Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Shred

They set up camp near the stream, protected by a half circle of boulders. They had carried the carcass with them. When Tuk-Tuk’s people killed an animal, they harvested all of the parts, not just for food, but for other purposes. Clothing could be made from the hide, bow strings from the sinew and many of the organs could be rendered or consumed for medicinal purposes. While Nay would have been content with just extracting the Marrow, to do so in front of Tuk-Tuk would have been rude.

He expressed interest in trying to harvest as much as he could to bring to his people, and when Nay explained her inventory to him, they discovered she could just store all of it in her inventory. To double-check, she checked the number of available slots after Tuk-Tuk and Nay had butchered the creature down. With all of the meat and other parts, she still had ten slots left, even with all of the extra food and cooking equipment and her weapons. According to her HUD she had thirty total available slots, but as far as individual items went, she had way more than that tucked away in the virtual space. She wondered if the slots were decided by weight, not just size.

Quincy had gotten a campfire going while they broke down the Tundra Wolf. The Marrow was located on two sides along the creature’s spine. At first Nay thought her interface meant the actual spine, but upon closer inspection she discovered the Marrow to be the back strap of the wolf, which surprised her.

“Have you ever eaten wolf, Tuk-Tuk?” she said.

Tuk-Tuk crinkled his nose and shook his head. “My people do not hunt wolves. Even if we did we would not eat them. Their meat wouldn’t be ideal. Too lean. Too tough.”

“Yeah,” Nay said. “That’s what I was thinking.”

“Though this is a wolf, it’s still considered a monster,” Tuk-Tuk said. “So it will be different.”

“I never thought I would be eating wolf back strap,” Nay said.

“You’ve eaten all kinds of crazy shit when you got here,” Nom said. “We cooked and ate a mushroom off a half-millipede woman’s skin. And it was delicious, I might add. Did you ever think you would do that?”

Nay remembered consuming the Marrow of the Steksis and they YOLO’d it down. “No regrets.”

“If it’s magic and can give us powers,” Nom said. “We’ll probably eat anything.”

“Have you been keeping up with your breathing exercises?” Ilyawraith asked, watching Nay.

“Yeah, I pretend to drown myself every day,” Nay said. “I do live next to a Lac.”

Quincy laughed and Ilyawraith glared at him. He shrugged.

Tuk-Tuk let Nay use his curved boning knife to cut out the back straps. The tribesman carried a kit of knives for butchering wild game and Nay was envious. Thornwas good for combat, but just didn’t have the elegance Nay liked when it came to butchering meat. She made a mental note to acquire a similar kit to carry in her inventory. One just never knew when they would be out in the world taking down monsters and wild game.

A good boning knife came with a grip that would accommodate for wet or bloody hands, another great utility feature she appreciated. She cut along the spine, removing two strips of the meat from either side. Even though it was a wolf, she had a good feeling the meat would be tender and tasty. She noticed Tuk-Tuk must be thinking the same thing because he was licking her lips.

“I recommend a wire grate for grilling,” Nom said. “Pan fry is okay for back straps, but grilling is the play.”

“I’m thinking the same thing,” Nay said. She had consulted the Jezabelle Childe cookbook in her interface and saw that the legendary Epicurist agreed.

You can’t go wrong pan frying back strap, but if you want to truly enjoy all the taste and wonder a wild back strap has to offer, may I suggest grilling over an open flame?

You don’t need any fancy seasonings to bring out the flavor. Salt and pepper will do, but no one ever turned down any of my back straps if they had garlic powder or sage on them.

So, the Chef’s Thermometer ability was convenient, but unless she was using it start a fire, sometimes the taste an open flame combined with wood or charcoal just couldn’t be replaced.

She produced the wire grilling grate from her inventory and placed it over the flames of the camp fire. Next, she seasoned one piece of the back strap with just salt and pepper, and the other she added garlic powder and sage.

She let the pieces of meat sear on one side for close to two minutes and then flipped them over to sear for about another minute. That should be enough to keep them around medium rare.

They all watched the juices bubble out of the red meat. Blue motes floated into the air, intermingling with the embers from the fire. The smell was intoxicating, a mixture of sweet and char that Nay always attributed to grilling good, quality meat. She heard Quincy’s stomach rumble.

“There’s enough for everyone to have some,” Nay said. “But can you still eat it if your skill trees are full?”

“Sure enough,” Quincy said. “We just digest it like regular food. We can’t acquire the abilities without empty slots, and for that, resetting the skill trees is a different process and ritual altogether.”

“What about you, Lain?” Nay asked. “Are you going to use the Marrow for getting a new ability?”

“Like your mentors, my skill trees are already full,” Lain said. “But although I was hesitant beforehand, the smell of it cooking makes me want to try it.”

She took the back strap pieces off the grill and set them down on a wooden cutting board to cool. She had to admit, the coloration off the grilled back strap made the meat look mouth-wateringly delicious.

After she lost patience after a few minutes of letting the meat properly rest, she cut into the meat. Cutting too soon would mean losing a lot of the juice which would come spilling out, which meant losing a lot of flavor. She cut the back strap into nice slices and the meat was perfectly pink. There was just enough redness to mean the meat retained a lot of the juice.

Everyone picked up a piece from the cutting board and looked at each other, as if they were supposed to perform a toast.

“Thank you, Great Wolf brother, for the nourishment you bring to our bodies and for the magic you bring to our souls,” Tuk-Tuk said. “To the hunt!”

