[Calculating EXP earned…]
[Bonus EXP has been accumulated]
[You earned 6500 EXP]
[Level: 7 / 10] [EXP: 32280 / 60000]
I'm already hallway through Level 7, only a bit more and I could reach Level 8. But today? Hm… Doesn't seem as likely, I think we should find a last group and then go back to the village for now.
I decided to heal everybody before continuing the hunt. Thanks to First Aid Lv2, it was rather easy to just constantly use low-tier healing spells and some Ki to heal their wounds and relieve the stress and burden in their bodies… well, only Chris and Eric, Erika was just as well as ever after resting for five minutes.
I decided to give them some jerky and sunflower seeds with some fruit juice I had for a small snack before anything else. As these items were not cooked by me, they didn't had any particular effect- or so I thought, the moment I gave it to them, the items began to glow mysteriously, and their Health and Mana began to recover quicker when they ate it.
Does this also affects the jerky I've made some days ago? And also the fruit juice was technically made by me. I also washed the sunflower seeds… I suppose that's it? Is that all it takes to "cook" something so it gains magical and recovery effects to them? It is indeed an interesting power.
"Hmmm, this fruit juice is so tasty!" Said Erika. "Blake! What is it?"
"…It is just apple and orange juice mixed with some honey… I don't know why it tastes that good, it is just that." I said.
"It is tasty!" Erika seemed happy to drink it and refresh herself.
"The jerky is salty but it has a strong meat flavor as well…" Said Chris.
"The seeds are a crunchy and nice!" Said Eric.
"I think this is a bit of an exaggeration now…" I sighed.
The Cooking Skill seemed to be mightier than I had ever considered. However, I wasn't able to relax a bit, as the three quickly began to ask me questions while looking at the three large black wolves resting before us, and the walking mushroom hiding behind one of them as well.
"Blake, where did you got these?" Wondered Erika.
"I had never seen spirits like these guys before." Said Chris.
"Me neither! They look so big and intimidating- But why you got so many?!" Asked Eric.
"These are Familiars, they're not spirits as you know them…" I said. I didn't wanted to tell them that I had developed the ability to summon the Beasts of the Spirit Orbs I feed to Gluttony, so I had to come out with something believable. At the end, I decided to connect their origins to "Summoning Magic" which wasn't saying a lie but wasn't exactly that.
They had already seen me use all sorts of other low-tier elemental spells anyways.
"I made them out of Summoning Magic… I use the Spirit Orbs of beasts to enhance them. I am telling you this secret because these Familiars will become important members of our group in the future. There is a limited amount I can make, and I need Spirit Orbs as well to create them. They seem tough but a few hits make them disappear, and I need to summon more which cost a lot of Mana per unit.
It is not a magic I can teach you, sadly." I said to them, as they nodded. I had forged a friendship with them for many years by now, I know they can keep a secret or two.
"S-Summoning Magic… Amazing… Even if you say they're weak, they can still beat Imps together, right? Incredible!" Said Eric. "With this we could really become an army…"
"So you need Spirit Orbs… Is that why you collected them greedily?" Asked Chris.
"Yes." I answered. "Partially, I also use them to make potions and other things."
"I see…" Said Chris. "Well, this is even more amazing… You've surprised us enough for today… Don't worry, I am not going to go around telling everybody about this, not like they'll believe me to begin with."
"Yeah, if any of you two do it I'm gonna smack you!" Said Erika rather defensive of my secrets. I appreciated her enthusiasm but recently she had been a bit too aggressive with everything, I miss when she was sweeter.
"Calm down Erika, don't threaten your own friends." I sighed.
"Ah… Well, sorry…" She apologized. "I've been a bit too… Um, excited. When I get excited I get aggressive."
"Hm, it's alright. I have not seen this facet as much but it is interesting to know more about our friend." Said Eric.
"You're scary…" Said Chris.
"Who are you calling scary?!" Asked Erika angrily. "…Ah! Sorry for screaming at you, Chris…"
Hm, I see. This sudden change in Erika's personality when she goes in fighting mode is not just because, it has a reason behind. This reason might be her own soul. Perhaps due to a lack of a flesh body to contain her soul and in a way, a brain to contain her emotions, her emotions are all over the place through the entirety of her soul.
Due to this, she experiences emotions way strongly than other people do.
Her love is very intense because of this, her rage also gets the best of her and make her a bit overly annoying and noisy, and when she goes to fight, she becomes extremely senseless and ruthless too… It is not something good, her emotions being this strong might cause a lot of problems in the future, but I'll tackle them down as it comes.
I might need to develop my Emotion Magic further, which could be a way to "chain" her emotions so they don't let loose and cause a disaster… Well, for now, petting her in the head and telling her that everything will be alright seems to work wonders.
She's really like a puppy. I am rather concerned about her obsession with physical affection, but I suppose that's how she is. It is not something hard to do anyways, so I shouldn't overthink it.