As we packed up to head back out on the road, I felt sad watching Crisplet's statues fade to dust. Still, I knew he'd be able to make more.

We travelled slowly that day. We didn't have enough horses for everyone, and George and Darren were in no physical state to ride hard anyway. In the end, George rode with Jen, and Darren rode with Milo.

It was a slow enough pace that Crisplet was happily exploring around us as we moved along the path. Not much was said for the first few hours, though I caught Darren throwing a few nervous glances behind us. By lunchtime, though, everyone seemed more relaxed.

We stopped shortly after midday, which was a nice change from the long pushes we'd been doing over the last week or two. I decided to take the opportunity to work on some butchery. It had been so long since I'd properly focused on the skill—and I really needed to push it further.

Looking through my inventory, I spotted several of Lily's kills that would work and pulled out a juvenile Miremaw. I hadn't seen one since Jen had found one back during our first trip through the Dark Forest, but I figured a snake would be fairly easy to butcher and prepare.

I got to work on the stone table Milo prepared for me. First, I cleaned the Miremaw. I decided to remove the head—partly because it was already mostly detached from where Lily had killed it, but also because I wasn't sure how everyone would react to eating monster meat.

Once it was skinned and gutted, I stored the raw skin and head in my storage ring. It had proven really handy for items my pantry couldn't hold. Rather than start cooking it right away, I packed the meat away and pulled out another one.

I needed to butcher eleven things in total to bring the skill to level five.

After my third snake, I decided to move to something a bit more difficult. I could've used the small fish I bought back in Boltron and knocked this out easily—but I was mindful that my evolution quest might send me down the path of becoming a fishmonger, and I'd like to avoid that.

So, I pulled out the Chironid.

Darren, sitting on the other side of the camp, looked completely shocked as I placed it on the stone table. I wasn't even sure where to begin with it. The thing was so far removed from what I was used to, I just stared at it for a moment.

"Did you guys kill that?" I heard George ask from behind me.

"Yeah, the team did. I couldn't really help them—it moved so weirdly and fast, it was like a blur. And it used these as blades," I said, pointing to the scythe-like appendages.

"It looks horrific. What are you going to do with it?" George asked, staring at the carcass in awe.

"I was going to try to butcher it, see if there are any decent cuts of meat. I'm really curious what it tastes like," I replied honestly, figuring the best place to start was removing those curved, scythe-like limbs.

"You're kidding, right? Eat that?" George said, clearly shocked.

"I'm being serious. Part of my class is cooking and preparing monster meat, creating unique dishes and getting buffs from them. This particular creature—we've never had before," I said, struggling to pierce the skin with my knife.

"I'm scared to ask," George muttered, "but what's the craziest thing you've cooked so far?"

"Dragon," I said bluntly, figuring he'd see the tail eventually, after all I'd been carving pieces off for Lily.

George laughed—until he realised I wasn't joking.

"Wait, you're serious? You ate dragon?!" he said, staring at me in disbelief.

"Well… no. We can't eat it. It'd probably kill us. But I've cooked dragon for Lily, and her friend," I explained, finally pushing my knife through the tough hide.

"You realise how insane that sounds, right?" George asked, eyes narrowing.

Without saying anything, I turned to the clear space behind us and pulled out the half-dragon tail. It landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

George just stared at it—mouth open. Figuring while it was out, it would be a waste to put it away immediately, and I got to work carving another chunk off for Lily.

For nearly a full minute, George couldn't form a word—just random noises of disbelief.

"That… that's a real dragon's tail?!" he finally shouted.

The noise caught Darren's attention, and he turned around from his conversation with Micca and took in the scene. He froze, eyes fixed on the tail in awe.

"Yeah. Although, as I said—if we eat it, it'll probably kill us. So it's very important you don't sneak a bite or anything." I paused, then added, "That's if Lily didn't kill you herself."

I mentioned the last part half joking… though, honestly, I wasn't entirely sure it was a joke.

Stolen story; please report.

Once I'd cut off a decent portion, I stored both the chunk and the rest of the tail away for later. Then I turned my attention back to the Chironid, which now had Darren's full attention too.

"That looks horrible," Darren said, grimacing.

"Well, don't ask what's for dinner then!" I said with a chuckle.

Both Darren and George watched as I slowly dismantled the creature. I removed the scythe-like appendages first, then tried to save as much intact skin as I could—which was difficult, thanks to all the puncture wounds from the fight. Most of the chitinous plates were intact, however.

What I was left with was a decent pile of materials, which I stored in my ring, and a stringy, deep dark red meat. It was striking just how different the colour was. Just to be safe, I used Purify on it—along with the Miremaw as well. That was another skill I really needed to focus on more.

In the end, I stripped off as much meat as I could from the Chironid's bones and diced it all up. I figured a stew would be the best option. While that was cooking, I'd go back to butchering more.

