Spirit Taming

Chapter 563: Skirt Or Stop

Making a move proved to be the right decision. The forest had begun to wake up too. Many beasts that had roamed at night were moving back towards their homes so it was a good chance to hunt the stragglers. But it was also a good time to get moving in general. There was less of a chance that the group would bump in to people this early in the morning.

Only those that went out to hunt professionally would be out right now. Even with the fact that many people were hunting beasts due to the fears of losing the ability to due to city lock downs and increased security.

"So, why do we need to hunt right this second?" Grace was curious. She was happy to go out and hunt ahead with Jerold and Ralph since she was able to train her skills a bit more. But she still was very curious when it came to what they needed to so within the day.

"Basic training. We need to boost our food storage in case there are too many things that stop us from eating. What if a beast stronger than the one we defeat comes to steal our prey in the violent jungle?"

This stopped Grace for a moment and then she looked at Clark. "Then we have Clark handle it. That's the best way to handle all the beasts." Grace wasn't wrong, but Maria felt that her words were being put off at that response.

"Just because Clark is the strongest in the group right now, doesn't mean he will handle every beast. If all the wood fairies and the elder treat had attacked us, then we would have been in trouble regardless. Do you really think he would kill them all before we were injured?" Maria was taking on a more motherly tone.

She had effectively become the parent of the group the more that she helped take charge and lead alongside Clark.

"We should hunt for training too. Jerold is the only one with advanced tracking skills and sneaking skills. Maria can make up for it with speed, but how do you make up for it? What would happen if you were lost, alone, and needed to hunt food without trouble?" Clark jumped in to the conversation as he used the improved analysis on some of the same items he had seen in the forest just the other day.

He was surprised to see that some of the dead sticks now had added phrases about how easily they would catch fire or how they had dry rot and were not good for starting fires. It was very useful in terms of preparing fire wood or kindling. However, what really stuck out was something he had not at all bothered to use the analysis on at all.

'Trailing vines- uncommon

The trailing vines only follow the natural flow of water on the ground. They follow the water like following a trail, therefore, they received the name trailing vines. They will naturally absorb water as it rains and flows off the ground until it reaches another flow of water.

This is to be able to absorb the most water that the vine needs to be able to grow. It is able to store a lot of water within itself and is known as a natural water bottle to tamers that know how to properly purify the water within from the toxic oily sap that the vine produces.

This method is normally required to drink it. Using heat and some salt is enough to force the oily sap to condense and be thrown away. The salt is a downside because it can cause dehydration, but that can be solved with…'

Clark didn't bother to read any more. He pulled out the stone knife they had made and cut the thickest part of the trailing vine. He knew that this vine was one of many trailing vince species, however, it would be better to harvest it now when he already had a solution to the water problem.

If he had looked at the analysis the day before, he would not have seen this bonus information on how to purify it.

"And now he's cutting random vines. Clark, did you break something?" Reese looked at the brown muddy vine and wondered just what Clark was thinking. But when Clark started to twist the vine and empty the sap and water inside, Reese changed his expression.

"This is water, right? So it just has the perfect thing we need when we need it? That's so weird. Lucky, but weird." Reese was about to take a handful of the vine water before Clark stopped him.

"It's toxic right now, we need to boil it with salt then add a few herbs to remove the salt. They are easy to find and easy to use if we use it right. Basically, a jungle will have plenty of vines just like this. All we have to do is prepare what we need otherwise." Clark had been looking for signs of a beasts but found water. That was one thing off the list.

"So you will need us to boil it. Good to know. The mix of the herbs will need to be formulated within a proper amount to ensure no one is poisoned. Maria and I will test that when we stop at camp." Ella's mind was already spinning. She knew that smaller tests would be ideal for this so that they were able to properly have a foolproof method for safe water in the jungle.

It would be a weight off everyone's shoulders.

"So we have water. That's good. Now we just need to find a good beast. Maybe we can find some of the forest rabbits or a red quill." Isa was getting more and more int o this. She had traveled with her family's merchant train before. But she had never been this in to the wilderness.

It was odd to think that they had been traveling before and now was the time that Isa was really getting in to it. Overall, she should have shown some of this excitement before now. Yet, this was different. The group had been left alone but their guardian's beasts. They had been sent on their own to get stronger. That was a true test and learning event in their lives.

Overall, this was an event that would cement itself as a core and a base for their future development. Not only would Isa see things that were in the wilderness before they even got near a mercantile business, she would understand how they existed.

This sort of knowledge would be able to show her what she should price things on. Why prices were higher or lower with certain items. It was all focused on how something was developed over how something was sold within a city where no one could see the effort that went in to getting the material.

"I don't want to deal with a red quill. They are a huge pain. Literally!" Ralph knew what beast Isa was trying to tell them they should hunt.

"That thing will shoot out quills before we even see it. Then we all have to deal with the fact that whoever gets stuck will deal with itching and pain for a week or more unless Maria uses her alchemy to make a medicine that we don't have materials for."

The reason that Ralph knew about this was simple. The red quills from a red quill were used within the forge to sew or attach leather. It was a very useful material that was used as needles since they were naturally tough and cheaper. One red quill had a hundred. Therefore, one being hunted was a very lucrative endeavor.

"That will be fine. Maria is learning too. When she has that challenge, we can find the herbs and other things." Isa waved off Ralph and made him a bit angrier. But that wasn't what they should focus on.

"You know how Clark was sure we wouldn't run in to other tamers because it's so early? Well, I just spotted three moving ahead of us. They are tracking something." This news from Jerold and Grace who had just moved ahead a little was not necessarily good.

"Then we can skirt them before we head back on our path. I don't want to fight them if we don't have to. They might just be hunting and don't want to deal with us." Clark's idea was easier said than done because they had no idea what the three were tracking and where that might take them.

"We could stop them and make a few sales. They could have materials we need or something else." Isa felt this was a good idea too.

"We don't want to speak to them. They are strong enough to be out hunting in a group of three. They also could be from Nova and under someones' thumb." This warning from Maria was also a good thing to consider. They had to make a choice. Do they speak to them? Or do they avoid them and hope they can?