The beast, once boasting a massive two-meter frame, collapsed to the ground with a dull thud that echoed through the woods. The layer of water that usually covered its fur had completely evaporated from the heat of the fire snake Rei had unleashed, leaving the pelt looking no different from that of an ordinary bear.
"Well, we made it through... I guess."
"Gruu."
Standing beside the lifeless corpse of the Water Bear, Rei muttered to himself as he sank onto the ground. Hearing him, Set nuzzled his face against Rei as he always did.
"You did great too, Set. If you hadn't been here, I wouldn't have pulled off such a clean victory. At worst, I might have ended up burning down the entire forest or something."
"Gurururu."
Rei praised Set while scratching the back of his head. Set seemed to find the scratching pleasant, purring like a cat and appearing to be in high spirits.
Several minutes passed like this. Finally, Rei pulled himself together and stood up.
"Even if I'm going to do something about this monster's corpse, we should move first. I'm certain other monsters will be drawn here soon."
The battlefield was a wreck: trees were snapped and the earth was gouged from their struggle. Furthermore, the scent of the Water Bear's blood and the smell of roasted meat from its scorched insides hung heavy in the air.
"Now, the problem is how to carry this Water Bear... Should I load it onto Set's back? No, putting something that likely weighs several hundred kilograms on him is... wait a second. Could it be...?"
Rei's eyes fell upon the Misty Ring equipped on his right hand. According to Zephyle's knowledge, living things could not be placed inside, but since the Water Bear was already dead, it shouldn't be an issue.
"Storage."
The moment he muttered the word while touching the Water Bear's corpse, the massive body vanished without a trace. To be sure, he checked the list in his mind; the Water Bear's corpse was properly displayed, so the storage was a complete success.
"I see. Living things are a no-go, but corpses can be stored. ...Then, what about that?"
Next, Rei's eyes landed on the tree that had snapped when Set performed his wall-kick. It was a substantial tree with a trunk about a meter thick—though in this forest, it was merely an average-sized specimen.
"Storage."
When he touched the broken tree and muttered the command, it too vanished in an instant.
"Gruu."
Set rubbed his face against Rei again as if to say "let's go." Rei stroked his partner's back and, as a little bonus on the way out, gathered as many Clara Fruits as he could find, storing them in the Misty Ring before leaving the area behind.
"Alright, we should be safe here."
Rei finally stopped after traveling for about twenty minutes from the site of the battle. Normally, a twenty-minute walk wouldn't cover much ground, but given the performance of the Sleipnir's Shoes, he had covered several times the distance of a normal pace.
The sun was already high, and a creeping heat had begun to envelop the forest.
However, Rei was wearing the Dragon Robe, which automatically maintained a constant temperature, and Set didn't seem to mind the heat at all. Still, having moved this far with almost no rest after the fight, Rei sat down on the grass.
"Gruu."
Set rubbed his head against him, demanding to be petted. While his heart was healed by the gesture, Rei retrieved four of the Clara Fruits he had just gathered from the Misty Ring.
"Set."
"Gururuu."
Rei paused his scratching and offered a Clara Fruit. Set let out a happy cry from the back of his throat, took the fruit in his beak, and crunched through the skin and flesh.
Watching him, Rei also bit into a fruit, skin and all.
The moment he bit down, a refreshing sweetness and a hint of acidity burst in his mouth. As he chewed, succulent juice flooded his palate.
It was a taste Rei had never experienced before. ...Then again, having lived in a rural town in Tohoku, he hadn't exactly had many opportunities to eat exotic fruits.
Regardless, they shared the unexpectedly delicious Clara Fruits, two each, and filled their stomachs. Next came the task of butchering the Water Bear.
"Set, I'm going to butcher the bear. Keep an eye out so the smell of blood doesn't draw other beasts."
"Gruu."
Set nodded slightly, moved a short distance away, and began watching the surroundings.
Looking at him dependably, Rei pulled the Water Bear's corpse from the Misty Ring.
"Now then... where to start? I've never actually butchered a bear before."
The only thing Rei had experience with was chickens. His father had kept cockfighting as a hobby, and Rei had often been made to help slaughter the birds that lost their matches.
"Even if I try to do it like a chicken, I don't have any hot water."
When slaughtering a chicken, you generally hang it by a string, cut the neck and ankles to drain the blood, and then pour hot water over it to pluck them. The hot water firms the meat and makes the feathers easier to pluck without them flying everywhere.
He reached that point in his thoughts and shook his head.
