Tear A Path

It was just that he wanted to be able to kill several beasts at a time instead of dealing with them one by one, that way he could collect them all at one spot rather than having to double back to collect their bodies.

It didn"t take long before the fight arrived at another beast"s hunting ground, this time a gigantic snake with copper like scales that glided from dune to dune. just brushing against it was like being put against a belt sander going at full throttle.

Now Zhao Wei felt the challenge build up. He had to juggle several things to keep this going and allow him to hunt as many as possible. The first was keeping the pressure on the "big-eared rat" (The name stuck) so that it would continue to lead him to more beasts, the next was to keep the other two "compet.i.tions" interested in the game so that they would keep chasing him. And the last one was to make sure they didn"t kill each other first, which was quite hard considering that he also had to keep himself from being beast food.

This would of course get harder and harder when more of them joined the fray.

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It was safe to say that while Zhao Wei was preoccupied with this new game of tag that Grendolyn was grumbling about the lack of dinner back at camp. Well it wasn"t like they had nothing to eat, just that the only one who did the cooking right now was Thirteen, whose idea of food was more on the side of sustenance than taste.

So her idea of cooking was heating the ingredient until it was edible, which was the same exact thing all the Grens did while she was still in the compound making for an extremely bland meal. Once she met Zhao Wei who was able to give the food some flavor, going back was never an option.

While she was grumbling in her heart, a tail tapped her shoulders. Looking back, she saw Jeff who was smiling warmly, his tail was hovering above the ground, a small plate resting on it"s mid section. The plate slowly came forward until it was at the level of her hands. On the white ceramic, a few chunks of meat, messily coated in batter with some burnt areas that were obviously cleaned off.

"It"s not much but it should taste better than it looks." Jeff whispered. She gingerly picked up the plate and placed it onto her own lap, twirling the pieces around with a skewer before poking it through and bringing it to her mouth. It was a little imbalanced, the heat seeped into the protein unevenly and the crumbs came in different levels of thickness. But the warm fat of the meat still came out well and a sweet salty flavor didn"t fail at presenting itself to her waiting tongue.

Turning her head towards Jeff, she could only catch a glimpse of his back disappearing into the kitchen. It awed her how he pursued his craft. She"d seen what happens to a craftsmen who loses his tools of the trade. Just losing something replaceable like their usual hammer could send a man spiraling out of control, no longer putting his works out in the world for fear of being ridiculed.

Jeff had lost his most important tools, but the fear hadn"t crippled him. While it couldn"t even be compared to a beginner"s dish, Grendolyn could taste the budding of a new flavor within the dish he just brought out. And in her heart she vowed that one way or another, she"d bring back his touch.

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Only when the night had settled in did Zhao Wei return to camp, behind him a small hill created from his hunt today. The rest were asleep or busying themselves in their quarters. The only one to greet him was the giant upper body.

"Not going to sleep Gwen?" He asked as he pa.s.sed by her, heading straight to the storage car to load the items.

"I was told not to let you in because you p.i.s.sed the creator off." Gwen looked at him, her arms folded in in disapproval. "I don"t think she"ll let you in for days once she finds that we"re going to have to add another few units every so often just to accommodate these hunting sprees you go on."

"What do you think?" Zhao Wei asked the golem as he opened held the door handle to his room.

"I think you"re having too much fun with it." She replied. With a click, the handle turned and he went in to go to sleep.