Srsli
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31: Travels
🕑 Added 2025-08-09 14:24:02 +0000 UTCAs everyone dug into the food, I grabbed a small bowl for myself and sat off to the side, letting the events of the day settle in. I was exhausted—physically and mentally.
In the span of a week, my entire life had been flipped upside down. Again. Somehow, I was now an adventurer, with an actual experienced party. I still didn’t know how to wrap my head around that.
I took a bite of the snake with the rice—and honestly? It was really good. Way better than I expected.
Liane plopped down beside me with her own bowl of rice and Miremaw, happily digging in. “This is so good!” she practically squealed.
Jen sat down on my other side, taking a big bite and letting out a satisfied groan.
“Whoa, look at the buffs!” Liane suddenly exclaimed. “Two Endurance, three Perception, minor Fire Resistance, and a one percent health increase!” Her excitement was contagious as she looked between us.
Jen quickly pulled up her own status and nodded, impressed. “That’s really impressive,” she muttered before going right back to eating.
I’d been trying to work out what ingredients gave what buffs. So far, I’d figured out that fire salts always provided Fire Resistance, and Virfolium consistently gave two points of Endurance. That meant the Miremaw and the rice were responsible for the Perception boost and the health increase.
The health buff was small—on me, it was only about three hit points—but on someone like Hari? That could actually be pretty significant.
A moment later, Liane finished her food and suddenly jumped to her feet.
“I’m going hunting!” she called to Hari, who simply waved at her with a chuckle.
I glanced around and noticed Troy, Saddie, and Jordan sitting together in their usual group. I’d pretty much been excluded from that little circle since joining the party, but honestly? I didn’t mind. We had only about a week left before reaching Boltron, and just a day or so more skirting the edges of the forest before we’d arrive at the base of Mount Divinus.
“Hey, Jen,” I asked, a question finally escaping me after stewing on it for days. “Is Mount Divinus dangerous?”
“Yes and no,” she replied. “There’s a continent-destroyer beast that lives inside the mountain—sometimes it even rests on the peak. But like most ancient creatures of that size, it has no interest in fighting. That said, its presence draws in other powerful monsters: Wyrms, Drakes, Rock Golems, Galvonson, and the like. Near the base of the mountain, though? Not so much.”
“Have you ever been up there?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
Jen laughed. “Absolutely not. The monsters anywhere near the peak are way beyond our level. We’ve climbed a short distance before, but going too high would be suicide.”
I couldn’t get her words out of my head.
“What exactly is a continent-destroyer beast?” I finally asked.
Jen paused, thinking for a moment. “Well, there are nine that we know of. The one at Mount Divinus is an Ancient Blue Dragon. It’s only been seen a handful of times in the last millennia, but every now and then, you can spot the incredible storms raging at the peak. That’s how we know it’s still there.”
She tilted her head, as if mentally counting. “The others aren’t on this continent. There’s a leviathan that dwells in the oceans to the east, a demonic overlord far to the south, and a colossal worm that burrows through the northern deserts…”
I was completely fascinated. None of this had ever been taught at the academy. Then again, I was starting to understand why. The idea that an ancient dragon—an actual dragon—lived that close to civilisation was almost impossible to believe.
That night, I ended up turning in early. Before bed, I stored away the leftover rice and Miremaw—no sense wasting it when we could use it for future meals. I noticed a few notifications rolling in from Liane; she was clearly milking those buffs for all they were worth.
The moment I laid down on my bedroll, sleep hit me like a stone.
I woke several times throughout the night, unable to fully settle my mind. The recurring nightmare kept coming back—the first time I saw those dead bodies, but more hauntingly, the piercing green eyes of that cat staring right at me. I’d seen those eyes more than once now, and each time, it felt like they were digging straight into my soul—even in my dreams.
Early the next morning, I got up and started preparing breakfast. I got the fire going again and really wanted to try making something called pancakes from the recipe book. They looked simple enough, but I didn’t have the right equipment yet—I should have grabbed it in town before we left, but I’d completely forgotten.
