CH11: Mother Bear

The twin stars shone bright overhead on a beautiful field plowed to completion, watered by blood, sweat, and pain. Dirt and blood covered Zack’s hands from his efforts to punch the ground like a barbarian. Muscles rippled along his shoulders and back from mad laughter. He wanted Milly to howl in victory, but she was back in the farmhouse beside the fireplace. It was the only place where she had enough heat to feel comfortable. He kicked a pile of dirt while staring at his achievement with pride.

With the seed back in hand, he pierced the ground and dropped the seeds inside quickly. Who needed a seed drill when his hands worked perfectly well? Strong Fist was the ultimate multi-tool.  He didn’t know if the piercing aspect of it was meant for seed drilling, but it was worthwhile.

Under the hot stars, he went through the rows seeding, pausing only when his buffs were in danger of running low. His hunting allowed him to collect nine different fish and game animals, giving him the buffs he needed. Zack was slowly increasing his potential, lengthening the time he needed to stay in the G rank.

To himself, that was a good thing. Zack used to always rush things; it was good to relax and smell the roses for once.  

He had already added seeds from all the crops to his Demi-plane. The area continued to expand as new plants thrived or died out while animals battled one another for supremacy. He wanted to add some slimes to take care of the excess corpses. There weren’t enough scavengers to get rid of all the bones and guts. Some of the animals were starting to get sick.

Zack turned his attention to the following field. Red dirt and hunks of metal stood out. It was clearly to help him level strong fist faster. Or maybe Joshua was trying to bully him. Either way, he wasn’t bothered with it just after completing the first of 5 fields. The field after the next one had a levy ready to burst, and the other two fields were filled with more rocks or stumps.

Comparing them led to some conclusions, like Zack was doing the wrong field. Maybe he was supposed to do the wooden, the stone, and then the wood and stone. Then he could do the levy to gain better control by plowing without breaking the damn, and then he could tackle the field with pieces of metal in the ground.

Zack pierced the ground to his elbow, dropped the seeds in, and slowly pulled his arm out as the hole closed a little and his hand exited. Strong Fist had so many uncharted avenues that he only scratched the surface. It was probably an attempt to steal the skill from this world and bring it to Olympus. Why else would they place him with a retired soldier with such an overpowered skill?

He visited the pond and cleaned his arm to the elbow; there was no need to show up dirty. Zack whirled around and punched out as a brown bear lunged. Zack felt his fist impact its nose and crush all the bone and cartilage as he followed through.

New Trait: Fat Stores

Fat Stores: Plants can store more energy as condensed fats, significantly increasing endurance and survivability.

Two cubs peaked out from behind some berry bushes they snacked on, and he opened a portal to his demi-plane beneath them. It was a happy accident. He might have also dropped the bears in the pop berry bushes to fatten them up and drive them into addiction.

He cleaned his arm again and dragged the bear by its back paws up the bank and toward home. Maybe Milly could help him track down and kill a few more bears, but he wouldn’t mind adding a few more to increase the genetic diversity in his lands. Zack purchased some blueberry sprouts from the shop at only 50$ apiece and planted them in a newly cleared spot in his growing demi-plane.

Zack needed his paycheck to come through. He checked his status for fun and because there wasn’t much else to do while dragging a bear. He was only a week away from the dungeon, and I would like to say he was getting pretty strong.

Zack Sin

Rank: G

Attributes: 9

Life G

10/124

Regeneration G

15/124

Endurance G

40/124

Body G

 35/124

Strength G

50/124

Reflex G

10/124

Perception G

25/124

Mana G

50/124

Resistance G

5/124

 Skills: 4

Demeter’s Blessing: Grow plants faster, take traits from monsters, and breed them into plants.

Level: 40/999

Rank: E

Primordial World (Seed): An inner world with a single meter of land bursting with potential and hunger for mana. The user can open and close portals to their land out of combat. The world is an extension of the user’s soul, giving the user complete autonomy over the world beyond even the gods and their domains. The size of the portal is dependent on the user manual. G x 1 meter. 

Level:100/9999

Rank: G

Range: 253 Cubic Meters

Plow: Breakthrough barriers, cultivate the ground for planting, and give a hard dicking.

Level: 30/99

Rank: G

Strong Fist: The bedrock of all greater fist skills makes your fist more than it is.

Level: 45/99

Rank: G

Traits: 2

Traits are special abilities plants grown by the user gain at random.

Static: Plants will gain an electric-based skill and develop into monsters.

Fat Stores: Plants can store greater energy as condensed fats, greatly increasing endurance and survivability.

He experienced nothing but gains in the last two weeks and was sure the dungeon would only increase his power further. Sometimes, it was good to be king.

Zack poked holes through the bear’s joins and tied a metal bar to both back feet to keep the 8ft monstrosity of a momma bear's legs apart. Then he prayed the bear wasn’t too heavy for the skinning limb. Snapping that thing would be hard to explain.

“Is that a bear?” Milly asked.

He listened to her sniff in the silence as he tied the bar to the winch above and pulled the animal off the ground until it was just at the right height. Its fur would be tough to cut through, but he had done worse. He wanted a pair of gloves in case the thing was filled with monster parasites. He shivered at the thought of them attaching them or getting inside their bodies.

Zack turned his attention back to Milly, covered in layers of padding to keep warm on the hot summer day. Hell, hounds were just built differently. They liked to live near lakes of lava, and going somewhere like Blackland was akin to traveling to the Arctic for her.

“Let’s hope I cook her well enough to eliminate parasites,” Zack said.

“My body is too hot for any parasites in this climate. The last bear I ate was a Brimstone Bear. It had too much sulfur in its diet and tasted awful.” Milly said.

“Well, I’ll season this one well, alright. So I want to talk about my odds of getting it on with Thistle.”

Milly snorted. “Jump her already; that girl needs it badly. I need it bad, for that matter. Say, Zack, have you ever wanted to power level a heat resistance and passive healing skill simultaneously.”

Zack scratched his chin. It was about two inches bigger than it had been before the dreamlands.  

He took her words seriously and gave it some thinking that didn’t have anything to do with his dick. “Alright, if that’s what it takes, I will get them so your dreams of being in a harem with Thistle can happen.”

Zack went to work on the bear while he was talking. The standard skinning, butchering, and other skill pop-ups appeared when he worked on an animal. He was tempted if only to ensure the best possible quality of meat. With the sheer number of animals he skinned, it wouldn’t be a liability. It would be an investment for the future.

“I was joking, you jerk. Why would I want to be in a harem and be one girl of many?”

“It would make my dream of being bossed around by not just one woman but two a reality,” Zack said.

“Jokes aside, I’m impressed you didn’t open the bear’s guts,” Milly said.

Zack nodded that would have been smelly.

“You don’t have a skinning or butchering skill. Those are staples of adventurers, so you should probably get them. I have them, and so does Thistle.”  

“Then why aren’t you doing any of the dressing?” Zack asked.

“Your house, it would be rude to deprive you of the experience. Thistle feels like you would think of her more like an animal if you saw her breaking down an animal. It sounds silly, I know, but centaurs have a bad rap.” Milly said.

She shivered. “Maybe you should go back inside. It's only 90 out here.”

“It will be in the 80s tonight, so I want to enjoy what little outside time I can.”  

Zack shook his head. He only accepted the two new skills because they might help him later. Maybe he could combine them with his Strong Fist for a disassembling fist. He shook his head, much to Milly’s weird looks. Strong Fist was great by itself. No, if he were going to do anything with processing, it would be a complete breakdown skill. Maybe he could make something to area effect break matter down into its baser components. Skills were more limited to the understanding and will of their users.

Skinning: Remove the pelt, scales, and feathers of monsters and animals

Level: 0/9

Rank: G

Butchering: Break down the meat of animals and monsters into separate parts.

Level: 0/9

Rank: G

They weren’t complicated or influential in their primary states. The more complex a skill was to level, the more powerful they tended to be.

Plow was powerful because Zack believed in its flexibility. He saw a verb and a noun and chose both definitions. Combining a Plow with a Strong Fist allowed him to cover a field quickly. But there was a far more carnal use of the skill.

Zack spent an hour separating the blood from the bone before tossing the scraps into his demi-plane far beneath the soil. That was how he would eventually break through with little jumps in power, eventually snowballing him into the F rank. All he needed was something to take Skinning and Butchering skills into the F rank.

“Will you tell me eventually where that portal leads?”

“Maybe” I will get cleaned up and hang out with Thistle. Enjoy the outdoors, but don’t get sick.” Zack said.

He bathed the bear meat in the marinade in a barrel he could purchase from town for only a few coppers. His sauce was homemade from a few basic materials. Technically, it was a potion, but it only brought out the benefits of meat a little more. Zack was still trying to decipher the rules of potion crafting. They were rather vague, and all seemed more like rituals. It was only a matter of time before he gained the Alchemy skill and gained more benefits from his marinades.

Zack had already decided to acquire cooking skills and combine any of the cooking-related abilities into them.

He entered the house and stepped on a familiar creaky board. Thistle looked up from the scarf she was knitting for Milly. She smiled and patted her large horse belly. Zack had sometimes taken to lying against it, and Thistle seemed to appreciate it. Her green eyes fluttered at him, showing off her long, lashing dark, even on her olive-toned skin.

“We are having bear tonight?”

“I haven’t had that before.” Thistle's stomach gurgled.

“I thought you might need help working up an appetite, but it seems you’re already there.” Thistle giggled at his terrible joke. He rubbed her fur, marveling at how warm and soft it was. Sorrel was such a nice color.

Their eyes met, and he slowly stood up until they met nose to nose and kissed her. Her pink lips pushed against his hungrily as he wrapped a hand around her. Thistle pressed her breasts against his chest, and he felt their softness firsthand. She surprised him by opening her mouth and sending her tongue probing his mouth. She was something else. He loved the taste of her breath on his tongue as they pressed against each other.

They both were breathing hard when they broke apart, and she moved her work to the nearby chair.

She looked around with a pensive expression on her face. “If we go all the way, you should know I’m messy. Would you rather take this outside? Milly sleeps down here, and she’ll smell me a little.”

His head felt fogged over, full of lust. At that moment, he didn’t care if Milly smelled them, but it was essential to get to sex, so he rubbed what few brain cells he had functioning.

“My room,” Zack said.