6. Mission Complete? Adventure Awaits

Not shifting from his spot Zeik called out in a low voice," finally, you're awake. Was beginning to think I was gonna leave you here and continue on before you woke up. Didn't wanna just leave you in the wilds unguarded you see but you've been out for close to 2 hours now."

Emma lifted her head rubbing the side of if as she tried to piece together the words she was hearing. Looking around she saw a small fire with half a deer carcass roasting over it. In front of the fire sat a shirtless boy with his back to her. Quickly she jumped up and came over standing above him to his right. "How dare you try and kill that innocent little baby deer before! Wasn't it bad enough that you chose to be a monster and kill its parent?!" She breathed hard, staring murderously at the boy who seemed to not care about what she was saying at all.

Zeik looked up before scoffing at the girl, obviously amused about something. Taking a nice juicy bite of the meat he moaned in pleasure before replying. "Firstly, I killed the beast because I needed food, it's body parts are valuable, and I have my own personal reasons. Secondly, I went after the fawn because of 2 main reasons, the first being the same as its parent and the second being who wants to leave a child alone in the world? Thirdly, you should be grateful I didn't skin you as well seeing as you cost me my game. Instead, and this brings me to my last point, I helped you get cleaned up after my knife caused you damage, and I'm even willing to feed you. Yet you have the audacity to come against me? I should have left you here and kept moving on with my task," he muttered the last sentence barely loud enough to be heard, but she had heard him and slowly she started feeling bad.

Emma looked down at her feet before sitting down crossed legged facing him on his right. She stuck out her hand and said," I am sorry for my earlier rudeness. My name is Emma, thank you for watching over me like that." Zeik looked over before gently shaking her hand once. He said," Ezekiel or Zeik," then he went back to eating. "Help yourself," he said around a mouthful of food. Emma hesitated for a second before taking a stick of meat and taking a bite. To her surprise it was delicious and she ate it quietly not wanting to bother the boy's obvious bubble of peace and relaxed silence. The silence was nice for a change and she kept sneaking glances at Zeik from under her hair. His slightly toned body looked firm but also soft at the same time. It wasn't like his muscles didn't seem defined, his skin just looked extra soft to her for some reason. She found herself wanting to touch it and with a shock she blushed bright red and looked away quickly before he could notice.

Zeik had already eaten a good half of the beast with his Devour skill but he still hadn't gained a new skill yet. 'What the hell man? Do I have to eat the majority of the body to gain a skill?' He thought to himself trying to figure out what's going on with his skill. Never-the-less he kept on eating and soon a beautiful line of text appeared in his vision.

[ New Skill gained through Devour!]

Ecstatic with himself, Zeik quickly shifted his eyes to look at his watch and the full system soon came into his view. Without a second hesitation he quickly shifted to the skills tab to see what he'd gained.

[Skills: ]

[ Devour Lv. 1 ]

[Robust Legs Lv. 2 ]

[ Pounce Lv. 1 ]

[ Nature's Calling Lv. ? ]

"Huh?" Zeik couldn't help his shock and muttered out loud. Focusing on the skill it soon came up for him to view.

[ Nature's Calling ]

[ Level ? ]

[ Description: This is a passive skill for the host that will not level up. Nature's Calling passively refills Mana just by being in nature. The more rich the nature the user is in the better the skill works. ]

'What the hell,' Zeik groaned in his head cursing his bad luck. 'That damn thing had ice and healing and all I get is a passive Mana absorption? How bad can my luck really get?' Shaking his head since there was nothing he could do about it Zeik pulled his gaze back from the system to see Emma was now sitting directly in front of him staring hard into his face. When she saw his gaze now focus on her she realized he must have just stopped checking his system. Completely embarrassed she squeaked before stumbling back covering her face with her hands.

" I-i-I'm sorry. When you muttered I asked you what was wrong, but you didn't move or answer me. I thought something may be wrong because you didn't answer no matter what I said." Emma stammered over herself while she still hid her face. Her cheeks were bright red and she was beyond embarrassed having been caught that close to him. The truth was Zeik was just so focused he'd zoned out into his own little world. He really hadn't noticed her till he'd closed the system and saw her inches in front of him.

" No, it's alright. Sorry about that I was focused on something." He rubbed the back of his head before chuckling. "So, Emma, tell me what's a girl like you doing all the way out here. By yourself no less." Zeik looked over at her from the corner of his eye and couldn't help but think, 'wow she's pretty.' He was a teenage boy after all with all the hormones to prove it. If he was honest with himself and her, he'd stayed to watch over her because he felt like he should protect her. He had it in the back of his mind acting the hero like in old stories he'd read about back on earth. Yeah okay he'd been the one to put her in that state, but he felt that was all the more reason he should act like a hero.

Emma removed her hands from around her face and tapped her watch. A small display appeared showing the mission she'd picked up from the Hunters Guild. "I'm hunting a Bone Mammoth. Someone is looking for the tusks to make some potion." She blushed before closing the projection. "I happened to see you on my way with the deer," she lied straight through her teeth saying she'd just stumbled on him and the deer. " What about you?"

"I'm out hunting down shards of Thunder Stones. I've almost collected enough of them. Help me find the last 2 and I'll help you if you'd like." He held out his hand to her again and she quickly shook it. "Thanks I would appreciate the help honestly," she quickly agreed and they packed up their belongings.

●●●●●●●●

Soon with Emma's help Zeik found the last 2 shards he needed and put them away. They stopped by a large tree," thank you again for your help. Having a second set of eyes made it alot easier. So where do we find these Bone Mammoth things you are looking for?" Zeik pulled out a canteen and took a good drink of water.

Emma pulled up a holomap with her watch that showed a red dot blinking in the Shaxlin Wilds. "We are right here," Emma pointed to the dot and smiled. "We need to head," she moved her finger deep into the wilds where a patch of black blotted the sea of green, " right here. This is a place called The Grave of Souls. It's full of undead and such. The mammoths frequent it so we should be able to find one there." With that the duo started on their hunt to find a Mammoth.