Fantasy System

Chapter 124: A Delicacy That Surpasses the Cockatrice?

Before wrapping everything up, Ed asked the system about the Equipment set he got.

[After activating it, you will be able to see an interface where you can make equipment presets. Anyone preset that is saved can be changed into in a fraction of a second. You won't have to change your clothes or anything like that. However, it is limited to five presets only.]

Ed carefully examined the words told by the system and made sure he understood them. 'Basically, this is another one of the Game interface elements that weren't included'. Ed reached such an understanding. This 'Equipment set' was similar to the ones from certain games. Even the explanation was almost the same. Still, Ed was glad that he got such an ability. This way he would save up on time.

Ed looked up at the red sky. The sun was just about to set, so he decided to train rather than simply end the day. He also wanted to see the changes that came with his monsters' evolution.

Ed vs. Raikou. Suika and Garu vs. Sieg. Gobuta vs Goburou. All of them decided on such team composition and started sparring. Ed was finding it difficult to keep up with Raikou without using his skills. A gap was created between them when Raikou leveled up. Ed was now thinking about annihilating the floor to attain Heavenly Establishment. After activating many of his skills, the spar was more or less at a standstill.

Suika and Garu could force a draw with Sieg by now. Although they were incapable of breaking his barrier, keeping him at bay was easy enough. Garu's evolution gave the highest all-rounder abilities out of all of Ed's monsters. His durability, speed, and power were all top notch. Even some of the lower leveled Heavenly Establishment monsters would pale compared to him. Especially if he were to use Nen.

"Woah!" Ed and Raikou who were in the middle of sparring were surprised by a purple flying slash. Ed looked at the source and noticed that Gobuta was looking at the sword in his hand. Apparently, a simple swing of his blade was enough to generate such a force. It seemed like he was unable to gauge his new found strength. Goburou was now fighting with elegance. Every move of his was filled with finesse. His sword slashes had an impressive speed that managed to hit with pinpoint accuracy. Gobuta who was able to react to these slashes deserved some praise as well.

The dark went completely dark a couple of hours ago, but Ed created some fire stands to help light up the area. Usually, he would just cook on a campfire, but it was far more convenient this way. The spar sessions ended and Ed was now cooking dinner. It was the camels that they hunted before. The meat of the camel that he butchered was darker compared to beef, but as soft and lean. Maybe even more than beef. To his surprise, the best part of the meat turned out to be the humps. They were filled with tender and juicy meat. Ed could only suppress his hunger while thinking. 'I'm so hungry I could eat a camel!'. As he was preparing the meat, he noticed that all of his companions were intrigued by the delicacy. Even Sieg, who had gotten used to eating food with Ed and the others, seemed interested.

After eating the first steak, Ed and the others couldn't stop. Every piece tasted completely different than the one before. The humps were indeed the best part. None of the meat tasted dry as the camel was a young one. At least it seemed that way. Ed ended up preparing, and cooking, more than three whole camels before everyone was satisfied. 'This might be better than the cockatrice. Maybe I should save one to treat Emilia and the others.' Ed thought back to the small party they had back in the academy. Thinking back at his time there, it was filled with both loss and gain.

As time passed, Ed and the others gradually fell asleep, with their bellies filled. Only Sieg couldn't share with them the delicacy of sleep. Since Ed spent time sparring in his dimension, not much time was left before it would wear off, so he undid it himself. He got some tents he used and they all slept inside it. Ed almost slept before doing this. It would have been a disaster if the dimension was undone while he was sleeping, and they froze from the coldness.

No monster approached Ed's group. Even if they did, Sieg would take care of it.

After waking up, Ed and the others started searching for monsters again. On the way, Ed was tinkering with the Equipment set he had gotten. The interface had a body in the middle with squares indicating the different pieces of equipment he could set. He did three presets first. All of them had the same thing, an underwear (obviously) and his chainmail armor. The first preset was his usual hunting attire with the leather set. The second one was the black disguise set, while the third one was his white one.

Ed was able to control the switch between them by using his mind only. He didn't need to push any buttons or anything. He played with it a little and noticed that the switch time was almost instantaneous. He kept thinking about what he should use for the last two presets, but he couldn't think of anything.

The group was attacked by a couple of giant worms on the way but was able to dispatch them easily. Upon reaching their destination, Ed noticed that the monsters were a hive of lizard with spikes on their bodies. Sadly, none of them were exceptionally strong. Their most amazing ability was shooting flaming spikes from their body. These spikes would explode upon contact with anything. At first, it didn't seem like a dangerous thing. But as they fought, they noticed that the great number of monsters made it difficult to dodge these spikes from close range. In the end, they simply used long-range attacks to annihilate them.

Author's Thoughts

Shigun

Enjoy the chapter!