That and since I can’t get experience anymore, there is no point in me helping in the fight. Let the two of them get the experience, or at least Leylisha since I don’t think Lizzy has levels. I don’t remember ever asking her if she does and I don’t know if she worships the goddesses.

  She has met them, but it feels kind of rude to ask her if she has become a follower. Anyone else I would just ask, but for some reason Lizzy still intimidates me. It might just be my instincts telling me that she wouldn’t be an easy fight, I can’t be sure.

  Either way. I am going to keep my mouth shut, that is obviously the safer option. Besides, Lizzy and Leylisha look like they are having a lot of fun, there is no reason to interrupt that. Instead, as the night goes on and we get closer to the mountains, I start looking for the fruit. However, I run into a problem before we find it, I am running out of empty containers to put essence into.

  I wait until Lizzy makes her next kill and then ask her to take a short break and eat a snack. While she is doing so, I feed some of the weaker essences to one of the stronger ones. I watch carefully as it absorbs them, trying to spot any changes that happen to it.

  Once I have freed up some containers, we continue our trek towards the mountains. Luckily, Lizzy hunts down more of the beasts that she likes the taste of so I can get more essence of the same type. The larger the essence gets by adding more of the same type, the easier it gets to study it.

  In fact, I might just merge all of the essences together to see what more I can learn. Of course, I won’t do that until I have learned everything I possibly can by studying the others. My main concern is that I still haven’t figured out how to identify specific types of beast essence.

  That is the part that is actually the most important for me to figure out, but I haven’t found any hints yet. Hopefully, after tonight I will have essences big enough that studying them gives me those hints. Although, I would really like to get the essences from some more powerful beasts.

  I think the larger essences from stronger beasts will teach me more than ones I make large through merging. The beasts are getting stronger as we move, but nothing decent has shown up yet. We probably need to get a lot closer to the mountains, the beastmen probably hunt the stronger beasts.

  They wouldn’t want strong beasts anywhere near their villages, the risk of an attack would be too high. We need to get past the areas that the beastmen have cleared of strong beasts. We also need to do so quickly, I only have so much time before Lin wakes up in the morning.

  If I am not back by then, I don’t even want to think about what she might do to me. I am really hoping that the puppy doesn’t wake up before then and wake her up early. She would be really unhappy if that happens and she would definitely take it out on me.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  I plan to be back before she wakes up and avoid finding out what she would do to me. With that in mind, I encourage Lizzy to ignore the weaker beasts and get closer to the mountains. It doesn’t take much to convince her, she wants something that can give her a decent fight.

  For the next little while, Lizzy is running in a straight line at almost her top speed. We cover a lot of ground until Lizzy raises her head like she smells something and makes a sharp turn. She quickly races over a hill and skids to a stop near the bottom of it next to a bush.

  The bush is hard to spot because it is dark colored, but the fruits beneath it almost glow. Before I can even say anything, Lizzy has snatched up one of the fruits and eaten it. Not that I am entirely sure she would have stopped even if I had a chance to say something.

  “Lizzy, did that fruit give you a class?”

  Lizzy says “No, but I already have a class.”

  “You do? Did I know that and just forget?”

  Lizzy says “You should have known. You gave me the class.”

  “I did? What class is it?”

  Lizzy says “It is Crusader Mount. I’ve had it since you made me your mount. How did you not know that?”

  “The system didn’t tell me, so if you didn’t mention it then I had no way to know.”

  Lizzy says “I can’t remember if I mentioned it. That was quite a while ago.”

  “Yeah, it was. Well, anyway, if you already had a class, why did you eat the fruit?”

  Lizzy says “Because it smelled amazing!”

  “Well, did it do anything for you?”

  Lizzy says “Nope! But it tasted great!”

  “In that case, please don’t eat anymore. I plan to take this bush and see if we can get it to grow back on the peninsula.”

  Lizzy sighs and says “Alright. If I find another bush can I eat another?”

  “Sure!”

  I use earth mana to scan the ground and find that the bush’s root system is huge. It is almost three times as big as what is above ground, I am going to need to be careful. I want to make sure and keep the entire thing intact, that will improve the chances of keeping it alive.

  I move over to some trees and start reshaping them to make a box that is as big as the root system. Then I cut a square of the ground to fit the box, just big enough that no root gets exposed. As I am moving it into the box, we all hear a loud roar from somewhere close by.

  I ignore the roar and keep working, but Lizzy and Leylisha go on guard and start looking around. A minute later, a sixteen foot tall giant, wielding a club, comes around the side of the hill. Lizzy immediately charges the giant and begins fighting it with support from Leylisha.

  I quickly finish getting the bush into the box and put the whole thing into my pouch. As soon as that is done, I turn to watch the fight between Lizzy and the giant. The giant is already bleeding from several places on its arms and legs, but Lizzy has to keep dodging the club.

  I am tempted to join in just to see how strong the giant is, but Lizzy looks like she is having fun. After a miss with the club, Lizzy manages to bite the giant’s wrist and make it drop the club. Once she no longer has to worry about the club it doesn’t take long for Lizzy to end the fight.

  The giant looks just like a bulky human, just three times the size, and its core is in the same place. However, when I cut into the giant and expose the core, I find it is bigger than expected. That would suggest that the giants are intelligent enough to be working on their cores.