Chapter 69 — Experienced Hands
Immediately upon stepping through his stead’s barrier, Toren used [Mana Sensing] and the awareness provided by the stakes to confirm that Laiya was fine and sighed in relief.
“That was terrifying,” Warnel complained.
“Yeah,” Falma breathed out, hugging the sack with the cubs to her chest.
Toren had worried that the cubs would make noise and attract unwanted attention, but once in the sack, they had curled up into a pile just like they had done in the cave.
Emina glanced back at the jungle just left behind. “That we could handle such a beast… it shows how effective Toren’s training is.”
Horevi had passed beyond the trees, and the rapid onset of dusk had left them all worried about shadow-aspected nocturnal predators or a mishap trekking the treacherous jungle in the dark of night. Thankfully, his [Mana Sensing] and the known landmarks had been enough to see them safely back.
The XP had been disappointing-
-and still was disappointing for the danger they had faced. The zoots really were a much better source of XP.
That didn’t mean the trip was a waste, though. The combat experience, accomplishments, and essence gains were likely significant. Falma surely benefited the most from the trip. Just like crafting the Elixir of Restoration, hunting and killing a high-level tier-1 beast while Professionless, the practical experience traversing a dangerous jungle environment, and acquiring beast cubs to raise were all sure to further influence the girl’s upcoming Profession selection.
Tails wagging eagerly, the hounds barked at Falma. She gave them the anticipated ‘home’ command, letting them run around the farm.
“I’ll check on Laiya,” Warnel volunteered as they got closer to the well where the jungle stalkers would need to be processed.
Emina gave her husband a nod. “Go on, I’ll help Toren with the stalkers.”
“I’ll go with Dad. I want to show Laiya the cubs,” Falma volunteered and hurried after her father.
“We’ll need to get a milk substitute into them tonight even if the hounds take to them. The ‘bountiful milk’ tisane will take some time to work,” Emina called after her daughter and got a wave in reply.
Raising the beast cubs would doubtlessly be a test. The next few hours and days would be critical for the cubs’ survival. Whether they could provide proper sustenance for unweaned cubs was an open question.
For now, they were relying on Falma’s [Beast Handling] Skill and Emina’s [Cooking] Skill and the pair’s shared [Foraging] Skill to find foraging and supplies useful toward that purpose. The short-term plan was to tailor the parent stalkers’ bladders into a tool to deliver sustenance directly. The longer-term plan was to use a well-known herbal remedy to induce the female horror hound to produce milk and nurse the cubs.
“Foraging doesn’t seem a common Skill for a tradesman’s daughter,” Toren commented as he lowered the headless stalker next to its mate and set his helmet on the ground.
“You wouldn’t be the first to say that, Toren.” Emina gave a nostalgic snort, placing the head and severed arm down and letting the cord used for carrying them fall to the side. Her helmet soon joined his in the dirt. “After my Skill Day, I often joined the poor children when they went foraging in the mornings. Instead of food, I sought out herbs and galls for dyes and feathers and bits of fur to decorate hats and broaches. When Laiya was born, my [Foraging] Skill helped find herbs to help with nursing and various herbal baby remedies.”
Prior difficulty nursing seemed hard to believe with how well-endowed the Hatterwick women were, but the experience gained might just let her daughter successfully raise a litter of jungle stalkers. Knowing time wasn’t on the cubs side, Toren got right to making the cuts to extract the bladder intact. “You must’ve had to compete with the kids training to be [Fletchers] or [Hunters].”
Emina joined, cutting open the other cat. “Sometimes. It didn’t help that some of the best feathers could be sold for quill-making, either.”
The foragings for the cubs weren’t all that Emina had gathered on the way back. Brineweed was common in areas often flooded by seawater and could be used to cure stronger flavored meats that were less favorable to direct consumption. Toren himself had prepared hunted meat that way.
A task for the morning though. Thanks to Emina’s [Preserve Ingredients] Ability and her significant mana reserves, the dead cats would keep, even in the jungle humidity and heat.
Crafting the bladders into milk-bags for the cubs to nurse from didn’t take Warnel long, but the cubs were getting more vocal and noticeably weaker by the time Emina and Falma had the milk substitute ready, something like a thin blood, wheat, and tavi porridge.
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Toren visited Laiya while the rest of the Hatterwicks worked on all that. His bed-confined apprentice grumbled that at least the forced rest had left her with no choice but to work on honing her senses and attempt unlocking [Meditation] using the methods Toren had explained to her father.
When Toren checked on the feeding process, the smallest and weakest of the cubs was sucking and gnawing on the milk bag almost frantically. Whether that was a good sign or not, they probably wouldn’t know for a few days yet. With cats at the orphanage, the frantic, underweight kittens often had something wrong with them and didn’t tend to live long.
He placed two fingers against the cub and probed it with [Mana Sensing] like he had done for Laiya, looking for tangles in the beast’s mana flow.
His concerned expression drew an “Is it going to be okay?” from Falma.
“Could be his siblings were hogging the mother’s milk. What’s your [Beast Handling] tell you?”
“That he needs to eat and the temperature of the milk is important.”
Toren looked down at the two larger cubs curled up on each other in a cloth-lined basket, rooting around with their heads, trying to find a nipple or their missing sibling.
“You may have to separate out the pups to keep them from hurting the cubs or pulling them away to get at Nilly’s milk,” Toren warned Falma. “Rather, after you let the hounds get a good sniff of the cubs, have Nilly nurse them here, in the house.”
Falma nodded.
The smell of brineweed cooking down wafted over from a large pot over the fire beside a gently steaming kettle that would soon be ready. Warnel was there at the table, helping his wife sort out the herbs for the bountiful milk tisane.
Really, thanks to Emina’s experience, the Hatterwicks had everything well in hand.
“Why don’t you eat a bowl of leftover stew and get some rest, Toren?” Emina suggested. “Warnel told me what you did for us to heal Laiya.”
“Beyond insane is what it was,” Warnel added, grumbling.
Now that they mentioned it, he did feel rather wrung out, and there was much from the day that would be best meditated on while it was still fresh in his mind.
“Alright, I’ll do that.” After helping himself to a bowl of cold stew, Toren retreated to his room.
He still hadn’t fully worked through the knowledge [Constitution of the Phoenix] granted him or his other gains, but that might not even be the most pressing need. After the hunt, [Flurry of Blows] was right at the precipice of advancing and he still needed to determine a direction for the first refinement.
~~~
Toren's status:
Name: Toren of Theravos
Race: Human
Age: 20
Profession 1: Level 8 Burningblood Berserker (10766/16000)
Mana: 115/115
Strength: 16
Constitution: 16
Dexterity: 15
Agility: 13
Wisdom: 12
Intellect: 8
Will Power: 18
Perception 15
Appearance: 9
Charisma: 8
Luck: 10
Attribute Upgrade Points: 7
Traits:
Sacrificial Guardian
Abilities:
Burning Blood (WIL, Rank 1, Proficiency: High)
Control Blood (WIL, Rank 1, Proficiency: Mid)
Flurry of Blows (DEX, Rank 1, Proficiency: Low)
Ability Upgrade Points: 7
Profession Skills:
Constitution of the Phoenix 5
Empower 6
Focus Rage 8
Combat Awareness 6
Berserker Weapon Arts 6
Pain Tolerance 8
Intimidate 6
Skills:
Danger Sensing 3
Stealth 18
Mana Sensing 18
Wilderness Harvesting 12
Theravos Language 11
Religion 10
Divided Focus 7
Meditation 6
Hunting 20
Archery 19
Running 15
Wound Binding 8
Arithmetic 4
