Chapter 32: Blegh. This is disgusting!
"Multi-Explosion!"
Wasting no time with the slaughter, I eradicated the mutant animals in the area with a single move. Turning them into a crisp as they fell dead on the ground.
I'm supposed to show off my playstyle to Hikari and Himeji. But I don't think that's possible when the monsters are this weak...
Regardless, that single attack of mine was able to surprise my little sister.
"Holy ****, sis!"
Hikari, who was watching behind me, cursed out in shock. Himeji, who was done eating the first mutant cow they had killed, dropped her jaw in shock as well.
"What do you think?" I asked them.
"What do I think...? I think that was freaking awesome! What in the world was that!?" Hikari bellowed.
"Everything went kaboom..." Himeji remarked. But then her attention shifted to the corpses of the mutant animals.
And before I could explain my skills to them, Himeji approached the corpses and asked me. "May I...?"
"Go ahead." I replied, allowing her to eat the monsters I had killed.
Then, I turned to Hikari. "Do they really taste that bad?" I questioned her, watching Himeji devouring those corpses with an adorable yet ferocious yet happy look on her face.
"Yes, they do. HimeHime said it herself." She turned to me then. "Most importantly, how did you do that?" she started to inquire. So, I answered honestly.
"Multi-casting. It's a skill I've acquired after I defeated The Jackson for the first time."
"And you used that with an attack skill to cause... that, huh?"
"Yup. It's kind of my go-to move. But I would rather use Multi-casting with Firebomb instead of Explosion, since Explosion just drains my MP completely whenever I use it with Multi-casting." I said, drinking several MP potions right after to replenish my MP. "Also, these monsters are too weak to show my playstyle off."
"Darn... Should've picked a dungeon instead." Hikari quietly cursed. Then, she looked at the aftermath of my explosive act again. "But not going to lie, bro, this is kind of broken enough already." she commented. Then, she gestured her hand to Himeji and said, "Anyways, why don't you join her, sis?"
"What?" I looked at Hikari, asking if she was being serious.
"Eat, sis. See what skill you can get from these."
"Uhhh...."
Not going to lie, a part of me was curious how it's like to eat monsters in the game. But another part of me was telling me not to.
Despite that, intrusive thoughts won, as I sat down in front of the corpse of the mutant cow and hesitated for a second, before courageously taking a big bite out of the dead cow. Somehow pulling a mouthful of its flesh from the corpse as I tasted it.
Holy crap! This is awful!
Well, I am eating meat raw, so that's expected. And it's with its hide and everything.
There's no way I would ever do this if this wasn't in the game.
"Disgusting, ain't it?"
"Blegh... Yeah... it is. How much of it do I need to eat to count as one?"
"Just a few bites on a corpse will do, fortunately. But you'll need to eat several corpses of the same species to get a skill. HimeHime just likes to finish it all for some reason."
"Mom always told me to never waste food." Himeji chipped in with that remark before continuing with her endeavour.
I've got a new found respect for Himeji now for being able to eat them all...
But enough and back to munching. I took a few bites out of nine more corpses of the mutant cows, which finally got me a skill.
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Condition cleared: [Feast on the flesh of ten corpses of the Giant Mutant Cows.]
Skill acquired: [Produce Milk]
When used, generates at least two [Jugs of Milk] into the caster's inventory.
Cooldown time: 1 day.
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"What the heck...?" I was astounded by the skill I've acquired.
I wanted to hide it, but it seemed that my reaction got noticed by Hikari as she asked.
"Did you get a skill, sis? What did you get?"
I was reluctant to answer. Knowing what sort of reaction would come out if I were to say. Nonetheless, I replied with honesty.
"...Produce Milk." I said.
"Pfft." Hikari then lets out a bit before dropping to her knees, laughing.
"Hahahahahaha! Produce Milk... Produce Milk, she said! Hahahahahahahahaha!"
"Stop it..."
