Plop!

I fish out the Soldier's Dirk that I'd let sit in a pool of urine, deeper towards the back of the cave.

I'd overlooked this one puddle because of how far away from the entrance it was, lying unnoticed in the dark until I accidentally stepped in it.

I still didn't know how deep this cave went...Greenie should know, since he had night vision though.

The ammonia should have helped dissolve some of the rust at least. Grabbing it with my talons, since it would slip out of my mouth if I held it and hopped, I head back to Greenie.

Here's a little present for the both of us~!

Greenie looks at the long dagger that I drop at his feet, and shakes his head. I prod the dagger forward with my beak.

He shakes his head. I prod again.

I know, I know, Greenie, you're trying to tell me you'd already tried unsheathing it. But try it again!

Finally giving in to my persistence, he wraps his four green fingers around the hilt, the sheath clamped in his armpit, and pulls.

The hilt moves the tiniest bit. And when Greenie jiggles it around, it moves inside the sheath too!

It was working!

With the sound of a rusted bike, the dirk comes screeching out, bit by bit, out of its sheath.

"Krawk!" Bobbing my head in excitement, I tilt my head so I can take a better look at the blade slowly revealing itself to us. Yes! If we were lucky, a beautifully clean silver blade should come out. A rusted silver blade wasn't too bad either.

This dirk would be so useful. We could craft, cook, fight...everything would be easier with a blade!

Finally it comes out, a bit rusted, but not too bad.

Greenie holds it up to the grey light coming in from the entrance.

It was pink.

The whole blade was pink.

[Blemished Soldier's Dirk}

Ok, that wasn't bad. As long as it could cut, I don't care what color the blade was. Either the soldier who owned it had a penchant for pink, or something happened to the blade when I was soaking it in Greenie's pee.

Must've been the ammonia.

Though it appears slightly warped and chipped with brown rust in certain areas, there was still a clean side to it, one that looked like it could cut at the wood just fine.

And it worked! Greenie happily uses it to cut away at his stick, making good time as it begins to appear as a proper spear.

After the white wood is revealed under the bark and it turns into a sharp point, Greenie begins to add the finishing touches. He cuts off a few longer strands of stringy hair from his head and wraps my molted feathers around the spear.

Voilà!

[Rare Goblin's Spear: Treasured spear of a Rare Goblin. The black raven feathers add a menacing touch, striking fear into the hearts of creatures weaker than the goblin. ]

I should go back to my own weapon making. There were still plenty of Crescent Moon leaves outside, so I gathered them.

Painstakingly shaking off the rain from each one, I lay them out on the ground, in the center of larger rocks of the same size that I'd arranged in a circle. And then I go to the helmet. This was the important part. I had to be careful to not get it in my eyes, or swallow the mixture. Holding the liquid in my beak like a pelican, I dribble it out.

Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.

My beak was sharp, not wide. There wasn't a lot of mixture I could hold in one go.

Sigh…

This would take a while.

I wanted to create pouches of crescent moon leaves that held the spicy berry mixture in it.

Greenie comes shuffling up behind me as I dribble some more into the center of the leaf, and-

picks up the helmet, pouring the spicy jelly right out into the leaves.

Thanks Greenie!

He'd understood what I wanted seeing my actions. So smart, my goblin was.

Maybe he could help me with the next part.

I knew that Greenie knew how to tie knots.

Why? because the loincloth that kept his privates covered were knotted around his hips. It was the simplest of knots, done over and over. That was fine. It was all I needed.

Hmm~ Hmm~

I hum as I draw a little picture with a stick in my beak.

Aaaand- Done!

Using a thin stick like a schoolteacher, I point to the knot on his loincloth, and then point to the drawing in the dirt.

I'd drawn it like a step by step origami tutorial, folding the leaves over on each other and then knotting it closed with the strips of burlap cloth I'd torn up with my beak.

He gets it. It takes a few tries as I correct the placement of his fingers, using my beak, but after 4 failed attempts, he got the 5th one right.

Balling up the leaf in his hands, he wraps it a couple times with the burlap and does a simple knot. And then he works one the next one. Then the next.

Aha!

I should have done this earlier.

Appraisal had deemed the yellow berry mixture I'd created as Flare Berry Jelly. I check on the small green packets, making sure the knots are tight. How would the system label the thing we'd created?

[Spice Bomb]

Wooohoo!

The system must have seen my intent, from the way it had named my special concoctions. These were my special surprises for the Wolf King. It would also work as the perfect emergency weapon if we ever met any powerful creatures.

The plan was to carry one in my claw, or strap it on to one foot, and then I could dive bomb it into the unsuspecting eyes of whatever monster attacked us next.

I also had Greenie make two more spears, wrapping the tip of one in a cloth soaked in Flare berries, and the other soaked in pee.

Once we got fire, I was hoping to make a flaming spear. A sharp wood stick, coming at you, while it was on fire? I thought it was a cool idea.

Lastly, I take Greenie's spear, ignoring his protests, as I control 『Peck』to create notches beneath the point of the spear. Then I had him add the clay shards into each notch, sharpened so that it would cause extreme pain to whoever was on the receiving end of the spear.

[Rare Goblin's Menacing Spear: Though the function of the sharp decorations underneath its tip is unverified, the black feathers and overall strange and menacing appearance strikes a slight fear into creatures slightly stronger than the goblin and below.]

Oooh! I would be scared too if Greenie pointed that thing at me. I puff out my chest, proud with the achievement.

Ding~!

