks. I’ll go back and fix this in the previous chapter later.*

***

I left the observatory while carrying the items I procured with me in open arms. Considering the sheer quantity and size of it all, it was a difficult struggle, but the urge to quickly leave this room propelled me forward.

Pushing my way through the doors, I left thee Observatory. Outside, across from the double door entrances, were the others. They sat, most of them cross legged, on the floor as they waited patiently. I noticed that they were also enjoying a midday snack consisting of last night’s grilled boar meat, once again demonstrating the increased hunger the system unwittingly brought.

The first to spot me was Cher, who looked up just as she was reaching for another piece of meat. Our eyes met right and she waved enthusiastically with flailing arms.

Through experience, once she saw what I was carrying, Cher immediately stood up, even before the others even had the time to react. She walked over towards me, outstretching her hands in the process. It was a clear sign of her desire to help. Prompted by my unresponsive stare, she further urged, nudging with her palms, while an unusually bright smile flashed across her face.

Eventually, I conceded, and together, with the loot split between us, we walked back over to the other two.

“Welcome back…” Cielle greeted.

“Ah, I’m back…” I returned the greeting almost on reflex.

“Did you bring back a telescope?” Hina asked, glancing over as she chewed through cooked tendon.

“Yeah, over there.” I motioned to Cher’s arms just as bent down to place the objects in my hand on the ground. “I also brought back a first aid kit, some the Cyclop’s plate armor, it’s gauntlets…” I began listing each item I brought, pointing towards it for better reference.

“Y-you… you even brought back the Cyclop’s eye…” Hina spoke, in a somewhat awed/shocked voice. My glance hovered towards the eye. Like before, it was still red, and the burn marks caused by Hina’s magic was still clearly visible.

I shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, it seemed useful. Who knows, maybe I can make something like a staff… or a wand out of it.”

Although I spoke such things nonchalantly, I had no idea even where to start when it came to crafting magical items.

“I see…” She gave the eye one last look before her eyes drifted towards the ivory white tusks I brought back. “And that?”

“Ah- that’s…Those are the tusks from the boar corpse in the room.” I explained. “Truthfully, I thought about just leaving it there, but in the end, I went back for it. The corpse itself was from the Elite boar monster- something called an ‘Albino’. It seems pretty sturdy, so who knows, they might have a use…”

Hina’s brow frowned upon my words. “You said it came from the Elite boar? Isn’t that pretty bad? According to you, if the elite is dead, no more monsters of the same type will come out?”

Hina’s words hinted at a bigger problem; our food source. Cher, who had been listening in on our conversation, quickly realized what Hina implied, as her face turned hard. She had first hand experience with starving, so she knew just how bad of a situation we’d be in if our food supply suddenly ran out.

“Ah, no need to worry about that.” I comforted. “There’s more than 100 of those things wandering the halls right now. Since just one of them can provide food for close to a weak, we pretty have more than a year’s worth of food left. And by that time, we’ll be out of this damn school.- Anyways, I also stumbled on this…”

Quickly changing the subject, I took out the skill book in my hand, and passed it around to the girls. They each examined it with careful diligence, taking extra care to read the window panel that displayed above the book’s cover.

“That book…” Hina began.

“...It’s kind of…” Cher also spoke.

“... isn’t it perfect for Hide?” Cielle finished just as she gazed up at me. The others all nodded in unison as they looked at me.

“A-ah, really?” Caught of guard, I awkwardly looked away while heedlessly scratching my head.

“I’ve seen how you fight up until now, Hide.” Hina elaborated. “You prefer to strike fast, and aim at vitals.”

“A ruthless person who doesn’t hesitate to fight dirty.” Cher followed up, her expression a bit careless while she continued flashing that pitifully contented smile of hers.

“Something like that- a movement skill like that suits Hide the best.” Hina finished up just as Cielle handed back the skill book over to me.

“...Well, if that’s what you guys really think….” In truth, I also wanted this skill, but at the time, I thought that I’d need to do some convincing before hand. “Actually… I also thought that this skill suited me… since you guys are in agreement then this makes it much easier…”

With a round of encouraging nods, I quickly learned the skill with little hesitation.