I prepared some grain flour seasoned with salt. After coating the meat, I heated a pot with suet to give me the fat content I wanted. Once the pot was hot enough, I seared the meat until it formed a nice golden-brown crust. I pulled it out and tossed in some diced onions, cooking them slowly as they picked up all the flavour from the bottom of the pot.

Once the onions began to caramelise I added the rest of the diced vegetables. After a quick sauté, I threw the Chironid meat back in. I wasn't sure what kind of herbs would suit it best, so I played it safe—just a few slices of Mana Truffle, some Blood Tear powder, and a bit of fresh Virfolium.

Lastly, I peeled and diced the last of my Marbled Tubers, tossed them in, and covered everything with water. Milo provided a stone lid, and I moved the pot beside Crisplet's fire to slowly cook over time.

With that done, I returned to the butchery table outside. Darren and George were still there, now sitting on the ground nearby, quietly watching. I spotted Liane wandering further out, though I knew she was wary of new people, so it would take some time for her to warm up to George and Darren. That said, she seemed to like Micca quickly.

Looking over the remaining carcasses, I realised I was spoiled for choice—but not all of them were ideal for butchering right now. I settled on a mix of birds Lily had provided: four Blood Owls, and two plump, green-feathered birds I couldn't imagine ever flying. Their name, according to the system description, were Plodra.

I set about removing the feathers and preparing the birds. It didn't take too long, and I could tell I was getting better—especially compared to when I first started back in Dunhearth. Once the organs, feathers, heads, and feet were removed, I stored the cleaned carcasses and used Purify again before I did. Not because I thought they were toxic—but hey, free experience.

A quick check of my status told me I was only two away from hitting Level 5 in Butchery. With that in mind, I pulled out two Sky Wolves. The steaks from them were always a welcome meal, and having a few prepped would be useful.

By this point, breaking down a Sky Wolf felt almost second nature. I'd watched Jen do it so many times that I barely had to think about the steps.

"Just how many corpses do you have in your storage?" George asked, watching me break down the wolves.

"After the mountain Lily gave us during our last miscommunication? Probably close to a hundred," I answered thoughtfully, trying to actually comprehend how many I still had.

"And you're going to eat them all?" Darren asked, clearly shocked.

"Probably not all of them, no. I can use Stock Reduction on some to break them down into just their buffs—it just uses a lot of mana, so I didn't want to start that today," I said, checking my mana before pulling out a small piece of candy and popping it into my mouth to help regenerate.

"I have to ask, Trevor," Darren said, "what level are you now? Because it looks like you've had a hell of a trip as well."

I winced at that. My trip hadn't been anything like theirs. Honestly, besides a few outliers, most people had been really kind to me so far. Even Troy, who technically took advantage of me, hadn't been outright cruel or unfriendly.

Which… might be part of the reason I was so easily taken advantage of.

Yet another part of the world I'd been woefully unprepared for when I left that orphanage.

"Erm… level twenty-three at the moment. I'm hoping I can hit twenty-five soon, though," I said excitedly.

"You're what?!" George practically shouted.

"Twenty-three?" Darren repeated, staring at me.

"Yeah—but don't worry, I'm sure you'll catch up!" I said quickly, trying to encourage them.

They both laughed and shook their heads.

"Catch up…" Darren said, chuckling. "Trevor, you do understand those soldiers back at the camp were in their early thirties, right? And most of them have been in the military for years?"

"We're so far behind," George groaned, flopping dramatically onto his back.

I smiled and turned my attention back to my notifications, hoping the butchering had earned me something.

Notification:

You have earned 100 bonus experience for a buff used in combat.

...

You have reached level 4 in Culinary Transformation.

You have reached level 5 in Butchery.

You have 2 available Evolution Quests.

You have 1 available Ability Selection.

…

Congratulations! Your Butchery skill has 2 available Evolution Quests:

Butcher 10 unique monsters of Uncommon or greater rarity: 0/10

Butcher 15 creatures in a single day: 0/15

The first thing that caught my eye was that Lily was out hunting again. Combat experience was flooding in at a stunning rate—but I wouldn't mention that part to George and Darren. Not yet, anyway.

The other thing were the quests. I'd need to talk to Milo about them, but the first one was self-explanatory. I'd butchered a lot of monsters, so that would likely lead to an evolution toward getting more from monsters. I didn't know for sure, but it was clearly something related to them.

The next one was odd—it was time-based. I'd need to ask Milo how that worked. Was it based on a system day, starting at night? Or would it be twenty-four hours from when I butchered the first creature? And what skills would that one even offer?

Part of me felt like it wasn't going to be the direction I wanted anyway. It seemed more like it was designed to make butchery faster, or to reward doing lots of it.

I sighed and packed everything up. Moving inside, I prepared the dragon tail chunk for Lily and then hoped I could finally relax. I really wanted to have a proper discussion with George. I hadn't yet told him everything about the army, about what he was walking into—or what the orphanage had done to us.

I wanted to vent a little to someone who was in the same shoes as me.

At least I was happy to still have my friend, and that he wasn't shunning me like Lukas had.

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