Chapter 11: Future allies

A few clouds slowly moved across the blue sky. I put my hands up in front of my eyes, peering through the gaps between my fingers.

I glanced at Jake, Armon's boy. He wore a white tunic and a pair of pants. He still had his helmet on, which surprised me since it was hot. Guess it's something important to him? I didn't know and judged from how our "small talks" went, I presumed I wouldn't get the chance either.

"How much of the journey is left?" I asked Jake. He looked up, barely meeting my eyes before shifting his gaze forward, "A-almost t-there.."

After around half an hour we entered a deep valley. There was pathway down that almost spiraled against the walls. Jake was able to stutter a goodbye before he disappeared from my sight.

I took a deep breath and walked down. A flock of white ravens flew across the sky just above me. The air in this world was a lot fresher than on earth. It took me more than 5 minutes to reach ground level.

"Whoosh"

I heard a sound behind me before I even had the chance to react a force slammed me down to the ground. My arms were held tight, and I felt a knee on my lower back. I couldn't move. I felt the persons long hair in the back of my head. My nostrils picked up perfume that smelled like flowers. A woman.

"Who are you?" She said with a raspy yet feminine voice.

I could hardly speak, my head was pressed into the dirt. I managed to speak with difficulty, "I'm here...To learn alchemy and enchanting .."

"Ohhhh" It took a few seconds for her to perceive what I said. She exclaimed and rose up. I could finally breathe normally again.

"S-sorry.." The young woman and bowed slightly after I had gotten up from the ground. The woman that attacked me stood a head lower than me. Her figure was feminine, yet well-developed muscles underneath her clothes. Purple hair that stretched down to her shoulder, glistering in the sunrays.

She had a mask on her face. Utterly white with two eyesockets for her eyes, that had the same kind of purple shade as her hair. "No worries" I replied before asking, "I guess this is the place I'm looking for?"

"Yeah..just go that way.." She nodded and pointed towards my left side. I followed her finger with my eyes and saw a house under a cliff.

Before I was able to say my thanks, I heard a whoosh sound again, and she had disappeared into the woods. I made sigh and started walking. After walking past several trees I arrived at the house.

The cliff loomed over the house, casting a triangular shadow over it, which stopped the sun and instead made the air cool and nice. I stepped up to the door, but before I had the chance to knock a deep voice came from inside the house, "Hero of Crafting, no need to knock.."

"How did he know I was here and who I was?" I was full of questions, but I swallowed my shock and curiosity before opened the door.

The inside was a small room. On the sides were shelf upon shelf, filled with books in all kinds of colors. Most were brown, where the bits of leather had curled from the passage of time. There were some of the different colors; red, blue, green...

In the center of the room sat an enormous man. A giant compared to me, at least twice the height and thickness. His muscles almost bulged and squirmed as he signaled me with his hand, "Come..Sit."

I scrambled forward and sat down before him. I had to look up with my head in order to meet his eyes. His eyes were purple. His hair long, but it was put up into a man bun, with some of the occasional strands of hair that were white, compared to the rest that was black. His beard was bushy, not as big as Armon tough, but still.

With his deep voice, he said, "I guess you have many questions that your master hasn't explained for you..."

I nodded. Master had thought me a lot, but there was stuff that he hadn't talked about, like what my class meant and why the heroes were summoned.

"You were summoned to this world not too long ago right?" His purple eyes glanced at me. My whole body shock out of instinct. That gaze...it felt like he looked through me.

"H-How did you know? Did Armon tell you?" I managed to ask after seconds of silence.

"No.." He said after he had replied to my question, "I'm not going to brag, but there a few things that I do not know in this world.."

Somehow, I believed his words before I had even thought them through. I shook my head, straightened my back and made eye contact with the giant and bowed politely, "I would like to learn the way of enchanting and alchemy from you.."

He nodded twice and mumbled to himself, "Of course. Of course...I can see the same light as you predecessor in your eyes...Curiosity and excitement..."

