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Energy Eater - Chapter 72 - Chicken Strips
🕑 Added 2024-12-30 09:28:25 +0000 UTCWith Dreadwing dead, we had a moment to properly look at the corpse of the creature. It was, by our accounts, a giant heron and a species that I vaguely knew about. White feathers with a tuft of red on its face, just by the beak. I just could not remember the name of the species, but it was in one of the books Pops showed me a long time ago. That was about it. The size of the creature was the only thing that proved it was a monster, and not just a regular animal.
"Sys, are you sure we weren’t under the effects of a skill or something?"
[System can now recognize that User was indeed under the effects of a skill. System is unable to confirm the actual effects of the skill, but as an indicated guess, it can say that it was related to the feeling of fear.]
"Why couldn’t you recognize that while the skill was active?" I frowned. The System was able to tell me when a dungeon was affecting me, so it didn’t make much sense that it couldn’t do that with such a weak creature.
[System does not have enough information to confirm a reason. However, it is likely that the skill was also able to hide its existence. Alternatively, Dreadwing may have had a secondary skill that allowed it to activate other skills without being noticed. Unfortunately, any explanation System is able to give now will be conjecture. Only if User absorbs the skills belonging to Dreadwing will System be able to give a more concrete answer.]
I glanced at the monster. "I would love to do that. It’s been a while since I ate chicken, but I don’t know how we can cook it without putting ourselves in danger. We’re no longer in the area of effect of the dungeon, so fire might attract the Eaters."
"I know how," Astrid said.
"What are you thinking about?" I turned to the Frosted Lumberjack.
"Need space. Inside a house." She turned around, scanning for a place that fit her needs.
We started walking while dragging Dreadwing’s corpse along. Thankfully, it did not take too long to find what looked like a large barn or warehouse. The structure was mostly intact, with just a couple of broken windows, but there were no significant holes in the building. In addition, there was another house very close by that also stood tall. If it was too cold for us in the warehouse, we could try spending the night in the house. Maybe it would even have mattresses or a place that was more comfortable to sleep on than the ground.
We dragged the body into the warehouse and closed everything. It was very hard to see in the dark, so I took some branches from a tree nearby and ignited them with {Firestarter}. The flame was very small, and I was counting on the fact that it was still cold outside. Hopefully, it wouldn’t release enough heat to attract an Eater if any were nearby.
It took Astrid just a few seconds to nod in satisfaction. It seemed like she approved of the location. Together, we pushed the body to the center of the warehouse before the Frosted Lumberjack walked over to one of the walls. Staying a few meters away from it, she raised her axe and slammed it into the floor. From the blade, a wave of ice emerged, spreading about five meters before stopping.
"What the hell was that?" I gasped.
"New skill."
"Which one? Actually, what skills did you get after killing the Ice Devil?"
"Kept three," Astrid replied as she walked over and touched my shoulder to show the skills.
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Emerging Glacier - Active - Fledgling
Requires: Frosted Axe
Cost: 2 Energy
The ice that inhabits the Frosted Axe is everlasting. With a push, it can invoke the might of the poles. Creates a wave of ice from the point of impact, damaging those caught in the area.
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Shattering Frost - Active - Fledgling
Requires: Frosted Axe
Cost: 1 Energy
Channel the Frosted Axe's icy core to unleash a devastating strike, sending shards of ice outward. If ice is struck by the attack, its power is increased.
Deals physical and cold damage to all enemies in a 2-meter radius. Enemies struck by the ice will have reduced agility and have a chance to be briefly frozen.
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Frostbound Grip - Passive - Fledgling
Requires: Frosted Axe
The Frosted Axe becomes an extension of your will, its icy grip strengthening your hold and empowering your strikes.
Increases your grip strength and control, reducing the chance of being disarmed. Additionally, attacks with the Frosted Axe deal extra cold damage.
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"Shattering Frost is the one you used to break the ice in the Ice Devil’s lair, right?"
Astrid just nodded at my question.
"Which skill did you drop, then? You showed me your status screen, and I don’t think you had enough space for all three of them."
"Wood Cleaver, Cold Endurance."
"Yeah, I guess since we’re leaving the cold weather, it’s a good call. But I hope you didn’t forget that skill, not the Wood Cleaver, Cold Endurance, I mean. If it’s in your Memory Bank, it could come in handy if we find another ice-based dungeon or just a place that’s really cold."
"Memory Bank. Both."
I nodded. She must have had a lot of space in there. Astrid walked to the end of where her ice wall had been created and used the same skill again. This time, she created it at a ninety-degree angle. That was when I finally understood what she was trying to do. Since I could offset the presence of fire, if we were inside a literal ice box, we could have a campfire without a problem. Thanks to our cloaks, we would not need to worry too much about the temperature.