“To the hunt!” they all said. And they all took a juicy bite of the back strap.

The first sensation that hit Nay was just how tender it was. There was a velvet texture to the bite that she hadn’t quite experienced before with game meat. Or for that matter, monster meat. And the flavor rivaled that of any filet she’d had before. There were other autumnal and festive flavors in the bite, a magical taste history of what the Tundra Wolf liked to eat. There was a hint of elk, of trout and of winter rabbits. And in turn there were hints of their diets. Acorns, mint and wild onions.

It was a heady experience.

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[Marrow Consumed!]

[Back Strap Marrow of the Tundra Wolf]

[Would you like to unlock Marrow Ability for Tongue of the Hierophant]

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[OR]

[Bladegland of Icescythe]

[Choose one]

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She chose the Bladegland tree.

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[Opening Delicacy Tree]

[Marrow Abilities 5/12]

Opening Ability Tree for the Delicacy: Bladegland of Icescythe.

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In her mind’s eye, she was met with the familiar image of the human digestive system and the rotating ability cubes next to the organs.

You have seven open slots in this Ability Tree. You have consumed Back Strap Marrow of the Tundra Wolf. It has syncretized into the [Shred] ability. Would you like to use slot for [Shred] [Y/N]?

She accessed the description for the ability.

Shred. The Tundra Wolf’s bread and butter. An ability that allows you to strike an opponent with a rapid succession of six melee attacks. A successful unblocked hit will yield Kinetic Points. Cooldown: 30 seconds.

So that’s how the Tundra Wolf depleted her Barkskin shield aura and wounded her so fast. It was a literal shred ability.

She hit ‘Yes’ and a warmth birthed in her stomach and spread throughout her body.

Nay sat down next to the cold stream and let her body absorb the magic of the Marrow. She was aware of Tuk-Tuk sitting next to her, having a similar experience. Nom joined them, his body blinking with a blue glow.

Quincy, Ilyawraith and Lain finished eating their pieces by the fire.

“Monster meat never fails to surprise me,” Quincy said. “In a lot of cases, you think it would be inedible, but, more often than not, it always ends up being a meal to remember.”

Lain chewed her piece and agreed. “My Augere Feast was the best eating experience I ever had. Hard to beat days of feasting on Delicacies and Marrows prepared by Epicurist chefs. It was an event. I think my brothers and sisters in the rangers would agree.”

Ilyawraith finished her Marrow and addressed Nay. “Give us a demonstration of your new ability. When you’re ready, of course.”

Nay blinked several times and her vision returned to normal. She felt less dizzy. She stood to her feet and looked around. She walked over to the big log that was lying across the stream. Her weapons appeared in her hands and she went to strike the log, activating Shred.

She wasn’t ready for what happened next. Her arms moved faster than her eyes could track. They blurred and her blades thwacked the log six times in succession, a burst as fast as an industrial sewing needle. Chunks of log and woodchips sprayed into the air like she had taken a chainsaw to the tree trunk.

Then it was over. She was stunned. She was surprised smoke weren’t coming off her arms and weapons. The feeling of power and speed was intoxicating. It was just a hemorrhage of motion that made Nay feel invincible. She looked down at the log and saw she had carved out a considerable wedge in less than two seconds.

“It fits in well with your Delicacy tree utilizing your knife skills,” Ilyawraith said. “A fine Marrow.”

“What about you guys?” Nay said, turning to Tuk-Tuk and Nom.

Tuk-Tuk, an excitement on his face, shifted into his polar bear form and lumbered over to the log. He attacked it with the claws of his front paws, his bear arms moving so fast they created a butterfly effect image. His claws shredded the log all the way through, cutting it in half. Less than two seconds later, when the attack was finished, there was a pile of sawdust at the bear’s feet.

“Well,” Nay said, “I feel like I was just one-upped.”

Tuk-Tuk shifted back into his human form and he looked at his hands in amazement.

“Tuk-Tuk,” Nay said, “do the Twelve Tribes have Epicurists?”

“That is not what she calls herself,” Tuk-Tuk said. “Her term for it is Igalik. She is old and wise in the ways of cooking. She prepares Marrows and Delicacies for everyone of the Twelve Tribes, though they are rare.”

“The Twelve Tribes are outside of the DMA’s influence,” Quincy said. “Since they are out in the Northern wilds and never travel South, they never cross paths. To threaten their Igalik would be a declaration of war on the tribes. And, no one wants to travel to the ends of the earth where they keep to themselves, so out of sight, out of mind.”

“That may change one day,” Ilyawraith said. “Don’t underestimate the greed of the DMA.”

“What about you, Nom?” Nay said.

The Backstrap Marrow of the Tundra Wolf syncretized differently for Nom. He squiggled towards the other half of the log. Then his body started to spin as if he were a drillbit. He disappeared into the log, drilling into it. His fins acting as blades. The entire log vibrated and then he exploded out of the other end in a shower of wood chips and sawdust.

Nom came out of the spin and looked at them triumphantly. “How about them apples? I fucking dare something to swallow me again! I dare them!”

“Jesus,” Nay said. “That seems way different than Shred.”

“It’s under the Death’s Head Delicacy he got from Vampra,” Ilyawraith said. “So the Marrow manifests differently. Where Tuk-Tuk must have a similar Delicacy and similar combat tree to yours.”

“Imagine what I can do to a monster asshole now,” Nom said.

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