He chuckled and said,"I believe you are tired from your journey. Ireene, my daughter, will show you around my home..you can call me Mentor by the way.."

Mentor put his middle finger and thumb together. The mana in the vicinity rushed towards his fingers. I could however hardly notice it, it was only because of my increased affinity with mana that I could feel the movement. It didn't take more than a second before he snapped his fingers.

"Don't be afraid and enter..take a leap of faith. In a few days, we'll talk more.." He said and chuckled. The shelf closest to me rippled before becoming transplant. I understood what he meant and stepped forward.

I didn't know what to expect, but I never thought that my feet would make contact with the squishy grass outside. I glanced behind me, but the house was nowhere to be seen, there was only trees and bushes. Birds chittered and the sound of a waterfall echoed in the area.

"Clang.." "Clang.." Clang.."

Underneath the all the sounds I heard the sound of metal hitting rocks. I became curious and decided to follow the sounds. It grew louder and louder until I saw what it was. I hid behind a tree and peered at the one who made the noises.

Next, to a waterfall, a familiar woman danced while unleashing punches onto an enormous rock. Her fists and arms were coated in a metallic black substance that reflected the light from the sun.

I was mesmerized by the view. Different from Armon fighting style, this was not just mighty, but beautiful. Punch after punch. Minutes after minutes. After a long time, the rock exploded into pieces with a deafening sound.

The woman sat down on the ground and panted heavily. What should I do now? I didn't know. I shrugged, walked forward and cleared my throat to get her attention.

She turned around, and her pupils contracted, "Who are you? And how long have you been here..?" Her voice was cold. I saw that she was angry.

"Ehm...we have already met? I responded. There was a pause as the wind blew past us. She didn't bother to answer my question, different from the past behavior she was really cold to me.

"Your father made me appear here, so I followed the sounds I found you here.." I scratched my head, "I should have told you the moment I was here, but I was mesmerized by your dance..."

She looked me in the eyes and muttered something to herself before nodding. I couldn't really hear what she said, but I decided it wasn't something that was meant for me to understand anyway.

The light in the sky dimmed. The sun was on its way down. I broke the awkward silence and said, "I was told that you would show me around

The woman nodded again. She turned around and started walking into the woods. Not sure of what just happened, I scratched my chin and helplessly followed her. She led me to a small cottage made of wood in the middle of the forest.

"You will live here.." The woman that I presumed was Ireene said before continuing, "Stay here until father tells you otherwise.."

"How will he t--" I couldn't finish my sentence as she had already disappeared. What the fuck... Were they the same person? Evil twin? Personality disorder? Heck, this feels like it's going to be troublesome.

"Nothing I can do about it.." I muttered and glanced at my surroundings. The cottage was no more than 5 square meters. Around it was tall trees. Behind the cottage ran a small river that continued into the forest as far as my eyes could perceive. I saw occasional fishes glimmer in the water, which made my stomach remember that I hadn't eaten anything since noon.

I entered the cottage. There was a bed in the corner and a table opposite side. I put down the backpack and searched for some jerky. To my surprise, I couldn't find any. Did I eat it all? Guess I need to find some food? Damn Ireene or whatever she is named, Mentor said she would take care of me, but she just left me on my own. I pushed the bag underneath the table a bit irritated and I made my way out from the house.

I was thinking of going fishing. Of course, I had to have a tool for that. I looked around until I found a sturdy branch that had the right size for my idea. I chipped off bits of wood and made the tip sharp. I got the woodcarving profession, which I didn't know existed. After a few tried I got better and better, and I was able to make sharper and sharper.

I swung it around a few times and tested the weight. Armon had told me that a weapon was most suitable if the weight was perfect for the user. I chipped off more wood until I was happy with the result.

Nothing happened as I pricked my finger with the spear. I used some strength to test my endurance and an "Ahh" escaped my mouth as I managed to draw blood. Even if it was made of wood, the sharpness was dangerous when not wearing equipment.

