But before they could do anything like that, they first needed to go out and get something extremely important. They needed meat and food.
The forest on the first floor was said to be dangerous for newcomers. A forest that would make them pee their pants and cry out in terror like little girls if they weren’t careful! It was cruel and unforgiving! It was… Food.
Booommmmm!!!!
That was an explosion that rang through the entire forest some distance away from the settlements on the first floor. It was so strong that it made birds fly away in every direction and many people that were lurking around the outside of the forest looked up to see a large cloud of smoke rising on the horizon.
Back in the inn, Rin felt the explosion and couldn’t help the exasperated expression that came onto her face. She, Kim, and Rina were getting everything ready in what would be their new restaurant while Han took Lily and Yue out to hunt for something to eat. She already knew that Han was strong, but that explosion right now, won’t it just destroy this entire floor?
“Was that an earthquake!?”
Miss Kim asked this from her place under a table and Rin shook her head while telling her to come out from there.
“Yes. It’s Han. He’s probably playing around with some skills”
Playing around? Miss Kim was tempted to ask what it would be like if Han actually got serious but she didn’t think it would be good for her mental health! She already knew Han was strong, but what the hell was that!?
…..
Han hummed while holding his chin and looking down at what was supposed to be their dinner. He might have gone a little overboard.
Yue shouted happily and Han shrugged. Maybe he did go a little overboard. What they were hunting was a group of oxen that he found in the forest. It was a bit surprising that he was seeing normal animals here, he thought for sure that he would see one or two fantastical beasts like griffins or maybe even centaurs. But all the animals he saw so far were only normal ones. Deer, horses and even a herd of cows that he was sure should not have been as vicious as they were. One of the bulls almost tore off Lily’s head with a back kick! She made sure to freeze it to ice before it did, but it was still a little shocking.
This place was very simple and the fact that they managed to preserve it this much just proves that most of the people actually planned to live the rest of their lives here. They had no intention of leaving this floor for any other one mainly because of their fear of the tests. Han wondered what sort of test was available on the higher floors that would make them so afraid.
As they were hunting, Han decided to try using his [Mine] skill for the first time. He planted one in the forest on a path he knew some oxen would follow to escape when Yue chased them and this was what happened to them, unfortunately. It seems he underestimated the output yield of this skill huh?
“Do we go again? I wanna do it again!”
Lily shouted out happily while watching the burning corpses and Han became just a little bit more concerned about her mental state. She might be the craziest of them all because of what she experienced with that dealer. He didn’t think it would be sensible to destroy the food they were meant to capture and it would be even worse to destroy the entire forest because he was having fun. Han might not really have a moral compass, but he wasn’t a monster that took people’s means of feeding away from them.
Just as they were about to go back to hunting Han heard the bushes rustle behind him. He already knew there were people in the forest, but he didn’t think any of them would actually come up to them with all the explosions going on around. The man who walked out of the bushes was an elderly man that was hunched over. He looked very fail, but from the silver Star on his palm, Han could tell the man was anything but weak. He could probably beat the shit out of both Yue and Lily if he wanted to.
“Ah, so you youngsters are the ones causing the ruckus. I’ve been hearing all sorts of explosions for a while now, and even though I’m no longer in my prime, I’m sure that’s not how food is meant to be hunted. Or have things changed nowadays?”
Han sweat dropped. The man didn’t seem to be hostile at all and he just kept on talking. Han was going to just assume that this was one of those men who didn’t trouble you unless you particularly bothered them.
“Sorry about the explosions. Just testing out something and I might have gone a little overboard”
The old man hummed at Han’s explanation and then looked down at Hans hand. Once his eyes landed on the white Star, they widened for a millisecond. It was so quick and the man was so fast to compose himself that Han was sure none of the other girls noticed it, but he did. He rose a brow. Now, what does this man know?
“A white Star huh? Haven’t seen one of those in a century.”
The man shook his head and Han could tell that the man wasn’t going to talk about the star anymore. He smiled at them.
“If you want to get the best meat then you should catch them alive and kill them yourself. Killing them like this won’t make them very appealing. Oh, and by the way. You notice her too, right?”
Han nodded his head while scratching the back of his hair.
“Yes, but if she just leaves us alone, then I don’t think there’ll be any trouble. It’s not really worth it to start chasing her down”
The old man nodded and then turned to leave while reminding Han about the advice he gave him.
Han watched the man wave at them as he walked away. He had noticed the woman following him for a while now, but he never bothered to chase her down because he could tell she wasn’t even a threat at all. she was probably just trying to find out more about him. It wasn’t worth the trouble to get rid of her so he decided she could do whatever she wanted.
After meeting the old man, Han decided that he would take some of the animals they saw alive and see if what the man said was true or not. When he got back to the inn, the three girls had already set up most of what they needed. Over the past few days, they managed to get some wooden chairs and tables and arranged them all around the main floor of the inn. There was a large counter to one side where people could sit and drink and there was even a large wine case behind it. Han really put that blood money to good use.
He took the animals to the backroom after giving Rina and Rin a kiss each for a work well done. Once he got to the back, he then activated his skill and got down to business.
[Butcher] has been activated.
This skill was one he got from Tully earlier. Han was sure that Tully used it many times to tear up humans so they could get rid of the body parts easily, but now, Han was the one using it. And if it was a masterful skill in Tully’s hand, it was godlike for Han.
The butcher skill was over 1500 points. It was meant to be a simple skill. Cut up meat, shave meat, throw the meat in the fridge and make sure meat doesn’t get ruined. But with a proficiency that high, Han made the meat into something otherworldly. Tenderizing, skewering, marinating. Rubbing, skinning, salting, curing. Han minced, chopped and he even took it as far as using his [Ultimate Pyromania] to carry out heat treatment for some particularly troublesome ox meat.
The smell that the butchering was creating wafted through the entire building and all the girls gathered at the door to watch Han taking care of it. It was like watching a master at work. It just looked so effortless!
“Daddy is awesome! And I’m so hungry!”
Rina giggled as she saw Yue pout. She knew her brother gained a lot of different powers. But she had no idea that his powers would allow him to do things like this! If he wasn’t going to be busy for a long time after this, then she would have told him to become the head chef for the restaurant! It was too bad that he already told them he would be very busy though.
Ka-cha!
That was the sound of the inn door opening and somebody walked in looking wide-eyed. All the girls quickly moved away from the back door and looked at the man that seemed like he hadn’t eaten in days.
“W-What is that smell? I think my stomach going to eat itself if I don’t eat that meat”