Spirit Taming

Chapter 567: Lucky Find

Slightly splitting off from the group, Jerold and Clark headed toward where the tracks that Jerold had better skills following were. The two were not very talkative since they both knew that any sounds could alert beasts that they were around. Especially after the previous noise nearby when Clark handled the three men hunting.

The fact that the smell of blood was around had actually attracted a few scavengers. They had sharper senses than other beasts because they were just that, scavengers. But just like scavengers, they were not all ideal to hunt and eat. Many carried parasites or just generally were not safe to eat.

'Rot fly- common

The rot fly is a butcher's worst nightmare. They are smaller flies that will smell the scent of recently butchered, killed, or remaining corpses. They enjoy consuming them and also leaving their eggs to grow within such places.

They will cause rot to happen at a much faster rate on anything that they touch due to their dark typing. There are many people that will hire certain tamers with beasts to hunt them to maintain cleanliness within their homes or businesses.

They were once used as beast food and as food for humans. This was until the plague related to them happened. The rot flies contained an illness that beasts and humans could not handle. They ended up causing many to perish before a solution was found.

It is highly recommended not to eat these even as a last resort. Even some potions can not heal the damage done to the body due to the various illnesses within the rot fly.'

This was unsettling to say the least. However, everyone always did their best cleaning. It was kind of nice to learn why humans had become so clean. They had learned from grave mistakes over time.

"This." Jerold spoke softly. He was rarely relied on. But feeling that he was able to help in this way brought him full circle. His hard work to become reliable and better than the past self who was more cowardly and arrogant proved a lot. He could handle the tasks that came with what he had focused on and developed along with his partner.

"Looks like it's webbed." That was all that Jerold had to say. But from what Clark could tell, he had chosen these footprints to follow over others.

When Clark looked carefully, he noticed that some of the larger footprints were deeper in the muddy ground. While some were smaller and clearly from some form of avian beast. Therefore, the smaller beast that Jerold had started to track was the best option. Smaller to keep the wasted food potential down. Easier to hunt. And overall a better choice.

This had all happened in a short half hour too.

Upon finding something, Jerold started to use his armored chameleon that always remained hidden on his body to turn invisible and blend in with the surroundings. Clark was presented with some trouble, but that was why he had Shy with him.

After a few moments of letting the shadow energies flow through him with a lot of help from Shy, the shadows started to move around him. Small strings of shadow wrapped Clark while somehow allowing him to still see through them. To anyone else, Clark was just an oddly large shadow within a dim forest. But for him, it was an immersion of energy.

The feeling of cool shadow threads enveloping him made his body feel slightly off. But after a moment, he was able to feel comfortable. It was the shared bond with Shy that allowed this to happen. Clark was also able to feel how he could bring the shadow energy in to his flowing storms moving meditation technique.

He wasn't entirely sure how he could use this, but the thought was tucked neatly in the back of his mind while he followed the tracks and Jerold's obvious guidance. Clark struggled a little in the first few steps, but soon found himself adapting quickly to the crouched and slower movements.

He also was keeping track of the webbed footprints better before they found themselves at a small stream. This would have been nice before since it would have been the water source the system identified. Not that having two was a bad thing.

It was easy to spot the open space. There were trees right to the sides of the streams until these smaller sections. Instead, there were bits and pieces of wood along with many tree stumps. There was also a large pile of branches being built up along the sides. As if someone or something was building a poorly planned dam.

It only took a moment to catch on to the sounds or gnawing and scraping. Clark's eyes darted to the spot nearby as he used the system's analysis on the beast.

'Wood beaver- common

The wood beaver is exactly that. A beaver that consumes wood and other things within a similar realm. It will often block small streams or even in rare cases, a river. This is to allow them the ability to cut down trees by gnawing on them, and then let them float to their dam for storage.

They are related to rat type beasts who enjoy hiding and storing larger amounts of food for winter or cooler temperatures overall. Thhey do have some relatives that do not eat wood, but they are all known to have water typing and even rarely, some small earth typing due to their diet.

They will normally run and hide within their dam or under the water. They are very quickly within the water but much slower outside of it. If they need to attack, they will use sharpened claws on their webbed feet or more commonly, their buck teeth.

Their meat is very fatty due to their water typing and need to remain warm under water. They also have water resistant pelts which is useful for those that travel within the rain often. Due to the secents on their body, they have a unique repellent toward other beasts with sharper noses. Many humans or beasts can not detect it though which is why this is believed to be a fading evolutionary trait.'

All of this was useful information to Clark. He was certain that this was a good prey to find and to use as his own for the quest. Especially since the added survival aspects were very important. The very fact that this beast was useful for water proofing something was excellent. Clark could think of many things that they could use with such a pelt.

The fatty side of the meat on the beast was somewhat good. Beasts that produced a lot of fat meant that it could be saved better. Fatty meat could be stored better overall. But most importantly, the rendered fat could be saved and used for many other things.

But what really made him interested in catching and hunting this beast, was the fact that it produced a scent that could cause other beasts to avoid it. That meant that the entire area that it lived, was an ideal camping place for the night.

"Go back, get the others. I will catch this." The soft whisper was quiet enough so that Jerold would be able to hear him, but Jerold had moved.

Clark was about to try what he could to communicate to someone he knew was somewhere near him that they should get the group. But when he noticed that there was no longer a gnawing sound, Clark prepared to attack. There might be something that alerted the wood beaver of their presence.

"That's easy enough. We have some good food." Jerold appeared just on the edge where the branches had been stacked by the wood beaver. He had pierced it right along the neck and was holding it by its large and flat tail. The wood beaver was larger than he thought.

"I thought we would be stuck trying to catch it in the water. But it didn't even notice me." Jerold was all smiles since he was able to find food which was exactly what Clark wanted for them to have for the group.

"There's only one of them too. I bet it is a younger forest beaver. Easy to hunt and plenty of people have sold them in the markets. I remember seeing them when I was little." There was pride in such a casual comment. But Clark had already started to work.

"We can make camp here. You might not smell it, but I can. I think Crim is helping me do that or something with our bond, but it smells a little like rotten eggs and cabbage crossed one another. It should keep other beasts away. Basically, we just got a camp all set up with fire wood to roast put food." Clark felt that a weight was off him.

He could continue the survival quests while also getting stronger. But more so, he was impressed on how easily Jerold could work in the wilderness.