Once Astrid created the third wall, she walked over to me. "Need time. No energy."
"Right, it costs two Energy every time you do that. So you need what, ten minutes?"
She nodded. While we waited, both of us stepped outside to gather some wood. Since we were going to make a fire to cook the meat, we might as well get everything we would need.
"By the way, I was thinking about something. The two of us have {Memory Bank}, and if we are going to travel together, maybe we should keep a few useful skills there. Like your Cold Endurance. It might even be a good idea to have each of us gather a specific type of skill."
"Like?"
"Like, if we say that you are going to take care of all the resistance-based skills. So if we find another, maybe something that makes it easier to withstand the heat, you keep it in your {Memory Bank}. If it’s something else, like allowing us to use more Energy or survival skills like {Firestarter}, I keep them. Just so when we need them, we know who has what. Otherwise, every time we need a specific skill, we would need to ask about it and figure out who has it. Oh, and for the record, the suggestion of you having the resistances is just because you already have one. If you want to keep the survival skills in your {Memory Bank}, that’s fine. I can keep the resistances. That is just a suggestion. Think about it and let me know if you like it. It’s okay if you don’t want to do that."
Astrid did not say anything for a moment. We continued gathering branches and pieces of wood from broken houses. After about twenty minutes, we returned to the warehouse. The ice walls were still there, and they did not seem like they were about to melt away. Then again, they did not give off the same feeling as the ice in the dungeon. It was very likely that, eventually, those walls would melt, especially if there was a fire in the middle of them.
Then again, that might be for the best. If the ice melted away, we would have a source of water, although I was not entirely sure if drinking it would be a good idea. Back in the dungeon, the System explained to me how skills could make ice. They would not just create water out of nowhere or add some hydrogen to the oxygen in the air.
Instead, the particles would go after the moisture that already existed and lower its temperature to create ice. This also meant that all the microbes and bacteria around the moisture were still very much there.
Astrid used Emerging Glacier once more, finishing the ice box around us. It was a wide enough area, and we could step outside without much issue. All we had to do was climb over the ice, which was even enough that it made getting footing easy. We also kept the corpse of the heron outside, since it was too big to fit in the five-by-five-meter area she created.
We butchered the bird outside and tossed some of the pieces back into the icebox, making sure the doors to the warehouse were closed and any entrances were properly secured. It was a bit annoying to deal with a creature this big, but we were both hungry and curious if we would get any skills related to the monster.
The meal ended up being better than I was expecting. Dreadwing’s meat was tender and juicy, unlike the meat we got from the Ice Devil. Despite the pleasant meal, my eyes kept shifting toward one of the walls of ice, not because of the ice itself, but because of what was beyond it. The remains of the creature we had just faced.
I was doing my best not to freak out, but the memory of the fear it caused me was still fresh. There was still something gnawing at the back of my mind, as if the creature could come back to life and attack again.
More than once, I glanced in that direction, worried that its corpse would spring to life again, causing that intense dread once more. I also noticed that Astrid was doing the same thing.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked.
She turned toward me with a jerk, wide-eyed, paused, and nodded. "Want a wing."
I smiled, pushing the fear to the back of my mind. "I was going to ask you to grab me something, but I have a feeling you won’t be able to eat the entire wing."
She jumped to the opposite side and started removing all the feathers from the wing. But it did not take long for her to toss the appendage back into the ice ring and jump over once more. I gave her a puzzled look, but the Frosted Lumberjack just shrugged. "Too dark."
I chuckled as we continued to eat, doing my best not to focus on the bird’s corpse.
Eventually, it came time for us to sleep, and just to be safe, we decided to take turns. I stayed up first.
I kept feeding the fire and cooking more of the bird until the System perked up.
[User Cassandra, after analysis, System is able to explain the fear effect caused by Dreadwing.]
‘Did I get a skill?’
[A skill was not acquired; however, enough information was extracted from the particles to explain how the fear skill worked.]
‘Oh… okay. What did it do?’
[Dreadwing had a unique ability to cause fear in all who looked at it. The visage of the creature triggered a specific synaptic response, making those who saw it feel an intense sense of dread. However, a limitation of that skill was that if Dreadwing was damaged by anyone, the skill would collapse. It is likely that most of the prey the monster hunted froze and became unable to fight back. Hence why User had that feeling during the fight.]
I nodded while watching the flames. It was good to know that it was really just a skill. Just something to make it easier for the creature to hunt. But that did not help with what I was feeling.
The same feeling I felt when the Eater first appeared back in the Hidden Horn Village.
But I still had some time to try to deal with that. Hopefully, I would not have nightmares thinking about this.
