Chapter 37: Meat Skewers
The journey down the rest of the mountain was relatively straight forward and uneventful. There weren't many monsters on the way down so it was smooth sailing aside from the fact that he hadn't seen any edible monster in two days.
"Ahh, so hungry!"
Ellis sighed out loud as he stepped onto the ground at the base of the mountain. It took him two days to get to the base of the mountain, but he had eaten the last of his food after he crossed the frozen lake, so he hadn't eaten anything in two days.
Ellis looked around the area at the base of the mountain, happy to finally be off the desolate mountain. There was no snow and the trees were not monsters, he couldn't be happier.
Now that he was off of the mountain, he had to decide what his next objective was going to be. He had two of the three items he needed to open the large bronze door, but he still needed to figure out where the last thing was. He could head back to the bronze door and place the new Eternal Gem he had in its slot but after that, he would still have to decide where to go next. The mountain was an obvious choice as it was the only thing in the area that really stood out. He could explore the long, seemingly never-ending meadow, but what were the chances there was something out there that he could find. The best option seemed to be to head back in the forest that he had been too inexperienced to handle before. There was bound to be something good in there if he was attacked by that insanely fast monster just after entering, and now he was sure that he was fast enough to handle whatever it was.
Alright, its decided, I'll head back to the forest and explore it and since it's on the way, I'll stop by the bronze door and put the Eternal Gem in its place as well as fill up on some more Thousand Year Radiant Berry Wine since I'm almost empty on that. But before I do all that I should prep some supplies again. I'm running on empty after that trip up and down the mountain. I need a nice juicy meat skewer.
Ellis's belly growled and his mouth salivated as he thought about meat skewers. First and foremost, he needed to get some more food, and then he could worry about everything else he needed to do before the trip.
Ellis started hunting around the area looking for any kind of monster he could cook and eat. He stayed away from eating any monster usually unless they looked like they would taste good, so the Rock Golems that surrounded the area were out of the question, not that he could even eat them anyways. Finally, he found three Horned Rabbits a little way away from the base of the mountain and took them out. After skinning them and cubing their meat he put the meat cubes on long skewers before roasting them over the fire. He could barely contain his excitement as he slowly turned the meat skewers around the fire to cook them evenly. Drool pooled out of his mouth as the smell of cooking meat wafted into his nose, making him even hungrier than he was before. After the meat skewers were finally done, he wasted no time digging straight in and filling his empty belly all the way up to the brim. The meat was delicious at first but after the initial hunger faded, he realized how bland it was.
I really wish I could bring some salt and pepper into this place. I bet there's a way to make it here, but I have no idea how. I bet if Solara was in here, she would figure out a way to cook better food, but I'd never allow her to come to this place. Hopefully, when we all meet up on the 5th floor someone will have figured out a better way to cook.
Ellis was so hungry that he ate all the meat he just hunted, so he was going to have to get more and smoke it to prepare the long journey. It would be nice if he could find a Fang Toothed Bear again so he could smoke a bunch of meat, but then again, he had wasted most of the meat because there was no way for him to carry that much stuff.
I wish I could find a backpack that was like my waterskin. My waterskin has what seems like infinite water but it only weighs as much as a normal waterskin filled with a normal amount of water. I wonder how it works.
Ellis got lost in thought for a little bit before his mind finally came back to what he had to do next. He was going to have to hunt more monsters for meat and then smoke that meat which would take a day. He also was going to have to take most of the heavy fur modifications off of his armor because it wasn't cold anymore so it would just make him sweat. After that, he would probably just practice anima control until the meat was finished smoking.
After putting out his fire Ellis got started on hunting. He searched the whole area and only found two more Horned Rabbits which wasn't going to be enough for the full trip, but it was a start. Maybe he would get lucky and find some more edible monsters before he left the area but if not, he would just have to do more hunting on the way to the bronze door. Ellis quickly crafted an under-ground smoker and let his meat start to cook before he took off his armor. He wanted to leave some of the fur in his armor like around his joints and in his boots, because they made wearing the armor a whole lot more comfortable. He only took out the fur that lined some of the inside and the hood. With that, his armor was ready to go so Ellis spent the rest of the time it took to cook the meat practicing anima control. He was getting fairly skilled with controlling anima which allowed him to do more precise physical movements while still being in full control of his anima. Soon, the meat was finished smoking and unfortunately, no other monsters wandered through his camp, so he was just going to have to make do with what he had for now. After packing up the meat and other stuff he needed, Ellis began the far walk back to where he had found the ruins.
Too bad I can't maintain Partial Lightning State for very long. If I could find out someway for it to last longer, I could probably finish this trip super quickly by running while enhanced and then waiting for my anima to regen.
Ellis thought about ways to make Partial Lightning State last longer as he walked toward the ruins. He had already been using his points from level ups to increase his INT for more anima, but he couldn't use all his stat points for INT because then his other stats would suffer.
Oh, well I'm sure eventually I'll have enough anima to use Partial Lightning State for a long period of time, and then I could probably begin to use Full Lighting State. I'll just keep practicing my control over anima for now.
Two days later.
Ellis was practicing his anima control and suddenly something clicked in his brain. The flow of his anima which before would hit choke points and slow the flow suddenly opened up, letting more anima flow out of them easier.
Ding!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone