"Grody…"
Boo popped out of my backpack and retched like he was coughing up a hairball. I checked up on him, and he seemed to have some of that icky brown slime on his tongue.
"Boo…"
He cried, and I didn't have the heart to scold him.
At least we have Mandrakes. I wonder what they taste like? My boots squelched as I made my way back to the middle of the field. Tiny baby Mandrakes that I assumed were seedlings were already sprouting.
"We should wait until they're mature. In the meantime, we can eat stew, I can study, and you can…" He stared up at me with glittering eyes. "Take a well-deserved nap. You worked hard today."
He meowed in agreement, and I patted his head.
I set up a fire again and put the cauldron on. The leftover stew bubbled, and I made a hasty decision to dump some slime in there. We'll try it once, and if we don't like it, we can just have these Mandrakes with rabbit meat.
I cut off the head of a Mandrake and ate it. Blegh. That is literally a raw russet potato. Good news, it'll at least be good when it's cooked.
Bad news that seriously messed with my taste buds.
I heaved and skinned the mandrake with my knife. Boo watched from the backpack and meowed occasionally.
After I was done skinning that one, I chopped it up and threw it in the stew. It bubbled, and unfortunately, it smelled so good it made me sick. I mean. It's slime…How the mighty have fallen…
I sighed and placed a few mandrakes by the fire. Dear potatoes…My Dad always talked about how his parents used to have them roast by the fireplace back in the good old days…Let's try it.
The stew started smelling it's best twenty minutes later so I stirred it around with a spoon and started to feed Boo first. He resisted at first, and I had to open his little mouth so he could drink it down.
He tried not to swallow, and I held his nose. He glared at me and swallowed reluctantly. Then he tried to jump into the cauldron again.
"Would you?!"
So I took that as a sign that it wasn't that bad. Using the same spoon, I took a sip and almost cried. That's broth. That's soup, not even stew. I need to scrape the scum off a little but that's soup.
We drank up greedily until I had the good sense to put it away. After we were done, the mandrakes finished roasting, and I peeled them open.
Soft, warm, delicious potatoes opened up, and smoke wafted from them. I gave a whole one to Boo and he stuffed himself so bad he got heartburn. He rested in my lap while meowing pitifully, and I read a few more pages of the grimoire.
A few days ago, you couldn't have paid me to sit down and read this. Maybe I should be grateful for all the free time this is giving me…Not. I threw up a middle finger to the sky and kept reading.
I should stick with the mind spells for now. Aja said something about how painful it would be to use new magic.
Here. Practice using a…gotcha. I can see how that would be useful. I stretched and picked up a branch from the ground using my mind. While I read the book, I kept the branch in the air, splitting my concentration between both. Sometimes, when I was reading, the branch would drop suddenly, and I'd have to focus again.
Barriers, repulsion, force fields, levitating, power bursts, air pockets, and whips.
Which one first? I've got the barrier down pat. Right now what concerns me most is up close fights with monsters. As long as they can't touch me I can remain relatively unharmed but if that ever changes…I'm dead meat.
I should focus on defensive rather than attack magic since I'm going to be fighting enemies that I'm pretty sure will outpower me at some point. The branch bobs up and down in agreement. However which one one first?
Barriers and whips. Then I can learn air pockets, power bursts, and levitating. Lastly, repulsion and force fields.
The book describes my barrier as a beginner's attempt. A perfect barrier is so thin it's impercetible to the eye but still incredibly powerful. It can even be used on other people. Either to protect or kill them.
To start wrap a barrier around another object or person. I look down at Boo but throw away the idea. I don't want to accidentally kill him.
Let's use a mandrake.
An uncooked mandrake floats in the air next to the branch, and I try to wrap my magic around it. The cocoon forms but I can see that it's too thick. A waste of magic. It should be condensed but thin.
All throughout the night, I increase my arsenal until I'm half confident in what I can do and holding up a couple things in my vicinity with my mind.
Then I got nauseous. Puking my guts out while I regret everything I've ever done felt like a new low. Until I reached rock bottom. A terrible headache scrapes at my brain and tries to dig it out of my skull with its bare hands.
A few hours later, I recovered enough from the terrible ordeal that I could check my status.
Oh. Mana sickness. That would have been nice to know before I emptied my entire stomach onto the grass.
I checked the grimoire for any more hidden fine print or disclaimers while I was at it. From a depletion and lack of magic in my body…A good nights rest and no more magic using is what's prescribed according to the book. Oopsie.
Lying back in the cleaner, burnt section of grass made me feel a little clearer. Boo hops all over my body. He darts left and right on my legs. Hopping from one to another.
I throw him some rabbit meat from the inventory and he slows down to catch it in his teeth. When he's done I give him his favorite bone and he calms down from his previous zoomies.
The circle glows faintly in the distance, and I sigh. I'm on floor three now and it's been how long? I check the timer and my chest squeezes uncomfortably. Almost five days. I have twenty-five days left to get to this top floor. If that's the goal.
How many floors are there? On average I'm thinking of ten-twenty floors. If I'm just especially unlucky maybe thirty.
Thirty floors. Goddamn it. I'll have to pick up the pace by a lot.
Let's crank out the rest of my tasks. My food currently can last me maybe five to ten floors if I use it sparingly. I have potions to help with healing and quite a few weapons. Witchcraft, archery, a knife, and my best pet Boo.
New plan. In the next couple day's I'll take a three hour rest between floors. No more food comas or large breaks. I'll fight, forage a little, eat a quick meal, practice, and start clearing floors again. Let's see how much I can get done without any long breaks.
After a couple hours of rest I got up, packed everything away and put Boo in my pet space. It killed me but I didn't want him to accidentaly hurt himself or distract me. Besides the more I take him out the more I have to feed him.
Speaking of don't I…Pennelope. Oh no.
I checked in on her, and my heart dropped. Shit.
"Penny."
The weak and deflated monstrous butterfly showed up in front of me and I frowned. I guess without Penguin to manage her she became like this.
[Penelope]
[LvL: 1]
[HP: 17/100]
[MP: 250/250]
[Hunger: 17/100]
[Shared Skill: Body Double]
[Shared Skill: Hypnosis]
Shoot. She doesn't like petfeed, and what she does like...I squeal internally in disgust and watch her health drop another point. Fine.
"Penny, come...eat." Shuddering, I offered my arm out and turned my head away as it flew close to me unsteadily. When it's fangs touched my skin I jumped and tried to run away. Yuck. It feels like a bunch of tiny needles are sucking my blood out.
Once it's health and hunger bar had reached one hundred, I commanded her to stop and put her back in the pet space. Can't believe she survived this long without food.
I collected the stuff by the circle and noted something slightly useful. Is this supposed to be like a wand? Quill had something a little more elegant looking. Made of white luminescent polished metal, decorated with golden swirls and runes carved into it.
This just looks like any old branch. I picked up the black stick engraved with elvish and examined it. This seems like a name. Lyisa…Lark.
Lark? Isn't that Mom's last name?