Chapter 78: Get your own food.
[Level up, +4 stats]
[Congratulations on starting Hidden Quest: Forest Mutation]
[Forest Mutation: Something unknown is lurking in the forest and is causing mutations. Find and destroy it before it destroys you.]
[Rewards: 2000 EXP, one upgrade to any chosen skill]
[Level up, +4 stat points]
[Level 8]
[12,200/16,000]
’A hidden quest has started?’ Ren looked at the screen with no particular emotion, but his mind was indeed in turmoil at this point as he began to think about this. Something had caused the mutation of this wolf, and that thing might be spreading through the forest and may be coming for him.
He also noticed that the mutated monster had given him a thousand EXP. It was great and also showed him that they were not really normal and had something special about them.
"Tch, I can’t allow it to spread recklessly."
He turned his eyes to the monster’s carcass. The young wolf was still there. He rushed to it and pulled the wolf out of its grasp on the body as carefully as he could. The breathing of the wolf was light, but he was still alive, and his heartbeat was still there.
Ren turned and handed it over to Luna.
"Take the wolf back and have them attend to it. I’ll be there in a few."
She nodded and took the young wolf, leaving soon after while Ren stood there looking at the corpse of the monster.
"Sigh, unsightly, I have to say, but there is no time for that."
He proceeded to consume the entire corpse, and it didn’t end up being as nasty as he thought it would be.
[+4 to all stats]
[Passive skill: Poison Resistance gained]
"Tch, I kind of expected a bit more. Poison barely works on me in the first place," Ren complained a bit.
"So it seems we were right about it," Vel suddenly spoke.
"Yeah, your hint might have just saved me."
"Of course it did. I am a god, hahaha."
"That means the other forest lords are connected to whoever sent this to my place," Ren deduced.
"Indeed. Well, you know what to do going forward. Things are getting serious for you. You should really make sure you keep your head up and not allow someone to sneak behind you and stab you."
Vel gave his last words and vanished like the last time.
"Sigh, alliance my ass. They wanted to sabotage me somehow. At least now I know," Ren said as he clenched his fist. He hated being used, and they had tried to use him.
"Deep breaths. Let’s not confront this now. Let’s allow it to simmer and work it out properly." He came to a conclusion on how he wanted to move.
On returning back, the day was already coming to an end, and the sun was saying goodbye. Campfires were already rising, and the monsters were already eating.
Ren made his way through and found Remu.
"Master," Remu greeted.
"Remu, prepare the items for a meeting. Bring Grent as well. Inside the cave."
"Understood, Master."
[....]
The group that had been called for the meeting consisted of Remu, Silas, Ragna, Ezra, Riker, Luna, and Grent.
They were all seated inside the cave while a campfire burned, and Ren was busy roasting some deer meat that they had acquired. They all looked at him, waiting for him to start speaking, but he was busy preparing the food.
"Hmm, I really think we need to explore new means of getting food. There is a lot of good food that we can have. We should start farming. We need seeds from the humans," he stated for all to hear before looking up from the meat to officially start the discussion.
"Something is happening in the forest. I’m sure that most of you saw the young wolf that Luna brought back.
That wolf was a victim of an attack that I did not know existed until it happened. The wolf was attacked by a spider-like parasite, or it consumed the energy of the wolf to turn into a mutated form to fight me."
As the words rolled off his lips, their shock and confusion began taking shape.
"But before it turned into the full-fledged monster, it was watching in the camp. Someone must have sent that thing here to monitor us."
He stretched out his hand and turned the meat over slowly. The flame crackled underneath, and the beautiful smell of roasted meat filled the air.
"Master, what are we going to do about it then?" Remu asked.
Ren looked up. "Luna has gotten a hold of their energy. Every two days, she will search the entire place for any infiltration, and she will report to me.
Until then, we do not have much information about this. I’ll also say, do your best to limit interaction with the other forest lords.
I have a deep feeling that they have something to do with this, and they might try to get information or anything from you. But for now, we cannot turn all our focus to this issue.
Based on the information gathered by Silas, the royal knights will definitely make a move soon, probably tomorrow, and we in this cave right now have to ensure that they do not get to the settlement at all."
Ezra frowned when she heard about humans.
"We should kill them all. They are coming after you, Master."
"I support Ezra," Riker spoke as well. "You did not go after them, and they came after you. They deserve it."
"Let’s not rush in and kill them, please. Tomorrow we have a talk with them, and if they choose not to let up and leave, then what comes after is their fault."
Ren said and then got to his feet. He grabbed his meat and started strutting out.
"You all have a good night," he said and took a big bite. "Also, find your own food. All your eyes have been on mine. I’m not sharing, hehehehehehe." He let out a laugh and basically ran out of there.