Thanks to Jake's plan, Louise discovered a bit more about her innate skill. She couldn't only drain the mana of a single spell at a time. She could drain the mana of several spells. Thanks to the Flamethrowers that Jake was enduring, Louise gathered enough mana to increase the size and summoned three ice arrows at the same time. She fired them at the monsters' heads in a couple of seconds and froze them. Karina dashed toward them and finished the monsters.
You obtained 06 coins.
You obtained 06 coins.
You obtained 06 coins.
"They really are weak against ice, huh," Jake said.
"Show me your arm," Lana said.
"What for?" Jake frowned.
"I can heal faster if I focus only on one area," Lana said.
Since the monsters tried to burn his head, Jake's legs were fine, and his shield protected his upper body. He was thankful that the monsters were so dumb... Nevertheless, when Jake showed his left arm, Lana saw some small burn marks there, and he only endured the attack for a couple of seconds…
"You are really crazy…" Lana said, showing a complicated expression.
"Well, I underestimated them, but it won't happen again," Jake said.
Once his body was healed, Jake cut some of the hides of the monster's bodies and then enveloped his shield with them. While that won't last for long, Jake had enough materials and will have an even mode to change that extra layer of defense whenever necessary.
In the next fight, things repeated themselves again. However, Jake couldn't feel his left arm being burned. Instead of that, he could feel the hide on his shield slowly turning into charcoal. Despite that…
Congratulations! The skill Fire Resistance has leveled up.
Congratulations! The skill Heat Resistance has leveled up.
If Jake stops using Flames of Wrath, he probably will level up those skills even faster. However, he couldn't ignore such a useful skill. For his future, he needs to keep leveling up until he can transform the flames into all kinds of things like shields and spears. That sure will be something worth seeing…
In the end, Jake confirmed that the hide could withstand three fights before he needed to change it. As expected, their hide could become some really powerful defensive gear against fire. If only Jake had the time, the tools and Craft were at a higher level… maybe even the boss won't be much of a problem to them.
The group began to advance further in the salamanders' territory. Still, despite the difference in strength, they failed to get closer to the forest. The reason was the fact that more than four monsters began to attack them, and thus, Jake became unable to protect the girls. He couldn't control the aggro while he couldn't move, after all.
"This is a bit troublesome…" Jake rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Well, we don't have to hurry since we have ten days to complete this mission," Louise said. "Let's just take our time and build our strength until we decrease the numbers around the forest."
That seemed like the best plan of action, but Jake wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about the fact things would only get harder inside the forest since that was supposed to be their real habitat. The number of salamanders was usually high… why?
"If a dungeon break had happened, the mission would be different… with that in mind, I can only assume some kind of anomaly is going on here," Jake thought.
Nevertheless, while that seemed like a problem, Jake had the chance to gather a lot of the salamanders' meat. Not to mention, he could see a lot of fruits and herbs in the forest ahead. Some of them probably could be used for cooking, so he was really looking forward to using Analysis on them.
"How weird…" Lana frowned while looking at Jake. "You are not smiling viciously while looking at the monsters. One might even think that you were showing a nice and sweet smile."
"I was just thinking about a good joke…" Jake said.
"What joke?" Lana asked.
"Never criticize someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you'll be a mile away, and you'll have their shoes," Jake said.
"That is probably the stupidest thing you might have ever said…" Lana furrowed her eyebrows.
Lana was too naive to understand, but someone more experienced like Louise knew that Jake only says stupid things when he wants to hide something. While she caught a glimpse of him looking at the forest, she had no idea what he was thinking about.
Nevertheless, the group hunts throughout the entire day to decrease the number of Salamanders outside the forest. Camping nearby it didn't seem like a good idea, so Jake decided to camp at the starting point once he grabbed some herbs and fruits in the forest. While it would have been better if he had a pan, he still managed to put some extra citric flavor on the meat by using the fruits and the herbs. Jake really missed seasoning his meals like that.
"... Can I have some more?" Karina asked.
Jake, Louise, and Lana ate quite a bit since the plants Jake found added an exquisite flavor to the spicy meat of the salamanders. However, even so, they couldn't compare to how much Karina had eaten, and she still wanted more.
"Sure…" Jake replied after slightly frowning. "For someone so thin, you sure have a big stomach."
"... mind your own business," Karina said.
"Is that what you say to someone who is cooking your food?" Jake asked.
"Come to think of it, you played with your friends from school, right, Karina?" Lana asked. "It must have been hard dealing with food. I am pretty sure few teens nowadays are into cooking."
"Yeah… our cooking skills started and ended with cup noodles," Karina nodded.
"Lucky for us, we have Jake here," Lana said. "Ah, I know now, Jake."
"What do you know?" Jake asked.
"You are a good cook," Lana replied. "That is your only redeeming quality."
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