Chương 22: Level 5

Pip looked at the dead dragon, and then at Vaelith and me.

"You two are insane," he said.

"Utterly off your collective rockers, you are." Vaelith flicked her nose.

"Well then, did my performance gain me a new subject? How about it, little half-foot?" Pip narrowed his eyes at her.

"Not a chance. Besides… my traps did most of the work." The two began bickering about who had done more while I ignored them. While I had not known Darwin for long, he had become somewhat like a friend. Or a really annoying pet, at least.

"You here, Rook?" Vaelith asked, snapping a finger at me.

"We are deciding if we should simply cut the head off the dragon for the bounty and leave the rest, or if it would be worth taking the whole thing."

"I don't care," I replied. They shrugged in unison. I sat quietly alone for a while as they dealt with the dragon's body. The marsh had begun to move again around us. Bugs returned in whining clouds, birds squawked far above in the sky, and the reeds whispered against one another, hiding all manner of creatures who dared not approach the dragon, dead or not. Then, suddenly, Pip yelped.

"There is something making noise here. Is the dragon still alive?"" Ha!" Vaelith replied.

"Not a chance. Its head is nearly separated—" She quieted as she heard it too.

"What in the council's name…"

"Darwin!" I said, jumping up. I ran to the dragon, knife in hand. I shoved Pip aside. I found the place where the stomach was, or was likely to be, and shoved the knife in. Surprisingly, it was rather soft compared to the rest of the dragon. I heard something scream out a curse. I continued carving. Through guts and gore, I slid my knife, pulling everything out as I did. It smelled reptilian and metallic, and it would have driven me to sickness if I wasn't so determined.

Hot, foul steam rose from the opened body, thick enough to coat the back of my throat. My hands slipped more than once, slick with blood. I rubbed sweat from out of my eyes, and a tiny droplet of blood hit my lips– A headache suddenly wracked through me. I was dizzy. The world swam. S̴̫̙͐̌ȳ̷̱͐… s̷͕̥͋̄t̶̛̰̒ę̴̝̑m̴̢͕̌ S̸̞̩͋̈́͛͛y̸̗̼̞͈͂̔… s̸͉̙̐̇͑̀ẗ̵̯̯̹̮́͛̿ë̸̘̀͆m̴̢͚̦͌́ S̴y̸… s̶t̵e̷m̸ I heard a small voice, and it drew me back. The headache subsided, and the world returned to normal.

Darwin suddenly tumbled out of the open dragon's stomach, completely covered in gore.

"Shit!" Pip said.

"That thing is still alive? After gettin' eaten?" Vaelith forced a harsh laugh.

"Oh, it's shit alright. That wasn't the stomach—it was the bowels." Reexamining, I found that she was right. Darwin shook himself like a dog shaking off water after a bath. Blood, slime, and things best left unknown sprayed across the mud.

"Master!" Darwin said, voice full of joy.

"Alive, alive!"

"Yeah," I replied.

"I'm alive. And so are you."

"Demon?" he asked. I glanced at Vaelith.

"She's alive, too."

"... Damn!" Darwin said.

"Hey!" Vaelith yelled, and then she laughed.

"Good to see you too, little guy." Pip looked at each one of us.

"You're the strangest lot I've ever seen—and that is sayign something, let me tell you."

"And you're a strange one yourself," Vaelith replied. I nodded.

"So how about it, Pip… do you want to join our little party?" Pip stood, gave each of us a hard look, and said, "Not a chance in purgatory."

In the end, it was decided that we would try to recover most of the dragon body. The head was required for the bounty, but the rest, as Pip said, could be valuable. We would divvy up rewards back in Bramblewick. As for the goblin bounty and the stingtail bounty, Pip's traps had caught enough stingtails to fulfill the bounty requirements. He agreed to forgo his part of the goblin bounty for full credit on the stingtails. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Vaelith had gone off with a bag and had removed as many goblin ears as she could find. I didn't bother to count them. Unfortunately, we found no signs of anyone who had been kidnapped. With a heavy heart, I figured that the reason the dragon had not been terrorizing villages was that it was being provided a steady flow of food. We lugged the carcass of the dragon, minus most of the guts, which we left in the swamp, back to the main road. It was slow, miserable work.

