Chapter 78

Goodbye.

“Beer?” Hawkin said.

“Of course,” I said. “Something new?”

“How about one of my billy goat ales? I’ve taken a liking to them lately.”

“Fair enough,” I said.

Hawkin poured the amber ale into two silver boots and slid one across the table for me. When the boot came to a stop, the momentum caused the foam to spill over the edge and cascade down to the heel. We smashed boots and drank.

“This reminds me of leaves,” I said. “It reminds me of days that I’ve spent sleeping on beds of autumn leaves. I remember once when I ate four moose in one day. I slept for nearly a week and I woke up covered in fallen leaves.”

“Four moose in one day,” Hawkin said. “Incredible.”

We drank companionably for some time. We listened to the light drizzle that pattered on the roof. The wood oven stove crackled anew when Hawkin set fresh logs inside. Firelight cast deep and dark shadows.

“I’ve filled one of your barrels with dreambons,” I said near the end of my first beer.

“How do you acquire them so quickly,” Hawkin said.

“The same way your brewer’s harvest skill works. It’s something I’ve done since the beginning.”

“You’ll show me someday? I'd like to see it in action.”

I nodded. All our talk of dreambons was making me hungry, so I shared some between us. The new ones tasted of berries and caramel. We delighted in a bushel of them before Hawkin announced he was retiring for the night.

He fell asleep shortly after. When I was good and ready, I descended to the cellar and took every last one of Hawkin’s beers. I left only one planes cutter ale, as well as the beers that he’d been collecting from his loot chests. I wiped him clean of everything. I grabbed my backpack, closed the cabin door on my way out, and bumped into BarnacleEyes who’d been waiting just outside her door.

“I just wanted to say good luck,” she said. “I’ll give Hawkin your message. I’ll take care of the deliveries and I’ll help him brew as much goblin spit beer as I can. Goodbye, Thrush.”

We hugged without another word, and I strode across the clearing to begin my journey south. I passed by the rhododendrons. I maintained a steady pace through the night. When I came upon the footprints of orcs, I veered eastward to avoid them. I came upon the towering broadleaves by dawn when the wind picked up and the drizzle strengthened into a light rain.

While I became soaked and water dripped down my eyeballs, I contemplated my journey.

I would need help finding this cowbell root. Otherwise It would take me a lot longer to find on my own, as I’m sure there were many crescent-shaped lakes in the world. Maps could help me. Humans too. Humans could help guide me and the probability of running into humans was high anyways. So instead of avoiding them, I resolved to engage them. To enter their cities and trade with them.

The only problem is that they’ll hunt me down while I look like this. They’ll try to kill me. They’ll try to imprison me when they find that I cannot die. That would mean a lot of trouble for me and it would make things much harder.

There was only one way for a nightream to enter the world of humans, and that was to change my form.

When the day’s first rays of light vaporized the dew, I inspected my innate composition.

Satiation 90%

Composition

40% dreambon

35% fish

10% beer

02% smoke

01% lettuce

01% squash

01% onion

01% potato

19% world mix

My composition would have to change. Which meant that I’d have to lower my satiation so that I could consume more at once without having to sleep it off for days on end. The only way to pass as human—or close to it—would be to achieve a composition that was at least 80% human.

I wonder how many humans I’ll have to eat. I ate more than two dozen goblins and only became forty five percent goblin at one point. Most goblins are a third the size of humans though. So maybe at least a dozen humans?

Even then, someone with even poor perception would be able to tell I wasn’t really human. I didn’t like how I felt in times past when I had been less than 5% dreambon, and I refused to experience that again. 80% was a safe bet if I additionally wore something to somewhat hide myself. A hooded cloak, perhaps.

I could walk amongst the humans with none the wiser.

First thing’s first. Find a road that would lead me to humans. I needed to find humans that I could eat without trouble. Then I needed to eat enough of them. Then I needed to find cities I could explore, trade in, and ask for guidance.

Part of me was more thrilled than I could remember being since a time now ancient. All because of my merchant class. There was so much adventure to be had as Thrush the merchant! I could sell Hawkin’s beers to all the cities I pass through! I could buy smoked fish! Maybe even learn some new smoking techniques! I could acquire some wonderful treasures along the way and store them in my ever expanding inventory! I could go fishing in new waters! I could maybe level my inventory to diamond rank!

My Inventory Management skill had been somewhat annoying these past few weeks. I was carrying 120,000 times the carrying capacity of a regular human’s capabilities, even with the weight being heavily fractioned. Everytime I opened my inventory, giant red letters blinked a dire warning that I would be crushed to death.

Sure, it was heavy, but it was nothing that I couldn’t handle. I dealt with the warning because pushing my Inventory Management skill well beyond its limits was making it level fast and efficiently. It was already at level 345. Thus, it had pushed my merchant class to the exact same level. The unfortunate part was that all my other skills were less than level 200.

Could be lower without the help of Boggo, the goblins, and the orcs.

I was going to miss Boggo. Hawkin, and BarnacleEyes too of course, but I would be back.

I picked up my pace until I jogged. The earth had softened with the drizzle, and the weight of my inventory and body shook the earth with every step I took. Trees trembled as I passed by. Bushes shook, throwing insects and water from their branches and leaves. The ground compacted beneath my hind paws. Every step sounded like a roll of deep thunder.

I was going to keep up this pace for days and nights and weeks and months if need be. Sleep could wait. My first task was to find a road.