Bonded Companion:
Crisplet (Ashborne Elemental)
Level: 24
Experience: 16774/22200
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 33
Endurance: 36
Intelligence: 65
Wisdom: 32
Charisma: 10
Willpower: 13
Perception: 12
Luck: 6
Unspent: 0
Hit Points: 360/360
Mana: 650/650
Stamina 280/360
Abilities:
- Flame Control (Passive)
- Fire Immunity (Passive)
- Ashbound Flame
- Mana Enhancement
- Ashborne Architect
- Disruption Flare
- Ashborne Soul (Passive)
I had been concerned about Crisplet falling far behind, especially after Lily had essentially powered through the last two levels of mine, but despite that, Crisplet was keeping up fairly well.
When Crisplet entered the wagon, I didn’t have the heart to have the chat with him yet. He was clearly excited about the fight, as evidenced by the play-by-play in statues I was getting—ash figures showing a bout that never actually happened—where Crisplet came out on top by bashing all the wolves and saving George and Darren.
“Are you sure that’s how it happened?” I asked with a chuckle.
Crisplet just gave me a burst of embers back before heading to the roof of the wagon. I shook my head and went back to cutting the sugar-reed.
***
When we stopped for the night, Hari had once again taken us off the path and closer to the treeline. I knew I had a lot of tasks to do tonight: prepare the boar bellies, cook dinner, and attempt to crush some of the reeds in the barrel.
I had tried in the wagon, but I couldn’t lift the club high enough to push down with enough force. That said, I wasn’t sure my body was ready for it anyway.
What I wanted, though, was to see if I could slip in a quick trip to use Arcane Foraging in the forest.
Heading to the capital, I didn’t know how many more forests we would pass like this, so this might be my last chance in a long while to find useful items like dilwater berries and mana truffles.
Making my way to Liane, who was currently brushing down her horse, I made my case.
“Hey, Liane, I don’t suppose you’d be able to come with me and do a quick forage in the forest?”
She turned around, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’ll be okay running your skill for that? You know Hari will kill me if I say yes and you collapse out there, right?”
I rolled my shoulders and pulled out an onion. “It should be fine. There’s some pain when I use the skills, but nowhere near as bad as before, and it’ll only be a quick trip. I have lots to do tonight—this might be my last chance to forage in a forest before the capital.”
Liane just frowned, folding her arms. “It won’t be the last one. There’s a forest we sort of pass closer to the capital that contains a dungeon at its heart, but look, at least let me get Jen on side. If something goes wrong…”
A moment later, before I could respond, Liane vanished. I was fully expecting Jen to say no, and couldn’t help but laugh when I saw Jen being pulled by her arm towards us.
“What is it, Liane? Where are you taking me?” I heard her ask.
Stopping in front of me, Jen focused her eyes on me. “What have you done?”
I put my hands up in surrender. “Nothing, honestly. I was just hoping to get in a quick forage before we leave the forest behind.”
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Jen folded her arms, looking between Liane and me. “And you’re up for it? Are your skills still hurting?” She held up a hand. “And don’t think about lying to me—you don’t hide pain well.”
I shrugged. “It hurts a little when I use my skills, but I only wanted a quick trip in and out. I’ve a lot I want to do tonight, like the boar belly we discussed, and dinner. I should be fine?”
She didn’t look sold.
“I promise if it builds up and gets too much I will stop,” I added quickly.
Jen then turned to Liane. “And you’re okay with this?”
Liane let out a chuckle. “I mean, yeah, but I didn’t want Hari to kill me, so I grabbed you. You can come too—and Crisplet is no joke anymore.”
Jen let out a sigh. “Fine. I’ll come along. If I see you wincing in pain, we’re stopping. Is that clear?”
“Thanks!” I beamed.
I really didn’t want to push myself too much.
As Liane vanished to let Hari know we’d be stepping away for a little while, Jen did a circle around me. “Nice jacket. Liane showed it to me earlier, but it really suits you—fits well.”
We left shortly after, once I got Crisplet’s attention, and the four of us made our way towards the trees, the forest itself was fairly sparse in comparison to our forage trips in the dark forest, there was not a lot of underbrush, which made walking through it far easier.
I activated Arcane Foraging. I was mindful that it was getting close to level five after all the activations during the travel.
At first, the entire forest glowed different shades of blue, as it had in the past, but I used the ability to filter out lower-level ingredients. I’d need to be careful, since what I was chasing were uncommon ones, so I didn’t want to restrict it to rare only or something.
Looking around, I spotted a familiar cluster of berries in the distance—what I was sure would be dilwater berries—and altered the skill until they were showing but the rest of the forest had gone dark.
“Perfect. I can filter out all the common ingredients now and just show uncommon and above. That way—more berries,” I said, pointing towards them.
As we went, I tried to spot anything that stood out. Several items caught my eye, especially two I was certain were mana truffles. Once I pointed them out, Liane agreed to go back and get Milo.
We made our way to the berries first. I was happy to see I was right, though these were much smaller and not the best looking. Purifying and storing them confirmed dilwater.