The mud clung to the scales and dragged at our boots. Every few steps, something shifted in the body with a wet sound that made Pip curse and Vaelith laugh. There, we found a traveling merchant who had seen Madam Moolisa and had stopped to find her owner. The man had an empty cart and an ox. He had agreed to sell us the cart for all the coin Vaelith and I had on us. We hitched it to Madam Moolisa, who mooed contentedly. We put the dragon's body in the cart, and began the trek toward Bramblewick.

The cart groaned under the weight, its wheels cutting deep ruts into the damp road. Emerald scales flashed beneath a rough tarp whenever the wind tugged it aside. I'd managed to secure kills on six stingtails caught in Pip's traps, and he agreed to let me have the sacs. I made four cups of Stingtail Nettle Tea while we sat around a fire. The little campfire crackled at the roadside, its smoke drifting into a pale sky. The tea smelled clean and minty. Steam curled from the cups in thin white ribbons.

As usual, Darwin drank the tea, fell over, and changed. Evolved. He now had a scorpion tail and a stinger, but it was covered in bunny-like brown fur. The tail twitched behind him like it hadn't quite decided what it was supposed to do yet. Pip inspected Darwin.

"This is the strangest creature I've ever seen," he said.

"I think this specimen may be worth more than the dragon, truth be told."

"Darwin," my companion said.

"Not specimen." I chuckled.

"You heard 'em."

"And you," Pip continued, "this tea is incredible. Drinking it, I feel cleansed of any vile thing I've ever had in my entire life. And, as a trapper, that is a lot of things." Vaelith had other ideas than to just enjoy the tea. She had sliced off a portion of the dragon meat and was cooking it over a fire with one of the skewers Lina had provided. She cut it into four pieces and gave us each one. I was starving. Beyond starving. They all happily began to chow down, and so I did the same. I grimaced…

It was disgusting. It tasted less like meat and more like a leather shoe that had housed a family of lizards. The texture fought back with every chew. Still, as hungry as I was, I powered on. System Passive Skill Acquired — Taste Test Taste Test — Able to sample ingredients and learn lower recipes associated, or learn the level in which one would learn the recipe. Emerald Dragon analyzed…

Will learn next associated recipe at level 15 Passive Skill Acquired — Spoilwatch Spoilwatch — Detects to the day when food/ingredients will expire. Congratulations, you've reached level 5.

Name: Rook Class: Glutton Grade: Special Level: 5 EXP: 295/500 HP: 135/135 MP: 10/10 Active Skills: Basic Cooking (Lvl 3) - EXP 60/300 Basic Butchery (Lvl 2) - EXP 25/200 Monster Butchery (Lvl 3) - EXP 150/300 Basic Herbalism (Lvl 1) - EXP 25/100 Knife Handling (Lvl 4) - EXP 185/400 The recipe Stingtail Nettle Tea has given you these permanent bonuses: Stats: STR: 6 DEX: 13 VIT: 8 (+3) INT: 11 (+1) WIS: 11 (+2) CHA: 8 LCK: 10 (+1) Learned a new skill — Cure Poison/Venom Cure Poison/Venom (Magic) — Cures either the user or another of any poison/venom effects.

Cost: 10 MP. Stingtail Nettle Tea Effects added: Grants Poison/Venom Resist and Cure Poison/Venom. +5 MP/m. Stingtail Nettle Tea… level up Effect added: Grants minor venom damage on attacks. New recipe learned… EarthGrub Pate"Are you okay?" Vaelith asked.

"You seem rather… out of it."

"Huh?" I replied, my vision snapping back into place." Um… yeah, I'm fine." I leaned back in the grass and stared up at the stars. The road was quiet now, save for the soft clink of Moolisa's bell and the low crackle of the fire. Dragon meat sat heavy in my stomach. Stingtail tea warm in my chest. Somewhere nearby, Darwin tested his new tail, stabbing at some sort of stick. We'd survived a dragon attack—not many could claim that. And for my trouble, I leveled again and had learned even more skills.

The world was looking just a bit brighter.

I was better than just okay… I was at peace.