"How can I!? It's too fitting for you! It's hilarious! OMG, I'm crying right now! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
I knew this would happen...
It would have been a different story if my character was a man though.
"Hey, sis! May I get some milk right now! I'm feeling a bit thirsty. Hehe~"
"Quiet."
From that moment onwards, I decided to never eat the monster corpses again, as Hikari, Himeji and I quickly wrapped up the hunt and collected all of the meat we've gathered.
Also, Himeji got the Produce Milk skill like I did, along with some other skills.
The two girls then passed me the raw meat they were holding onto, whereas I passed them the rest of the monster parts I had on myself.
"So next, we need to find a spot for you to cook!" Hikari said excitedly. However, I stopped her right there.
"Wait. We still need other ingredients, seasonings and spices, don't we?" I said, since all we've gotten were the raw meat.
"Oh yeah. You're right. Then let's go to the Holy City, Arialight, to get them!" she said. "I want to see the city which you've liberated, sis."
Himeji nods. "I, too... want to see it." she said.
So we can get those things in the city, huh?
"Alright then. Let's go."
And so, we made our way to Arialight. Having some small chats while we walked.
As we were chatting, however, Hikari brought up a certain topic which caught my interest.
"By the way, sis. What are you going to do about the event tomorrow? You taking part in it?"
"What event?" I asked, causing both Hikari and Himeji to look at me, baffled.
"Big Sister Yoru, you don't know about the event?"
"Uhh... no. Am I supposed to?"
"Of course you are, sis! It's one of the biggest things players are talking about! How could you not know about it!?"
Is it? This is the first I've heard of it.
But come to think of it, I've only been playing solo before today, except for that time when I temporarily partied with Yura, so I had barely interacted with other players. And when I am interacting with other players, they were only brief conversations on other topics like with the blondie about his search for his soulmate, or Diego about his wares. I also don't go to the game's forum or have looked up the game itself so basically, there was no way I could have known about it until Hikari mentioned it.
"So then, what's the event about?" I inquired.
"It's a battle royale event that will occur on this Saturday and Sunday. Each with four separate rounds through the day: The morning round, the afternoon round, the evening round, and the night round. It's been hyped up by a lot of players, trying to strategise on how they can win." Hikari answered enthusiastically.
"Apparently, many players are going to form an alliance to take down the stronger players first." Himeji commented.
"But we're not going to do that because that'd be boring. Which is why, it's just me and HimeHime against the other players until we die or the both of us are left standing, then we will duel each other to the death." Hikari added on with her plan. Hyping herself up too as she spoke.
"So what are you going to do, sis? You partying with someone or going solo?"
"I think I'll go solo. Since partying with someone else would only result in us killing each other later from what you've just said."
"I see. Well then, don't expect Himeji and I to show mercy when we face each other in the event. Although we still don't know much about your playstyle, we're still going to dominate you, sis!"
"Sure. Whatever. Let's get to Arialight already, so I can learn the game's cooking mechanic as soon as possible."
"You're more concerned with that than the event, huh...?"
"The event is tomorrow, isn't it? I'll concern myself with that tomorrow then."
It took some more time afterwards, but we've made it to the Holy City, Arialight.
Upon looking at the city walls again, I noticed a big change in its appearance as the wall itself looked sturdier than before the city was liberated.
The camp set up by players outside of the wall was also no longer present as all that's here now are two guard NPCs, standing by the open gate.
As we walked by the guards, they gave us a salute as one of them suddenly spoke.
"Welcome to Arialight, Miss Yoru and her comrades. We hope you enjoy the city." he said.
"Thank you." I replied back. But ten seconds later, after we had passed the city gates, I had just realised.
How did that guard know my name?
I thought about it for a while, but Hikari and Himeji suddenly interrupted my thought process as they grabbed my hands and pulled me.
"What are you standing there for? Come on, sis! Let's go explore the city!"