“I guess not all the natives speak Earth languages.”, Duncan muttered before going back to Wazsh’s bar.
As he came in it was still empty but he could hear some hacking action from the back. He went behind the counter and knocked.
“Gere teneka? Onodi wasa,” was yelled back.
“Hello, it’s me Duncan,” Duncan replied.
“What do you want now? Come in tell me,” Wazsh said with an annoyed voice.
As he came through the door Duncan could see Wazsh wearing an apron holding a cleaver and butchering the rats.
“Maybe I should come back later?” Duncan asked.
“Tell me, what you need! Since you are already here come out with it,” was Wazsh’s answer.
“The natives don’t speak English…” Duncan sheepishly replied looking at the cleaver chopping down on a rat’s neck who had its skin pulled down.
“Ohhh. Yeah. I forgot about that. Here,” Wazsh.
A window appeared in front of Duncan.
[
Black Sherwood Forrest – Language pack
Zynian, Dwarven Zynian, Elven Zynian
Learn YES NO
]
“The first language pack of your local area is free. I was supposed to give it to you when you arrived but I guess I am rusty,” Wazsh said before chopping off another head.
Duncan chose YES and a slight headache came and went.
He suddenly remembered Wazsh asking him, “What do you want?” and “Not open yet,” as he was standing at the door. The dwarf too asked, “What do you want?” before he figured out it was not worth the hassle. This kind of thing must have happened a lot.
Wazsh continued his work and Duncan was observing him as he remembered his skill Observe it triggered. Duncan stopped moving and Wazsh started moving in slow motion which stopped after a while which seemed to Duncan to take forever.
[
You have Observed Butchering
Learn YES NO
]
Duncan mentally clicked on YES.
[
You have Learned Butchering Level 1.
Strength +0.1
Dexterity +0.1
]
It didn’t go unnoticed by Wazsh.
“Did you just steal a skill from me?” he asked.
“Steal. I just learned it?” Duncan stuttered out.
“It’s OK but next time you ask for permission. Some people might take offence if you go steal their skill willy-nilly. They might go ape shit on you… was that the expression. Never got that one. Anyway, you can do the last three as payment, don’t you think so?” Wazsh said before he wiped his bloody hands and handed him his cleaver and knife.
Duncan was a city boy so a bit squeamish so he was not exactly delighted with the prospect of butchering rats. He took a big breath and was immediately sorry since he whiffed the rat’s guts that were in a dumpster. After a bit of breath holding, he managed to keep his lunch or should we say gall since his stomach was absolutely empty.
As Wazsh was watching over him like a hawk he took one of the rat carcasses and put it on the butchering table. He held the cleaver and tried to decide what to do.
“Knife first. Use the cleaver just for the head. First tie up its back legs then put it on the hook above the waste bin. Cut with the knife around both legs around the knees and pull the skin down. Now cut the skin between the legs and pull it down until you hit the head. Gently open up the stomach, careful not to hit the bowels. If it was a rabbit, you could save the liver if it doesn’t have any white spots, but no one wants to eat the rat’s liver. Just dump everything into the waste bin. No pull it off the hook and use the cleaver on the head and the joints. The rats are tough little buggers, you could just use the knife on the rabbits for that,” Wazsh instructed as Duncan worked.
“Good. I like to leave them in one piece. They take up less space in the inventory like that,” Wazsh said as he finished.
A window popped up.
[
You have Learned Butchering Level 2.
Strength +0.2
Dexterity +0.2
]
He took another one and when he was tying it up and option of butchering popped up on the body. He mentally clicked YES on it. It was like watching a flash forward movie as he ended up with another clean carcass on the table.
He looked at Wazsh and asked, “Is that normal?”
“What do you mean? I always butcher like that,” Wazsh replied.
“I mean the second one for me was done in like a second. Hmmm. No pun intended,” Duncan replied.
“You mean your skill automatically produces the result?” Wazsh asked.
“Yeah, something like that,” Duncan replied.
“Try another one,” Wazsh implored with his hand outstretched to the last carcass.
Duncan started tying up the back legs and the same prompt opened and he clicked on YES. He was once again standing with a done carcass in front of the bench like he did before.
Again, a window popped up.
[
You have Learned Butchering Level 3.
Strength +0.3
Dexterity +0.3
]
“Did it happen again?” Wazsh asked and Duncan nodded.
“Lucky bastard. You will have no problems grinding skills that allow this,” Wazsh said as he shook his head.
Duncan looked at him until it was awkward.
“Sorry I am still just pissed off you killed of my perpetual meat source because I was not clear enough with my instructions. It was my own fault really. That is what happens when you are lazy and not willing to get bitten by these vermin. I use to go down there myself every couple of months and kill everything but the queen and her harem of males. Now who knows when another rat queen takes its spot,” Wazsh explained his previous anger.
“Is rat meat really so good?” Duncan asked.
“My employer who shall not be named limited my movement to my premises. Which is this bar. While there were adventurers a plenty, we got a variety of foods from their hunting monsters outside the village. Now we have two hunters for the whole village and they dictate their prices as high as they want. Rabbit meat costs almost fifty times as much as rat meat,” Wazsh explained.
“What about chickens, pigs or cows?”, Duncan asked.
“Do you think I would be eating rat if there was any other option?” Wazsh looked at Duncan like he was looking at a fool.
“I am sorry. I am not really mad at you. I am mad at my employer. I guess all the starter villages are in this situation by now,” Wazsh said.
“Are there no traders?” Duncan asked.
“What is the main goal of traders? Buy low, sell dear. As soon as they picked up on it the prices of their goods went ballistic,” Wazsh explained.
“Didn’t you say the others are natives? Why don’t they go out and hunt?” Duncan asked next.
“The guards and the mayor are in on it. They told the people that outside the walls is too dangerous for them and that the price of the goods is to cover for the risks the hunters are taking. I know for certain the outside is nowhere near as dangerous as they claim it to be from the adventurers that used to come and trade with me but I am just a voice in the crowd and they don’t take me seriously. Especially not since I can’t leave the bloody premises. They even called me a coward for asking them to go outside and I can’t even leave this place. That was a low point in my life. I can’t even explain the employers like I do to you without censorship,” Wazsh explained with a deflated tone.
“So basically, you are -BLEEP-ed,” Duncan said.
“Ouch,” said Duncan soon as he got a small shock right after that.
“Serves you right,” Wazsh said.
“What did you mean by grinding?” Duncan asked.
“You can level up your skills by repeating them but it gets harder and harder. Don’t you know the term from your video games? Am I already so out of touch with your lingo?” Wazsh said in surprise.
“No. I just hoped it was not something else and wanted to confirm,” Duncan explained himself.