“A lot of berries are out of season now,” Jen said from behind. Then, thoughtfully: “That said, once snow falls, there are a few winter-specific ones that show up instead, so there won’t be a shortage of things to find.”
I saw several items underground and what appeared to be mushrooms next to a nearby tree, so I headed there while we waited for Milo.
“Ah, you’re going to find lots of mushrooms if you keep your eyes out for them,” Jen said, as I knelt to pick the eight or so large caps.
Would you like to store [Uncommon] Death Cap Mushrooms x8 for 5 mana? Yes/No
I was surprised to see these were death caps. I’d used these mushrooms twice before, and these were significantly larger than the others. I could have sworn they were also lighter in colour.
“These are death caps, but they’re different from the two I’ve cooked before?” I said, showing one to Jen before I purified and stored them.
She nodded. “It’s pretty common. Mushrooms often start in a button shape, then bloom out once they start spreading spores. You’re just catching these at the end of their life instead of early, like the last ones.”
That made sense. I wondered whether it would change the flavour.
A short moment later, Milo and Liane came through the trees. Milo looked annoyed at being dragged away, but he didn’t say anything, and I just pointed to the glow underground.
While this was happening, Crisplet had been exploring. He drew all of our attention as a loud crack was heard. We all turned around to see Crisplet had punched a tree—I learned a bug had felt the wrath of the little elemental.
After Milo exhumed the glowing objects, we found a single mana truffle just smaller than my fist and nearly seven marbled tubers. I was rather sad we didn’t find anything new, and no virfolium either, but we had already been out longer than I’d have liked.
“I think that’s enough for tonight. I need to get some butchery done,” I said, storing the last of the tubers.
We made our way back to camp, where a very angry-looking Hari stood near the entrance.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” he said as we got within earshot.
Liane wore a smirk that made me fear trouble was coming. “I did!” she replied happily.
“No, you said a couple of you were stepping away for a few minutes—not four of you going into the forest for half an hour,” Hari responded tersely.
Liane waved him off. “Same, same. We just did a quick exploration. Crisplet killed a bug, Milo played with some dirt…”
Milo looked at Liane in disgrace. “Hey!”
This was interrupted by Crisplet bursting to the front and shooting off some embers before forming a tree made of ash—and punching it—so it burst into a cloud that blew away. He was clearly happy with his kill.
Not even Hari could keep a straight face. His fierce facade broke as a smile crept in.
Letting out a sigh, he said, “Just please tell me next time, tell me.”
Jen nodded, throwing a glare at Liane, before whispering, “You said you told him!”
“I did… kinda,” Liane whispered back.
Shaking my head, I made my way to the wagon, where I would butcher the three whole boars I had. I pulled out the first and got to work, keeping the belly as a whole piece but removing the skin—which ended up being harder than I expected.
Overall, it was quick work. I was left with three fully broken-down boars, along with three whole bellies ready to salt. I decided on three different cures: the first with regular salt; the second with fire salt and regular salt; and the third with pyrrhosite and regular salt.
This would use the majority of my salt supplies, but I knew I could replace it in Dunhearth at any of the early-morning markets.
For dinner that night, I took the ribs from all three boars and coated them in a mixture of dried herbs, salt, and pepper, adding fire salt, virfolium, blood tears, some ground quick root, and a blend of regular honey and glyntar honey.
I took them inside to Crisplet, who had already started a large fire in the middle of the longhouse-type building Milo had constructed.
“Hey, Crisplet, I want to cook these ribs slowly at first with a little smoke, then at the end open it up to flame and give it a good char,” I explained, showing him one of the honey-and-spice-covered racks.
Immediately, Crisplet created an oven for me with a rack in the middle to hold them. I filled it up and watched it seal.
Next, I went to Milo, who made three thin stone containers that could each hold an entire belly. I added the salt to each—first a layer at the bottom, then the belly, making sure it was fully coated. The moisture made the salt almost a paste.
Then I got Milo to seal them fully. This would create the best environment.
As word spread, everyone seemed really excited about the idea of bacon.
I was tempted to store the belly containers away, but I stopped myself at the last minute—remembering time would pause if I did. Instead, I carried them out to the wagon and placed them in the back.
Next, I needed to crush some of the sugar-reed. Moving to the corner of the room, trying to stay out of people’s way, I pulled out the juicer—just a large club—and the barrel with the cut sugar-reed, and got to work.
I hit down with as much force as I could muster.
It didn’t take long for Milo to come over.
“Need a hand at all? I could crush it easily with stone,” he said.
I shook my head. “If you do that, I won’t be able to buff it after we heat it up.”
Milo’s eyes widened. “Okay, how about this, then: I won’t touch the product, but you’ll get more force if you stand higher, on top of a platform of stone. Gravity will do more of the work.”
That sounded much better, so Milo formed a stone block with a crude set of stairs so I could climb up. Now, standing level with the barrel’s rim, I basically lifted and dropped the club into the reeds.
It worked a lot better, but I had barely started and my arms were already killing me.