"Bears don't have feathers, so the chicken method is useless. There's nothing about this in Zephyle's knowledge either. ...Can't be helped, I'll just have to teach myself. As long as I can get the magic stone without damaging it, the rest is just food for me and Set. The pelt... well, I'll try to peel it off cleanly if I can."
He decided on a basic plan, but just as he was about to start, he realized he was still holding the Death Scythe. Naturally, butchering with a giant scythe would be incredibly difficult. Rei sighed and searched through the Misty Ring for a more suitable blade.
Mithril Knife.
It was a tool made of mithril ore, which possessed a high affinity for magic power. This knife specifically used the highest quality ore available. Its sharpness changed depending on the amount of magic power poured into it.
(To think I'm using a Mithril Knife for butchering... I wonder what the other adventurers in this world would think if they knew.)
He would almost certainly be scolded. Or perhaps some would simply break down and cry.
Just as he was about to plunge the knife into the Water Bear's pelt, he paused and pulled back. He realized he hadn't checked Zephyle's knowledge for specific information on the Water Bear. Knowing which parts were valuable or any precautions for the process would make a huge difference in the final result. But...
"It's not in Zephyle's memory?"
Rei muttered, sounding confused. He had tried to pull information about the Water Bear from Zephyle's knowledge as if it were a routine task, but he found nothing.
(Does that mean it's a monster that appeared during the centuries Zephyle was shut away in that mental world?)
He questioned this internally, but without the knowledge, he had to rely on his own judgment.
Steeling his resolve, he plunged the Mithril Knife, infused with magic power, into the Water Bear's flank. The blade slid into the pelt without any resistance, as if he were piercing the surface of water. It was a testament to the quality of the mithril—and perhaps Rei's own massive magic reserves.
"I can work with this."
Rei proceeded to skin the bear along the muscle. Since it was his first time, he made several mistakes, like accidentally nicking the pelt, but thanks to the knife's sharpness, he managed to remove it in a relatively clean state.
He stored the pelt in the Misty Ring and then thrust the knife—this time without magic power—into the heart. After the sensation of cutting through meat, the tip hit something with a distinct click. He carefully gouged out the foreign object with the blade.
What emerged was a blue crystal the size of Rei's fist. It looked like a brilliant gemstone.
"So this is a magic stone. Since it's blue, it's water attribute. ...Well, that makes sense."
A magic stone's color reflected the attribute of the monster it came from. However, that was an individual trait; even within the same species, one might have a fire stone while another had wind. In this case, the Water Bear was a straightforward example.
"Once the magic stone is out, the rest doesn't matter as much. I'll just cut it into pieces that are easy for us to eat..."
He channeled magic into the Mithril Knife again and easily sliced through the carcass, bones and all.
The butchering was finished in minutes. Now, laid out before Rei were six portions: the four limbs, the torso, and the head.
"Gruu."
Having caught the scent of blood, Set approached while purring. His gaze was fixed on the internal organs Rei had set aside.
"...Are you hungry again?"
"Gruu."
Seeing this, Rei reached out and scratched Set's head.
(Now, what to do? Zephyle's knowledge is blank on Water Bears, so I don't even know if these organs are safe to eat. ...Well, I have antidotes in the Misty Ring if things go south, so it should be fine... right?)
He glanced at the organs resting on a large leaf and made a decision.
"Set, you can have them. Just stay away from the stomach, intestines, testicles, and liver."
"Gruu!"
Purring happily, Set immediately began pecking at the organs with his beak.
Rei's warning about the testicles and liver came from a vague memory of a TV show mentioning toxins in those parts of certain animals. The stomach and intestines were self-explanatory.
Despite having eaten most of Rei's breakfast earlier, Set was apparently ravenous; he devoured everything except the forbidden parts in an instant.
"Gururuu."
Set let out a satisfied cry. He looked thoroughly content.
"You've settled down, then? Come here for a second."
"Gruu."
Set leaned his head in, and Rei used a leaf from a nearby tree to wipe the beak that had been stained by the meal.
"Gruu."
Set closed his eyes and purred from the back of his throat, clearly enjoying the attention.
Once the cleaning was done, Rei pulled out the blue magic stone he had harvested.
"Gruu?"
"Now, you're supposed to eat this... right?"
"Gruu."
Set nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Thinking that this was probably like dessert to the griffon, Rei offered the fist-sized blue stone.
"Gruu."
Set took the magic stone in his beak and swallowed it in a single gulp.
"...Well?"
Just as Rei asked, feeling a bit apprehensive, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
Set has learned Water Ball Lv.1.
It sounded exactly like a system message from an RPG, and Rei unfortunately had a very good idea of who would be behind such a game-like flourish.
"Takumu... was this your doing?"
Set
Water Ball Lv.1