So instead, I settled for fruit and honey porridge. Pulling out my pot and started by adding milk, leaving just enough to try my pancakes when I could get a hold of a proper pan, water, and rolled grains, then brought it all to a boil while preparing the fruit. I used a mix of berries, including dilwater berries, and stirred half the Mana Tears into the porridge.
Once it was cooked, I mixed in the honey and cast Infuse Flavour on the dish. No one was awake yet, so I stored the finished meal away and stepped outside to check who was on watch for the evening. As I did, I pulled up my notifications from the night—Liane had clearly been incredibly busy.
Notifications:
You have earned 25 experience for making an enjoyable meal
…
You have earned 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat
You have earned 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat
You have earned 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat
…
In total, there were nine enjoyable meal buffs and fifty-two combat notifications.
Just how busy had Liane been?
I stepped outside and saw Milo sitting on a stone chair near the door. No one else was around, so I assumed Jen was off doing something at the moment.
“Morning,” I said, stretching as I settled next to him.
“That time already, eh? I thought I heard someone up to something inside. What’s for breakfast today?” he asked, pulling up another chair.
“Fruit and honey porridge. It’s all ready—I’m just waiting for everyone to wake up,” I replied, taking a seat. My eyes drifted to the horses. I really should give Sable a rub down before we leave. I’d been avoiding it since we finished riding yesterday.
“Oh, before you get too comfortable, there are bags of creatures just around the side that Liane hunted last night. If you can store those…” Milo gestured toward the side of the structure.
I nodded and wandered over, expecting another bag of spiders. What I found surprised me. There were five large bags in total. I stored them all and planned to organise them later—but it seemed my storage system had already taken care of that for me.
Would you like to store 12x Rabbit for 5 mana? Yes/No
Would you like to store 3x Skywolf for 5 mana? Yes/No
Would you like to store 18x Leaf Bladed Spider for 5 mana? Yes/No
Would you like to store 1x Rock Boar for 5 mana? Yes/No
Would you like to store 8x Blood Owl for 5 mana? Yes/No
Would you like to store 4x Bark Viper for 5 mana? Yes/No
Would you like to store 4x Stone Scorpions for 5 mana? Yes/No
Wow, that was a lot of stuff. There was even some I’d never seen before—the rock boar? More snakes and scorpions? I was excited to try cooking with all these new ingredients. None were as huge as the giant snake Jen had brought back yesterday, but still, these could all provide new buffs. And since I wasn’t worried about anything being toxic—I needed to get in the habit of casting Transformation anyway—it was a perfect chance to level the skill up more.
I took a seat next to Milo again, waiting for the sun to break over the horizon.
“She was really busy last night. That was a lot,” I said.
“She’s always wanted to try cooking strange creatures,” Milo replied with a smile. “And there’s no way I could cook half of that stuff. Plus, she knows you’re gaining experience from it, so she’s extra motivated.”
He lowered his voice to a half-whisper. “Honestly, I haven’t seen her this fired up in a long time—just don’t tell her I said that.”
Before I could respond, another voice broke through.
“Don’t tell who what?” Jen appeared, stepping out of the tree line. Milo chuckled.
“Not you—the other one. Trev just got her bags from last night’s hunt.”
Jen nodded and came over to where Milo conjured a third chair.
“Something smells good. Did you make breakfast already?” She asked, looking at me.
“Yeah, it’s in storage. Everyone’s still asleep. Made a berry and honey porridge,” I said.
“Ooh, that sounds good,” she replied, staring toward the rising sun on the horizon.
A thought suddenly crossed my mind. If I could make food that buffed the cat, could I also create meals that would buff the horses? If I could figure out which plants or ingredients provided endurance boosts, then maybe I could prepare feed that would give them a stamina buff.
I’d need to pay close attention to that. Also, I really needed to find a way to take notes once we reached Boltron—just so I could keep track of everything. I assumed I’d need that anyway when I started crafting my own runes, so it all fit together.