[Pet (Greenie) skill proficiency reached. Acquired skill 『Odd Weapons Crafting LV1』]

Whaaaa-

Why does Greenie gain the skill, but not me!?

I huff in annoyance. This system was so rigged against me. Why only Greenie getting the skills I wanted?

Ignoring my own feelings of being wronged, I think back to the times I had gained a skill. And the skill set that Greenie had.

Let's look at Greenie's Status again.

Spoiler : ---Status---

Name:

Greenie

Race:

Rare Forest Goblin

Title:

Raven's Pet

Magic:

N/A

Abilities:

Special Skill [Luck]

Skill [Stab]

Skill [Gross Eater]

Skill [Night Vision]

Skill [Call]

Skill [Escape]

Skill [Odd Weapons Crafting] New!!!

Resistances: [Poison Resistance] [Rot Resistance]

------

Work wise, Greenie had done a lot for me, but I'd been the one with the idea to create the spice bomb. And it wasn't like I had nothing to do with the actual creation process. It was the same for the other three spears we'd made.

The amount of work should be the same. So why only Greenie?

I hadn't gotten a skill when I did the chicken dance before either.

Hmm.

Spreading out my wings in front of me, I look at myself, and then back at Greenie.

The skills I could gain must be race specific. Or at least, it was easier for humanoids like Greenie who had hands and feet to create things gain a skill.

Unless I did it enough times, I could gain the same skill too. I would try making the spice bombs on my own next time.

---Status---

Name:

Raven

Race:

Carrion Raven

Title:

??? , Perseverant

Magic:

N/A

Abilities:

Skill [Raven Call]

Skill [Peck]

Skill [Scent Detection (Blood & Decay)]

Skill [Peripheral Vision]

Skill [Berserk] New!!!

Skill [Flight]

Skill [Evasive Manuevers]

Skill [Hide]

Skill [Goblin Call]

Skill [Appraisal (Unique)]

Skill[Pet Detection]

Resistances: Sleep Resistance, Pain Resistance, Rot Resistance

------

My skills were very specific to the body I was in. For instance, the peck skill. Greenie probably wouldn't get that no matter how hard he pursed his lips and hit something with it. But this was all just my theory.

Let's get Greenie outfitted and think about it some more later. There needed to be more data till I could come to a definite conclusion.

Now for the other item I'd spied in the pile.

[Worthless Merchant Belt]

I stuff the remaining green spice bombs, 6 in total, into the pockets attached to the belt I'd found.

Good. Greenie was outfitted now in a large brown leather belt, a bit musty with green mold growing in some places, 4 large pockets on each side of his waist.

We were getting somewhere. This was exciting! Greenie keeps rubbing at the band of his belt, excited like he's gotten a new toy.

I'm glad you like it, Greenie!

A flake of light gray rock shatters as it falls from the ceiling, surprising us both. These rocks were everywhere, embedded in the darker colored grey stone and hard brown earth walls of our underground cave.

Greenie kicks at the shards.

What kind of rock is that? It might be useful.

"Craawk!" Calling to make sure Greenie doesn't accidentally kick me, I get closer to the shattered rock..

Appraisal!

[Earth Wyrm Feces]

Feces? This was poop too? I could've sworn this was rock, all dry and hard. Looking up, I look for worms in the ceiling. I didn't see any worms, large or small.

But the chunk of rock was as large as my body before it had shattered on the ground. The size of the poop meant that whatever worm pooped that out...was bigger than me. Maybe even bigger than Greenie.

RRRRUMBLEE-

The earth begins to rumble, and our cave shakes. Hard enough that Greenie loses his balance, and I'm thrown about, unable to stand upright.

Squeaking noises resound from the depths of the cave, from deep within the darkness, and then a noise that sounds like soft whispers.

It gets louder and louder, coming towards us. The sound morphs into a cacophony of shrieks, and I fly to Greenie, afraid of what was happening. Eyes glowing as he peers into the dark, he flinches. What was happening! Something was coming!! What was it?!!

Greenie runs out of the cave, to the side of the entrance.

Not a moment too soon, since a large brown rat the size of an ice cooler runs out, and out the cave, knocking over all the stuff I had just made.

And another. Then another. Rats, the largest ones the same size as the one we'd just seen, and smaller ones, similar to the size of rats from my world.

{Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}, {Subterranean Rat}

Their sheer numbers were overwhelming.

I quit appraisal after the deluge of notification boxes overwhelmed me, almost blinding me from the surface area they took up in front of my face.

They all moved as one body, with a force that knocked over several bushes as they went deeper into the forest, towards the mist, past us. ANd the stench! It was like someone had worn the same pair of shoes for years, never even taking it off as the sweat fermented in there.

Being out in the rain somehow made the smell even worse.

Blech.

Greenie pokes his spear out whenever a rat gets too close to us. He looked like he had never seen a sight like this in his life. I was sure of it. I had never seen a sight like this before in my previous life.

It was like a river of squirming rats that noislily squeaked as they came out, the fur of the ones that came out now after the brown ones gradually turning grey.

From the sound of it, the helmet spills out the Flare Jelly mixture with a clanging sound, the clothes that were still sitting in pee, most likely trampled to shreds.

All that hard work, gone.

It made me angry. Greenie and I had worked our butts off in this cave, trying to create a space for us to survive in, and it was all ruined by these rats.

The rain falls heavily, beating down on Greenie and I outside.

My talons feel itchy, curling and uncurling on Greenie's shoulder.

I was mad at these rats. Hopping mad.

I was going to hunt these things if it was the last thing I'd do.