The River was quiet There was no light, except for the slight glow of the sunset, which hardly helped me see the fishes. What should I do? I could wait until tomorrow, but then I would need to go to bed hungry. Ughh...

I bolled ideas until there was one that I was interested in. Re-crafting. I wanted to test it out but on a smaller scale. I had a good image of bears and wolfs. The animal that I was most proficient with was the bear so that was my goal.

I didn't need to re-craft my whole body. I only required the eyes of an animal. I activated the skill and imagined the eyes of a bear. Brown. Tinted with yellow. Feral and dangerous.

The pain became apparent as withheld the need to stop, but I clenched my teeth. After more than dozens of minutes something went wrong and I felt an unimaginable pain in my eyes. Complete darkness. I couldn't see anything. It reminded me of bad memories, memories of when I was temporarily blind from the past that I wanted to forget. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I almost had a panic attack. I drew a deep breath. Calm down. I sat down and meditated...

My eyes hurt as hell. Would I be permanently blind? No. I changed my image to my own eyes. The feeling of seeing. The feeling of no pain. I felt pain more than what I felt before, but a sat through it.

Congratulations, you have re-crafted your eyes from a self-sustained damage [Semi Re-crafting unlocked] You can now easier re-craft specific body parts 15% bonus

"Should I continue?" I asked myself. I was afraid of the consequences, but I was curious. I didn't know what it was that drove me to such length. The past me wouldn't have done it, but the new me thought otherwise."Whooo..." I relaxed my tensed muscles and opened my eyes. It was dark and the sunset was no longer to be seen, but the stars illuminated just enough to see my surrounding a meter around me.

Instead of my eyes, I imagined a paw instead. Brown Fur. Sharp Claws. My bones reorganized and fur grew from my hand.

"You have successfully semi-crafted your body"

I lifted my hand up. It was heavy. Much more than my hand. I was excited if I changed my body into different animals, I could cover the stat gap between my crafting classes and combat classes. Of course, I didn't want to look like a freak so would have to be careful.

I continued my experiment. I changed my other hand. I changed my feet and my legs. I didn't try it with my torso. I didn't want to accidentally damage my heart I die in the woods all alone.

The surrounding became clear as I re-crafted my eyes. I saw the bushes on the other side almost perfectly. I had my spear in my hand as I watched the fishes swim. Do fishes sleep? I didn't know, at least not these ones.

I was patient as I studied their pattern. Their speed.

"Swish."

Damn. I missed the fish and all the other ones disappeared. I walked further from the house, following the river. I gave it a try once more. This one was a success as half a meter fish was stuck on the spear. I continued and caught 3 more fishes.

I made my way back to the cottage with 4 fishes on the spear. I gathered dry branches and moss. I put stones around the pile and lit it. Orange flames flickered and danced with the shadows. I put the fish over the fire and it didn't take long before it was well-done.

It tasted bland so I took some spices from my bag; basically salt, pepper and some edible leaves that I had found on the road. I rubbed the leaves, salt, and pepper together and smeared it over the fish.

[Cooking profession unlocked]

The fish that was marinated was a lot tastier. The skin was crispy. I had to spit out the bones, but I cleaned the fish and threw away the skeleton. As I finished the third one there was a sound from the bush.

A cat-like being appeared. It had gray, almost silver fur. Green eyes and a pair of ears similar to cats at home. I took my spear with my hand and got ready to defend myself. Shit. I should always wear equipment I said as I studied to cat.

Unknown [Cub]???

The questions marks scared the hell out of me and it was just a cub?! I was just about to retreat when I saw that the cat's eyes weren't on me, they were on the fish. I saw the hunger in them, and I remembered that I felt the same feeling just hours ago. I relaxed slightly and threw one of the raw fishes to the cat. It looked suspicious at me and then to the fish. It sniffed on it, took it with its jaws and disappeared into the forest.

Guess we all need some help sometimes?