The rest of the morning passed without much trouble. After the sun rose, we went inside, and I pulled out the porridge, leaving it near the fire to keep warm. I grabbed a bowl and then headed outside to brush down Sable for the day.
I packed the few items I carried into the saddlebags—mostly just two spare sets of clothes. I kept my dagger on my belt, along with my gold pouch.
Before we left, I wanted to check what buffs today’s breakfast was giving since I’d added Dilwater and Mana Tears to the mix.
“Hey Jen, could you let me know what buffs you got this morning? I tried something different in the recipe,” I asked.
“Sure,” she said happily. “Looks like +1 Strength, +2 Intelligence, increased poison potency, minor poison resistance. Damn, you’re really starting to stack these up now.”
I just nodded, noting that the only new buff was the 2 Intelligence—must be from the Mana Tears.
We were on the road before long. I tried to remember everything I’d been told. Liane was asleep on her horse again, and I was still amazed at how she managed to stay upright.
Today’s trip went a lot better than yesterday. When we stopped for lunch, despite a few aches, I felt much improved. My stamina was drastically better too—sitting at 103 out of 210—so I’d probably still need some help before tonight’s stop, but compared to yesterday, it was an amazing change.
I pulled out the Miremaw and rice for lunch and took a small portion myself. Then, I went outside to try using Arcane Foraging on the outskirts of camp to see what I could find. Liane joined me after loading up a bowl of rice and Miremaw, following behind me as she ate.
I found nothing amazing today. I found some more Virfolium, as well as what looked to be a different type of tuber than what I normally used that was growing in a shady patch.
Would you like to store 6x Marbled Tuber for 5 mana? Yes/No
I had never heard of them or seen them before. Mind you, they were just covered in dirt, so initially they looked like any other tuber. I would look them up later, and lastly, I found something that I just knew would make Jen say absolutely not; they looked like large seed pods off one of the trees, it was a fairly bright glow to it, when I stored it though,
Would you like to store 1x Death Nut for 5 mana? Yes/No
I let out a laugh before grabbing three more and storing them as well.
“What was it?” Liane asked, coming up beside me.
“It’s something called a Death Nut. I figured if Jen were here, she’d be yelling at me to put it down with a name like that,” I said with a chuckle.
“Well, yes and no,” Liane replied, laughing. “They’re used as an alchemy ingredient in antidote potions, but they’re also incredibly poisonous. You should always harvest them with gloves. Lucky for you, you’re immune.”
“We’d better head back now. We’ll be leaving shortly,” she said, glancing back toward camp.
The rest of the day passed without incident. Neither Jen nor Liane went hunting, thanks to the haul from the night before, and we made it to our next camp spot.
For the last time, I pulled out the Miremaw. Since the rest of the rice had been eaten, I made some more to go with it. It turned out the health increase was coming from the rice—Troy apparently only had rice for lunch and mentioned it in conversation with Hari.
I remembered to brush down Sable. Overall, the day passed smoothly. I was still a little sore, especially between my legs, but compared to yesterday, it was a vast improvement.
After dinner, Liane headed out hunting again. I was excited and told her I was only 2,100 experience away from level 15. She just winked and got to work. It didn’t take her long to find creatures—the notifications started rolling in about ten minutes after she left.
While I waited for hopefully that level-up, I pulled out Magical Art of Foraging and looked up the two new items I’d found today. First was the Death Nut. Sure enough, it was a common ingredient in antidote potions. Handling it was incredibly dangerous, but the poison was neutralised once cooked, making it safe to consume if prepared properly.
To be safe, I cast Transformation on it, purifying any remaining toxins. The book didn’t say if it was edible on its own, but I guessed nobody had tried it because of how toxic it was.
Next, I looked up the Marbled Tuber. That was a surprise—apparently, it was considered a delicacy. It provided a rich, earthy flavour and, once cooked, became light and fluffy in texture. It was also mildly infused with mana, making it an uncommon magical ingredient.
I took a seat next to Milo and Jen, watching my experience closely and hoping it would tick over to level 15—and unlock a new skill.
